2016.08.09 Wakasamagumi Review!
I had been eyeing this one since Konchuuger ended and I finally gave in and bought tickets for it last month. Once again, another MMJ production with a stella cast but felt like more people were toujitsuken-ing it than actual people who bought tickets previous to the stage starting and I don't know why because I have been left impressed two now. And you'll see why...
PreShow
I don't know what was going on but at about row 6 or 7 there seem to be like 2 or 3 manager looking people and some could-be-actors young guys and like a guy two rows behind them stood up and greeted them and shook hands and clearly some business deal or something was going on. So could've been scouters or managers taking their newbies to see a stage or something? Whatever it was, they were definitely people from the business. Was interesting to watch...
Oh and the flower outside the place were gorgeous! Normally I don't really pay attention to what the flowers look like but this time some REALLY caught my eye and I had to take pictures! The last flowers are my favourite <3
And once again I got super lucky(!): smack in the middle! How do I always manage to get this luck?! I guess it does run out (we all remember the ticket fails of June and July right?!) but yes I was super happy! But also made me super nervous at the end when all the lights were up and like yeah, in direct eye line for Someya!
Story
So it's about 6 best friends who have just turned twenty and it's set 20 years after the Meiji Era begins and the Edo Era ends. Our main guy (finds pamphlet), Nagase decides that it's time for him to find a job and so informs his friends that he's gunna join the police force and become a police man. His friends aren't sure at first but like best friends, and also the fact they have no idea what to do with their lives, they end up following him to Police Training Camp where we find there are three other groups: The Reds known as Satsuma group: The senpais of the group that have been there the longest and are rather aragont about their position in the camp and are very forward thinking about the Meiji era; The Blues known as The Shizuoka Group: came over from Shizukoka and therefore are still very old fashioned and have a strong dialect and are seen as the outsides because they're the only two not from Tokyo, and akso, in true Sugie style, they're a little camp (xD); and The Yellows known as Edo: the most traditional of the group; one follows the way of the samurai and the other, the way of the ninja. The 6 friends are Green as known as Wakasamagumi (meaning something like 'Young Masters Group') because of A. how young they are and B. how irresponsible they are.
So we follow them as they go through their training which is interrupted when Nagase's childhood friend, and crush, Koizumi, is shot at twice and killed and the murder is pinned on Nagase, so now they try and find the real culprit.
The Cast
Irie Jingi as Nagase
Miyazaki Karen as Koizumi
Kubota Hidetoshi as Soneyama
Someya Toshiyuki as Fukuda
Akimoto Ryuutarou as Hirata
Yasukawa Junpei (<3) as Koyama
Saeki Daichi as Oonou
Kido Yuuya as Minagawa
Kamakari Kenta as Tamai
Ozeki Riku as Sakuma
Wagou Shinichi as Osamu (?)
Sugie Taishi as Himeda
Itakura Takeshi as Kondou
Iwai Kenshirou as Toya
Aoki Juna as Kitao
Nemoto Masakazu as Nakamura
Nakamura Seijirou as Ariba
No joke; I fell in love with like everyone!!! And I was so impressed with everyone! This cast is excessively STRONG in they way their chemistry works and the way the adlibs bounced off each other and the way the comedy flowed so seemlessly and how they interacted so effortlessly as well. I was so impressed by this cast. It's the first time I've become aware of like the cast as team players and it was really evident here in my opinion.
Also, I wanted like 12 pairs of eyes so I could watch everyone! Seriously, everyone was SO interesting and I wanted to see all their characters in complete detail! Let's see if I can get everyone's character down and talk about their performances. I think this will naturally go in order of either: characters I liked to least liked, OR random character order... we'll see how this goes...
FIRST!! Unforutnately for JP, I couldn't stop watching Someya (as Fukuda), who (by the way) is freaking awesome at dancing! He was so delicate during the opening song dance. Looked so beautiful xD No wonder he was cast as Tsurumaru in the Touken Ranbu stage xD Someya's character was really supportive of Nagase and just... beautiful and elegant in general <3 Also, Someya had a small love interest, BUT turns out the actress is only 17!! I thought she looked older than me, or at least the same age as me! I was like 'fuck off' when I saw her profile said 1999. Also she almost tripped up the stairs xD which I'd glad she didn't but like, in her defense, her skirt was like to the floor and she had this boot heels on so you're naturally gunna stand on it when you try and go up some stairs right! xD
AND!! JP was hella cute and his character was always getting piggyback rides from Irie and Saeki which made me so happy and he looked so happy getting them! So cheery and cute xD and once again a completely different character to what I've seen him as (previously the hentai bad guy, and the creepy but sexy devil xD not forgetting his cheery roles in Ayakashi and Tenimyu). This is the second time JP has done a stage under this company so I'm hoping this'll become a regular thing (at least then I know he's defo getting work even though he still isn't under a company) between him and MMJ. This time around I was prepared for his cute little high voice and omg I really do love it <3 it adds to his cuteness ^_^ and of course I was thankful for all the twitter and insta pics he put up. And during the aftertalk he was almost dead center so our eye lines almost matched up ^_^ he really is funny and adorable <3 and seems like he was one of the more popular guys cos NO one will trade his badge with me *cries* I need his badge!!
