(attemtping the formatting again, hopefully should work now) Review: Rose of Versailles, Andre Hen
Okay, where to start. It seems silly to try to explain what went wrong in an Ueda Shinji show, but I feel like taking a stab at the obvious -_-;
I’m sure many of you are already familiar with the problems plaguing Rose of Versailles: Andre Version. Ume-chan is cast not as Oscar, but as Marise, Andre’s childhood friend and a new character created solely for this version.
In short, the show is stuck in the middle. It can’t focus on Andre’s relationship with Marise too much, for fear of ignoring what Andre’s story is actually supposed to be about (aka Oscar). And at the same time it can’t focus too much on Andre’s relationship with Oscar, for fear of ignoring Ume-chan completely (not that it would be above Umeda-sensei, but… :P)
The result is that I finished the show feeling pretty much the way I entered it, wondering exactly why this story needed to be told. It felt more like a series of scenes strung together to fill requirements of BeruBara and soragumi’s current ranking rather than a story.
Other than Tani and Ume-chan, no one got out of this show with a decent role. (Chigi and Kacha, who shared the role of Oscar, got a fair amount of stage time in the first half, but disappeared completely in the second half and never sang outside the prologue. Yes, this is ridiculous given that it’s a show about Andre for God’s sake). Even Micchan and Tomocchin only show up in a few scenes.
BUT…
I feel lucky that Andre Hen was such a mess that it became entertaining in its own way. About five minutes into the show (aka the prologue), I decided that I was going to have to enjoy the badness if I was going to get my money’s worth for the DVD. And luckily for me, this was the best kind of bad show. Tani’s acting + Ueda-sensei’s direction + the fact that BeruBara is over the top to begin with = unintentionally HILARIOUS in many places. The scene where the other soldiers find out about Tani’s blindness truly needs to be seen to be believed (I may clip it later).
And yet after the show was over, while I was entertained in a fashion, I couldn’t help but feel that my IQ had been lowered T_____T
However, there were a couple of things that I genuinely thought were good.
1. Ume-chan. I am always impressed with her acting abilities, and this was no exception. It takes a talented actress to take a character like Marise in a show like BeruBara and actually turn out a moving performance.
2. Kacha. I agree with Julie completely, Kacha’s portrayal of Oscar is beautiful. She’s small, feminine, and sensitive, and yet she’s so tough and determined. As someone who grew up reading a few too many “girl-dressed-as-a-boy” novels, she perfectly portrayed the kind of heroine I worshipped in my childhood. She completely stole the scenes she was in.
I can see why they chose her to be Elisabeth, and I’m looking forward to seeing her take on the role. Although if it were my choice, I’d have her play more girl-dressed-as-boys characters instead XD
3. Micchan. Yes, yes, I’m biased. But during the 20 minutes Micchan was actually on stage, she got to sing a short but very beautiful solo about being a soldier. Micchan usually does either white hat or comedy roles, so I was really, really pleased to see her playing the rough, aggressive character of Alain. (I just wish that she got to do this for more than oh, three scenes :P)
During the “Tani-admits-she’s-blind-scene” even my poor Micchan couldn’t completely escape the ridiculousness. But at least she got to punch Tani first…? ^^;
So in short, I don’t think I’d recommend this for anyone other than hardcore fans of the actresses involved. That being said, as a hardcore fan of one of the actresses, it at least ended up being entertaining in its own way XD
Whew, okay, I need to run out the door now. Chunichi Dancing For You review to come later.
I’m sure many of you are already familiar with the problems plaguing Rose of Versailles: Andre Version. Ume-chan is cast not as Oscar, but as Marise, Andre’s childhood friend and a new character created solely for this version.
In short, the show is stuck in the middle. It can’t focus on Andre’s relationship with Marise too much, for fear of ignoring what Andre’s story is actually supposed to be about (aka Oscar). And at the same time it can’t focus too much on Andre’s relationship with Oscar, for fear of ignoring Ume-chan completely (not that it would be above Umeda-sensei, but… :P)
The result is that I finished the show feeling pretty much the way I entered it, wondering exactly why this story needed to be told. It felt more like a series of scenes strung together to fill requirements of BeruBara and soragumi’s current ranking rather than a story.
Other than Tani and Ume-chan, no one got out of this show with a decent role. (Chigi and Kacha, who shared the role of Oscar, got a fair amount of stage time in the first half, but disappeared completely in the second half and never sang outside the prologue. Yes, this is ridiculous given that it’s a show about Andre for God’s sake). Even Micchan and Tomocchin only show up in a few scenes.
BUT…
I feel lucky that Andre Hen was such a mess that it became entertaining in its own way. About five minutes into the show (aka the prologue), I decided that I was going to have to enjoy the badness if I was going to get my money’s worth for the DVD. And luckily for me, this was the best kind of bad show. Tani’s acting + Ueda-sensei’s direction + the fact that BeruBara is over the top to begin with = unintentionally HILARIOUS in many places. The scene where the other soldiers find out about Tani’s blindness truly needs to be seen to be believed (I may clip it later).
And yet after the show was over, while I was entertained in a fashion, I couldn’t help but feel that my IQ had been lowered T_____T
However, there were a couple of things that I genuinely thought were good.
1. Ume-chan. I am always impressed with her acting abilities, and this was no exception. It takes a talented actress to take a character like Marise in a show like BeruBara and actually turn out a moving performance.
2. Kacha. I agree with Julie completely, Kacha’s portrayal of Oscar is beautiful. She’s small, feminine, and sensitive, and yet she’s so tough and determined. As someone who grew up reading a few too many “girl-dressed-as-a-boy” novels, she perfectly portrayed the kind of heroine I worshipped in my childhood. She completely stole the scenes she was in.
I can see why they chose her to be Elisabeth, and I’m looking forward to seeing her take on the role. Although if it were my choice, I’d have her play more girl-dressed-as-boys characters instead XD
3. Micchan. Yes, yes, I’m biased. But during the 20 minutes Micchan was actually on stage, she got to sing a short but very beautiful solo about being a soldier. Micchan usually does either white hat or comedy roles, so I was really, really pleased to see her playing the rough, aggressive character of Alain. (I just wish that she got to do this for more than oh, three scenes :P)
During the “Tani-admits-she’s-blind-scene” even my poor Micchan couldn’t completely escape the ridiculousness. But at least she got to punch Tani first…? ^^;
So in short, I don’t think I’d recommend this for anyone other than hardcore fans of the actresses involved. That being said, as a hardcore fan of one of the actresses, it at least ended up being entertaining in its own way XD
Whew, okay, I need to run out the door now. Chunichi Dancing For You review to come later.