My poor boy T______T He looks so skinny and, well... Babaryo-esque, doesn't he?? This can only be a result of spending a week with him in the middle of nowhere D: He... he... he's starting to pick up his fashion sensibilities! T________T No, Mitsu, you're supposed to be soft and inviting, not angle-y and breakable-looking! D:
On the plus side, Shin is looking cute as always~
Oh! I watched more of Final 2 last night |DDDD Why does it always take me forever to accomplish anything~ Anyway, I watched through... when everyone was coming out to be recognized and Toshi did a backflip while he was coming out and it was TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS so I just kinda stopped there |D 35 minutes left OMG HOW ARE THERE STILL 35 MINUTES LEFT SERIOUSLY. Endless Tenimyu T_____T
Anyway, you know how the same story taken through different mediums and interpreted differently can give you a completely different experience?
That's what happened here. 7(?) part Yukimura-matches aside, the end of the manga felt rushed. The OVA was even worse, I think. But in the myu, they HAD the time to expand on things like the rivals helping Ryoma regain his memories, and what happened after Nationals with graduation, and things like that. Not only that, I felt the way they dealt with things like Yukimura's weird sense-stealing abilities was amazing, considering the limitations they had working with live actors and limited special effects. One of the weaknesses of the original manga was the increasing silliness and implausibility of the moves they used, which were hard to take seriously. One of the strengths of Tenimyu when dealing with this later material is that the very premise itself - it's a MUSICAL about TENNIS, after all - allows a greater deal of silliness to be tolerable, which is why something like the Shitenhouji arc, which was very, very silly, worked well in myu form.
More than that, however, when it's combined with the afore-mentioned limitations, the burden of portraying the effects of something like Yukimura's tennis falls almost entirely to the actors. There are times when this can backfire, but the casting was excellent this time around particularly with regards to Yukimura and Ryoma. This is as it should be, of course, considering the two of them (especially Ryoma) were the focus in a way that nobody had been previously. (You could argue for the original myu, but that didn't require nearly the same physical energy or level of acting, considering Final 2 is FREAKING LONG the amount/difficulty of dancing and singing, and the whole amnesia!Ryoma vs. snarky brat!Ryoma vs. being pwned by Yukimura!Ryoma) Reasonable expectations aside, I was absolutely floored by Ryuuki's strong performance and it would not be an exaggeration to say that this myu made him my favorite of all the Ryoma actors.
(He's still TOTALLY UNCUTE with his hair cut and wearing cat ears, though. But I digress.)
And then, Massun. AAAAAAAAAHHHH. AAAAAAAHHHH. He combines the super creepy Child of God with the desperation of the Yukimura who's had to struggle just to be able to walk again and now sees victory slipping out of his grasp~ Perfect, just perfect~ He is so wonderful :o
Okay, guys, I am not going to lie, I cried when they were swinging the flag around and later when they had the graduation thing. That was exactly the kind of thing I wanted to see at the end of the original series, but didn't really get. The scene between Taka and Fuji totally broke my heart ;~; But just little things like that really brought it to a sense of completion that I hadn't really felt before.
Anyway, I talked about this way more than I intended to, but what I meant to say was that if you didn't like how PoT ended the first couple times around, give it one more try. It was overall a more satisfying experience than the manga or anime, the myubois in it are great (and pretty, there is lots of Taito~), and the songs just get better the more you listen to them.
Now that I've talked it up, I should probably finish it, huh~? Then it's on to DL7!
I can't finish it now though, I have to do laundry T______T The laundry room was locked last night (at like 1 am, granted) so I couldn't do it and now I have like zero motivation to try again T______T