Dance Romanesque: (Even more) Impressions
This one turned out more like a scene to scene review, though it's still very rambly and biased, and in no way a review like you might be used to from other people in this fandom. It is also EXTREMELY SPOILERIFIC. Just saying.
Also, one or two things not directly related to the show have been added.
Does have anybody any idea what these two mini-balconies are for? Are they used at specific events or something? They look perfect for new Top Combi announcements or taidan ceremonies. o.o
Before I begin with impressions about the show, let me relate a personal experience.
OMG. OMG. *FLAILS*
So. Maybe you already heard that during this revue, the girls come down into the aisles to dance during the prolog. You may have also read how I splurged and bought myself an S-Seat for this day. My seat was pretty far in the front, though not incredibly far or anything, and it was a seat directly next to the aisle.
Last time I went to see Tsukigumi, back in March, I was sitting pretty near the aisle, too. And when they came down during the chuzume, I behaved a lot like you can often see on the DVDs. I was one of those embarrassed ones who don't look at any of the girls directly. Afterwards, I disapproved a lot of my own behavior and swore if I should get a chance like that again, I wouldn't blow it, and make sure I look directly at the person right in front of me.
Now, when the girls came down this time, I ended up directly between Rion-chan behind me and Ruu-chan in front of me (at least I'm 99% sure it was them. If somebody should read this and know better, PLEASE CORRECT ME. I want to be in awe of the right person, OK? X"D). And I did exactly what I had told myself to do, and stared straight at Ruu-chan's face, grinning like the lucky fool I was at that moment. And Ruu-chan's gaze swept down the line of seats, then she did a double take (which may have been because she noticed me staring, or because, well, a gaijin in a yukata sticks out like a sore thumb... uhum... let's not talk about why I sat there in a yukata, I know better now, won't happen again), locked on to me and put her otokoyaku charm on FULL FORCE. OH. MY. GOD. I got the stretched out hand, I got intense eye contact, I got a flirty smile. It was... DAMN. My pulse shot through the roof, I know I did a very embarrassing girly little giggle, and I'm sure I must have lit up like a christmas tree.
That S-Seat? WORTH EVERY LAST YEN. <3<3<3<3
Ok, now to the show.
I'm doing this one with the program open next to me, to make sure I don't forget any of the parts I liked.
The prolog started out with Masaki and a group of dancing musumeyaku, and then changed to Kiriyan and a group of dancing musumeyaku. The musumeyaku wore pretty, relatively simple, flowy shoulder free dresses in hot pink with a yellow finish. I can't remember what Masaki wore, Kiriyan wore glittery red, in any case. She came up on the square podest in the middle of the stage, and the background was all mirrors, which was incredibly pretty I thought. It reminded me a bit of the theater in Paris in Scarlet Pimpernel. The music was slow and really pretty during that part, too. Then everybody else comes out, the otokoyaku also in hot pink, and the music becomes more up-beat.
The next one was fun! Masaki and Sakihi Miyu (who I didn't know before, but Wiki tells me she's a tiny little baby and debuted just last year) kinda did a Rocky Horror and took shelter in an old house, which was haunted by SUPER HOT MORIE DRESSED UP LIKE A VAMPIRE WITH CAPE AND EVERYTHING and her ghost thingy underlings, who danced to super fun, creepy music. And SUPER HOT MORIE hypnotized Miyu-chan and made Masaki dance, while she sang all evilly and SUPER AWESOMELY AND HOTLY, but Masaki broke free and sang back JUST AS AWESOMELY AND HOTLY, and then Masaki won and it's apparently all because of Miyu-chan's granny's amulet that Masaki took from her in the beginning to fix the clasp, but we all know it was in fact because of the amazing magical power of her singing. And then they had a cute tiny duet and everything is well.
