#nothing but love for MY Akaashi (Shungo)

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Engeki Haikyuu + Tokyo Team Warm-Ups ♥️

While I’m back in my stageplay files, might as well sub my favorite backstage moment of The Tokyo Battle…

Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu: The Tokyo Battle. PLEASE DO NOT REPOST. Support the production if you can by purchasing the Blu-ray / DVD!

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Takasaki Shungo Blog entry  May 5th, 2019

Good evening everyone, it’s Takasaki Shungo.  

On May 6th, Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu – “The Tokyo Battle” safely wrapped up all the matches of all 30 performances.  Thank you so so much for coming to see us, for your support, and for your cheers.

Full translation under the Read More

I wrote this on Twitter too but, there’s a sense of loss for all of your praise and compliments. Lol I miss the play.  I miss my character.  I miss everyone.  

With the previous Engeki Haikyuu production, “The Strongest Team,” the Karasuno High cast who had been the focus of the story until now graduated, passing it on to this production, which became focused on their rivals.  In Karasuno’s absence, we’ve served as the bridge between productions for Engeki Haikyuu, and I think that we were able to “connect” everything to the next production too.

And with regard to current affairs, it was a tour that crossed over an era, from Heisei to Reiwa.  I still have a lot of life to live, and I will now continue living into the Reiwa era, having been born during the Heisei era.  Without a doubt, this production has become one where I can proudly say that I lived out the last days of Heisei to the fullest.  

For me, I became involved in Engeki Haikyuu starting with “The Start of the Giant,” and this was my second tour.  “The Start of the Giant” had 43 performances.  And this time “The Tokyo Battle” had 30.  I’ve now lived on-stage as Akaashi Keiji for 73 total performances. In my career as an actor, I’ve never faced any character or run so far with a role for so long.  Akaashi Keiji really showed me so many wonderful sights. Everything I’ve experienced as him has become my great fortune, and I know that it will continue to help me grow as a person.  I have nothing but gratitude.  

And with this tour, I was able to appear alongside the entire team of Fukurodani Academy.  During rehearsals we’d exchange this or that idea, and even at times when the mood would get a little tense, we were deepening our relationships, and now they are all like my family, and I love them very much.  This is yet another gift Akaashi Keiji has given me.  

Thank you so much for your support of Fukurodani Academy!!! 🦉

Our cast captain, Nagata Takato.

He really is an amazing person.

As cast captain, he pulled our Haikyuu troupe along.  I’m sure it was a lot more pressure than normal. But he went along as usual, in regular Takato fashion, he spurred everyone on, and sometimes we followed after him, and sometimes he’d give us a push from behind.  It’s thanks to Takato’s personality that this production resulted in such a wonderful company of people.  

You really did a great job.  And thank you so much.  

My partner Sakuraba Haruto My partner Higashi Takumi

“Partner” isn’t a word you normally use for more than one person, but for me I have two.  These two, whom I love very much.  I don’t think you could ever break the bond we’ve made.  Thank you so very much.  And let’s keep going together!

This has become another really long blog post… Everyone, thank you again so much for all of your letters and presents.  All of them have been handed over to me.  All of the words you’ve written pierce my heart one by one, letter by letter, and I feel your love more than anything.  I’m still so inexperienced, I hope that I could show you a wonderful show in return, but I’m not sure if I did.  But my goal is this one thing.  To show everyone the most amazing sight possible.  That will never change.

Our journey of “The Tokyo Battle” has come to an end.  But the journeys of our lives continue on.  Our journeys as actors continue on.  In the future, no matter how many years have passed, I want to hold onto the memories from before and face each role head on.  

Thank you so so so much for your support during all 30 performances for Engeki Haikyuu – “The Tokyo Battle!!!”  

p.s. Since I think that Akaashi Keiji also wants to see the best sight,* I think that our relationship must also run very deep.  

*If you’ve read my reviews of the show, I mention that Akaashi tells the other members of the team that he’s made a promise to himself, which is the reason why he always puts Bokuto first and spoils him so much.  Since the next big moment after that is him sending a toss to Bokuto with the thought, “Bokuto-san, please show us what victory looks like!”  The Japanese used is rather literal, 最高の景色, which doesn’t translate neatly or concisely into English.  “The best sight” is the literal, but doesn’t quite encompass that such a view can only be seen as the winners.  Akaashi is asking Bokuto to take them to the top, to lead them to victory, and when Shungo uses the phrase for us, he’s saying he wants to show us the best possible show.  When he uses it in this last sentence with Akaashi, he means that he and Akaashi both want to see Fukurodani’s ultimate victory.  

