#he totally gets that from manami btw

[kusunokihime]

     [ Small but very important headcanon: my Shisui says y’all unironically. ]

[sambart93]

2017.04.20 Satomi Hakkenden Review!

I got a chance to finally see YamaKen (Yamazaki Kento) in this flesh a few weeks back! To be honest, I went into this stage with low expectations, for some reason my brain expects a lot less from TV actors who attempt the stage rather than from actual stage actors... doesn’t make sense right? Anyway lets get to it!

Officla Website here Official Twitter here News/Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8* Video Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6* Individual Character Interviews

*Unfortunately all the press coverage was focused on YamaKen only so there aren’t really any pics or videos of our boys.

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: This was A LOT better than I was expecting!! I enjoyed this so much! Also it was very highly produced and everyone did an amazing job! I enjoyed the story, absolutely loved the fighting choreography and fighting scenes, the characters were all interesting, the CGI and project mapping was awesome, the stage was very well put together and used, the costumes were gorgeous, ensemble were troupers, basically I underestimated this stage completely and I really, really enjoyed myself! I even liked Wada Masanari’s acting and character which never happens to me! xD

BUT (not related to the play itself) holy moly the audience were so rude! It was clear most were YamaKen fans because they were (I quote them) ‘bored’ and constantly fidgeting or falling asleep whenever he wasn’t on stage and he has like the least amount on stage even though he’s the main actor. (Major rant under the spoiler section, just jump to the ‘LEARN SOME MANNERS’ section if you want to read about it in detail--no spoilers in that section btw)

Rating: 8/10

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CAST and CHARACTERS

Yamazaki Kento as Inuzuka Shino Aoki Tsunenori as Inuyama Dousetsu Tamaki Yuki as Inukawa Sousuke Wada Masanari as Inutako Bungo Nishime Shun as Inue Shinbei Matsushima Shouta as Inusa Kakeno Arai Atsushi as Inukai Genpachi Maruyama Atsushi as Inumura Daikaku Aono Kaede as Hajime Kuriyama Wataru as Samo Jirou Matsuda Kenji as Chudai Houshi Higa Manami as Tamazusa / Fusehime Shundou Mitsutoshi as Satomi Yoshizane Yaotani Maoto as Fusahachi Kawashima Ririka as Mei Yokoyama Kazutoshi as Okushirou +Ensemble

This cast is HUGE as you can tell xD

PreShow:

I thought it was super strange that we didn’t get any chirashi flyers/leaflets or anketto survey (the amount of Japanese I use now when I speak English is ridiculous, sorry!). Also when I walked in there were cameras everywhere so I was super lucky to once again end up at a show where I could possibly be on the DVD or at least have seen that version! xD 

I had a ticket with a tokuten special extra which ended up being the poster - if ANYONE wants it then it’s your for 800yen xD (not including P&P).

STORY

This stage is based off a fantasy epic that is 106 volumes long and written by Kyokutei Bakin. It’s main plot is about 8 half-brothers who are descendants of dogs (hence why they all have ‘inu’ meaning ‘dog’ in their names) who are brought together through balls of power in order to save a princess and stop an evil power from rising.

Unfortunately, I don’t think any of it has been translated in English.

SPOILERS BELOW

Full Story

The first half of the play is about each of the eight guys unleashing and learning they have this power and then start to find each other, either intentionally or by coincidence. They also learn about a power that has taken YamaKen and TamaChan’s childhood friend and love interest ‘Mei’ who has been resurrected and possessed and turned her bad, so they naturally want to save her.

The second half is when they finally band together and attempt to infiltrate the enemy’s castle and reach the queen before she unleashes a nasty power (I think a dragon) onto the world, as well as save Mei. 

**Major spoiler: Unfortunately they’re all killed and dead by the end of it through the different stages of the caste and the different levels of protection each part/area had except Shino/YamaKen.

