aikokanzaki (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aikokanzaki) wrote2016-12-15 07:19 pm
aikokanzaki) wrote2016-12-15 07:19 pm
2016.12.13 Prince of Stride Episode One Review
I watched this yesterday! And I was very apprehensive going into it because my friends Tina and Josie had watched it the weekend before and told me that they do so many stunts and that my anxiety is going to go haywire. They were in fact 100% right. I was in anxiety hell the entire time BUT I also super enjoyed myself and (unfortunately for the actor's health) I wanted to see them do more of the sport. But we're already jumped ahead so let's go back to the very beginning which is the story.
Official Website
Official Twitter
News Coverage 1, 2, 3
Story
Prince of Stride is a game but also an anime (only 12 episodes) that aired in 2015. The first Episode/Stage leans more towards the game's story BUT you can still follow it if you only watched the anime like I did.
I really liked the story in this Episode and I enjoyed how much comedy they added into this compared to the anime! It was very funny and I was laughing hard a lot of time and even giggling quietly during other parts because something would amuse me. I paid a lot of attention to characters in the background rather than whoever was taking the main stage at the time because it was far more interesting and you saw more character development that way in my opinion.
Episode One of the stage covers character introductions, reviving the Stride club, their trial race at their school, and versus Mihashi, we also got the whole idol performance and Saisei meeting too. There were a few new scenes I think but now I can't remember exactly.
Theatre
I was super lucky to get 5th row and I was smack in the middle so I missed out on the boys running byside me -- they used the entire spare space in the theatre as their spaces to run. BUT then again I had no one to the right of me at all and there was a big gap between me and the two girls on the left so technically they DID run past me xD I was shocked though that 5th row was that empty yet everything behind me was full! What happened to the people who got such good seats at the front?! Moving on...
OH! AND I went on filming day!
Music and Opening
The music leading up to the show starting was really good! Totally got me in the mood for running and in the mood to watch this epic sports show. FYI Stride is not a real sport but I so wish it was! It's a combination of relay running and parkour << how amazing does that sound! And the actors have been training and learning Parkour for over 9 months in preparation to not fuck up or hurt themselves during these shows, which I'm very thankful for but it didn't ease my anxiety!
Also speaking of the music they used the anime song for the opening and the ending - check it out here! << who doesn't feel like running at full speed when they hear this?! It's so pumpy and great! Which made me flail inside so hard! The opening scene itself is impressive because they're ALL running around the stage doing parkour during the opening (with that song!) and it's more fascinating and mezmerising than it is worrying in a way. There's SO many of them and so much going on that you just want them to keep doing the opening scene over and over so you can see what each actor/character does xD and I cried okay! I cried at the freaking opening! Just the whole using this song and I really like the anime and seeing this hectic but entertaining opening and seeing Izaki as Riku, it was all a bit too much for me and I cried - I have no shame! xD
Staging and Functions
The stage itself by the way is CRAZY. They have three BIG apparatuses at the back of the stage which have a gap between them so they can jump between them. Then we have some smaller and different types apparatuses that come on and off the stage throughout the play such as steps and ones with slanted handrails as well as a few pummel horses (gymnastic apparatus).
I want to give HUGE props to all the POS (Prince of Stride) team who were constantly shifting the apparatuses every few seconds so it looked like the boys really were traveling over the city to the different locations. They had to move so fast and so in time or else the boys, who would be running AROUND the theatre to give the staff time to change it around in seconds, wouldn't be able to slow down or edit the choreography really. And once they had finished moving the apparatus they would have to hide under them and hold them in place! That's absolutely crazy and takes talent, power and perfect timing to pull such a thing off! Amazing.
The Sport
I really really really do wish Stride was a real sport! It looks so epic! Can you imagine them doing this at the olympics or something! I understand it's difficult to close roads and stuff, especially in Japan for sports events and it probably has a high injury risk than most sports but omg this would be epic! And I want to be a part of it!!
Even when I saw the anime for the first time I was like: I WANT THIS TO BE REAL!!! And I want to do it!! << I think this mindset is what helped my anxiety while watching it; it was impressive and I was too busy thinking 'damn why isn't this real and why can't I do it' to be worried about them hurting themselves but I was pretty shook up after that one guy fell << explained later.
Also I feel like, because the Epsiode 4 final venue hasn't been announced yet, they should do what they did for Tenimyu Sport Events and finish it off by doing an actual course around an arena. I know this would be very strenuous on their health and would probably mean they'd have to rev up their exercise scheme but like I want more! I want to see them really do stride! Not just running around a theatre. A proper course for them to run around is what I want. I don't need ANY dialogue or ANY story in episode 4, I just wanna see them do an actual stride race in an arena xD
Characters and Cast
The cast is too big to list in one go so I will just list the character and actor as I go through and comment on them, their performance and the characters:
Honan Team
Izaki Ryuujirou played the main character (and I think this is his first main role, but correct me if I'm wrong) and he was playing RIku which I was super excited about! The first time I watched the anime I really liked Riku and I have quite a few of his badges and keychains. Unfortunately rewatching it this week my ranking for him fell down. BUT! I feel Izaki played Riku perfectly and faithfully to the character. Unfortunately that means that Izaki's performance made Riku look blatantly childish, immature and adorable, which shouldn't be a bad think and that IS what Riku is like but it definitely affected my opinion even more negatively on the character himself. Going back to Izaki; he's so cute!!! And as usual he has an abundance of energy! My only negative for Izaki himself is his legs. His tiny, skinny, almost-no-there legs(!), infact everyone's legs to be honest, are just bone and muscle! He has no fat around his knees at all! All you can see is him knee cap and then massive muscle above that's clearly defined. It's both impressive and disgusting to look at in my opinion. I understand the training is hard and it's great to see them show of the muscle but being able to see every muscle change when they move is a bit too much right? Izaki either eat more or exercise a little less xD I daren't imagine how scarce in fat the rest of your body is now...
