滝沢演舞城2013 第2幕
So it took me only a month to get this done. orz My memory fails and my English sucks, but at least it'll be fun to read this later when I've forgotten even more things about the butai. I mostly tried to refer to everyone by their role names but there are some exceptions. (^^;)
The second act started with Noe and Shime running to the stage from right, and Kento and Taiga from left. They were dressed as soldiers, and they were looking for Yoshitsune, shouting "find Yoshitsune!" etc so that everyone got a line. Kento first ran to hanamichi, having his sword ready for the battle, which looked really cool, and then he returned to the main stage before running from the stage. Shime, Kento and Taiga left the stage and Noeru walked to hanamichi. He had a dramatic expression on his face when he shouted that they should find Yoshitsune and kill him. After that he had a super creepy smirk and he walked along hanamichi, leaving the stage.
Next on the main stage appeared Tackey as Yoshitsune in the middle, Kyomoto papa as Benkei on the right and Fukka as Saburou on the left. There was a thin curtain thing in front of them so that you could see through it but not that clearly. Yoshitsune was sitting there, and he said the final lines he would say later in the end of the butai to Benkei and Saburou. Benkei and Saburou were kneeling down on both sides, listening to his words. Yoshitsune to Saburou started with 「三郎。お前のおかげで明るい旅をすることが出来た」. I don't remember the rest even though I tried my best to. Yoshitsune to Benkei: 「弁慶。お前には苦労をかけた。様々なこと、よくたえてくれた。弁慶なくして、この義経はなかった。心よりありがたく思っているぞ」. I don't remember if he said something else, but in the end he committed a suicide, and a video of some dragon flying was shown on the curtain. Yoshitsune-tachi couldn't be seen anymore. Then a huge text "Yoshitsune" and some subtitle (which I couldn't read orz) appeared there and the butai started for real.
The next scene was about Benkei and Yoshitsune meeting. Benkei walked along hanamichi, speaking about the current situation in Kyoto or something alike. On the main stage there was a bridge and cherry blossoms, and Yoshitsune was standing on the bridge but hiding his face with a cloth, dressed as a female. Next to the bridge there were also some "stones" which were female dancers and Juniors for real, I could spot only Taiga and Shime (more on the right side), and Inapi and Noeru. Benkei and Yoshitsune talked, Benkei was wondering what a female was doing alone in Kyoto's night and Yoshitsune answered that Benkei had to be the person that was killing Kyoto's soldiers and scaring people. Benkei didn't want to hear such a talk even from a female, and Yoshitsune ended up taking the cloth from his face away so it turned out that he was actually a man. Benkei and Yoshitsune fought, Yoshitsune had his tengu power so that he could jump high and also the nature was affected, for example the stones started running and doing something and they also rotated the bridge. Noeru did some acrobatics I think? I was trying to keep my eye on Taiga who went to the left side in the end. They ran from the stage as Yoshitsune and Benkei were done, Benkei asked who Yoshitsune was and got "Ushiwaka" as a reply. Saburou walked from the left side to the stage, saying this is where everything began.
The third scene had Eda-chan as Hanzou, Kyomoto as Nitta Shinnosuke(?) and everyone of Snow Man except Fukka as Kamakura's people (Iwamoto came only later though, he was Kagetoki). They were sitting on a part of the stage that was a little higher than the rest of it, Eda-chan in the left far from the others, Kyomoto, Abe-chan, Date-sama, Sakuma and Nabesho (idr the correct order...) on the right side. There was also the armour thing that was Yoritomo. I think they were praising Yoshitsune and how Kamakura had grown big thanks to him etc. At some point Hanzou stood up for a while, complained 「義経様、義経様。鎌倉が義経の手の中にあるような物言い、この半蔵気に入りませぬ」 and ahhh Eda-chan's expression was wonderful. (*__*) And the way he spoke was kinda lazy, he was speaking with this deep voice and I really loved him in that role. ♡♡♡ At some point Iwamoto came from the left and walked to the right, speaking something about the current situation and in the end he suggested they should kill Yoshitsune. Snow Men were like "Kagetoki-dono!! How dare you say that", and when Kagetoki asked Yoritomo for his decision, he was disappointed to hear that no, they wouldn't kill Yoshitsune. I love Iwamoto in this kind of evil roles. (*__*)
At some point during the scene Yoshitsune (riding a horse), Benkei and Saburou were in the back, Yoshitsune said something about their mission and Fukka was super adorable as Saburou. :3
Kento, Taiga, Kouta and Iketan also ran to the stage to report Yoshitsune's doings during this scene, probably pretty much in the beginning.
Kyo no machi was a scene with ad-libbing! Saburou was surrounded by the women of the town (this was the only scene with women to be honest), he was flirting with them or something? He was saying that he got popular thanks to Yoshitsune. The most important thing to me was that Taiga, Noeru, Shime and Kento were on the stage in the back though, and I think Eisaku might have been there as well with some other groupless Juniors. Taiga and Noeru were on the left side, Kento and Shime on the right, and then there were other people as well. I was usually watching Kento (kusuri-ya), he was super cute! He was usually talking with Shime, they had some arguments so that they slapped each other on their heads, Kento was holding some goods which Shime took etc. Some JAE person was standing on some stick and he threw a ball to the others, Kento usually took the ball with one hand and then threw it back to him. In the last show I couldn't see Kento who was behind the women so I watched Taiga, who was most of the time sweeping the floor, lol. He also spoke with Noe and someone else a little.
