#please watch patalliro its so good

[the-best-bagel]

LOVE when comedies hit you with super tragic shit out of nowhere like yes the past 10 minutes of this episode has been raunchy cockroach puns but now you're gonna watch this bishounen of the week die for the greater good and you WILL cry

[nyxravessnow]

Misinformation about the new Patalliro stage

I have seen some comments from people about this Patalliro being really badly received, being a all-round bad show and a waste of people's time. Obviously I'm not saying that you must enjoy it but it is a completely false statement so say the show was badly received and that hardly anyone watched it.

I looked over the Stage Patalliro tag on twitter for about 5 minutes and found all of these comments from Japanese fans (also I think it's great that foreign people are interested in stages but they are made to target the Japanese audience not a foreign one)

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1st post: I have finished watching the delay stream of Stage Patalliro 'Foggy London airport arc'. I'm so happy!! I wanna see the next one live! Bancoran and Damien were just like the real thing. The Tamanegi troop was also so good and Maraich was so cute.

2nd post: During the curtain call of the last show of Stage Patalliro, I couldn’t help but give them a standing ovation. Everyone in the audience who loves Bancoran and hadn’t experienced a stage before completely melted before him, and despite the situation not even one actor was lacking, thinking about how the audience and staff and cast had done their best to make this show together, I couldn’t help but cry. If I was allowed to shout I would have shouted out ‘Thank you!’. July is so far away (when the dvd is coming out)

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3rd post: I saw the delay stream of my real life friend’s favourite play ‘Patalliro’ !! The show’s quality was so high and the show was so good and just my kind of thing......It really reminded me of the previous shows! I really want to see it live...

4th post: I was finally able to see the new Stage Patalliro! Thank you so much for having a stream! Using the projections the direction has improved even more and the slapstick was as fun as usual!!

The bed scene was too* passionate (?) and I ended up laughing and then watching it again numerous times...

I’m really happy Damien was taller than Bancoran

*Often in Japanese they describe something as too much something but it isn’t always negative and in this context is not meant to be seen as a bad thing

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5th post: I woke up early so I watched the delay stream of the final performance of Stage Patalliro. To think a Patalliro show would make me cry at the end......

It’s really been so hard. Patalliro has had so many things in its way. In the end the ending was flowing like normal and I ended up clapping while looking at the screen. It was really fun.

I don’t want to go to work!

6th post: Stage Patalliro Foggy London 11*  *11th review

The point at which I thought ‘Everyone’s action is so good~’ was when the stage suddenly had an original moment ‘Bancoran! Why are you going that far!....You’re so beautiful...’ * and as a huge fan my heart jumped out of my mouth. The deepening of Damien’s character was great

*referencing a scene in the stage where Damien holds tightly onto Bancoran as Ban is trying to kill him. The original person attached art to her tweet but I won’t repost her art

7th post: I’m glowing. The stage patalliro songs are so good...... The new show ‘Foggy London Airport’ also had such good songs

8th post: I go to work listening to Stage Patalliro’s play button*, even on the mornings where I’m really sleepy Bancoran’s song ‘kiss me Bancoran’’s intro really wakes me up, it’s the best

*The play button is a thing you can buy that plays all the stage songs, it was released half-way through the run of the show

9th post: The stage’s Bancoran, Maraich and Tamanegi troop were all so beautiful and hilarious. I laughed so much

10th post: If you can see the Stage Patalliro’s delay stream and haven’t bought it yet, definitely buy it...

I found all of these after not scrolling for very long (I found a lot more too but I didn’t want this post to be too long) and I saw loads more posts about the cast being so good during the run.

I would normally not comment about things like this but so many people are relying on the thoughts of others before they check out the stage and this misinformation may actually lead to decreased sales for the show. I am not angry at people who didn’t enjoy the stage but please stop spreading misinformation about this show being forgettable, not enjoyed by many people and was an overall failure as this is just not true. 

I get that you are angry that the actors you like aren’t in the show anymore but please don’t try and lie to people to prove your point and/or turn people away from the show if they are interested. 

[vvlin91]

Stage Patalliro -Stardust Project- Super Long Ass Review Pt.3 (end)

I’m finally getting to the actual play!

Here, with as little spoiler as possible, I'd briefly cover the show in general, the use of props, how they dealt with multiple injuries and what to keep in mind when you watch the online stream/DVD.

Pt.1 What makes Patalliro so special compared to other 2.5D productions?

Pt.2 It’s because of love - oh jealousy♪ - the BanMara perspective

The live audience, if inside the theater early enough, will be able to hear Patalliro, Bancoran and Maraich read out the preshow announcements, telling you to switch off your phones and stuff. They all use their distinct IC voices so it was really fun, and Sanaich would end his part with a soft moan. Just a sexy, sweet "Ahh~❤".

This play is titled "Stardust Porject" but it covers more than just that. It's actually based on the Stardust Project arc, "Fly me to the moon", that chapter where Maraich fake betrayed MI6 but was actually helping Bancoran and a few more tiny things from other chapters. It's actually quite ingenious to put the Stardust arc and Robby's story together because they are both space-themed. And they intertwined the 2 arcs together very elegantly it really doesn't feel in any way uncanon.

One pressing question many people had before the 2nd play was how it'd deal with the Maraich/Bjorn paradox. As we know from the 1st play, Maraich's encounter with Bancoran was completely different from the manga. Instead of having Maraich meet Bancoran in a masquerade, the writer put together stories from several pre-Maraich chapters, basically merging other pretty boy characters into one Maraich (I covered the reasoning behind this change in Pt.2). And that included giving Bjorn's story to Maraich by letting Maraich be the person to make love with Bancoran in the rose garden instead.

So where does Bjorn fall in the 2nd play? The writer simply compressed Bjorn's romance with Bancoran to a brief flashback with as little detail as possible. So Bjorn only showed up on stage when Bancoran was explaining their past to Maraich. There was little specifics to it and therefore does not contradict with what happened in the 1st play. Interestingly, they also paid tribute to Maraich's actual first appearance in the manga by letting Andresen show up to strangle Bancoran in a masquerade. The context is totally different of course but it's just a nice touch for manga fans who knew what they did with the story.

One thing Stage Patalliro is well-known for is its songs. I've seen many 2.5D musicals (at least I think I do lol) but to be absolutely honest, a lot of the songs are just mediocre. Even in a production as spectacular as Kuromyu, there are still songs I sometimes skip on the playlist. But Stage Patalliro's music is so insanely catchy it could easily beat 95% of the 2.5D musicals I have seen and it doesn't even call itself a musical! Also, all the original songs (not the cock robin song or other folk songs) are written by Director Kobayashi Kensaku himself! He has such an incredible grasp of the 70s-80s pop music style that I can well remember my dad asking me why Maraich's solo "That Man" from the 1st play sounded so familiar despite having never heard of it. The songs in the 2nd play are just as catchy if not more so. There are a couple songs that are taken directly from the 1st play, such as the Hana to Yume tribute song and the ending theme. The music is the same but they changed the lyrics to suit the new play. Overall, the music is just superbly awesome, I honestly cannot think of another play that's as karaoke-friendly as Stage Patalliro.

