[Review] NemuriXGACKT Project : Nemuri Kyoshiro Burai-hikae (DVD #1 & #2)
Hello everyone ! :)
Well, as you may have already seen, I recieved the play of Nemuri Kyoshiro from HMV store, the item who is currently sold-out on both CDjapan & HMV. Because some people may have wanted to know what I think of it, I though about writting a review of the both DVD. Instead of writting a review of something that everyone reviewed, I want to be original and to tell you all if I did enjoyed it or not. I invite you then to read it if you wanna know ! :)
My review is based on my own understanding, I haven't read any reviews from anyone who have attempted to the play itself. I apologize for for the mistakes if I've misunderstood something. :(
May contains spoilers, so if you are waiting to recieve that item and that you don't wanna know anything of it, I suggest you to not read that following review, thank you !
------------------------
Disk 1 :
Well, first, the show start with an introduction, showing a young nemuri, apparently praying at his mother's grave. Then, we discover that a guy, Kazuma Isurugi, want to revenge his dead father, killed by Nemuri Kyoshiro. Jinrai Mikumo, who fight against Nemuri at the end, seems like he hide something, that he carry a burden. He's convinging him to kill and to revenge his father, that Nemuri apparently killed. The thing is that Nemuri doesn't remember to have killed that man. Obviously, the guy in blue don't trust him. His sister, who saw previously how gentle Nemuri is, tried to convince him that Nemuri may not have killed his father. He simply don't listen to her, and keep continue into the path he choosen. Kazuma Isurugi will soon discover, while watching to a new death member of his family, that the scars left to the body are apparently the same than his father, and realized that it wasn't Nemuri who killed his father, but Jinrai Mikumo himself.
Well, about the play itself, the actors played really well their characters. It reminded me a bit of Fuurinkazan in the way they are talking, but I assume it's common to all the stories related to samurai maybe. Some characters, like Jinrai were sometimes bothering me a little, by the way his laugh wasn't natural at all, or about the fact he's screaming as hell when I don't think it was necessary. The play itself, is visually stunning I must say, the big screen in the background gives you really nice special effects, like when Nemuri, aka GACKT, is on stage. It's definetly stunning, it reminded me a kind of Visualive in some ways !
About the actors, I must say that they were really into their characters, like if it was real. Special mention to Taya, who have been touring with GACKT in Europe, for the year 2010. The way he play is totally genious, and looks so natural that you gotta love the character since the first second he appear on your screen.
But, while about the costumes, I have nothing to say at all, they are really perfect, I was just disapointed by the wigs the actors were wearing, especially for some of them. I don't know if it's made in purpose or not, but you clearly see that they aren't natural and that the synthetic on their forehead appears quite well. It's of course not bothering for the whole play, but a review also says about the negative things, isn't it ? ^^ I really think that the actors play really well, the stage sets were also really nice, about that, I really don't have anything to say ! <3
I still haven't talked about GACKT, who play Nemuri Kyoshiro, right ?
From what I understood, Nemuri is a really mysterious character, who don't always speak when he appears on stage. His yukata change two times during the play, the second yukata is slighty different than the begining of the play, but I think it's made on purpose and not a mistake of them. When he plays, he looks arrogant and never listen to the others, but he seems to have a big heart deep inside. His voice reminds me of Seiji, in Hokuto no Ken : Fist of the North Star anime, in short, definetly like a bad guy ! xD
He's almost always making classy poses when he act, and always want to be the coolest guy. It's probably part of the character as well or his own interpretation of Nemuri, but I'm sure of one thing, it's that it fits the man PERFECTLY. Even if he's the main character, he doesn't appear at the very begining of the play (excepted for the introduction), and not in every scenes. But when he do, he's always brilliant !
But there's also fight scenes, really intense fight scenes, considering it's a play on stage and not a movie !
They definetly looks interesting, and are well made. Just like I said in the begining of the review, the big screen at the background of the stage, is part of those fight scenes really much. You can't see it really well sometimes, but when GACKT swing his sword to cut and kill an enemy, that big screen are making a sort of special effect, who make that swing so beautifull. It's definetly something you have to see by yourself to understand what I mean, but the first screencaps I did posted illustrare my words quite well.
