Aru Hi :: THE REVIEW.
As I write this, it is 11:35 PM on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007, and I have just returned from Kobe after seeing the final performance of Aru Hi, Bokura wa Yume no Naka de Deau. In other words, the final performance of what has been the single most intimate Tuti/Nagayan performance to date.
Others saw it too, and have given their own, quite thorough reviews already, which I hope everyone's read over because ksdfjhsidufhsilfsd best play EVER and people should KNOW this by now. But everyone leaves that theater with something different, and I hope no one minds me wanting to share what it gave me with the rest of you guys.
And please PLEASE keep in mind that while I do speak a good bit of Japanese, this play was VERY difficult to understand in parts (even for native speakers, just because of how trippy the plot is) and there ARE areas of it where I'm not 100% sure what I feel was going on is exactly what was going on. So just keep it in mind if you saw the play too and had a totally different way to read the scene XD There's a good chance I got something wrong.
I'm going to try and be thorough in this review, and as unbiased as I can possibly be in the summary of the play. But I will hold nothing back in my "thoughts" section, so just be warned ^_~ I will start off with said summary, which is really just what I remember from the three times seeing the play (once in Tokyo, twice in Kobe) when my mind WASN'T in, "Oh my God Tuti and Nagayan are standing RIGHT THERE oh my GOD..." mode. Which unfortunately wasn't that often, sorry XD
Also, of course, while it should be obvious, there are SPOILERS in the summary for the ENTIRE PLAY. Don't want to know about the climactic Tuti/Nagayan love scene? Don't read! ♥
CAST
Tsuchiya Yuuichi as Tsuchiya
Nagayama Takashi as Nagayama
Nakamura Yuuichi as Nakamura
Tsumura Noriyoshi as Tsumura
The play opens with a monologue from Nagayama, who during the Tokyo performances entered from a side door to stand in the middle of the Space Zero center-auditorium walkway to deliver his lines, while in Kobe he entered from a door nearer to the stage and stood on the stairs directly beside rows E and F.
『その日僕は、とても新鮮な気持ちで一つの門の前にたっていました。新しいものに触れる時、人は誰でも新鮮な気持ちをかみしめるものでしょう。何か言っても自分の言った言葉がしらじらと響き、何がホンモノで何がニセモノなのかわからないような時代ですが、僕は元気です。
もうすぐ冬がきます。冬だからと言って、お体を大切にと話しかける事はいささかオリジナリティにかける事かもしれませんが、これが１番いいと思うのでやはり僕はそう呼びかけます。お体を大切に。僕は元気です。』
"That day, I stood before a single gate with a refreshed feeling. People are such that any time they come into contact with something new, they'll always feel refreshed. These are times in which no matter what you say, your own words echo softly, and you can't even tell what's real and what's not, but I'm doing just fine.
It'll be winter soon. Because of that, it's become something of a tradition for people to tell you, 'Take care of yourself,' but I believe this is indeed the most important thing, so I say it as well. Take care of yourself. I'm doing just fine."
These opening lines, which also form the epilogue as well, set a tone for the play that won't be fully realized until the final scene. Nagayama opens and closes the play with this short monologue, and both times the audience comes away with a different feeling after he delivers it.
With this delivery, a colorful light array starts up along with some music, and Nagayama takes to the stage, running into Tsuchiya, Nakamura, and Tsumura, his new coworkers.
Nagayama is the newest detective in the police department. He's been watching cop drama shows all his life, and always dreamed of one day growing up to be just like them. He's got a lot of fantastic ideas about what detectives do and don't do. His coworkers take pleasure in destroying these impressions one by one, to Nagayama's great frustration. They never do any work, and mostly sit around playing Cat's Cradle (Nakamura), scratching their backs (Tsumura), or clipping their fingernails (Tsuchiya). When Nagayan asks if they don't have any cases to investigate, they set him to making paper flowers.
Luckily for Nagayama, though, a phone call comes into headquarters alerting the quartet of a case that's just come up, and they're off to the crime scene by their various modes of transportation--which involves pantomiming biking/running (Nagayama), driving/riding in a car (Tsumura, Tsuchiya), and riding a motorcycle (Nakamura).
Here the scene shifts, and we are taken to the hideout of a group of four kidnappers--these are the double roles that all the actors played, and you tell the difference between who they're playing on stage based on what they're wearing. The detectives all wear suits, and the kidnappers all wear colored jumpsuits (Tsuchiya = green, Nakamura = orange, Tsumura = yellow, Nagayama = blue).
Tsuchiya, Nakamura, and Tsumura are all seasoned criminals who have just kidnapped a little girl to ransom. While the trio are trying to determine amongst themselves just how old she is, in walks Nagayama, their newest member, having just bought everyone Cup Ramen at the nearby convenience store. Nagayama grew up watching crime shows, and dreamed of one day pulling a big job just like the famous criminals he saw on television, so here he is.
Nagayama has too much heart, though, to be a real hardened criminal, and the others get on to him constantly for being "nice" to their captive. While Tsuchiya, Nakamura, and Tsumura all sit by themselves eating their noodles, Nagayama goes to give their hostage her own share, claiming that she's human too, and gets hungry just as they do.
The lights go down, and when they come back up, Tsuchiya, Nakamura, and Tsumura are in their same positions, eating ramen, in suits this time. Nagayama comes bursting in, claiming they've got details on the case now--but the others already know, and quickly burst his bubble with rattling off all the information Nagayama was prepared to fill them in on.
