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maketakunai · 8 years ago

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Toumyu Mihotose 4/23 Live Viewing Report and Stage Summary

Hello! I watched the new Toumyu, Mihotose no Komoriuta, once live and once at the live viewing, and now I have a nice(?) report about it to share with you!

Warnings:

-ALL the spoilers -Very tl;dr, it’s almost 6k long lmao -Written very unseriously and in Asuka-language -Tsuntsun for Kuri-chan -Many editorializing comments -I was writing this while watching the LV and I forgot some parts -Ishikari (Ishikirimaru/Nikkari) contents www -Otokomichi is JUSTICE

Notes:

-Nikkari Aoe = Araki = Nikkaraki, etc - “Nikkari is the best sword” directly translates to “there was a fight scene and Nikkari was really cool in it.” But also he’s the best sword -Ookurikara = Kuri, Kara, etc. -Sengo Muramasa = Sengo, Senbon, etc. -Kebiishi = KBC = a big bad guy -bug = Matsudaira (Tokugawa) Nobuyasu, Ieyasu’s son -Links to historical figures’ Wiki pages tossed in where relevant but I’m no expert on Sengoku Period/Tokugawa family history myself, so, yeah.

The show starts with Ishikiri drawing lovely pictures at the sword house. He shows Kuri but Kuri doesn't like it. Even though it's very nice! He explains that he's writing the story of their adventure, and Kuri asks him to show it to him when he's done. Ishi's like are you interested :)? and he's like NO I DON'T MAKE FRIENDS ok

Ishi decides to start with a cool flashback to when Sengo-chan came home from the sword bakery, pink lights flash all around. Ota Motohiro must be stopped. Stop him. A strange song plays. Tonbon says OH NO you're here and Senbon is like “Hey! Let's get naked!” and poms his pompom. Spicy.

Tenbu 11 Mikawa - Nikkari and Kuri coming back from expedition, suddenly bad guys are attacking the people! It turns out that these people just so happen to be the Tokugawa family vassals, like, Honda Tadakatsu and all them! But unfortunately they all get murdered by the retrograde army. Regrettable.

A guy carrying a bb gets stabbed, a lot, then just as he's about to kick it the swords show up and he passes the bb off to Araki wwwwwww My favorite line in the entire show: “この子はどうすればいいのかな”Just in this really soft and 8D;;; smiley nervous voice “Um, Ookurikara? What :T do you think I should do with this kid :T?” wwwwwww “DONT TALK TO ME”

Back at the sword house, Ishikiri's talking to the boss, they say it's going to be intense! Ishikiri wants him to leave it to him. The sword boss also says there's a high chance of “them” showing up and to be careful!! D: nuooo...

Meanwhile, Tonbon introduces Senbon to Mononon, he mysteriously manages to refrain from hitting on him for possibly the only time in this musical. Or, possibly before he can, they get called in to see the sword boss.

They go see him with Ishikiri, he gives them their mission to find the kids that have been attacked in the middle of expeditions and save them and figure out what's going on.

These four sing a song about going out to battle, it's kinda good. Monoyon's tights are intense.

Nikkari is the best sword

Kuri tells him to go alone, it'll be easier to protect the bug that way, but bad guys show up and Araki's like “sorry, I'd love to, but it looks like we are tied together by destiny~~~~~” They fight some bad guys, when suddenly who shows up but a hot pink sword! Senbon Muramasa shows up to uchigatan some randos. “instead of an introduction, how about we take our clothes off?” “Hahahaha what”

Mononon visits next to bring luck to all the swords

Tonbon storms in a while later to spear some guys.

Finally slow sleepy Ishikiri, so chill, the chillest of all swords, shows up, and destroys like twenty guys in a single attack because he is an ootachi. The best sword

at some point during this scene Nikkari ducked off the top left hand side of the stage to drop off the baby, a little while later a bad guy kinda wandered over there and suddenly Nikkari sword plunged out of the darkness and assassinated him, it was so cool, Nikkari is the best sword

So!!! Finally the six swords are together and we can sing! The most important song!

TOUKEN RANBU TSUYOKU TSUYOKU KITAESHI HAGANE IMA

Here he is, it's Mr. KBC. He looks like Darth Vader, I was very scared to see him ahahahah. It was ok in the LV but when I watched it live I kept getting really scared every time they said something about KBC or when he showed up ;;;;;

Nikkaraki explains the situation about everyone dying, bb starts crying, Ishi takes it and cheers it up for a bit, it cries again, Monoyon discovers! This bug is Tokugawa Ieyasu. Monoyon cuddles it and talks about how it's his treasure. His most precious bug. I feel like there was just a lot of laughter in this scene for whatever reason. Well. Nikkaraki and Ishi and Senbon are all in one place. Of course there's going to be a lot of casual hahahas and huhuhus flying out of any given conversation.

Lullaby one sung by Monoyon Sada-chan to lull the baby Ieyasu to sleeps. This nen nen nen nen nen kororin song will be repeated many times throughout this musical so please be prepared. Well. The title of this silly musical is “the lullaby of 300 years” so what else can we expect! It would be stranger if there wasn't a lullaby being sung a bunch!

Swords are trying to figure out what they should do now that all the Tokus are dead, obviously history cannot continue on its usual track if the kid who is going to grow up to unify the country is suddenly an orphan and has lost like 95% of his army/family/etc. thingy. Just then Ishi has an idea so crazy it just might work! What if, to keep history on course and ensure that those bad Retrograders will not show up and ruin everything again... we become the Tokugawa retainers....

