Saikai review
Saikai (Reunion/Meet Again)
Yukigumi, 2002
TakaWiki Page
Notable Roles:
Gerard: Asami Hikaru
Sandrine: Maikaze Rira
Mark: Takashiro Kei
Steve: Mirai Yuuki
This evening I rewatched Saikai for the first time in nearly a year. I needed something light, something easily accessible and something that would amuse me. As a show, Saikai lives up to this on all accounts. Now when I’ve actually watched Quest of the Blue Bird with Tom, I will also say right off the hook that I’m so happy that Ishida Masaya only did two shows for Komugumi. His style when it comes to stories and character portrayal fit neither Komu nor Maachan very well. Especially Komu, I think, doesn’t fall into this slightly ridiculous playboy type at all. Having seen none of the other two versions of the show, I can’t exactly compare, but having seen Tom in Quest, I could imagine that she would have done as great a job at Gerard as she did as Jake. Such harsh critique put up, I will however say that Saikai is a guilty pleasure of mine and if I want to ensure a smile on my lips, it’s the first show I’ll be pulling out of the stash.
I remember saying, some time after having watched Romance de Paris the first time, that it had taken Komu and Maachan Saikai and Tender Light of a Fine Spring to hit it off as a combi. I’m going to withdraw this comment right now and pretend it never existed, because I don’t think I could have been more wrong. When it comes to acting and chemistry, Maachan and Komu’s scenes together are the ones that work most effortlessly in the entire musical. Because my greatest problem with Saikai, really, is how forced a lot of the interaction seems. Basically it comes down to two things. 1) Komu not being the best comedian Takarazuka has seen. This is not to say that Komu isn’t good at gags, because she does gags very well. As long as they aren’t scripted, that is. Her funniest moments in Saikai are those where she steps outside the manuscript. The scene where Kashi and Hamako have best-friend-kissed her on each cheek and she wipes off the kisses only to throw them at the audience, for example. The audience is laughing. I was laughing and it was just so light-heartedly funny in a way none of the jokes in the musical were. 2) The troupe seems slightly tousled. In the sense that it is all too obvious that this is a new top star’s first show and her kumi isn’t entirely attuned to her leadership yet, just as she is not yet attuned to being their leading star either. Everything considered, I find it a bit strange that the troupe as a whole feels so out of sync with Komu at times, seeing that she has been their nibante otokoyaku for a while after Tom was transferred to Senka. It might simply come down to how Tom and Komu represent essentially different otokoyaku types with very different acting styles and starting Komu’s top star career off with a show that was written for Tom doesn’t give Komu the best chance to flash her strengths. To prove my point I only need to point to Quest where Komu’s “nibante” role is rather sparsely staged. Tom is star of that show, because it’s so her type of musical that it’s not even funny (LOL, pun not intended), whereas Komu is the very obvious star in the revue, taking back the spotlight with great confidence.
Okay, looking this over, it seems that I generally just hate right about everything in regards to Saikai. Which I don’t. I really don’t. I love a whole lot of aspects of Saikai. I’m going to start with the actresses.
Hamako in a genuine yonbante role. Paired with Kashi. Now, that’s the otokoyaku combi of bright smiles. Although Kashi, obviously, got more stage time than Hamako due to her nibante status, I actually think Hamako was the funnier best man of the two. She was just so much on, being ridiculous and guyish and funny. Together with Kashi , she has at least a dozen different moments that I need to screencap just for the adorable funniness of it. Her big smile, her dorky laughter, her way of doing scripted jokes so they actually seem completely improvised. If I had to name the one person who saved this musical in terms of keeping it as funny as it’s intended to be, Hamako is the winner. No doubt.
Kashi. Kashi, Kashi, Kashi. I’m a big, big, huge Kashi fan and I am going to buy her two top star shows some day, even if I’ve decided that Soragumi will never be my troupe (but hey, it was obviously not Kashi’s troupe either, so perhaps it’ll work). Now… about Kashi in Saikai. Dear Lord, she’s so young still. Just her voice - if I compare it to her voice in shows like Sleeping Moon or Milan Wrapped in a Fog… or just Romance de Paris… it’s so light. When she speaks, that is. Singing, it’s the huskily crooning drawl that I know and love, fortunately. In Saikai, Kashi suffers the same short-comings that I feel Komu does - that a lot of the time her scripted jokes seem somewhat forced and unnatural, though she has moments, especially when doing more “physical” jokes, like making very saying gestures as Hamako reads up from the description of Gerard’s and Sandrine’s developing relationship or sharing dorky grins with Hamako that make the both of them look gay in the most male way possible, where she shines as bright as she does in Quest of the Blue Bird, playing Dennis. Overall, though, Mark really isn’t the most interesting of characters (none of the characters are very interesting in and by themselves) and he only makes sense when in the company of Steve.