Nagayama berates them for just sitting there eating calmly while there's a case going on, and while Nakamura and Tsumura go to retrieve the after-lunch tea and cake set, Tsuchiya takes the opportunity to give Nagayama a thorough dressing down. This scene was actually changed almost every performance--in Tokyo it involved Tuti throwing himself to the ground time and time again, while in Kobe he would use scenes from television shows and movies that Kansai-region Japanese would be very familiar with. This got LOUD laughs from the audience ♥
Nakamura and Tsumura return to find this strange scene involving their boss and newest member, but it's soon forgotten for CAKE! Tsuchiya, Tsumura, and Nakamura all sit down for a treat, but Nagayama can't fathom why they aren't preparing in any way for the kidnappers to call them with the terms for the ransom. Shouldn't they, you know, set up the equipment to trace the call?!
The other three burst into laughter--TRACE the call?! That sort of thing doesn't exist in real life! It's just in cop shows and movies! You can't REALLY trace calls! Nagayama thinks they're pulling his leg at first, then finally gives in and laughs along with them--guess they showed him! To make amends, Tsuchiya offers him some cake as well, but Nagayama is resolute--just because he didn't know you couldn't trace a call doesn't mean he's going to just let it go. They need to be prepared for the kidnappers to call!
At that very moment, then, the phone rings, and all four rush over to it. Nagayama wants them to pick it up immediately--it's no doubt from the kidnappers. But Tsuchiya warns him away and consults with Nakamura and Tsumura first--what do they think? They all listen intently before Tsumura states it's a wrong number, to which Nakamura agrees. Tsuchiya seems satisfied with this, and the three begin to walk away.
Nagayama is floored--aren't they going to pick it up?! What kind of a decision is that to just blow it off as a wrong number and not even entertain the THOUGHT that it might be the kidnappers. Well, Tsuchiya replies, if he wants to question the decision, why doesn't Nagayam pick it up and see who it is?
Nagayama is adamantly against this, though, but after some wrestling on Nakamura's part, he's finally sitting down, and Tsuchiya lifts the phone to his ears. In a quavering voice, Nagayama answers, "Hello?"
...and it's a wrong number. He hangs up the phone, confused--how could they have known it was a wrong number? The task falls to Nakamura to explain it: the difference lies in the sound of the ringing phone. A wrong number sounds like a flat, "riiiiing," while a call from a criminal has a distinct rising tone, "riiiiiING." Nagayama finds this hard to believe, but it seems to be true. He then questions Tsuchiya and the others--so what ARE they planning to do when the kidnappers call? The little girl's parents aren't around to bargain about the ransom, after all.
Nakamura steps forward, clears his throat, and introduces himself as the girl's father, lowering his voice an octave or so. Tsumura then steps forward beside him, pitching his voice into falsetto and claiming he was the girl's mother--a good ruse, but good enough to fool the kidnappers?
They find out a mere few moments later when the phone rings again, this time from the kidnappers!
Nagayama is shoved over the desk, with the other three holding his head against the phone so that he learns its tone. Tentatively, Nakamura answers the phone, "Touyama residence." The audience hears a familiar voice from over a speaker--it's the kidnapper Tsuchiya, demanding 30,000,000 yen as ransom for the girl's safe return. Tsumura takes over the phone acting as the girl's mother, demanding to know if she is safe, and Nagayama crouches to his side, motioning for Tsumura to keep the kidnapper Tsuchiya talking as long as possible so they can trace the call.
Detective Tsuchiya smacks him over the head, whispering, "You can't trace calls!" and Nagayama lets out a bark of laughter at his stupid mistake. But the laugh is heard by the kidnapper on the other end of the line, and he quickly deduces that their conversation is being listened to. Tsumura assures him it's not that--that was just their son.
Kidnapper Tsuchiya doesn't believe him at first, though, and demands they put the child on the phone. The team quickly wrestle a very reluctant Nagayama onto the phone, with Tsuchiya eventually resorting to holding a gun to his head before the man finally offers a hestiant, "Hello...?"
Kidnapper Tsuchiya drills him with questions about his life--how old he is, what his favorite subject is at school, what his homeroom teacher's name is, and what 5 + 6 is ("５足す６は♪いくつか・・・わかるかな？" in a sing-song voice). Eventually satisfied, Tsuchiya asks him to put his papa back on the phone, and with a pitiable "Un!" Nagayama holds his hand over the receiver, holding it out to Nakamura going, "Papa!"
Tsuchiya apparently bought the ruse, for he then gives Nakamura the details on what to do with the money, and out from the side of the stage, voice synching with the voice on the phone, comes the kidnapper Tsuchiya, in his green jumpsuit. Nakamura, as Touyama, demands to speak to his daughter, but the girl refuses to answer. Tsuchiya promises him that the next time they speak he'll let him speak to her, and tell him where to bring the money then.
The scene quickly shifts to focus entirely on Tsuchiya after he hangs up the phone, and Tsumura comes on and congratulates Tsuchiya on asking for three times what they'd originally meant to demand. Nakamura and Nagayama join them shortly after, and the quartet discuss what they're going to do with their share of the 30,000,000 yen. Nagayama wants to pay off his bills and move to Europe, but the others laugh at him for dreaming so small. He pays them little attention, though, and goes to clean up their cups of ramen and check on their captive.
