MY HERO (Flower 2017)
This show was something else. Luckily it wasn't trying to take itself seriously and it was pretty fun. I must have not been paying close attention to the news leading up to the show because I thought Kiki was going to be a REAL superhero with REAL superpowers. 😅 I didn't realize it was rather the action hero industry that would be central to the plot. Despite not being what I thought it would be, I wasn't disappointed and Saitou-sensei delivered a light-hearted play.
From what I understood, Noah (Kiki), the son of TV action hero MASK ☆J, gets caught up in a scandal while trying to climb the social ladder in the movie industry. After being fired from his agency, he ironically lands a job as a masked action hero. Though he is generally pessimistic, struggles with issues from his own past, and finds himselfs at odds with fellow actor Terry Bennett (Chinatsu), Noah encounters Chloe Spencer (Kiwa) a bubbly woman and has-been tennis player who becomes his new manager (?) and Myra Parker (Kurisu), an action-hero fan (and former actress?) who uses a wheelchair after a traumatizing accident on set. Both of these courageous women inspire Noah to actually follow his own character's heroic advice. While he begins to get his life together, there is the sinister 😈 Smile Corporation 😈 led by the sleazy Smile Smiley (Taso) himself, working to undermine the TV industry for its own aims (I think it involves using TV to brainwash people but I'm not exactly sure). It also turns out that Smiley was responsible for the on-set accident that took Noah's father's life and left Myra traumatized. After his sister Sarah (Marei) is captured by the evil company, Terry and Noah join forces to bring Smiley down. Amidst this confrontation, Myra overcomes her fear of standing and is able to draw herself upright. The Smileys are taken into custody and thanks to Chloe and Myra among others, Noah becomes a better person. Oh and he is able to come to terms with his stepmother (formerly housemaid), whom he always resented.
Typing out that sloppy summary makes me realize how ridiculous this show is but it actually works. I was a big fan of the pop art design and use of projection/lighting. There's a lot of fourth wall-breaking as we have a [TV] show within a show. I liked the nod to the National Tour half of Hanagumi with "Romanesque Enterprises" and "EXCITER!! _____" (something, I forget -- maybe "Industries"). Onto the actresses...
👾 Serika Toa as Noah Taylor: Noah was actually a jerk for a good portion of the show so this was likely a challenge for Kiki as she's been playing nice guys pretty consistently. I was surprised by how annoyed I was at Noah's stuck-in-a-rut stubbornness. How could I ever feel angry toward Kiki?? The cool and aloof-ness was well-executed. And last but not least she rocked the Power Ranger suit!! It's one thing to be able to do "the moves" but another to have the coordination to do so while wearing the costume. Well done, Kiki. 👏👏👏
👾 Houzuki An as Terry Bennett: I think Chinatsu did the best she could with what she had. Terry wasn't exactly a partner or rival to Noah. I think if their rivalry had been more built up, it would have made for a more interesting character.
👾 Oto Kurisu as Myra Parker: Although she's only a 100th, I couldn't help but think "finally, a proper lead for this one." I knew she was an up-and-coming musumeyaku based on her decent shinjinkouen AND honkouen roles -- but she won me over in Golden Desert as the bratty younger princess, Sharaddha. She has the personality that Shiroki Mirei in my opinion lacks and is better at emoting while singing. As everyone knows, I love singers. Anyway, Myra was a spunky girl who wasn't afraid to tell Noah what's up. I was a little bit worried about how the show would treat the wheelchair situation but Kurisu handled it sensitively. I really admired Myra's courage.
👾 Asazuki Kiwa as Chloe Spencer: I don't know if it has anything to do with being a 96th (probably does) but I felt as though Kiwa had been getting pretty mediocre roles despite being quite talented. So it was nice to see her brought to the forefront in this small theatre show. With the two musumeyaku "leads," I feared the cropping up of a love-triangle but Chloe and Noah's relationship was platonic. With that out of the way, Kiwa could push her comedics.
😈 Tenma Michiru as Smile Smiley: The REAL hero of this show. Well technically villain. Man oh man, I hadn't laughed so hard while watching a show in a long time. Taso's character already had a ridiculous name but she took it a step further by making the guy say "smile" almost every other word. I would say she was randomly dropping English but it was actually well thought-out: Smiley spoke using English pronouns but used Japanese in the rest of the sentence or to pluralize the pronoun. For example "Youは," "Meは," and my personal favorite, "Meたち." The best part of the show had to have been when she screamed "SHUT UP!!!" to which I unashamedly burst out laughing to the surprise of my neighbors. Like Kiki, Taso also dons a masked costume but it's 200% funnier because Smiley is clearly out of practice. Then you have his wife played by Emi running around with her drawn-on boobs and derpy son, Smiley Jr. played by Masa. What a family. Absolutely hilarious. You win, Taso.
Honorable mentions to Shou whose beautiful voice I got to hear more of (as this was a small theatre show) despite being another bland executive character (I think she was also wearing Daimon's Jim Creed blazer for which I'm sure she was ECSTATIC about), Luna who played the most fiery senior / "warrior," Ayaki Hikari who did her best even though she looked more like Kiki's character's younger brother than father, and Tatsuki Mio who played both a beer-clutching dude in a red beanie and a gentle father.
I went home with the same feelings I had when I watched Vampire Succession. Both were light-hearted plays that I enjoyed and I felt happy for their respective leads' debut in a small-theatre venue. But I do hope Kiki is given a work with more substance for her next small theatre show. 👍