At the end of the play, there's so much people on stage that you wonder how they worked to make everything perfect. Of course, it's not a movie, so when Nemuri cut someone, the sword don't really hit the character, there's no special effects, but it's part of the magic I guess. When GACKT move, jump and swing his sword, he definetly looks like a real samurai, that's quite stunning. In some moments, he looks like an anime character, because of the fact he's fighting so much people, and seems to be okay with it ! ^^
Well, to end the review of this first DVD, I would recommend you to read summaries of the play of those who saw the play with their own eyes, to understand the story better than I probably did. Keep in mind it's 2 hours long, so for those who are expecting to see GACKT only on the DVD, they should walk away and think about the fact it's not a stage play who have only one character, but many more.
I would recommand to anyone who have the chance to view the play to do it, because it's really good to see such things at least one day in your life. GACKT plays really well (even though I see a bit of Takegami sometimes xD) and the other actors are globally really well too.
Disk 2 :
Actually, the review of the second disk will be shorter, because the contains is shorter, and it's not a story or a whole stage play to describe after all.
Anyway, the 2nd DVD start almost the same way than the making-of DVD of the NemuriXGACKT Photobook box, I mean that he's arriving in his white car, while part of his staff are waiting for him.It's confirming my thoughts of a man who is really nice with people around him. Yes, he's sort of hugging everyone who was waiting here in order to say "hi" to them. Then start the training session in a room called "Training room". GACKT use his crotch splitter, and while he do that, it's a random fact, he's wearing the YFC socks that was sold during the 2010 Europe Tour.
You are also seeing rehearsal of the final fight scene who are featuring GACKT against a lot of ninja. I quite love those backstage stuff, I'm probably sure almost everyone do anyway ! :P
I wish the 2nd DVD would feature english subtitles, so we would understand better the stuff in it. Even the first DVD with the whole stage play doesn't contains any subs, it's making the thing more complicated for us all, who aren't japanese.
Between stuff that I described like rehearsal, GACKT is also talking about many things related to the stage play, his feelings and many other things. It's sort of an interview I must say. Too bad I don't understand anything of it, so I can't even do a summary of this. Instead, I'm leaving you with those screencaps that I hope you will like it ! :)
Other than that, the contains is pretty sure that, behind the scenes, making-of, but there's also some parts wich the actors are talking about GACKT and how they feel to work with him, how he is, and all these things. The behind the scenes are quite good, because you either see the actual scenes of the play itself from a backstage angle, or that you see how the actors were working while it wasn't their turns to be on stage.
At the end, when the curtains goes down, you see GACKT greeting everyone who worked with him, all the actors and the actresses. There's also a part where you can see him talking about his feelings while playing on stage and about the experience while he was still in his yukata. He also mentionned Ogata Ken, that he consider him as his father.
Well, that's all for the making-of who is around 32 minutes long. It's a really interesting thing to watch, and I recommend to those who buyed it to watch this AFTER you watched the play itself. This way, you're gonna understand what's happening even better !
But that's not all, there's also some other contains in this 2nd DVD. There's scenes from other plays of Nemuri, different days. And I must say that some parts with GACKT are really damn funny, even though you almost don't understand japanese. In a scene, when Nemuri and the woman was about to kiss each others, Nemuri's master arrive, and start to sing Kimi ni Aitakute. He even says to Nemuri that it's GACKT who sing that, while Nemuri answer in an angry way "I know !" xDDD
Those footage are diamonds, and I was hoping to see them on the DVD, my wish is granted, I'm so happy ! <3
That's all for the review. Here's now the positive points and the negative ones, like I always tend to do when I review something.
Positive points :
- The actors were playing well on stage.
- The background giant screen is giving to the stage play a sort of visualive experience.
- GACKT
- The fight scenes, who looks quite awesome !
- Each characters are really different and seems to have their own past.
- The musics, composed by Sugizo himself.
- A small photobook with beautifull pictures included with the item.
Negative points :
- Those hairs, who seems to be glued on actors head, are visible on their foreheads.
- No english subtitles AT ALL, you need a review of the stage play from someone who understand japanese to get the nuances.
- The DVD menus are all in japanese as well. And you have to make your choice from right to left, like mangas.
- That item is quite sold-out almost eveywhere, and if you find it, it's more than 10000 yens.
- The camera angles and the quality of some parts featuring other days of the stage play aren't in nice quality.
Well, I hope you have enjoyed that review !