Yoshitsune and Benkei walked along hanamichi, talking something I don't know because I couldn't concentrate. orz Kento and other Kyoto's people were waving and shouting "Yoshitsune-samaaa!" to them, it was cute! They noticed Saburou who told them he would say his famous line, and Benkei was like "did Saburou have one??". Well, Saburou said "kimi ga suki, kimi ga suki, minna daisuki!", first pointing to the right, then to the left and finally at "minna daisuki" he spreaded out his hands which was cute. Kento doing that silently on the right side was even cuter though. ♡♡♡ Benkei made Saburou say some other lines as well, Fukka was trying to say something good but failed almost all the time. XD He was usually playing with MayoPan stuff, saying something and then shortening it. On Saturday he said something that got Benkei laughing a lot, and it was apparently the first time he had succeeded in that so they just kept saying it even later in the butai. Later Kyomoto papa noted that after saying it many times, it was not that interesting in the end, lol. In the Sunday show Fukka said many lines because it was his birthday so he got new chances to say something interesting. He also said that "ramen, tsukemen, boku ikemen" thing finally after the others had tried to make him say that many times before. XD
I don't know what exactly was happening since I used all my senses to watch Kento/Taiga, but Yoshitsune, Benkei and Saburou were talking something about being popular. Saburou said he was ikemen and the others were not, and pointing at Yoshitsune and Benkei he said "busaiku, busaiku" and when pointing at himself, he claimed that he was "ikemen". I think Benkei scolded Saburou for being rude to his senpai, lol. Yoshitsune thought he would go to talk with the women, but for some reason they just run past him to Benkei's place. Kento-tachi left the stage at this point, I think? Benkei talked with the women then, Saburou and Yoshitsune were disappointed and tried to say "Benkei, let's go", but Benkei didn't listen to them. He came up with an excuse to go with the women, so usually he just turned towards the lobby on the hanamichi, saying "Johnny-san??" and running away as if Johnny was waiting there. Yoshitsune said something like "Johnny-san isn't here today..." or "Johnny-san hasn't been coming lately" depending on the show. XD
After Benkei and the women had left, Saburou and Yoshitsune were left on the stage alone. They were standing there, looking pretty blank, and I think Saburou said that "Mayonaka no koi tte ii ne~". Yoshitsune and Saburou turned to look at each other, both wearing a surprised expression, and they said "Mayonaka????" at the same time. Abe-chan ran to the stage to advertise MayoPan again. ww
Then Tackey and Fukka played with the shadows, there was some TakiTsuba song playing in the background. Fukka has really nice hands! After this Benkei came from the right side of the stage, and Yoshitsune asked where he had gone. During some shows Benkei answered that he had had coffee in the lobby with Johnny-san, and during some he explained the route to the stage like "I went out to the lobby, ran to the left, went through the corridors..." before Yoshitsune cut him off, saying that it was no good to say that kind of things. XD Benkei asked what the two of them were doing, and Yoshitsune answered "Benkei went away so we played with the shadows" in an annoyed voice. Benkei thought it was suspicious that two men were playing with the shadows, but Saburou declined that. Benkei also criticized Saburou's shadows, saying his rabbit didn't look like one and that he should practice more. Saburou said that okay, he will, so both Yoshitsune and Benkei got mad at him like "you're late!! There are not many shows left anymore!". Benkei usually hit him, but on Sunday he said it was his birthday so he wouldn't do so. :D They also spoke something about the ad-libbing part before, and Saburou was told to clear the stage.
Benkei and Yoshitsune went to sit to a part of the stage and Benkei started explaining something to Yoshitsune. Unfortunately I don't know what it was about since I didn't know the story then. D: Meanwhile Saburou was eating marshmallows next to them. Suddenly they heard that some people were coming, Benkei and Saburou were ready to go make peace with them but Yoshitsune said it was not necessary, and that they would fight them. Saburou was terrified but was given a weapon by Benkei (which he didn't know how to use), and then some masked people arrived to the stage and fought with the three. Hanzou also walked along hanamichi, I think? At least he was there in the end, he was so coooool. (*__*) Yoshitsune was able to see a face of one of the masked people, and it was Nitta. After his face was seen, Hanzou whistled so that his people would withdraw. He put his sword back to the right place and walked away and ahhhh that role ♡♡♡
Once the attackers had left the stage, Benkei and Saburou noted that it had clearly been one of Kamakura's men so they suspected Yoritomo. Yoshitsune spoke something about his bond with his brother, and how they had been taking revenge of their father and how he would go with what he's brother saw as the best. Or something like that...
The three of them left the stage and next there appeared Kagetoki, Hanzou and Nitta. Hanzou was sitting there again and was cool. (*___*) Kagetoki was probably speaking about killing Yoshitsune, or something, again I didn't know what it was about. orz Nitta looked a bit shocked and when he left the stage, Hanzou went after him, as if he was spying on him or something.
Nitta went to speak about Kagetoki's plans to Sakuma's character (idr what he was called), and Sakuma thanked him for telling that to him. Suddenly Hanzou was there, Sakuma and Kyomoto were alarmed and already had their hands on their swords. Hanzou kneeled down so Sakuma went nearer to him, asking what it was, and that's when Hanzou stood up and killed Sakuma. Then he kicked Sakuma to the "river" and started walking towards Kyomoto who backed off. Eda-chan had a super scary expression again and he talked about Kyomoto betraying them or something. (*___*) I'm really a fan of Eda-chan's Hanzou ♡♡ Without a warning Benkei came and rescued Kyomoto, and Hanzou told him to tell Yoshitsune that he, Hanzou, would come and take Yoshitsune's life later.
Once Benkei and Kyomoto were alone on the stage, Benkei noticed that it was the attacker from before. Kyomoto introduced himself as Nitta Shinnosuke, explained the situation in Kamakura and asked if he could help Yoshitsune. Benkei asked if Kyomoto had any way of showing his loyalty which Kyomoto declined, but he put his sword next to his neck and said something like "my life doesn't matter anymore, do you believe me with this". Benkei hit the sword away with his weapon, tolding Kyomoto he shouldn't hurry to die and ordered him to go to some temple. Kyomoto didn't want to, he wanted to fight but Benkei said that at times it was the wisest to just hide.