Besides reusing some of the music, they also made the 3 main characters enter the stage in pretty much the exact same fashion as the 1st play. Patalliro entered as he shattered his fake, beautified public image, Bancoran hopped on stage chasing away rascals with his killer eyebeam, and Maraich bursts onto stage with a hurried "Excuse me~!". Same formula, same taste but oh boy how sweet.

(In case anyone is confused this is from 2018)

Another beloved feature of Stage Patalliro is its use of intentionally "cheap" props, such as the famous "Cockroach Run" boards and Bancoran's actual laser pointer representing his eyebeams that were both used since 2016. One of the most outstanding examples in Stardust Project would be the tiny helicopter Andresen held on a long rope (as if he was flying down from it).

Also these plushies, used in a song that recaps what happened in the last play.

The use of such simple, almost idiotic props is both hilarious and such a nice tribute to the manga's retro style.

This year, Stage Patalliro suffered 2 injuries along the way. The first one was from dancer Sato Ginpei before the play even started touring. He surprisingly didn't leave the show, but instead just played "a guy in a wheelchair" throughout. Although they ended up missing one person in a lot of the dance numbers, they also added a few new jokes that were specific to the fact that he was in a wheelchair.

And then there's Yoshimoto Kouki, whose injury was probably too serious for him to even travel from Tokyo to Osaka. He ended up missing the entire Osaka tour. In 100% Patalliro style, they wrote on the official website saying there will be a "replacement" for his role without actually doing so. Kouki's character Tamanegi No.17 was not himself an indispensable character. There aren't any lines that MUST come out of his mouth. So his lines can easily be said by the other 4 Tamanegi boys. But even so, they refused to wipe away the existence of No.17. Even if Kouki cannot be here in person, they will make sure that the audience KNOW that he is supposed to be here with the rest of them.

At the start of every performance in Osaka, Director Kobayashi would come on stage in person to explain Kouki's situation and apologize. He said they made changes to the show that could give the impression that "No.17 is still here". And so what they did was that during the Tamanegi pheromone corner, where all of them have to perform their very own skits, the other 4 boys would just talk to air as if No.17 was present. "Hey, No.17, it's your turn." "No.17, good job!" even adding splashing sound effects to indicate No.17 entering the Jacuzzi. When they leave the stage all sitting inside the Jacuzzi, they will hold up a helmet to caress it while lovingly calling, "Oh, No.17..."

In the ending song, when all the Tamanegi boys would dance in a row arm in arm, Aoki Jin would extend an arm to his left to indicate that's where Kouki would be standing had he been there. During curtain call, they also encouraged the audience to buy Kouki's bromide set "so you know what he looks like". So even though the Osaka audience did not see Kouki there in person, it was impossible to not remember him.

(No.17′s invisible presence in their finale photo)

Lucky for us, they did the recording before Kouki got injured, which means fans can still enjoy his performance in this play by purchasing the DVD and/or online stream!

In a way Stage Patalliro has always felt like a strange family to me. A group of adventurers got together to attempt the implausible, and their crazy experiment ended up a huge success. That’s why they kept even the same ensemble team. Basically everyone who’s already here STAYS, only new people in, but nobody goes away. If you are in a wheelchair, we will let you play a guy in a wheelchair. If you can't even be here on stage, we will STILL make sure that you ARE ON STAGE. It's the kind of creativity and freedom that is uniquely enjoyed by a play like Patalliro.

Lastly, things you will not see in the online stream/DVD version. I write this list to remind you that plays evolve, accidents happen and what you can't see on the screen doesn't mean it never happened:

BanMara kiss: they did not kiss until they started their Osaka tour, the recording was done in Tokyo. Also missing would be Patalliro’s long disgusted scream after he saw them kiss with his own eyes lol

Bancoran's "Maraich" pink happi: he only started wearing it on March 23rd, the recording was done on March 21st.

Maraich's middle finger: at the start of their lovers' quarrel song, Sanaich would always give Tsunecoran the middle finger, but on recording day, he gave a thumbs-down instead.

Maraich's final reminder that he is pregnant: there are 2 definite places during the play where Maraich would exhibit morning sickness, and he would sometimes do it a 3rd time during the ending song. But he didn't do so on recording day.

Bancoran holding Maraich in both arms: in the couple's final showdown with Andresen, Bancoran would use his body to shield Maraich from Andresen's knife. Maraich would always hold on tightly to Bancoran with both arms, and Bancoran would have one arm on Maraich and another on the handrail. On both Tokyo and Osaka finale, Bancoran let go of the handrail and held Maraich against his chest with both arms. Recording day was neither of those days so he still had one hand on the handrail.

There are a couple other instances that might be better explained with gifs so I might as well save them for later posts. But then I also drew this for your reference: 

That's pretty much all I have to say about the play for now. Please remember to pre-order the DVD! I will update on online streams if they become available (hopefully on DMM). If you have other questions, feel free to message me here or on https://curiouscat.me/vvlin91

[sohmariku]

End-of-Year Butai/Musical Ask

So, I was tagged by @allyyyyy0619​, so let’s answer some questions. Honestly, I spend a lot more time on answering these questions than I should have!

Firstly, how did you manage to find out about 2.5D butai/musical? Which butai/musical was your first and your impression of it?

In all honestly, I have trouble remembering, but… I think the very first musical I watched was Rock Musical Bleach. And I don’t mean the 2016 version, I’m talking about the musicals that were in the theater over 10 years ago! I probably stumbled upon it somewhere on youtube. I absolutely loved Bleach around that time, so… yeah, let’s just blame youtube. The first couple Bleach musicals weren’t the best, but for whatever reason I still got hooked on it. Then, since the cast of the original Bleach run is more or less identical to the first Seigaku cast, I discovered Tenimyu… despite a previous negative experience with the anime, I decided to give the musicals a try.

This is actually a funny story, I wonder If I ever told anyone about this. The whole reason I learned about the Prince of Tennis anime series is… BECAUSE I COULDN’T REMEMBER THE NAME OF AN AMERICAN TV SHOW PROPERLY! My friend was hooked on some show and I was planning to watch it too and tried to find it online. At this moment I’m still unsure what show I tried to find, but I happened to be looking for “Prince of Tenis”… Anyway, I watched the first episode, didn’t like it and dropped the series. The Prince of Tennis musicals really quickly grew on me though, so I gave the anime another try later. I concluded the first episode was just crap and the rest of the series was rather awesome!

And that’s how I ended up in the world of 2.5D and couldn’t leave anymore… at least, that’s how I remember it…

Who was your first favourite 2.5D actor/actress? Why?

Um, Nagayama Takashi I suppose? I really like(d) Hitsugaya as a character, so the moment I started watching the musical I was already biased towards him, but also really did a good job! Then, Kikumaru also basically became my favorite Tenipuri character, so… Nagayama Takashi it is! And probably Kimeru, because Fuji was my second favorite Tenipuri character and god, that guy knows how to sing! Although I can’t actually call myself a fan of either anymore, I’m always happy to see Kimeru on stage. His voice is still as amazing as ever!

