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nyxravessnow · 4 years ago

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Rambly Patalliro stage review

Stage Patalliro 2021 Foggy London Airport Arc Review

Today I finally managed to see the delays of the first and last day of the new 2021 Patalliro stage.

Overall, I will rate this show as a 9 out of 10.

I don't know if I'm giddy just because I watched the show today and have been really looking forward to it, and especially since I didn't enjoy the last 2.5D show I was looking forward to I might be projecting a bit onto this show. But I did enjoy every second of this show and can’t wait to buy the dvd.

While there were things, I was very nervous about for this show, I was also very excited as a lot of actors I really love are in the show.

I just wanna say anything I say about negative fan reaction is of course not most fans. Most fans stayed quiet and just did what they wanted, I’m just talking about a few fans whose comments I have seen floating about.

I was very nervous about the hostility to the new cast which I felt was unwarranted. Obviously, this wasn’t from most fans but was just from a very small amount of them. Hostility to the company and how they handled the graduation of the previous cost and the handling of the bringing in of the new cast is completely justified. However, this new cast is full of people who truly love the show and were very excited to be in it and no one had seen them on stage as those characters and so I feel like hostility towards them was undue.

The main reason this made me nervous was that I was worried if the show was bad the director and the company would not be the ones blamed but the actors who merely were doing their best in roles they were cast in.

I am so glad to say that I believe the show was fantastic. I believe that they lived up to the legacy of the previous cast and have started a good new tradition for their next shows and any cast that follows them.

One thing that really shocked me but also spoke to me about how this show most likely wouldn’t have happened without a new cast, was Kato Ryo Crying out of happiness on the final day of the show. Kato Ryo is known for never breaking character and not breaking down on stage which shows how much this show means to him. He was truly happy to be on the stage performing as Patalliro again, and it did seem as if he had also bonded to this new cast as Dai instantly went to give him a hug which he returned. He spoke about how it was amazing they could make it to the final performance as he didn’t think they’d even make it to a first one. I believe it is not too far-fetched to say that he might be referring to the fact that Nelke and the 2.5d association mostly likely said that they would not continue the show with Tsune onboard. As before Kato Ryo said he would only continue the show if the cast didn’t change and that seemed like a serious change.

I have seen comments that Maaya-sensei didn’t like the new cast and that he was completely unaware of the change in casting which I would be very surprised by. 2.5d shows have to sign off for new shows with the creator of the original and also you could see that Maaya-sensei’s family had bonded the new cast greatly. Giving the show a standing ovation and kept waving to the cast on the final night.

I know the re cast is a very difficult topic for people who likes the old cast and don't want to see a new cost, for people who liked the old cast and are willing to see the new cast, for people who didn't see much of the old cast but excited for the new cast or for people who like the new actors coming in and so getting into Patalliro for the first time.

I believe that as long as you are not attacking anyone your thoughts and feelings are completely valid and if you only liked the show for the previous cast then you have every right to just ignore the new shows and just watch the three amazing instalments from the old cast. You are valid and I hope you have a lovely day/week and hope that this awful situation (covid and the such) isn’t being too bad to you.

In my opinion if this show was the result of the recast, and that if it hadn't happened we wouldn't have gotten another show, then I'm very glad it happened because I think this show was excellent and another fantastic instalment under the name of Patalliro stage. Under the cut I will include a spoilered review of the stage but before then I just wanted to say some of my basic thoughts for anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled for what is in the show.

Acting: All the acting was fantastic. There wasn't a single actor who I wasn't entranced by and I was enthralled and engaged the entire show. I think every actor performed their roles perfectly and to the best of their abilities.

Singing: Obviously the big stand out for singing in this show was the transgender actress Nakamura Ataru as she was hired for her singing voice, her being a professional singer. However, I think everybody performed extremely well. I continue to be a little frustrated with the use of recorded singing for everybody except for Ataru, as I believe the music they have on it is too loud and it makes it harder to hear a lot of the singers and I also feel it's not necessary to record the songs as all of them are professional actors who can definitely sing on stage. That being said, I fell in love with every single song in the show and thought they were all amazing.

Directing: I think a lot of very very wise decisions were made about this show. I was worried this show would either reflect too much on the previous cast or just not mention them at all and pretend it didn't happen. Luckily the stage did neither. I will get into more specifics and my spoiler review, but I think they handled it very well with having stuff for new fans, old fans and fans who would be irritated by seeing knew actors continue on jokes that previous actors started. In regards to other sides of the directing, I believe it was same as always, very good for the type of show it is. The comedy was very good but due to only having seen two shows I can't say how much was the directing and how much were the actors just being funny, because this is a very funny cast.

Casting: I believe every actor in this stage was perfect for their roles. This may be a controversial opinion but after seeing Dai and Yuuya act opposite each other I am very glad that Sana wasn’t brought back. They couldn't continue to have Tsune in the show as 2.5D does not have the kind of reputation yet where they can have an actor who has committed crimes in their shows and back him for if he ever did something again then it could do a lot of damage to the industry. Nelke and the 2.5d association are companies and in order to keep putting on shows and paying actors and all the staff they need money. And to have money, they need a clean reputation, at least while it’s still relatively low in popularity. I do not wish Tsune ill at all, I think he is an excellent actor, and I really hope that he does continue acting but I completely understand why he was not cast in this show again and why that led to a recast of most of the cast. I think that Sana was excellent as Maraich in every way he embodied the character. But having been in quite a few previous shows together Yuuya and Dai already had excellent chemistry, and I think it would have been quite odd to see Sana as Maraich acting opposite a different Bancoran. I can't imagine any actor having better chemistry with Dai’s Maraich than Yuuya’s Bancoran and visa versa. And I really hope that with the end of lockdown and quarantine, and everything calming down a lot in terms of physical contact on stages they will be able to show the bond between their Maraich and Bancoran even more. (They didn’t actually kiss, converse to what I’ve seen some people reporting about how Nelke wanted to pretend everything was fine by making them kiss.)

Well enough on them, the Tamanegi. I think all of them were completely perfect for their roles and they all handled it with enough seriousness to make the comedy different enough from the past cast and therefore make it their own but also for it to actually be funny. I cannot wait to see this group in more shows together and see how much funnier they can become. My only slight complaint, and it is very slight, is that one of the Tamanegi is 19 years old, therefore underage, and it made me slightly uncomfortable when he took his shirt off. as I am now an adult watching the show. Having not been an adult when I watched the previous two, I do rather approach it with different eyes and that was something that I wasn't very comfortable with but I do understand that everybody isn't me and it would have been a bit strange if only one of them didn't take their top off.

