In the break between the 1st and the 2nd act, standing in the lobby and looking through the programme, I saw two western faces on the other side of the hall. I must say, though Takarazuka gains more and more popularity in other countries, it was not common for me to see a foreigner (at least an obvious one) in the theatre actually. I was wondering whether they were fans of RuroKen or of Takarazuka, or of both. But the first question that came to my head was – how did they get the tickets???
Story and characters
I still don’t know about those two, but me and my friend are fans of both Zuka and RuroKen. Going to see the performance was an extremely important thing for us, all our trip was specially planned for that, and we started planning as soon as we heard about the decision of Hankyu to stage RuroKen last year. What I did not expect was that so many Japanese turned out to be fans like us, too. I mean, more than 30 performances in total, with approximately two thousand seats in the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre, and almost all of them sold out in 1 hour. Why do 60,000 people have nothing else to do in April? It’s a start of a new year, why don’t you all concentrate on your studies or work? I’m just joking, of course. Or am I?
If you’re not new to it, you shouldn’t expect that Takarazuka ever makes a play entirely for fans of a particular franchise. And I didn’t… At least I thought I didn’t. And still I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that they stuffed 2 hours of the play with all kinds of events for the sake of viewers oblivious to the original work, including Kenshin’s fight during the revolution, his past with Tomoe, meeting Kaoru, Yahiko, Sano, Saito, Megumi, Aoshi, Takeda and Kano, conflicts with local yakuza, contacts with police, opium production, first Gatling, European-style ball, saving Kaoru and of course, many fights in the course of it. I read the director’s explanation that the story would be something happening between the first events of the manga, but instead they just briefly explained almost the whole first arc with the only difference of Kurogasa, Kenshin's enemy and former Shinsengumi member, who was replaced with Kano and connected with Kanryu. Rather than a filler, I’d call it an alternative – and brief – introduction.
To my surprise, I discovered that for me, apparently, the scenario may be of less importance if the rest is good. And the rest was just superb. The 23rd row is only second to the farthest in the audience, but even from there I could feel how much perseverance and love was put into the characters’ personification.
Acting
When my Japanese friend, a frequent Takarazuka visitor, told me she loves Snow more than any other troupe because of the 'climate' and coherence in the collective, I couldn’t quite understand what she meant. I guess I had to see it myself to understand. It’s when everybody is in his place, and when everybody has his time to shine on stage. And I couldn’t imagine better actors to portray the characters I love so much. I was ready to see some actresses suitable and others differing from what I’d like to see, but there were no one to count as the latter. I know it’s not fair to compare Takarazuka to people cosplaying anime characters, or actors of a live action movie, but I’ve never seen anybody so similar to the original characters. I read that Watsuki approved Satoh as Kenshin for the movie. I’m not sure what he said about the actresses from Takarazuka, but he gave his consent, and I hope it was not bought but negotiated.
But well, there is one thing you have to keep in mind – it’s a stage performance, and it’s Takarazuka with its traditions. They couldn’t make a smaller Yahiko or an older Saito who would be not as hot and young as they did. Or less loveable Takeda with his money and Gatling. Or less funny Megumi, since a female role for an otokoyaku actress - even if a former one - is always like that. Or miss the chance to make Sano introduce himself as if in a kabuki play.
Speaking of Yahiko, this is the thing that will never stop surprising me in a bad way when it comes to subordination and hierarchy in Japan. So, you choose young Ms. Irodori to play Yahiko. And you don’t give her any place on the poster. I know there were enough people on it even without her and her rank within the troupe, judging by the place of her photo in the programme, is not very high, but it really made me worry they'd erase the whole character from the story. And I must say she was an incredibly good Yahiko. Just as all others were incredibly good as their respective characters.
Costumes and setting
I thought I'd write something like 'this aspect deserves a separate paragraph from me', but I'm not sure if I can make a whole paragraph out of my inarticulate proclamations of delight. Just imagine that even the 10-minute scene in the brothel Kano visited in the beginning had a row of girls wearing gorgeous clothes, imagine that when Aoshi runs, his cloak waves just as it looks in manga or anime which always looks slightly surreal, that Sano was actually carrying his big zanbato, that there were Kaoru's dojo, Akabeko, a dark forest, Kano's house built in a western manner, an opium production room, and all of them had their own interiors or exteriors.
Music
As far as I remember, the music was very good in 'Rurouni Kenshin'… though it's hard to me to say anything bad about the play that amazed me so much. The lyrics in some songs were maybe just a bit less poetic than I'd want them to be – more like normal speech, for example 'this is our first technique of Kamiya Kasshin ryu' or 'I haven’t forgotten Tomoe but now I want to protect Kaoru'. I mean, literally. And some of those songs weren't meant to be entertaining, but serious and dramatic.
It was probably a silly thing to hope they'd use any of the anime songs or background themes, though I think they could manage it if they wanted. Nevertheless, I headed for Quatre Reves fully determined to buy a live CD, but I think it was not issued then.
Conclusion
At first I thought it would be hard for me to rewatch the Takarazuka version of RuroKen in case I lay my hands on it, because 'Kenshin' is not a story to kill time with or watch for entertainment, at least for me. However, after some time, I realised that the Takarazuka version is not too deep and tragic, and its lightness makes it possible to enjoy the play again. Now I want to watch again so that maybe this time I'd have the chance to have a closer look at the characters' faces, costumes and other things on stage... Because you know, I didn't know where to look at when in the theatre. I have only one pair of eyes, and they made too many gorgeous things appear on stage simultaneously for me to follow.