Aoki Jin takes on the role of Takeru. Takeru is alright in the anime and he dedication to his training, his friends, his promises and his strange leg fetish is what I liked about the character to begin with but he always felt someone what off for. Fortunately Jin really made Takeru more interesting and more entertaining! Jin's portrayel of him is that Takeru is a serious yet funny guy. I was ery happy to see that his leg fetish made it into the stage and there's even a scene where he nearly touched the girl's legs which is obvious supposed to cause an uproar both with the characters and the audience (although he just touching her leg so I found nothing wrong with it, but that's probably my upbring) xD Jin's Takeru mentions to Riku that it's not the first time he's met them, which is a nice little forshadowing for the future Episodes which the anime never did. However, his wig needs sorting, it seemed a bit too... fake? and out of place on his face. I'm sure Jin could've just dyed his hair black right? It's practically the same style right?! xD OOO and before I forget! At one point Jin dive rolls over one of the pummel horses and I was both impressed and scared for his life at that moment xD
Just like my friend Emma, I was impressed during the stretching scene towards the end where Jin had no problem having his chest pushed down to the floor as he straddled. Another great moment with Takeru was during the photoshoot scene and the photographer is trying to get him to smile and he asks what his favourite food is and he says cocoa and then proceeds to tell him to imagine making it and eventually he cracks a smile xD also during the photoshoot scene, the photographer makes Takeru and Riku hold hands with Konihata who's crossdressing in a pink gown at the time xD everyone was laughing rather hard. Their facial expressions were wonderful! The final scene where Jin made me love Takeru more, is at the end when he almost steals Riku's new team jacket rather than waiting for his to be given to him because he's so excited and he starts stripping off his school PE uniform; it's very funny!
Momose Misaki as Sakurai was perfectly fine, I have no complaints about her, although I'm too used to hearing the seiyuu that I found it weird hearing her go '3...2...1 go!' XD
As mentioned, I enjoyed the comedy in this and it's definitely HUGE props to the actors of the characters Ayumu (Shiraishi Kensuke) and Konihata (Kumagai Kaito) -- btw the Konihata is totally ADORABLE! Oh my!!! Kumagai is a 96er?!?! He was totally cute! Seriously, I probably SHOULD have bought his photoset after the show but the line was LONG. I'm sure he's not that popular *fingers crossed* and I can buy his photosets at KBooks later; or I'll just wait til Episode 2. I am going to admit; even during visuals and even before watching the show (and because I'm too lazy to google properly), I was CONVINCED this entire time that Konihata's actor was in fact a girl! BUT as soon as he came onstage (which was right at the beginning because he and Shiraishi can on stage and explained the theatre rules before the show started) and as soon as he talked I was like 'WAAAH!!!! oh thank god it's a guy!! Ooooo he's cute!! Oh damn I ALREADY like him' and we ALL know me and blonde Japanese guys right?! I'm a sucker for them seriously...
But damn he's so young!!! << I didn't know he was a 96er until I started writing this review so I kind of feel bad now. But he was totally cute!! << did I not already say a billion times xD He's very funny, totally adorable, lots of energy, great choreography and him and Shiraishi together during the comedy is GOLD. I just wish his character stopped doing prayer hands though because it was pretty much every time he spoke that he was doing prayer hands and it was cute at first but it got annoying pretty much after he wa son stage for 5 minutes xD sorry!
Speaking of Ayumu/Shiraishi; Shiraishi surprised me. This is his first stage and he's only 20(!). And during the aftertalk Kishimoto explained that he kept having to tell him off cos he didn't thank or apologise properly xD Shirashi's character in the anime is sweet, but nothing amazing, however in the stage, he was the comedy relief in this and the joker and was very funny. Having said that, I feel maybe the cast find it annoying because it sounds like he does not have an off button. During the aftertalk, they spoke about how he's always doing his comedy cues and stuff, and I can imagine it grating on people, BUT we have to remember he's only 20 so maybe (like I would) they forgive him and let him get away with it quite a bit xD
He was good with the comedy on stage! But oh my lord guys: he fell! HE FELL! And not even during a stride scene which is even more alarming! It was during the photoshoot scene when they walked down the massive apparatus steps, and he must have missed calculated how far to the edge his was because the next thing I knew is that the lighting sheet (that photographer use during photoshoots) that was in his hand and gone flying and he was on the floor flat on his front and everyone was like 'you okay?' and Kumagai kept asking him if he's okay and Shiraishi didn't answer or get up for like 30 seconds(!). The audience were all laughing EXCEPT me who was (naturally) shitting myself. Kumagai helped him back up and he kept completely quiet for the rest of the scene while everyone else covered for him if he did have lines.
Kishimoto Takuya did perfect and I had no worries about him or his acting skills at all! He's perfectly familiar and capable of doing this type of role, and he fitted Heath perfectly. However I am concerned about the later episodes because (in the words of my friend, Tina) he's an old man now; Can he get through the next year without any serious injury from doing these stages?! I hope so!! He's fit and healthy and exercises a lot, but he won't be as genki or as fast with reflexes as the rest of them right... LET'S HAVE FAITH!