However, if we start talking about the first actor I actually liked enough to start buying merchandise it was probably Aiba Hiroki? (I’m not sure why, I just liked him…) Then came Furukawa Yuta (I loved his voice!) and after that Sasaki Yoshihide (he can sing, he can dance, he’s adorable!) …all of this happened quite a long time ago. While it’s a bit harder (let’s say, impossible) to say for the others, I can still remember the exact moment I completely fell for Sasaki Yoshihide… (Have I ever told that story?)

Top 3 (or more) favourite butai of the year?

Wait, you’re expecting me to remember everything I’ve seen this year? And even rank them? Um, let me just list down a couple of plays I remember watching this year and enjoying!

So, in no particular order: Stage Play Touken Ranbu (Moeyuru Honnouji Saien, Akatsuki no Dokuganryu, Kono Yora no Odawara), Rengoku ni Warau, Noragami (Kami to Negai), Kujira no Kora wa Sajo ni utau, Present5 (All), CHaCK-UP (+ Episode.0), Yowamushi pedal (Everything up to “The Winner”), Live Spectacle Naruto (2015/2016), Tokyo Ghoul (2017), Ensemble stars (on Stage / Judge of Knights). (Note: this is not a complete list of everything I’ve seen. It’s a list of plays I remember thoroughly enjoying. Not saying I didn’t enjoy those other plays, just saying I enjoyed these more in comparison.)

All right, let me attempt a bit of a ranking.

1) Stage Play Touken Ranbu -Moeyuru Honnouji- (Saien) Shiina Taizo made me fall in love with Fudo Yukimitsu. You can say whatever you want, but having Fudo/Taizo in this play is probably the reason I’m ranking it first. Well, I guess it’s actually the entire cast & staff that earned this play a No.1 spot. (I probably prefer (the cast of) the original run btw.)

2) Stage Play Touken Ranbu - Akatsuki no Dokuganryu- And this play comes at No.2, because I can still remember how extremely excited I felt when I left the theater after watching it. This play was great! The Date swords kind of grew on me, and my love for Yamanbagiri and Sayo only deepened!

3) Stage Play Touken Ranbu -Kono Yora no Odawara- Can I list this? I know it’s super short, but… the story was just super cute! I’m totally in love with Sayo and Yamanbagiri and having them and Hasebe being the focus of the story just…! These boys are too amazing!

4) CHaCK-UP (Episode.0) I’m not entirely sure why I’m putting this on No.4, but it probably has something to do with the absolute ridiculousness of this play. (This is a play, right?) I haven’t quite seen all of this “series”, but I’ve seen enough to think it’s absolutely hilarious. Whenever I have money available, I guess I’ll check out what else DMM has available for rent…　

5) Rengoku ni Warau / Kujira no Kora wa Sajo ni utau No.5 is a tie. Both series are up here, because these plays did give me an urge to actually look into the series behind them. Currently gathering all the Rengoku ni Warau manga volumes & following the Kujira no Kora wa Sajo ni utau anime series. And yes, the plays were pretty great too!

Top 3 (or more) least favourite butai of the year?

No ranking, but since I feel like I have to name some, I’d say Patalliro and Rusted Armors. Patalliro is a great play, absolutely! But I’m not familiar enough with the series to be super excited about it, nor did it give me the urge to look into the series. (And yet I did enjoy it enough to accept a friend’s request to subtitle it.) Rusted Armor was pretty good too, I loved the costumes & acting! It’s just, I still have trouble understanding the story (I watched it when I was super tired, so I missed half of what was going on), hence it’s among my least favorites of this year. Once I find some time to watch it again and possibly understand the story better, its rank might change. Really, what I mostly remember is Teruma’s ridiculous outfit, yet amazing vocals! Wait, they were all singing…? Why the heck do they call this a stage play! It’s a fricking musical!

Top 3 (or more) favourite musical of the year?

Did I mention I’m terrible at rankings? So, again… some musical I enjoyed in no particular order: Ultra Musical Bakumatsu Rock (Kurofune Raiko, Climax live), Musical Touken Ranbu (Mihotose no Komoriuta, Tsuwamonodomo ga yume no ato, Shinken Ranbu Sai 2017), Rock Musical Bleach 2016, Namashitsuji (Noah’s Arc Circus), Datsugoku Kageki Nanabaka, Saiyuki Kagekiden (Burial, Reload) , Tenimyu (Hyotei Team Live, Dream Live 2017, Seigaku/Rokkaku Team Party) (Note: this is not a complete list of everything I’ve seen. It’s a list of musicals I remember thoroughly enjoying. Not saying I didn’t enjoy those other musicals, just saying I enjoyed these more in comparison.)

Good, and if I attempt a ranking:

1) Musical Touken Ranbu -Mihotose no Komoriuta- First I had some doubts about this cast, so many unfamiliar names and characters I hardly know, but god… I fell in love with all these guys! Watching it in the theater was just absolutely amazing! Yes, I think Team Mihotose may be my favorite at this moment! The character dynamics are just really great. (Thank you Mokkun/Sengo Muramasa!)

2)      …

 Good, this isn’t working! I can’t seem to rank the musicals!

 Top 3 (or more) least favourite musical of the year?

Yeah, a ranking is not happening… If I have to call out some musicals as my least favorite of this year, it would be Live Spectacle Naruto -Akatsuki no shirabe-  and Musical Hakuoki -Sano-hen- at this moment.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Live Spectacle Naruto! Unfortunately, from my seat in the theater most of the projections didn’t line up, so I haven’t had a chance to enjoy this musical in it’s full glory. (I’m calling it a musical btw. Too many songs to call it a play!) And there is still the pacing of the play that slightly bothers me. But I really hope to watch it again some time. So, if anyone has the DVD or BD and is willing to share a rip with me… (Please?)

Musical Hakuoki -Sano-hen- is here, because no matter how much I love that cast, there is just something about the pacing or the way the story is told that doesn’t work for me. It’s not just this musical, I’ve had it with more of them. Somehow this musical series just doesn’t work for me, even though the cast is amazing. (I think I mentioned before sometime that I can only seem to enjoy Reimeiroku…)

 Top 3 (or more) favourite actors/actress of the year?

Not another ranking! I’m terrible at rankings!

Sasaki Yoshihide Yeah, after all this time I guess Hide is still my No.1

Sakiyama Tsubasa This guys is too adorable! I love how he can be serious, but is super immature at the same time.

Aramaki Yoshihiko He is too adorable (too)! How can a guy be that cute!?

Shiina Taizo / Suzuki Hiroki I can’t chose, so I just put them down on a shared No.4. They are both just amazing!

Ota Motohiro His Sengo Muramasa was probably my favorite thing of this year! He went beyond all my expectations of what Sengo could be!

 Top 3 (or more) rookie actors/rising actors whom you’ve high hopes for in the future?

Um, I honestly don’t know who we would still call rookie actors and who aren’t. Really, pretty much any actor that wasn’t part of Tenimyu season one still counts as a rookie for me… So, I’ll just be listing a couple actors I hope to see more of in the future…

Sato Ryuji All right, he’s like super popular already, I know. But his rise in fame went pretty quick. I’m really interested to see if he can keep this up or not. Of course, I hope he’ll do good!

Sakiyama Tsubasa After taking on the role of captain in Mihotose, his popularity appears to be on the rise too. Since I’ve come to like him quite a bit, I’m really interested to see what he can do from here on.