He sings a song to gently persuade the other swords to his way of thinking. Koko ni kibou ga aru, a bug~ we can't let anything happen to this bug~

Yes, so, we will become the erased retainers, hahahaa, I will be Hattori Hanzo :|b we will make history happen just as it did before! But, Senbon thinks he is an evil Muramasa Demon Sword cursed to bring misfortune so he will go away, Kuri is not interested in anything but stabbing dudes so he will go away too, oh no. Meanwhile Nikkaraki will become Sakai Tadatsugu, a nice advising fellow. Monoyon will become Torii Mototada, a very reliable and loyal retainer! Famously, in the end, he sacrificed his life when he and 2k troops managed to hold off 40k of Ishida Mitsunari's forces long enough to let Ieyasu's forces regroup in time for the battle of Sekigahara. Perfect for a Monoyon! Tonbon is supposed to be the Honda Tadakatsu replacement (his former owner) but he has no faith in such a thing.

Little cute Nikkari was shocked to learn the warmth of a bb ;n; He and Ishi have a little private chat about the past. “Before, I asked you why I couldn't become a holy sword, and you said it was probably because I cut down a child, even if it was a ghost... I never thought I would be able to understand the warmth of a child, but holding this bug in my arms, I think I'm starting to understand what you meant...” “Well, you may have cut down a ghost child before, but this time, the child you have saved will become a god. I'd say that's pretty holy.” “A-ah... really ;;o;;/ ;n;” is I think the gist of the conversation they have here, tbh I'm a little fuzzy on the details but what is important here is that they laughed softly together and gave each other a lot of soft meaningful looks.

Ishikari is real

Now a montage of fool swords tryna raise a baby wwwwww narrated by Ishi. I cannot help but notice that we do not get the chance to see any of Ishi's amusing parental blunders, why are you trying to erase history!!!11!11!1 “To absolutely no one's surprise, Monoyon Sada-chan was the single best sword parent, as expected of the little waki who stayed by his side as his treasure~” Monoyon came out with the bug and played peekaboo and stuff with him, making the bug laugh, but suddenly the bug started crying! “Oh no, looks like you pooped a lot, let's get your diaper changed!” says the cheerful waki.

“Mr. Nikkari also surprisingly took to childcare like a sword to stabbing dudes” Araki shoved the baby bucket wwwwww in previous shows he came out with a stroller thing and was pushing it like a normal human but in raku he was just like. Shoving it and letting it roll on its own while he walked behind it wwwww He picked up the bug and then said “You know, i don't hate soft things.... maybe I'll eat you!!!” a good sword parent

“Tonbon seems like he should have his shit together, but perhaps he was the roughest and most disastrous of all of them.” Tonbon came out with the bug strapped to his back and started flailing around his spear. At first the bug liked it but then it Did Not and he panicked and unsuccessfully tried to cheer up and continue spear practice with the crying bug wwwwww

“Senbon and Kuri were protecting us from a bit farther away. Probably. Separately. Probably.” “Hey, Kuri, want to ~~~live with me~~~” “I DON'T MAKE FRIENDS” “But I~~~ extremely~~~ want to become ve-ry good friends with you~~~~”

Time skip!! The Ieyasu bug became a smiley bigger bug of 10 or so, very cute! I want to squish it. Nikkari and Ishi? and Monoyon are talking with the bug. He clearly loves his sword family very much! But, he doesn't know they're swords, of course...! (also it makes you wonder if these kids are supposed to be in disguise or if this bug just grew up like “well my one dad has green hair and my other dad has pink hair and my other other dad is blond with pink tips and my other other other dad has normal-ish brown hair but I have literally never not seen him with anything less than flawless eyeshadow, i'm sure all kids grow up this way” Also??? They have to be doing other things like castle management and raising armies and whatnot, right, so probably the implication is that they're supposed to look like normal randos of the time period bUT ALSO LIKE what if they don't??? what if they are just like. Clearly otherworldly swords and the bug's just like Nothing Is Wrong and so nobody else has the nerve to question it wwwwww) Anyway they have a chat or something and Monoyon's like “Let's sing a song little one! KAA KAA, GEKKO GEKO” and the bug sings it too and it's so precious wwww i love

Senbon and Kuri are visiting to report their status. romanchikku Muramasa Fwamily song? Side note Mokkun worked really hard to imitate Suwabe's weird katakana pronunciation of desu and things, side note 2 how does Suwabe do that? Anyway Tonbon sang a couple bars of a song, then explained to Kuri (who DOESN'T WANT TO KNOW, HE DOESN'T MAKE FRIENDS but Ton's like chill, it might come up in the mission so just let me tell you this ok) that there was a legend that Mr. Muramasa Demon Sword was bad luck to Tokugawa thingies, then Sen sang his song about night and darkness and moon thingies. Clearly he is very worried about this mission!!