Ayukawa Taiyou had such a small role in this as Kuga Kyosuke which sucks because Kuga is amazing and Taiyou is amazing!!!! << seriously see my review about Makai Ouji that I saw him it! *cries* Taiyou kept flicking his beaitiful yet long hair back and he has like two one minute speaking scenes and then he just randomly stands on stage a few minutes now and again and that's like it! Kuga is such a big role so I'm hoping his stage time goes through the roof in the future stages! While rewatching the anime this week Kuga quickly jumped up to pretty much my favourite character so seeing this character and the actor himself get so little stage time in Episode One, it did hurt me a little. Luckily during the AfterTalk Taiyou spoke the most which he definitely deserves and I really do hope he gets a shit ton more time in the next three! Another thing I agree with friend Tina is that during the curtain call they stick him between the TWO girls who are freaking tiny! They're SHORTER than me (I'm 5ft2!) and Taiyou is like... 6ft2! That was NOT a good idea and he looked uncomfortable and it's really a sad sight to see xD
I thought Arai Yuusuke who plays Teacher Dan, was Kiriyama Renn at first!! He looks so like him(!) or at least from the distance I was at, it looked so much like him and their voices are similar too! XD he didn't have a big part but what I did see of him was interesting. For example, there's a scene where he took Heath's phone to talk to Heath's sister and it was rather funny. The actor himself was nice during the aftertalk and was always smiling and everyone commented that he always laughs at Shiraishi's jokes the most xD
Mizukoshi Ayumu as... the school newspaper girl(?), I'm going to be honest, I kind of don't understand why she's in this. I guess it's to balance out the whole 'there's one girl and 50 boys!' ratio, but I feel her character is kind of... useless and not necessary at all. Sakurai's role is clearly obvious and she IS needed in it but as for Mizukoshi's character, if she wasn't in it then nothing would be affected at all. She is completely unneccessary. Sorry girl!
And that's Honan done! Now to Saisei! They had a small role in this but as a popular and important group in the game/anime overall, they're naturally needed to bring in the ticket money xD
Let's go to the leader of the group which is REIJI!!! who is being played by Hiramaki Jin! He really suits being Reiji. I don't go to stages BECAUSE Jin is in it, BUT I definitely always enjoy his performances when I do see him act live. I still think he's underdeveloped Reiji a little HOWEVER this is only episode 1 and Jin's still still go another episode to go where he can develop and make him that cute Reiji I know. I very much enjoyed his live look towards the end, but that look isn't in the bromides so it's a good job I didn't buy them because I would've been pissed if I'd bought them to find out he didn't have any shot taken in that outfit - it's a really nice outfit! Nevertheless, Jin is very pretty in real life and I like looking at him xD but I am disappointed that during the Live scene they all lipsynced and it wasn't even a good lip sync in time which is a little worrying because it seemed like they hadn't learnt it properly or didn't really know it! The other disappointing thing about them lipsyncing is, I KNOW he can actually sing and wanted to hear him sing again (I first heard him in Dance with Devils) so as I said, I'm disappointed with this scene.
Kobayashi Ryo - I swear to good I know this man from Honoo no Mirage *googles* OOOOO! No wait! He's from Brothers Conflict!! And Kin-Iro Corda! So that's where I know him from... he played Shizuma as he should; delicate, simple, light so no complaints. His hair is impressive and how well he flicks it back after he bows is impressive too xD Btw those Live pants he wore! They not only were tight around his man parts, but when he turned away you could see the perfect outline of his butt; crack and all xD I had to giggle more than find it sexy haha
Matsumoto Hinata - first BEAUTIFUL name! XD he plays BanChan who I really like in the anime and he's pretty cute here too but not enough to get a feel for his character just yet. So I'm giving him room to impress me in Episode 2!
I feel like Nakada Hiroki played his character (Senou Tasuku) as if he was told to pretend to be Wada Masanari << if you don't know Wada Masanari, this is all you need to know about him:
He's just a walking face ache...and Nakada did perfect with having the same lack of facial expression, resting bitch face and deep monotone voice for Tasuku. BUT his eyeliner is on point though! So pretty!
Tanaka Naoki is an interesting one because he looks EXACTLY like my friend. So while I was watching this all I kept thinking was 'damn Ryohei is that you?!?!?!' it was honestly very strange for me to look at him. He was a good Asuma but he didn't do the head-bag scene at the end of episode one like I wanted to see =[ << I mean this scene:
Lastly in Saisei we have Mihara Daiki as Okamura Kaeda. To be completely honest I've never liked the actors actual visuals as this character and never would've given him this role/character. And another to be honest; I was expecting him to go against that former thought and also expected myself to fall for this boy. In the pic on the website he doesn't look too bad but I just assumed he'd be totally cute in person and I'd fall for him BUT (I know this his horrible but) his face is too round(and big!) and his skin is a bit too perfect with all that makeup on a close up that I infact like him even less than before! I'm hoping he'll prove me wrong in the future episodes but right now, I still sitck by my opinion that he shouldn't have been casted into this role and I don't think he suits it.