*cat grin*

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Translation by @nimbus-cloud Please do not repost my translations!

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Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu - The Tokyo Battle

Cast Comments published in the Dec. 22nd, 2018 issue of Shounen Jump (x)

Director Worry Kinoshita For Engeki Haikyuu, here’s yet another new challenge.   This will be the first Engeki Haikyuu without Karasuno, and the first featuring the tournament that takes place in Tokyo.  It feels like our theme for the next play will probably be completely different from the ones we’ve done up to this point.  If I think about it, we’ve always been challenging ourselves, so it’s nothing new.  So by that definition, nothing will really change at all.  Please continue to support our persistence and our drive.  And please look forward to it.  We’re still working on this production such that everyone will be able to say, “Engeki Haikyuu can do even that!” 

Nekoma High - Nagata Takato as Kozume Kenma Playing Kozume Kenma, I’m Nagata Takato.   First off, I want to say how happy I am that I can finally be placed on the main visual, because that’s always been my one wish.  There’s a lot of pressure in presenting the first Engeki Haikyuu following the Karasuno graduation.  But I’m going to make use of the four shows I’ve appeared in before and do my best.  Even though I say that, it’s hard for even me to imagine an Engeki Haikyuu without Karasuno.  Our strong point in Nekoma is our teamwork, and we’re going to demonstrate that plenty so that we can meet everyone’s expectations for this production.  A new Engeki Haikyuu is beginning.  

Nekoma High - Kondou Shouri as Kuroo Tetsurou Hello everyone!  I’m Kondou Shouri.  I’m really happy to be able to continue playing Kuroo Tetsurou.  I never even imagined that I’d get the chance to do the Tokyo matches. Those of us on Nekoma had talked about wanting to do the Tokyo matches even from back during “Karasuno, Revival!”  To think we’d be able to make that a reality.  It really is thanks to all of you that we’re able to gather together again like this!  Thank you so much!!   As part of the chorus, as a high school girl, and even as an elementary schooler, I’ve been able to experience Karasuno’s tournament matches from up close.  We’re going to deliver something that absolutely won’t lose to the level of passion that our friends gave!!   This production is something I’ve always wanted.  I will definitely return the debt I owe to everyone and to Engeki Haikyuu.  Please, come see the next overwhelming play with your own eyes!! 

Fukurodani Academy - Sakuraba Haruto as Bokuto Koutarou I have the privilege of playing Bokuto Koutarou, I’m Sakuraba Haruto!  I’ve been mesmerized by this production for a long time, and it’s a great honor for me to be able to make my acting debut playing Bokuto, a character I love.   Engeki is an important place that my senpai have built up, and as a fan and as an actor, I promise to make this production the best I can so as not to shame the name of Engeki Haikyuu!  The battlefield for “The Tokyo Battle,” which will be the 7th production in this series will at last be Tokyo!  The friends who have helped us to improve will now become our opponents as a position for the Spring High is put on the line, and a fiery battle will unfold!!  Please give us your support!

Fukurodani Academy - Takasaki Shungo as Akaashi Keiji I’m so happy to be able to stand on the stage as Akaashi Keiji once again.  The Karasuno members who have built up this Engeki Haikyuu production from the very first show have now graduated.  We have carefully taken up everything that they’ve connected to us, and we’re going to continue onward to yet another stage. For me personally, this will be my first time with everyone on Fukurodani Academy all gathered together, so I want us to do our best to become one as a team, and as a new Fukurodani Academy.  Engeki Haikyuu continues to evolve and grow, and we ask for your continuing support.  

Nohebi Academy - Fukuzawa Yuu as Daishou Suguru As the rehearsal days accumulate, what I would really like to do is to fuse with my character while making the best use of what makes me distinct as a person.  I want to create a faithful reproduction of this character, but still present a Daishou Suguru with an originality to him that he’s burned into the eyelids of everyone in the audience.   This is a production everyone has been looking forward to, and I want to join in with the audience in your laughs, your amazement, everything that might move you.  And I want to create a play so hot, it’ll hit boiling point.  

