Never Sleep
After watching Never Sleep for the second time, I feel compelled to write something about it. This is the short version, however; I'm trying to spare my wrists.
Never Sleep is about Detective Tomu getting mixed up in gang disputes and murder cases in 1920s New York. Much like Yan-san in Black Jack as a doctor who doesn't do much doctoring, Tomu is a detective who stumbles into things more than doing actual sleuthing. In fact, at the end Eriko is the one who saves the day and exposes the plot (which I still don't fully understand). But it all has something to do with Machami, a dancer at a club. Well, not just a club - it's the Cotton Club, so all the performers there are supposed to be black. Thankfully their makeup is all rather tasteful, although I think Ecchan's is a bit too dark. Anyway, Marietta-san was Machami's father, but was murdered over something-or-other with Itsumine Aki. Itsuki-san is also murdered early in, and the Ghosts of Itsuki Chihiro and Misato Maya haunt / help / banter with Tomu through most of the play. Ban Akira plays Jimmy Walker and no few references are made to his early songwriting days. Ban-san even sings. Twice. <3
...Truthfully, rather than trying to explain the half of the plot that I understand, I'd rather just outline the squeeful bits. ;-)
* Twenties jazz music. Lots of it.
* Baby gangsters in pinstriped suits and fedoras.
* Tap dancing. Three numbers with tap dances, one of which is baby gangsters in suits and fedoras tap-dancing threateningly at Machami. She tap-dances back. It is LOVE. <3333333
(The last instance of tap-dancing is in the end revue where everyone dances, and any chance my baby gets to don her beloved tap shoes makes me squee like mad. <33333)
* Senka power. As mentioned above, Ban-san sings. Itsuki-san sings. Itsumine-san sings. Ban-san does not wear a mustache and is extremely suave. Itsumine-san is just the way I like her: evil and sexy. <333
* Tomu getting less costume changes than almost anyone in the show (not including the end revue), but it doesn't matter because she's hot and funny and charming and threw in a rather clever A/L reference at one point. Oh, and she sings well. <3333
* Eriko wearing glasses and having an Angsty Past that comes with an Angsty Solo and being all serious and glowery and making my heart flutter and dear god I hope she's all right. T____T <33333
* Machami wearing quite a parade of entertaining costumes, one of which is a cowgirl outfit with a slit so high she may as well not be wearing that mini-skirt. Also, she sings and sexes it up and it is good. <33333
* Cowboy!Chii-chan, along with six or seven other cowboy-and-cowgirl babies, playing with blank guns.
* Alice. Alice, Alice, Alice. Alice being a thoughtful little sister and bringing her brother lunch. Alice being a naughty little sister and lying to Tomu about that part-time job she's gotten to help pay for university. Alice being an even naughtier little sister in a scene that goes like this:
Alice: "Wait. Do you hear a shower running?"
Tomu: "Well, he [Eriko] said he was going to go change..."
Swanky music plays as a certain Look comes over Alice's face.
Tara-chan: "You've always been a sucker for pretty faces."
Alice: "Well, what about you! What's that camera for, anyway?"
Tara-chan: "This is a scoop, too!"
Alice and Tara-chan not-so-subtly sneak down the stairs TRYING TO GET A PICTURE OF ERIKO IN THE SHOWER until Tomu tells them off. I watched that part at least three times in a row and still can't stop snickering. <33333333333
* Alice (and Tara-chan) coming down the aisles singing and showing a rather nice amount of Leg. *____*
* Did I mention baby gangsters, like Go-kun and Sattsun and Chami, and NotBaby!Tama-tama-the-Gang-Leader, being all evil and gangstery? And singing? Well, Tama-tama and Go-kun and Chiyako (who is not exactly a gang leader but the owner of the Cotton Club) at least get solos, in that number where Ban-san and Itsumine-san sing. <3333
* Alice in the finale dancing with Eriko, and then standing right next to Marietta-kumichou and being in the shot the entire time Marietta-san is giving her speech. <3333333
* Oh, and I should mention that all those dramatic-looking shots of Tomu unconscious with her head in Machami's lap are just because Akkii mistakenly hit her over the head with a frying pan. XDD;;
* Also, the title comes from the motto of Tomu's detective agency (which isn't really "Tomu's Detective Agency", since she's not in charge): "We never sleep." Hence Tomu's rather lacking in time for costume changes and Eriko only getting one costume change because Alice came in and she wanted to look fresh because even though she doesn't have time to sleep she didn't want to be in the same suit for two days in a row. ;-P
* A happy ending! No one dies (well, except Itsuki-san, and Marietta-san who was already dead), and the hero and heroine get together - actually, Tomu and Machami and Eriko all run off to Chicago so it's a tiny bit Not Happy because Alice has to stay in college and can't go with them. >.>;;
* Forgot to mention Machami's hot shoes. <3333
* Arika in three different baby parts, and really making me love her just as she's leaving, and doing a little dance with Tomu in the finale. Please, please Soragumi, keep up this tradition of honoring your retiring sisters. I love it. <33333
* Forgot to mention Alice being pouty, and Alice being shiny, and what a shame that Alice isn't the center of this show. ;-P <3
See, wasn't that more appealing and convincing than an actual plot summary? XD
Never Sleep is about Detective Tomu getting mixed up in gang disputes and murder cases in 1920s New York. Much like Yan-san in Black Jack as a doctor who doesn't do much doctoring, Tomu is a detective who stumbles into things more than doing actual sleuthing. In fact, at the end Eriko is the one who saves the day and exposes the plot (which I still don't fully understand). But it all has something to do with Machami, a dancer at a club. Well, not just a club - it's the Cotton Club, so all the performers there are supposed to be black. Thankfully their makeup is all rather tasteful, although I think Ecchan's is a bit too dark. Anyway, Marietta-san was Machami's father, but was murdered over something-or-other with Itsumine Aki. Itsuki-san is also murdered early in, and the Ghosts of Itsuki Chihiro and Misato Maya haunt / help / banter with Tomu through most of the play. Ban Akira plays Jimmy Walker and no few references are made to his early songwriting days. Ban-san even sings. Twice. <3
...Truthfully, rather than trying to explain the half of the plot that I understand, I'd rather just outline the squeeful bits. ;-)
* Twenties jazz music. Lots of it.