Finally we have Mihashi which is a school I do not remember (I rewatched the anime THREE days ago mind you) and I do not like them. This entire episode/stage I didn't like them either! All the guys felt exactly the same and I couldn't really see a difference in their personalities, especially between Eifuku Takeshi and Nagatsuka Nobuhiko's actors who just felt like they were both playing the 'yeah it's obvious I'm an old man and shouldn't be in this role' type character. The character of Kamoda Kei can seriously fuck off. I didn't like him one bit! And Kamoda Yu was too stereotypical in the 'I'm a delicate and quiet character with no personality at all' way. And I don't even remember Harigaya Hisato or his actor.
There was only one saving grace out of them all; Kanshuuji Reo as Aoi Shima. Holy moly this guy is so athletic and can do some amazing moves and constantly in energy and the Reo made the character super cute like falling for Konihata's photo in the commercial thinking it was his sister and forcing piggybacks from the older members as they left the stage. And he had the whole monkey pose going on when he wanted to sit next to the other characters. He was a ball of energy and I ended up super liking him! Well done Reo! Also he's tiny and reminded me of the guy from Shintenhouji = Toyama Kintarou. Also his characters reaction AFTER the race when he realises the billboard IS Konihata rather than 'Konihata's sister' was absolutely priceless! He was so upset and heartbroken xD << this is what I mean by paying attention to the background rather than what's going on at the front because I think you would've missed these moments if you hadn't been looking because the MC at the time.
And that's all the characters done!!
Oh wait I forgot one more guy... DJ Stride.... I HATE THIS GUY! HE IS NOT NEEDED! HE IS A WASTE OF STAGE TIME! GET HIM OFF!
Okay now I'm done.
Now for the Curtain Call:
It was a double curtain call and I can't remember who from Mihashi it was but he said (in general) that he hopes everyone can go to Episode 2 to 4 even though their team won't be in them. And from Saisei it was Kobayashi and he was like (to the guy from Mihashi who just spoke) "you just said everything I wanted to saw. SO! When I say 'Reiji-sama' you say 'Kakkoii (cool)' okay?" at this point Nakada turned to him and was like "I wanna do it too!" so Kobayashi replied "You can do it. Guys if you want to you can. Okay..." the then whispered something to Hiramaki/Reiji before starting "REIJI SAMA!" "KAKKOII!" and Hiramaki immediately replied "Thanks, you're my Andromeda" xD
After Talk
I already talked a lot about the aftertalk throughout this review but I still got more to go! xD
Then we got the after talk which was the Honan team and they mainly talked about the nine months of parkour training they did and even though Shiraishi's character doesn't really get to do much (even in the anime -- you'll see why) he still went to the extent of being able to do dive rolls and such. Izaki talked about how all the guys went to many onsens and also about one time Izaki, Kumagai and Arai were in one taxi while the others were in another, when the drive asked where we wanted to go, Kumagai who was next to him oh so very quietly whispered into only Izaki's ear "follow the car in front" xD
Aoki Jin spoke about how his background is breakdancing and at the time of getting the role he thought 'great I can use my backdancing and acrobatics in this... then I started training: breakdancing has nothing to do with it! I don't need breakdancing!' xD which lead to Izaki going 'why don't you show us' Jin was hesitant at first but the team pulled all the teams back. Before started he went 'This is Aoki Jin (by the way, not Takeru) right now' and he got us to clap a rhythm; thus the epicness of Jin's breakdancing was shown to the crowded and none of us wanting it to stop. It was super impressive! I know my friend Emma is a HUGE fan of him and I'm gutted for her that she couldn't have seen it in person with me! << remember I said there were seats next to me so she might as well have! xD I totally get why Emma likes him now after seeing him like that in person xD
I mentioned earlier that Taiyou spoke a lot during the aftertalk and he did and he was reciting his favourite moments and lines from the play and he did imprersonations of Ayumu, Riku and Takeru and they were so spot on and perfect! He was thoroughly enjoying himself and didn't want to stop. Jin was enjoying the impersonations so much that he kept stomping his feet as he laughed which is SO adorable! Also Izaki did a Takeru impersonation - from when Takeru wins at the end - and Jin was so happy with the impersonation that he got up and started jumping on the stage and Izaki joined in! It was absolutely hysterical and amazing to see them being A. so comfortable together B. comfortable in front of everyone on stage and C. just seeing them naturally as themselves <3
And I think I've done it!! ^_^
Goods
My Character Ranking
I vaguely mentioned 'ranking' in this review but basically; I originally had a ranking when I first watching the anime but after rewatching the anime and seeing the stage my ranking has changed completely and I want to share it with you all now, I'll just do top ten cos most of the characters are a blur and don't really care for:
Kuga
Takeru << this is HUGELY thanks to Jin's influence in the stage
Reiji
Kohinata << huge actor influence
Kaeda
Riku
Aoi Shima << actor influence
Heath
Ayumu << actor influence
Himemiya Yuuri*
Banchan
Natsunagi Toya*
*These are not in the stage yet.
SO I ended up with 12 so what! I'm sure this ranking is NOT set but currently I'm really feeling Kuga from the anime and I'm super all about Jin's Takeru in the stage. Riku used to be my first but after rewatching the anime and seeing the stage, he's now a bit too childish for my liking.
RANDOM PHOTO!!