Someya and JP! <3
Now onto the MC; Irie as Nagase. I haven't to say, even though he was the MC, he was probably one of the least interesting. I didn't mind his character but I was definitely focusing WAY more on other than him. So once again (and I've noticed a LOT these past 2 or so years in Japanese entertainment) the secondary characters' are way more interesting while the MC stays as they rather normal character. I can't really tell you about his performance... he was good, but we ALL remember his role in Kingyo Club right (review here)? He was stronger in that dorama than in this stage. Also I couldn't NOT unseen nor not thinking about the muscles we ALL know he has under there (and now a picture of what I mean)
YOU CAN'T UNSEE THIS!! xD So yeah, every time he was on stage I was seeing his muscles in my head more than paying attention to him xD SORRY! xD But I'm not haha
Koizumi; we all know how I feel about females in casts especially if they're given the romantic role... lucky the romance was THAT heavy and she wasn't on stage much and when she was she was WAY more interested in eating food than realising two of the guys had feelings for her, so it was bearable. But she was exactly necessary in my opinion. They were nothing that we actually needed from her. She just happened to be Nagase and Minagawa's childhood friend and both of them liked her and she got killed. They could've easily replaced her with another guy friend who got killed and you would've still gotten the same reactions and emotions from the characters. So yeah... I'm sorry I'm SO harsh on female characters and actresses but like... I just want them to be as badass as the guy roles and they never all (once again let me reference how BADASS Asana and Akira are in BASARA and they're females and I loved them in it!). That's all I want. That's where my hate for female roles on stage comes from.
Soneyama; this guy surprised me. When he first came on I wasn't liking his character. He seemed so moody and didn't fit the rest of the group at all. But he VERY quickly became I character I loved! He has such strong feelings against protecting his friends and will easily risk his life and wield his fist if anyone threatens his friends (especially Nagase). Serious it was hilarious how often he came to blows with Kamakari's character xD and I really loved that about him. I also loved how Nagase was the only one who could stop him and I liked their relationship. And lets admit, that 'scar' is kinda sexy.
Saeki being cute was interesting to see compared to his tough Iwatooshi role in Touken Ranbu musical which I'm super used to (yes there is a STAGE and MUSICAL and they are completely different and done by DIFFERENT companies. Don't mix them up!) and I definitely don't object to seeing Saeki act like he did! At first I was like 'omg is this seriously the guy who plays Iwatooshi! But he did such a great job! I enjoyed seeing his silly and smiley face ^_^ Also his character is a glutton so is always like eating ALL the food and always complaining that he's hungry which I can definitelt relate to!
While I clearly went to this stage for JP and Someya, the thing that REALLY convinced me to go and watch this was Kamakari!! feel he's been SO quiet since Cocoa Otoko broke up and I thought 'omg this is FINALLY my chance to see him!' and it's kinda like he so rarely appears in stuff so it feels like this was my only chance! So Kamakari is really the reason why I went. And I was so happy I finally got to see him! He did not disappoint! But also, he's SO SMALL! I was surprised at how small he actually is! >.< He's so great <3 I really liked how his character changed from this horrible senpai to someone who could accept and recognise and want to help the Wakasamagumi. His fights with the other members were great too xD And there's another amusing point which I'll mention in the aftertalk section. And just an extra, last note; Kamakari looks SO much like Kame in my opinion! Every now and again (I think it's the nose) I'd watch him and think 'he looks like Kame!' what does everyone else think?
I've only ever seen Kido in one other thing (Comic Jack - review here) and in both this and CJ, I've felt he plays very safe characters that are very simple and rather easy. His character in this is very.... normal and I don't really have an impression of his role in this play unfortunately. He didn't have much stage time either so it's not like we were supposed to get to know his character. All we learnt was that he's from a rich family and is competing with Nagase (his childhood friend) against winning Koizumi over and he spends more time with Koizumi than Nagase does and he's part of the whole 'Freedom movement' (Koizumi too) but isn't really that commited to it, until Koizumi is killed and we see some interesting side of him at the end where he's very close to using a gun to kill the murderer.
Random comment: Everyone was so unique!
Now I want to talk about the two guys who surprised me and who I probably fell for the most in terms of their characters: Ozeki and Wagou.
Ozeki; obviously I know him from his time as St. Rudolph's Yanagisawa in Tenimyu <3 and even before this his face had somewhat caught my attention (sometime he looks super attractive!! <-- Sorry if I just offended some of his fans by saying 'sometimes'.) so when I saw him on this cast list I was like 'hmmm I get to see you outside of Tenimyu so fast!' and I was happy I got to see him act ^_^ His character is the leader of the Shizuoka group and omg I am so impressed with him! First his character! His character follows the old way of the samurai and he even has the samurai stance, walks like a samurai with the bent legs and feet sliding across the floor and he even has a samurai sword. I was freaking onboard! I was like 'yes!!!'.His character has a lot of the samurai characteristics like being very deep voiced and being prideful and wanting to do the right thing. I loved it!
And then we move onto is group member played by Wagou who was a FREAKING Ninja! And omg he's so FREAKING cute! I loved him! Both him and Ozeki's characters caught and took my attention straight away and everytime they were both of stage! And while Wagou's character doesn't actually say a lot; some of his actions were ABSOLUTELY hilarious! One scene towards the end where they're talking about the murderer and (being a ninja) Wagou is behind the criminal pointing and on his tiptoes at him. And another one when he sneaking around HQ and the leaders come into the office and his holds up a cardboard cut out which has a wall on it and immediately after the wall begins to drop and he has to catch it xD OMG so hilarious. I couldn't not laugh!