* Baby gangsters in pinstriped suits and fedoras.
* Tap dancing. Three numbers with tap dances, one of which is baby gangsters in suits and fedoras tap-dancing threateningly at Machami. She tap-dances back. It is LOVE. <3333333
(The last instance of tap-dancing is in the end revue where everyone dances, and any chance my baby gets to don her beloved tap shoes makes me squee like mad. <33333)
* Senka power. As mentioned above, Ban-san sings. Itsuki-san sings. Itsumine-san sings. Ban-san does not wear a mustache and is extremely suave. Itsumine-san is just the way I like her: evil and sexy. <333
* Tomu getting less costume changes than almost anyone in the show (not including the end revue), but it doesn't matter because she's hot and funny and charming and threw in a rather clever A/L reference at one point. Oh, and she sings well. <3333
* Eriko wearing glasses and having an Angsty Past that comes with an Angsty Solo and being all serious and glowery and making my heart flutter and dear god I hope she's all right. T____T <33333
* Machami wearing quite a parade of entertaining costumes, one of which is a cowgirl outfit with a slit so high she may as well not be wearing that mini-skirt. Also, she sings and sexes it up and it is good. <33333
* Cowboy!Chii-chan, along with six or seven other cowboy-and-cowgirl babies, playing with blank guns.
* Alice. Alice, Alice, Alice. Alice being a thoughtful little sister and bringing her brother lunch. Alice being a naughty little sister and lying to Tomu about that part-time job she's gotten to help pay for university. Alice being an even naughtier little sister in a scene that goes like this:
Alice: "Wait. Do you hear a shower running?"
Tomu: "Well, he [Eriko] said he was going to go change..."
Swanky music plays as a certain Look comes over Alice's face.
Tara-chan: "You've always been a sucker for pretty faces."
Alice: "Well, what about you! What's that camera for, anyway?"
Tara-chan: "This is a scoop, too!"
Alice and Tara-chan not-so-subtly sneak down the stairs TRYING TO GET A PICTURE OF ERIKO IN THE SHOWER until Tomu tells them off. I watched that part at least three times in a row and still can't stop snickering. <33333333333
* Alice (and Tara-chan) coming down the aisles singing and showing a rather nice amount of Leg. *____*
* Did I mention baby gangsters, like Go-kun and Sattsun and Chami, and NotBaby!Tama-tama-the-Gang-Leader, being all evil and gangstery? And singing? Well, Tama-tama and Go-kun and Chiyako (who is not exactly a gang leader but the owner of the Cotton Club) at least get solos, in that number where Ban-san and Itsumine-san sing. <3333
* Alice in the finale dancing with Eriko, and then standing right next to Marietta-kumichou and being in the shot the entire time Marietta-san is giving her speech. <3333333
* Oh, and I should mention that all those dramatic-looking shots of Tomu unconscious with her head in Machami's lap are just because Akkii mistakenly hit her over the head with a frying pan. XDD;;
* Also, the title comes from the motto of Tomu's detective agency (which isn't really "Tomu's Detective Agency", since she's not in charge): "We never sleep." Hence Tomu's rather lacking in time for costume changes and Eriko only getting one costume change because Alice came in and she wanted to look fresh because even though she doesn't have time to sleep she didn't want to be in the same suit for two days in a row. ;-P
* A happy ending! No one dies (well, except Itsuki-san, and Marietta-san who was already dead), and the hero and heroine get together - actually, Tomu and Machami and Eriko all run off to Chicago so it's a tiny bit Not Happy because Alice has to stay in college and can't go with them. >.>;;
* Forgot to mention Machami's hot shoes. <3333
* Arika in three different baby parts, and really making me love her just as she's leaving, and doing a little dance with Tomu in the finale. Please, please Soragumi, keep up this tradition of honoring your retiring sisters. I love it. <33333
* Forgot to mention Alice being pouty, and Alice being shiny, and what a shame that Alice isn't the center of this show. ;-P <3
See, wasn't that more appealing and convincing than an actual plot summary? XD