Nikkari came out and Senbon got EXTREMELY NERVOUS AND PANICKY. “Sh-SHOULD WE GET NAKED????” “There's no need for that.... right now 8D” standing in silence, Senbon wiggling “HAHA WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE TIME” “it sure is. A time 8D” Nikka tried to give him some advice like “hey it's nice trying new things, like, me raising a bug, who would have thought it but it's p good!” but Sen was too shook to deal wwww (did I miss something, why would Senbon be nervous about Nikkari all of a sudden? Is it just because he walked in while he was showing Emotional Vulnerability through song? Is it because he relies on his aggressive flirting as a means of keeping people away, except for not only does it not bother Nikkari but Nikkari is Extremely Into It and is flirting back and Senbon can't actually deal with that? Did they hook up sometime during the intervening ~10 years but it didn't go so well and now it's awkward? I really just don't know.)

is this a new song or is this the same song still. anyway more singing! Kuri sang too maybe! Cool bug growing up montage with it, the small bug had sword practice with his best boy Monoyon and then spun around and transformed into a cool adult! Probably, exactly like that.

And, his first child was born, a small bug named Nobuyasu (known as “bug” from here on). I don't remember this so much in the LV but in the live show, Ieyasu, like, kept passing the bug to Ishi but then the bug would start crying and so he'd have to take him back. He played with the bug and made silly sounds and it was really cute :)

OK now time for battle again! This is the battle of Okehazama where Ieyasu's ally the Imagawa clan gets rekt by Oda Nobunaga but the Tokugawa turn out totally ok :) Monoyon advisor, when asked about the luck of this battle, told Ieyasu something to this effect, hey! that's spoilers! Senbon flirted with Kurichan outrageously.

So there are these soldier dudes standing around and this little farmer guy called Gohei comes out and he's like wow! A war! My first war! and the soldiers are like “you, a soldier? Give it up, you won't last five seconds :/” They go to beat him up and Gohei's like STAY BACK and they're like OH NO he's got a weapon but then he just pulls out this tiny little sickle wwww They menace him a bit as he flails the sickle around and then who appears suddenly but Kuri Kara-chan!!! Gohei became friends with Kurichan, somehow, somehow. Somehow. Basically he's like “o-OH hey BRO yeah this is my BRO if you mess with me, you mess with my BRO” and Kuri doesn't really do anything lmao just stands there and all the soldier guys are too intimidated by his existence www Eventually they're like “w/e let's go guys :|;;;” only the poor two soldiers that are stuck with Kuri between them and the exit like slowly awkwardly move toward him, then give these incredibly deep respectful bows before dashing away. Gohei runs after them like “that's what you get you NERDS,” and taunts them by shaking his butt in their general direction, only he forgets he still has his sickle in his hand and stabs himself in the ass. Regrettable. Kuri turns to go now that this tomfoolery is over with but Gohei stops him and says “Um, hey... what's... war like?” and. I. Well I forgot what Kuri said in response =u=;; but after that he said something along the lines of “it's no place for someone like you :/” and ran off!

Then we get a battle scene, not so much with swords battling I think? Mostly a lot of human soldiers? But also Ishi is there for sure! At some point the whole scene kind of wobbles and falls into slow motion and Ishi has this small dissociation moment where he's just surrounded by all this horror and bloodshed and violence and he's kind of just slowly turning around taking it all in.... before he turns back to his fight and finishes off his enemy. Poor sweet Ishi ;n;

At the end of the battle the swords meet up again. Kuri's like “hmph ;/ is that all there was to this battle ://” and Ishi is really not having this today so he's like. “Oh 'is this all' huh so the many lives that were lost today mean absolutely nothing to you, all right, if that battle just now wasn't enough for you, that's fine, I have good news for you, DRAW YOUR SWORD I'M GOING TO FIGHT YOU” They have a sword battle where Ishi clearly has the advantage. He kind of pushes Kuri around like “hmm :/ your sword is very light isn't it?” and Kuri is unhappy.

Senbon breaks it up. “exCUSE ME. What are you doing you are NOT ALLOWED TO GET NAKED WITHOUT ME” Ishi's like haha oh you're right! he's Into It too wwwwww

Then Ieyasu finally turns up and he's like oh hey who's this cool guy I've never seen before, he was great in that battle thingy! Hey! Guy! What's your name! Ishi(?), seeing his chance, says “oh 8D Mr. Ieyasu 8D This is of course none other than Sakakibara Yasumasa!” Ieyasu says Wow cool! Hey Mr. Sakakibara, how about you fight with my team, it'll be real nice to have you! And in a surprising moment, the Kuri kneels down and swears allegiance to Ieyasu. Nice

Lullaby 2? Probably. Probably sung by Ieyasu to his bug? That's my heart's impression but I didn't take any actual notes on this. Anyway it grew from a baby into a small bug that can run around!! Again, very cute!!!

The bug ran up to Ishi to show him a nice flower he found! “Do you know what flower this is?” “Hahaha. Yes, it's called aconite. (In Japanese, torikabuto, “bird helmet” www)” and the bug's like “Wow cool!!” and then Ishi's like “By the way it's extremely poisonous hahaha” and the bug got scared and threw it across the stage www. Ishi had him do HaraKiyo and it was very cute www The bug has been watching this war go on and such and he wants to be useful. Ishi(?) tells him “well to be useful you have to work on your swords practice” but he only likes flowers, not swords. He wants to do something useful with flowers! Then Gohei came into the scene and wanted to learn swords from Kuri but he was like Nah. Then Gohei told a sad story about how war took everything from him, his parents got killed in a war and he and his little sister survived but after that they had no food and his sister starved and how now he has to be strong too. Then the bug asked Kuri to teach Gohei as well and Kuri had no choice but to agree to his lord (a very loyal sword? Kinda cute...) and bug and Gohei became friends? And the bug looked at Gohei's hands. “A-ah, this is embarrassing, I'm sorry, my hands are all hard from farming...” Meanwhile poor little Kuri-chan having agreed to this absurd demand is waiting at the corner of the stage. Ishi's like “Ah, is it ok to keep your sword teacher waiting?” and Gohei's like OH NO I'M SUPER GOMEN and ran after the very annoyed Kuri Kara. The bug looked at his own hands as he walked away. “My hands... are very soft...” Perhaps, I get the feeling that Ishi is feeling a bit melancholy here, but maybe that is just because of what is to come...?