Cast and Character Breakdown

About halfway through the play, I started to giggle to myself as I realised just how many of them are Tokusatsu actors! Which casting directing is a Toku fan(?!) and got all these awesome guys together xD Seriously Aoki, Matsushima, Nashime, Kuriyama, Maruyama, Arai, Matsuda freaking Kenji(!), ALL Toku actors!! xD

Yamazaki Kento as Inuzuka Shino

YamaKen’s voice surprised me. I don’t remember it ever being THAT low but when he first started talking, I couldn’t help but giggle because I thought he was putting it on! But as the show continued it became apparent that his voice is just that deep and I do not remember it ever being that deep >.<

YamaKen had a lot less stage time than I was anticipating, especially because he’s the main character and all(!), but at the same time I can understand why he had such little time on stage considering his main forte IS TV and Movies, and he doesn’t have as much stage experience as EVERYONE else on that damn stage xD (well except Nishime, I think this was his first stage outside of the Kamen Rider stage greetings and things.) *researches* Yeah YamaKen has only ever done the first run and then this run of Hakkenden ever, that’s his entire stage experience.

I think he did a very good job though! This is one of the few times of late where he’s really been able to prove he can actually act and not just ‘gets the job because of his face’ kind of thing. I’ve always believed he can act but as of late (as I said) he’s only being hired because he’s popular and because of his looks - come on, he practically mastered the whole Koukou Romance role about 8 movies ago(!)... 

THIS stage right here is the kind of shit I want him to go back to! This is the kind of job I want him to take and shine in! I WANT him to do completely different stuff again like he did 6, 7 years ago! This is where he shines and proves his acting skills and he did great! I felt for his character, I really understood how he character was, he really showed his character’s personality perfectly. Also that outfit was so cool with the massive blood splatter across and everything! THIS IS THE YAMAKEN I REMEMBER AND LOVE! Y’all feel me on this right?! xD

YamaKen slipped during one of the flight scenes but he very smoothly just rolled around and got himself straight back up ^_^

One scene I really enjoyed with YamaKen was when YamaKen and Matsushima met for the first time and Matsushima is in girl’s wear and is singing in a high voice and being all playful -- it was very pretty. In part two they meet again and this time because Matsushima’s in normal boys wear, YamaKen doesn’t realise at first who it is and Matsushima has to act a little for YamaKen to remember. In fact ALL the YamaKen x Matsushima scenes I really enjoyed!

YamaKen’s final scene was really great too! It was of course sad but seeing him trying to hold on to life and fight with everything he had and then all the 8 brothers coming together one last time was so cool! You could feel the pain YamaKen’s character was going through too!

OOOOHHH! And the almost kiss scene too!!! So the evil queen towards the end approaches YamaKen, thinking he’s given up on life and decided to take her side, she gets REAL close to him and almost kisses him and naturally he’s like ‘don’t be so stupid’ and strikes her! Such a sexy but good scene! I could hear YamaKen fans’ hearts break during that possible almost kiss scene but I just thought it was totally juicy xD

Main point: I am happy with his performance and this is what I want from him in the future! Please stop taking ‘only because of your face’ jobs.

Aoki Tsunenori as Inuyama Dousetsu

My first two notes about him are literally: his hair us flawless. AND: Aoki is just flawless whatever. xD 

Do I really need to say anymore? But I shall anyway!

Aoki is just impressive whatever he does and he always so flawlessly (okay three shots) adapts to any role he’s given. It was so easy to believe that his characters are real. His character in this was also very interesting. 

Seeing his character start on the bad side and then slowly turn to the good side because of a misunderstanding and then ends up fighting his father (from my memory, I don’t think he learns til AFTER he’s given the final deadly strike that it’s his father) . And THEN the even bigger twist when his father has been resurrected and being controlled by the evil and therefore in order for everyone to get to the next stage of the castle, he has to fight and kill his father again and seeing his heartbreak this time around! Oh my poor heart....

I really liked his costume too, it was very monk-like, rustic and simple and I’m pretty sure he was barefoot and for the entire play - although I was a little concerned he’d get splinters or something... And that flawlessly beautifully long hair xD

I can’t really explain it well but something about how Aoki performs, it always feels so natural and real and flows very well and it’s like being sprinkled with fairydust. Whatever he does, it’s enchanting but also with the familiarity feel to it. Does anyone understand what I mean?!

Tamaki Yuki as Inukawa Sousuke

TAMACHAN!!! <3 << I think I’m the only one who calls him this xD

I didn’t even need to see him, as soon as he spoke I recognised his voice straight away xD

Let’s get the opening out of the way first: I was a little annoyed and upset when Tamaki’s character was killed within the first 10 minutes or so of the stage! I was like “IS THAT ALL?! IS THAT ALL I’M GETTING OF MY BEAUTIFUL TOKIENTA?!” but luckily he’s resurrected pretty much straight away and given one of those balls of power and such. He got a lot more than just those 10 minutes on stage -- phew!!