Other cast members included Damian, the Maaya man and Ataru the ‘singing princess’. Again, all three of them were amazing, I was especially impressed with Shouta as Damien as I believe he carriage the emotion that came with that role excellently. Knowing what kind of personality Shouta has off stage, it still makes it slightly weird for me to see him playing less-good characters but I cannot fault his acting. I will cover the other two cast members in my spoiler review.

Anything else: I think the staging was excellent, prop work was very good and they obviously worked very hard on this show.

That will do it for my spoiler free review underneath I will get into a lot more detail on things that I liked, disliked or just wanted to comment on.

If you're stopping reading here thank you very much for reading and I really recommend if you weren't sure about this cast and weren’t sure how much they'd put into these roles and how much they would love them I can assure you that these roles have been trusted to people who really love this show and are working very hard. If you are considering getting the DVD but aren’t sure, I really recommend that you do get it if you like Patalliro and don’t just want to see only the old cast.

If you have any more specific questions about the show, I will be happy to answer them so just drop me an ask.

Spoilers under cut (Warning, it is very long)

God, where to even begin. This show was so good. They combined old stage Patalliro, with new directing, a new cast, and a really interesting arc. I'm going to separate my review into story, acting, singing/songs and directing, as well as mentioning some extra stuff that I might think of at the end.

I will illustrate bits I’m saying with pics but pics cannot do this show justice. And I’ve bolded where I begin each section so it’s more easy to find.

So first, the story. As someone who doesn't know the exact intricacies of this arc, I do know roughly what happens I just couldn't remember all the specifics, I think the show was set out in a very non confusing way compared to other Patalliro content. They did make the story a lot more linear and wasn’t showing stuff that happened at the same time as other things too much which can sometimes hurt my brain. Even with all the flashbacks and flashforwards I felt it was really easy to keep track of what was happening when. The story had a very clear and defined beginning, middle and end, and I just thought it was very well done.

Acting, with occasional dips into directing and story when appropriate. As I said before the acting was amazing. I had chills, the entire scene with Damien, Maraich and Bancoran. I think they balanced the comedy and tension very well and didn’t try to undercut all the serious scenes with comedy which is my main complaint with a lot of gag manga/anime/stages. Except during Maraich’s more emotional song where one of the Tamanegi was still wearing bdsm gear which I thought was a bit hmmm. I’m not rly gonna cover Kato Ryo bc he just is Patalliro at this point.

Maraich and Bancoran, despite having very few scenes actually talking to each other, had undeniable chemistry. Dai and Yuuya, sold me on them being a couple immediately with the way they looked at each other and how they held each other. Their final scene before the end together where Maraich lay in a hospital bed and Bancoran was clutching his hand gave me so many emotions (First night he held his hand and final night he kissed him). I was 100% sold on how much they cared about each other, even if they might fight a lot in the end no one will ever love the other more than they do, and I think that that is what makes this couple so special. They have a true unconditional love for each other and they would, quite literally in Maraich’s case, throw themselves on a bomb for the other one.

Bancoran. I think Yuuya played Bancoran so well. You could see the character maturing before your eyes as we moved from 15 years previously to 12 years previously, to 10 and onwards until the normal time. And you could see the vulnerability he had with Damien and how that was still there but how he truly loved Maraich and that the vulnerability he has with Maraich is different. While Damien didn’t tend to let his guard down around Bancoran, his relationship with Maraich is a lot more give and take and I think he played all of that expertly. I know how much Bancoran cares about Maraich is a lot more vague in the original but I think that was partly as a product of its time and they somewhat had to make some humour out of these two men being in a relationship without flat out making fun of that aspect. So, I am very happy that the stage lets these character’s be in love and despite everything, truly show that they care about each other. Also, he did make me cry a few times when he saw Damien broken, Maraich with Damien as his heart broke seeing that happen to the man he loved but also breaking for the trust he put in a man he had once loved as well in the final scenes where he has clearly decided to kill Damien but is still holding onto a feint hope that maybe, he is not completely lost.

Mariach. Wow, just wow. He was not super present in the beginning, but he was the standout in the show in my opinion. His Maraich was so so different to Sana-chan’s Maraich and yet he was absolutely true to Maraich. He approached Mariach from a very different angle and I am so glad we are lucky enough to get both of them playing Maraich. He seems a lot more mature, like he has definitely been with Bancoran longer. He gives him more trust and isn’t as quick to be jealous as well as very quickly understanding Damien and how important he is to Bancoran, asking Patalliro not to tell him anything until they were sure which is different to how he acted about Bjorn/Andersen in the last show, they are different situations but I do think it represents character growth. He was a lot more aggressive in his fighting and anger though, as shown by his heavy metal solo as opposed to the softer ones of Sana’s. Despite all that he still was clearly in love with Bancoran and still showed his cute side. As well as expressing more deeply about his love for Bancoran with one of the Tamanegi but more on that in the Tamanegi’s bit. The scene with Damien was done so well by everyone involved. They clearly condemned Damien’s actions, showed how disgusting what he did was and created incredible pathos for Maraich while also showing Maraich somewhat unaware of what had happened and during the sex scene with Maraich and Damien, Dai showed Maraich’s desperation to hold on Bancoran and love Bancoran, so well, and it broke my heart.

Damien. I don’t remember too much of Damien from the original but Shouta played him excellently. He showed the progression of this man who loved Bancoran to a man who was willing to throw him away and murder him so well and it was believable despite not seeing almost anything except his interactions with Bancoran or Bancoran/Maraich’s feelings about him. When he held Bancoran at the end, asking why he was fighting so much and why he wanted Damien to kill him, despite Damien obviously being the villain you couldn’t help but feel sympathy for this man despite everything he’d done. (Also I think there is meant to be a parallel between him holding Maraich and him holding Bancoran)

The Maaya man. I thought the actor himself was very good, but I am a bit confused about why he was in the stage. All the Tamanegi played multiple roles, changing costume, and there is only one of him, so I am not too sure what the benefit from having a single Maaya man was but it’s a very small complaint and mainly about logistics rather than show quality. Especially as it certainly didn’t take away anything from the show having him there.

