Vampire Succession (Cosmos 2016)
Well. This show was not what I thought it was going to be. At all. BUT I enjoyed it. I knew based off of the summary that comedy would be involved, but the poster was so かっこいい -- I was not expecting the crack that it was. I'm a fan of dark fantasy/horror so perhaps the fault was mine in hoping for some amalgamation of Van Helsing, Interview With a Vampire, and Underworld. Ishida-sensei has a reputation for crack shows too (e.g. “Fifty-Fifty” and “Gin-chan’s Love"). All of this aside, "Vampire Succession" balanced its fantastical and comedic elements well.
The premise of the show is that Alucard (Makaze) had woken up in NYC (because apparently vampires hibernate), and now chills with his friend Helsing (Aichan), a descendant from vampire hunter Van Helsing, who is okay with all of this since he helps him write his fantasy books. In the meantime, James Sutherland (Mitsuru), a scientist, is trying to research Alucard's immortality. He is working with Herman (Sao), a private military leader, who seems to have his own agenda in wanting to use Alucard’s powers to create invincible soldiers. At one of Helsing’s book releases (which is Halloween masquerade-themed!), Alucard encounters Lucy, a girl he had saved from the collapse of the Twin Towers when she was young. At first he pretends to be her boyfriend to save her from her ex, Randy, but the two hit it off. It is eventually revealed that he is a vampire, which somewhat complicates things. Like Twilight (and many other vampire/human love stories), Alucard grapples with the fact that turning human Lucy into a vampire would strip her of her mortality. He ultimately decides to leave but before he can part ways, Herman and Co. abduct Lucy in hopes of exchanging her safety for Alucard. Their plans are foiled -- but wait -- -suddenly Sutherland pulls a gun on Alucard -- and then shoots himself (trigger warning ... literally). It turns out he had wanted to research Alucard to cure his own cancer. Alucard offers to turn him into a vampire but it doesn't work because Alucard had become human! What? Then everyone lives happily ever after.
Since a lot of Takarazuka shows don’t take place in the present day, this show felt particularly relevant (minus the vampire aspect of course). The 9/11 sequence was slightly jarring -- both in how the curtains were manipulated in a way that really looked like how the towers collapsed and in seeing the event represented on stage in general. I enjoyed the steampunk set with gears, clocks, and the skyline backdrop, but it seemed like the fashion department still thinks NY is in the 80 or 90s. Many musumeyaku were sporting some crazy colors + big hair and some otokoyaku wore red tracksuits. There was also a song about Facebook which was pretty funny and selfies were taken. Also at the beginning of the show, a projector was utilized to show how Alucard had been cropping up in photographs throughout history. The photoshop was awful, but this was semi-on purpose to show how vampires don’t show up well in photographs. Needless to say, I couldn't stop laughing and I actually felt like I was being lectured by otokayaku XD
Actresses:
Makaze: Super suave and funny. Her bro moments with Aichan and Urara are the best and come naturally. She has the dancing and "look" down, but I think she needs to work on her chemistry with and confidence in handling her partner. Throughout the show and especially in the revue, Madoka was giving 110% of herself over to Makaze and I think she was unsure of what to do with her (or if she'd drop her haha). I heard the chemistry was better on raku.
Aichan: Her character was kind of boring (they essentially didn't expand on her being the descendent of Van Helsing) but she has comedy down. And was certainly attractive. She didn’t get to sing much but her mini solos were quite smooth compared to her belty-ness in "HOT EYES!!" She's improved.
Urara: I think she really shined in this sassy onnayaku role. I know she's playing the game, but it would also be worth considering being a strong upperclassman onnayaku playing more of these kinds of roles. She was also really funny! (I don't know why I was so surprised -- I guess I had been used to her playing bitchy characters XD). Since her character Carmilla is in a coma, she is a temporary spirit of death. Because nobody can see her, she does some goofy things unbeknowst to the humans. When she comes out of her coma, she does a good job pretending to be a put-together lady with her new partner, Helsing, but then snaps back into her goofy self when he turns around to show Alucard she's still the same person. Great job!
Madoka: Perfection. In a way I’m actually glad this show didn’t turn out to be the broody vampire show I somewhat wanted - because it usually leads to love interests being the helpless damsels in distress. While it's true that Lucy was rescued by Alucard a few times, she is spunky and an outgoing character. I loved seeing her rock out on the mop like a guitar. As I mentioned before, she was giving 110% and I think both Alucard and Makaze were taken aback.This one's ready.
Mitsuru: I was glad to Mitsuru but her character was kinda meh. His motives were somewhat unclear and I wonder if this is yet another instance of a senka member being wasted in an already crowded show. Put her in the next Hana daigekijou please!
Sora: She played the blonde preppy mama’s boy role so well!!! Reminded me of that kid from As Told By Ginger
lol.
Throwback! She also made a Tod joke and I hope even more she gets the shinko just because it would be so relevant.
All in all, it was a crack show but fun to watch. Good for friends. Like a light-hearted Halloween show.