Seriously these two were the biggest surprises and were probably the most enjoyable characters to watch! But like I already said; this character is strong and I wanted to be able to watch everyone!
Sugie as Himeda; Sugie is an interesting specimen to me. When I VERY first saw him, he was completely not my type, I didn't like him and I wasn't interested at all. But then I saw him in Messiah and FREAKING loved his performance in it and then (why is this turing into an origin story? Oh well!) I saw him with blonde hair on twitter and I had an realisation 'it's not that I don't like him. It's that I DON'T like him with dark hair!' cos he super ill and so looks bad with dark hair! But with light hair? Omg I love him! And then I saw him in Touken stage and unfortunately his role was super short so you can't get any feel for his acting there (besides his fighting choreography being cool! and his super long legs being beautifully shown in it xD) and then I saw him in Shintehouji and we ALL know I'm a Shitenhouji fangirl and I LOVE his character in that! And I feel like he brought some of that character to this stage. His character is a little weak (not in terms of performance by the way! But his actual character) and he had some campness to it; I guess it doesn't help that he's called 'Himeda' (Hime means princess in Japanese) and so he's naturally have a little feminite side to him in this and I loved it! ^_^
Finally we get onto the two captains; Nakamura and Ariba. I really liked how they supported each other in the beginning and then I really liked how their dynamic changed and (without spoilers) I love how the tables turned. And I just like the actual relationship between the actors. They had some great back and forth between them during the after talk.
I was super excited to see Akimoto (as Hirata) again after seeing him in Musou BUT I think he ended up being the weakest (or one of the two weakest) member there. Sorry! But it could've been him character cos he plays a super weak and quiet character who only really shines for about 5 seconds when his character accidently gets scared and he started screaming hilariously. So yes, he was a little disappointment but we'll just assume it was his character's personality's fault.
Now for the small/minor characters.
Itakura as Kondou; I like how he always had Kamakari's back and he was a good match against Kamakari's more serious character and he was pretty funny during the aftertalk too xD
Iwas as Toya was pretty funny and he matched Sugie well in the whole Shizuoka dialect and they way they act matched but obviously Sugie got the center when their group was on stage but I felt he supported Sugie really well.
Aoki did well in her very small role but I was more shocked and more focused on how YOUNG she is rather than her actual performance but her character was supportive and helped the boys and gave advice when needed and her cute and small food and picnic scene with Koizumi was nice.
And that's everyone! ^_^
Holy crap I finally got this section finished after like 2 hours...
The Show
Now that I've seen two shows by MMJ, I was able to see the similarities between their productions and this is what I noticed:
1. The 80% comedy, 20% heart. Both Konchuuger and Wakasamagumi had a LOT of hilarious moments and then there's one point (in both of them) about 3/4 of the way through where we get smacked in the face with a dark, serious topic and (both times!) I was brought to tears. I really like how this play can freely mess about but we all know there's gunne be a dark part or a message they really want to (wtf is tsueru in English...) portray to the audience.
2. Having a theme song. Both Konchuuger and Wakasamagumi had 'theme songs' that they would sing at the beginning as an opening and then at the end where they would encourage the audience to sing and dance along.
3. Props. The way this company cleverly make props in a comical way and HOW they make the props from from the simpliest things like cardboard (for Wakasamagumi) and lights (like the table tennis scene in Konchuuger) is so impressive! ^_^
4, Pacing; I've already mentioned this but yes it's this quick introduction and we're thrown into hilarity and then 3/4 way through we're hit by reality, gets funny again and the end is heartwarming.
If I ever notice anymore then I'll let you know in the future! ^_^ I'm definitely going to keep an eye on this company (they previously did Poseidon's (something or other) which got massive praise and they also did Fallen Angel which is a dorama I've had for YEARS but never got around to watching and now I have a reason to!) and I'll probably most likely go and see more of their stuff in future. They've really impressed me twice in a row ^_^
Now back to the show! FIRST! The comedy!!
The comedy in this was great! I was laughing SO hard throughout this. This comedy was EXACTLY my type of comedy and even when others didn't find something funny, I was absolutely dying (reminds me of Makai Ouji which is another stage where I was laughing from start to finish - review here). Some great scenes were things like Saeki and his neverending appetite! Even the picnic with Koizumi and Kitao.
The props themselves were super creative and hilarious. Things like Wagou almost not catching his falling wall while he was pretending to hide behind it. Just Ozeki and Wagou being samurais and ninjas in general was hilarious. The song and dance about Macarons was very funny and cute too! Akimoto's scared moment where he just kept screaming >.< Also when the Wakasamagumi first join the army and we see a montage of them falling asleep in class and failing to know the answer and their fighting fails. I found the actual fights themselves funny. While it would start serious, because EVERYONE would get involved I found it hilarious, And also who doesn't love seeing JP get 'thrown' across the stage from one punch and Someya going down after one punch xD so many things were funny in this and suited my taste completely! ^_^
OOOOO! There's also one scene where Soneyama magically becomes SUPER strong through his anger and breaks open the jail that Nagase is in xD AND when Wagou was pointing to the murderer in front of everyone while they're like 'Nagase is the muderer right' and Wagou is like 'it's HIM!!!!' and pointing so hard at the guy xD
Ohhhhh one more! When Nagase is locked up and the rest of his group try to sneak into the jail to break him out and they're SO loud and SO clumsy - I was dying. They were so bad at keeping quiet! >.< And how EASILY they knocked out Ozeki who was guarding the jail >.< jesus guys...