Then it was time for them to have Kyomoto talk. Benkei asked what Kyomoto's father was doing, Kyomoto answered something different everytime. Benkei also asked who Kyomoto liked among Johnny's, and Kyomoto of course said Tackey. Benkei was like "oh, Tackey is good", and asked furthermore what song by him Kyomoto liked. Kyomoto answered "A ballad song called Kiseki", and was ordered to sing it by Benkei and thus we got to hear part of Kiseki in every show. Sometimes Benkei let him sing for a long time so that Kyomoto started already side-eyeing him, trying to let him know that he wants to stop already. XD The audience applauded every time after he was done.
On Sunday Benkei already mentioned all the Junior groups! He was asking something about who were treating Kyomoto the best, mentioning Snow Man, then They Budou, then MADE and lastly "MAD". :3 I was happy they all got mentioned ♡
Next... Snow Man came there and I think that finally it was decided that Yoshitsune had to be killed. Date-sama, Nabesho and Abe-chan left the stage and finally only Iwamoto was there. There was this voice that was probably Yoritomo, asking why he wanted to kill Yoshitsune so badly. Kagetoki was kneeling down as he explained that Yoshitsune was in the way of Kamakura and something... Lastly he stood up and had aan evil expression on his face. (*___*)
I think then was the scene of Ataka no seki! Hayashi was fantastic as Togashi, his voice was perfect for it. (;A;) Togashi was sitting in the middle, and there were other soldiers there. On the right there were Iketan and Inaba, on the left Kouta, Nobuki, Kento and Shime. Taiga was in charge of making the sound effects on the right side of the stage. Noeru came running to the stage, telling the news about Yoshitsune to Togashi. In a bit Benkei came, telling they were travelling priests who were seeking donations for Todai-ji. Togashi asked whether he had the list of the people who had donated already and Benkei said that of course. Togashi asked if he could see it, but when Benkei said that the list couldn't be shown to anyone, irritated Togashi asked him to read it aloud (「ならば読まれよっ!」). Hayashi's voice is so nice ♡♡♡♡ Benkei opened the scroll and ordered everyone to go down 「下に、下に、しーたーにー」, and thus the soldiers squatted. He started "reading", and finally Togashi said 「はい、分かった」 and let them go. Benkei waved Saburou and Yoshitsune to come, but Togashi got suspicious of Yoshitsune, and thus shouted 「待たれーー!!」. The soldiers put their weapons so that they couldn't pass, everyone was cool! And Hayashi was really, really good as Togashi ahhh. He asked about the flute(?) Yoshitsune had and questioned if they were Todai-ji's priests at all. Benkei got mad at Yoshitsune, he started hitting him with his walking stick and yelling that because of him their journey didn't go as it should have. Togashi was watching this, terrified at how Benkei was hitting the other, and finally said it was enough and said they could go. He also handed Yoshitsune's hat (that he had taken before) back to Yoshitsune, having this apologetic expression on his face. (;_;) The soldiers let them go, and the scene ended with Togashi being in the middle, saying that Yoshitsune had good vassals.
Yoshitsune, Benkei and Saburou arrived to hanamichi then, and Benkei immediately started apologizing for what he had done. Saburou was watching as Yoshitsune said something like "no, it was thanks to you that we were able to pass" and thanked him, saying he had the best vassals. Fukka's face was pretty. :3 Quite soon they continued their way, walking to the other side of hanamichi and then away.
Next Kagetoki was alone on the main stage, he was already wearing the armor for the battle. I don't remember what he was talking so that's it about this scene. orz
Meanwhile the setting had changed to the forest one which I love. Yoshitsune, Benkei and Saburou were there, Yoshitsune in the middle, Saburou on the left and Benkei on the right. Yoshitsune said the time had come and thanked the both of them for coming that far with him. Then he said the final lines to them, which were already said in the first scene. First he said the line to Saburou (Omae no okage de akarui tabi wo suru koto ga dekita etc etc), Saburou was sad. (;_;) Yoshitsune also gave his wakizashi to Saburou who took it, turned over and started running to the back. He stopped in the middleway though, turned to watch Yoshitsune and said something how they'd meet again. Then he ran away. Next Yoshitsune thanked Benkei (Benkei. Omae ni wa kurou wo kaketa etc etc). They talked for a while, and then Benkei left as well. Finally Yoshitsune said something, idr remember what, but finally also he left the stage.
It was time for the last battle that was seriously awesome to watch in person. They had the dramatic music that was also used in Enbu08, and all the Juniors who had no role names (and Hayashi and Sakuma) were dressed as soldiers. I was watching Hayashi, Iketan and Kento most of the time so can't say what exactly was happening, but Yoshitsune and his vassals were on the stage one by one; first Saburou, then Benkei, then probably Yoshitsune, and then again in the same order. Saburou was pretty much just running away since he couldn't fight, he beat Kento a few times though. Benkei killed many people, and Juniors died and came to life again and again. Everyone was acting very very well, Iketan was super cool when he was concentrating and holding the sword like that. (*__*) So was Hayashi, his face was just so fantastic, he really looked like he was in a battle and just ahhhh. Kento was awesome as well ♡ All the three of them were close to each other a lot so it was easy to watch them! Kento died a few times, once on the left side and once on the right, he also fell from the upper part at some point but I didn’t see that. He was also leaning on a tree when he was injured during the battle. Iketan died as well at least twice, and at one point he did like, a backflip forward? I didn’t see Hayashi die at all, to me it looked like he just got injured in the battle.
At some point, probably when Yoshitsune was coming to the stage from hanamichi, there were Taiga, Kouta and some others on the main stage waiting for him and Taiga had a super nice, concentrated expression! Taiga died many times, lol.