If you have any more questions about it, feel free to leave your comment, and I'm gonna answer you as soon as I can ! ^__^
Well, as you may have already seen, I recieved the play of Nemuri Kyoshiro from HMV store, the item who is currently sold-out on both CDjapan & HMV. Because some people may have wanted to know what I think of it, I though about writting a review of the both DVD. Instead of writting a review of something that everyone reviewed, I want to be original and to tell you all if I did enjoyed it or not. I invite you then to read it if you wanna know ! :)
My review is based on my own understanding, I haven't read any reviews from anyone who have attempted to the play itself. I apologize for for the mistakes if I've misunderstood something. :(
May contains spoilers, so if you are waiting to recieve that item and that you don't wanna know anything of it, I suggest you to not read that following review, thank you !
------------------------
Disk 1 :
Well, first, the show start with an introduction, showing a young nemuri, apparently praying at his mother's grave. Then, we discover that a guy, Kazuma Isurugi, want to revenge his dead father, killed by Nemuri Kyoshiro. Jinrai Mikumo, who fight against Nemuri at the end, seems like he hide something, that he carry a burden. He's convinging him to kill and to revenge his father, that Nemuri apparently killed. The thing is that Nemuri doesn't remember to have killed that man. Obviously, the guy in blue don't trust him. His sister, who saw previously how gentle Nemuri is, tried to convince him that Nemuri may not have killed his father. He simply don't listen to her, and keep continue into the path he choosen. Kazuma Isurugi will soon discover, while watching to a new death member of his family, that the scars left to the body are apparently the same than his father, and realized that it wasn't Nemuri who killed his father, but Jinrai Mikumo himself.
Well, about the play itself, the actors played really well their characters. It reminded me a bit of Fuurinkazan in the way they are talking, but I assume it's common to all the stories related to samurai maybe. Some characters, like Jinrai were sometimes bothering me a little, by the way his laugh wasn't natural at all, or about the fact he's screaming as hell when I don't think it was necessary. The play itself, is visually stunning I must say, the big screen in the background gives you really nice special effects, like when Nemuri, aka GACKT, is on stage. It's definetly stunning, it reminded me a kind of Visualive in some ways !
About the actors, I must say that they were really into their characters, like if it was real. Special mention to Taya, who have been touring with GACKT in Europe, for the year 2010. The way he play is totally genious, and looks so natural that you gotta love the character since the first second he appear on your screen.
But, while about the costumes, I have nothing to say at all, they are really perfect, I was just disapointed by the wigs the actors were wearing, especially for some of them. I don't know if it's made in purpose or not, but you clearly see that they aren't natural and that the synthetic on their forehead appears quite well. It's of course not bothering for the whole play, but a review also says about the negative things, isn't it ? ^^ I really think that the actors play really well, the stage sets were also really nice, about that, I really don't have anything to say ! <3
I still haven't talked about GACKT, who play Nemuri Kyoshiro, right ?
From what I understood, Nemuri is a really mysterious character, who don't always speak when he appears on stage. His yukata change two times during the play, the second yukata is slighty different than the begining of the play, but I think it's made on purpose and not a mistake of them. When he plays, he looks arrogant and never listen to the others, but he seems to have a big heart deep inside. His voice reminds me of Seiji, in Hokuto no Ken : Fist of the North Star anime, in short, definetly like a bad guy ! xD
He's almost always making classy poses when he act, and always want to be the coolest guy. It's probably part of the character as well or his own interpretation of Nemuri, but I'm sure of one thing, it's that it fits the man PERFECTLY. Even if he's the main character, he doesn't appear at the very begining of the play (excepted for the introduction), and not in every scenes. But when he do, he's always brilliant !
But there's also fight scenes, really intense fight scenes, considering it's a play on stage and not a movie !
They definetly looks interesting, and are well made. Just like I said in the begining of the review, the big screen at the background of the stage, is part of those fight scenes really much. You can't see it really well sometimes, but when GACKT swing his sword to cut and kill an enemy, that big screen are making a sort of special effect, who make that swing so beautifull. It's definetly something you have to see by yourself to understand what I mean, but the first screencaps I did posted illustrare my words quite well.