Tsuchiya, in the meantime, regales Nakamura and Tsumura with his dream to build a house entirely of candy, when suddenly Nagayama's frantic voice can be heard, "EVERYONE! THIS IS BAD!!" The others rush towards his voice offstage, and a moment later, all four toddle back on stage, silent and shaken, unable to process what they've just seen--their hostage, the elementary school girl, has just hung herself with her own shoelaces.
They wander around in a daze, trying to fathom why she would want to do something like that. Tsumura posits that perhaps her family was secretly a ninja household, and the children were taught from birth to kill themselves if ever they fell into enemy hands. Nakamura tells him that's ridiculous, and suggests that maybe she actually was deathly afraid of cockroaches, and, seeing one, could not live with the fear.
Nagayama deems this an even stupider suggestion, but Tsuchiya thinks the idea has some merit--in 100,000 people, who knows, there might be someone like that. Nagayama still won't accept that--and Tsuchiya then brings up the fact that this might not actually be a suicide. What then, Nagayama questions heatedly--what else could it be? Tsuchiya posits--a murder!
Who on earth could have gotten past the four of them to kill the girl, though? That's just it, Tsuchiya reminds them all, the four of them are all suspect--including Nagayama. Refusing to take part in this game any more, he questions just how they're going to get the girl to answer her father next time he calls, since they'd agreed on that.
Tsumura steps forward, pitching his voice up into falsetto--he'll be playing the part of the little girl now. Nagayama can take no more, and storms off to cover up the body.
The lights go down for a moment, and when they come back up, everyone is still in their jumpsuits. "Camoflauge," Tsuchiya informs Nagayama, after donning a fake moustache like kidnapper Tsuchiya wears. The detective team is waiting for a call from the kidnappers, and Tsuchiya walks over to the side of the stage, whips out a cellphone, and starts dialing. Who is he calling, Nagayama asks, and it is a different voice from Tsuchiya--a rougher, harsher one--that answers, "Touyama." Tsumura stands to the side, clearing his throat and practicing, "Papa, papa!"
Nagayama's confused, but Nakamura's already answering the phone that has just rung, and Tsuchiya starts talking again...but as the kidnapper.
This is where it really starts to get confusing.
Nagayama is set apart from the group here--he is the only one who sees what we the audience see: Tsuchiya and Tsumura playing the kidnappers, with Nakamura playing a detective still, and a very confused Nagayama. He looks on, horrified at what's going on, but whenever he tries to ask a question or ascertain why his boss is acting like a kidnapper and calling someone standing 5 feet from him, he gets strange looks.
This is where we see Nagayama's mental state start to break down as he confuses the detectives for the kidnappers, and vice versa. We the audience as well start to question--are the men really detectives, or are they kidnappers? Which is real, and which is fantasy?
Completely thrown, Nagayama himself starts to doubt who he is, and any time he states that he is "Nagayama-keiji" or "a kidnapper" the other 'side' gives him a surprised, "You're a WHAT?" thinking him a traitor.
In the end, Nakamura manages to get the information where the switch between the money and the girl is to be made, and passes it along to Tsuchiya, who's going to bring the money to the kidnappers himself, with the others acting as backup. Tsuchiya calls for something to be passed out to the four of them, and straps on the bag of "money" which is actually newspaper flyers made to look like bills. Nagayama takes the proffered tube of liquid when it's passed to him, and asks what it is.
It's a formula that will actually enable them to fly and become, "Sora wo Tobu Keiji-kun" ("Flying Detectives")--this is another hint that Nagayama's grip on reality is wavering, as at the very beginning of the play there is mention of flying detectives and how it factors into the fantastic view of detectives versus what police are really like.
The lights in the theater dim, and we hear Tsuchiya the detective and Tsuchiya the kidnapper conversing. They make the trade safely, but when Tsuchiya the detective asks the other if it's okay not to check the bag's contents, the kidnapper realizes he's been double crossed, and a gunfight ensues.
When the smoke clears, Nakamura and Tsumura, the detectives, come out, holding their guns at the ready, alerting Tsuchiya that they each took out one other kidnapper each. Tsuchiya picks up the bag of money again and asks about Nagayama, but no one knows where he is.
Then, out of the shadows, steps Nagayama, holding the gun he'd been given by Tsuchiya himself at the station, and he's got it trained on the three of them. The trio are confused--what's he doing, doesn't he recognize them? Nagayama doesn't answer, and simply orders them all to drop their guns, which they do. He then tells Tsuchiya to drop the bag, and pulls it back towards himself.
Nakamura and Tsumura at first think he's an imposter--he can't be Nagayama. But he assures them that he is, and that he knows exactly who they are, and what he's doing. Nakamura and Tsumura can't take anymore, and charge him, after being told repeatedly not to move, and Nagayama fires two shots at point-blank range, dropping them like stones.
Tsuchiya explodes--why is he doing this, weren't they all working together?! Nagayama explains that this is the only way he can be sure--he's become unable to tell what's fantasy and what's reality, what's truth and what's fiction, who's real and who's not. The only path left to him is to destroy everything and start over anew. He steps over the bodies of the fallen Nakamura and Tsumura to stand face to face with Tsuchiya, and raises his arm to point the gun at Tsuchiya's forehead.
The lights go out, and a final gunshot sounds.
A few moments later, a spotlight comes on--Nagayama stands alone on stage, in the same clothes he was wearing during the opening monologue: dress pants, white pressed shirt, with a jacket hanging over his arm.