Sho-san from TokiEnta (the company MakiChan is part off and TokiEnta is like my LIFE atm. As a company I love them!) went and watched it the day before me!! He's in the same company as Kishimoto who plays Heath <3
Overall: This was super fun! I was a fan of the anime, I fangirled hard when it got announced as a stage and I was not disappointed! It was so much fun and the stunts were great and the coordination between staff, cast and timing was awesome! Naturally seeing them run acorss the stage and jumping over giant apparatuses my poor heart and anxiety was high BUT luckily it was more than impressive enough to make me even consider watching the second episode full of anxiety too xD Aoki Jin was the biggest surprise for me ^_^
Rating: 8.5/10
Official Website
Official Twitter
News Coverage 1, 2, 3
Story
Prince of Stride is a game but also an anime (only 12 episodes) that aired in 2015. The first Episode/Stage leans more towards the game's story BUT you can still follow it if you only watched the anime like I did.
I really liked the story in this Episode and I enjoyed how much comedy they added into this compared to the anime! It was very funny and I was laughing hard a lot of time and even giggling quietly during other parts because something would amuse me. I paid a lot of attention to characters in the background rather than whoever was taking the main stage at the time because it was far more interesting and you saw more character development that way in my opinion.
Episode One of the stage covers character introductions, reviving the Stride club, their trial race at their school, and versus Mihashi, we also got the whole idol performance and Saisei meeting too. There were a few new scenes I think but now I can't remember exactly.
Theatre
I was super lucky to get 5th row and I was smack in the middle so I missed out on the boys running byside me -- they used the entire spare space in the theatre as their spaces to run. BUT then again I had no one to the right of me at all and there was a big gap between me and the two girls on the left so technically they DID run past me xD I was shocked though that 5th row was that empty yet everything behind me was full! What happened to the people who got such good seats at the front?! Moving on...
OH! AND I went on filming day!
Music and Opening
The music leading up to the show starting was really good! Totally got me in the mood for running and in the mood to watch this epic sports show. FYI Stride is not a real sport but I so wish it was! It's a combination of relay running and parkour << how amazing does that sound! And the actors have been training and learning Parkour for over 9 months in preparation to not fuck up or hurt themselves during these shows, which I'm very thankful for but it didn't ease my anxiety!
Also speaking of the music they used the anime song for the opening and the ending - check it out here! << who doesn't feel like running at full speed when they hear this?! It's so pumpy and great! Which made me flail inside so hard! The opening scene itself is impressive because they're ALL running around the stage doing parkour during the opening (with that song!) and it's more fascinating and mezmerising than it is worrying in a way. There's SO many of them and so much going on that you just want them to keep doing the opening scene over and over so you can see what each actor/character does xD and I cried okay! I cried at the freaking opening! Just the whole using this song and I really like the anime and seeing this hectic but entertaining opening and seeing Izaki as Riku, it was all a bit too much for me and I cried - I have no shame! xD
Staging and Functions
The stage itself by the way is CRAZY. They have three BIG apparatuses at the back of the stage which have a gap between them so they can jump between them. Then we have some smaller and different types apparatuses that come on and off the stage throughout the play such as steps and ones with slanted handrails as well as a few pummel horses (gymnastic apparatus).
I want to give HUGE props to all the POS (Prince of Stride) team who were constantly shifting the apparatuses every few seconds so it looked like the boys really were traveling over the city to the different locations. They had to move so fast and so in time or else the boys, who would be running AROUND the theatre to give the staff time to change it around in seconds, wouldn't be able to slow down or edit the choreography really. And once they had finished moving the apparatus they would have to hide under them and hold them in place! That's absolutely crazy and takes talent, power and perfect timing to pull such a thing off! Amazing.
The Sport
I really really really do wish Stride was a real sport! It looks so epic! Can you imagine them doing this at the olympics or something! I understand it's difficult to close roads and stuff, especially in Japan for sports events and it probably has a high injury risk than most sports but omg this would be epic! And I want to be a part of it!!
Even when I saw the anime for the first time I was like: I WANT THIS TO BE REAL!!! And I want to do it!! << I think this mindset is what helped my anxiety while watching it; it was impressive and I was too busy thinking 'damn why isn't this real and why can't I do it' to be worried about them hurting themselves but I was pretty shook up after that one guy fell << explained later.
Also I feel like, because the Epsiode 4 final venue hasn't been announced yet, they should do what they did for Tenimyu Sport Events and finish it off by doing an actual course around an arena. I know this would be very strenuous on their health and would probably mean they'd have to rev up their exercise scheme but like I want more! I want to see them really do stride! Not just running around a theatre. A proper course for them to run around is what I want. I don't need ANY dialogue or ANY story in episode 4, I just wanna see them do an actual stride race in an arena xD
Characters and Cast
The cast is too big to list in one go so I will just list the character and actor as I go through and comment on them, their performance and the characters:
Honan Team
Izaki Ryuujirou played the main character (and I think this is his first main role, but correct me if I'm wrong) and he was playing RIku which I was super excited about! The first time I watched the anime I really liked Riku and I have quite a few of his badges and keychains. Unfortunately rewatching it this week my ranking for him fell down. BUT! I feel Izaki played Riku perfectly and faithfully to the character. Unfortunately that means that Izaki's performance made Riku look blatantly childish, immature and adorable, which shouldn't be a bad think and that IS what Riku is like but it definitely affected my opinion even more negatively on the character himself. Going back to Izaki; he's so cute!!! And as usual he has an abundance of energy! My only negative for Izaki himself is his legs. His tiny, skinny, almost-no-there legs(!), infact everyone's legs to be honest, are just bone and muscle! He has no fat around his knees at all! All you can see is him knee cap and then massive muscle above that's clearly defined. It's both impressive and disgusting to look at in my opinion. I understand the training is hard and it's great to see them show of the muscle but being able to see every muscle change when they move is a bit too much right? Izaki either eat more or exercise a little less xD I daren't imagine how scarce in fat the rest of your body is now...