Although I DID enjoy that the opening scene was YamaKen and TamaChan fighting. I also really liked the fact they were brothers. Their dynamic was very interesting. The brotherly love and hate between them too was great. I especially loved their last big scene together! It was heartbreaking but also awesome!

Tamaki’s fighting was so good! I really enjoyed seeing him fight and his choreography!

Wada Masanari as Inutako Bungo

Wada Masanari still bores me. I just feel he’s been a bit too typecast and always get/plays the same type of character; unemotional, constant resting bitch face, very serious and focused on one mission and that was this character too. 

HOWEVER, thinking back, one of his scenes does stand out to me still. His character has two younger siblings and unfortunately they get completely slaughtered and seeing Wada play an emotionally broken and heartbroken older brother as he picks up his dead little sister and just cries with his siblings in his arms, it really struck a cord with me, and for the first time I actually saw his character rather than thinking ‘oh look it’s Wada on stage’. It was a very emotional scene and definitely hit the feels. 

I also like that he fought with axes too. Reminded me of Gimli from LOTR xD but we didn’t get to see enough of him being badass unlike the others.

*I apologise to Wada fans if I’ve hurt you with this opinion of him but I can’t help it.

**If you have any recommendations for where Wada’s acting really stands out then I’m open to suggestions and will watch them! ^_^

Nishime Shun as Inue Shinbei

He is TOO adorable!! While Ghost was a trainwreck, I’ve always thought he was adorable and cute and it was great to see him finally shine and show us what he can do (lets not mention Ghost again shall we) and this was his first major work after Ghost too I think - I don’t know how big his roles were in the two doramas he did. 

I really, really loved his character! FIRST(!) his costume is absolutely adorable and beautiful and it was my favourite out of all the costumes. 

He was very playful and one of those characters who only showed up when it was completely necessary so he was playing a much mature character than (possibly) himself.

As previously mentioned, his role is small BUT I think it left a HUGE impression on everyone including myself.

I have a note that says: his entrance was so cool and so good! It was towards the end of part one when YamaKen and co were surrounded and being beaten and Nishime just jumps in to save them all ^_^ He was being so smug that he could fight everyone so easily.

But his death was heartbreaking! He got slashed to crap and was just constantly saying ‘痛くないよ・It doesn’t even hurt. It doesn’t hurt.’ and then he dies.... our poor baby! =‘[

Matsushima Shouta as Inusa Kakeno

I really liked his entrance! His entrance was him coming out of the right side doors in girls clothing and did this beautiful dance while singing in a very high voice, that strangely worked and his voice did not break. It sounded and looked really good, but also kinda laughable because of how well he pulled it all off! I am all for seeing Matsushima like this! He always does unique characters, just like his character in Drive xD Then his character, in the same scene, proceeds to steal YamaKen’s sword and then hides in the shadows with it as YamaKen is left in a situation where he might need to fight.

But then in part two he’s in normal warrior wear (which confuses YamaKen’s character xD) and turns out he’s this badass archery militant guy!

Unfortunately he too didn’t get nearly as much stage time as he deserved. On top of that, he was the ONLY one who had an off stage battle which really annoyed me! We see him on stage going ‘okay I’ll hold the entrance with my archers’ and then the next scene he’s in, he comes on stage covered in arrows and dies... we saw EVERYONE else’s last battle and death but we didn’t see his and that annoyed me somewhat.

Matsushima’s character is a very playful character and has this slightly dark streak to him, it’s a good character. They’re ALL good characters okay! xD

Arai Atsushi as Inukai Genpachi

Arai fans are going to hate me. He just doesn’t enter my conscious line of sight ever! I’ve seen him on stage at least three times (Yuhiden, Judo Shounen and this) and each time, I can’t even tell you what he did or who he was. I just don’t get or notice any presence from him at all. He’s just forgettable for me. 

BUT I do remember he has a scene with Wada’s little sister who puts a flower in his hair and he keeps it in the entire time; that’s a cute moment. I’d say his character is pretty much the same as his Yuhiden character but don’t take my word on that. But other than that, I do not remember him in this. Sorry Arai fans!