Can you TELL this is funny?! Or am I failing in bringing the comedy across?
And OMG the set mishap was hilarious to me! It wasn't even that big of a deal but it's the second time they go to Minagawa's house and Saeki tried so hard to keep the cardboard pulled out in place but the moment he let it go, it slowly started moving back into it's original spot and the guys just had to push past it to get to their positions xD it shouldn't have been as funny as I found it. But Saeki did try. I saw his fingers hesitating to let go oh so slowly as he did it xD Poor boy xD
Once again I have to give props to the props! So creative and such a good idea to use such simple things like cardboard! And the set! I love how they moved the stage around and how they'd added the scenery and stairs to it!
The opening song for this so good and the dance is a little sexy. Either that or it's actually just the fact I was totally focused on Someya and he made that dance very sexy. He dances really well!
One moment that made my heart race was when Someya turns up to join the police and Irie's Nagase is so happy that he walks up to Someya gets REAL close; as in forehead and nose touching close! It was heartracing and cute at the same time. BTW! What is it with Someya having roles that wear gloves?! XD I mean, don't stop cos it's sexy but... are you picking these roles based on if they have gloves or not?
Someya: So you want me to do this role?
Manager: Yes
Someya: It seems interesting.. but one thing ... can I wear gloves?
Manager: Yes
Someya: I'll do it xD
Oh my why did I just think of that... anyway!
Another heart racing moment was towards the end after Nagase gets out of jail and the other groups surround them (as they've been ordered to catch him) and he and Soneyama become back and back and he was pretty much (almost) holding Soneyama's hand during this moment! So cute!!! <3
Spoiler on who the murderer is and the ending >>> : Turns out it was Nakamura (the character, NOT the actor) who was the real culprit and we learn that the reason why he wanted to attack Koizumi is because she's the leader of the 'Freedom' Group/Protest/Movement and he hates Meiji and things everything should go back to how it was before. BUT THEN! Turns out Ariba had been working with Koizumi and the second shot (which was the one that 'killed' her) was fake and she was alive and just waiting til the criminal who shot at her the first time was caught.
Aftertalk
Now this is gunna be super short. Unfortunately I can't remember much of the aftertalk and no one seems to have posted about what they said on twitter =[ but essentially the aftertalk concistsed of a Haiku competition and the audience got to clap for whoever's they liked and whoever got under (I think it was) 70 points had to do a punishment game xD I only remember a few:
I don't remember Miyazaki's exactly but she got to tell the story behind her Haiku which was; being surrounded by a male dominated cast, there'd be random moments where the guys would start comparing their muscles and she spoke of how KenKen (a.k.a Kamakari) was one of the worst when it came to comparing muscles. And at the moment Kamakari walked ON stage while he was still half putting his jacket on and was like 'whatcha saying about me?' and showed off his arm a little and left quickly xD
Irie's impressed everyone. It was something like 'Alone, in the room practise, eyeliner' and he spoke of that this was his first time where he had to wear and put on his own eyeliner so during rehearsals when they were finished for the day, he would stay behind to practise doing it and he spoke about how everyone else was so much better than him cos (obviously) they've all been doing their own makeup for stages for years and Nakamura/Nemoto were like 'but it looks good' and he was like 'thank you'.
I know JP's was a complete fail but I don't remember what it was ='[ but he ended up doing the punishment game and he had to do an impression but (he's seriously hilarious) he used his hand to make a 'belly' in the air and then laid down on the floor and for the two actions he said one words for each. So imagine him doing those two things while saying this:
*in English* Maternity carpet
What the hell JP?!?!!?!? OMG hilarious xD NO one knew how to react. I freaking loved it. This is the JP I love and enjoy ^_^
And they also made Nakamura do a Haiku on the spot (he was the MC and was not expecting to be forced to do it xD) but he did it but he failed so he ended up doing an impression of Nemoto which was rather funny xD
Unfortunately twitter people have failed me and no one has put up a word by word tweet about this aftertalk so that's all the information I remember and came give to you =[
Goods time!!
I still have about 5 badges left to sell/trade and I've managed to trade for one or TWO JP badges since this pic <3
---
And there is my accidentally MASSIVE review which took me like 4 hours to write over the course of 4 days xD
This review may seem a but more tame and longer and more professional compared to previous ones. I have something ticking away in my brain and I guess I'm unconciously and conciously working towards it to see if it's a possibility in the very near future. So yeah... vague I know xD
ANYWAYS, if you're still reading by this time and you read all that ^^^ then seriously give yourself a cookie! Cos it was a lot!! ^_^
Overall: Oh my this was so good! I was thoroughly impressed once again by a MMJ production and they're definitely going on my radar as a company to trsut and follow because this is the second time they've impressed me (they did Konchuuger). This play was SO funny, so hysterical, all the characters are unique and amazing and I wanted to be able to either see it a second time, and/or have 12 pairs of eyes so I could watch everyone! The props were unique too and I loved the dancers! I'm definitely gunna be buying this DVD, if I hopefully have money in October (that's when the preorder finishes).