"That day, I stood before a single gate with a refreshed feeling. People are such that any time they come into contact with something new, they'll always feel refreshed. These are times in which no matter what you say, your own words echo softly, and you can't even tell what's real and what's not, but I'm doing just fine.
It'll be winter soon. Because of that, it's become something of a tradition for people to tell you, 'Take care of yourself,' but I believe this is indeed the most important thing, so I say it as well. Take care of yourself. I'm doing just fine."
He turns and pulls on his jacket, and Jesus Jones' The Next Big Thing starts to play (download it here). He walks towards the back of the stage, and as he does so pieces of the walls of the set begin to tear away from their bases and lift upwards, revealing a dozen or so posed mannikins, but among them stand Tsuchiya, Nakamura, and Tsumura. Nagayama scales a flight of steps at the very back and comes to a stop, striking a pose right next to Tsuchiya.
The lights dim, and the play is over.
I saw this play three times--August 18 in Space Zero, Tokyo; September 1 in the Hyogo Performing Arts Center, in Kobe; and September 2, senshuuraku, also in Kobe.
I think the one that stood out to me the most was the August performance in Space Zero that I attended. It was my first time really seeing a play--I'd seen a couple of musicals in past years in America, but it has been at least a good 6 or 7 since then. I was never much of the play-going type.
So this performance was my very first one--my first time seeing a play in Japanese, my first time seeing Tuti and Nagayan live, my first time seeing, really, ANYTHING like this play itself. I never could have predicted it would be like this. I think, seriously, that I will remember this play for the rest of my life. Not because it was my first, though, but because it was really just THAT good of a performance.
Nagayan and Tuti had the most lines--though Nagayan had the most (but only just barely, really). Nagayan was the unofficial star, the character all the plot revolved around, and the character through whose eyes the audience experienced everything, for better or for worse. As his character's mental state started to twist and deteriorate, we the audience also became confused, unsure ourselves as to what was real and what was just in his imagination.
Nagayan played Nagayama perfectly--from his happy-go-lucky demeanor he had at first, both as a detective and as a kidnapper, to the eventual unstable mental state he sank into eventually.
While yes, Nagayama killed everyone in the end, it is in my opinion that his character was not supposed to be "evil." He was just a normal guy who snapped, who became unable to distinguish fantasy from reality while being desperate to be able to do so. In the end he decided that the only way to successfully accomplish this was to eliminate all interference and see what remained. You can see the steady downward spiral when he starts confusing his fellow detectives for the kidnappers, when none but he seem to see the two characters each actor played, and he had probably already snapped irrevertibly when the quartet took to the sky, like Nagayama had often seen happen in television dramas (an example of his antasies worming their way into his reality).
Closing the play the same way it opened left me with chills, especially since that monologue held such a different meaning at the end as it did in the beginning. It was a very vague, unfinished ending, but it fit the atmosphere of the play, where you in the audience were still seeing things through Nagayama's eyes. The idea of Nagayama wandering off and being lost in a sea of humanity almost, whereabouts unknown, still drifting in a sea where it wasn't clear exactly what was real and what was fiction, was a very creepy ending for me, but it was a good kind of creepy, if that makes ANY sense XD
I really can't fully explain to you what it was like to sit in that theater and be touched the way I was by this play, but I hope that this review has helped you get some sense of it. Just take whatever feeling you get from the play now and multiply it a thousand-fold, and that's what I feel *____* I absolutely cannot wait to get this show on DVD. After the show, analineblue and I went to the Sannomiya shrine and prayed for good backstage footage XD Sacrilegous, yes, but worth it 8D
I'd like to close this review with my thoughts on what I had most been looking forward to in this show: Kansai Love Magic. Most everyone reading this will know what I'm talking about--that special something in the Kansai region that seems to remove inhibitions that would have otherwise prevented Tuti and Nagayan to...well, do some of the stuff they've done at Kansai shows! During the More Than Limit Kobe run, there was more fanservice on stage than ever before, there's been constant flirting in BuriMyu shows (and let's not forget the outright DECLARATION OF LOVE that came just this past April--a declaration that, might I remind you, took place on the very same stage Aru Hi was performed on!) There's something in the air or water or SOMETHING that just...makes them a little freer.
This time, it wasn't what they showed us on stage, but rather off--Tuti updating just to show that he'd taken (yet another) picture of Nagayan without him knowing it, or giving us the goofiest picture of the group together, with Tuti part of a Tsumura/Nagayan sandwich--or the best one of all, Nagayan updating to show us the two of them cheek-to-cheek, the closest we have ever, in the history of fandom, seen not to mention that lovely hardon Nagayan's sporting.
Tuti said it before, and I think it finally sank in watching that last show, with everyone standing up to give them the standing ovation they so deserved--this was a really really special show. I could not imagine any other cast doing this--Nagayan owned his role, and Tuti his, and none other than the two of them could have pulled off such characters with such interactions as the two of them, in my opinion. Nakamura and Tsumura were solid backup, yes, but these two were the stars, definitely.
I think Nagayan got his wish in hoping that this would be a play he could remember forever--plotwise, it was unlike anything he's done before (only Switch came close), castwise, it was with one of the people in his life he's closest to, and a cast that was so small not meshing was impossible. He gave his all under stressful conditions and never missed a beat, and I hope that we, the audience, adequately showed him how grateful we were for it.
I will never, ever forget this show, so long as I live, I think. It was so many firsts for me, and I feel now like nothing can ever live up to it. But knowing these two, that's just another challenge!