Maruyama Atsushi as Inumura Daikaku

We got ourselves an Okita Souj here: he coughs up blood for most of the show and is a very weak guy because of his illness and because he’s dying. BUT he’s totally sweet as he spends his time tending to the sick and looking after them <3 Maruyama keeps getting these types of role recently. Sorry that’s all I have to say about him....

Aono Kaede as Hajime

She was great! I loved how she first played this cute innocent girl and then as soon as she’s resurrected and taken to the dark side (haha SW reference) she gets badass and sexy. Even in one scene, she strips while talking to YamaKen as she reveals to him that she’s not the Hajime he knows anymore. Also she has an onstage kiss with Higa Manami in the beginning, which is how Higa’s character possess and takes control of her, to which I was like ‘OH YEAH!’ - my brain is a pervy weird thing okay. 

I LOVED her outfit in part two! It was sexy and like black leather and she did a great time with the fighting scenes. Although her choreography was a LOT slower compared to the boys; it might’ve been the actress’ own lack of stamina and strength, but it was noticeable how much of a slower pace her fight scenes were BUT I still enjoyed them. She fought like a badass xD

I understand that some people might be annoyed and think ‘oh this is sexism! and misogyny, and of course they make the girl strip and act sexy and wear scanty clothing’ etc. BUT I personally do not mind it at all - boys or girls - and I enjoyed it okay. As long as they’re a badass and a good character which she definitely was! BUT I understand why some people might see this negatively.

Kuriyama Wataru as Samo Jirou

Kuriyama, just like Aoki, had hair that was absolutely fabulous! It was so fluffy and nice(!) and long too! They both suited it, although it didn’t look much different to what Aoki usually has xD it was especially fabulous when they fought and it swished around and everything xD

Kuriyama was part of the bad guy side (and so was Aoki originally) so you saw him pop up in random places trying to fight the other guys. I feel it was a safe character for him to play; there was nothing majorly challenging for him I don’t think... it was a simple enough character for him to do and he did it while looking fabulous!

Unfortunately I do not remember what happened to him in the end but he too died xD I think he was ontop of a rock and him and his rival (Aoki?) killed each other at the same time. But don’t take my word for that.

Matsuda Kenji as Chudai Houshi

I did not realise until AFTER the play that it was Matsuda freaking Kenji on stage! No wonder he looked so familiar! And no wonder I enjoyed his performance! He’s a freaking badass in ALL the Toku’s he does, and I always love his characters! I wish I’d realised and known before I watched this because then I would’ve been more pumped about him and his character and would’ve spent more time on him. BUT having said that I really enjoyed his character anyway! I love how he comes in and seems mysterious and helps guide all the boys and explains what happened in the past and then to be confronted by his son and to fight his son to the death. And THEN for him to be resurrected and possessed and turned evil,!! That really broke our hearts to see Aoki having to fight his father again =[ and the way Aoki laid his father to rest the first time around too! <3 So even without knowing who it was at the time, I still ended up enjoying his performance and character which shows he’s a damn fine actor -- they all are!! xD

Higa Manami as Tamazusa / Fusehime

I don’t have much to say but I really enjoyed her performance as she got more dragon-like and more deranged and more cracked and less human. Also, she looked fabulous. All her evilness was great! I especially love that final scene with her and YamaKen <3 when she was so close to kissing him and bringing him to the dark side but BAM he’s like ‘you think I’m that stupid?’ and attacks! It’s so good! I loved her entrance too where she’s brought in by humans carrying her on a palanquin; I was super impressed that they had no problems or accidents as they carried her on stage, lower her, relifted it up with her on and carried her off stage xD

Yaotani Maoto as Fusahachi and Kawashima Ririka as Mei

These two had a short time on stage but they were adorable! They played two roles! They technically open and close the entire stage as young YamaKen/Shino and Aono/Hajime planting a tree <3 They also play Wada’s younger siblings. They did a great job in the short time they had ^_^

The Ensemble were great and there were a lot of them and they had a lot of work to do. They were also good at covering the flaws and such of the others, or picking up items or clothing that accidentally came out and stuff xD 

And I think I’ve finally finished me segment on the actors! Phew! That only took like 4 days >.<