The second time Saburou came to the stage, he first ran here and there and then came to the front. Someone (Sakuma??) stabbed him first, and when Saburou went near hanamichi, Hayashi was there and he cut him, having this malicious expression on his face and I think I died right there. (*__*) It was fabulous. Hayashi took his sword and started walking to hanamichi when Saburou said something like "it's not over yet" even though he had already fallen on the stage, and thus Hayashi turned over and cut him again with an annoyed expression. Hayashi's acting was wonderful. (;____;)
Saburou was then left alone, he started saying something as if he was speaking Yoshitsune (「ずっと夢を見てきた」 or something alike). He was there, dying, when Kagetoki walked on hanamichi and gave the last strike to him. Thus Saburou was dead. I don't remember if it was at this point that Yoshitsune ran to the stage, noticing the wakizashi that had been left from Saburou, and he shouted Saburou's name. It was touching. (;A;)
Benkei continued fighting, and apparently Hanzou came there at some point. Also, Shinnosuke came to fight alongside with Benkei but was killed. Benkei held him for a while, fought against Hanzou and finally killed him. After that the other soldiers impaled(?) Benkei with their swords and he died there. I’m ashamed to admit that even though I loved Eda-chan’s Hanzou, I was watching Hayashi-tachi at this point so I saw him only once...
The setting rotated again so that Benkei and Hanzou couldn't be seen anymore. Yoshitsune came there and spoke something I don't remember anymore, probably something about why things had come to this. He put his clothes so that his torso could be seen and continued fighting. The soldiers were standing still at some point and shouted at the same time (I can't describe this orz) and it was so cool. (*___*)
...At some point Yoshitsune was on the stage alone with Kagetoki and was asking him what Kagetoki hadn't liked in him, and Kagetoki answered that the way Yoshitsune did things. I just can't remember when exactly this was, ugh.
Yoshitsune fought with the others and it was raining, Hayashi almost died and the next thing I saw was Iketan falling almost next to him, dying as well. (;____;) Hayashi painfully stood up again, shook some dead people on the floor, trying to get them stand up again. Both Hayashi and Iketan (and Kento) ended up going to the right side of the stage when Yoshitsune and Kagetoki were fighting in the middle, and Kagetoki was killed by Yoshitsune. When he was killed, the soldiers ran away from the stage and Yoshitsune was left alone. Dripping water, he walked to hanamichi, shouted "Benkei! Saburou! Mairou!" without a microphone and the butai ended.
Lastly there was an audio of Tackey saying how Yoshitsune's story had been a sad one but it was saved in the Japanese's hearts and something. Then it was said that they would introduce the cast members.
The setting was the same as in Enbu08. On the higher part of the stage there were Kyomoto, Eda-chan, Hayashi, Noe and Shime, next to it was "MAD", then MADE and then Snow Man. Gotou and Ishigaki were probably introduced before them... Kyomoto was introduced by his name, Eda-chan and Hayashi first as They Budou and then by their names, Noe and Shime like They, but "MAD" and MADE were only introduced by their group names. Snow Man members were introduced one by one and lastly by their group name. I don't know about the groupless Juniors, were they there? orz Everyone bowed after their introduction and especially Noeru was smiling super widely everytime, he also always mouthed his thanks to the audience. :3 "MAD" were posing in some way first as well as MADE, Kento was usually squatting (though in one show it was Taiga). In the Sunday show Kento showed a super bright smile that was something I've never seen before, I was like "what was that *__*" while my Kento-tan sister was dying next to me. ww Tackey probably came there at some point too, as well as Kyomoto papa. Then everyone else but Tackey left the stage, Tackey thanked everyone for coming and said that the butai would end with With Love.
Tackey first sang alone and there were the cast's photos showed on the screen behind him. Thus I didn't see Tackey at all. orz Chibis had photos, and then there were photos of "MAD" and MADE before any Juniors had come to the stage. "MAD"'s photo was super cute, it was like the one last year but with just the two of them. MADE's was cute too, Taiga was making double-peace and Kento and Nobuki were nakayoshi and ahhhh why don't they sell those photos? (;A;) There were also black-and-white photos in the background while only one photo was in colours at a time, and also "MAD" and MADE members got solo photos there. I managed to see only Kento's, Iketan's, Taiga's and Nobuki's photos but I don't really remember much about them. Kento and Iketan were doing peace sign if I remember right. Whatever, they were adorable ♡ They's photos were on the screen only later when Snow Man was already on the stage so I managed to see the photos only once. I don't really remember their solo photos, I think they were doing peace signs as well, but their group photo was way too cute with Hayashi carrying Eda-chan in his arms. ♡♡♡
So about the performance itself! After Tackey had sang alone for a while, Snow Man members came there one by one. Next came Hayashi and Eda-chan, then Noeru and Shime and then Kyomoto, and they all danced alone for a moment. Then, as the second chorus started with "arigatou to ieru yo me no mae no~", "MAD" would start dancing on the left side of the stage and they were wonderful. (;A;) I love Iketan's With Love. Next, on the right side of the stage, it was MADE's turn and they were just as awesome. Then I have no idea what was happening, they went a bit more to the back so that Kento was always hiding behing Ishigaki or Taiga. D: In the first show I watched MADE because they were just in front of us, Taiga was singing and had a super gentle expression and a cute smile when singing. In the second show I could see Hayashi and Iketan better so I watched them, as well as in the rest of the shows too. I don't know if it was because of the make-up from earlier but Hayashi looked a bit weird. orz Iketan was way too cute since he was smiling a bit when singing and ♡♡♡♡. In the last two shows he was right in front of us so it was easy to watch him as well! From the second floor seats we could see also Kento and I was happy for my sister.