Aoki Jin takes on the role of Takeru. Takeru is alright in the anime and he dedication to his training, his friends, his promises and his strange leg fetish is what I liked about the character to begin with but he always felt someone what off for. Fortunately Jin really made Takeru more interesting and more entertaining! Jin's portrayel of him is that Takeru is a serious yet funny guy. I was ery happy to see that his leg fetish made it into the stage and there's even a scene where he nearly touched the girl's legs which is obvious supposed to cause an uproar both with the characters and the audience (although he just touching her leg so I found nothing wrong with it, but that's probably my upbring) xD Jin's Takeru mentions to Riku that it's not the first time he's met them, which is a nice little forshadowing for the future Episodes which the anime never did. However, his wig needs sorting, it seemed a bit too... fake? and out of place on his face. I'm sure Jin could've just dyed his hair black right? It's practically the same style right?! xD OOO and before I forget! At one point Jin dive rolls over one of the pummel horses and I was both impressed and scared for his life at that moment xD
Just like my friend Emma, I was impressed during the stretching scene towards the end where Jin had no problem having his chest pushed down to the floor as he straddled. Another great moment with Takeru was during the photoshoot scene and the photographer is trying to get him to smile and he asks what his favourite food is and he says cocoa and then proceeds to tell him to imagine making it and eventually he cracks a smile xD also during the photoshoot scene, the photographer makes Takeru and Riku hold hands with Konihata who's crossdressing in a pink gown at the time xD everyone was laughing rather hard. Their facial expressions were wonderful! The final scene where Jin made me love Takeru more, is at the end when he almost steals Riku's new team jacket rather than waiting for his to be given to him because he's so excited and he starts stripping off his school PE uniform; it's very funny!
Momose Misaki as Sakurai was perfectly fine, I have no complaints about her, although I'm too used to hearing the seiyuu that I found it weird hearing her go '3...2...1 go!' XD
As mentioned, I enjoyed the comedy in this and it's definitely HUGE props to the actors of the characters Ayumu (Shiraishi Kensuke) and Konihata (Kumagai Kaito) -- btw the Konihata is totally ADORABLE! Oh my!!! Kumagai is a 96er?!?! He was totally cute! Seriously, I probably SHOULD have bought his photoset after the show but the line was LONG. I'm sure he's not that popular *fingers crossed* and I can buy his photosets at KBooks later; or I'll just wait til Episode 2. I am going to admit; even during visuals and even before watching the show (and because I'm too lazy to google properly), I was CONVINCED this entire time that Konihata's actor was in fact a girl! BUT as soon as he came onstage (which was right at the beginning because he and Shiraishi can on stage and explained the theatre rules before the show started) and as soon as he talked I was like 'WAAAH!!!! oh thank god it's a guy!! Ooooo he's cute!! Oh damn I ALREADY like him' and we ALL know me and blonde Japanese guys right?! I'm a sucker for them seriously...
But damn he's so young!!! << I didn't know he was a 96er until I started writing this review so I kind of feel bad now. But he was totally cute!! << did I not already say a billion times xD He's very funny, totally adorable, lots of energy, great choreography and him and Shiraishi together during the comedy is GOLD. I just wish his character stopped doing prayer hands though because it was pretty much every time he spoke that he was doing prayer hands and it was cute at first but it got annoying pretty much after he wa son stage for 5 minutes xD sorry!
Speaking of Ayumu/Shiraishi; Shiraishi surprised me. This is his first stage and he's only 20(!). And during the aftertalk Kishimoto explained that he kept having to tell him off cos he didn't thank or apologise properly xD Shirashi's character in the anime is sweet, but nothing amazing, however in the stage, he was the comedy relief in this and the joker and was very funny. Having said that, I feel maybe the cast find it annoying because it sounds like he does not have an off button. During the aftertalk, they spoke about how he's always doing his comedy cues and stuff, and I can imagine it grating on people, BUT we have to remember he's only 20 so maybe (like I would) they forgive him and let him get away with it quite a bit xD
He was good with the comedy on stage! But oh my lord guys: he fell! HE FELL! And not even during a stride scene which is even more alarming! It was during the photoshoot scene when they walked down the massive apparatus steps, and he must have missed calculated how far to the edge his was because the next thing I knew is that the lighting sheet (that photographer use during photoshoots) that was in his hand and gone flying and he was on the floor flat on his front and everyone was like 'you okay?' and Kumagai kept asking him if he's okay and Shiraishi didn't answer or get up for like 30 seconds(!). The audience were all laughing EXCEPT me who was (naturally) shitting myself. Kumagai helped him back up and he kept completely quiet for the rest of the scene while everyone else covered for him if he did have lines.
Kishimoto Takuya did perfect and I had no worries about him or his acting skills at all! He's perfectly familiar and capable of doing this type of role, and he fitted Heath perfectly. However I am concerned about the later episodes because (in the words of my friend, Tina) he's an old man now; Can he get through the next year without any serious injury from doing these stages?! I hope so!! He's fit and healthy and exercises a lot, but he won't be as genki or as fast with reflexes as the rest of them right... LET'S HAVE FAITH!