Now Ieyasu is allied with the Oda forces and is participating in their battle vs. Azai Nagamasa. Again, Monoyon advisor tells him that luck is on their side...!

Nikkari is the best sword

Tonbon is still deeply uncertain about being a good replacement for his former master, Honda Tadakatsu, which is a problem because this is a battle where Honda played a pivotal role. Monoyon Sada-chan, reliable as all wakis are, thinks of a clever way to make him get it together. “Tonbo! There's someone who's been badmouthing your former master!” he says! Tonbon gets mad! Who is it!! Who is this guy!!! I will FITE HIM!! But Monoyon points to him and says “The one insulting your master.... is you!!” Basically to not believe in himself is insulting to the master who always trusted him as a weapon, maybe? Tbh I forgot what his point actually was OTL Anyway he gives him a pep talk about how he can be the best Honda Tadakatsu if he believes in himself and isn't dumb. Then Ton sings a song about he will become Honda and breaks into the enemy stronghold singlehandedly against like 10000 guys. Cool sword.

After a successfully won battle, we get a scene with Gohei and bug and Kuri, bug has a request! He wants Gohei to teach him how to farm. Gohei says ofc!! but if it's okay, in exchange, he wants bug to teach him how to read. Ofc it's okay!! says the bug, and he doesn't know many yet but he'll do his best to learn new words so he can teach them to him too! then they sword together with Kuri, Ishi sings a song and we get another growing up montage, welcome Ohno Mizuki, thank you for your self.

WHY AM I HERE BY HIS SIDE WHY AM I DOING THIS IS THERE ANOTHER WAY Ishi says and aggressively rips out pages from his notebook. Bless

Suddenly Senbon shows up to a meeting of swords and Ieyasus and declares that he is now Ii Naomasa and he's going to join their team. Please stop your wicked ways. Also like no offense but.... why... what was the buildup to this change of heart......

And Nikkari saw that Ishi was stressin' out and not letting anyone into his heart so he tried to strike up a conversation and help him but he got rejected..... please fall in love............. let him support you in your time of suffering.....

SO HISTORICALLY it turns out that what happened is that this very bug that the swords have raised from childhood will be ordered by Ieyasu to kill himself quite soon...! Not only that, the one who assisted his suicide aka actually killed him was none other than Hattori Hanzo, currently being portrayed by our boy Ishi Kiri Maru. Oh no! Meccha trouble. No wonder the poor little big sword is so sad and doesn't have time for love :/ Probably everyone knew about this except like Kuri bc he doesn't make friends. As the sword who stayed by Ieyasu's side to the end, Monoyon remembers that Ieyasu always regretted this to the end of his life.... and even he isn't quite sure why he had him killed. A nice sad slow rendition of TKRB plays over this scene.

Now we're going to fight something! Cool!

Nikkari is the best sword

Bad guys from the time army thingy come for the first time in a while and they fight them, Senbon is kind of losing his chill but it's fine, also he definitely sat on an enemy uchi or something and spanked him

Swords are defending Ieyasu and bug and Gohei and sending them deeper into the building to hide from the bad guys, but bad guys keep spawning! Eventually all the other swords are distantly located and the only one left is Kuri-chan! He does his best to fight all the guys, alone, just like you wanted, right :? He kind of collapses in exhaustion after he finished off the last one... right? Except OH NO there was one uchi or something left and it ran up to stab Ieyasu! But!! Gohei jumped in front of it and took the hit, giving Karabou enough time to get back to his feet and finish the uchi! Rest in RIP gohei. “That's why I didn't want to be friends :((“ nice live viewing camera work slowly zoomed in on the Kuri's 1 (one) emotion.

Ishi comes out to visit and pray at Gohei's grave. He has a song about “I want to save you, but everything keeps spilling from my fingers. Why do we fight, I don't want to lose any more of the things I'm holding onto....” He fights with Kuri by unspoken mutual agreement and afterwards Ishi tells him his sword has gotten heavier. Nikkaraki comes out and tells him Ishi is praying not just for Go but for all soldiers and things and even enemies and just everything. “why is he fighting then” probably he wants to put an end to all war...

sad Kuri whose feels are now getting in the way of his ability to fight and he's dokidoki artichokey. He goes to give Go's grave a flower except then he doesn't. “Idk what will happen when no more war but.. maybe I want to see it!! And only then will I give you a flower” ok that's fine but what are you going to do with the one you have now tho

and the sad baby bug visits the grave, full of regrets...