After the song ended, the audience stood up to applaud and the cast bowed first to the left, then to the right and then to the front. In the last show Iketan was glancing at us and he was too cute, and it was a nice way to end our trip. ♡♡
I miss Enbu so much. (;__;) I wish I had read something about Yoshitsune before going to see the butai, but next time I'll be prepared. w I feel bad for not watching Hayashi that much during With Love, but Iketan was just way too cute. The fighting scene was the best thing ever, I was always close to tears watching it and, you know, all of them are just so awesome and I really love them. (;A;) Enbu has the best cast. ♡
Altogether I ended up writing over 10,000 words about Enbu, lol. I hope I can go see the butai next year, too! It's just that I'd love to see PZ as well, and it's not like I could ever see Ryusei in Enbu... (>_<)
The second act started with Noe and Shime running to the stage from right, and Kento and Taiga from left. They were dressed as soldiers, and they were looking for Yoshitsune, shouting "find Yoshitsune!" etc so that everyone got a line. Kento first ran to hanamichi, having his sword ready for the battle, which looked really cool, and then he returned to the main stage before running from the stage. Shime, Kento and Taiga left the stage and Noeru walked to hanamichi. He had a dramatic expression on his face when he shouted that they should find Yoshitsune and kill him. After that he had a super creepy smirk and he walked along hanamichi, leaving the stage.
Next on the main stage appeared Tackey as Yoshitsune in the middle, Kyomoto papa as Benkei on the right and Fukka as Saburou on the left. There was a thin curtain thing in front of them so that you could see through it but not that clearly. Yoshitsune was sitting there, and he said the final lines he would say later in the end of the butai to Benkei and Saburou. Benkei and Saburou were kneeling down on both sides, listening to his words. Yoshitsune to Saburou started with 「三郎。お前のおかげで明るい旅をすることが出来た」. I don't remember the rest even though I tried my best to. Yoshitsune to Benkei: 「弁慶。お前には苦労をかけた。様々なこと、よくたえてくれた。弁慶なくして、この義経はなかった。心よりありがたく思っているぞ」. I don't remember if he said something else, but in the end he committed a suicide, and a video of some dragon flying was shown on the curtain. Yoshitsune-tachi couldn't be seen anymore. Then a huge text "Yoshitsune" and some subtitle (which I couldn't read orz) appeared there and the butai started for real.
The next scene was about Benkei and Yoshitsune meeting. Benkei walked along hanamichi, speaking about the current situation in Kyoto or something alike. On the main stage there was a bridge and cherry blossoms, and Yoshitsune was standing on the bridge but hiding his face with a cloth, dressed as a female. Next to the bridge there were also some "stones" which were female dancers and Juniors for real, I could spot only Taiga and Shime (more on the right side), and Inapi and Noeru. Benkei and Yoshitsune talked, Benkei was wondering what a female was doing alone in Kyoto's night and Yoshitsune answered that Benkei had to be the person that was killing Kyoto's soldiers and scaring people. Benkei didn't want to hear such a talk even from a female, and Yoshitsune ended up taking the cloth from his face away so it turned out that he was actually a man. Benkei and Yoshitsune fought, Yoshitsune had his tengu power so that he could jump high and also the nature was affected, for example the stones started running and doing something and they also rotated the bridge. Noeru did some acrobatics I think? I was trying to keep my eye on Taiga who went to the left side in the end. They ran from the stage as Yoshitsune and Benkei were done, Benkei asked who Yoshitsune was and got "Ushiwaka" as a reply. Saburou walked from the left side to the stage, saying this is where everything began.
The third scene had Eda-chan as Hanzou, Kyomoto as Nitta Shinnosuke(?) and everyone of Snow Man except Fukka as Kamakura's people (Iwamoto came only later though, he was Kagetoki). They were sitting on a part of the stage that was a little higher than the rest of it, Eda-chan in the left far from the others, Kyomoto, Abe-chan, Date-sama, Sakuma and Nabesho (idr the correct order...) on the right side. There was also the armour thing that was Yoritomo. I think they were praising Yoshitsune and how Kamakura had grown big thanks to him etc. At some point Hanzou stood up for a while, complained 「義経様、義経様。鎌倉が義経の手の中にあるような物言い、この半蔵気に入りませぬ」 and ahhh Eda-chan's expression was wonderful. (*__*) And the way he spoke was kinda lazy, he was speaking with this deep voice and I really loved him in that role. ♡♡♡ At some point Iwamoto came from the left and walked to the right, speaking something about the current situation and in the end he suggested they should kill Yoshitsune. Snow Men were like "Kagetoki-dono!! How dare you say that", and when Kagetoki asked Yoritomo for his decision, he was disappointed to hear that no, they wouldn't kill Yoshitsune. I love Iwamoto in this kind of evil roles. (*__*)
At some point during the scene Yoshitsune (riding a horse), Benkei and Saburou were in the back, Yoshitsune said something about their mission and Fukka was super adorable as Saburou. :3
Kento, Taiga, Kouta and Iketan also ran to the stage to report Yoshitsune's doings during this scene, probably pretty much in the beginning.
Kyo no machi was a scene with ad-libbing! Saburou was surrounded by the women of the town (this was the only scene with women to be honest), he was flirting with them or something? He was saying that he got popular thanks to Yoshitsune. The most important thing to me was that Taiga, Noeru, Shime and Kento were on the stage in the back though, and I think Eisaku might have been there as well with some other groupless Juniors. Taiga and Noeru were on the left side, Kento and Shime on the right, and then there were other people as well. I was usually watching Kento (kusuri-ya), he was super cute! He was usually talking with Shime, they had some arguments so that they slapped each other on their heads, Kento was holding some goods which Shime took etc. Some JAE person was standing on some stick and he threw a ball to the others, Kento usually took the ball with one hand and then threw it back to him. In the last show I couldn't see Kento who was behind the women so I watched Taiga, who was most of the time sweeping the floor, lol. He also spoke with Noe and someone else a little.