Translation by @nimbus-cloud Please do not repost my translations.

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Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu - Start of the Giant

Final show curtain call!!!

Full description under the Read More~

At this point I think Engeki Haikyuu curtain calls are semi-cursed lolol each one is slightly more of a mess than the last.  

Very unexpectedly, I ended up in the 5th row from the stage (center section, left aisle) for the final night’s show, and got a wonderful clear view of everyone’s expressions for the curtain call.  I’m just gonna recall everything as best I can and just go in order.  So this is going to be loooong.

First up, Mart-san.  He had his usual standard curtain call message, no misses, always a strong start to the lineup, and ended with another round of cheering for Karasuno, yelling K-A-R-A-S-U-N-O!!! Then Momo, who got to play not just Saeko-nee but also Hana, the manager for Johzenji.  On the far right of the stage, she actually stands between Mart-san and Johzenji, so she’s closest to them and a little more removed from the other Karasuno members.  She said it was a great privilege to be able to play both characters, and that one of the great things was that she could cheer wholeheartedly for both Karasuno and for Johzenji.   Then moving all the way stage left, we move to Shungo (Akaashi).  One of his lines from the NekoFuku match is asking Bokuto, “Was that OK?”  (OKですか？） He says this when Bokuto’s making a comeback out of his slump, and he wanted to say it to the audience and have us reply with, “OK!” （OKです！） Takumi (Bokuto) was after that.  Takumi was actually quite teary-eyed when they came out for the curtain call bows, but he recovered by the time it was time for his message, so he was ok when talking.  He kept it pretty short and simple, but of course, he wanted us to shout, “Hey hey hey!!!” when he gave us the cue: “We really are the best!”  Then onto Shouri (Kuroo), who also kept his message relatively short and simple, but said, “I really want to play the battle at the trash heap.”  Takato (Kenma) was the one who dragged out their segment by trying to steal Shouri’s captain thunder.  Traditionally, each member of each team will give a message and then the team captain closes them out by saying, “Thank you for supporting X school.”  Takato tried to say, “Thank you for supporting Nekoma High” but Shouri stopped him like, “Hang on, that’s me!  That’s my bit!” Then Takato called him Shiro (with Shouri going, “Wrong color!”), and eventually they settled down into asking if they could do the Nekoma chant with the audience again.  So we did, I definitely tried to yell it EXTRA loud, and then Shouri shouted, “Thank you for supporting Nekoma High!”   Then we would’ve moved onto Ariken except Kenta stepped forward and reminded Takumi that he forgot to do that for Fukurodani.  Takumi was very flustered by it and kind of meekly started saying it, but Kenta was like, no no no.  Stand up tall and do it in a big voice!  So he stood up a little straighter and yelled, “Thank you for supporting Fukurodani Academy!” and then he and Shungo bowed again.  

Then we moved onto Arita Kenji (Ushijima) (stage right next to Momo), who gave a very serious, mostly very formal message at first... and of course mentioned how he’d be returning in the autumn show with the rest of his team, but he slipped and sort of said that they’d start working immediately, and Kenta was like, “That was fast!  Geez, don’t we get a break?!”  Kage-chan chimed in too about wanting a little break lol.  And then Shouri yelled from his side of the stage to remind Ariken to do his captain message.  And he seemed a little unsure, since he has literally no one else from his team, but he did it anyway (and finally broke out a smile~) and said, “Thank you for supporting Shiratorizawa!” 