After that, Kiriyan came out as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I kid you not. First she had a solo about inner beauty and how she wanted to find someone who loved her for her (oh look, a completely new concept!... er...), and then there was a group of dancing gypsies with Marimo as Esmeralda (they re-used some of those magenta-yellow gypsy dresses of the background gypsies from the Gypsy Baron), and there was a group of... er... soldiers? Guards? ... Anyway, they wore armor, and Magee led them. And then Magee and her buddies bullied poor little hunchbacked Kiriyan, and the gypsies came to her rescue, and it all went down in an epic battle that ended with both Magee and Kiriyan dead, and Marimo... er... first got intense denial, and then a nervous breakdown... Yeah. But it's all good, because then Kiriyan comes back WITH GIANT WHITE WINGS, which caused me having to subdue a giggle fit.
All of this was nearly a solid block of dance, without much singing, which was aweome for one because Marimo and Toshi and a few others got the opportunity to be badass gypsy dancers, but it was also FAIL because Magee DIDN'T SING AT ALL as far as I remember. SHAME. SHAME. DX Though she died in a very Japanese jidai-geki ppoi over dramatized kind of way, and she had very hot hair, and she was all over one of her guard buddies half of the time, though I can't remember who that was, so she still got fun things to do.
After that they had to clean up the stage so they dropped the curtain and Mirio and a handfull of... er... you know, the usual crowd. The young and promising ones? X"D Toshi (she had disappeared from the stage a little earlier for the costume change), Shimon, Saya, An, Tamakichi... them. They came out and did a standard boyband number in black-silver suits. As I write this, I look into the program and the program ACTUALLY SAYS "K-Pop Idol Group" (though I thought it sounded more like Johnny's than K-Pop) and the role names for the girls are THEIR NICKNAMES, how awesome is that? XDDD The song is apparently called "Tsuki-iro Danshi" btw. .... Now what exactly is moon-color? XD Um yeah. As I said, pretty off the mill J-Pop fare. Kind of lame after all the big story telling before it, but at least all the girls were hot, and the dancing was pretty solid, well done pop.
After that came a big chunk of latino-like stuff, with standard colorful latino dresses for the onnayaku and colorful shirts under black suits for the otokoyaku. In there, as far as I remember, apart from several group numbers, was another Masaki solo, a top combi duet dance, Mirio singing some classic in terrible Engrish that I hardly understood a word of that led right into the Rockette Dance (which had Chapi SMACK in the middle for the first half of it, though the high kick line has another one in the middle who adorably counted down the high kicks under her breath), which then led right into the chuzume. Erm... not much to say about that. All pretty standard latino fare.
THEN came the part where the producers had very obviously thought something along the lines of "Well, that unicorn thingy was pretty well liked, wasn't it? Let's do another one like that. What other white animals are there?"
So we get another white animal number. This time, it's seagulls. XD
The dancing is very ballet-y and beautiful throughout, and they have no props this time except dark grey silk streamers hanging down and dividing the stage, and in the middle we get a storm and it gets very angsty, and then they break into GOSPEL, and the background is this HUGE net of what looks like glass cables being lit up to look like a halo, and it is all very, very epic. The music was beautiful and varied, too.
I get the feeling this one will also be a success. I wonder what kind of white animal we will get next. :P
That part went on for quite a while, (I think it was a good while longer than the unicorn thing last time) so after that we got ready for the finale. Masaki got another solo, with some pretty high, gentle notes in there (one of which was a little... off, but apart from that one note she sang beautifully as always), and then the musumeyaku, led by Marimo, got a dance for themselves, which was very cool and elegant, and I actually liked it better than the Bolero right after. The Bolero was very standard, and kind of forgettable. Then, duet dance! <3 Superb as always, with outfits in dark silver much like the boyband number earlier, only Kiriyans outfit was SO incredibly sparkly that I was a little worried about my eyes. Then, Parade.