Nakamura Ataru – The singing Princess. Oh. My. Lord. Her voice was phenomenal, and she was gorgeous in every single outfit she was in, reaffirming to me that I am very pan (Not just attracted to the men in the play but also this gorgeous woman. I am not saying I am pan because she is trans). What was a surprise to me is that she was genuinely really funny. In the scenes where she was meant to be funny, I laughed a lot and she definitely has expert comedic timing.

The Tamanegi. I am going to separate a few of them who were reasonably important and group the rest in together.

So, the ones who did not play major roles in the show were: Emoto Koki, Ookubo Tatsuki, Sagawa Daiki and Hoshi Gouki. They were all very good, played their parts well and I don’t think they could have done better. It was very interesting to see Koki in a bdsm outfit but besides that there wasn’t anything super memorable about these actors’ parts.

Harashina Motohisa. Motohisa played the Black Tamanegi and served as somewhat of a leader for the Tamanegi in their scenes. Given that he was the only 2nd season Tenimyu actor in the cast and was the first name in the list of Tamanegi this was pretty much the role I expected him to play. He was very good, and his high voice was super adorable to hear after not hearing it much from his roles.

Okuda Yumeto. It was very surprising for me to see that Yumeto was the Tamanegi who travelled back into the past with Patalliro to see Bancoran’s past. Not only is he the youngest of the Tamanegi but he was also last on the list of Tamanegi names, I might be putting too much onto that list, but I did think it was gonna be kinda going from highest ranked to lowest and from most importance in the show to lowest. I was kinda right and wrong about that as the four most important were the two first names and two of the three last names. He did get to sing a little in the Bancoran and Damien jazz sex song, more on that later, and I thought what he did was good.

Nakata Ryouta. (Yes I am saving Tsukasa for last bc I love him). Out of the four he had the smallest role but still had a solo bit in their trio song (trio is the name for a song where 3 people harmonise and have solo bits if you didn’t know, bc lol I didn’t) and was somewhat important to Maraich. I thought he was very good despite it being his first stage show and he had a lovely voice. He and Tsukasa made such a cute couple.

Taguchi Tsukasa. Warning, he is my favourite actor, and I am extremely biased. He was the best actor in the show, no question.

Joking, he didn’t have too much to do so obviously he didn’t shine more than Dai-chan, Yuuya or Shouta for example. He had two scenes with Maraich and while he didn’t do much in the stage overall it was clear how much of an impact his character, Tamanegi no.35, made on Maraich. He confessed to Maraich his love for his fellow Tamanegi, no.19, and spoke of their love and how special they were to each other which was never ridiculed or made fun of but was an exceedingly human moment and as a lgbt person it really touched me. He saw the love Maraich had for Bancoran and he and 19 did everything they could to help him. Without them, Bancoran and maybe Maraich as well, would most likely be dead as they picked Maraich up and brought him to Bancoran as well as getting Plasma X’s armour to protect him. Maraich, so far in the stages, hasn’t really had a friend. He always has just had Patalliro, shown by Patalliro being called in the 2nd stage to help them with their argument despite Maraich not liking Patalliro that much and this Tamanegi offered help to Maraich without judgement, just empathy, and I thought that was really special. I know, due to the nature of this being based on a gag manga and knowing Patalliro, that in the next stage they will likely not get another scene together but I can hope as their second scene with 19, 35 and Maraich might be my favourite scene in all of Patalliro content.

I know Tsukasa is a massive Patalliro fan, in a live he said he went to the previous show between 4-6 times and I have rarely seen him smile as much as he did in the finale of this show. It obviously meant so much to him to be in a show he loved and I’m incredibly happy for him.

Singing/songs.

There were 9/11 songs in this show. (9 if you don’t count Cock robin and Foggy London Airport which Ataru only sang a little of on stage but is an album exclusive)

These were:

1. Wow Patalliro

2. I can’t see your

3. Maybe we could meet again? – Mata Aeru Kashira

4. Foggy London Airport

5. Sexy dudes!

6. To leak out – Moreru

7. Kiss me Bancoran

8. Cock Robin

9. Don’t overlook me – Misugosenai

10. My special person - Tokubetsu na hito

11. Forever Patalliro ~ Grand Finale

1. Wow Patalliro

This opening song was such a bop and I don’t think I will ever get it out of my head. It was very different to the previous first songs, much higher tempo and energy which I think was interesting as this show felt slower than the previous two shows which I thought was interesting. Shouta, Damien’s actor, was having so much fun dancing around in the bg and it was adorable.

2. I can’t see your

God Ataru’s voice. Her voice was gorgeous in this song. This was my favourite of the 3/4 songs she sang and this is from a person who doesn’t usually like ballads. The contrast between the fast pace of the first song and the slow pace of the 2nd song was so well done. And it was such a good song to have the cast list play during as kinda a more formal opening as the first scene doesn’t do much except to show that Bancoran is acting strange and so isn’t super related to the rest of the stage.

3. Maybe we could meet again? – Mata Aeru Kashira

I love the club singer vibe of this song and Maraich was so cute with Ban clapping along in the back. It was a nice soft scene before all the angst and trauma in the rest of the scene and it was really nice to see them on a date together.

4. Foggy London Airport

Don’t have many thoughts as I didn’t really hear much of this song, about 2 lines, but I’m sure it’s amazing if Ataru is singing it.

5. Sexy dudes!

I love all the Tamanegi songs so much and I rly liked how different this one sounded, much like all the songs in this show, I like how the Tamanegi are built up in this song to seem so good then they having the dumbest dance ever, it was amazing and the final day with all of them stripping killed me. Of laughter bc of Daiki wearing a shirt that made it seem like he had abs and of other things bc of Tsukasa stripping. (I think Daiki might not have been comfortable showing his fully chest so I’m glad they allowed him to just wear a pretend ab shirt)

6. To leak out – Moreru

I never imagined a sex scene in Patalliro would be shown by a woman dressed like a bush singing a jazz song as screens showed the characters sex faces as they were on a spinning bed or doing poses but here we are. The song itself was very good and I think it worked weirdly well representing what happened.

