(no subject)
Hey, what happened to Ouran last night? It wasn't aired...?
Anyway, yesterday I tried to attach the eyes to my Dollfie head after seraphim_grace assured me that it was the right head. Disaster!
First, you cut out the eyes neatly and soak them for ten seconds in lukewarm water, then slide them off onto the face. Except it doesn't really work that way. After ten seconds, the eyes stick to your fingers and you spend ages trying to smear the eyes onto the face, hopefully in the general direction of the eye sockets.
Having thought about it, I know what I'm doing wrong. I think you're meant to paste the eye and eyebrow on together. Unfortunately, I don't want to do that. My Ran has indigo/violet eyes and red eyebrows, but that's not a combination that's sold, as far as I know. So it has to be this way. Except I totally failed at red eyebrows, so they're brown. Gluhen!Aya it is, then.
After that, I went to Akihabara, knowing there was a Volks shop there. Didn't find it, but am just about to look it up online.
Next, I headed to Gotanda for the Naruto musical. I wanted to arrive a little early because I didn't know how crowded it would be, or how easy the place would be to find. However, the venue wasn't difficult to find, since there was a big sign telling me where it was as soon as I came out of the west exit of the station. And, in fact, the map I found online was perfect. It appears it's a fairly big venue for Gotanda, even though it's barely mentioned online.
When I arrived, there was no one there but a bewildered official holding a loudspeaker, so I went to Book Off instead. Around the time when the doors were supposed to open, I headed back slowly. There still weren't that many people there, but there were more than before. I was herded into a queue, which I soon realised (from what the official was saying to other people!) was the toujitsuken line. I explained that I'd already bought my ticket and I was told the proper place to go. I got my pile of flyers at the door and bought a program. Believe it or not, there was no queue!
I went to the drinks area to have a look at my haul. One of the first things I noticed was a flyer for A Midsummer Night's Dream starring Hirata Hiroaki-san! I wonder what role he will be playing, since he's listed as the star of the play? My best guess is Bottom. Anyway, I looked at the official program and found out why I got a flyer for Hirata Hiroaki-san's play... he's in the Naruto musical, playing Shiranui Genma!
Shiranui Genma
While I was waiting for the play to start, a group of young men entered and caused everyone around me to stand up and get out their opera glasses to get a better look. Since they entered from the VIP side, I'm guessing they were fellow Musical Academy members...?
The musical started really badly -- in the town centre, with actors wearing costumes pulled out of a car boot sale. In fact, everything about it reminded me of my school plays! In retrospect, this was probably to give cameo appearences to Naruto characters (I saw Gai and Lee in there).
After that, when we were left with just the main characters, it improved considerably. My favourites were Shiranui Genma (obviously!), Kakashi (he didn't appear much, but he's so cool!), Kowane (his actor seemed simultaneously in a daze and in a character -- I thought Akiyama Jun-san was adorable!), Sasuke (Machida Shingo-san had excellent body language, I thought) and Naruto (Surprisingly! I usually hate the main characters in shounen manga, but Yara Tomoyuki-san was surprisingly agile for a guy in an orange boiler suit!). Also Kotonoha, who made me realise exactly what Eda meant when she described the costumes as being for 'gay Weiss vampires'. Because, yeah.
I think they overhyped the special effects, although some of them were indeed very 'special'. They draped a shiny gold cloth over the entire stage to show Gaara's sand power. They have an entire page in the program devoted to Princess Tenkou, the illusionist responsible for the effects, but they really needn't have bothered. They were better than you'd find in most musicals, but not good enough and too incidental to have been part of the promotion.
Speaking of ninja jutsu, Naruto can summon cheerleaders...? And girls in bikinis...? It was kind of funny to see them surrounding Hirata-san's character...
I have to mention the finale. Afterwards, Kowaburu and Kowadaka are holding fiercely to Kowane... and one of them tried to kiss him. The effect this had on everyone around me was pretty intense. Although it was aimed at younger children, a quick look at the audience demographics would tell you that no matter what they would like think, the bulk of the audience are young(ish) women.
Oh, and in the next scene, Sasuke and Naruto are holding hands and it was SO cute. Same strong reaction from the audience too. :)
Overall, I had lots of fun. Naruto was energetic, the acting was mostly good and the actors pretty. I really liked it and will go again if they hold a second musical. You can read dilettantka's review here and hinoai's review here
Tonight, I'm going to Rock'n Jam II.
[Edit: Screening anon comments for this post because I'm sick of the spam. Why this post only? Feel free to leave comments if you're a real person though.]