Yoshitsune and Benkei walked along hanamichi, talking something I don't know because I couldn't concentrate. orz Kento and other Kyoto's people were waving and shouting "Yoshitsune-samaaa!" to them, it was cute! They noticed Saburou who told them he would say his famous line, and Benkei was like "did Saburou have one??". Well, Saburou said "kimi ga suki, kimi ga suki, minna daisuki!", first pointing to the right, then to the left and finally at "minna daisuki" he spreaded out his hands which was cute. Kento doing that silently on the right side was even cuter though. ♡♡♡ Benkei made Saburou say some other lines as well, Fukka was trying to say something good but failed almost all the time. XD He was usually playing with MayoPan stuff, saying something and then shortening it. On Saturday he said something that got Benkei laughing a lot, and it was apparently the first time he had succeeded in that so they just kept saying it even later in the butai. Later Kyomoto papa noted that after saying it many times, it was not that interesting in the end, lol. In the Sunday show Fukka said many lines because it was his birthday so he got new chances to say something interesting. He also said that "ramen, tsukemen, boku ikemen" thing finally after the others had tried to make him say that many times before. XD
I don't know what exactly was happening since I used all my senses to watch Kento/Taiga, but Yoshitsune, Benkei and Saburou were talking something about being popular. Saburou said he was ikemen and the others were not, and pointing at Yoshitsune and Benkei he said "busaiku, busaiku" and when pointing at himself, he claimed that he was "ikemen". I think Benkei scolded Saburou for being rude to his senpai, lol. Yoshitsune thought he would go to talk with the women, but for some reason they just run past him to Benkei's place. Kento-tachi left the stage at this point, I think? Benkei talked with the women then, Saburou and Yoshitsune were disappointed and tried to say "Benkei, let's go", but Benkei didn't listen to them. He came up with an excuse to go with the women, so usually he just turned towards the lobby on the hanamichi, saying "Johnny-san??" and running away as if Johnny was waiting there. Yoshitsune said something like "Johnny-san isn't here today..." or "Johnny-san hasn't been coming lately" depending on the show. XD
After Benkei and the women had left, Saburou and Yoshitsune were left on the stage alone. They were standing there, looking pretty blank, and I think Saburou said that "Mayonaka no koi tte ii ne~". Yoshitsune and Saburou turned to look at each other, both wearing a surprised expression, and they said "Mayonaka????" at the same time. Abe-chan ran to the stage to advertise MayoPan again. ww
Then Tackey and Fukka played with the shadows, there was some TakiTsuba song playing in the background. Fukka has really nice hands! After this Benkei came from the right side of the stage, and Yoshitsune asked where he had gone. During some shows Benkei answered that he had had coffee in the lobby with Johnny-san, and during some he explained the route to the stage like "I went out to the lobby, ran to the left, went through the corridors..." before Yoshitsune cut him off, saying that it was no good to say that kind of things. XD Benkei asked what the two of them were doing, and Yoshitsune answered "Benkei went away so we played with the shadows" in an annoyed voice. Benkei thought it was suspicious that two men were playing with the shadows, but Saburou declined that. Benkei also criticized Saburou's shadows, saying his rabbit didn't look like one and that he should practice more. Saburou said that okay, he will, so both Yoshitsune and Benkei got mad at him like "you're late!! There are not many shows left anymore!". Benkei usually hit him, but on Sunday he said it was his birthday so he wouldn't do so. :D They also spoke something about the ad-libbing part before, and Saburou was told to clear the stage.
Benkei and Yoshitsune went to sit to a part of the stage and Benkei started explaining something to Yoshitsune. Unfortunately I don't know what it was about since I didn't know the story then. D: Meanwhile Saburou was eating marshmallows next to them. Suddenly they heard that some people were coming, Benkei and Saburou were ready to go make peace with them but Yoshitsune said it was not necessary, and that they would fight them. Saburou was terrified but was given a weapon by Benkei (which he didn't know how to use), and then some masked people arrived to the stage and fought with the three. Hanzou also walked along hanamichi, I think? At least he was there in the end, he was so coooool. (*__*) Yoshitsune was able to see a face of one of the masked people, and it was Nitta. After his face was seen, Hanzou whistled so that his people would withdraw. He put his sword back to the right place and walked away and ahhhh that role ♡♡♡
Once the attackers had left the stage, Benkei and Saburou noted that it had clearly been one of Kamakura's men so they suspected Yoritomo. Yoshitsune spoke something about his bond with his brother, and how they had been taking revenge of their father and how he would go with what he's brother saw as the best. Or something like that...
The three of them left the stage and next there appeared Kagetoki, Hanzou and Nitta. Hanzou was sitting there again and was cool. (*___*) Kagetoki was probably speaking about killing Yoshitsune, or something, again I didn't know what it was about. orz Nitta looked a bit shocked and when he left the stage, Hanzou went after him, as if he was spying on him or something.
Nitta went to speak about Kagetoki's plans to Sakuma's character (idr what he was called), and Sakuma thanked him for telling that to him. Suddenly Hanzou was there, Sakuma and Kyomoto were alarmed and already had their hands on their swords. Hanzou kneeled down so Sakuma went nearer to him, asking what it was, and that's when Hanzou stood up and killed Sakuma. Then he kicked Sakuma to the "river" and started walking towards Kyomoto who backed off. Eda-chan had a super scary expression again and he talked about Kyomoto betraying them or something. (*___*) I'm really a fan of Eda-chan's Hanzou ♡♡ Without a warning Benkei came and rescued Kyomoto, and Hanzou told him to tell Yoshitsune that he, Hanzou, would come and take Yoshitsune's life later.
Once Benkei and Kyomoto were alone on the stage, Benkei noticed that it was the attacker from before. Kyomoto introduced himself as Nitta Shinnosuke, explained the situation in Kamakura and asked if he could help Yoshitsune. Benkei asked if Kyomoto had any way of showing his loyalty which Kyomoto declined, but he put his sword next to his neck and said something like "my life doesn't matter anymore, do you believe me with this". Benkei hit the sword away with his weapon, tolding Kyomoto he shouldn't hurry to die and ordered him to go to some temple. Kyomoto didn't want to, he wanted to fight but Benkei said that at times it was the wisest to just hide.