Rating: 9/10
PreShow
I don't know what was going on but at about row 6 or 7 there seem to be like 2 or 3 manager looking people and some could-be-actors young guys and like a guy two rows behind them stood up and greeted them and shook hands and clearly some business deal or something was going on. So could've been scouters or managers taking their newbies to see a stage or something? Whatever it was, they were definitely people from the business. Was interesting to watch...
Oh and the flower outside the place were gorgeous! Normally I don't really pay attention to what the flowers look like but this time some REALLY caught my eye and I had to take pictures! The last flowers are my favourite <3
And once again I got super lucky(!): smack in the middle! How do I always manage to get this luck?! I guess it does run out (we all remember the ticket fails of June and July right?!) but yes I was super happy! But also made me super nervous at the end when all the lights were up and like yeah, in direct eye line for Someya!
Story
So it's about 6 best friends who have just turned twenty and it's set 20 years after the Meiji Era begins and the Edo Era ends. Our main guy (finds pamphlet), Nagase decides that it's time for him to find a job and so informs his friends that he's gunna join the police force and become a police man. His friends aren't sure at first but like best friends, and also the fact they have no idea what to do with their lives, they end up following him to Police Training Camp where we find there are three other groups: The Reds known as Satsuma group: The senpais of the group that have been there the longest and are rather aragont about their position in the camp and are very forward thinking about the Meiji era; The Blues known as The Shizuoka Group: came over from Shizukoka and therefore are still very old fashioned and have a strong dialect and are seen as the outsides because they're the only two not from Tokyo, and akso, in true Sugie style, they're a little camp (xD); and The Yellows known as Edo: the most traditional of the group; one follows the way of the samurai and the other, the way of the ninja. The 6 friends are Green as known as Wakasamagumi (meaning something like 'Young Masters Group') because of A. how young they are and B. how irresponsible they are.
So we follow them as they go through their training which is interrupted when Nagase's childhood friend, and crush, Koizumi, is shot at twice and killed and the murder is pinned on Nagase, so now they try and find the real culprit.
The Cast
Irie Jingi as Nagase
Miyazaki Karen as Koizumi
Kubota Hidetoshi as Soneyama
Someya Toshiyuki as Fukuda
Akimoto Ryuutarou as Hirata
Yasukawa Junpei (<3) as Koyama
Saeki Daichi as Oonou
Kido Yuuya as Minagawa
Kamakari Kenta as Tamai
Ozeki Riku as Sakuma
Wagou Shinichi as Osamu (?)
Sugie Taishi as Himeda
Itakura Takeshi as Kondou
Iwai Kenshirou as Toya
Aoki Juna as Kitao
Nemoto Masakazu as Nakamura
Nakamura Seijirou as Ariba
No joke; I fell in love with like everyone!!! And I was so impressed with everyone! This cast is excessively STRONG in they way their chemistry works and the way the adlibs bounced off each other and the way the comedy flowed so seemlessly and how they interacted so effortlessly as well. I was so impressed by this cast. It's the first time I've become aware of like the cast as team players and it was really evident here in my opinion.
Also, I wanted like 12 pairs of eyes so I could watch everyone! Seriously, everyone was SO interesting and I wanted to see all their characters in complete detail! Let's see if I can get everyone's character down and talk about their performances. I think this will naturally go in order of either: characters I liked to least liked, OR random character order... we'll see how this goes...
FIRST!! Unforutnately for JP, I couldn't stop watching Someya (as Fukuda), who (by the way) is freaking awesome at dancing! He was so delicate during the opening song dance. Looked so beautiful xD No wonder he was cast as Tsurumaru in the Touken Ranbu stage xD Someya's character was really supportive of Nagase and just... beautiful and elegant in general <3 Also, Someya had a small love interest, BUT turns out the actress is only 17!! I thought she looked older than me, or at least the same age as me! I was like 'fuck off' when I saw her profile said 1999. Also she almost tripped up the stairs xD which I'd glad she didn't but like, in her defense, her skirt was like to the floor and she had this boot heels on so you're naturally gunna stand on it when you try and go up some stairs right! xD
AND!! JP was hella cute and his character was always getting piggyback rides from Irie and Saeki which made me so happy and he looked so happy getting them! So cheery and cute xD and once again a completely different character to what I've seen him as (previously the hentai bad guy, and the creepy but sexy devil xD not forgetting his cheery roles in Ayakashi and Tenimyu). This is the second time JP has done a stage under this company so I'm hoping this'll become a regular thing (at least then I know he's defo getting work even though he still isn't under a company) between him and MMJ. This time around I was prepared for his cute little high voice and omg I really do love it <3 it adds to his cuteness ^_^ and of course I was thankful for all the twitter and insta pics he put up. And during the aftertalk he was almost dead center so our eye lines almost matched up ^_^ he really is funny and adorable <3 and seems like he was one of the more popular guys cos NO one will trade his badge with me *cries* I need his badge!!