Anyway, yesterday I tried to attach the eyes to my Dollfie head after seraphim_grace assured me that it was the right head. Disaster!
First, you cut out the eyes neatly and soak them for ten seconds in lukewarm water, then slide them off onto the face. Except it doesn't really work that way. After ten seconds, the eyes stick to your fingers and you spend ages trying to smear the eyes onto the face, hopefully in the general direction of the eye sockets.
Having thought about it, I know what I'm doing wrong. I think you're meant to paste the eye and eyebrow on together. Unfortunately, I don't want to do that. My Ran has indigo/violet eyes and red eyebrows, but that's not a combination that's sold, as far as I know. So it has to be this way. Except I totally failed at red eyebrows, so they're brown. Gluhen!Aya it is, then.
After that, I went to Akihabara, knowing there was a Volks shop there. Didn't find it, but am just about to look it up online.
Next, I headed to Gotanda for the Naruto musical. I wanted to arrive a little early because I didn't know how crowded it would be, or how easy the place would be to find. However, the venue wasn't difficult to find, since there was a big sign telling me where it was as soon as I came out of the west exit of the station. And, in fact, the map I found online was perfect. It appears it's a fairly big venue for Gotanda, even though it's barely mentioned online.
When I arrived, there was no one there but a bewildered official holding a loudspeaker, so I went to Book Off instead. Around the time when the doors were supposed to open, I headed back slowly. There still weren't that many people there, but there were more than before. I was herded into a queue, which I soon realised (from what the official was saying to other people!) was the toujitsuken line. I explained that I'd already bought my ticket and I was told the proper place to go. I got my pile of flyers at the door and bought a program. Believe it or not, there was no queue!
I went to the drinks area to have a look at my haul. One of the first things I noticed was a flyer for A Midsummer Night's Dream starring Hirata Hiroaki-san! I wonder what role he will be playing, since he's listed as the star of the play? My best guess is Bottom. Anyway, I looked at the official program and found out why I got a flyer for Hirata Hiroaki-san's play... he's in the Naruto musical, playing Shiranui Genma!
Shiranui Genma
While I was waiting for the play to start, a group of young men entered and caused everyone around me to stand up and get out their opera glasses to get a better look. Since they entered from the VIP side, I'm guessing they were fellow Musical Academy members...?
The musical started really badly -- in the town centre, with actors wearing costumes pulled out of a car boot sale. In fact, everything about it reminded me of my school plays! In retrospect, this was probably to give cameo appearences to Naruto characters (I saw Gai and Lee in there).
After that, when we were left with just the main characters, it improved considerably. My favourites were Shiranui Genma (obviously!), Kakashi (he didn't appear much, but he's so cool!), Kowane (his actor seemed simultaneously in a daze and in a character -- I thought Akiyama Jun-san was adorable!), Sasuke (Machida Shingo-san had excellent body language, I thought) and Naruto (Surprisingly! I usually hate the main characters in shounen manga, but Yara Tomoyuki-san was surprisingly agile for a guy in an orange boiler suit!). Also Kotonoha, who made me realise exactly what Eda meant when she described the costumes as being for 'gay Weiss vampires'. Because, yeah.
I think they overhyped the special effects, although some of them were indeed very 'special'. They draped a shiny gold cloth over the entire stage to show Gaara's sand power. They have an entire page in the program devoted to Princess Tenkou, the illusionist responsible for the effects, but they really needn't have bothered. They were better than you'd find in most musicals, but not good enough and too incidental to have been part of the promotion.
Speaking of ninja jutsu, Naruto can summon cheerleaders...? And girls in bikinis...? It was kind of funny to see them surrounding Hirata-san's character...
I have to mention the finale. Afterwards, Kowaburu and Kowadaka are holding fiercely to Kowane... and one of them tried to kiss him. The effect this had on everyone around me was pretty intense. Although it was aimed at younger children, a quick look at the audience demographics would tell you that no matter what they would like think, the bulk of the audience are young(ish) women.
Oh, and in the next scene, Sasuke and Naruto are holding hands and it was SO cute. Same strong reaction from the audience too. :)
Overall, I had lots of fun. Naruto was energetic, the acting was mostly good and the actors pretty. I really liked it and will go again if they hold a second musical. You can read dilettantka's review here and hinoai's review here
Tonight, I'm going to Rock'n Jam II.
[Edit: Screening anon comments for this post because I'm sick of the spam. Why this post only? Feel free to leave comments if you're a real person though.]