Then it was time for them to have Kyomoto talk. Benkei asked what Kyomoto's father was doing, Kyomoto answered something different everytime. Benkei also asked who Kyomoto liked among Johnny's, and Kyomoto of course said Tackey. Benkei was like "oh, Tackey is good", and asked furthermore what song by him Kyomoto liked. Kyomoto answered "A ballad song called Kiseki", and was ordered to sing it by Benkei and thus we got to hear part of Kiseki in every show. Sometimes Benkei let him sing for a long time so that Kyomoto started already side-eyeing him, trying to let him know that he wants to stop already. XD The audience applauded every time after he was done.
On Sunday Benkei already mentioned all the Junior groups! He was asking something about who were treating Kyomoto the best, mentioning Snow Man, then They Budou, then MADE and lastly "MAD". :3 I was happy they all got mentioned ♡
Next... Snow Man came there and I think that finally it was decided that Yoshitsune had to be killed. Date-sama, Nabesho and Abe-chan left the stage and finally only Iwamoto was there. There was this voice that was probably Yoritomo, asking why he wanted to kill Yoshitsune so badly. Kagetoki was kneeling down as he explained that Yoshitsune was in the way of Kamakura and something... Lastly he stood up and had aan evil expression on his face. (*___*)
I think then was the scene of Ataka no seki! Hayashi was fantastic as Togashi, his voice was perfect for it. (;A;) Togashi was sitting in the middle, and there were other soldiers there. On the right there were Iketan and Inaba, on the left Kouta, Nobuki, Kento and Shime. Taiga was in charge of making the sound effects on the right side of the stage. Noeru came running to the stage, telling the news about Yoshitsune to Togashi. In a bit Benkei came, telling they were travelling priests who were seeking donations for Todai-ji. Togashi asked whether he had the list of the people who had donated already and Benkei said that of course. Togashi asked if he could see it, but when Benkei said that the list couldn't be shown to anyone, irritated Togashi asked him to read it aloud (「ならば読まれよっ!」). Hayashi's voice is so nice ♡♡♡♡ Benkei opened the scroll and ordered everyone to go down 「下に、下に、しーたーにー」, and thus the soldiers squatted. He started "reading", and finally Togashi said 「はい、分かった」 and let them go. Benkei waved Saburou and Yoshitsune to come, but Togashi got suspicious of Yoshitsune, and thus shouted 「待たれーー!!」. The soldiers put their weapons so that they couldn't pass, everyone was cool! And Hayashi was really, really good as Togashi ahhh. He asked about the flute(?) Yoshitsune had and questioned if they were Todai-ji's priests at all. Benkei got mad at Yoshitsune, he started hitting him with his walking stick and yelling that because of him their journey didn't go as it should have. Togashi was watching this, terrified at how Benkei was hitting the other, and finally said it was enough and said they could go. He also handed Yoshitsune's hat (that he had taken before) back to Yoshitsune, having this apologetic expression on his face. (;_;) The soldiers let them go, and the scene ended with Togashi being in the middle, saying that Yoshitsune had good vassals.
Yoshitsune, Benkei and Saburou arrived to hanamichi then, and Benkei immediately started apologizing for what he had done. Saburou was watching as Yoshitsune said something like "no, it was thanks to you that we were able to pass" and thanked him, saying he had the best vassals. Fukka's face was pretty. :3 Quite soon they continued their way, walking to the other side of hanamichi and then away.
Next Kagetoki was alone on the main stage, he was already wearing the armor for the battle. I don't remember what he was talking so that's it about this scene. orz
Meanwhile the setting had changed to the forest one which I love. Yoshitsune, Benkei and Saburou were there, Yoshitsune in the middle, Saburou on the left and Benkei on the right. Yoshitsune said the time had come and thanked the both of them for coming that far with him. Then he said the final lines to them, which were already said in the first scene. First he said the line to Saburou (Omae no okage de akarui tabi wo suru koto ga dekita etc etc), Saburou was sad. (;_;) Yoshitsune also gave his wakizashi to Saburou who took it, turned over and started running to the back. He stopped in the middleway though, turned to watch Yoshitsune and said something how they'd meet again. Then he ran away. Next Yoshitsune thanked Benkei (Benkei. Omae ni wa kurou wo kaketa etc etc). They talked for a while, and then Benkei left as well. Finally Yoshitsune said something, idr remember what, but finally also he left the stage.
It was time for the last battle that was seriously awesome to watch in person. They had the dramatic music that was also used in Enbu08, and all the Juniors who had no role names (and Hayashi and Sakuma) were dressed as soldiers. I was watching Hayashi, Iketan and Kento most of the time so can't say what exactly was happening, but Yoshitsune and his vassals were on the stage one by one; first Saburou, then Benkei, then probably Yoshitsune, and then again in the same order. Saburou was pretty much just running away since he couldn't fight, he beat Kento a few times though. Benkei killed many people, and Juniors died and came to life again and again. Everyone was acting very very well, Iketan was super cool when he was concentrating and holding the sword like that. (*__*) So was Hayashi, his face was just so fantastic, he really looked like he was in a battle and just ahhhh. Kento was awesome as well ♡ All the three of them were close to each other a lot so it was easy to watch them! Kento died a few times, once on the left side and once on the right, he also fell from the upper part at some point but I didn’t see that. He was also leaning on a tree when he was injured during the battle. Iketan died as well at least twice, and at one point he did like, a backflip forward? I didn’t see Hayashi die at all, to me it looked like he just got injured in the battle.
At some point, probably when Yoshitsune was coming to the stage from hanamichi, there were Taiga, Kouta and some others on the main stage waiting for him and Taiga had a super nice, concentrated expression! Taiga died many times, lol.