Just look at them! How is this not otokoyaku love at its best?!
Komu as Gerard… I’ve already pointed out what I’ve thought didn’t work so well for her, so now I’m going to mention all the things that I think she did marvellously. Her singing, for example. Her singing in Saikai is strong and much darker than in many of her later shows, plus her technique leaves her less breathless. I actually really enjoyed her singing in this show, something that I’ve got used to not expecting (not that I don’t like her singing, it’s just that I enjoy watching her sing more than I enjoy listening to her sing). It’s been well known to fandom for a while, of course, but Komu has extremely expressive eyes. Maybe this is one of the reasons that Tom’s more commedia del’arte style of comedy doesn’t sit well with her, because when Komu is most funny, it’s because of her expressions, not because of her gestures or her actions. In the scene where Gerard first meets Sandrine in the library and is hitting the table out of irritation, it’s not so much the fact that he is hitting the table the way he is, but Komu’s completely constipated look that makes it very amusing to watch. The same goes for the first wedding scene when Sandrine slaps Gerard right in the face… it’s not that she’s slapping him which makes it an absolutely brilliant moment, but Komu’s completely ridiculously O-shaped mouth and wide eyes. Komu is all about subtlety and intensity - something that I’m glad she got to focus on in most of her top star shows. And something she tried her best to add to whatever scene she could possibly fit it into in Saikai. With mixed results.
I couldn't resist, because it is too cute for words.
Now, the star of the show, if you ask me… and this is really not because of my Maachan love… Sandrine is, to me, the most interesting character in the show. Which is saying something, because I think she is one of the least compelling heroines that Maachan has played. Not that she doesn’t do a good job with what she has to work with, because she does and her irritating, insistent voice and somewhat “sour secretary” look stays with me as something that always, always makes me smile thiiiiiiis wide. Sandrine, in many ways, remind me of Maachan’s lead in Tom Jones, though Sophie is in most ways a much more traditional Maachan character. Not surprisingly, there are aspects of Saikai that make Sandrine remind me a lot of Gina/Cate in Quest of the Blue Bird - that said, however, Gina/Cate is such a Maachan-ish role in every way. Right down to her behaviour around Kimu’s legendary Simone. Sandrine, on the other hand, is a very untraditional Maachan role and much more humorous than any of her other characters. Something I noticed, also after having watched Quest, is that Sandrine and Gina - female characters written by the same scriptwriter - are the only two roles in which Maachan doesn’t shed a tear. In all her other roles, she actually cries in the scenes where her character do. Tears running down her cheeks. Her two favourites, of course; Inada-hime and Nadia, but also very prominently as Elly, Mireille, Rosalie and Lilith amongst others. It’s the proof I needed to be able to come to terms with how I’ve always felt that Maachan doesn’t seem to connect as strongly with Ishida Masaya’s female characters as she does with every other role she’s given. In her dinner show, her solo from Quest was not included and only her portion of the ballad from Saikai, not the actual solo at the beginning. I think the issue is that, like Komu, Maachan’s strong points when it comes to acting are subtlety and intensity. Lots and lots of emotion. Sandrine (or Gina) as a role doesn’t give much room for delving into details like that, although, naturally, Maachan does it in her own way and manages to almost make a wholesome character out of her. Almost. The shift between Sandrine’s librarian and civilian self is just a bit forced, but overall she manages to retain a lot of the little things that make Sandrine’s solo at the beginning of the show my absolute favourite part of the entire musical. It. Is. So. Funny. I. Have. No. Words. Seriously.
I mean...
The strongest point for both Komu and Maachan, though, is not their individual character work, because Saikai doesn’t present a very gripping collection of characters, but their interaction with one another. Albeit they do grow as a combi through their later shows, Saikai builds a very strong foundation for these two as a truly golden combi. Just the looks they share during both of the wedding scenes… That is what we call chemistry. Their interaction in the scene at the park and the scene at the bar… my favourite is probably the bar scene, mostly because the choreography in the park scene is unflattering on every level… but then, the bar scene is also just magnificent. How they jump directly from something funny like Gerard making a note of Sandrine’s cigarette to them dancing to a ballad. Also, I have only two actual stage kisses that I think Komu and Maachan execute to perfection. One is in Romance de Paris. The stage kiss at the end of the Paris Tour scene is truly perfect. The other, I was reminded tonight, is their kiss at the end of that bar scene in Saikai. It is tender and hesitant, and yet full of repressed passion and emotion. It is Maachan and Komu clicking at their best. I loved it.