7. Kiss me Bancoran

God all the songs in this stage were just so good. Another absolute banger. Yuuya’s voice as Bancoran is divine and the choreography and everything work so well for this song. I also think he looks super pretty in his past Ban outfit and love that the song was done in that.

8. Cock Robin

Pretty much as normal. Maraich’s little leg lift is so cute

9. Don’t overlook me – Misugosenai

This was not what I expected from a Maraich solo in any way shape or form. But it works so well?? Maraich screaming into the mic as Bancoran plays the guitar and the Tamanegi do back up dance is just phenomenal, Dai’s voice works for the song so well and him pretending to be Damien and Bancoran and impersonating their voices as they had sex was hilarious, omg. This song was the song we didn’t want but we needed so much. By far and away my fav song in the show. I have listened to it so many times already and I am never gonna get bored of it.

10. My special person - Tokubetsu na hito

A trio song between Maraich, 19 and 35 about what you do when with the person you love the most and what you would do for the one you love the most, with the other Tamanegi as back up singers. Despite looking a bit silly with Koki in his bdsm gear in the bg, the emotion was there, and the three actors are such good singers. /not at all biased. Honestly, I died when I heard Tsukasa start to sing. I didn’t expect him to get a solo bit in this show and I was so happy that he did.

11. Forever Patalliro ~ Grand Finale

I rly like the new ending song. It’s upbeat and fast like the first song and has a different feel to the previous cast. I’m kinda glad that the final bit with the circle head things that look like the headframes from the manga was the only song they kept. They’re showing that they are moving on from the previous cast without erasing what they did.

Overall, I think this show has my favourite soundtrack. In the past two shows and the film there were a couple songs I didn’t love but in this one I loved all the songs!

Directing

Like I said before I think there were a lot of good calls in the direction. They had I think two or three references to Stardust, I think this was to partly reassure fans that they weren’t completely resetting the world and that this was a continuation and from what I remember maybe four or five recurring things.

1. Patalliro at the start being asked who he is, this definitely makes sense tho and I’m super glad they didn’t change it

2. Maraich’s legs shaking when Ban looked at him with his beam. I kinda liked though how they even changed the beam for Yuuya. Tsune’s was a contant beam whereas Yuuya’s beam is more short bursts. (in terms out sound and the projection of the beam light)

3. Patalliro recreating the most tragic scene from the play again at the end. I was a little unsure about them keeping this at first as it felt like a joke of the old cast but it was mainly something Kato Ryo did and he is still here to continue his joke so it makes sense to keep it. Also, in the finale he gave Damien. Maraich and Bancoran characters from tv to impersonate while doing their lines which made the scene very funny.

4. The final bit after the finale song with the head frames but I think it would be weird to remove this song in retrospect bc it is the song that mainly relates back to the manga. Also, they did change what the head boarders look like.

5. And obviously the two mangaka that are referenced in all the stages are still there bc that is something that came from the original. (Micchan sensei and the shojo mangaka one)

Except for that stuff, from what I can remember, mostly everything was new jokes which I rly liked. That they’re making new stuff for the new cast.

That’s it!

I still have so many other thoughts but the best thing I can say at this point is pls watch the stage! It is just as faithful as it was with the original cast and the quality has not dipped at all.

Thank you for reading my rly rambly thoughts and I’m sorry it trailed off at the end, it is quite late now.

I hope it inspired you to look into getting a DVD or CD or supporting the stage in some other way.

Have a good day/week/month/year/life!

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sambart93 · 8 years ago

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2017.03.07-08 HatsuKoi Monster [Review]

I had the amazing opportunity (amazing because it’s MakiChan that’s literally why) to go and see Hatsukoi Monster TWICE - last Tuesday evening/night show alongside an AfterTalk. and last Wednesday afternoon show. I was also super lucky that they were filming on Wednesday for the DVD(!) but more on that later. I’ll probably refer to the performance differences by saying either Tuesday / Wednesday or Night / Afternoon.

Official Website here Official Twitter here Press Reports 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Dress Rehearsal Video here

CAST and CHARACTERS

Aramaki Yoshihiko as Takahashi Kanade Okuda Kokoro as Nikaido Kaho Sagawa Daiki as Kaneko Tom Kamisato Yuki as Sannomiya Ginjirou Shane as Noguchi Kazuo Yuutarou as Shinohara Kouta Ono Kento as Taga Atsushi Tanaka Ryousei as Nagasawa Arashi Hoshino Yuta as Nikaido Daikoku Gomoto Naoya as Takahashi Shuugo Ensemble: Hanatsuka Rentarou and Kitagawa Yuuya

NON-SPOILER

I was super worried going into this one because the main girl lead is only 14 years old and I’d watched the anime and I was super worried about ‘almost 30 year old actors trying to be 11 years old who’re trying to be romantic with her’,

BUT I was surprised how they handled illegal-ness of it and it ends up being this rather innocent (not really existent) romance.

The major selling point of this play is the comedy and the audience participation. Everyone was constantly laughing, even the actors couldn’t hold it in at times (I’m looking at you MakiChan!). It’s absolutely ridiculous but also brings back some nostalgic moments of childhood at the same time. So it’s all wonderful and fun! Also they get the audience to clap along to the music and different songs and they go around the audience a lot which makes it even more enjoyable.

The stars of the show are definitely Tanaka Ryousei and Hoshino Yuta - they are both hilarious and go all out as their characters and they create a lot of hysterics from the audience.

Due to this stage having two minors as actors, this play is a short 90-100 minutes play but it’s so jam packed and fun and entertaining!

Rating: 9/10

STORY

The stage follows the anime story pretty faithfully so, just go watch that but if you’re too lazy then quick synopsis here:

Nikaido Kaho leaves home to live at a dormitory for her new school year. Shortly after arriving, Kaho is saved by a tall, handsome stranger. She confesses her love to him. To her shock, he is in fact a fifth grader! Deciding that she can't date a fifth grader, Kaho intends to break up with him. But as she spends more time with Kanade, she begins to care for him even more, even though she feels and knows its morally wrong.

And thus ridiculousness and hilarity ensues.

SPOILERS

As per usual a dissertation length review is about to occur. Sit back and enjoy.