Ohira Shunya Maybe this is just a personal thing, but I have this feeling that Shunya’s been improving incredibly in a short amount of time, especially in his vocals. And I really feel he’s gaining more and more popularity. Aside from that, I think he’s adorable, so yes, I hope he’ll keep rising and improving!

Aramaki Yoshihiko This guy is too adorable and I hope he’ll be able to stick around for a while in the 2.5D business!

 Top 3 (or more) favourite butai/musical related drama/movie of the year?

I very much feel like I haven’t really watched any related drama or movies…

Yowamushi Pedal drama (1st season)…? I think it may have been last year that I watched this one actually? Pretty much watched it, just because… Well, I guess I knew a couple of the actors in it… hadn’t seen the musicals yet.

So for this year, I’ve seen half of FIVE… pretty much started watching it, because everyone was talking about it (Well, about Sato Ryuji and Kuroba Mario being part of the cast), but then couldn’t find time to watch the second half…

And, I kind of started watching the anime of Sengoku Night Blood (ah, they’re turning it in a play, aren’t they?), because of some familiar names in the voice actor cast… aka, Sasaki Yoshihide, Kitamura Ryo and Aramaki Yoshihiko) I haven’t watched more than 2-3 episodes at this moment though, because storywise it’s not extremely captivating (yet)…

Um, yes… that wasn’t a top 3 or anything, just me randomly mentioning what I’ve seen…

Top 3 (or more) actors/actress that you think have the best singing voice?

Um, you’re asking for a top 3? I doubt I could give you a top 10! There are many, many amazing singers to be found in the 2.5D world! So, I’m just randomly going to throw out some names here, all right?

Itokawa Yojiro, holy shit that guy just blew me away with his vocal performance during the Bakumatsu Rock climax live!

Kimeru, he’s been doing amazing ever since Tenimyu.

Spi, all I’ve heard him sing in Toumyu was flawless! This guy’s voice is incredible!

Teruma, recently I noticed how amazing he has become! Really!

Sasaki Yoshihide, he isn’t always quite flawless, but I’m biased! And he does have an amazing voice!

Ogoe Yuki, he’s good! He’s really good!

Sato Ryuji, he’s good and he’s still improving! He’s amazing!

Ohira Shunya, surpise!? No, this kid can really sing well if you feed him the right song!

Ota Motohiro, he’s not quite flawless, but I remember being quite impressed by his Mihotose no Komoriuta performance.

Sakiyama Tsubasa, yes, he’s not flawless on stage, but given the right song he sounds absolute

....

  Yeah, shall I just stop here? Even though I could probably go on for a while…

A (or more) butai/musical that you didn’t initially love, but has/have grown on you?

I think that would be Present5. I took quite some effort to make it through the first play and it took me a long, long time to attempt watching the other plays. But, somehow these guys grew on my and I eventually really enjoyed watching all of them!

Top 3 (or more) anime/manga/game that you would love to see being adapted into a butai/musical in the future?

I’m very much afraid that I’m the type who starts looking up the original source after she’s seen the play… So, I’m a little out of materials I’d like to see adapted, since they are already adapted…

 Top 3 (or more) favourite fandom on the year?

 Musical Touken Ranbu

Stage Play Touken Ranbu

…

For this whole year I would say that Toumyu and Tousute are basically the only fandoms I’ve really been in. Yes, I’ve seen some Tenimyu, I’ve seen some Namashitsuji, I’ve seen a lot… but, I don’t really count myself as an active member of those fandoms, I’m just passing by… and moving on and sometimes coming back…

How long have you been in the 2.5D fandom?

I’ve been in the 2.5D fandom for nearly 10 years now… (I’ve been part of this fandom from since before we started calling it 2.5D! I think it was early 2008 that I fell down the rabbit hole…) Yes, that’s a really long time! First all the actors were nearly 10 years older than me, now they are suddenly 10 years younger than me! (I’m looking at you, Miura Hiroki! How are you that young!)

Never imagined all those years ago I’d become so obsessed with this I’d still be here after such a long time.

Lastly, what is your overall opinion of the 2.5D fandom so far?

After all these years I can say the 2.5D community is probably one of the most friendly and peaceful I’ve ever seen. This is possibly the case, since all the fights and wars take place in the tags of the source materials and don’t make their way into the 2.5D world. There are some occasional stir-ups, but… Yes, so many friendly people who are willing to share the goodies they have. I’m really happy to be part of this place…

I can however see how the community has changed over the years. When we started this fandom was basically a free for all. Since only the very few in Japan had access to the DVDs, once you uploaded something everyone could do with it what they wanted. There weren’t any rules (for as far as I remember) and barely any watermarks. But yes, with the 2.5D producers slowly turning their eyes outside Asia, I suppose it’s only a given that we thread with a little more caution now. After all, we want them to make it easier for us to watch all the goodness, not make it harder! (Come on, remove the region block from those online streaming services already! I don’t want to be stuck with a VPN forever!)

Anyway, I really hope this community will stay like this for many, many years to come!

[petiteredlady]

End of the year 2.5D Butai/Musical Asks

I found that allyyyyy0619 made an “End of the year 2.5D Butai/Musical Asks” list, and it looked fun and interesting, so I wanted to do it. Some questions were challenging, but I liked answering !

1. Firstly, how did you manage to find out about 2.5D butai/musical? Which butai/musical was your first and your impression of it? In 2003-2004 a friend was studying in Japan. Being a Prince of Tennis fan, she discovered Tenimyu, and showed me her DVDs ! I think the very first I saw was the Dream Live 1st, and then I saw them mostly in chronological order. After that there were Bleach musicals, Hunter x Hunter, and by Air Gear I realised that adapting things into musicals was a thing. (Somehow I only learned about Sailor Moon later O_O)

For my impression of the first Dream Live : what the fuck. Just what the fuck XD I loved it because it was just so funny, but so many actors couldn't sing very well, the plot(?) was insane and several people were just OOC... but it was really fun and I liked it.

2. Who was your first favourite 2.5D actor/actress? Why? Hm... It was probably Takigawa Eiji, because I remember debating whether or not to buy his idol DVD^^" I'm not sure why, because he wasn't a good singer at the time... I guess his charisma alone was enough ? XD He made me laugh as Tezuka (despite actually playing him well), was pretty good-looking and he seemed like such a nice person IRL. (Unfortunately at the time I didn't find anything else he had played in so the "favourite" thing ended at me just really liking him...)

3. Top 3 (or more) favourite butai of the year? I haven't actually seen that many stage plays because I usually prefer musicals XD If I'm not mistaken, I've seen six stage plays this year so.... yeah.

