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[torippiyos]

Litchi Hikari Club Stage Play Afterthoughts

So, I recently read Litchi Hikari Club two days ago, and even though I couldn’t stomach it I became absolutely obsessed. So much that I downloaded the stage play almost immediately. I got a look at the cool opening sequence from the musical, and if anybody has any links to that please let me know!

This adaptation of Litchi Hikari Club is really tame compared to the manga. The entire atmosphere of the stage play is different in itself as well. Whether this stays true to the original stage play of the 1980s, we will never know. But in all honesty, this adaptation looks like the first Rurouni Kenshin live action movie when put next to the manga, which is rife with blood and gore. 

First off, they obviously cut out and added in a few new scenes. The very first scene of the boys burning eyes out with a torch was completely omitted, as well as the violation of Tamiya’s sister, Tamako. I would say that the initial first scene seemed to hold less significance as compared to the teacher’s gutting, but the omission of Tamako might probably be due to the age of the actors in relation to the rating of the series. 

One thing I was absolutely surprised about was that the attitude and the atmosphere of the whole Litchi Hikari Club is very, very different. The individual members of the club act a lot more childishly, having a behaviour that in my opinion, Zera would not tolerate. It does seem to be a more realistic representation of 14-year-olds, albeit at the cost of supposedly canon accuracy. Nonetheless, this was an aspect that I enjoyed greatly (Raizou and his nipple tape, amazing), and made the play a bit more bearable to sit through than the stiff and high-tension manga. 

The dance scene between Litchi and Kanon included was absolutely heartwarming, and actually made me feel sad for the entire situation taking place (while reading the manga, I felt nothing but fear and revolt). The dance foreshadowed the deadly dance Zera brings Kanon into once Litchi self-destructs, but also brings in Dafu and Kaneda, who are already dead, waltzing in white.

One aspect I felt that the play didn’t explore enough was Zera and Jaibo’s dynamic, or, Jaibo’s one-sided lustlove. Sure, we see them about to get it on and we see Tamaki Yuki pretending to blow Kimura Ryou, but at the most that was all there was. I don’t think it’s just me wanting to see more sex between Zera and Jaibo, but more of me wanting their entire relationship to be clear and solid, since most of the events are indirectly affected by this relationship anyway. I felt like there wasn’t enough information to tell first time viewers that Jaibo wasn’t just in love with Zera, but that he is batshit crazy obsessed with him.

In this adaptation, we also see very little of Jaibo, which pinpoints him as more suspicious and likely to carry out the betrayal. Tamaki Yuki has always seem to do a good job in portraying absolute raw, straining emotion. This is evident especially when Jaibo confronts Zera. That last burst of emotion before Jaibo’s death created a very whole and resolved passing. Kimura Ryou very strikingly manages to bring up the stricter and more rigid side of Zera, bringing him out clearly as the heartless monster Zera always was. Lastly, Nakao Akiyoshi is really that shonen protagonist material. His acting was full of conviction and emotion, and in my opinion, was what made Tamiya steal the show. 

I’ve been going on for quite a while now, but let me talk about the props and effects real quick. The stage play throws around fake blood left right and center, and it gets everywhere. Even the audience was given vinyl sheets to protect themselves from the fake blood sprays before the play began. The amount of fake blood poured into this was absolutely amazing, and leading up to the blood drenched Zera, was the perfect build-up. The other props are a different story, that bloodied toilet, and the teacher’s organs looked absolutely stunning (except the chinko). Along with the set of the run-down warehouse, the aesthetics of the Litchi Hikari Club were captured wonderfully.

All in all, Litchi Hikari Club was a wonderful stage play that still manage to tie in the horror and scandalous story very well to create this visually stunning masterpiece. If you’re one that cannot handle the gore of the manga, I think that the stage play will definitely be a better way to experience Litchi Hikari Club, although the context and backstory definitely needs to be further elaborated on. I’ve read that the musical goes in a slightly different direction and seems a bit more grotesque and true to the manga. I hope I can watch that soon.