STAGE

The stage is really interesting, it’s set out as a circle that comes out from a little stage so it’s in the center of the room and there’s chairs about pretty much 280 degrees around it. The theatre itself is only 6 rows and then a slightly upper row and then there’s the second floor which I imagine only had about 2 rows. So tiny and super intimate which made it all the better! There really isn’t a bad seat. Although, from about row 3 and back, sometimes you can’t see the action when the actors are creeping around the front of the stage or when they’;re led down because someones head is going to be in the way, BUT that rarely happens and I never really had a problem with seeing the stage and I was in rows 4 and 5 rows.

EXTRA: Also, if anyone ever asks me again how good my Japanese is, I will never saying ‘it’s sometimes alright’ because I was laughing so hard. I was one of the loudest laughers when I watched this which proves my understanding of Japanese...right?! XD

CAST BREAKDOWN and SCENES

Aramaki Yoshihiko as Takahashi Kanade:

Like I said I was originally worried about MakiChan having to do a job where his romantic interest is a 13/14 year old girl in real life. BUT luckily everything ended up being really innocent and actually it did really just look like friends or family rather than a romantic interest so that’s a relief.

It was hilarious seeing a grown 27 year old guy play a 12 year old. He pulled off the innocence and the childishness very well. All his adlibs were great and even when he couldn’t control his laughter he was adorable! The wendesday performance was being filmed and MakiChan messed up a lot and it was so funny! The first is when he goes to tell is dad he’s dating Kaho, but because she doesn’t want it found out she starts screaming over his words. Usually he says ‘Yes because Kaho is my girlfr- *Kaho screams over him*’ but during the Afternoon show MakiChan accidentally said, ‘Yes because she’s my private teacher *Kaho screams*’ and then into his mic quietly he’s like ‘private teacher?!’ and everyone in the audience is wetting themselves and not paying any attention to Kaho doing her monologue, we were all too busy looking at MakiChan who was laughing at himself and then Naoya too was looking at him like ‘you really just said that?’ xD another part during the same scene in the Afternoon show is when MakiChan’s decided to play his Melodica while his father was talking seriously to Kaho and Naoya hit MakiChan on the leg with a smile and said ‘do you mind? I’m trying to talk here,’ and MakiChan cracked this huge smile back and was like ‘I’m sorry?’

There’s also a hula hoop scene where the hula hoop drops from the ceiling and MakiChan catches it and then (as Kanade) says he’ll break up with her if he can’t do 200 hula hoops. In the evening show he got to about 50 hoops before he went ‘oh this is strange, I’m already in pain!!’ and in the afternoon show he was like ‘what are my hands doing?! Where do I put them?!’ and then he’d start to laugh himself and the hula hoop would go off balance and of course, for the sake of the plot, he’d not hit 200 hoops and be like ‘Kaho... let’s break up.’

There is a kateikyoushi (Private teacher) musical number where each of the boys get a chance to quickly ask a question and every day it changed. In the afternoon show we got:

Tom: What’s the different between cider and soda?* *Cider is a soda soft drink in Japan.

Gin: Why is being tied up with rope more fun than skipping rope?

Kanade: Why is Hatsukoi Monster’s theater called Teen x Teen theatre?! Depending on the person, people hear it differently and if you say it fast it becomes Teen-*music blasts out so he’s cut off*

It was hilarious that he ran out of time xD he tried his hardest to say all his stuff at once.

The Afternoon show he asked; why is a 27 year old man playing an elementary school kid?! xD

Every curtain call and ending, the actors go around the stage and wave to everyone. MakiChan definitely spotted me in the crowd during the Tuesday night show and gave me a big wave and a smile and (me being me) I shyly waved back xD but it made my night!! Even now it makes me happy ^_^

Okuda Kokoro as Nikaido Kaho:

She has a very deep voice. Deeper than the guys, which makes sense because she’s supposed to be the oldest of them all BUT it sounded super weird because she’s like 4ft10 tiny girl with a cute face. Also the deep voice didn’t help her during her solo song. Every time I cringed a little.

But she was fine. She played Kaho decent enough. Unfortunately her comedic parts felt very forced and unrealised so no one ever laughed during those - especially the opening scene where she’s pretending to be a drama queen and it’s supposed to be funny, you know it’s supposed to be funny, but no one laughed. But you can tell the script and everything wasn’t in her favour. Even though in the anime she’s the main, she was very much kept as a side character in this. Pretty much whenever she was on stage, the boy would be at the back doing something stupid so 95% of the audience would be laughing and focusing on them rather than paying attention to her struggles and her monologues and stuff - I admit I was the same. I don’t remember her because I was too busy following what the boys were doing. Especially the final scene between Kanade and Kaho; Kaho is talking to Kanade all seriously BUT the entire audience is too busying watching and laughing at Hoshino sneak around the stage and pulling facing and doing comedic stuff to entertain us.

And like I said, it looked more like she was MakiChan’s daugther or younger sister, rather than her dating an elementary school kid so didn’t look too creepy xD

Sagawa Daiki as Kaneko Tom and Kamisato Yuki as Sannomiya Ginjirou:

I did not realise who the guy playing Tom was until I properly looked at the pamphlet the other day! He’s the geeky glasses boy from 3rd season Tenimyu! He looks SO much better in this stage and his skin is pretty flawless and very young! Also he did an amazing job as Tom! He had the perfect annoying balance and his dynamic with Gin/Kamisato was brilliant and he comedic punches were very funny!

Kamisato as Gin as also perfect! He had the right balance of childishness crossed with perviness. Gin is such a weird kid. There’s some pretty unfortgettable scenes thanks to Kamisato playing Gin so pervy-like and I can already see his perv/stalker face in my head and it’s making me giggle.

So let me cover some, Tom, TomxGin and Gin moments:

- Every time Kanade says goodbye to his friends they poke their butts out and say ‘unko // poop!’ and everytime Gin runs off stay he just giggles to himself ‘ふふ　受ける～ // (it’s difficult to translate but) Haha that’s funny’ he does it about two times and it’s more hilarious every time.