1) Tsumuru Ookami Kuroki Kamo, without a doubt. Probably the best stage play I've ever seen. The staging was amazing, transitions were smooth and clever and easy to follow, I loved the music, I loved the costumes, the characters were amazing (even those I hated)(looking at you Shinpachi), and the story pushed so many of my buttons it's ridiculous. But even objectively, I think it's a really, really good stage play. 2) Yowamushi Pedal Shin Inter-High hen - Heat Up. I had only watched one other YowaPeda stage play so I didn't really know what to expect, but MY GOD. For a stage that had neither my favourite character nor my favourite actors, it was amazing. I loved the staging : everything was very dynamic, the amovible stairs were very cleverly used, and wow you really think they're pedalling. The acting was great and it was really funny, plus there were more songs than I expected ! 3) Haikyuu!! The Summer of Evolution. I wasn't fond of the first stage play and hadn't seen another, so I didn't expect to like it, but wow they have improved SO MUCH. The different choregraphies, for playing and dancing, were insane. I love their use of music to represent different techniques and formations. I really liked the acting. What I liked less was all the yelling, talking at the speed of light and everybody talking at the same time +_+ Like, please people, live Japanese is hard enough as it is XD

4. Top 3 (or more) least favourite butai of the year? By default they're going to be the other three I've seen XD It doesn't mean I didn't like them, but I liked them less and it wouldn't be fair to not answer this question.

1) Mononofu Shiroki Tora. I still liked it because it dealed with a lot of subjects that are dear to me, but honestly it was so confusing +_+ I really had a hard time understanding what was the present and what was the past, and which side the background characters were on. There were several characters I didn't connect with at all, too. It was still funny and horribly sad, but after watching it I just wasn't convinced. (Which is why I waited months before watching Tsumuru Ookami Kuroki Kamo.) 2) Messiah - Yuukyuu no Toki. The best stage play that came out of the new Messiah series. I wrote my impressions after watching it, but to summarise : there are still too many characters, too many plots at the same time, and I'm tired of people being related for no reason. I also thought the whole issue with Ariga and Itsuki was very dumb. But at least Yuukyuu focused more on its characters than Akatsuki, so I ended up liking them more. And returning characters were less OOC in my opinion. And my goodness, action scenes were great. 3) Messiah - Akatsuki no Toki. I was so excited for it and was terribly betrayed. There were a thousand ways to deal with Hirose Daisuke's absence, and they went with an insane plot so far-fatched I can't bring myself to take it seriously. I found the characters very, very OOC and didn't connect with or care for any of them. The new kouhai were not at all what I expected and I found them cringy at best. There are very few things I liked. Mostly the relationship between Ariga and Itsuki <3 I sort of squeed when Ariga called Itsuki by his name, and then at the end Itsuki did the same and it was cute and adorable.

(Messiah has been a letdown this year, it's pretty sad...)

5. Top 3 (or more) favourite musical of the year? I've watched a lot more musicals so this is going to be really hard XD (But I'm not doing more than 3. Ranking things is hard enough like that.)

1) Ribbon no Kishi (2015 version). It blew my mind when I didn't expect it O_O I was watching it for Aoki Tsunenori, but everyone was just so, so good. THE SONGS. MY GOD. ALL OF THE SONGS ARE GREAT, ALL OF THEM, AND EVERYONE SINGS SO WELL !!! The women especially had amazing voices. Everyone played they roles so well, with some being so very over-the-top and kitsch. I loved it. And this is part of being Ribbon no Kishi, but I loved the costumes and the fairy tale atmosphere that was very positive. I have issues with the story, but honestly that's not why I was watching it, so all in all it was a great experience. 2) Sailor Moon - Le Mouvement Final. JUST. AMAZING. Everyone was so pretty and cool and talented, the costumes were full of glitter, and the singing and acting really touched me <3 I may not be 100 % objective because I've loved Sailor Moon since I was a little girl and the last arc always makes me very emotional, but still. The transformations were great, the light effects were really cool, the music was good and all the actresse were amazing. If it hadn't been the last day of the performance I'd have tried to get another ticket... 3) Patalliro!. They don't call it a musical since they're lip-syncing on stage, but as a viewer the experience is basically the same so I've decided it counts. I had read a bit of the manga and watched a bit of the anime to have some context, and it really helped me understand some scenes. What I found most amazing is that the musical looks good while keeping all the weirdness from the manga XD They all acted so well, and managed to create a great story with very few characters. I liked that everything, from characters expressions to every plot point, was very over-the-top and dramatic XD I laughed a LOT. And the songs were really good and catchy. I liked it way more than I expected !

6. Top 3 (or more) least favourite musical of the year? Once again : it doesn't mean I didn't like them. Either they didn't live up to my expectations, or I simply liked them less.

1) Bakumatsu Rock - Climax Live. While I liked the interactions between the characters and liked more songs than I expected, I still feel this live didn't use all its potential. I mean, sure, it's a live, but maybe there could have been more of a plot ? Transitions were good and sketches were funny, but an overarching plot tying it all together would have been nicer, in my opinion. 2) Show by Rock - Shinen no Cross Ambivalence. This is very, very, very personal, but I think ShinganCrimsonZ didn't act enough like themselves. I know they weren't the focus of the plot, but... Rom had only like one speech that made the others cry, they didn't bicker about food, they didn't sing their jingle and Crow almost never called us "cattle" T-T Actually the focus was all over the place so I feel like no band really had time to shine. (And that's ever more personal, but the one and only reason I wanted to see Show by Rock was to see TakiEiji.......)(Obviously I'm not blaming anyone O__O) Overall I liked it, but not as much as I wanted to. 3) Touken Ranbu - Bakumatsu Tenrouden. The expectations/reality ratio was way too high for this one XD I still liked it, but not as much as a Shinsengumi fan should have, I guess XD First, I don't like Yasusada that much. And I'm getting really tired of his and Kashuu's issues with Okita. WE GET IT. We even had them all over Hanamaru. They're pretty popular anyway so WE KNOW ALREADY. I was more interested in Nagasone and Hachisuka's issues, but I think they were only superficially addressed. And Nagasone angsting about Kondou was only at the end with little build-up so it just felt weird, while it had the potential to be a heart-wrenching scene. And honestly, Kane-san and Horikawa felt like secondary characters T-T I'd have been much more interested in THEIR dealing with their owner's death. I also think they didn't have great singers and their voices didn't really work together, even though I liked the songs. So this musical was more of a miss than a hit, for me. (But I liked the previous one so much it was hard to top.)

7. Top 3 (or more) favourite actors/actress of the year?

1) Rachi Shinji. I've developped a real appreciation for him after being initially put off. When I first saw the Bakumatsu Rock musical his voice was so different from anime Ryouma that I thought he couldn't sing... haha =_= It got better the more musicals I saw in this series, then I saw him in Sayonara Sorcier *o* He was so, so perfect for the role *o* Now I really want to see more of him ! 2) Kanda Airi. I was very impressed by her performance in Ribbon no Kishi, and then I saw her in Sailor Moon *o* She was more than amazing. She appeared late, but she was so at ease on stage ! She was very in character, very into her dancing and singing, and she felt much more experienced than the adult actresses. Honestly, it seemed so very natural for her to act, it was hard to look at anyone else ! (And I don't even like Chibi Moon that much so it's really impressive.) 3) Teruma. I think he's one of these few actors who can really change who they are when they play different characters. I just find that very impressive, and since I've been seeing more and more of him, I ended up noticing. He has really improved his singing, too ! (And he does play very different characters while you could expect him to have a type XD)

8. Top 3 (or more) rookie actors/rising actors whom you’ve high hopes for in the future? ... I usually follow actors I know so that means they already have a career XD But let's try !