Then we move back to stage left to go through Wakunan, and most of them were in tears.  I definitely ended up tearing up with them.  Yuma (Akiu) was first up, and he was so in tears he had a lot of trouble speaking.  We the audience cheered him on, clapping and telling him to do his best, and eventually he got out his thank you.  Mossan (Naruko) took over then, and he was all smiles as he gave his message, patting Yuma to try and cheer him up.  But then next was Goku (Hanayama) who was also so in tears he was very nearly unintelligible.  But even while crying, he snuck in some humor.  He said thank you to the wonderful cast, the staff, Ryoutarou--  At which point half the stage fell over laughing and Kenta interrupted like, “Normally you stop after cast and staff!  What is this?!  Cast and staff and Ryoutarou?!”  And Ryoutarou looked very bashful but he was also laughing.   Then Masa (Shiroishi), who had been in tears when they were initially lined up for curtain call, but like Takumi he recovered in time when it was his turn to speak, so he rushed through his thank you, spelled out his name energetically in English: K-I-M-U-R-A and passed it on to Nao (Kawatabi).  Nao had been pretty sniffly, and was still a little bit during his message, but he got through it ok.  And then Rin (Nakashima Takeru).  Oh my goodness my heart went out to Rin.  Rin had basically started crying towards the end of the Wakunan match, crying at the end of it, crying throughout the scene where he’s sitting outside talking about how the last few moments of that match were in slow motion, but he wanted to keep playing.  And I saw him teary-eyed throughout the closing sequence, his bows, and as they lined up.  He was just a constant flow of tears.  He said how much the show meant to him, how wonderful everyone on Wakunan was, and how wonderful everyone was on the cast and staff.   Kenta had to remind him to do his captain message, and he too, was a bit timid about it so Kenta had to urge him to do it properly lol.  But by the time he said, “Thank you for supporting Wakutani South High!” the rest of his team was supposed to follow by saying, ‘Thank you very much’ but they didn’t because they were unsure when to start, so everyone erupted in laughter and the team just bowed anyway lololol.  

We move to stage right to Johzenji, where literally all of them, from Rin to Aiji to Shihou to Youta to Ayato to Funakki all gave near flawless messages without a single miss.  Funakki (Terushima) said, “I hope that Johzenji left an impression and that something of us will carry on into future shows” and in response to that, Kenta made the Johzenji party hands gesture lol.  Then Funakki started going, “Thank you for supporting Johzenji High!” and Kenta was just like “How is it that Johzenji is doing everything properly?  Aren’t you guys supposed to play around more?” 

Ami (Yachi) and Shizune (Kiyoko) kept their messages short and simple and sweet, albeit ADORABLE, and Ami mentioned how happy she was to be able to do the Karasuno cheer with everyone.  Shizune got a bit nervous and fumbled over what she wanted to say so she just cut it short, and the two turned and nervously laughed at each other.  

Then Shige-san (Takeda-sensei), who got a bit nostalgic, remembering that they’ve been working on this production for 3 years.  For him personally as an actor, he said it was the longest he’d ever worked on a single show, but as he struggled to come up with the exact number of shows they’d done, Tsuyoshi-san answered for him, “We’ve done 212 shows!  Remember it better!”  For Tsuyoshi-san (Ukai both younger and senior lol), he actually told us the trick behind switching between the younger and senior Ukais.  He’s actually wearing TWO wigs lol.  He wears his blonde, young Ukai wig over his grey, old Ukai wig, and basically swaps between the two by ripping the blond on and off backstage.  Takato yelled from the other side of the stage, “Take it off!  Show us!” so he did actually lift the blond of his wig to show us the grey underneath!  

On to the Karasuno players!!!  