At the end of the play, there's so much people on stage that you wonder how they worked to make everything perfect. Of course, it's not a movie, so when Nemuri cut someone, the sword don't really hit the character, there's no special effects, but it's part of the magic I guess. When GACKT move, jump and swing his sword, he definetly looks like a real samurai, that's quite stunning. In some moments, he looks like an anime character, because of the fact he's fighting so much people, and seems to be okay with it ! ^^
Well, to end the review of this first DVD, I would recommend you to read summaries of the play of those who saw the play with their own eyes, to understand the story better than I probably did. Keep in mind it's 2 hours long, so for those who are expecting to see GACKT only on the DVD, they should walk away and think about the fact it's not a stage play who have only one character, but many more.
I would recommand to anyone who have the chance to view the play to do it, because it's really good to see such things at least one day in your life. GACKT plays really well (even though I see a bit of Takegami sometimes xD) and the other actors are globally really well too.
Disk 2 :
Actually, the review of the second disk will be shorter, because the contains is shorter, and it's not a story or a whole stage play to describe after all.
Anyway, the 2nd DVD start almost the same way than the making-of DVD of the NemuriXGACKT Photobook box, I mean that he's arriving in his white car, while part of his staff are waiting for him.It's confirming my thoughts of a man who is really nice with people around him. Yes, he's sort of hugging everyone who was waiting here in order to say "hi" to them. Then start the training session in a room called "Training room". GACKT use his crotch splitter, and while he do that, it's a random fact, he's wearing the YFC socks that was sold during the 2010 Europe Tour.
You are also seeing rehearsal of the final fight scene who are featuring GACKT against a lot of ninja. I quite love those backstage stuff, I'm probably sure almost everyone do anyway ! :P
I wish the 2nd DVD would feature english subtitles, so we would understand better the stuff in it. Even the first DVD with the whole stage play doesn't contains any subs, it's making the thing more complicated for us all, who aren't japanese.
Between stuff that I described like rehearsal, GACKT is also talking about many things related to the stage play, his feelings and many other things. It's sort of an interview I must say. Too bad I don't understand anything of it, so I can't even do a summary of this. Instead, I'm leaving you with those screencaps that I hope you will like it ! :)
Other than that, the contains is pretty sure that, behind the scenes, making-of, but there's also some parts wich the actors are talking about GACKT and how they feel to work with him, how he is, and all these things. The behind the scenes are quite good, because you either see the actual scenes of the play itself from a backstage angle, or that you see how the actors were working while it wasn't their turns to be on stage.
At the end, when the curtains goes down, you see GACKT greeting everyone who worked with him, all the actors and the actresses. There's also a part where you can see him talking about his feelings while playing on stage and about the experience while he was still in his yukata. He also mentionned Ogata Ken, that he consider him as his father.
Well, that's all for the making-of who is around 32 minutes long. It's a really interesting thing to watch, and I recommend to those who buyed it to watch this AFTER you watched the play itself. This way, you're gonna understand what's happening even better !
But that's not all, there's also some other contains in this 2nd DVD. There's scenes from other plays of Nemuri, different days. And I must say that some parts with GACKT are really damn funny, even though you almost don't understand japanese. In a scene, when Nemuri and the woman was about to kiss each others, Nemuri's master arrive, and start to sing Kimi ni Aitakute. He even says to Nemuri that it's GACKT who sing that, while Nemuri answer in an angry way "I know !" xDDD
Those footage are diamonds, and I was hoping to see them on the DVD, my wish is granted, I'm so happy ! <3
That's all for the review. Here's now the positive points and the negative ones, like I always tend to do when I review something.
Positive points :
- The actors were playing well on stage.
- The background giant screen is giving to the stage play a sort of visualive experience.
- GACKT
- The fight scenes, who looks quite awesome !
- Each characters are really different and seems to have their own past.
- The musics, composed by Sugizo himself.
- A small photobook with beautifull pictures included with the item.
Negative points :
- Those hairs, who seems to be glued on actors head, are visible on their foreheads.
- No english subtitles AT ALL, you need a review of the stage play from someone who understand japanese to get the nuances.
- The DVD menus are all in japanese as well. And you have to make your choice from right to left, like mangas.
- That item is quite sold-out almost eveywhere, and if you find it, it's more than 10000 yens.
- The camera angles and the quality of some parts featuring other days of the stage play aren't in nice quality.
Well, I hope you have enjoyed that review !
If you have any more questions about it, feel free to leave your comment, and I'm gonna answer you as soon as I can ! ^__^