1) Takano Akira, Toumyu's Hizamaru. He's not exactly a newbie as he's done a number of things, but mostly in 2016 so I guess it counts. I've only seen him in Shinken Ranbu Sai 2017 (I'll see the actual musical in January), but I was SO IMPRESSED. Honestly, despite the huge cast and lots of other actors and characters I loved, he managed to stand out ! His acting was great, his dancing JUST AMAZING, and he was so into his role, it was a pleasure to watch. 2) Ooyabu Taka. I only saw him as Marui in the 3rd season Tenimyu Seigaku vs Rikkai, but my goodness he was perfect. Probably the best Marui so far, definitely one of the best and most charismatic actors of the musical ! It's not even a character I care about much so I'm not biased, and I did hear other people talk excitedly about how good he was. I don't think I'll be closely following his career, but I'm definitely interested in seeing more of him ! 3) Sakiyama Tsubasa. He has been in a number of plays for the past 3-4 years, but I think it's only recently (thanks to Toumyu) that his popularity skyrocketed. The more I watch him the more I like him, and he's one of the very few people who made me buy their CD, so that says something ! I definitely want to see more of him in the future !

9. Top 3 (or more) favourite butai/musical related drama/movie of the year? The original question said it could be a drama that has a butai adaptation or an unrelated drama with butai actors in it (who made us want to watch it). The thing is... I don't watch that many dramas ? Not anymore, at least. When I like a butai actor I like to see what other butai they're in XD There's always tokusatsu, but it's not ONLY for the actors. Oh well, let's try...

1) Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. Amazing show. Predictable, but everything made me feel good, from the characters to the plot. It was on my list because of Matsumoto Hiroya and Baba Ryouma <3 (Then I realised Jinnai Shou was in it too !)(Now that I think about it they happen to play my favourite characters...) 2) Yowamushi Pedal. It was one example listed in the original question so it feels weird to answer that, but it's true. From the preview I didn't think it'd be anything worthy of note, but it's actually so, so well done. Even the bike races. And the cast is just so good, I love how they play the characters. 3) Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger. A bit cliché, but I loved it. The main characters were great, the villains too, and I love dinosaurs. And I decided to watch it because of Saitou Shuusuke !

(Yeah that's two sentai but honestly I've already gone through all the Kamen Riders that have butai actors in it...)

10. Top 3 (or more) actors/actress that you think have the best singing voice? Now that's very unfair and I can't do it XD Why I like someone’s singing depends on so many things, and I may not like everything that person sings... But I decided to answer these questions so I WILL >< (This will be more like "hey I consistently like these people singing" rather than "they're objectively the best singers")

1) Katou Kazuki. He was amazing in Tenimyu, I actually listened to his original songs when he released a CD, and when I heard him recently I thought he had improved AGAIN O_O I don't think there's any limit to how good he can get. (And I love deep voices like his.) 2) Kimeru. Such a powerful voice. I think he can sing anything and make it awesome. He's sometimes a bit over the top, but I love listening to him. 3) Sakiyama Tsubasa. When I first heard him in Toumyu I wasn't convinced, but he's improved so fast ! I love his calm and soothing voice <3

(4th place is for Rachi Shinji because my god just like Kimeru he has such a powerful and beautiful voice *o* Just... less my style.) (And I'd like to mention Spi somewhere because while I haven't yet seen Mihotose no Komoriuta, I was SO IMPRESSED by his singing in Shinken Ranbu Sai 2017 he deserves a spot. His singing was amazing.)

11. A (or more) butai/musical that you didn’t initially love, but has/have grown on you?

Bakumatsu Rock (the first one). It was such a shock to transition from anime to stage, I didn't take it well. The seiyuu are pretty amazing, and the musical tried to have actors with very different voices try to sing like the seiyuu... and it doesn't work at all. After re-watching the musical, though, I got a better appreciation for the actors’ singing. It's not that they're bad, they're just made to sing things that were not made for them^^ And some songs are still pretty good despite that ! And in later musicals I think they better adapted the music.

12. Top 3 (or more) anime/manga/game that you would love to see being adapted into a butai/musical in the future?

1) Anything by CLAMP ? I mean, why is there no Card Captor Sakura musical ? It would be perfect. Or Wish !! Wish would be so cute. Or Clover *o* (Honestly any manga works. Even the 'heavier' ones like X or RG Veda. These two would have amazing group songs *o*) 2) I'm not sure I'd "love" it but honestly after three Tenimyu seasons it's time to be brave and adapt New Prince of Tennis. 3) I haven't seen it yet but when I read the question I immediately thought "Ballroom e youkoso needs an adaptation" XD

13. Top 3 (or more) favourite fandom on the year?

1) Tenimyu is still a pure and amazing fandom. Honestly seeing people still passionate about it nearly fifteen years later amazes me. 2) Touken Ranbu fans are very impressive, collecting so much information and following every single actor's other projects XD 3) The Hakumyu fandom sprang back into existence, it seems XD With motivated people sharing and subbing. I'm glad to see the fandom is still alive and happy despite the lack of new musicals.

14. How long have you been in the 2.5D fandom? Honestly I wouldn't consider myself "in the fandom" these days... I interacted with other fans much more when I was younger, and then there was a period when my interest in butai faded. But if we count from the first time I got involved... it's been about 13 years.

15. Lastly, what is your overall opinion of the 2.5D fandom so far? As I said, I'm not really "in" it so it's more like an outside opinion...? Honestly, I feel that now that buying and sharing DVDs is so easy, the fandom has grown so big it has become difficult to really interact with people ? Maybe I just don't put enough effort in it, though XD But having so many fans with different interests mean it's more difficult to find someone who matches your interests who is also interested in talking to you specifically while there are so many other fans out there. (But yeah, maybe it's just me. I used to be in small French fandoms, maybe I'm just not cut out for big international ones.)

And yet it amazes me how much people help each other : getting tickets, getting goodies, subbing... (Like, SUBBING ?? When I was younger I never thought about anyone ever subbing butai, fansubs were something anime fans did, I never considered it could apply to butai too XD So I'm always in awe when people sub butai.)

[nyxravessnow]

Final thoughts on the Dmmd stage play

I have now seen the stream and I have a lot of thoughts so I thought I’d share them.

No.1: Everyone did an amazing job. I watch A LOT of 2.5d shows and this is one of my favourites. Not because of the yaoi or anything like that but I think it’s interesting, well executed and well acted.

No.2: The staging and direction I think were perfect for this show. It kept it on a smaller scale and focused on the relationships and feelings of the characters rather than the action which I think suites the show very well. One might say it’s the exact opposite of the anime. Well executed, gay and good.

No.3: Honestly, after watching it for a third time I can say I have 0 complaints. While there are things that they could do in a rerun to improve it I wouldn’t say that I am annoyed with. As the first proper bl play in the 2.5d industry, as far as I know and I’m not counting Patalliro as it is not bl, it walked the line between story and fan service perfectly. In Koujaku and Noiz’s routes at least I felt like the sex scenes and kiss scenes worked perfectly and weren’t too fanservicey and weren’t there just to please the audience. In those two routes as well I definitely felt like they didn’t sacrifice those scenes in favour of story either and were the perfect length. 

