I'm so into watching stage play adaptation. Be it a musical or not, I don't care. Well, the first time I watched a stage play was when Kuroshitsuji first made into a musical. I kept following only Kuroshitsuji without realising there were many stage play adaptations being made after that. One of them is the old Hakuouki Musical Saitou-hen, in 2012. So far, I have watched Hakuouki (Saitou, Okita, Hijikata, Kazama-hen, LIVE), Kuroshitsuji (2009-2015 re-run, total 5), Clock Zero ~Shuuen no Ichibyou~ Re-verse-Mind, Fushigi Yuugi 2015 (not a musical), and Persona 3 The Weird Masquerade (1 Male & Female, 2 Male, 3 Male). I don't know if I can be called a master in musical already after watching them. Maybe not enough? In this post, I'll create my own impression after watching those list above, per series.

• Kuroshitsuji Musical

This is the list of Kuroshitsuji Musical I have watched (all except the latest which haven't performed yet):

1. Sono Shitsuji, Yuukou (That Butler, Friendship) in 2009
2. Sen to Tamashii to Ochita Shinigami (The Most Beautiful DEATH in the World) in 2010
3. Sen to Tamashii to Ochita Shinigami Second Run in 2013
4. Chi ni Moeru Lycoris (Lycoris that Blazes the Earth) in 2014 - the link merged to the rerun
5. Chi ni Moeru Lycoris Second Run in 2015
6. Noah's Ark Circus in Sept 2016

I watched all of them without subs since the first time DVD came out online. I was a bit brokenhearted when I heard Yuya wouldn't be Sebastian anymore since the Lycoris rerun. He was replaced by Furukawa Yuta. Well, Kuroshitsuji had replaced many of their actors since the first stage play. But until the 4th, Sebastian, Grell, and Undertaker remained the same. It's so sad to lose him in the latest musical. I made a post about the first Lycoris musical here.


So, what kind of impression I have from Yuta? His singing ability is almost the same as Yuya. I couldn't recognize the first part of when he sang "Watashi ha Anata no Koma to nari Ken to naru" with Yuya's voice. Until Yuta's voice felt a bit hard to sing the refrain, maybe because of his-seem-to-hard talking voice too.  Well, I don't really have hate or love relationship with Yuta. What I dislike from the latest is, everyone seems bad to sing except Sebastian, Druitt, William, and Madam Red. Their voices broke through the final reprise song, which was weird coming from a rerun. I do think the first Lycoris is more energetic than this one.

Oh yeah, one thing reminds me when watching Yuta as Sebastian. He's not acting as a demon, but more of a witch? Thanks to his low voice. Not important though, but it changed the image of Yuya's Sebastian. Maybe it's good? He'll be the in the next musical about circus again for Sept 2016.


As for Matsushita Yuya, I know he's busy and all. But he could perform as Son Hak in Akatsuki no Yona stage play (March 2016). So why couldn't he come as Sebastian anymore? Part of it, might be because the Lycoris rerun needed them to cross the nation to Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen. And another part, I think he need to change his image from the black butler. He really have improved a lot since the first Kuroshitsuji Musical, when he could not sing very well at that time. Anyway, I'm glad that he can still appear in stage play performance so we can't lose him acting. But I miss his solo singing than his X4 group. I don't even remember the member's name except Yuya himself.


And now is my review for the musical. Compared to the first musical, they are boring. I can't find any comedy, at least one that will make me laugh so much. I can't forget when Yuya as Sebastian put up the cloth table and dropped the bottle right away (the reverse of real Sebastian who could put the cloth without dropping them) in 1st musical. Except from that, I don't feel I want to laugh much about other scene, especially from 2nd-the latest.

Apart from it, some casts are good in singing, while some are bad. For example, Abberline and Hanks don't have improvement in singing. They're just for comical appearance. But I do approved of some new casts replacing others in previous musical. They're mostly good, such as Teruma as William and Sasaki Yoshihide as Viscount Druitt. But I also love Fujita Ray as the previous Druitt though. He's perfect when playing Aragaki role in P3. Kuroshitsuji Musical mostly uses song with slow rhythm but deep voice or comical act.

