銀河英雄伝説：撃墜王
So, I went to see this play probably way too many times, but it just got continuously better and I loved it. I'm not going to go over the whole story because it's long and also I didn't understand whole bunches of it. Consider this more a general review/fangirling, not a serious report.
First, general impressions.
The story, as I mentioned, was hard to understand. Part of that is my Japanese comprehension ability. I'm just not familiar with military terminology, so I didn't understand a lot of the vocabulary, plus the story is set in a made-up universe, so there were also tons of made-up words and names, as well. I've never seen or read any of the original stuff, so I went in knowing nothing at all. Most of my Japanese friends who also went to see the show for Nika and/or Yokoo were also confused about the story. There are a ton of references to past events and actions are ongoing from previous installments (this was part three, and part four will be in the fall). Nika's part of the story was fortunately more clear than some of the other threads. Yokoo's... not so much.
The acting was rather good, but then, I'm used to Johnnys shows, so I'm probably not that hard to impress. I ended up really liking most of the characters, or really DISliking them, which means that they were all strong enough to leave an impression, and considering there were so many different people in the show, having that feeling instead of being overwhelmed by all the new individuals was a good sign. I could go into all of the different people, but no one here is likely to care about anyone but the Johnnys so I'll stick to Nika and Yokoo.
Yokoo, first. His character, Kircheis, was unfortunately not all that interesting in the sense that he doesn't really do anything. His biggest motion in the entire show was a raised hand and clenched fist. Otherwise he just stood stiffly and talked, as suits his role. I don't know the best word for him exactly, but something like military tactician/advisor. He's the second-in-command to the dude trying to take over the galaxy, and basically all of the scenes are just the two of them talking. Yokoo did well in that he says his lines without fucking them up, which, if you know Yokoo, is somewhat of a miracle. He clearly practiced A TON. Unfortunately he also said his lines super fast and not very clearly, so he was hard to understand. He got progressively slower throughout the run and by the end was pretty much sounding like a normal person and was much easier to follow. The last performance was really good! :D I really wish he would have stood up straight though. He has terrible posture for a military man. ;p
Nika... well. He was very Nika, basically. His character, Coldwell, is the cute kouhai to the main starfighter pilot dude(s). He's thoughtful and sweet, but not all that bright, and a bit fiery-tempered. He says stuff about being thankful for being alive, and trying to do things 100% and whatnot. And he's really protective of and cares a lot about the main girl, Naomi (but not romantically - she saved his life once), which is sweet. There are a few parts in the show where people are trying to solve crossword puzzle clues and Nika clearly portrays having NO CLUE. He's so slow, it's adorable. *laughs* There's also a bar fight scene and Nika is the one to throw the first punch. Hothead. XD; Other parts in the show, Nika either hops like a bunny, or does this backwards leading thing (from the Sazae-san ending, I'm told?). He has a short solo part in a song. In general, he was very clear with his lines, easy to understand, and for the most part, didn't overact. :) Also there's a part where he cries, and some of the shows he really did have tears on his face. I think he managed it in more than half the shows I saw, so that's also impressive. Overall, his character was seriously sweet and cute and I think he definitely won over some new fans with this. :D
Oh yes, and there's this rally cheer that the pilots do before a mission that is totally fun!
The music in the show was very effective. It's not really a musical, but there are some songs, and some of them GET STUCK IN YOUR HEAD OMG. The Spartanian pilot song (Nika's group) is sung multiple times during the show and it's... well. Hard to forget. The main dude also has a set of lungs on him. Very impressive.
The staging, lighting, and scenery were somewhat minimal, but still very effective. I was wondering how they'd portray space battle scenes on stage, and they worked it out really well!
I won't go into more detail really, because there will be a DVD. Some of the adlib parts were really funny, though. In the final show, some of the cast got kind of carried away, it seemed. They were totally fucking around and it was amusing. Right before one of Yokoo's parts, they were being totally ridiculous, and you could see he was struggling to stay serious when he walked out, but he totally couldn't at all and cracked a huge smile, and nearly laughed his way through his lines. It was super cute, and at the end when they were talking, he was like OMG THAT WAS TOTALLY UNFAIR! Ah, Yokoo~ ♥
Nika was also a total brat during bows. Sometimes when the main dude was speaking, Nika would subtly shift sideways to bump into the guy standing next to him, and just keep doing it, and the audience would crack up laughing. The main guy totally thought he was adorable, though. :D
Nika wasn't the youngest in the cast at all, but he still had the same role that he does in Kisumai, with everyone treating him like the cute, loveable, bratty one. The cast all seemed to get along really well. :)
Once, when the one kid in the show (14) went to introduce himself, Nika was like, "Wah, cute~" softly, but his mic totally picked it up and everyone laughed. XD;
They also liked to embarrass Nika a lot. First, on his birthday, of course they had the audience sing happy birthday to him (and everyone said Nika-chan, fairly unanimously), and then they tried to make him talk. Nika kind of flailed a bit and was all shy and had no idea what to say. Not that the main dude was very good at the whole speech thing either, but Nika still sucks so much at free talk. XD;
For the final show he'd clearly kind of planned out what to say, which was fine, but then the main guy was like, okay, so, Nika, please close the show! And shoved Nika to the front, where Nika spun around and flailed a lot and had NO IDEA what to do. He got all embarrassed and panicky and the dude pulled him in and explained that he should do or say or sing something, just be himself and all. At one point Yokoo yelled something and they told him to go do it with Nika, and he walked over and was just like, yeah, good luck, and walked back grinning, and Nika looked all betrayed. LOL. Finally the whole cast moved to the back of the stage with just Nika in front and he did two back-handsprings while shouting about how awesome the show was. ♥
There are probably a million details I'm forgetting, but anyways. Please look forward to the DVD! :D :D
First, general impressions.