I said I have 0 complaints, and that is true of the play overall but not of the Ren route. I feel like they did sacrifice the romantic/sex scenes in favour of story and as someone who has seen the other routes it’s probably my least favourite because they did this. The sex scene seems to come out of nowhere, doesn’t have really any relevance to the scene or payoff and is insanely short. Like I said, which is why I think they filmed this one.

No.4: I think this has set a precedent and during its run a stage play of Junjou Romantica was announced so I think we’re likely to get more bl stage plays from now on.

No.5: Very, very sadly I think we are not going to get a dvd no matter how many people answer. Both Sei/Ren’s actor and Aoba’s actor seemed very definite on this. I have spoken to my friend and we both agree that we think that one of the actor’s agencies let that actor be in the stage but won’t let them film it due to the nature of the performance. Since Sei/Ren and Trip are freelance, this was the first big show for Clear/Virus/Noiz and the others don’t really do anything it seems likely to be Aoba or Mink’s agency. However, Mink’s actor seemed really enthusiastic about the show so I’m almost 95% sure it’s Aoba’s actor’s agency. But please don’t try to write to them or anything as this is merely speculation.

No.6: In my eyes it is quite likely we will get a sequel play for Mizuki and Vitri, at least though a rerun of the other routes is possible too, but I doubt Aoba and Sei/Ren’s actors will come back. As much as I loved Nagata Seiichiro as Aoba, he didn’t seem as enthusiastic about the play as anyone else who was in it. I think he enjoyed the experience and really loves the cast but I don’t think he’d agree to do another one. You could see whenever one of the others talked about kissing him or a sex scene he seemed very awkward. Sei/Ren’s actor is less certain but I think, similarly to Aoba, he enjoyed the stage as an experience but he wants to move on from it.

Mizuki, Vitri, Clear, Noiz and Mink on the other hand seemed to be very attached to the show and I can see all of them agreeing to come back for another one. Vitri and Mizuki seemed especially enthusiastic, saying they were sad that they didn’t get to kiss Aoba.  

I really hope there is another one, with possibly all the other routes as well as Mizuki and Vitri, and they film a dvd due to high demand from fans.

P.S. I will translate the rest of the pamphlet I promise. I’ve just been a bit busy.

P.P.S I love talking about the stage play and DMMD so please feel free to hit me up to chat.

[vvlin91]

The Making of Sanaich

How 19-year-old Sana Hiroki transformed himself into an 80s yaoi icon

Maraich is special to the Patalliro! series even before author Maya Mineo realized it. He confessed to planning to kill him off after a few chapters but saw the character had a life of its own and therefore he felt compelled to let him live. I wonder if this happened before or after Maraich was assigned to be 18 years of age, because Maya Mineo fell in love with his wife at first sight when he was 27, which is Bancoran’s age, and his wife 18. In the manga Maya-sensei also jokingly stated that Bancoran’s cheating was in no way a reflection of his own behaviors. And the fact that Maya-sensei’s now-mangaka daughter saw Patalliro as a sibling growing up kind of indirectly shows how Bancoran and Maraich’s relationship is in certain ways a representation of Maya-sensei’s own marriage. 

Maya-sensei is delightfully weird, as you would expect from the man who created Patalliro! in the first place. So a lot of the decisions he has made about his story and characters don’t fit into boxes. He said he wasn’t good at drawing women so he made all his characters gay even though the pretty boys he draws are all indistinguishable from women. 

And even though Maraich was one of the most important characters of the story, he never bound himself or anyone else to any set ways of portraying the character. Maraich was famously voiced by female voice actor Fujita Toshiko, and Maya-sensei had characterized Maraich as “a girl with a boy’s body”, despite the fact that Maraich throughout the series has used “boku”, which is the male first-person pronoun and on several occasions made it clear that he is a male and has no problem staying that way. So the whole thing is a very fluid situation and Maya-sensei is almost always just free-ranging.

When Stage Patalliro! became a thing but the cast has not been determined, Maya-sensei called his daughter Marie to ask about whether Maraich should be played by a man or a woman. Little did he realize that because Marie was raised on all the BL manga he had gathered over the years in his household, there was only one possible answer from a hardcore fujoshi.

The conversation was first revealed in Marie’s own comic series:

“100% MALE!” was Marie’s instant reply. So we might have her to thank for Sanaich.

“For real?” was Sana’s initial response after being cast as Maraich. He didn’t know Patalliro! prior to the play and there was little in common between he and his character. Maraich looks like a woman, and was voiced by a woman, moreover Maya-sensei sees Maraich as a girl at heart and even wants a female to play the role, everything was mounting on Sana who has so far made his name by playing a serious character.

A known hard-worker, Sana did not dwell on the pressure and dived into the series. He read the entire manga(which was 90+ volumes and counting) and watch the anime on DVD(49 episodes not counting the movie). It was then when he saw that Maraich always uses “boku” when referring to himself. 

“So there is still a part of him that is a boy.”

He expressed his thoughts to Maya-sensei when they sat down for an interview for the first time. And Maya-sensei, being his free-ranging self and all, essentially advised him to approach the character his own way. That is to say, he doesn’t have to feel confined by the anime’s female voice(which would be impossible for him to mimic anyway) or even Maya-sensei’s own characterizations. They have cast a boy, so Maraich now is a boy and there is nothing wrong with playing him as one.

“I often see (Maraich) being called ‘the one in a million pretty boy’ so I thought, ‘Ah, he’s a boy after all.’”

“My voice is so deep.”

“My shoulders are a little too wide.”

The photoshoot was just one of the places for such concerns, where Sana had to come up with very feminine and even erotic poses. Luckily he got advice from the staff and he also observed the women around him. He ultimately settled for a “worried” face, expressing the inner thought of “What do I even do...”

(Aoki Tsunenori, who plays Bancoran, said, “I didn’t receive any special instructions for the photoshoot.”)

The result was stunning.  

Tsune: I don’t dislike girls with wide shoulders at all. It’d definitely score a pass for me.

Sana: I’m so glad ♪ (A/N: the music note was printed in the actual interview)

(Despite that, Sana carried the same concerns with him even long after the show was over. In these two clips(1/2) where he watched himself as Maraich on stage, you can still see him feeling uneasy about his voice and any sign of masculinity, despite his fellow actors' repeated reassurance that he was adorable and his style was really good. )

To look like the character is one thing, to give him life on stage is another.

Even though they have established the fact that Maraich is a boy, he is still a feminine one. A lot of ideas flew around from the director and others on how Maraich would behave under different circumstances(80s female idols were an important point of reference). Once the directives were in his head, Sana realized he had indeed started acting more “girlish” even without realizing. He started to obsess over make-up, buying fashion magazines targeted at women, and unconsciously dancing in a very feminine manner... At one point he wondered if he had gone a little too far and really became a girl, but he was also having so much fun so he just laughed it off. 

However, there was another elephant in the room: Maraich and Bancoran’s same-sex relationship, which was something new to both actors.