- There’s one scene where Kazu wants to talk seriously with Kaho so the other three boys go off and play with rope. the Night show ended up with MakiChan and Daiki tying Kamisato up in a ball which was hilarious and then once he was unwrapped, Daiki then started hitting Kamisato’s butt with the rope and Kamisato was signalling at him to do it harder xD the Afternoon show MakiChan and Daiki took each end of the rope and hit him lightly with in on the shoulder and head. In both performance, the scene ended with Daiki tying the rope around Kamisato’s hands and then as they leave they grab the handle bars of their bikes and Kamisato (having his hands tied together) held one side of the bars and was like ‘事故になりそう // Looks like I’ll get into an accident’ xD

- There’s a hide and seek scene in the stage and in the Night performance, Daiki found an aisle seat to the right of me and sat there but in the Afternoon show there were no aisle seats and so he ran around the back and eventually found a seat on my row about 6 seats in (I was seat 15) and he pretty much climbed and stumbled over the audience at super high speed to get to the seat and then made some jokes that the girls around him were wetting themselves with laughter. He was there for a good 5 - 10 minutes.

- Tom and Gin end up kissing in this stage. Before seeing this play I had read a few tweets and remembered some that interesting me and this was one of them. And people weren't lying about the Tom x Gin kiss(!) It’s right at the end during the ending song/credits and Gin just kind of attacks Tom and kisses him, and Tom is in shock like ‘you stole my first kiss!!’. Everytime the audience reaction is amazing. Thinking about it, Gin as a character does seem a little gay - I can definitely imagine him coming out when he’s older - so makes sense he would be curious about his friend and maybe does like him, and kids being kids do kiss their friends sometimes, mainly out of innocent curiosity. It’s a very cute scene. Unfortunately from where I was sat, the kiss was always blocked out of my view (I only ever saw the back of their heads) so I’m very much looking forward to the proper and full view of the kiss scene on the DVD ^_^

I wanna mention a scene involving all three of the main boys: If you saw any of the genepro/dress rehearsal pictures then you definitely would’ve noticed that one of the pics is strangely similar to that of the YowaMushi Pedal stage; and you would be correct in thinking such a thing. The YowaMushi-like scene too did NOT disappoint! It’s so hilarious! They start running and they come down the step and run past the audience and around the back and they do the whole ‘I’ll pull us up the hill! I’ll be the ace!’ etc. and it’s hilarious and so good!

Shane as Noguchi Kazuo:

This kid is adorable! And so well mannered and so professional! Freaking HUGE kudos for him!

I really enjoyed Shane’s (and Yuutarou’s) performance, just because (they) he fits (their) his character so well and (they are) he is so freaking cute!!! I want to take both of them home! Every time it was Shane’s first scene in the stage, you could just feel like atmosphere of every girl and her ovaries in the room explode and just go ‘omg he’s adorable!!

He was spoken of very highly during the aftertalk so jump there so see those comments.

ALSO, MakiChan had a live stream last night and he spoke highly of Shane against and explained how during the rehearsals Shame came all the way from Hiroshima on his own (with his manager) and stayed in a dormitory during the month long rehearsals which is freaking ridiculous! And then during the performances, he and his family stayed in a hotel. MakiChan was like '12 year old me would find it impossible to move all the way to Tokyo and live on my own for a month!’ and I totally agree. And spoke of how mature Shane in and how amazing that is of him. MakiChan also found it difficult to be strict on Shane and Kokoro because of how young they are so he basically told them ‘ask me any questions, whenever you have them and the most important thing is to apologise, if you mess up just apologise, if you’re late just apologise’ which makes him such a good senpai. But he admits he couldn’t find it in himself to scold them because they’re both cute xD also on the final day apparently Shane hugged MakiChan and was trying to hold back tears and asked him to go to Disneyland with him one day - HOW FREAKING CUTE IS THAT! Also Shane saw all the presents MakiChan got every day and was like ‘that must be nice’ and MakiChan said ‘you’ll get them one day too’ awwwwww! My ovaries...

Yuutarou as Shinohara Kouta:

Like I mentioned in Shane’s section; he’s a cute! He’s actually playing my favourite character in the stage and he played him so well and I ran out and got his bromides as soon as the firs performance I saw was finished! His skin is so flawless too! Lucky bugger!

I am very happy about the crossdressing scene and seeing him play such a timid and shy character who’s brain jumps to the wrong conclusion every time. For example, he here’s Kanade and Kaho in Kanade’s room and all he hears is:

Kanade: Does that feel go?

Kaho: That feels great.

Kanade: What about here?

Kaho: Ohhh that hurts a little

Kanade: Okay I’ll be softer

And when Arashi storms into the room, turns out Kanade was just giving Kaho a massage but Kouta totally thinks they’re doing something else.

Speaking of crossdressing(!) Kouta is in a tourquoise schoolgirl outfit and it’s all for a favour for Arashi. And the other three boys join in: MakiChan in a maids dress and these two cute ponytails, Gin in a tartan school skirt and Tom in a long skirt and boob tube top. There’s a musical number then there’s a scene where they’re all talking and during it Tom is going around just pulling up everyone’s skirts and stuff and he puts his head in MakiChan’s skirt xD and Kouta tries hard to keep his skirt down while Tom and Gin pull it up. And then we get Gin who just lets Tom constantly lift it up without any shame. Also one point, Arashi is led on the floor (he’s in a pink cheerleader outfit by the way xD) and Gin just straddles himself above him and almost goes to sit on his face xD what the hell Gin/Kamisato >.<

Also they added in the little ‘Kazu falling for Kouta but he thinks Kouta is a girl’ scene BUT they don’t expand on it, which makes sense because Shane is only 12 years old. BUT I’m happy they added in that little inkling between Kouta and Kazu xD it was a cute moment where Kazu is like ‘I know I’m in love!’

Another scene I liked was right at the beginning when timid Kouta greets Kaho and she thinks he’s the landlord and she goes into a daydream and Yuutarou spins around and suddenly becomes

Yuutarou is so open and direct in real life which is a great contrast to his character. Yuutarou is hilarious in how direct he was with his opinions and stuff, especially towards Kamisato xD he’s still young and it’s his first stage too, and he’s so cute and adorable. He’s definitely a character - see the AfterTalk section for more.

Ono Kento as Taga Atsushi:

Ono played Taga perfectly and I’m kind of glad they didn’t really put the whole ‘Taga liking and forcing himself on Kaho’ plotline into the stage. The furthest they go is when Arashi and Kouta find Taga confronting Kaho about Kanade and the age difference and Arashi is just like ‘he can’t leave he alone even though he wants to because he’s likes you’ but Taga constantly denies it and when Kouta hears this he gets so sad and is like ‘YOU LIKE HER?! *sigh*’

Ono is always a great actor and his slight lisp is always cute too xD

I kinda want to see him stop playing such serious characters or at least characters who deliver comedy very dryly. He’s so funny in real life (see the AfterTalk) and he’s a really interesting guy so I want to see him do different characters.