Story and characters
I still don’t know about those two, but me and my friend are fans of both Zuka and RuroKen. Going to see the performance was an extremely important thing for us, all our trip was specially planned for that, and we started planning as soon as we heard about the decision of Hankyu to stage RuroKen last year. What I did not expect was that so many Japanese turned out to be fans like us, too. I mean, more than 30 performances in total, with approximately two thousand seats in the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre, and almost all of them sold out in 1 hour. Why do 60,000 people have nothing else to do in April? It’s a start of a new year, why don’t you all concentrate on your studies or work? I’m just joking, of course. Or am I?
If you’re not new to it, you shouldn’t expect that Takarazuka ever makes a play entirely for fans of a particular franchise. And I didn’t… At least I thought I didn’t. And still I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that they stuffed 2 hours of the play with all kinds of events for the sake of viewers oblivious to the original work, including Kenshin’s fight during the revolution, his past with Tomoe, meeting Kaoru, Yahiko, Sano, Saito, Megumi, Aoshi, Takeda and Kano, conflicts with local yakuza, contacts with police, opium production, first Gatling, European-style ball, saving Kaoru and of course, many fights in the course of it. I read the director’s explanation that the story would be something happening between the first events of the manga, but instead they just briefly explained almost the whole first arc with the only difference of Kurogasa, Kenshin's enemy and former Shinsengumi member, who was replaced with Kano and connected with Kanryu. Rather than a filler, I’d call it an alternative – and brief – introduction.
To my surprise, I discovered that for me, apparently, the scenario may be of less importance if the rest is good. And the rest was just superb. The 23rd row is only second to the farthest in the audience, but even from there I could feel how much perseverance and love was put into the characters’ personification.
Acting
When my Japanese friend, a frequent Takarazuka visitor, told me she loves Snow more than any other troupe because of the 'climate' and coherence in the collective, I couldn’t quite understand what she meant. I guess I had to see it myself to understand. It’s when everybody is in his place, and when everybody has his time to shine on stage. And I couldn’t imagine better actors to portray the characters I love so much. I was ready to see some actresses suitable and others differing from what I’d like to see, but there were no one to count as the latter. I know it’s not fair to compare Takarazuka to people cosplaying anime characters, or actors of a live action movie, but I’ve never seen anybody so similar to the original characters. I read that Watsuki approved Satoh as Kenshin for the movie. I’m not sure what he said about the actresses from Takarazuka, but he gave his consent, and I hope it was not bought but negotiated.
But well, there is one thing you have to keep in mind – it’s a stage performance, and it’s Takarazuka with its traditions. They couldn’t make a smaller Yahiko or an older Saito who would be not as hot and young as they did. Or less loveable Takeda with his money and Gatling. Or less funny Megumi, since a female role for an otokoyaku actress - even if a former one - is always like that. Or miss the chance to make Sano introduce himself as if in a kabuki play.
Speaking of Yahiko, this is the thing that will never stop surprising me in a bad way when it comes to subordination and hierarchy in Japan. So, you choose young Ms. Irodori to play Yahiko. And you don’t give her any place on the poster. I know there were enough people on it even without her and her rank within the troupe, judging by the place of her photo in the programme, is not very high, but it really made me worry they'd erase the whole character from the story. And I must say she was an incredibly good Yahiko. Just as all others were incredibly good as their respective characters.
Costumes and setting
I thought I'd write something like 'this aspect deserves a separate paragraph from me', but I'm not sure if I can make a whole paragraph out of my inarticulate proclamations of delight. Just imagine that even the 10-minute scene in the brothel Kano visited in the beginning had a row of girls wearing gorgeous clothes, imagine that when Aoshi runs, his cloak waves just as it looks in manga or anime which always looks slightly surreal, that Sano was actually carrying his big zanbato, that there were Kaoru's dojo, Akabeko, a dark forest, Kano's house built in a western manner, an opium production room, and all of them had their own interiors or exteriors.
Music
As far as I remember, the music was very good in 'Rurouni Kenshin'… though it's hard to me to say anything bad about the play that amazed me so much. The lyrics in some songs were maybe just a bit less poetic than I'd want them to be – more like normal speech, for example 'this is our first technique of Kamiya Kasshin ryu' or 'I haven’t forgotten Tomoe but now I want to protect Kaoru'. I mean, literally. And some of those songs weren't meant to be entertaining, but serious and dramatic.
It was probably a silly thing to hope they'd use any of the anime songs or background themes, though I think they could manage it if they wanted. Nevertheless, I headed for Quatre Reves fully determined to buy a live CD, but I think it was not issued then.
Conclusion
At first I thought it would be hard for me to rewatch the Takarazuka version of RuroKen in case I lay my hands on it, because 'Kenshin' is not a story to kill time with or watch for entertainment, at least for me. However, after some time, I realised that the Takarazuka version is not too deep and tragic, and its lightness makes it possible to enjoy the play again. Now I want to watch again so that maybe this time I'd have the chance to have a closer look at the characters' faces, costumes and other things on stage... Because you know, I didn't know where to look at when in the theatre. I have only one pair of eyes, and they made too many gorgeous things appear on stage simultaneously for me to follow.
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