The second time Saburou came to the stage, he first ran here and there and then came to the front. Someone (Sakuma??) stabbed him first, and when Saburou went near hanamichi, Hayashi was there and he cut him, having this malicious expression on his face and I think I died right there. (*__*) It was fabulous. Hayashi took his sword and started walking to hanamichi when Saburou said something like "it's not over yet" even though he had already fallen on the stage, and thus Hayashi turned over and cut him again with an annoyed expression. Hayashi's acting was wonderful. (;____;)
Saburou was then left alone, he started saying something as if he was speaking Yoshitsune (「ずっと夢を見てきた」 or something alike). He was there, dying, when Kagetoki walked on hanamichi and gave the last strike to him. Thus Saburou was dead. I don't remember if it was at this point that Yoshitsune ran to the stage, noticing the wakizashi that had been left from Saburou, and he shouted Saburou's name. It was touching. (;A;)
Benkei continued fighting, and apparently Hanzou came there at some point. Also, Shinnosuke came to fight alongside with Benkei but was killed. Benkei held him for a while, fought against Hanzou and finally killed him. After that the other soldiers impaled(?) Benkei with their swords and he died there. I’m ashamed to admit that even though I loved Eda-chan’s Hanzou, I was watching Hayashi-tachi at this point so I saw him only once...
The setting rotated again so that Benkei and Hanzou couldn't be seen anymore. Yoshitsune came there and spoke something I don't remember anymore, probably something about why things had come to this. He put his clothes so that his torso could be seen and continued fighting. The soldiers were standing still at some point and shouted at the same time (I can't describe this orz) and it was so cool. (*___*)
...At some point Yoshitsune was on the stage alone with Kagetoki and was asking him what Kagetoki hadn't liked in him, and Kagetoki answered that the way Yoshitsune did things. I just can't remember when exactly this was, ugh.
Yoshitsune fought with the others and it was raining, Hayashi almost died and the next thing I saw was Iketan falling almost next to him, dying as well. (;____;) Hayashi painfully stood up again, shook some dead people on the floor, trying to get them stand up again. Both Hayashi and Iketan (and Kento) ended up going to the right side of the stage when Yoshitsune and Kagetoki were fighting in the middle, and Kagetoki was killed by Yoshitsune. When he was killed, the soldiers ran away from the stage and Yoshitsune was left alone. Dripping water, he walked to hanamichi, shouted "Benkei! Saburou! Mairou!" without a microphone and the butai ended.
Lastly there was an audio of Tackey saying how Yoshitsune's story had been a sad one but it was saved in the Japanese's hearts and something. Then it was said that they would introduce the cast members.
The setting was the same as in Enbu08. On the higher part of the stage there were Kyomoto, Eda-chan, Hayashi, Noe and Shime, next to it was "MAD", then MADE and then Snow Man. Gotou and Ishigaki were probably introduced before them... Kyomoto was introduced by his name, Eda-chan and Hayashi first as They Budou and then by their names, Noe and Shime like They, but "MAD" and MADE were only introduced by their group names. Snow Man members were introduced one by one and lastly by their group name. I don't know about the groupless Juniors, were they there? orz Everyone bowed after their introduction and especially Noeru was smiling super widely everytime, he also always mouthed his thanks to the audience. :3 "MAD" were posing in some way first as well as MADE, Kento was usually squatting (though in one show it was Taiga). In the Sunday show Kento showed a super bright smile that was something I've never seen before, I was like "what was that *__*" while my Kento-tan sister was dying next to me. ww Tackey probably came there at some point too, as well as Kyomoto papa. Then everyone else but Tackey left the stage, Tackey thanked everyone for coming and said that the butai would end with With Love.
Tackey first sang alone and there were the cast's photos showed on the screen behind him. Thus I didn't see Tackey at all. orz Chibis had photos, and then there were photos of "MAD" and MADE before any Juniors had come to the stage. "MAD"'s photo was super cute, it was like the one last year but with just the two of them. MADE's was cute too, Taiga was making double-peace and Kento and Nobuki were nakayoshi and ahhhh why don't they sell those photos? (;A;) There were also black-and-white photos in the background while only one photo was in colours at a time, and also "MAD" and MADE members got solo photos there. I managed to see only Kento's, Iketan's, Taiga's and Nobuki's photos but I don't really remember much about them. Kento and Iketan were doing peace sign if I remember right. Whatever, they were adorable ♡ They's photos were on the screen only later when Snow Man was already on the stage so I managed to see the photos only once. I don't really remember their solo photos, I think they were doing peace signs as well, but their group photo was way too cute with Hayashi carrying Eda-chan in his arms. ♡♡♡
So about the performance itself! After Tackey had sang alone for a while, Snow Man members came there one by one. Next came Hayashi and Eda-chan, then Noeru and Shime and then Kyomoto, and they all danced alone for a moment. Then, as the second chorus started with "arigatou to ieru yo me no mae no~", "MAD" would start dancing on the left side of the stage and they were wonderful. (;A;) I love Iketan's With Love. Next, on the right side of the stage, it was MADE's turn and they were just as awesome. Then I have no idea what was happening, they went a bit more to the back so that Kento was always hiding behing Ishigaki or Taiga. D: In the first show I watched MADE because they were just in front of us, Taiga was singing and had a super gentle expression and a cute smile when singing. In the second show I could see Hayashi and Iketan better so I watched them, as well as in the rest of the shows too. I don't know if it was because of the make-up from earlier but Hayashi looked a bit weird. orz Iketan was way too cute since he was smiling a bit when singing and ♡♡♡♡. In the last two shows he was right in front of us so it was easy to watch him as well! From the second floor seats we could see also Kento and I was happy for my sister.
After the song ended, the audience stood up to applaud and the cast bowed first to the left, then to the right and then to the front. In the last show Iketan was glancing at us and he was too cute, and it was a nice way to end our trip. ♡♡
I miss Enbu so much. (;__;) I wish I had read something about Yoshitsune before going to see the butai, but next time I'll be prepared. w I feel bad for not watching Hayashi that much during With Love, but Iketan was just way too cute. The fighting scene was the best thing ever, I was always close to tears watching it and, you know, all of them are just so awesome and I really love them. (;A;) Enbu has the best cast. ♡
Altogether I ended up writing over 10,000 words about Enbu, lol. I hope I can go see the butai next year, too! It's just that I'd love to see PZ as well, and it's not like I could ever see Ryusei in Enbu... (>_<)