NO KBC IS WAITING STOP YOUR EVIL THESE SWORDS ARE DOING THE BEST THEY CAN

Mononon is under attack! From bad Sengo “COME ON NO ESCAPING GET NAKED” “WHY DO I HAVE TO GET NAKED” “BC WHEN YOU LOSE IN PRACTICE FIGHTS YOU HAVE TO GET NAKED” “BUT I WON” “WELL THEN YOU SHOULD BE STRIPPING OUT OF SHEER JOY” suddenly Araki and Sengo gets a little panicked because he's here to foil his nefarious plot. “Haha, sh-shall we all get naked then?” Araki: “Ok but I only get naked after a fight” “o-okay GOOD CHANCE LET'S ALL GET NAKED” Monoyon: “Anyway what's so good about getting naked” “SHALL I SHOW YOU 8D” Ton: DO NOT BE FOOLED BY HIS EVIL WAYS then Kuri came out and Sen almost stole his heart(?) by pretending to be hurt but then he didn't. Then because all four of the great Ieyasu generals were together Sengo made them line up and pose for no reason. Nice

Ishi came in and asked if they were having fun “WE'RE NOT” Araki: “no it's fun we're lining up” “IT'S NOT FUN” “oh, well, that's very nice, suddenly I have to go kill the bug now so bye” nice transition

There's a big argument about “what Ishi are you really going to kill this bug!! He did nothing!! Can you really kill someone who did nothing wrong!!” and Ishi snaps back that it can't be helped! This is how history goes and we have to protect history! He is suffering so much :(((( Nikkari probably makes them let him go. After some discussion the other swords are going to go help him kill him(?) for moral support(??) and everyone's sad especially Monoyon, they tell him it's ok and he doesn't have to come, he should just bring luck to everyone instead of death. He trails sadly after everyone on their death mission anyway.

the bug talks to his father Ieyasu. He wants to be slain because poor Gohei's death traumatized him and because he doesn't have the determination to be in the war anymore. Can't deal. Can't hold a sword anymore. Dad shoves his sword back in his face and screams at him that he has to fight!! He storms off and Ishi comes to take his place, presumably to kill him. Cool bgm of that yurayurara song whose name I don't actually know. The Ishi's sword is half drawn and he is frozen as bug confesses his inability to succeed his father. But then he sings his lullaby and Ishi gets his heart broken. His sword slides slowly back into the sheath. “Hanzo, I have a request of you. Please kill me” <//////3

approximately 2.5 seconds after Ishi decides that he really can't kill the bug after all, the KBC arrives to ruin everyone's day. Thus begins a very difficult and long fight against the single OP enemy D||!! (Also. I have to ask. Is the KBC automatically dispatched without any other info on the situation as soon as a change in history is detected, or like. were there a big panel of KBCs monitoring the silly swords going about like forty years of child-raising like “well yeah technically they’re not supposed to be here doing this, but those other guys already screwed things up and I’M not about to become a surrogate sword parent, let’s just.... leave them alone for now....”)

Everyone is being tossed around but our very strong and sturdy ootachi is still standing strong! Ishi fights the KBC singlehandedly and declares his intention of wrecking the KBC even if he breaks in the process, kind of??? implied???? that????? he's getting corrupted or something???? something is very wrong, but then, the bug shows up and gets stabbed trying to save Ishi from KBC. Everyone fights KBC and Ishi yells over his fallen bug!!!!!!!

Then they all fight together, they say lines about getting hurt (awakened?) they all stab the guy and then suddenly light flashes out!!! Very similar to the end of Tenroudenmyu when The Thing happened.

Next, timeskip! to the day of Ieyasu's death. ;n; he is an old man! Monoyon shows up and Ie recognizes him as Mototada, then he sees Nikkaraki, “wow, you came for me too Tsunetsugu!” then everyone! “Wow, everyone! Sorry, I'm the only one who lived such a long life.....”

“I always hated war. Sorry for being such a pitiful and terrible aruji” the monoyon shakes its head nyuaaa “when I first held the bug, the bug who was happy with just a lullaby... I cursed even that small happiness. I wanted to bring war to an end.” gets out of bed “How's that!!! I did it!! I got rid of it!!!” “i wonder if this was for the best.... that it took this much spilled blood to make it here.... Nobuyasu... sorry....” and keeps apologizing over and over. Intention to keep calling for him until the end. Then a cloaked figure shows up, who is it? It is none other than our bug Nobuyasu, but! he has become Gohei!! A humble farmer planting his crops in peace! Nice!!! and the world is beautiful! The Ieyasu is so happy and he falls back into Mononon's arms, softly singing the start of the lullaby until he passes away. Monoyon starts singing with him but stops because he is in tears. Araki advises him to smile :)

They come back! Sen and Ton are arguing about Tokugawa stuff again, then they're going to practice fighting, then Monoyon, a Fool, wants to join and Sen says “Ok, but by the end we might both not be wearing a-ny-thing at all~~~” “W-Well that would be! A problem!” Monoyon runs away chased by the cackling Senbonzakura. Nikkari and Ishi are sitting down looking at Ishi's book, Ishi shows him his nice picture of him! “ehhhh~ so that's how you see me...?” Ishi is shocked www then he shows him Kuri “Ah yeah, I can imagine it perfectly” “right!!” “his face when he sees THAT” wwwwwww heartbroken. Then Nikkari sits next to him and looks at the gloomy Ishi and says “Ishikiri?” “Hmm?” and starts laughing until Ishi laughs back and they both laugh with big smiles on their faces!!!!!!! I love them!!!!!! Laughing is the best in the end!!!! (the cry of my heart)

Ishi writes some more stuff, then realizes he has to go to horse duty, accidentally leaves his book behind. Sneaky Kuri finds it, flips through it until he gets to a certain page, then softly smiles for just a second before he frowns again.