All in all, I liked the pseudo Rocky Horror and the seagull parts best. ^^
As you've noticed, Marimo was present for the entire show, and she danced just like always and seemed not at all injured in any way. I have no idea what that announcement a while back was going on about.
Also, one or two things not directly related to the show have been added.
Does have anybody any idea what these two mini-balconies are for? Are they used at specific events or something? They look perfect for new Top Combi announcements or taidan ceremonies. o.o
Before I begin with impressions about the show, let me relate a personal experience.
OMG. OMG. *FLAILS*
So. Maybe you already heard that during this revue, the girls come down into the aisles to dance during the prolog. You may have also read how I splurged and bought myself an S-Seat for this day. My seat was pretty far in the front, though not incredibly far or anything, and it was a seat directly next to the aisle.
Last time I went to see Tsukigumi, back in March, I was sitting pretty near the aisle, too. And when they came down during the chuzume, I behaved a lot like you can often see on the DVDs. I was one of those embarrassed ones who don't look at any of the girls directly. Afterwards, I disapproved a lot of my own behavior and swore if I should get a chance like that again, I wouldn't blow it, and make sure I look directly at the person right in front of me.
Now, when the girls came down this time, I ended up directly between Rion-chan behind me and Ruu-chan in front of me (at least I'm 99% sure it was them. If somebody should read this and know better, PLEASE CORRECT ME. I want to be in awe of the right person, OK? X"D). And I did exactly what I had told myself to do, and stared straight at Ruu-chan's face, grinning like the lucky fool I was at that moment. And Ruu-chan's gaze swept down the line of seats, then she did a double take (which may have been because she noticed me staring, or because, well, a gaijin in a yukata sticks out like a sore thumb... uhum... let's not talk about why I sat there in a yukata, I know better now, won't happen again), locked on to me and put her otokoyaku charm on FULL FORCE. OH. MY. GOD. I got the stretched out hand, I got intense eye contact, I got a flirty smile. It was... DAMN. My pulse shot through the roof, I know I did a very embarrassing girly little giggle, and I'm sure I must have lit up like a christmas tree.
That S-Seat? WORTH EVERY LAST YEN. <3<3<3<3
Ok, now to the show.
I'm doing this one with the program open next to me, to make sure I don't forget any of the parts I liked.
The prolog started out with Masaki and a group of dancing musumeyaku, and then changed to Kiriyan and a group of dancing musumeyaku. The musumeyaku wore pretty, relatively simple, flowy shoulder free dresses in hot pink with a yellow finish. I can't remember what Masaki wore, Kiriyan wore glittery red, in any case. She came up on the square podest in the middle of the stage, and the background was all mirrors, which was incredibly pretty I thought. It reminded me a bit of the theater in Paris in Scarlet Pimpernel. The music was slow and really pretty during that part, too. Then everybody else comes out, the otokoyaku also in hot pink, and the music becomes more up-beat.
The next one was fun! Masaki and Sakihi Miyu (who I didn't know before, but Wiki tells me she's a tiny little baby and debuted just last year) kinda did a Rocky Horror and took shelter in an old house, which was haunted by SUPER HOT MORIE DRESSED UP LIKE A VAMPIRE WITH CAPE AND EVERYTHING and her ghost thingy underlings, who danced to super fun, creepy music. And SUPER HOT MORIE hypnotized Miyu-chan and made Masaki dance, while she sang all evilly and SUPER AWESOMELY AND HOTLY, but Masaki broke free and sang back JUST AS AWESOMELY AND HOTLY, and then Masaki won and it's apparently all because of Miyu-chan's granny's amulet that Masaki took from her in the beginning to fix the clasp, but we all know it was in fact because of the amazing magical power of her singing. And then they had a cute tiny duet and everything is well.