I hope this review's been at least somewhat helpful, and thanks for reading this far! _o_ Done aaaaand DONE!
Others saw it too, and have given their own, quite thorough reviews already, which I hope everyone's read over because ksdfjhsidufhsilfsd best play EVER and people should KNOW this by now. But everyone leaves that theater with something different, and I hope no one minds me wanting to share what it gave me with the rest of you guys.
And please PLEASE keep in mind that while I do speak a good bit of Japanese, this play was VERY difficult to understand in parts (even for native speakers, just because of how trippy the plot is) and there ARE areas of it where I'm not 100% sure what I feel was going on is exactly what was going on. So just keep it in mind if you saw the play too and had a totally different way to read the scene XD There's a good chance I got something wrong.
I'm going to try and be thorough in this review, and as unbiased as I can possibly be in the summary of the play. But I will hold nothing back in my "thoughts" section, so just be warned ^_~ I will start off with said summary, which is really just what I remember from the three times seeing the play (once in Tokyo, twice in Kobe) when my mind WASN'T in, "Oh my God Tuti and Nagayan are standing RIGHT THERE oh my GOD..." mode. Which unfortunately wasn't that often, sorry XD
Also, of course, while it should be obvious, there are SPOILERS in the summary for the ENTIRE PLAY. Don't want to know about the climactic Tuti/Nagayan love scene? Don't read! ♥
CAST
Tsuchiya Yuuichi as Tsuchiya
Nagayama Takashi as Nagayama
Nakamura Yuuichi as Nakamura
Tsumura Noriyoshi as Tsumura
The play opens with a monologue from Nagayama, who during the Tokyo performances entered from a side door to stand in the middle of the Space Zero center-auditorium walkway to deliver his lines, while in Kobe he entered from a door nearer to the stage and stood on the stairs directly beside rows E and F.
『その日僕は、とても新鮮な気持ちで一つの門の前にたっていました。新しいものに触れる時、人は誰でも新鮮な気持ちをかみしめるものでしょう。何か言っても自分の言った言葉がしらじらと響き、何がホンモノで何がニセモノなのかわからないような時代ですが、僕は元気です。
もうすぐ冬がきます。冬だからと言って、お体を大切にと話しかける事はいささかオリジナリティにかける事かもしれませんが、これが１番いいと思うのでやはり僕はそう呼びかけます。お体を大切に。僕は元気です。』
"That day, I stood before a single gate with a refreshed feeling. People are such that any time they come into contact with something new, they'll always feel refreshed. These are times in which no matter what you say, your own words echo softly, and you can't even tell what's real and what's not, but I'm doing just fine.
It'll be winter soon. Because of that, it's become something of a tradition for people to tell you, 'Take care of yourself,' but I believe this is indeed the most important thing, so I say it as well. Take care of yourself. I'm doing just fine."
These opening lines, which also form the epilogue as well, set a tone for the play that won't be fully realized until the final scene. Nagayama opens and closes the play with this short monologue, and both times the audience comes away with a different feeling after he delivers it.
With this delivery, a colorful light array starts up along with some music, and Nagayama takes to the stage, running into Tsuchiya, Nakamura, and Tsumura, his new coworkers.
Nagayama is the newest detective in the police department. He's been watching cop drama shows all his life, and always dreamed of one day growing up to be just like them. He's got a lot of fantastic ideas about what detectives do and don't do. His coworkers take pleasure in destroying these impressions one by one, to Nagayama's great frustration. They never do any work, and mostly sit around playing Cat's Cradle (Nakamura), scratching their backs (Tsumura), or clipping their fingernails (Tsuchiya). When Nagayan asks if they don't have any cases to investigate, they set him to making paper flowers.
Luckily for Nagayama, though, a phone call comes into headquarters alerting the quartet of a case that's just come up, and they're off to the crime scene by their various modes of transportation--which involves pantomiming biking/running (Nagayama), driving/riding in a car (Tsumura, Tsuchiya), and riding a motorcycle (Nakamura).
Here the scene shifts, and we are taken to the hideout of a group of four kidnappers--these are the double roles that all the actors played, and you tell the difference between who they're playing on stage based on what they're wearing. The detectives all wear suits, and the kidnappers all wear colored jumpsuits (Tsuchiya = green, Nakamura = orange, Tsumura = yellow, Nagayama = blue).
Tsuchiya, Nakamura, and Tsumura are all seasoned criminals who have just kidnapped a little girl to ransom. While the trio are trying to determine amongst themselves just how old she is, in walks Nagayama, their newest member, having just bought everyone Cup Ramen at the nearby convenience store. Nagayama grew up watching crime shows, and dreamed of one day pulling a big job just like the famous criminals he saw on television, so here he is.
Nagayama has too much heart, though, to be a real hardened criminal, and the others get on to him constantly for being "nice" to their captive. While Tsuchiya, Nakamura, and Tsumura all sit by themselves eating their noodles, Nagayama goes to give their hostage her own share, claiming that she's human too, and gets hungry just as they do.
The lights go down, and when they come back up, Tsuchiya, Nakamura, and Tsumura are in their same positions, eating ramen, in suits this time. Nagayama comes bursting in, claiming they've got details on the case now--but the others already know, and quickly burst his bubble with rattling off all the information Nagayama was prepared to fill them in on.