Someya and JP! <3
Now onto the MC; Irie as Nagase. I haven't to say, even though he was the MC, he was probably one of the least interesting. I didn't mind his character but I was definitely focusing WAY more on other than him. So once again (and I've noticed a LOT these past 2 or so years in Japanese entertainment) the secondary characters' are way more interesting while the MC stays as they rather normal character. I can't really tell you about his performance... he was good, but we ALL remember his role in Kingyo Club right (review here)? He was stronger in that dorama than in this stage. Also I couldn't NOT unseen nor not thinking about the muscles we ALL know he has under there (and now a picture of what I mean)
YOU CAN'T UNSEE THIS!! xD So yeah, every time he was on stage I was seeing his muscles in my head more than paying attention to him xD SORRY! xD But I'm not haha
Koizumi; we all know how I feel about females in casts especially if they're given the romantic role... lucky the romance was THAT heavy and she wasn't on stage much and when she was she was WAY more interested in eating food than realising two of the guys had feelings for her, so it was bearable. But she was exactly necessary in my opinion. They were nothing that we actually needed from her. She just happened to be Nagase and Minagawa's childhood friend and both of them liked her and she got killed. They could've easily replaced her with another guy friend who got killed and you would've still gotten the same reactions and emotions from the characters. So yeah... I'm sorry I'm SO harsh on female characters and actresses but like... I just want them to be as badass as the guy roles and they never all (once again let me reference how BADASS Asana and Akira are in BASARA and they're females and I loved them in it!). That's all I want. That's where my hate for female roles on stage comes from.
Soneyama; this guy surprised me. When he first came on I wasn't liking his character. He seemed so moody and didn't fit the rest of the group at all. But he VERY quickly became I character I loved! He has such strong feelings against protecting his friends and will easily risk his life and wield his fist if anyone threatens his friends (especially Nagase). Serious it was hilarious how often he came to blows with Kamakari's character xD and I really loved that about him. I also loved how Nagase was the only one who could stop him and I liked their relationship. And lets admit, that 'scar' is kinda sexy.
Saeki being cute was interesting to see compared to his tough Iwatooshi role in Touken Ranbu musical which I'm super used to (yes there is a STAGE and MUSICAL and they are completely different and done by DIFFERENT companies. Don't mix them up!) and I definitely don't object to seeing Saeki act like he did! At first I was like 'omg is this seriously the guy who plays Iwatooshi! But he did such a great job! I enjoyed seeing his silly and smiley face ^_^ Also his character is a glutton so is always like eating ALL the food and always complaining that he's hungry which I can definitelt relate to!
While I clearly went to this stage for JP and Someya, the thing that REALLY convinced me to go and watch this was Kamakari!! feel he's been SO quiet since Cocoa Otoko broke up and I thought 'omg this is FINALLY my chance to see him!' and it's kinda like he so rarely appears in stuff so it feels like this was my only chance! So Kamakari is really the reason why I went. And I was so happy I finally got to see him! He did not disappoint! But also, he's SO SMALL! I was surprised at how small he actually is! >.< He's so great <3 I really liked how his character changed from this horrible senpai to someone who could accept and recognise and want to help the Wakasamagumi. His fights with the other members were great too xD And there's another amusing point which I'll mention in the aftertalk section. And just an extra, last note; Kamakari looks SO much like Kame in my opinion! Every now and again (I think it's the nose) I'd watch him and think 'he looks like Kame!' what does everyone else think?
I've only ever seen Kido in one other thing (Comic Jack - review here) and in both this and CJ, I've felt he plays very safe characters that are very simple and rather easy. His character in this is very.... normal and I don't really have an impression of his role in this play unfortunately. He didn't have much stage time either so it's not like we were supposed to get to know his character. All we learnt was that he's from a rich family and is competing with Nagase (his childhood friend) against winning Koizumi over and he spends more time with Koizumi than Nagase does and he's part of the whole 'Freedom movement' (Koizumi too) but isn't really that commited to it, until Koizumi is killed and we see some interesting side of him at the end where he's very close to using a gun to kill the murderer.
Random comment: Everyone was so unique!
Now I want to talk about the two guys who surprised me and who I probably fell for the most in terms of their characters: Ozeki and Wagou.
Ozeki; obviously I know him from his time as St. Rudolph's Yanagisawa in Tenimyu <3 and even before this his face had somewhat caught my attention (sometime he looks super attractive!! <-- Sorry if I just offended some of his fans by saying 'sometimes'.) so when I saw him on this cast list I was like 'hmmm I get to see you outside of Tenimyu so fast!' and I was happy I got to see him act ^_^ His character is the leader of the Shizuoka group and omg I am so impressed with him! First his character! His character follows the old way of the samurai and he even has the samurai stance, walks like a samurai with the bent legs and feet sliding across the floor and he even has a samurai sword. I was freaking onboard! I was like 'yes!!!'.His character has a lot of the samurai characteristics like being very deep voiced and being prideful and wanting to do the right thing. I loved it!
And then we move onto is group member played by Wagou who was a FREAKING Ninja! And omg he's so FREAKING cute! I loved him! Both him and Ozeki's characters caught and took my attention straight away and everytime they were both of stage! And while Wagou's character doesn't actually say a lot; some of his actions were ABSOLUTELY hilarious! One scene towards the end where they're talking about the murderer and (being a ninja) Wagou is behind the criminal pointing and on his tiptoes at him. And another one when he sneaking around HQ and the leaders come into the office and his holds up a cardboard cut out which has a wall on it and immediately after the wall begins to drop and he has to catch it xD OMG so hilarious. I couldn't not laugh!