Proof? Here.
(And just to make a point of it, I have two other kissing scenes that rank above these mentioned “genuine” stage kiss scenes, but because they aren’t actual kisses, they can’t be on the same list. The first is the kiss from A Dream One Day which is the best portrayal of perfect Maachan/Komu chemistry in their entire career, and secondly the kiss Lucifer presses to Lilith’s hands at the end of the Hikari no Pas de Deux, because the expression on Maachan’s face is phenomenal. Just saying.)
Back to Saikai. So. My point is - what saves this show in terms of “is it worth watching?” is basically how you can feel that Komu and Maachan are already attuned to one another, even when it sometimes seems that Yukigumi isn’t entirely attuned to them as tops yet. Oh, and if you’re asking yourself what my answer to that question is, then it’s yes. Saikai is worth at least one watch, because the story is basically completely stupid, but Hamako and Kashi add warmth and a good portion of irony to the performance. Komu and Maachan add chemistry and genuine intensity to the otherwise very light play and overall, the singing is really good, on all parts. Plus, Miho Keiko features as one of the background dancers with a few very kick-ass one-liners and later as an elderly lady who Sandrine is helping out, thus making my happiness complete by providing me with a shot of Keiko-san leaning onto Maachan. Another prominent (musumeyaku) part is played by Ai Youko, as Steve’s girlfriend, being silly and high-pitched and everything you don’t really see her as in any of their later shows.
Oh, because this screencap is pure love.
I think the time has come for random notes I made during my rewatch. Some of them are positive. Some of them are not. Most of them are not, but my critique is given with much love. ♥
Saikai features some of the ugliest costumes ever seen on any of the actresses in it, but most notably Maachan. Aside from the flesh-coloured dress she wears in Milan - the biggest costume catastrophe in the history of musumeyaku - Sandrine was given some really unflattering dresses to wear. And here I’m not talking about her librarian outfit, because that one at least fitted her persona. No, I’m talking about the very unattractive green dress with a purple white-spotted cardigan-ish thing over it and later the just as unattractive blue-green print dress with a blue (or another colour, I don’t recall right now) jacket. The shades of green they’d clad her in were not appealing or befitting. I forgive them, though, because in the bar scene Maachan is put in a dress that is so smoking hot that it shouldn’t be legal to wear something like it on stage. The red colour with the blackish tint is perfect for her and just the way it fits her and is strapless, showing shoulders and shoulder blades… that dress made me forgive all the mistakes in concerns to costumes they made in this show. Because they made a lot, not only with Sandrine. I swear, it’s the same costumer who decided to put Komu in a fleshy pink suit who also later dressed Kaname up in something similar in A Dream One Day. Pink suits may be otokoyaku-ish and fresh, but then choose an appealing shade of pink that does not make the wearer look like a walking penis, thank you. … Yes, excuse my wording.
As an apology, let me flash the dress!
Another sore spot in this show was the choreography. There were two (slash three) dances that actually appealed to me, one that I could live with because it’s ridiculous and fits the song and the rest was just painful to watch. Again, Maachan’s solo at the beginning also comes with a cute little choreography that includes lots of leg-kicking, hands on hips and pouting. It’s adorable. Komu has a scene featuring choreography where the coolness of being a bachelor is emphasised - with background dancers who look like vicars in black attire - and it’s both very funny and yet well enough put together and executed to look good. Then there’s the infamous hotel song and dance. A completely ridiculous and pointless song, thus befitting the equally pointless and ridiculous dance. But, as I said, it’s amusingly pointless. As for the duet dance at the park… I swear, Maachan and Komu do their best with their amazing dancing skills to make it look effortless and elegant, but whoever added those weird kicks to the choreography should… have thought about it twice. It’s just… unfortunate. Although I doubt that you can actually call the slow cheek-to-cheek dancing at the bar a choreography as such, it’s hot and intense and I approve whole-heartedly because Komu’s and Maachan’s chemistry becomes so blatantly obvious because of it.
Hmm, what else? One last thing. I love that the sign on Sandrine’s shirt reads “SANDRENE”. That is all.
Saikai is certainly not the best of Komugumi’s shows and neither is it the best top star debut show I’ve seen, but if you like either Komu, Maachan, Kashi or Hamako it’s truly worth a watch, because it’s warm and silly and you’re allowed to just lean back and bask in the utter stupidity of it while at the same time being reminded what it is about either of the above mentioned actresses that make them so uniquely lovable. And really, what more do you need in a show, after all?
And because of all this, Saikai really is my guilty pleasure and I find myself enjoying it - all the way through, blunders and all - every single time I watch it.