Tanaka Ryousei as Nagasawa Arashi:

I feel that the shining stars of the show are definitely Tanaka Ryousei as Arashi and Hoshino Yuta (previously known as Furukawa Yuta) as Daikoku.

For some reason, my brain has REALLY low expectations of Third Season Tenimyu boys, which is completely illogical and I don’t understand why my brain thinks in such a way because I’ve never been disappointed in them during their time in tenimyu or even now. I’ve seen many 3rd Season boys in other things once they’ve graduated/left Tenimyu and I’ve enjoyed them every time(!)

So seeing Ryousei in this and seeing him being so freaking hilarious and being this extreme, silly, over-the-top character and seeing him perform the humour so perfectly, I was super impressed because of my silly brain and it’s assumptions that I can’t shake. He plays Arashi so perfectly too, and maybe even better than the characterisation in the anime! I’ve already mnetioned a lot of his scenes when discussing the other actors so I don’t have much left to say.

But I do wanna talk about the character himself in case you don’t know. Arashi is a university kid who is obsessed with dolls and young boys (especially when they’re dressed in girl clothes) WHICH is why Yuutarou and co end up in girl clothes at one point because Arashi asks them to so he can take lots of pictures of them. He also has a thing for Kazu and every time he sees him he’s like ‘he’s so cute! *takes picture* even from the back!’. One time he even says ‘Kaho, can you take Kazu swimming with you one time and let him wear a (girls) swimsuit and let me take pictures of you both? I’ll give you the money, you just choose which swimsuit is best for him!’ and she’s like ‘no!!!!’ xD

Another scene involving all the boys is when they’re playing with Arashi’s dolls while Arashi and Kaho talk (I have no idea what they talk about because I always paid attention to the boys at the front of the stage playing). In the Night show, MakiChan put the dolls into sitting positions and then put them on each of the boys’ shoulders. Then he put his doll on Kazu’s head and Shane continued his line and continued to stand up as the doll was on his head and the audience were making noises worried it would drop as he moved but it didn’t ^_^ in the Afternoon show halfway through the scene we heard this POP and one of the dolls legs had come off. I think it was Gin who did it BUT MakiChan kept holding them and because of this it ruined his line at the end because the audience just died of laughter and drowned out his line and he started laughing too. At the end of the scene Kazu would always say ‘I’m sorry we broke your doll’ << talking about a doll they’d ruined much earlier - but in the Afternoon show it had a double meaning and caused more laughter from the audience; I don’t even think Ryousei had realised the doll was broken because he was at the back of the stage talking to Kaho while it happened.

Hoshino Yuta as Nikaido Daikoku:

Both of Tanaka and Hoshino’s selling points are definitely their comedy and comedic timing in this stage: they're absolutely hilarious!

The entire last 15 - 20 minutes of the stage are just stolen by Hoshino and his comedy. The audience never stopped laughing. Hoshino has a talent to make the funniest faces. He spends his time being possessive of his sister Kaho and everytime Kanade goes towards Kaho or turns his back away from Hoshino, Hoshino would just pull faces of disgust towards him and it was hilarious - I am not doing it justce! And when kanade would turn back he’d immidiatly pull a nice face again. And when Kaho and Kanade are seriously talking at the end Hoshino goes around the stage and everyone is just dying of laughter and paying attention to him instead xD

Seriously, I cannot wait to rewatch Hoshino’s part in this stage on DVD over and over again. It’s definitely worth the wait to watch the first 70 - 80 minutes of the play to finally see his perforamnce. He is gold. He also had adlibs every day. So Kanade and him decide to have a show down as to who should take and deserves Kaho and so Kanade decides on the game Daruma-san ga Koronda AKA Red Light, Green Light AKA Statues AKA I don’t know the name of this. It’s similar to ‘What Time Is It Mr Wolf?’ if you’ve ever played that. And so Kanade tries to catch them (Daikoku, Taga and Kaho) out but it takes too long so he speeds up ‘Daruma-san ga KoronDA! da! da! da da da da da’ and then we enter Hoshino’s adlib of the day.

The Night show Hoshino did a Terminator adlib; he sang part of the song while saying “I’ll be back. 私は夏歩さんを必ず守り抜く！ガシャンガシャーーン! // I’ll be back. I’ll definitely save Kaho! *makes transform noises*” MakiChan just died of laughter and I could see his back bouncing up and down as he laughed. Finally he could speak “who the hell is this guy?”

The Afternoon show Hoshino went into a song of his own saying “In the city my beautiful sister Kaho was *forgets the next part and pauses, causing laughter from everyone including MakiChan* dumped which sucks! It’d be great if her ex-boyfriend would leave!!! Kaho, let’s live together instead!” MakiChan replies “You tried your hardest to come up with that didn’t you?” xD

Absolutely gold.

Gomoto Naoya as Takahashi Shuugo:

I’m so upset at how little stage time he got BUT his dynamic with MakiChan (especially during the Afternoon show) was so good and he played the papa role very well and he was very comedic and got an adlib about whatever plant or flower he was gardening that day and what the flower/plant’s name meant. I also really like the scene when Kaho faints and she has a dream where Kouta is some sadist, mean guy and hits people with a club, and Taga has become this really nice and cutie guy, he even does the cat pose and says nyan and then we have Naoya in this animal dog print onesie and in a grumpy man voice and it’s very funny! I wish he’d had more stage time though =[ I love Naoya. His outfit was NOT falttering by the way; he’s in a sweat suit and it really does age him. Doesn’t show the shape of his body well at all =[ it isn’t flattering. My poor Naoya.

Ensemble: Hanatsuka Rentarou and Kitagawa Yuuya:

The two ensembles guys really did a great job. I recognised Rentarou at least and pretty sure I’d seen Yuuya before. They did a variety roles and they were great and had comedic moments themselves. During the crossdressing scene these two come out in a nurses outfit and a chinese dress and they’re supposed to look awful and it works really well. They really do look (in the words of Yuutarou in the AfterTalk) ugly in that scene. In the Afternoon show, they both came over to my side of the audience and crouched down at the sides and spoke to some of the girls and made jokes xD There’s essential to the cast and definitely weren’t just some forgettable ensemble.