My choices:

1. Favorite Musical : Sono Shitsuji, Yuukou.
2. Favorite Actor : Matsushita Yuya
3. Favorite Song : Hallucination by Matsushita Yuya
4. Favorite Scene : Where Sebastian, Ciel, etc. tried to make Undertaker laugh in 1st musical with many attempts in extra video.
5. Least Favorite Musical : Chi ni Moeru Lycoris both because I dislike the arc without interesting scene. The circus arc might be better (if they have real circus scene, I wonder about the tightrope walking).

• Hakuouki Musical

So far, there are 8 musicals until mid 2016. The musical I've watched are listed in red.

1. Saitou Hajime-hen in 2012
2. Okita Souji-hen in March 2013
3. Hijikata Toshizou-hen in October 2013
4. LIVE in January 2014
5. Kazama Chikage-hen in April 2014
6. Toudou Heisuke-hen in Jan 2015
7. Reimeiroku in May-Jul 2015
8. Shinsengumi Kitan in Jan 2016

You see, I can watch Heisuke-hen but since I don't really like him, I'd prefer to stop until Kazama-hen. Either way, I really want to watch Reimeiroku after taking a break. This is where the main casts changed. Oh my, I have not prepared for the changes of the main cast yet. Yazaki Hiroshi as Hijikata is good enough with his bully-ing face & loud voice. Matsuda Ryo is also calm enough (both his voice and expression) to act as Saitou Hajime. After Hakuouki, he acted as Isana Yashiro in K stage play. And the last, Hirose Daisuke, who can imitate Morikubo's voice and the yandere face of Okita Souji.

But in Reimeroku, Yazaki was replaced by Sasaki Yoshihide (see Druitt above) and Sannan Keisuke was replaced from Mikata Ryousuke to Teruma (again, see William above). The latest Shinsengumi Kitan has also replaced the actor from Reimeiroku. As for Chizuru, she was replaced in every adaptation and was made comedy in LIVE. I love the second Chizuru for Okita-hen (Yamamoto Sayaka). Even though I also like the first Chizuru's voice (Yoshida Hitomi). And the greatest Chizuru in acting is at the Kazama-hen, Tomita Maho (she was Yukari in P3).


In term of kissing scene, if you'd like to know, it was most obvious in Hijikata-hen. You can see it again in LIVE musical.


So what is LIVE? It's a new year performance of mostly re-playing Hijikata-hen's scenario but mixed with selected songs from 3 stage plays before LIVE and adding comedy part. All 3 Chizurus came to aide their heroes. Well, where else you can hear Chizuru, Kaoru, and Koudou sing together the enka song? I was surprised of hearing Yoshida Hitomi sang in quick mode that his father isn't blood-related to her, in enka.

Another comical part from LIVE is when Kazama and Shiranui Kyo played hanetsuki (something like badminton with wooden paddle often played in new year). They're surprisingly good at it. I really respect Kashiwagi Yuusuke's action part in all musicals. He can backflip and jumping and all as Shiranui. I wonder why in most Otomate's game, there is usually one character like him in long hair and clothes showing bodyline. Remember Kaede in CZ?

The last part that made me laugh hilariously is the kakizome scene (the first calligraphy writing in new year). There are many parts of it. Hijikata ordered Shinsengumi member, including Kondo and Kazama, to draw kakizome. But he didn't write it himself. Everyone wrote a good comedy calligraphy such as "datsu-rasetsu (de rasetsu)" by Sannan or "Chizuru" by Kazama. In the end, Souji found Hijikata's kakizome in his room, showing it to Saitou and spectators. It was written as Hijikata & Chizuru under love umbrella. Another part of it is, Hijikata wrote Hijikata Chizuru as if she is his wife? Hijikata was made speechless in any revealing truth.

"Ikuyo"-Okita Souji before revealing the kakizome.