Ayukawa Taiyou had such a small role in this as Kuga Kyosuke which sucks because Kuga is amazing and Taiyou is amazing!!!! << seriously see my review about Makai Ouji that I saw him it! *cries* Taiyou kept flicking his beaitiful yet long hair back and he has like two one minute speaking scenes and then he just randomly stands on stage a few minutes now and again and that's like it! Kuga is such a big role so I'm hoping his stage time goes through the roof in the future stages! While rewatching the anime this week Kuga quickly jumped up to pretty much my favourite character so seeing this character and the actor himself get so little stage time in Episode One, it did hurt me a little. Luckily during the AfterTalk Taiyou spoke the most which he definitely deserves and I really do hope he gets a shit ton more time in the next three! Another thing I agree with friend Tina is that during the curtain call they stick him between the TWO girls who are freaking tiny! They're SHORTER than me (I'm 5ft2!) and Taiyou is like... 6ft2! That was NOT a good idea and he looked uncomfortable and it's really a sad sight to see xD
I thought Arai Yuusuke who plays Teacher Dan, was Kiriyama Renn at first!! He looks so like him(!) or at least from the distance I was at, it looked so much like him and their voices are similar too! XD he didn't have a big part but what I did see of him was interesting. For example, there's a scene where he took Heath's phone to talk to Heath's sister and it was rather funny. The actor himself was nice during the aftertalk and was always smiling and everyone commented that he always laughs at Shiraishi's jokes the most xD
Mizukoshi Ayumu as... the school newspaper girl(?), I'm going to be honest, I kind of don't understand why she's in this. I guess it's to balance out the whole 'there's one girl and 50 boys!' ratio, but I feel her character is kind of... useless and not necessary at all. Sakurai's role is clearly obvious and she IS needed in it but as for Mizukoshi's character, if she wasn't in it then nothing would be affected at all. She is completely unneccessary. Sorry girl!
And that's Honan done! Now to Saisei! They had a small role in this but as a popular and important group in the game/anime overall, they're naturally needed to bring in the ticket money xD
Let's go to the leader of the group which is REIJI!!! who is being played by Hiramaki Jin! He really suits being Reiji. I don't go to stages BECAUSE Jin is in it, BUT I definitely always enjoy his performances when I do see him act live. I still think he's underdeveloped Reiji a little HOWEVER this is only episode 1 and Jin's still still go another episode to go where he can develop and make him that cute Reiji I know. I very much enjoyed his live look towards the end, but that look isn't in the bromides so it's a good job I didn't buy them because I would've been pissed if I'd bought them to find out he didn't have any shot taken in that outfit - it's a really nice outfit! Nevertheless, Jin is very pretty in real life and I like looking at him xD but I am disappointed that during the Live scene they all lipsynced and it wasn't even a good lip sync in time which is a little worrying because it seemed like they hadn't learnt it properly or didn't really know it! The other disappointing thing about them lipsyncing is, I KNOW he can actually sing and wanted to hear him sing again (I first heard him in Dance with Devils) so as I said, I'm disappointed with this scene.
Kobayashi Ryo - I swear to good I know this man from Honoo no Mirage *googles* OOOOO! No wait! He's from Brothers Conflict!! And Kin-Iro Corda! So that's where I know him from... he played Shizuma as he should; delicate, simple, light so no complaints. His hair is impressive and how well he flicks it back after he bows is impressive too xD Btw those Live pants he wore! They not only were tight around his man parts, but when he turned away you could see the perfect outline of his butt; crack and all xD I had to giggle more than find it sexy haha
Matsumoto Hinata - first BEAUTIFUL name! XD he plays BanChan who I really like in the anime and he's pretty cute here too but not enough to get a feel for his character just yet. So I'm giving him room to impress me in Episode 2!
I feel like Nakada Hiroki played his character (Senou Tasuku) as if he was told to pretend to be Wada Masanari << if you don't know Wada Masanari, this is all you need to know about him:
He's just a walking face ache...and Nakada did perfect with having the same lack of facial expression, resting bitch face and deep monotone voice for Tasuku. BUT his eyeliner is on point though! So pretty!
Tanaka Naoki is an interesting one because he looks EXACTLY like my friend. So while I was watching this all I kept thinking was 'damn Ryohei is that you?!?!?!' it was honestly very strange for me to look at him. He was a good Asuma but he didn't do the head-bag scene at the end of episode one like I wanted to see =[ << I mean this scene:
Lastly in Saisei we have Mihara Daiki as Okamura Kaeda. To be completely honest I've never liked the actors actual visuals as this character and never would've given him this role/character. And another to be honest; I was expecting him to go against that former thought and also expected myself to fall for this boy. In the pic on the website he doesn't look too bad but I just assumed he'd be totally cute in person and I'd fall for him BUT (I know this his horrible but) his face is too round(and big!) and his skin is a bit too perfect with all that makeup on a close up that I infact like him even less than before! I'm hoping he'll prove me wrong in the future episodes but right now, I still sitck by my opinion that he shouldn't have been casted into this role and I don't think he suits it.
Finally we have Mihashi which is a school I do not remember (I rewatched the anime THREE days ago mind you) and I do not like them. This entire episode/stage I didn't like them either! All the guys felt exactly the same and I couldn't really see a difference in their personalities, especially between Eifuku Takeshi and Nagatsuka Nobuhiko's actors who just felt like they were both playing the 'yeah it's obvious I'm an old man and shouldn't be in this role' type character. The character of Kamoda Kei can seriously fuck off. I didn't like him one bit! And Kamoda Yu was too stereotypical in the 'I'm a delicate and quiet character with no personality at all' way. And I don't even remember Harigaya Hisato or his actor.