The story, as I mentioned, was hard to understand. Part of that is my Japanese comprehension ability. I'm just not familiar with military terminology, so I didn't understand a lot of the vocabulary, plus the story is set in a made-up universe, so there were also tons of made-up words and names, as well. I've never seen or read any of the original stuff, so I went in knowing nothing at all. Most of my Japanese friends who also went to see the show for Nika and/or Yokoo were also confused about the story. There are a ton of references to past events and actions are ongoing from previous installments (this was part three, and part four will be in the fall). Nika's part of the story was fortunately more clear than some of the other threads. Yokoo's... not so much.
The acting was rather good, but then, I'm used to Johnnys shows, so I'm probably not that hard to impress. I ended up really liking most of the characters, or really DISliking them, which means that they were all strong enough to leave an impression, and considering there were so many different people in the show, having that feeling instead of being overwhelmed by all the new individuals was a good sign. I could go into all of the different people, but no one here is likely to care about anyone but the Johnnys so I'll stick to Nika and Yokoo.
Yokoo, first. His character, Kircheis, was unfortunately not all that interesting in the sense that he doesn't really do anything. His biggest motion in the entire show was a raised hand and clenched fist. Otherwise he just stood stiffly and talked, as suits his role. I don't know the best word for him exactly, but something like military tactician/advisor. He's the second-in-command to the dude trying to take over the galaxy, and basically all of the scenes are just the two of them talking. Yokoo did well in that he says his lines without fucking them up, which, if you know Yokoo, is somewhat of a miracle. He clearly practiced A TON. Unfortunately he also said his lines super fast and not very clearly, so he was hard to understand. He got progressively slower throughout the run and by the end was pretty much sounding like a normal person and was much easier to follow. The last performance was really good! :D I really wish he would have stood up straight though. He has terrible posture for a military man. ;p
Nika... well. He was very Nika, basically. His character, Coldwell, is the cute kouhai to the main starfighter pilot dude(s). He's thoughtful and sweet, but not all that bright, and a bit fiery-tempered. He says stuff about being thankful for being alive, and trying to do things 100% and whatnot. And he's really protective of and cares a lot about the main girl, Naomi (but not romantically - she saved his life once), which is sweet. There are a few parts in the show where people are trying to solve crossword puzzle clues and Nika clearly portrays having NO CLUE. He's so slow, it's adorable. *laughs* There's also a bar fight scene and Nika is the one to throw the first punch. Hothead. XD; Other parts in the show, Nika either hops like a bunny, or does this backwards leading thing (from the Sazae-san ending, I'm told?). He has a short solo part in a song. In general, he was very clear with his lines, easy to understand, and for the most part, didn't overact. :) Also there's a part where he cries, and some of the shows he really did have tears on his face. I think he managed it in more than half the shows I saw, so that's also impressive. Overall, his character was seriously sweet and cute and I think he definitely won over some new fans with this. :D
Oh yes, and there's this rally cheer that the pilots do before a mission that is totally fun!
The music in the show was very effective. It's not really a musical, but there are some songs, and some of them GET STUCK IN YOUR HEAD OMG. The Spartanian pilot song (Nika's group) is sung multiple times during the show and it's... well. Hard to forget. The main dude also has a set of lungs on him. Very impressive.
The staging, lighting, and scenery were somewhat minimal, but still very effective. I was wondering how they'd portray space battle scenes on stage, and they worked it out really well!
I won't go into more detail really, because there will be a DVD. Some of the adlib parts were really funny, though. In the final show, some of the cast got kind of carried away, it seemed. They were totally fucking around and it was amusing. Right before one of Yokoo's parts, they were being totally ridiculous, and you could see he was struggling to stay serious when he walked out, but he totally couldn't at all and cracked a huge smile, and nearly laughed his way through his lines. It was super cute, and at the end when they were talking, he was like OMG THAT WAS TOTALLY UNFAIR! Ah, Yokoo~ ♥
Nika was also a total brat during bows. Sometimes when the main dude was speaking, Nika would subtly shift sideways to bump into the guy standing next to him, and just keep doing it, and the audience would crack up laughing. The main guy totally thought he was adorable, though. :D
Nika wasn't the youngest in the cast at all, but he still had the same role that he does in Kisumai, with everyone treating him like the cute, loveable, bratty one. The cast all seemed to get along really well. :)
Once, when the one kid in the show (14) went to introduce himself, Nika was like, "Wah, cute~" softly, but his mic totally picked it up and everyone laughed. XD;
They also liked to embarrass Nika a lot. First, on his birthday, of course they had the audience sing happy birthday to him (and everyone said Nika-chan, fairly unanimously), and then they tried to make him talk. Nika kind of flailed a bit and was all shy and had no idea what to say. Not that the main dude was very good at the whole speech thing either, but Nika still sucks so much at free talk. XD;
For the final show he'd clearly kind of planned out what to say, which was fine, but then the main guy was like, okay, so, Nika, please close the show! And shoved Nika to the front, where Nika spun around and flailed a lot and had NO IDEA what to do. He got all embarrassed and panicky and the dude pulled him in and explained that he should do or say or sing something, just be himself and all. At one point Yokoo yelled something and they told him to go do it with Nika, and he walked over and was just like, yeah, good luck, and walked back grinning, and Nika looked all betrayed. LOL. Finally the whole cast moved to the back of the stage with just Nika in front and he did two back-handsprings while shouting about how awesome the show was. ♥
There are probably a million details I'm forgetting, but anyways. Please look forward to the DVD! :D :D