My review is, most of the musical songs rhythm seems similar to one another. But a few of them caught my ears such as "Yaisa!Yaisa!Yaisa!", "Ano hi no Chikai", and "Yoiyami no Machi". It was being sung in all musicals (except Ano hi no Chikai maybe?). A few songs are performed again for the next musical, so if you already watch more than 2, you'll find it boring. Well, as of me, I'm very excited for the new casts so I wish to keep watching a few of them. And this is the first musical for me that uses many songs. All important dialogues were made into lyric and it was enchanting. So you'll find song in every 5 mins.

Also, this musical is rarely replacing actors. Only Chizuru and Yamazaki were replaced by many. I saw one of Shinsengumi Kitan song on Youtube. The new casts are more handsome/pretty, but with different voice than the original seiyuus. Hakuouki uses energetic rhythm with shouting in battle effect.


A few things I chose from Hakuouki Musical I have watched:

1. Favorite Musical : Kazama-hen, LIVE (can't replace LIVE but since it's not main story, I must choose 1).
2. Less Favorite Musical : Saitou-hen, because it's the 1st musical and lacks romance. Just that. But in game, I love Saitou the most as a character than Okita.
3. Favorite Actor : Hirose Daisuke as Okita Souji, he looks very similar espc his smile! And Suzuki Shougo. His annoyed face at LIVE! You must see it when he's annoyed at hanetsuki match & the making.
4. Less Favorite Actor : Uh, who? Everyone are good at depicting their characters. Maybe Maeuchi Takafumi as Ootori Keisuke. I didn't know why Ootori's character became stupid in musical. But he's been acting according to scenario.
5. Favorite Song : Ano hi no Chikai by Shinsengumi member.
6. Favorite Romantic Scene : Hijikata-hen kissing scene (I put it here above).
7. Favorite Scene : Kazama-hen Shinsengumi died (also put it below).
8. Favorite LIVE's Comedy : Kakizome scene (where Hijikata's kakizome is written as Hijikata Chizuru).

• Persona 3 Musical The Weird Masquerade

This musical follows the portable version (I've been playing and neglecting the PSP after coming to December with Mochizuki Ryoji). All of the stage play is being made to male (Shouta Aoi) and female (Asumi Kana) route, similar to its PSP game. There are 3 of them as of now and no schedule for next stage play:

1. Ao no Kakusei (Blue Awakening) in Jan 2014
2. Gunjou no Meikyuu (Ultramarine Labyrinth) in Sep 2014
3. Souen no Kesshou (Bismuth Crystals) in June 2015

I only watched the female route for Ao no Kakusei and dropped that instead because I didn't feel amazed by Asumi's voice. Meanwhile, Shouta Aoi is really good at singing. His voice is very good when mixed with ZAQ, who acted as Aegis in second musical. Surprisingly enough, I found the 2nd video first then felt weird because of the storyline, so I seek the 1st after watching 2nd. Sadly, no Koromaru here (how can they include a dog in a stage play?).


Watching this musical feels like playing a game. It uses many projectors for battle and there's also the second layer to project a 3D effect fireworks / enemy. I've made a review for this 2nd musical here, so you can read it instead because I won't write more of them.


Sadly, even though the actors were all pretty good at depicting their character, some of them couldn't sing well such as Chidori's actress. But it's not a matter since they're very great! I can't come up with another actor than them to depict Mitsuru (Tano Asami), Shiomi Sakuya (Shouta Aoi), Shiomi Kotone (Asumi Kana), and Aragaki (Fujita Ray). And this is the only musical I watched without changing actor from 1-3. Although Aragaki & Chidori didn't appear anymore except the 2nd because Aragaki was already dead & Chidori was in the hospital (without continued story?). And the story is a bit flipped about when Mitsuru & Yukari's persona changing form. They changed it after the Kyoto trip.

Interesting part is, Elizabeth appeared in 3rd stage play male route, while Theodore appeared in female route. You can choose to watch either, but I'll watch them both (will find time to watch 2 & 3 musical female route). 2nd stage play has more improvement than 1st in term of battle scene & comedies. Mostly, they used the game's song by Kawamura Yumi or Shuuhei Kita.