Seriously these two were the biggest surprises and were probably the most enjoyable characters to watch! But like I already said; this character is strong and I wanted to be able to watch everyone!
Sugie as Himeda; Sugie is an interesting specimen to me. When I VERY first saw him, he was completely not my type, I didn't like him and I wasn't interested at all. But then I saw him in Messiah and FREAKING loved his performance in it and then (why is this turing into an origin story? Oh well!) I saw him with blonde hair on twitter and I had an realisation 'it's not that I don't like him. It's that I DON'T like him with dark hair!' cos he super ill and so looks bad with dark hair! But with light hair? Omg I love him! And then I saw him in Touken stage and unfortunately his role was super short so you can't get any feel for his acting there (besides his fighting choreography being cool! and his super long legs being beautifully shown in it xD) and then I saw him in Shintehouji and we ALL know I'm a Shitenhouji fangirl and I LOVE his character in that! And I feel like he brought some of that character to this stage. His character is a little weak (not in terms of performance by the way! But his actual character) and he had some campness to it; I guess it doesn't help that he's called 'Himeda' (Hime means princess in Japanese) and so he's naturally have a little feminite side to him in this and I loved it! ^_^
Finally we get onto the two captains; Nakamura and Ariba. I really liked how they supported each other in the beginning and then I really liked how their dynamic changed and (without spoilers) I love how the tables turned. And I just like the actual relationship between the actors. They had some great back and forth between them during the after talk.
I was super excited to see Akimoto (as Hirata) again after seeing him in Musou BUT I think he ended up being the weakest (or one of the two weakest) member there. Sorry! But it could've been him character cos he plays a super weak and quiet character who only really shines for about 5 seconds when his character accidently gets scared and he started screaming hilariously. So yes, he was a little disappointment but we'll just assume it was his character's personality's fault.
Now for the small/minor characters.
Itakura as Kondou; I like how he always had Kamakari's back and he was a good match against Kamakari's more serious character and he was pretty funny during the aftertalk too xD
Iwas as Toya was pretty funny and he matched Sugie well in the whole Shizuoka dialect and they way they act matched but obviously Sugie got the center when their group was on stage but I felt he supported Sugie really well.
Aoki did well in her very small role but I was more shocked and more focused on how YOUNG she is rather than her actual performance but her character was supportive and helped the boys and gave advice when needed and her cute and small food and picnic scene with Koizumi was nice.
And that's everyone! ^_^
Holy crap I finally got this section finished after like 2 hours...
The Show
Now that I've seen two shows by MMJ, I was able to see the similarities between their productions and this is what I noticed:
1. The 80% comedy, 20% heart. Both Konchuuger and Wakasamagumi had a LOT of hilarious moments and then there's one point (in both of them) about 3/4 of the way through where we get smacked in the face with a dark, serious topic and (both times!) I was brought to tears. I really like how this play can freely mess about but we all know there's gunne be a dark part or a message they really want to (wtf is tsueru in English...) portray to the audience.
2. Having a theme song. Both Konchuuger and Wakasamagumi had 'theme songs' that they would sing at the beginning as an opening and then at the end where they would encourage the audience to sing and dance along.
3. Props. The way this company cleverly make props in a comical way and HOW they make the props from from the simpliest things like cardboard (for Wakasamagumi) and lights (like the table tennis scene in Konchuuger) is so impressive! ^_^
4, Pacing; I've already mentioned this but yes it's this quick introduction and we're thrown into hilarity and then 3/4 way through we're hit by reality, gets funny again and the end is heartwarming.
If I ever notice anymore then I'll let you know in the future! ^_^ I'm definitely going to keep an eye on this company (they previously did Poseidon's (something or other) which got massive praise and they also did Fallen Angel which is a dorama I've had for YEARS but never got around to watching and now I have a reason to!) and I'll probably most likely go and see more of their stuff in future. They've really impressed me twice in a row ^_^
Now back to the show! FIRST! The comedy!!
The comedy in this was great! I was laughing SO hard throughout this. This comedy was EXACTLY my type of comedy and even when others didn't find something funny, I was absolutely dying (reminds me of Makai Ouji which is another stage where I was laughing from start to finish - review here). Some great scenes were things like Saeki and his neverending appetite! Even the picnic with Koizumi and Kitao.
The props themselves were super creative and hilarious. Things like Wagou almost not catching his falling wall while he was pretending to hide behind it. Just Ozeki and Wagou being samurais and ninjas in general was hilarious. The song and dance about Macarons was very funny and cute too! Akimoto's scared moment where he just kept screaming >.< Also when the Wakasamagumi first join the army and we see a montage of them falling asleep in class and failing to know the answer and their fighting fails. I found the actual fights themselves funny. While it would start serious, because EVERYONE would get involved I found it hilarious, And also who doesn't love seeing JP get 'thrown' across the stage from one punch and Someya going down after one punch xD so many things were funny in this and suited my taste completely! ^_^
OOOOO! There's also one scene where Soneyama magically becomes SUPER strong through his anger and breaks open the jail that Nagase is in xD AND when Wagou was pointing to the murderer in front of everyone while they're like 'Nagase is the muderer right' and Wagou is like 'it's HIM!!!!' and pointing so hard at the guy xD
Ohhhhh one more! When Nagase is locked up and the rest of his group try to sneak into the jail to break him out and they're SO loud and SO clumsy - I was dying. They were so bad at keeping quiet! >.< And how EASILY they knocked out Ozeki who was guarding the jail >.< jesus guys...
