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sambart93 · 7 years ago

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2018.01.01 Kuroshitsuji Musical: Tango on the Campania [Review!]

Official Site here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Video Coverage 1, 2

CAST and CHARACTERS

Furukawa Yuta as Sebastian Uchikawa Reo as Ciel Uehara Takuya as Grelle Mikata Ryousuke as Ronald Harashima Motohisa as Snake Okazaki Momoko as Elizabeth Takagi Shun as Fred Abberline Terayama Takeshi as Sharpe Hanks Utsumi Akiyoshi as Edward Akisono Mio as Francis Nasu Kozo as Alexis Kawai Ryunosuke as Ryan Stoker Izumi Shuhei as Undertaker Sasaki Yoshihide as Druitt

Non-Spoiler Review

This is a very HIGH production with very HIGH production quality. It's also very faithful to the original story. The dancing and ensemble are super professional, the singing and song have some amazing moments, the setting and the apparatus' and how they've moved around the scenes and used in different scenes are great. The projection mapping was great also. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the characters, the costumes, the funny moments. It was a very, very enjoyable stage. This stage is loved by so many people for many different reasons; the production value, the fans of the actors (especially HideSama and Uehara, they both got woo'd at the end when I went), fans of the anime and manga like myself. This series has been in the works for almost ten years (apparently ten years this year) so of course you're not going to be disappointed by what they produce. I am thoroughly pleased with the performances and characters of Ciel, Snake and of course, the ridiculous Druitt! Also the dancing ensemble are absolutely phenomenal in this; I could not stop watching them; their dances were either very very fluid like a dead corpse would be (because that's what they were playing) or very robotic (just like a zombie would be) and it all fit perfectly. While I was originally upset that Tamaki wouldn't be coming back at Snake, I immediately fell for Harachan's Snake; he did perfect! And damn Ciel's Reo is just a phenomenal actor and he will go far; some of the notes he him in the songs actually gave me goosebumps and impressed me a thousand times over. I could go on, but I don't want to spoil anymore for you. If you're already a fan then you're gunna watch it regardless of my review right? xD And if you're not a fan yet, seriously, just give the manga a shot and if you sort like that, then watch the first season of the anime and then if you're sure you like the world and characters enough, (while I do love the absolutely mess and ridiculousness of the first few stages) start from the 2015 stage! You won't be disappointed. Rating: 8/10

SPOILER REVIEW!

As I mentioned in my 2018 Resolutions, I realised how shitty, critical, and negative I was getting in my reviews, so this year I'm being more objective and writing more about the positives; also, every　time I see a play I'm going to ask on twitter what things YOU want me to focus on and write about too so it's more balance and not only pleasing me, but then you're also getting stuff you want to know about the stage out of me, so follow @sambart93 for those! Now to the review!

STORY

Also mentioned above, the stage is very faithful to the original material, so if you want to know the plot to this one either read the Luxury Liner Arc or just go to the synopsis here. This is probably my SECOND favourite Arc that I've read (to be honest I haven't kept up with any of my manga series these past 13 months or just including Kuroshitsu... I'm sorry!) in the Kuroshitsuji series and for the stage to be so faithful to the original material made me so happy!

THE POSITIVES

PART ONE [About 1 hour]

My seat was Row V, which actually ended up not being bad at all! It was a lot closer than I thought.

There's a scene where the doctor shows an audience of him bringing a corpse back to life, and the dancing by the ensemble girl in that scene is absolutely amazing! I can't describe it but it was so fluid and matches the music perfectly, I was so impressed!

There's a titanic pose with Ronald and Grelle was great! Ronald really didn't want to do it but was forced to. And then soon after (or during this scene) Grelle is singing, and Ronald is just clapping behind Grelle so unimpressed - I was dying with laughter.

Most of the songs this time around are very good too! Some of my favourites from the first part is the main Campania song, Druitt's solo and I quite liked Ronald's solo too! Sebastian’s solo song is amazing too! He has a LOT of high notes to his in it. He sings the song about 3 or 4 times throughout the stage, or at least it feels like that.

I really like how this stage is gruesome too and not holding back on the projection mapping blood spurts and lots of red colour and use of red fabric to show that it's just pure blood shed going down on this boat - maybe I enjoyed it a bit too much? xD

Even when I first read the manga, I've always loved Lizzie’s badass moment and it did not disappoint on stage ever - it was great seeing her kick ass.

I really really do like this Ciel. I felt this way the first time I saw him last year but this time around really solidified it for me! He has a lot of potential and I think he will go very far if he continues to pursue acting. A part of me really hopes his voice doesn’t break and that he doesn’t grow for like another ten years so he can constantly be our Stage Ciel xD

A small thing, which is also in the main story (to my memory), I love how Ciel is in pretty-decent-sized heels throughout this, whereas Lizzie is just in flats xD I found it totally adorable!

For those who were worried about Hidesama - because I personally haven't seen him since he was on crutches for K-Stage - HideSama is walking, kneeling, and such smoothly and fine so I guess he's pretty much okay now. Although I do feel like he was limited in the types and amount of dance moves he got so I guess he's still not 100% and/or he's just be cautious for a decent amount of time, which is a good idea! And of course he was absolutely ridiculous as Druitt! I was most impressed with his voice! I knew he was good at voice acting since I've seen how different his voice is in real life compared to in TouStage compared to in HakuMyu, but he ONCE again changed his voice for THIS stage and I was so surprised and impressed! He's really talented with his voice! No wonder he also gets voice work too! But yes, his character was ridiculous as ever and had my cracking up with the things he did even when he wasn't the center of the stage or story at the time.