Sadly, even though the third seems like a final stage play, it doesn't get completed yet. They haven't defeat Death or Strega. And it was written "to be continued" even though there is no news about the next stage play until almost a year. And even if they made a new stage play, there won't be much story to be told anyway. Ikutsuki is already dead and they only need to defeat Death / Ryoji. Oh by the way, Ryoji/Pharos/Farlos here is played by Ueda Keisuke. He is Yukine in Noragami stage play 2016.

My review:

1. Favorite Musical : Gunjou no Meikyuu.
2. Favorite Actor : Tano Asami (Kirijo Mitsuru).
3. Favorite Scene : Beach Flirting Women Scene in 2nd Musical.
4. Favorite Character : Sanada Akihiko.
5. Favorite Song : Touch My Heartstrings by Shouta Aoi & ZAQ.
6. Less Favorite Musical : Ao no Kakusei. Doesn't have any interesting thing.

• Clock Zero ~Shuuen no Ichibyou~

Well, if you know what is my no.1 favorite otome game, it must be CZ. There are 5 musical adaptations so far, but I only have the Reverse Mind because it's hard to find this musical. I've made King & Bishop ED review for Reverse Mind.

1. A live Moment in Sep 2013 (maybe about King)
2. A live Moment Madoka Act in Mar 2014 (maybe about Madoka)
3. rin-g-age Nov 2014 (maybe about Riichirou)
4. Re-verse-mind in Jul 2015 (about King & Bishop)
5. Watch Over in Mar 2016 (about Bishop & Traitor)

I don't need to say much. This musical followed the game and nothing much changed. So far, only Nadeshiko, chief, and Kaede's actor doesn't get replaced. But I don't know if it's a bias of Namikawa Daisuke or what, I think the Re-verse-mind King's actor, Matsumoto Yuuichi (you can also see him in P3 as Jin of Strega), is the closest to Takato himself. Why? Apart from his voice, especially the "Un" word, he also seems nervous, straight, and weird. You see, Takato has pure-like face, while Yuuichi is stiff. There's nothing I can hate of when Yuuichi starred as Takato.

About the other Takato, I feel the actors' face is too handsome and looks like a woman? Especially the 1st Takato, Ino Hiroki (He is Nagakura Shinpachi in Hakuouki Reimeiroku & Shinsengumi Kitan). Well, not everyone would suit blonde hair, right? Again, Matsumoto Yuuichi is Jin of Strega in P3.


About the song, CZ songs seems childish on the rhythm but with deep meaning behind (especially curtain call song seems like a kindergarten's song). I like Bishop, King, and Nadeshiko's Wakare song of course. And one in the extra where King, Rain, and Bishop were singing together. It was from the previous musical maybe, because they didn't sing it in Re-verse-mind. I wish CZ would get anime instead of Hakuouki Otogi zoushi again....

Few facts I like / dislike from Re-verse-mind:

1. Favorite Scene : King & Nadeshiko fell from bed (King ED).
2. Favorite Song : Wakare by Nadeshiko, Bishop, King (Bishop ED).
3. Favorite Actor : Ikoshi Arisa (Kurou Nadeshiko)
4. Less Favorite Scene : School scene because there is the same 2 versions.
5. Favorite Comedy : Intro changing role in extra video.

• Fushigi Yuugi Stage Play March 2015

This stage play doesn't have song. And it's only 1,5 hour! Casts are:

1. Tamahome : Yutaka Kyan (from Golden Bomber band)
2. Yuuki Miaka : Itou Risako
3. Hongo Yui : Itou Namiko
4. Hotohori : Yamamoto Ikkei
5. Nuriko : Someya Toshiyuki
6. Tasuki : Saki Masato
7. Chichiri : Kogawa Yuuta
8. Mitsukake : Hirose Yuusuke
9. Chiriko : Mirai
10. Nakago : Yoshioka Yuu
11. Amiboshi : Sawada Reo

I think the casts are handsome & pretty. Even for Nuriko! Someya really goes into his character and acts like a lady. You see, it doesn't follow the real storyline. It's mainly about Tamahome's feelings that he doesn't want his normal life change to chaos because of Miaka. For real, this 1,5 hour stage play seems like Tamahome isn't a cool guy but a brat 'coz he's always bugging about the changes in his life.