There was only one saving grace out of them all; Kanshuuji Reo as Aoi Shima. Holy moly this guy is so athletic and can do some amazing moves and constantly in energy and the Reo made the character super cute like falling for Konihata's photo in the commercial thinking it was his sister and forcing piggybacks from the older members as they left the stage. And he had the whole monkey pose going on when he wanted to sit next to the other characters. He was a ball of energy and I ended up super liking him! Well done Reo! Also he's tiny and reminded me of the guy from Shintenhouji = Toyama Kintarou. Also his characters reaction AFTER the race when he realises the billboard IS Konihata rather than 'Konihata's sister' was absolutely priceless! He was so upset and heartbroken xD << this is what I mean by paying attention to the background rather than what's going on at the front because I think you would've missed these moments if you hadn't been looking because the MC at the time.
And that's all the characters done!!
Oh wait I forgot one more guy... DJ Stride.... I HATE THIS GUY! HE IS NOT NEEDED! HE IS A WASTE OF STAGE TIME! GET HIM OFF!
Okay now I'm done.
Now for the Curtain Call:
It was a double curtain call and I can't remember who from Mihashi it was but he said (in general) that he hopes everyone can go to Episode 2 to 4 even though their team won't be in them. And from Saisei it was Kobayashi and he was like (to the guy from Mihashi who just spoke) "you just said everything I wanted to saw. SO! When I say 'Reiji-sama' you say 'Kakkoii (cool)' okay?" at this point Nakada turned to him and was like "I wanna do it too!" so Kobayashi replied "You can do it. Guys if you want to you can. Okay..." the then whispered something to Hiramaki/Reiji before starting "REIJI SAMA!" "KAKKOII!" and Hiramaki immediately replied "Thanks, you're my Andromeda" xD
After Talk
I already talked a lot about the aftertalk throughout this review but I still got more to go! xD
Then we got the after talk which was the Honan team and they mainly talked about the nine months of parkour training they did and even though Shiraishi's character doesn't really get to do much (even in the anime -- you'll see why) he still went to the extent of being able to do dive rolls and such. Izaki talked about how all the guys went to many onsens and also about one time Izaki, Kumagai and Arai were in one taxi while the others were in another, when the drive asked where we wanted to go, Kumagai who was next to him oh so very quietly whispered into only Izaki's ear "follow the car in front" xD
Aoki Jin spoke about how his background is breakdancing and at the time of getting the role he thought 'great I can use my backdancing and acrobatics in this... then I started training: breakdancing has nothing to do with it! I don't need breakdancing!' xD which lead to Izaki going 'why don't you show us' Jin was hesitant at first but the team pulled all the teams back. Before started he went 'This is Aoki Jin (by the way, not Takeru) right now' and he got us to clap a rhythm; thus the epicness of Jin's breakdancing was shown to the crowded and none of us wanting it to stop. It was super impressive! I know my friend Emma is a HUGE fan of him and I'm gutted for her that she couldn't have seen it in person with me! << remember I said there were seats next to me so she might as well have! xD I totally get why Emma likes him now after seeing him like that in person xD
I mentioned earlier that Taiyou spoke a lot during the aftertalk and he did and he was reciting his favourite moments and lines from the play and he did imprersonations of Ayumu, Riku and Takeru and they were so spot on and perfect! He was thoroughly enjoying himself and didn't want to stop. Jin was enjoying the impersonations so much that he kept stomping his feet as he laughed which is SO adorable! Also Izaki did a Takeru impersonation - from when Takeru wins at the end - and Jin was so happy with the impersonation that he got up and started jumping on the stage and Izaki joined in! It was absolutely hysterical and amazing to see them being A. so comfortable together B. comfortable in front of everyone on stage and C. just seeing them naturally as themselves <3
And I think I've done it!! ^_^
Goods
My Character Ranking
I vaguely mentioned 'ranking' in this review but basically; I originally had a ranking when I first watching the anime but after rewatching the anime and seeing the stage my ranking has changed completely and I want to share it with you all now, I'll just do top ten cos most of the characters are a blur and don't really care for:
Kuga
Takeru << this is HUGELY thanks to Jin's influence in the stage
Reiji
Kohinata << huge actor influence
Kaeda
Riku
Aoi Shima << actor influence
Heath
Ayumu << actor influence
Himemiya Yuuri*
Banchan
Natsunagi Toya*
*These are not in the stage yet.
SO I ended up with 12 so what! I'm sure this ranking is NOT set but currently I'm really feeling Kuga from the anime and I'm super all about Jin's Takeru in the stage. Riku used to be my first but after rewatching the anime and seeing the stage, he's now a bit too childish for my liking.
RANDOM PHOTO!!
Sho-san from TokiEnta (the company MakiChan is part off and TokiEnta is like my LIFE atm. As a company I love them!) went and watched it the day before me!! He's in the same company as Kishimoto who plays Heath <3
Overall: This was super fun! I was a fan of the anime, I fangirled hard when it got announced as a stage and I was not disappointed! It was so much fun and the stunts were great and the coordination between staff, cast and timing was awesome! Naturally seeing them run acorss the stage and jumping over giant apparatuses my poor heart and anxiety was high BUT luckily it was more than impressive enough to make me even consider watching the second episode full of anxiety too xD Aoki Jin was the biggest surprise for me ^_^
Rating: 8.5/10