Justin started his message on a serious note, thanking cast and staff, commenting on the new third-year unit, and then promising to do his best for their graduation in the fall.  Then he turned to Naoki and said it was time to do his usual, and everyone in the audience hooted and cheered.  Naoki was like, oh no.  What?  And Keita laughed and held his shoulder like, ‘It’s your turn now.’ So Justin yelled SUGAAAAAA as he’s always done, and told him he needed to do an Egashira 2:50 impression later (Egashira is a comedian who usually appears shirtless in black leggings).  Naoki took after Hiroki very well and screamed, “Nooooooooooooo!!!” and ran to the back of the stage lol.  (He did do it though, and I’ll post the video later) Naoki for his message mentioned how nervous he was to take on the part of Sugawara after Hiroki, and he hoped that he did a good job keeping the parts of Hiroki’s Suga that were best while also putting himself into Suga.  Where Hiroki used to make the audience shout, “We love you!” (大好き！), Naoki wanted to change it up just a little, and have us shout, “We love you lots!” (いっぱい好き！） Kenta laughed, “It’s only a little different!”  Keita of course mentioned the fact that he had been Daichi in the first show, but then left while Akisawa Kentarou played the role for two years before he came back, and that he was very glad to be able to come back to the production.  As he said this, Ryoutarou started tearing up and crying on his side of the stage, and Kenta was like, “It’s not even your turn!”  He was obviously also very emotional about Keita’s return to the production, and after Keita wrapped up his message, he walked across the stage to give Ryoutarou a hug.   Moving stage left, we have Kazuma who said that he wanted to keep things light, especially after the emotional message he gave after the show last night.  He gave his thanks and then asked us to clap as always in rhythm for him to do that weird pose he’s always done in curtain calls and then he turned to Fucchi and said, “Give us the Super Deluxe Rolling Thunder!”  So Fucchi just ran to the back of the stage and started rolling and tumbling around screaming Super Deluxe Rolling Thunder, but since there was literally nothing for him to receive, he just fell over at the end, and everyone laughed.  Then he gave a very fiery, energetic thank you to cast and staff, and said the second-years really are the best, asked Ryuu to agree, then the two of them did the SOI SOI SOI we so love.   For Kouhei’s turn, he wanted us to shout “Tanaka-senpai!!!” as always.  Who’s the coolest?  Tanaka-senpai!!  Etc... But then he got very serious after he made us do that a few times and said, “Even though... Tanaka in this show caused injury to Daichi-san... and got depressed and troubled his teammates... and needed saving from Ennoshita...”  And then he pretty much dedicated his curtain call message to Ennoshita, and he almost made Kazuma cry.  Kazuma had to step back from the line-up, turn his back to the audience to collect himself.  Kouhei reiterated how amazing all the second-years are, and then it was on to Kairi.   Kairi began by stuttering, “P-p-p-playing Y-Y-amaguchi--” and Ryoutarou turned to scold him in the same way that he does during the show.  During the show, when it’s Yamaguchi’s turn to serve and he’s a nervous wreck about it, Tsukki tells him, “It’s not like before.  If you happen to score a point, everyone will just think, how lucky, that’s all.”  So for the curtain call, he tells Kairi, “It’s not like last time.  As long as you say anything, the audience here will think they’re lucky to hear it.”  And Kairi replies with, “Thanks, Tsukki!” as he does in the show, and then gives his thank you message. To introduce Ryoutarou, he puts on a nasally voice and goes, “Next, next is... Tsukishima Keiiii...”  Then Ryoutarou mimes doors opening, steps forward, and then anti-climatically bows and says, “If you please.” (お願いします。） Which makes a bunch of people laugh and fall over because of how anti-climatic it was lol.   Ryoutarou then said that he swore to himself that he wouldn’t cry, but he ended up crying anyway, and reiterated how happy he was to have Keita return to the production.   For Kage-chan’s turn he kept it serious and straight-forward, bringing up how hard they’d be working toward their graduation, and how they’d be sure to carry on the spirits of everyone who wouldn’t be joining them for that show.  He looks at the Wakunan and Johzenji members as he says this.  He recalled how during the Summer of Evolution curtain call he’d felt relieved when it was all over, he’d been so nervous, but now he’s really glad to be here and all he wants is to keep going.   Finally Kenta, who started by pointing out just how carefree everyone else had been with their messages even though they didn’t really have the time to do so because of the Live-Viewing audience.  He told us that the staff were in his earpiece trying desperately to hurry them along, but that this carefree attitude is one of the wonderful parts of the Haikyuu family.  He then said, that although he’d been trying really hard not to think about the fall production and their upcoming graduation, his head was now full of it with this show being done, and he just couldn’t help but feel, “Let’s do it one more time,” quoting Hinata.  (もう一回）

They bowed, they left, we all stood to give them a standing ovation to return to, Kenta thanked us for the ovation, the entire cast bowed once again... This time Kazuma lingered a bit in the back of the stage, and gave another bow before he left.  Then Kage-chan, then Kenta, then they were gone.  

For the final entry, which is always just Kage-chan and Kenta, they came out to us all smiles and off-the-cuff as usual, and making weather references again lololol.  Because although Engeki has a history of bad, rainy weather during the last show, we actually had very nice weather today, so Kenta was feeling really good about that.  Almost as if some... sun-like figure... had something to do with it... (referencing Hinata of course).  Kage-chan halfheartedly scolded him, but also mentioned how nice it was to not have to carry an umbrella lol.   They joked it was the perfect weather for flying, and how they wanted all of us in the audience to fly too.  “But only until you get to the station.  Not inside the station.”   They didn’t linger too long this time.  I think this third curtain call was shorter than the one they had during Summer of Evolution.  But they promised to work hard in the fall show as well, and then it was time for final bows and for the staff to shoo us out of the theater lol.