Nagayama berates them for just sitting there eating calmly while there's a case going on, and while Nakamura and Tsumura go to retrieve the after-lunch tea and cake set, Tsuchiya takes the opportunity to give Nagayama a thorough dressing down. This scene was actually changed almost every performance--in Tokyo it involved Tuti throwing himself to the ground time and time again, while in Kobe he would use scenes from television shows and movies that Kansai-region Japanese would be very familiar with. This got LOUD laughs from the audience ♥
Nakamura and Tsumura return to find this strange scene involving their boss and newest member, but it's soon forgotten for CAKE! Tsuchiya, Tsumura, and Nakamura all sit down for a treat, but Nagayama can't fathom why they aren't preparing in any way for the kidnappers to call them with the terms for the ransom. Shouldn't they, you know, set up the equipment to trace the call?!
The other three burst into laughter--TRACE the call?! That sort of thing doesn't exist in real life! It's just in cop shows and movies! You can't REALLY trace calls! Nagayama thinks they're pulling his leg at first, then finally gives in and laughs along with them--guess they showed him! To make amends, Tsuchiya offers him some cake as well, but Nagayama is resolute--just because he didn't know you couldn't trace a call doesn't mean he's going to just let it go. They need to be prepared for the kidnappers to call!
At that very moment, then, the phone rings, and all four rush over to it. Nagayama wants them to pick it up immediately--it's no doubt from the kidnappers. But Tsuchiya warns him away and consults with Nakamura and Tsumura first--what do they think? They all listen intently before Tsumura states it's a wrong number, to which Nakamura agrees. Tsuchiya seems satisfied with this, and the three begin to walk away.
Nagayama is floored--aren't they going to pick it up?! What kind of a decision is that to just blow it off as a wrong number and not even entertain the THOUGHT that it might be the kidnappers. Well, Tsuchiya replies, if he wants to question the decision, why doesn't Nagayam pick it up and see who it is?
Nagayama is adamantly against this, though, but after some wrestling on Nakamura's part, he's finally sitting down, and Tsuchiya lifts the phone to his ears. In a quavering voice, Nagayama answers, "Hello?"
...and it's a wrong number. He hangs up the phone, confused--how could they have known it was a wrong number? The task falls to Nakamura to explain it: the difference lies in the sound of the ringing phone. A wrong number sounds like a flat, "riiiiing," while a call from a criminal has a distinct rising tone, "riiiiiING." Nagayama finds this hard to believe, but it seems to be true. He then questions Tsuchiya and the others--so what ARE they planning to do when the kidnappers call? The little girl's parents aren't around to bargain about the ransom, after all.
Nakamura steps forward, clears his throat, and introduces himself as the girl's father, lowering his voice an octave or so. Tsumura then steps forward beside him, pitching his voice into falsetto and claiming he was the girl's mother--a good ruse, but good enough to fool the kidnappers?
They find out a mere few moments later when the phone rings again, this time from the kidnappers!
Nagayama is shoved over the desk, with the other three holding his head against the phone so that he learns its tone. Tentatively, Nakamura answers the phone, "Touyama residence." The audience hears a familiar voice from over a speaker--it's the kidnapper Tsuchiya, demanding 30,000,000 yen as ransom for the girl's safe return. Tsumura takes over the phone acting as the girl's mother, demanding to know if she is safe, and Nagayama crouches to his side, motioning for Tsumura to keep the kidnapper Tsuchiya talking as long as possible so they can trace the call.
Detective Tsuchiya smacks him over the head, whispering, "You can't trace calls!" and Nagayama lets out a bark of laughter at his stupid mistake. But the laugh is heard by the kidnapper on the other end of the line, and he quickly deduces that their conversation is being listened to. Tsumura assures him it's not that--that was just their son.
Kidnapper Tsuchiya doesn't believe him at first, though, and demands they put the child on the phone. The team quickly wrestle a very reluctant Nagayama onto the phone, with Tsuchiya eventually resorting to holding a gun to his head before the man finally offers a hestiant, "Hello...?"
Kidnapper Tsuchiya drills him with questions about his life--how old he is, what his favorite subject is at school, what his homeroom teacher's name is, and what 5 + 6 is ("５足す６は♪いくつか・・・わかるかな？" in a sing-song voice). Eventually satisfied, Tsuchiya asks him to put his papa back on the phone, and with a pitiable "Un!" Nagayama holds his hand over the receiver, holding it out to Nakamura going, "Papa!"
Tsuchiya apparently bought the ruse, for he then gives Nakamura the details on what to do with the money, and out from the side of the stage, voice synching with the voice on the phone, comes the kidnapper Tsuchiya, in his green jumpsuit. Nakamura, as Touyama, demands to speak to his daughter, but the girl refuses to answer. Tsuchiya promises him that the next time they speak he'll let him speak to her, and tell him where to bring the money then.
The scene quickly shifts to focus entirely on Tsuchiya after he hangs up the phone, and Tsumura comes on and congratulates Tsuchiya on asking for three times what they'd originally meant to demand. Nakamura and Nagayama join them shortly after, and the quartet discuss what they're going to do with their share of the 30,000,000 yen. Nagayama wants to pay off his bills and move to Europe, but the others laugh at him for dreaming so small. He pays them little attention, though, and goes to clean up their cups of ramen and check on their captive.
Tsuchiya, in the meantime, regales Nakamura and Tsumura with his dream to build a house entirely of candy, when suddenly Nagayama's frantic voice can be heard, "EVERYONE! THIS IS BAD!!" The others rush towards his voice offstage, and a moment later, all four toddle back on stage, silent and shaken, unable to process what they've just seen--their hostage, the elementary school girl, has just hung herself with her own shoelaces.