AESTHETICS

For some reason in my notes here, I have: These seats = NOT comfortable. But I don’t remember this at all >.< oh well! But apparently Bunkyo Shibik Hall does not have comfortable chairs xD so there’s your future reference! ^_^

The stage was amazing. They had these huge lumps of set pieces that so smoothly moved around the stage and everything and they looked very well built and were impressive! Especially when ensemble would move the set pieces around AS the actors fought ontop of them! That was super cool ^_^

The lighting and project mapping was really cool too! I like how they had this little cardboard circle that would come down and they’d use PM on that to show the power balls and the dragons eye and such! Also towards the end when the dragon’s egg was cracking open and they used the stairs to show the cracking which was awesome!

The fighting and choreography...need I saw more about this? It was so amazing and I enjoyed all the fight scenes and everyone was badass and did a great job! It’s detailed more below but due to the audience being so rude, I couldn’t get completely into it which is a shame because I wanted to be completely into the fighting and the sad scenes. But seriously, they were all fighting in such a badass way and the choreography is amazing!

LEARN SOME MANNERS

And now for me to get my rant out...

Seriously the audience! They were the rudest I’ve ever experienced! It was clear that 80-90% of the crowd were YamaKen fans because that’s all they had him as their phone wallpapers xD BUT you could also tell most probably had never been to the theatre before, nor were part of the ‘Katana Girl’ group (which is where the problem mainly comes from) because holy moly they were rude as hell(!) YamaKen seriously has the shortest amount of time on stage even though he’s the main character and whenever he wasn’t on stage, pretty much everyone around me was either fidgetting or fall sleeping or being like ‘this is boring’ -_- it was a freaking amazing play if you actually went for the whole cast and the story and everything(!!!) ugh they seriously made me angry. One girl was completely out of it by about 30minutes into the first half, during the intermission she went and never came back...I kinda wish the rest of them had done that. Ugh seriously, I’ve never been surrounded by such a poorly behaved audience in my life and it made me feel bad for the other actors. So I made sure I clapped EXTRA high and hard for everyone EXCEPT YamaKen. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love YamaKen, I’ve been following that boys career since he was 16 years old but now he’s too mainstream in that the (Japanese) fans are so ridiculous now that I just don’t want to support him. Can we go back to YamaKen when he had more free range to do none mainstream stuff like hackers and hikikomoris?! *cries* 

Seeing him get and do THIS role was a godsend because it was finally something different and something that I feel suits him much more than what he’s done recently, but he’s so over-popularised and over-saturated right now that I can’t watch most of his recent stuff because it’s ALL the same. And the damn fans too these days... anyway...

I saw one girl with a KuroMyu bag which meant that she was a Tamaki fan and that made me happy BUT made me realise that we stage actor fans were the ridiculous minority, which shouldn’t be happening when you have actors like TamaChan, Aoki and Wada on the same effing stage! I felt SO bad for the other actors thanks to 90% of the audience being complete dicks. I mean it was expected and I did expect some YamaKen bias ridiculousness but I definitely wasn’t expecting the audience attitude to be that rude and inconsiderate.

Another friend of mine also went to this stage (for Wada) and without me even mentioning my opinion or anything, she ALSO mentioned how rude the audience was and how YamaKen bias it was, and that she also heard people go ‘oh this is so boring’, like seriously which play were you watching?!?!?! because it was VERY good!!! e and my friend loved it! But then again we always go to the theatre and we also watch these kind of things.

Unfortunately due to the poorly mannered audience, I couldn’t get completely into the stage, and I so desperately wanted to cry during the second half of the play because it’s just heartbreak everywhere! However, due to all those distractions, I just couldn’t. =[ I’ll wait until the DVD to cry my heart out properly to these actors and characters.

Ugh...rage and rant over.

GOODS

The pamphlet pics are super nice! But I found it strange that they weren’t doing bromide sets. I would’ve liked pretty much bromide sets of everyone, BUT then again it would’ve meant I spent more money which is probably for the best that they didn’t have any xD but yes it was strange for them not to have bromides but I guess the production is above that of 2.5 even though they hired Tokusatsu actors galore xD

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And that is my long-ass review! I cannot believe I’ve spent a good week writing this.... but it’s finally done! now I’m one less review down! Hopefully the others will come out quicker xD

Hope you enjoyed!! ^_^