After that, Kiriyan came out as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I kid you not. First she had a solo about inner beauty and how she wanted to find someone who loved her for her (oh look, a completely new concept!... er...), and then there was a group of dancing gypsies with Marimo as Esmeralda (they re-used some of those magenta-yellow gypsy dresses of the background gypsies from the Gypsy Baron), and there was a group of... er... soldiers? Guards? ... Anyway, they wore armor, and Magee led them. And then Magee and her buddies bullied poor little hunchbacked Kiriyan, and the gypsies came to her rescue, and it all went down in an epic battle that ended with both Magee and Kiriyan dead, and Marimo... er... first got intense denial, and then a nervous breakdown... Yeah. But it's all good, because then Kiriyan comes back WITH GIANT WHITE WINGS, which caused me having to subdue a giggle fit.
All of this was nearly a solid block of dance, without much singing, which was aweome for one because Marimo and Toshi and a few others got the opportunity to be badass gypsy dancers, but it was also FAIL because Magee DIDN'T SING AT ALL as far as I remember. SHAME. SHAME. DX Though she died in a very Japanese jidai-geki ppoi over dramatized kind of way, and she had very hot hair, and she was all over one of her guard buddies half of the time, though I can't remember who that was, so she still got fun things to do.
After that they had to clean up the stage so they dropped the curtain and Mirio and a handfull of... er... you know, the usual crowd. The young and promising ones? X"D Toshi (she had disappeared from the stage a little earlier for the costume change), Shimon, Saya, An, Tamakichi... them. They came out and did a standard boyband number in black-silver suits. As I write this, I look into the program and the program ACTUALLY SAYS "K-Pop Idol Group" (though I thought it sounded more like Johnny's than K-Pop) and the role names for the girls are THEIR NICKNAMES, how awesome is that? XDDD The song is apparently called "Tsuki-iro Danshi" btw. .... Now what exactly is moon-color? XD Um yeah. As I said, pretty off the mill J-Pop fare. Kind of lame after all the big story telling before it, but at least all the girls were hot, and the dancing was pretty solid, well done pop.
After that came a big chunk of latino-like stuff, with standard colorful latino dresses for the onnayaku and colorful shirts under black suits for the otokoyaku. In there, as far as I remember, apart from several group numbers, was another Masaki solo, a top combi duet dance, Mirio singing some classic in terrible Engrish that I hardly understood a word of that led right into the Rockette Dance (which had Chapi SMACK in the middle for the first half of it, though the high kick line has another one in the middle who adorably counted down the high kicks under her breath), which then led right into the chuzume. Erm... not much to say about that. All pretty standard latino fare.
THEN came the part where the producers had very obviously thought something along the lines of "Well, that unicorn thingy was pretty well liked, wasn't it? Let's do another one like that. What other white animals are there?"
So we get another white animal number. This time, it's seagulls. XD
The dancing is very ballet-y and beautiful throughout, and they have no props this time except dark grey silk streamers hanging down and dividing the stage, and in the middle we get a storm and it gets very angsty, and then they break into GOSPEL, and the background is this HUGE net of what looks like glass cables being lit up to look like a halo, and it is all very, very epic. The music was beautiful and varied, too.
I get the feeling this one will also be a success. I wonder what kind of white animal we will get next. :P
That part went on for quite a while, (I think it was a good while longer than the unicorn thing last time) so after that we got ready for the finale. Masaki got another solo, with some pretty high, gentle notes in there (one of which was a little... off, but apart from that one note she sang beautifully as always), and then the musumeyaku, led by Marimo, got a dance for themselves, which was very cool and elegant, and I actually liked it better than the Bolero right after. The Bolero was very standard, and kind of forgettable. Then, duet dance! <3 Superb as always, with outfits in dark silver much like the boyband number earlier, only Kiriyans outfit was SO incredibly sparkly that I was a little worried about my eyes. Then, Parade.
All in all, I liked the pseudo Rocky Horror and the seagull parts best. ^^
As you've noticed, Marimo was present for the entire show, and she danced just like always and seemed not at all injured in any way. I have no idea what that announcement a while back was going on about.