They wander around in a daze, trying to fathom why she would want to do something like that. Tsumura posits that perhaps her family was secretly a ninja household, and the children were taught from birth to kill themselves if ever they fell into enemy hands. Nakamura tells him that's ridiculous, and suggests that maybe she actually was deathly afraid of cockroaches, and, seeing one, could not live with the fear.
Nagayama deems this an even stupider suggestion, but Tsuchiya thinks the idea has some merit--in 100,000 people, who knows, there might be someone like that. Nagayama still won't accept that--and Tsuchiya then brings up the fact that this might not actually be a suicide. What then, Nagayama questions heatedly--what else could it be? Tsuchiya posits--a murder!
Who on earth could have gotten past the four of them to kill the girl, though? That's just it, Tsuchiya reminds them all, the four of them are all suspect--including Nagayama. Refusing to take part in this game any more, he questions just how they're going to get the girl to answer her father next time he calls, since they'd agreed on that.
Tsumura steps forward, pitching his voice up into falsetto--he'll be playing the part of the little girl now. Nagayama can take no more, and storms off to cover up the body.
The lights go down for a moment, and when they come back up, everyone is still in their jumpsuits. "Camoflauge," Tsuchiya informs Nagayama, after donning a fake moustache like kidnapper Tsuchiya wears. The detective team is waiting for a call from the kidnappers, and Tsuchiya walks over to the side of the stage, whips out a cellphone, and starts dialing. Who is he calling, Nagayama asks, and it is a different voice from Tsuchiya--a rougher, harsher one--that answers, "Touyama." Tsumura stands to the side, clearing his throat and practicing, "Papa, papa!"
Nagayama's confused, but Nakamura's already answering the phone that has just rung, and Tsuchiya starts talking again...but as the kidnapper.
This is where it really starts to get confusing.
Nagayama is set apart from the group here--he is the only one who sees what we the audience see: Tsuchiya and Tsumura playing the kidnappers, with Nakamura playing a detective still, and a very confused Nagayama. He looks on, horrified at what's going on, but whenever he tries to ask a question or ascertain why his boss is acting like a kidnapper and calling someone standing 5 feet from him, he gets strange looks.
This is where we see Nagayama's mental state start to break down as he confuses the detectives for the kidnappers, and vice versa. We the audience as well start to question--are the men really detectives, or are they kidnappers? Which is real, and which is fantasy?
Completely thrown, Nagayama himself starts to doubt who he is, and any time he states that he is "Nagayama-keiji" or "a kidnapper" the other 'side' gives him a surprised, "You're a WHAT?" thinking him a traitor.
In the end, Nakamura manages to get the information where the switch between the money and the girl is to be made, and passes it along to Tsuchiya, who's going to bring the money to the kidnappers himself, with the others acting as backup. Tsuchiya calls for something to be passed out to the four of them, and straps on the bag of "money" which is actually newspaper flyers made to look like bills. Nagayama takes the proffered tube of liquid when it's passed to him, and asks what it is.
It's a formula that will actually enable them to fly and become, "Sora wo Tobu Keiji-kun" ("Flying Detectives")--this is another hint that Nagayama's grip on reality is wavering, as at the very beginning of the play there is mention of flying detectives and how it factors into the fantastic view of detectives versus what police are really like.
The lights in the theater dim, and we hear Tsuchiya the detective and Tsuchiya the kidnapper conversing. They make the trade safely, but when Tsuchiya the detective asks the other if it's okay not to check the bag's contents, the kidnapper realizes he's been double crossed, and a gunfight ensues.
When the smoke clears, Nakamura and Tsumura, the detectives, come out, holding their guns at the ready, alerting Tsuchiya that they each took out one other kidnapper each. Tsuchiya picks up the bag of money again and asks about Nagayama, but no one knows where he is.
Then, out of the shadows, steps Nagayama, holding the gun he'd been given by Tsuchiya himself at the station, and he's got it trained on the three of them. The trio are confused--what's he doing, doesn't he recognize them? Nagayama doesn't answer, and simply orders them all to drop their guns, which they do. He then tells Tsuchiya to drop the bag, and pulls it back towards himself.
Nakamura and Tsumura at first think he's an imposter--he can't be Nagayama. But he assures them that he is, and that he knows exactly who they are, and what he's doing. Nakamura and Tsumura can't take anymore, and charge him, after being told repeatedly not to move, and Nagayama fires two shots at point-blank range, dropping them like stones.
Tsuchiya explodes--why is he doing this, weren't they all working together?! Nagayama explains that this is the only way he can be sure--he's become unable to tell what's fantasy and what's reality, what's truth and what's fiction, who's real and who's not. The only path left to him is to destroy everything and start over anew. He steps over the bodies of the fallen Nakamura and Tsumura to stand face to face with Tsuchiya, and raises his arm to point the gun at Tsuchiya's forehead.
The lights go out, and a final gunshot sounds.
A few moments later, a spotlight comes on--Nagayama stands alone on stage, in the same clothes he was wearing during the opening monologue: dress pants, white pressed shirt, with a jacket hanging over his arm.
"That day, I stood before a single gate with a refreshed feeling. People are such that any time they come into contact with something new, they'll always feel refreshed. These are times in which no matter what you say, your own words echo softly, and you can't even tell what's real and what's not, but I'm doing just fine.