Oh and I really, really like the new Snake too! I didn't realise when it was first announced who the hell it was. But about 10 minutes into the stage I realised who the damn actor was and I got super excited straight away! I should never have doubted or been pissed at him! He's such a great actor and he did not disappoint at all as Snake! I ended up super super liking him like straight away! AND it was his birthday today! So HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY!!

The stage and the apparatus’ are flawless as usual. I was fascinated at watching the ensemble pull the apparatus' around and seeing how they had used every inch of the parts to make something relateable and useful for the actors. The staging and parts of the set were amazingly well done - which is expected I know...

Also, the outfits are great!! I think that's just me really like the Victorian Era and clothing but I love the clothing from this series and seeing it in the flesh is always so great to see!

The way Mikata, Uehara and Izumi swung their weapons around with so much control but also with such smooth motions was so amazing!

PART TWO [About 1 hour]

Druitt had two solo songs; one in each part. but his solo in part two had me cracked up! Especially the opening of it which his hip thrust and the echoing of his high voice and the colourful, flashing lights. It was so funny and ridiculous. It was also the only song which had audience participation and it got all of the audience clapping which I enjoyed and was fun. He danced and moved more in this solo compared to his Part One solo which made me even less worried about his leg ^_^

Grelle forced Ronald to do the titanic pose at the end again and he was so reluctant, it was so funny! I also think this is how they END the play which is just the best way to end it >.<

The Undertaker Scythe's is SO badass and looks so good in real life! I was so fangirly inside when I finally saw his Scythe IN THE FLESH! I've been waiting for this Undertaker reveal in the stage series for a while! Also I LOVED how he swapped out a normal blade for his Scythe behind his back, it was so smoothly done!

Going back to how much I love this Ciel; Reo hit some seriously BIG notes towards the end! I was so freaking impressed!!! If he keeps up with all this training and such, his voice is going to be amazing! It's already amazing because I didn't think 12 year olds could hit such high notes but he did, and he blew me away when he did it!

I really, really, really loved the dance ensemble in this one! I was so fascinated and enticed by them and their fluid and robotic movements really matched the whole dead bodies and zombie theme very well! They totally added to the whole thing and made the stage so much more entertaining and fun to watch thanks to their talents! There was one particular female dancer (she got a lot of the main dance parts) which was so damn good, I couldn't take my eyes off her. I need to find out which one it is. But the dancers all have blindfolds on for most of the stage - being dead bodies and all - so it'll be difficult to find out WHO.

Ciel always has the best outfits! I've always wanted to cosplay him. I've always wanted to own his clothing. This stage didn't change my feelings about his outfits at all; only increased them xD

The scene/moment just before Ciel and Seb's back story was so great! The ensemble were holding Reo and Yuta mid air and it was like a slow motion of them trying to grab each other's hands before Ciel gets consumed by the zombies and just as Seb gets stabbed in the back with the scythe. It was an amazing moment! I loved it!

CURTAIN CALL

Three rounds of applause, speeches after the second round, and standing ovation at the third round.

It was Harachan’s birthday so we sang Happy Birthday to him, and he was yelling thank you at the Undertaker who was right next to him (xD) and deep bowing on the floor to the audience in thanks. He was so sweet! He was like 'I've never had so many people wish me happy birthday! I think this will be a great year!'

HideSama spoke at the curtain call and a bunch of the crowd wooooo’d when it was announced he'd be the one speaking. He spoke about how he saw the circus one last year and felt, at the time, that he wanted to return to the world, and said he's glad he’s back after two years. And at the end he put on his Druitt voice and yelled 'TADAIMA/I'm home'.

Yuta also mentioned that apparently it’s their 10th anniversary for KuroMyu this year!

THE NEGATIVES

I try and keep a positive spin on the points somewhat:

While I did love the Elizabeth badassery scene, I couldn't help but notice that it was lacking in TouStage/HakuMyu/KStage-level-like sword fighting choreography. To a normal viewer, they probably wouldn't notice but in my eyes, the choreography was simplier and slower and looked a lot more like acting-fighting (like the ensemble obviously running into her swords to land the hit rather than it feeling like a flawless move from the character) to what my eyes are used to seeing. It doesn't take away from the fact that Elizabeth is really a sword fighting badass and that's the moment in the manga I really started like Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, the only ones I couldn't warm up to is Lizzie’s family. For some reason I just didn't take any liking to Francis or Alexis. I think I least liked their song too - oopsies. Her brother was okay though, and I liked how protective he was of Lizzie because it got really funny, like when Ciel safely brings her to her family and he's like 'take her and make sure she gets off safely' and he's like 'of course I will! I'm her brother! But I won't mind if you don't make it out alive okay? *bye*' it cracked me up!

Final note; I felt the first part was a lot stronger than the second half. Especially because a large chunk of the second half was dedicated to Ciel and Seb's back story and once again we got that contract scene at the start of the back story. Personally, I wish they wouldn't redo this scene every stage. Also I felt the crowd getting restless around me when the backstory starting going for like 20 or so minutes. I think a large majority of us wanted to get back to the main, present story. It wasn't a bad backstory at all; the song Ciel and Seb did during it, with the use of the projection mapping, was really good and creative, and Seb's 'kuso gaki / this little shit/brat' bitching was amusing, but it was a little too long.

GOODS

I only bought the pamphlet and the photobook and I've already put a lot of the photos throughout the review, but I'll put the rest of the others that I liked here: