Red Hot Sea review -- with pictures borrowed from Takarazuka Precious
I swore to myself I would post about this revue BEFORE reviewing Pimpernel, because I know it would never get done otherwise. I have stubbornly been typing it up for almost three hours. Here it is.
Red Hot Sea starts out with OceanSprite!Miwacchi (character name "Shell"), who is very cute, playing around a little fishing boat which is very cute itself. (It literally is a fully-constructed tiny boat that moves across the stage. <3) Sumika the curly-haired boy (Pedro) apparently lives there with Hacchi-san, Mio-san and Marin-san (Uno, Dos and Tres. God, the character names in revues... ^^;;;).
I don't really remember the transition, but the boat goes away and all of the sudden the stage EXPLODES with color and energy. I didn't care that the costumes were garish; the upbeat feeling was such a refreshing change from the snooze story of Arabia that it didn't matter. (Also, there are some clever things with people doing short dances grouped by whatever neon color they're wearing.) Yuuhi, Sou and Mattsu have the center first, and eventually Yuu and Ayane-chan come out and dance too. Everyone is wearing at least three bright colors, but the top combi are in black and white (second photo).
After the obligatory singing of the theme song on the ginkyou, during most of which I was looking at Ayane-chan (she had this big smile on her face, which was also a nice change from Arabia), next is the "Seagull" number. (Whoever translated it on the English site as "Sea of Gulls", is that a stupid pun or what?) Actually first there's a little interlude with Hacchi-san, Mio-san and Marin-san; I don't really remember but there was joking / pratfalling involved, I think? Anyway. Seagulls. Yuuhi, Mattsu and Mitsuru sex it up on the ginkyou in their white suits, singing something appropriately hot. Then "Shell" Miwacchi leads them to the main stage to find Seagull!Ichika, who is soon followed by 15 or so other musumeyaku seagulls. ("Seagull" costmues = feathery short wigs and white fluffy dresses.) I tried to watch Ichika some, but I kept getting distracted by the hot otokoyaku. ^^;; I've liked Mitsuru for a while now, but it's hard to say whether I love Yuuhi or Mattsu more. (Yuuhi has the seniority, but um, Mattsu just keeps being so damn sexy?) ANYWAY AGAIN. Halfway through the Seagull number it becomes a Treacherous Waves number (or something)! Mattsu and Mitsuru disappear, but Yuuhi stays to dance against the waves led by Sou (also including Meo, Rise, Mame, Kasuga, Tommy, Shun, Makkun, etc). The dance probably ends with Yuuhi angsting over the loss of her Seagull... for some reason I can't remember. ^^;;
Next it's Sea Captain Yuu! I like Sea Captain Yuu. <3 (Only she's not actually a sea captain, I guess, she's the keeper of a lighthouse. Well, whatever. X3 Fifth picture.) I think the idea of this number is "Yuu is all alone in her lighthouse, so Shell gives her an entertaining dream". This dream involves the bar / dance floor of a ship, Ayane-chan in a pink dress, and MATTSU SCATTING WITH CHIAKI-SAN. My head was close to splitting apart as I tried to watch Ayane-chan being all pretty and Mattsu being criminally hot at the same time. The dance features some funny steps where they simulate the boat rocking and everyone "stumbles" to the left, then later the boat rocks back and they "stumble" over to the right. (Does that make sense? I think I'm bad at explaining. Here, have a picture.) In any case, Ayane-chan made such cute confused faces; it was fun just to watch her even when she's standing still and only the otokoyaku are dancing. ;) <3 Meanwhile Mattsu is, as I said, being criminally hot and scatting, and actually it's not just her and Chiaki-san; later they are joined by Amamiya Nao and Mebuki Yukina, whom I kept futilely peering at, wondering if they were musumeyaku I actually knew. The number ends with everyone disappearing and Yuu groping around in the dark, wondering if this was all brought on by ghosts. She backs into Shell!Miwacchi, also looking a little apprehensive about ghosts, and they naturally freak out when they run into each other. X3
So that was the "Phantom Ship". Next, oh joy! Sou, Meo and Makkun in big, ruffly, polka-dotted Cuban sleeves of doom! I, er, mostly watched Makkun? Okay, I won't lie, I was watching Makkun and her big adorable grin the whole time. :3 Whatever they were singing was of little consequence to me.
Then, ochuuzume time! All the lights go out, and you hear this count of "uno, dos, tres..." up to "ocho", and then BAM LIGHTS UP and there's Yuuhi in gold sequins. XDD;; Honestly, most of what I remember is Ayane-chan Legs and Yuuhi's Copa outfit. And the charmantes whom I was pretty sure were otokoyaku -- and guess what, I was right. So we also get Legs from Shun and Kasuga and other babies I don't know. Oh, and all the prominent otokoyaku from most junior to most senior sing little snippets of famous songs, some of which I recognized. This is also one of perhaps two times in the entire revue that Miwacchi wears something other than the Ocean Sprite costume. And yeah, I'm sure I was watching Mattsu at intervals too, and sneaking glances at Ichika and Remi-chan Legs... And there was a purple Yuu x Ayane pair dance (seventh picture), and it... er, was a pair dance? I can't really comment on their combi-ness because I was always focusing on Ayane-chan and the lovely parts of her neck / shoulders / back exposed by that dress and not on the two of them as a pair. >.>;;
Rockette! Sou danced and sang a bit before the rockette. It was nice, stylish and simple and I didn't know any of the babies so I have nothing else to say about it. ^^;;
Next, my two favorite numbers of the revue. :D First, Yuuhi x Nodoka, Mattsu x Sumika & Mitsuru x Himeka dance. Pretty music. Pretty dancing. Otokoyaku ankles. Need I say more? It was simplistic and beautiful. And I spent most of it staring at Yuuhi's calves. Anyway, I'm glad they gave Nodoka a lot to do in her last show. <3 And Himeka is just unfairly adorable. X3 And and, more Mattsu and Mitsuru love~
The next number was really the best number. :) Ayane-chan comes out in her pretty island girl dress and picks up a seashell on the ginkyou and reflects on the new life growing inside of her. That's right, Yuu and Ayane are having a baby! And it's sweet. BUT OH NOES, Sou is a thug looking for trouble and hits on Ayane-chan AND THAT MEANS YUU AND SOU MUST DO BATTLE. Even better, have a whole Islanders vs. Thugs battle! (The program calls them "Pescadors" and "Bribons" or something. Whatever, I like my names better. ;P) Islanders (whose ranks include Tomoyo, Mitsuru, Mame-kun, Shun and Makkun) fight with wooden poles and go barefoot <3 while Thugs (Mattsu, Meo, Rise, Kasuga, Daimon, among others) dance in suits WITH ROPES. I THINK I AM INCAPABLE OF DESCRIBING HOW HOT MATTSU IS DANCING WITH A ROPE. LIKE SERIOUSLY. Meanwhile Ayane-chan stands around being shielded by Chiaki-san and Ichika and looking very frightened for Yuu. Quite rightfully so, because in the end Sou stabs Yuu with a knife. Ayane-chan rushes forward, cradles Yuu's dying body in her arms and cries out in agony, and that one scene was more emotional and moving to me than the entirety of Arabia. I almost cried. I feel a bit sniffly even thinking about it now.
Yuu's last words are, "if it's a boy, Pedro is a good name..."
They sink down the lift and I could already guess what was coming next; a pseudo-afterlife dance during which Yuu is "reborn" or somesuch. This is led by Yuuhi until Yuu comes up out of the lift again. So Yuu is dancing around in heaven or wherever it is that they wear those things on their heads, and in the middle our friends from the beginning (remember "Uno", "Dos" and "Tres"?) skip through with... Ayane-chan! That's right, Pedro!Sumika is the son Ayane-chan bore, whom Yuu reaches out to longingly in her spiritual state. Cheesy goodness. Anyway, Ayane-chan can't stay onstage long because she has to go and change for the pair dance, so all you hear is her recorded voice-over saying "welcome home" as Sumika climbs into the tiny boat. <3
...Wow! I am not getting teary about that at two in the morning, am I?! I must be even more of a sap than I've dared to admit before. >.>;;;
Anyway, for some reason they then resurrect the eye-blindy fish-scale costumes from the beginning to have one more Yuuhi-led (did I mention there's a lot of Yuuhi in this revue? <3) upbeat number before the pair dance. I just want to know, why didn't they make this a Yuuhi-led STAIRCASE DANCE with lots of elegant black tailcoats?! I guess it wouldn't have fit in with the thematic style of the revue... But I was disappointed that there was no otokoyaku staircase dance. We did, of course, get the Yuu x Ayane-chan pair dance in red. I guess it was passionate? At least I recall Ayane's heated glances? But again, I really wasn't paying attention to what Yuu was doing. >.>;; Damn this tunnel vision of mine.
The parade surprised me. Not the costumes, which I already knew would be those denim monstrosities, but the "etoile". It was actually Sou backed up by Miwacchi, Mattsu, Mitsuru and Meo (what is it with all of these up-and-coming otokoyaku and their "M" names!), and not really a proper "etoile" at all. Oooookay. Then of course came Yuuhi, Ayane-chan and Yuu. I feel like there was something else about the parade that was different than usual... I think they might have danced as the curtain went down instead of just waving. <3
I forgot to mention that a couple of minutes before the revue started, the woman next to me turned, said "Excuse me..." and proceeded to ask me a few things about my fangirling habits in totally decent English. Mostly what I recall is her assuming that I must be fluent in Japanese as well if I can appreciate Takarazuka (I only wish, but it's kind of her to think so), and this question: "Who do you like in Hanagumi? Oozora Yuuhi?" Either she was making a broad assumption... or she had noticed where I pointed my binoculars during "Arabia". ^^;;;
Oh, and an end disclaimer: I think I may have unintentionally misled some people on previous occasions, so let me set the record straight. I never have a perfect memory of who was in each dance or the exact order of the scenes or anything. I cheat and look at the program -- or in this case (since I didn't buy the program), Cherry Blossoms and Takarazuka Precious. Otherwise I wouldn't have known who those other two musumeyaku singers were in the Phantom Ship scene, or who most of the otokoyaku in the battle scene were, etc. But yeah.
I couldn't possibly write a demachi report at this hour, although I did go that night. For Lucia's sake I'll say that her angel was wearing a lot of stylish black -- black hat, black cardigan, black leggings under a black dress with white polka dots -- and a white purse.
Oh but wait, I have to tell this story too. Mae-raku was also Yuu-chan Club souken, and I had actually been sitting near them. At de, they were practicing a little chant to do for her. When Yuu came out, not only did they chant... they did the wave. XD XD Yuu-chan had her hand over her mouth in surprise / amusement. Then the club did *another* chant, and Yuu-chan applauded their performance afterward and said it was perfect. Plus she was wearing the club wear (a pink sweatshirt). The whole thing was very cute.
I wish I had enough energy in me to write about how I do like Yuu-chan but I'm not sure about her leading Hanagumi.
I also wish I could get "Hitokakera no Yuuki" ('A Piece of Courage', the new TSP song) out of my head.
This review was written out earlier today and yesterday on three sheets of notebook paper (front and back). I've already got down almost that much about TSP... and am barely past "Falcon in the Dive". ^^;;;
IN ANY CASE, I AM NOW GOING TO BED only to wake up in five hours to go to iri. Ahah. >.>;;;
Red Hot Sea starts out with OceanSprite!Miwacchi (character name "Shell"), who is very cute, playing around a little fishing boat which is very cute itself. (It literally is a fully-constructed tiny boat that moves across the stage. <3) Sumika the curly-haired boy (Pedro) apparently lives there with Hacchi-san, Mio-san and Marin-san (Uno, Dos and Tres. God, the character names in revues... ^^;;;).
I don't really remember the transition, but the boat goes away and all of the sudden the stage EXPLODES with color and energy. I didn't care that the costumes were garish; the upbeat feeling was such a refreshing change from the snooze story of Arabia that it didn't matter. (Also, there are some clever things with people doing short dances grouped by whatever neon color they're wearing.) Yuuhi, Sou and Mattsu have the center first, and eventually Yuu and Ayane-chan come out and dance too. Everyone is wearing at least three bright colors, but the top combi are in black and white (second photo).
After the obligatory singing of the theme song on the ginkyou, during most of which I was looking at Ayane-chan (she had this big smile on her face, which was also a nice change from Arabia), next is the "Seagull" number. (Whoever translated it on the English site as "Sea of Gulls", is that a stupid pun or what?) Actually first there's a little interlude with Hacchi-san, Mio-san and Marin-san; I don't really remember but there was joking / pratfalling involved, I think? Anyway. Seagulls. Yuuhi, Mattsu and Mitsuru sex it up on the ginkyou in their white suits, singing something appropriately hot. Then "Shell" Miwacchi leads them to the main stage to find Seagull!Ichika, who is soon followed by 15 or so other musumeyaku seagulls. ("Seagull" costmues = feathery short wigs and white fluffy dresses.) I tried to watch Ichika some, but I kept getting distracted by the hot otokoyaku. ^^;; I've liked Mitsuru for a while now, but it's hard to say whether I love Yuuhi or Mattsu more. (Yuuhi has the seniority, but um, Mattsu just keeps being so damn sexy?) ANYWAY AGAIN. Halfway through the Seagull number it becomes a Treacherous Waves number (or something)! Mattsu and Mitsuru disappear, but Yuuhi stays to dance against the waves led by Sou (also including Meo, Rise, Mame, Kasuga, Tommy, Shun, Makkun, etc). The dance probably ends with Yuuhi angsting over the loss of her Seagull... for some reason I can't remember. ^^;;
Next it's Sea Captain Yuu! I like Sea Captain Yuu. <3 (Only she's not actually a sea captain, I guess, she's the keeper of a lighthouse. Well, whatever. X3 Fifth picture.) I think the idea of this number is "Yuu is all alone in her lighthouse, so Shell gives her an entertaining dream". This dream involves the bar / dance floor of a ship, Ayane-chan in a pink dress, and MATTSU SCATTING WITH CHIAKI-SAN. My head was close to splitting apart as I tried to watch Ayane-chan being all pretty and Mattsu being criminally hot at the same time. The dance features some funny steps where they simulate the boat rocking and everyone "stumbles" to the left, then later the boat rocks back and they "stumble" over to the right. (Does that make sense? I think I'm bad at explaining. Here, have a picture.) In any case, Ayane-chan made such cute confused faces; it was fun just to watch her even when she's standing still and only the otokoyaku are dancing. ;) <3 Meanwhile Mattsu is, as I said, being criminally hot and scatting, and actually it's not just her and Chiaki-san; later they are joined by Amamiya Nao and Mebuki Yukina, whom I kept futilely peering at, wondering if they were musumeyaku I actually knew. The number ends with everyone disappearing and Yuu groping around in the dark, wondering if this was all brought on by ghosts. She backs into Shell!Miwacchi, also looking a little apprehensive about ghosts, and they naturally freak out when they run into each other. X3
So that was the "Phantom Ship". Next, oh joy! Sou, Meo and Makkun in big, ruffly, polka-dotted Cuban sleeves of doom! I, er, mostly watched Makkun? Okay, I won't lie, I was watching Makkun and her big adorable grin the whole time. :3 Whatever they were singing was of little consequence to me.
Then, ochuuzume time! All the lights go out, and you hear this count of "uno, dos, tres..." up to "ocho", and then BAM LIGHTS UP and there's Yuuhi in gold sequins. XDD;; Honestly, most of what I remember is Ayane-chan Legs and Yuuhi's Copa outfit. And the charmantes whom I was pretty sure were otokoyaku -- and guess what, I was right. So we also get Legs from Shun and Kasuga and other babies I don't know. Oh, and all the prominent otokoyaku from most junior to most senior sing little snippets of famous songs, some of which I recognized. This is also one of perhaps two times in the entire revue that Miwacchi wears something other than the Ocean Sprite costume. And yeah, I'm sure I was watching Mattsu at intervals too, and sneaking glances at Ichika and Remi-chan Legs... And there was a purple Yuu x Ayane pair dance (seventh picture), and it... er, was a pair dance? I can't really comment on their combi-ness because I was always focusing on Ayane-chan and the lovely parts of her neck / shoulders / back exposed by that dress and not on the two of them as a pair. >.>;;
Rockette! Sou danced and sang a bit before the rockette. It was nice, stylish and simple and I didn't know any of the babies so I have nothing else to say about it. ^^;;
Next, my two favorite numbers of the revue. :D First, Yuuhi x Nodoka, Mattsu x Sumika & Mitsuru x Himeka dance. Pretty music. Pretty dancing. Otokoyaku ankles. Need I say more? It was simplistic and beautiful. And I spent most of it staring at Yuuhi's calves. Anyway, I'm glad they gave Nodoka a lot to do in her last show. <3 And Himeka is just unfairly adorable. X3 And and, more Mattsu and Mitsuru love~
The next number was really the best number. :) Ayane-chan comes out in her pretty island girl dress and picks up a seashell on the ginkyou and reflects on the new life growing inside of her. That's right, Yuu and Ayane are having a baby! And it's sweet. BUT OH NOES, Sou is a thug looking for trouble and hits on Ayane-chan AND THAT MEANS YUU AND SOU MUST DO BATTLE. Even better, have a whole Islanders vs. Thugs battle! (The program calls them "Pescadors" and "Bribons" or something. Whatever, I like my names better. ;P) Islanders (whose ranks include Tomoyo, Mitsuru, Mame-kun, Shun and Makkun) fight with wooden poles and go barefoot <3 while Thugs (Mattsu, Meo, Rise, Kasuga, Daimon, among others) dance in suits WITH ROPES. I THINK I AM INCAPABLE OF DESCRIBING HOW HOT MATTSU IS DANCING WITH A ROPE. LIKE SERIOUSLY. Meanwhile Ayane-chan stands around being shielded by Chiaki-san and Ichika and looking very frightened for Yuu. Quite rightfully so, because in the end Sou stabs Yuu with a knife. Ayane-chan rushes forward, cradles Yuu's dying body in her arms and cries out in agony, and that one scene was more emotional and moving to me than the entirety of Arabia. I almost cried. I feel a bit sniffly even thinking about it now.
Yuu's last words are, "if it's a boy, Pedro is a good name..."
They sink down the lift and I could already guess what was coming next; a pseudo-afterlife dance during which Yuu is "reborn" or somesuch. This is led by Yuuhi until Yuu comes up out of the lift again. So Yuu is dancing around in heaven or wherever it is that they wear those things on their heads, and in the middle our friends from the beginning (remember "Uno", "Dos" and "Tres"?) skip through with... Ayane-chan! That's right, Pedro!Sumika is the son Ayane-chan bore, whom Yuu reaches out to longingly in her spiritual state. Cheesy goodness. Anyway, Ayane-chan can't stay onstage long because she has to go and change for the pair dance, so all you hear is her recorded voice-over saying "welcome home" as Sumika climbs into the tiny boat. <3
...Wow! I am not getting teary about that at two in the morning, am I?! I must be even more of a sap than I've dared to admit before. >.>;;;
Anyway, for some reason they then resurrect the eye-blindy fish-scale costumes from the beginning to have one more Yuuhi-led (did I mention there's a lot of Yuuhi in this revue? <3) upbeat number before the pair dance. I just want to know, why didn't they make this a Yuuhi-led STAIRCASE DANCE with lots of elegant black tailcoats?! I guess it wouldn't have fit in with the thematic style of the revue... But I was disappointed that there was no otokoyaku staircase dance. We did, of course, get the Yuu x Ayane-chan pair dance in red. I guess it was passionate? At least I recall Ayane's heated glances? But again, I really wasn't paying attention to what Yuu was doing. >.>;; Damn this tunnel vision of mine.
The parade surprised me. Not the costumes, which I already knew would be those denim monstrosities, but the "etoile". It was actually Sou backed up by Miwacchi, Mattsu, Mitsuru and Meo (what is it with all of these up-and-coming otokoyaku and their "M" names!), and not really a proper "etoile" at all. Oooookay. Then of course came Yuuhi, Ayane-chan and Yuu. I feel like there was something else about the parade that was different than usual... I think they might have danced as the curtain went down instead of just waving. <3
I forgot to mention that a couple of minutes before the revue started, the woman next to me turned, said "Excuse me..." and proceeded to ask me a few things about my fangirling habits in totally decent English. Mostly what I recall is her assuming that I must be fluent in Japanese as well if I can appreciate Takarazuka (I only wish, but it's kind of her to think so), and this question: "Who do you like in Hanagumi? Oozora Yuuhi?" Either she was making a broad assumption... or she had noticed where I pointed my binoculars during "Arabia". ^^;;;
Oh, and an end disclaimer: I think I may have unintentionally misled some people on previous occasions, so let me set the record straight. I never have a perfect memory of who was in each dance or the exact order of the scenes or anything. I cheat and look at the program -- or in this case (since I didn't buy the program), Cherry Blossoms and Takarazuka Precious. Otherwise I wouldn't have known who those other two musumeyaku singers were in the Phantom Ship scene, or who most of the otokoyaku in the battle scene were, etc. But yeah.
I couldn't possibly write a demachi report at this hour, although I did go that night. For Lucia's sake I'll say that her angel was wearing a lot of stylish black -- black hat, black cardigan, black leggings under a black dress with white polka dots -- and a white purse.
Oh but wait, I have to tell this story too. Mae-raku was also Yuu-chan Club souken, and I had actually been sitting near them. At de, they were practicing a little chant to do for her. When Yuu came out, not only did they chant... they did the wave. XD XD Yuu-chan had her hand over her mouth in surprise / amusement. Then the club did *another* chant, and Yuu-chan applauded their performance afterward and said it was perfect. Plus she was wearing the club wear (a pink sweatshirt). The whole thing was very cute.
I wish I had enough energy in me to write about how I do like Yuu-chan but I'm not sure about her leading Hanagumi.
I also wish I could get "Hitokakera no Yuuki" ('A Piece of Courage', the new TSP song) out of my head.
This review was written out earlier today and yesterday on three sheets of notebook paper (front and back). I've already got down almost that much about TSP... and am barely past "Falcon in the Dive". ^^;;;
IN ANY CASE, I AM NOW GOING TO BED only to wake up in five hours to go to iri. Ahah. >.>;;;