It'll be winter soon. Because of that, it's become something of a tradition for people to tell you, 'Take care of yourself,' but I believe this is indeed the most important thing, so I say it as well. Take care of yourself. I'm doing just fine."
He turns and pulls on his jacket, and Jesus Jones' The Next Big Thing starts to play (download it here). He walks towards the back of the stage, and as he does so pieces of the walls of the set begin to tear away from their bases and lift upwards, revealing a dozen or so posed mannikins, but among them stand Tsuchiya, Nakamura, and Tsumura. Nagayama scales a flight of steps at the very back and comes to a stop, striking a pose right next to Tsuchiya.
The lights dim, and the play is over.
I saw this play three times--August 18 in Space Zero, Tokyo; September 1 in the Hyogo Performing Arts Center, in Kobe; and September 2, senshuuraku, also in Kobe.
I think the one that stood out to me the most was the August performance in Space Zero that I attended. It was my first time really seeing a play--I'd seen a couple of musicals in past years in America, but it has been at least a good 6 or 7 since then. I was never much of the play-going type.
So this performance was my very first one--my first time seeing a play in Japanese, my first time seeing Tuti and Nagayan live, my first time seeing, really, ANYTHING like this play itself. I never could have predicted it would be like this. I think, seriously, that I will remember this play for the rest of my life. Not because it was my first, though, but because it was really just THAT good of a performance.
Nagayan and Tuti had the most lines--though Nagayan had the most (but only just barely, really). Nagayan was the unofficial star, the character all the plot revolved around, and the character through whose eyes the audience experienced everything, for better or for worse. As his character's mental state started to twist and deteriorate, we the audience also became confused, unsure ourselves as to what was real and what was just in his imagination.
Nagayan played Nagayama perfectly--from his happy-go-lucky demeanor he had at first, both as a detective and as a kidnapper, to the eventual unstable mental state he sank into eventually.
While yes, Nagayama killed everyone in the end, it is in my opinion that his character was not supposed to be "evil." He was just a normal guy who snapped, who became unable to distinguish fantasy from reality while being desperate to be able to do so. In the end he decided that the only way to successfully accomplish this was to eliminate all interference and see what remained. You can see the steady downward spiral when he starts confusing his fellow detectives for the kidnappers, when none but he seem to see the two characters each actor played, and he had probably already snapped irrevertibly when the quartet took to the sky, like Nagayama had often seen happen in television dramas (an example of his antasies worming their way into his reality).
Closing the play the same way it opened left me with chills, especially since that monologue held such a different meaning at the end as it did in the beginning. It was a very vague, unfinished ending, but it fit the atmosphere of the play, where you in the audience were still seeing things through Nagayama's eyes. The idea of Nagayama wandering off and being lost in a sea of humanity almost, whereabouts unknown, still drifting in a sea where it wasn't clear exactly what was real and what was fiction, was a very creepy ending for me, but it was a good kind of creepy, if that makes ANY sense XD
I really can't fully explain to you what it was like to sit in that theater and be touched the way I was by this play, but I hope that this review has helped you get some sense of it. Just take whatever feeling you get from the play now and multiply it a thousand-fold, and that's what I feel *____* I absolutely cannot wait to get this show on DVD. After the show, analineblue and I went to the Sannomiya shrine and prayed for good backstage footage XD Sacrilegous, yes, but worth it 8D
I'd like to close this review with my thoughts on what I had most been looking forward to in this show: Kansai Love Magic. Most everyone reading this will know what I'm talking about--that special something in the Kansai region that seems to remove inhibitions that would have otherwise prevented Tuti and Nagayan to...well, do some of the stuff they've done at Kansai shows! During the More Than Limit Kobe run, there was more fanservice on stage than ever before, there's been constant flirting in BuriMyu shows (and let's not forget the outright DECLARATION OF LOVE that came just this past April--a declaration that, might I remind you, took place on the very same stage Aru Hi was performed on!) There's something in the air or water or SOMETHING that just...makes them a little freer.
This time, it wasn't what they showed us on stage, but rather off--Tuti updating just to show that he'd taken (yet another) picture of Nagayan without him knowing it, or giving us the goofiest picture of the group together, with Tuti part of a Tsumura/Nagayan sandwich--or the best one of all, Nagayan updating to show us the two of them cheek-to-cheek, the closest we have ever, in the history of fandom, seen not to mention that lovely hardon Nagayan's sporting.
Tuti said it before, and I think it finally sank in watching that last show, with everyone standing up to give them the standing ovation they so deserved--this was a really really special show. I could not imagine any other cast doing this--Nagayan owned his role, and Tuti his, and none other than the two of them could have pulled off such characters with such interactions as the two of them, in my opinion. Nakamura and Tsumura were solid backup, yes, but these two were the stars, definitely.
I think Nagayan got his wish in hoping that this would be a play he could remember forever--plotwise, it was unlike anything he's done before (only Switch came close), castwise, it was with one of the people in his life he's closest to, and a cast that was so small not meshing was impossible. He gave his all under stressful conditions and never missed a beat, and I hope that we, the audience, adequately showed him how grateful we were for it.
I will never, ever forget this show, so long as I live, I think. It was so many firsts for me, and I feel now like nothing can ever live up to it. But knowing these two, that's just another challenge!
I hope this review's been at least somewhat helpful, and thanks for reading this far! _o_ Done aaaaand DONE!