Everyone sings the lullaby song together!!! The full version! the end of the first act!!!! Very nice!!!

Act 2

Starts with weird vines and a haunted house? Why? I don't know. No one knows. Some nice dancing by our ensemble guys.

A cool song. I liked the Nikkari and Ishi kecha part, Ishikari is real. They all had cool black cape thingies and the lining of Senbon's was pink and beautiful. I love it.

“Shall we get naked?” says Senbon and they take off their first layer of clothes. another cool song. Centered by Senbon Muramasa. At the end he does a sexy dance move where Tonbon spins him around and he ends with his leg wrapped around him :) whoa. Muramasa fwamily.

The part where they determine who slacked off the most in today's musical. Tonbon says “I have never once slacked off in my life!!” unfortunately for him at the show I saw live he was chosen www Senbon or someone was like “so much for never slacking off 8D” hahaha. At that show, he said his “近寄らせはせん！ ”(I will not let anyone get closer!) line except he followed it up with “...except for you, Aruji~♥” Thank you................. I love you..........

At senshuuraku, a miracle occurred and the sword chosen to say an embarrassing romanchikku line to the audience was none other than... Both!!!! Ishikirimaru and Nikkari Aoe!!!!!!!!! At the same time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I lost it tbh I was screaming alone in my house at 9:14 pm. Anyway they went back to back and took turns saying parts of their lines together and Ishi shot the audience to the heart with a bang and Nikkaraki blew a kiss and anyway Ishikari is real, thank you...

Nikka to Kuri: “I'm going to have you accompany me a while longer.” Araki/Zaiki duet. Endless Fighter? That was the primary Englishy bit in the chorus. Some mystery notes in there. Pretty catchy? I don't really have a good ear for songs to start with but this is the only one that I can still remember some of the tune and lyrics to which says something probably! :D;;;

Ishi and Mononon duet. A lot of high notes, I don't know that this was necessary? But it was cute, they're cute. Cute swords.

Tonbon solo, probably the best song(?)? Because y'all spi can SING. He was really cool and cute too :(((!!!! Wonderful!!!!!! Very much he deserved this solo!!!!

Soft and slow song with swords wandering through the audience. Ishi peekaboo'd the live-viewing camera wwww Kuri showed the camera an X because he doesn't make friends, thanks. There was a very important moment in the live viewing where Ishi was singing and Nikkari just kinda stopped and watched him with a really soft look..... Ishikari is real.....

When I watched it live, Kuri was going to walk down our aisle (where a lot of Kuri oshis were waving lights for him) but then he was like EXTREMELY NAH and turned around and went back to where he came from :T Brat. In character but like come on. At least Monoyon hung out at our area for a while and Ishikiri came and harakiyo'd some people, please purify me Ishikirimaru.........

Next they brought out the drums and the human actors and had some flag waving! Cute tokugawas!!!! Cool drums!

Next, everyone takes off their second outfit and we get a song that is not Otokomichi. Like it's a p good song, like, it would be really hype if it was a leadup to Otokomichi, but, it's not Otokomichi, so, what's the point...? why even have a sword musical? Without Otokomichi? Tbh

In Not!Otokomichi their little prop thingy they played with was a small version of one of those jingly shrine bell thingies where there's a lot of bells attached to the one thing? And it had like rainbow strings -u-! Great! Like this maybe vvv

Finally we end with Touken Ranbu (song) drum version and the redressed swords sing a final reprise of it!! Right!! This is how you have to end the swords musical!! I'm lookin' at you Tenrouden!!!

At Japan senshuuraku, they announced a DVD for the live they held at Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima, only a year after it happened but that's fine. Then they announced a new myu to be happening between November and January of this year, with no further information! That's fine! I didn't want to know what swords were appearing in this one, of course not! It's fine!!!!! Last, they announced Dream Live Swords 2017 for this December, to be held at Budokan and Osaka Castle Hall and Saitama Super Arena!! Holy cannoli!! Big houses for lots of swords!!! Please bring back all the swords for this but ESPECIALLY my Shinsengumi swords :V Please give Kanesan an ever larger audience for his haikus......... thank you.......................

Personal Rating: 7.5/10

I enjoyed it a lot! And I know for many people this was their favorite swords musical this far :O The casting as always was flawless, the only equally perfect casting decision to Araki Hirofumi as Nikkari Aoe that has ever been made is Ogoe Yuuki as Horikawa Kunihiro. And, I was happy to see it live! But, I thought Tenroudenmyu was superior in having bigger emotional moments as well as having overall catchier songs (esp. in part 2 ><). And, there wasn’t really anything in Tenrouden where I was like “ok but why” like there was in Mihotose. Also they took Otokomichi out????? I’m legit really upset about this lol. But, I also think there were some things this one did that improved on previous ones, like trying to share the focus more equally between all six rather than having two kind of leftover swords just hanging out in the background. And it very much feels like they’re trying to take the overall narrative somewhere rather than limiting it to the Swords Angst Over Their Former Masters plot we’ve had before, especially by bringing the KBC in. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they do with the next one...! *____*

Thank you for reading! Please share your thoughts on swords musicals as well! Discussions and dissenting opinions are always welcome *u*

#toumyu #mihotose #long post #spoilers #touken ranbu

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theworstbob · 7 years ago

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the thing journal, 6.11.2017 - 6.17.2017

capsule reviews of the pop culture i took in last week. this week: venice, witness, 1989, gilded, punch-drunk love, sucker, bloody bloody andrew jackson, gone now, boomiverse, melodrama, before sunrise, pinata, whiplash

1) Venice, by Anderson .Paak: Paak might be really close to Greatest Living Songwriter status. Like, Malibu and Yes Lawd! are both undeniable classics, but this is ALSO so solid, solid enough that I feel like, if we get someone in the room with Paak to say, "Hey, dude, maybe don't put a bad butt pun in this one?" Paak could be running the world. Every second of this album is wonderful. Like, .Paak makes songs that make an indoor kid like me wish he was at the beach, that's like the only thing I can say about this album. .Paak' great. I don't have enough words to describe what makes him great.

2) Witness, by Benjamin Booker: ...So, this is the last thing I'm writing? And this was a nice, bluesy rock album that made a Sunday morning slightly doper. I liked it, it was nice, listen to it if you like nice rock albums.

3) 1989, by Tay Tay: I sure do have a lot to say about this album that wasn't said two and a half years ago! I liked it. The first five songs are as good as any five songs on any album that's ever been, and then the rest of this album... Exists? Like there's no way I'm going to call an album with "Shake it Off" and "Bad Blood" on it a classic, and after hearing Lana del Rey songs I can't get behind the Lana del Rey impression that is "Wildest Dreams," like it was already an enh song but knowing it was ripping off an enh thing gives it a firm "no," but any album with "Style" and "Blank Space" and "Style" deserves plaudits, and the album does pick up with the last two tracks, which are up there with the first five tracks as the best stuff Tay Tay has ever done. End of the day, though, To Pimp a Butterfly still should have won Album of the Year, and if at the end of 2014 Catch-Up 1989 is still in the top ten for 2014 (#9 as I write this), I'd be stunned.

4) Gilded, by Jade Jackson: This? was somehow recommended to me by Amazon because I enjoy the music of Paramore. I cannot claim to have heard the Paramore in this. I heard a pretty decent if slow-moving country album! That was a fun surprise! One of my favorite things about country music in 2017 is how, like, we typically associate rebellion with punk and rap, y'know? Loud music that moves fast and is always shouting. And rebellion in country is sitting with just an acoustic guitar and singing sad songs about small towns. Like, a lot of country music is about what a small town home town dirt road party it is to be in the sticks, so the outlaws have to slow it down and reflect on whether they're truly happy where they are. So like, this album has incredibly little in common with Paramore from a music standpoint, but they share an attitude which has to manifest itself differently because of their respective genres. Basically, I'm incredibly down with this album.

5) Punch-Drunk Love, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson: hey. hey guys. did you guys know about this paul thomas anderson dude. he's pretty great. like, everything about that scene where he asks the woman out, the warehouse collapsing, the calls from the phone sex scammer, his sister haranguing him, the woman not knowing how to respond to this, him clearly not knowing how to handle the situation, the pudding the so much pudding, the score building as everything falls apart, it's so fucking good. i remember, when i was 12, this movie had like two whole shelves at hollywood video, and when my dad and my family were looking at this movie, we were like "we love little nicky! but this might be more serious? and poor innocent caralin," and i just, i wonder what a younger me would have thought about this film. i wonder how i would have reacted to this, if we actually had pulled the trigger on punch-drunk love before i was anywhere near ready to handle it.

6) Sucker, by Charli XCX: hahaha i need to do theme weeks or something like i'm supposed to think about a paul thomas anderson joint and then try to come up with a decent opinion about a fine, just a tich below great pop album. i should've eased myself into this, it should've gone punch drunk love, the kimbra album i added to provide the bridge from film master class to pop, and THEN charli xcx. i mean, i enjoyed this a lot, i had a solid, solid bus ride, but like i just need to structure the sequencing of thing journal better. like, maybe don't put the slap-hitting second baseman after the cleanup hitter, but the jason kubel type in the fifth spot, the chunky dude who kinda sucks at baseball but hits dingers more often than not. gotta think about my lineup, guys!

7) Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, wr. Michael Friedman: Well, this was good stupid fun. I think "Ten Little Indians" is a standout track, so clear a standout that it honestly belongs in a better work. It's a distillation of Native American history that doesn't seem to have any place in a musical recasting one of the shittiest presidents as a vain, morose emokid rock star, but then again, I listen to soundtracks and don't watch the shows, so fuck do I know about context. So, yeah, I dug "Ten Little Indians," and then everything else was fine and silly and took itself just unseriously that it never felt like American Psycho. Theatre in general isn't a good home for irony, but at least here, the sarcasm wasn't subtle, it was waving a giant flag the whole time saying "THIS IS DEF JOKES."

8) Gone Now, by Bleachers 9) Melodrama, by Lorde See, if I were a decent listener, I might have tried following up Gone Now with Melodrama. These reviews aren't being indexed in chronological order; I listened to Boomiverse before I gave Melodrama a spin, and looking back, I should've saved Gone Now for Friday to do a Jack Antonoff Power Block. I wonder if my opinion on these albums is colored by the interview I read where Jack Antonoff says he originally imagines all his songs for female voices, he writes his songs for women, then pitches them an octace down should they become Bleachers songs. And I found both Strange Desire and Gone Now to not really resonate with me, neither album really hitting me in the way an entity such as Bleachers should hit me. Bleachers is fun, '80s-inspired pop music -- I love that! But there's this weird disconnect I feel between the voice and the music, and I can't tell if that's a conclusion I arrived at on my own or if it was informed by that article, because while I didn't like Gone Now, I really loved Melodrama. Lorde and Antonoff work perfectly together, her voice gives life to a lot of things I heard but wasn't enthralled by on Gone Now, and they had a vision for this album -- songs have part twos! There's a reprise! ("Liability" is DOPE in the context of this album, y'all) -- which they executed sublimely. It's a complete, cohesive album that feels so much bigger than 11 songs, so full of weird ideas, and while I'm not sure how the mainstream is gonna react, I thought this was dope as hell, "dope as hell" being the highest praise my limited vocabulary has to offer.

10) Boomiverse, by Big Boi: One benefit of being just a dude on tumblr chronicling his experiences is that I didn't have to listen to and write a thinkpiece about a 70-minute Lil Yachty album. I only have to experience Lil Yachty through his features on other people's songs, do not have to contend with the totality of his vision. But, it is disappointing that professional music people DO have to write extended thinkpieces about Lil Yachty, when those words and thoughts and energies would have been far better spent on this album. This album is just good. There's no frills, minimal use of the obligatory Atlanta trap beat, clever rhymes, only occasional misogyny, and maybe the most jubilant rap track of 2017, "All Night." I honestly can't remember the last time I heard a hip-hop joint as joyous as "All Night." So much of my favorite hip-hop of the last few years hasn't been happy, and not even the justifiable "shit's fucked up" unhappy, the "sadness is the only valiid emotion" unhappy, and "All Night" is a statement that darkness is nothing without light.

11) Before Sunrise, dir. Richard Linklater: "Hey! I've been up since 1 AM, and it is presently 4:30! I'm going to put on this quet movie about a quiet night in Vienna so I can watch Before Sunrise before sunrise, LOL!" Yeah so I fell asleep during this one, team. Not long enough to feel like I missed a lot, not long enough for this film to lose its impact, but enough to feel like I failed this film. What I was able to see was great. It was like someone shot a podcast in Vienna, and that sounds like an insult, but I'm into movies that are just two people talking to each other, and I'd be into a podcast where two strangers try to fall in love in two hours, two people bullshitting about love and relationships and the future while wondering if they could be happy with the other person outside of the podcast. It didn't feel at all tempered knowing there's a sequel in the queue. Like, knowing these two people see each other again is disappointing, only in the sense that I don't get to live with the ending for 10 years before learning about the sequel, but at the same time, the characters don't know they're going to see each other again, and that last goodbye at the train is so heart-wrenching, the way she disappears behind the wall and the guy just follows her, trying to stay as close to her as possible.

12) Pinata, by Freddie Gibbs & Madlib: I will let nature review this album for me: I live in a garden level apartment, and outside my bedroom window, where I stationed my new computer, there's a bucket beneath the gutter in which water rests. Squirrels will occasionally come through, take a sip, and bounce. But as I was listening to this album, I saw that the squirrel was lingering outside my window. I assumed it was responding well to the vibrations created by Freddie Gibbs' pleasant, deep-voiced flow and the low-key production, and that it was enjoying the things it was feeling. This is music squirrels can enjoy, man, what more do you want. And then a Danny Brown feature came on, and that squirrel RAN, man. Like, I get it? I wouldn't expect a squirrel to respond well to Danny Brown, but I still feel that squirrel is missing out.

13) Whiplash, dir. Damien Chazelle: When I listen to music, I've found I connect to the drumming more than anything but the lyrics. Part of the reason I still listen to pop/punk is because literally every single pop/punk drummer is amazing, drumming so so fast every time. I also watch sports and speedrun streams, and one of the things that fascinates me is the maniacal drive to be great, this obsessive need to push yourself to some limit most would find unnecessary. So of COURSE I'm into a film which would marry the two, and which had the performance of a lifetime from JK Simmons, JK Simmons deserving all the plaudits he got for playing Malcom Tucker's long-lost American twin. I think Miles Teller was cat perfectly for the scenes where he's with JK Simmons, an arrogant nothing-boy who can convey talent and cluelessness, but Miles Teller is such a zero that the scenes with his family and girlfriend, where we're supposed to say "no nice boy don't isolate yourself from your loved ones to drum so good," just felt like "god shut the fuck up you whiny jerk." The film also didn't really address a couple of questions I thought might be relevant to the JK Simmons character. Does music still retain its meaning if you obsess over it to the extent that Fletcher does, do people still respond to his performances on an emotional level, or do they appreciate it on a purely technical level? There's that dinner scene, where someone in Miles Teller's family asks, "How can you have a music competition? Isn't it subjective?" and Miles Teller says, "No," but it never explores the idea of what chasing the parts of music which can be judged objective does to the music. The other question is, what right does Fletcher have to the next Charlie Parker? How does this white dude think he can own jazz? But I've spent more words finding what's problematic about the film than I did on what I liked, which is usually the sign of a great film, one I wanted to spend a lot of words thinking about.

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