Sana: (while staring at Tsune) I want to convey the ultimate love story that even the audience would envy. Tsune: I never injected love to a boy this way though~ Sana: I have never fallen in love with a man before so...please take care of me! Tsune: Well, me neither. (LOL)  (A/N: the bracket notes are also printed in the actual interview)

Since both actors considered themselves to be straight(haha), Maya-sensei advised Sana to think of himself as a boy with a girl's heart to help him approach same-sex romance for the first time. Tsune then declared, “Sana I’m going to treat you like a girl now” which Sana happily agreed to. They indeed grew to enjoy each other’s company, sometimes caught by fellow actors sharing a private moment together and both spoke very fondly of the experience even long after the show was over.

And there’s the fanfiction-like story of how they managed to kiss without feeling embarrassed.

Here’s a video you have probably watched 200 times because I reblogged it 2000 times.

They were determined to get this right. Tsune said in a later interview that he didn’t want people to think they were faking the kiss so a simple brush on the lips was out of the question. Kato Ryo(Patalliro), who somehow always gets asked about the kiss even though he personally was not involved, also said they both really went for it with all they had.

And there is also the love-making. Neither spoke much about it unfortunately but we know this position was coined by Kato Ryo and there was a lot of trial and error happening under everyone’s watchful eyes. So we at least know they had to rehearse in the middle of the room with everyone watching.

Alas, Maraich is more than just a pretty face.

Maraich is a trained assassin and literal killing machine. Check out Sana’s epic high kicks in this action sequence with Tsune.

Maraich is also a sentimental lover. His solo "That Man" is an expression of his rawest emotions, and a very subtle tribute to the fact that Maraich was one of the earliest manga characters to be shown engaging in masturbation.

Remember how Sana was concerned about his deep, manly voice? In Maraich and Bancoran’s duet "Snipers of Love", you can clearly hear that Tsune's voice is a lot higher than his but that did not keep this song from being one of the most brainwashing tracks coming from any stageplay. 

And there’s also this moment of truly seamless acting:

Maya-sensei's daughter and mangaka Yamada Marie grew up with BanMara. Yet even she, after watching the stageplay, found herself shipping BanMara even harder and started to actively use the term "Sanaich", combining the actor and character's names.

Kato Ryo, who was the determining factor that made the play even remotely plausible, mentioned how having Sana as Maraich and Tsune as Bancoran helped him relieve a lot of the pressure. Patalliro, Bancoran and Mariach are the pillars of the original story, and it is not surprising that the stageplay could only work out when there are three competent and talented actors to fill those roles. In fact, in many group and solo interviews the three of them did before and after the play, they brought up how watching each other get into character gave them confidence and even more faith that this play - long considered an impossible project - will work out just fine.

In the end, Sana probably found that he and Maraich had more in common than he first thought. Sana is a very talented and hardworking actor. His subsequent performances as Sesshomaru in Stage Inuyasha and Bedivere in Stage FGO were also highly praised, but I still feel Maraich is his most outstanding performance to date. There's just something about Sanaich that feels so natural, something close to perfection came out of that flawless addition of unabashed boyishness and Maraich's sentimentalism.

After the final performance, Sana wrote on his blog,

"I am so happy to be able to play Maraich. So happy that I might have got pregnant...LOL"

And here’s a gif of him having fun.

Well, he's just not pregnant...yet.

[vvlin91]

I want to see this play...

More like.

WHERE CAN I BUY THIS PLAY ON DVD/BLURAY?

Here’s my personal list of recommended plays, mostly targeting at Kuromyu fans, ESPECIALLY people who watch Kuromyu exclusively and have little knowledge of other 2.5D stage productions. This is a VERY subjective list of productions that I believe could be of interest to many of my followers with limited understanding of 2.5D stage but are open to seeing their favorite Kuromyu actors in other roles. This is not a complete list of all the plays I have watched/bought over the years but some are just so-so and not worth recommending.

The links are all on Amazon.JP, which has two features:

Discount on most DVD/BD purchases

Ships worldwide (unless it’s out of stock because second-hand sellers don’t ship overseas)

If you are not used to using Amazon JP, many of the following items can also be bought on Animate International or CDJapan, please make good use of search functions.

Musical Kuroshitsuji:

Musical Dance-off Kuroshitsuji ~That Butler, Friendship~

Musical Kuroshitsuji -The Most Beautiful DEATH in The World- A Thousand Souls & the Fallen Reaper 

Unfortunately the above two musicals are out of production which means you can only purchase them second-hand. And because they are highly sought after collector items, prices tend to be very high.

Musical Kuroshitsuji -The Most Beautiful DEATH in The World- A Thousand Souls & the Fallen Reaper (Rerun) 

Musical Kuroshitsuji: Lycoris that Blazes the Earth

Musical Kuroshitsuji: Lycoris that Blazes the Earth 2015 (Rerun) DVD / BD

Musical Kuroshitsuji: Noah’s Ark Circus DVD / BD

Musical Bakumatsu Rock:

This is the play with the most Kuromyu boys next to Kuromyu itself. featuring: Rachi Shinji(Eric), Ota Motohiro(Grey), Yata Yusuke(Grey), Teruma(William), Sasaki Yoshihide(Druittt) and Mitsuya Ryo(Dagger). Born as a game and later anime but the musicals are widely seen as better than the anime. Awesome seiyuu cast and music, super fun and silly, and multi-shipper-friendly although the canon tendencies are pretty clear as well.

Ultra Musical Bakumatsu Rock 

Super Ultra Musical Bakumatsu Rock (Rerun) DVD / BD

Ultra Musical Bakumatsu Rock: Kurofune Raikou DVD / BD

Litchi Hikari Club

Just a personal suggestion if you are into homoerotic, cultish gore that delivers thought lessons on autocracy, fascist behavior, twisted obsession and the rejection of adulthood. The manga has been scanlated and reading it can help you understand most of the following productions even without subtitles.

Stageplay (featuring Tamaki Yuki as Jaibo)

Musical (featuring Mikata Ryosuke as Dafu and Kato Ryo as Yakobu)

Live Action Movie DVD(collector edition) / DVD(standard edition) BD(collector edition) / BD(standard edition)

Stage Touken Ranbu:

Really one of the finest stageplays there is. If you don’t already play the original game, Touken Ranbu as a franchise requires a lot of read-ups if you start from scratch. People who intend to watch the stageplays/musicals almost never need any extra external encouragement. But for archiving purposes I list the following, in case any of you might be interested at a later time.

Kyoden Moyuru Honnoji (has Teruma and Hide) DVD / BD

Kyoden Moyuru Honnoji (Rerun) (no Teruma but still got Hide)  DVD / BD

Giden Akatsuki no Dokuganryuu  DVD / BD

Musical Touken Ranbu:

This is a COMPLETELY different production from Stage Touken Ranbu, and has MANY MANY different installments, not just the conventional musicals but also live performances of different kinds. Here I will only list its 3rd play because it features Kuromyu members Ota Motohiro(Grey), Araki Hirofumi(Lau) and Washio Noboru(Bard).

Touken Ranbu: Mihotose no Komoriuta DVD / BD

Stage Patalliro!

has absolutely nothing to do with Kuromyu but is a groundbreaking play with on stage yaoi kisses and dry humping

DVD

(posted on 17/8/16, because many of these franchises are still pumping out new plays, new listings are expected in a year or so)