MUSIC and AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

I’ve mentioned the songs and the music a few times but I feel it needed its own section. The songs in this are amazing! They’re so fun and comedic and so enjoyable and a lot of them allow the audience to join in either shouting or clapping and the actors run around the audience while they sing or do poses and stuff. It’s very interactive and participation is needed. It’s definitely the most interactive stage I’ve been to and it was so much fun!!

I don’t think they’ll bring one out but I’d really, really love a CD of all the songs on it. Even if they don’t, once the dvd is out I am ripping the songs and putting them into MP3s! << do we still say MP3s(?). I mean audio files!

TUESDAY NIGHT’S AFTERTALK

The aftertalk was MakiChan, Kamisato, Yuutaro and Ono!

Before the aftertalk even started, during the curtain call MakiChan said “本日は帰りの会と言う名のアフタートークがあります。今日残ってくれる人は… // After this is an AfterTalk, Those participating are....“ but we thought he was talking to the audience and half the audience put their hands up, including me, which Naoya noticed and went “wow that’s not a lot of people” and then MakiChan realised what had happened “Not the audience!! I meant which out of US!”

The aftertalk was naturally a shambles and non-stop hilarity also. There were five questions that they got asked (from the audience) in the aftertalk:

1. What’s your favourite scene or part?

Kamisato: The fact we can say unko/poop and chinko/penis. MakiChan: We don’t normally say it right... this stage was probably the first time I properly used and said those words. Yuutarou: I really like Arashi’s doll scene. I think Arashi is actually the nicest. He’s a huge perv but in that scene he really shows how nice he is. Ono: Why can’t I dressup as a girl (in this stage)? MakiChan: You wanted to do it?! Then why don’t you do the dance now. Yuutarou stood up and brought Ono to the center of the stage and taught him the dance he does in the crossdressing scene. But Ono couldn’t really do it so went “I give up” and sat back down xD

2. Who’s the most childish or doesn’t act their age?

Yuutarou: Well it’s obvious (who’s the most childish) * immediately pointed to Kamisato* Kamisato: Why me?! Yuutarou: Ryousei aisthe same level as Kamisato. もう、ほんとにバカで心配になる // You really are an idiot, it’s concerning Kamisato: WHY?! What?! Why me?! MakiChan: The person who acts older than their age.... Shane. He’s only 12 but he’s really proper and mature. Kokoro as well, being only 13 but acts properly. Only the young ones are act mature... But Shane is cute right?! During rehearsals he came in with Jinroh Game on his mobile and was really excited about it. We played it a lot. Everyone agreed on Shane’s cuteness. MakiChan: How about out of us four? Ono: とりあえず一番低いのは決まってるじゃん(神里)。あとオレとまっきーって同じくらいの高さじゃない？ // Well it’s already decided who the most childish is (Kamisato) and I think Mackey and me are the same level. Yuutarou: あー、分かるかも。何かしっかりする時はして、バカな時はバカって感じ // I get what you mean. You act appropriately when you two have to be but you’re also idiots when it’s okay to be.” Which is something I can personally relate to ^_^ Kamisato: Yuutarou is pretty calm for his age. But backstage he always joins in on ‘Get You’ (MakiChan’s final solo song in the stage) MakiChan: You join in on my song?! Yuutarou: I really like the song. The ‘Nai nai na~i’ and the ‘Get you!’

3. Who looked the cutest in the crossdress?

Ono: *to Yuutarou* You’re gunna pick yourself ain’t ya Yuutarou: No! Well... hmmm... BUT(!) did you see the two ensemble guys? They’re super ugly (in that scene)! Everyone: That’s mean! MakiChan: But you’re right... with that hair and that nurse and chnese dress outfit... Yuutarou: I was shocked at how ugly they were the first time I saw them, so I was determined to look better than at least them two. Kamisato: Well we never get a chance to wear skits really do we, so it was fun (to wear them). I wanna always wear one. MakiChan: I don’t really get it but... Yuutarou: Gin’s ugly ain’t he. Kamisato: Wait, what?! Yuutarou: Before we tried Gin with a pink skirt but it was just... it looked so bad! Kamisato: well that’s rude! *laughs* Yuutarou: So now he wears blue. He looks alright in blue. MakiChan: Who do you think Kento-kun? Ono: I think Ryousei looks the best. The other three: What? Ono: His legs are long and pretty, it’s kinda sexy. MakiChan: sexy? *laughs* ... Kamisato: Tom looks cool doesn’t he. MakiChan: Yeah he does with the long skirt and everything... I wanted to properly wear the skirt with those frilly white pants but I don’t have much time (between scenes) so I just keep what I have on completely. Gin has black underwear on right? Kamisato: Yeah I do. But after this (stage finishes), we won’t have a chance to wear skirts again. I want to wear them more. MakiChan: Then do it. Kamisato: I want to but when... MakiChan: You can... at home. Kamisato: If I do that, won’t it be weird?!

4. Have you ever kept a secret from your parents, even if it later got found out or not?

MakiChan: If I say something (now that) I’ve never revealed, my mother’ll be on my twitter going ‘why did you hide this from us?!’

Mainly they spoke about how they’d hide from their parents that there was a girl they liked. But Ono couldn’t relate, saying he was a straight forward kid and never lied. Yuutarou agreed he has that kind of image about him xD But Ono admitted that he would ignore girls that he liked, everyone else was like ‘ignore?! why?’ and couldn’t understand until he said ‘because I was embarrassed’.

5. If you could go back to being an Elementary School kid, what would you do?

MakiChan: Ono is there anything you’d wanna do? Ono: Dodge ball! Dodge ball! Kamisato: So blunt.

As you can see, Kamisato got so much abuse from mainly Yuutarou and he got called バカ (idiot) and ブス (ugly) but all in a lovable manner and in the right context.

ATTENTION AND CREDIT: All the tweets and Japanese are thanks to this tag and this tag, and mainly these guys 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and all photos are credit to the press sites linked at the top!

GOODS

LOOK HOW CUTE YUUTAROU IS!!! And I got so lucky with the randoms and the trades! ^_^

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And there we have it! Hope you enjoyed that (once again essay) review!

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