Apart from that, the appearance of Sichi Seishi were also messed up. After Nuriko appeared, Miaka found Chichiri & Mitsukake together from healing her wound. And Tasuki! Wth? Tamahome found him with his bandit friends, fought, then easily getting friendly. As for Chiriko, it follows the main story that Amiboshi lied to be him before his real appearance. Taiitsu only appeared as a doll with voice to give them order... But like it or not, I quite enjoyed it, except for Tamahome's personality. Well, he can fight though. And Yutaka seems like a good person despite his usual appearance in Golden Bomber (just on picture, I don't follow rock band).



Well, let's put it aside. This stage play has many comical scenes. First of, we can see Miaka brought her handphone to take picture of Tamahome & guards who fight him. Then, she played music from her handphone again, it is Golden Bomber's song which I don't know the title but is being sung on new year's eve 2016. (It was Memeshikute!) causing Tamahome & all guards dancing. This is only the start of the fun.

In half of 1,5 hour, there is one funniest moment of when Taiitsu appeared after Miaka found 6 Sichi Seishis, except Chiriko. She ordered Nuriko to be the model of every guy's love confession (Miaka is only watching as a judge). Surprisingly, Chichiri won the battle with his to-the-point confession. The prize is Nuriko's kiss, which made Nuriko fell down too after hearing that. And...they were really kissing (Oh my, that sweet boy Chichiri! Poor him).

I think there were a few stage plays before this as wikia mentioned. But I don't care anymore. I'm curious of the musical performing this year 2016. I wonder if it'll be good since it's mentioned as the 1st musical with song. All in all, despite it lack music, it had generous comedy, cheerful actors, battle scenes, and good costume. I'm very amazed at Hotohori king's costume. It suits the actor so much. Although the ending is weird (Miaka went back to her world again while all Sichi Seishis tried to search for a new way to call Suzaku), it gives me good impression.

Still, I feel it's very short! And did you know that the casts were surprised when Nakago took a sword from a soldier's body and the soldier was like, being vacuum to the backstage? That was thanks to the flipped-book-like stage.


My thoughts of this musical:

1. Favorite Actor : Itou Risako (Miaka). She's very cheerful & energetic. Love her arguing with Tamahome.
2. Favorite Scene : Taiitsu's Order. I can't stop laughing at her order for Chichiri & Nuriko.
3. Less Favorite Actor : None. All seems to enjoy being the character, even Yui's actress.
4. Favorite Sichi Seishi : Of course Tamahome. But in this stage play, I like Nuriko!

Ok. I'm finish with reviewing every musical I've watched. Most of them without subs, except Hakuouki Saitou, Okita, Kazama-hen. Below is my conclusion from them:

1. Largest stage : Kuroshitsuji Musical
2. Tiniest stage : Fushigi Yuugi 2015
3. Most following original adaptation : Clock Zero Re-verse-mind & all KuroMyus from manga adaptation
4. Most song used : Hakuouki Musical (every 5 mins or so in 2,5-3 hours!)
5. Greatest song performance & rhythm : Kuroshitsuji Musical
6. Full of greatest actors can sing well (FY not included) : Persona 3
7. Full of actors can't sing well (FY not included) : Clock Zero Re-verse-mind
8. Full of comedies : Persona 3 The Weird Masquerade Gunjou no Meikyuu
9. Less comedy : Kuroshitsuji Musical 2 - rerun 2015
10. Most complex costume : Hakuouki Musical (changing clothes from old-western in every musical)
11. Most simple costume : Persona 3 (just school & daily life costume)
12. Best extra video : Clock Zero Re-verse-mind (you should watch the extra!)
13. Longest duration : Hakuouki Musical & Kuroshitsuji Musical (2,5-3 hours)
14. Shortest duration : Fushigi Yuugi 2015
15. Full of technology included : Persona 3