Can you TELL this is funny?! Or am I failing in bringing the comedy across?
And OMG the set mishap was hilarious to me! It wasn't even that big of a deal but it's the second time they go to Minagawa's house and Saeki tried so hard to keep the cardboard pulled out in place but the moment he let it go, it slowly started moving back into it's original spot and the guys just had to push past it to get to their positions xD it shouldn't have been as funny as I found it. But Saeki did try. I saw his fingers hesitating to let go oh so slowly as he did it xD Poor boy xD
Once again I have to give props to the props! So creative and such a good idea to use such simple things like cardboard! And the set! I love how they moved the stage around and how they'd added the scenery and stairs to it!
The opening song for this so good and the dance is a little sexy. Either that or it's actually just the fact I was totally focused on Someya and he made that dance very sexy. He dances really well!
One moment that made my heart race was when Someya turns up to join the police and Irie's Nagase is so happy that he walks up to Someya gets REAL close; as in forehead and nose touching close! It was heartracing and cute at the same time. BTW! What is it with Someya having roles that wear gloves?! XD I mean, don't stop cos it's sexy but... are you picking these roles based on if they have gloves or not?
Someya: So you want me to do this role?
Manager: Yes
Someya: It seems interesting.. but one thing ... can I wear gloves?
Manager: Yes
Someya: I'll do it xD
Oh my why did I just think of that... anyway!
Another heart racing moment was towards the end after Nagase gets out of jail and the other groups surround them (as they've been ordered to catch him) and he and Soneyama become back and back and he was pretty much (almost) holding Soneyama's hand during this moment! So cute!!! <3
Spoiler on who the murderer is and the ending >>> : Turns out it was Nakamura (the character, NOT the actor) who was the real culprit and we learn that the reason why he wanted to attack Koizumi is because she's the leader of the 'Freedom' Group/Protest/Movement and he hates Meiji and things everything should go back to how it was before. BUT THEN! Turns out Ariba had been working with Koizumi and the second shot (which was the one that 'killed' her) was fake and she was alive and just waiting til the criminal who shot at her the first time was caught.
Aftertalk
Now this is gunna be super short. Unfortunately I can't remember much of the aftertalk and no one seems to have posted about what they said on twitter =[ but essentially the aftertalk concistsed of a Haiku competition and the audience got to clap for whoever's they liked and whoever got under (I think it was) 70 points had to do a punishment game xD I only remember a few:
I don't remember Miyazaki's exactly but she got to tell the story behind her Haiku which was; being surrounded by a male dominated cast, there'd be random moments where the guys would start comparing their muscles and she spoke of how KenKen (a.k.a Kamakari) was one of the worst when it came to comparing muscles. And at the moment Kamakari walked ON stage while he was still half putting his jacket on and was like 'whatcha saying about me?' and showed off his arm a little and left quickly xD
Irie's impressed everyone. It was something like 'Alone, in the room practise, eyeliner' and he spoke of that this was his first time where he had to wear and put on his own eyeliner so during rehearsals when they were finished for the day, he would stay behind to practise doing it and he spoke about how everyone else was so much better than him cos (obviously) they've all been doing their own makeup for stages for years and Nakamura/Nemoto were like 'but it looks good' and he was like 'thank you'.
I know JP's was a complete fail but I don't remember what it was ='[ but he ended up doing the punishment game and he had to do an impression but (he's seriously hilarious) he used his hand to make a 'belly' in the air and then laid down on the floor and for the two actions he said one words for each. So imagine him doing those two things while saying this:
*in English* Maternity carpet
What the hell JP?!?!!?!? OMG hilarious xD NO one knew how to react. I freaking loved it. This is the JP I love and enjoy ^_^
And they also made Nakamura do a Haiku on the spot (he was the MC and was not expecting to be forced to do it xD) but he did it but he failed so he ended up doing an impression of Nemoto which was rather funny xD
Unfortunately twitter people have failed me and no one has put up a word by word tweet about this aftertalk so that's all the information I remember and came give to you =[
Goods time!!
I still have about 5 badges left to sell/trade and I've managed to trade for one or TWO JP badges since this pic <3
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And there is my accidentally MASSIVE review which took me like 4 hours to write over the course of 4 days xD
This review may seem a but more tame and longer and more professional compared to previous ones. I have something ticking away in my brain and I guess I'm unconciously and conciously working towards it to see if it's a possibility in the very near future. So yeah... vague I know xD
ANYWAYS, if you're still reading by this time and you read all that ^^^ then seriously give yourself a cookie! Cos it was a lot!! ^_^
Overall: Oh my this was so good! I was thoroughly impressed once again by a MMJ production and they're definitely going on my radar as a company to trsut and follow because this is the second time they've impressed me (they did Konchuuger). This play was SO funny, so hysterical, all the characters are unique and amazing and I wanted to be able to either see it a second time, and/or have 12 pairs of eyes so I could watch everyone! The props were unique too and I loved the dancers! I'm definitely gunna be buying this DVD, if I hopefully have money in October (that's when the preorder finishes).
Rating: 9/10