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zxvmp · 9 months

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Toge Inumaki x Fem!Reader

Warnings: improper use of techniques, slightly suggestive (not exactly smut, just hip grinding and making out 😛), mentions of depression, starving, and anxiety.

summary: you’re a new student at jujustu high looking for a way to understand curses more and control your technique. what you didn’t expect was getting yourself distracted by a particular boy..

a/n: this take place when yuta, maki, panda, and toge are all first years so my life’s easier lmao. kinda long story, probably should’ve done this on ao3 tbh 😭

Gojo had told you to meet in a classroom down the hall so he could introduce you to the other first years of jujutsu high. You always knew curses existed in the world, at a young age you discovered your technique. Strange markings formed on the palms of your hands and just from the touch of your skin you could dismantle peoples body’s parts. A very dangerous technique. You’ve hurt more people than you could count, even your own parents. Something you’d never forgive yourself for.

After unintentionally harming people, you shut yourself out and ignored many people in your life. Those people didn’t deserve to live their life with missing limbs because of your technique. You found yourself falling deeper and deeper into depression, rarely going out, and barely eating. Many things changed after a special grade sorcerer by the name of Satoru Gojo introduced you to the world of cursed energy and a high school specially made for people like yourself.

Taking a deep breath, you clenched your gloved fists slid open the shoji door.

Immediately you felt all eyes on you. Everyone’s piercing gazes sent shivers down your spine from how intimidated they were. Was that a panda?

“Why don’t you introduce yourself?” Gojo suggested.

Your eyes stared at the floor as you fiddled with your fingers, trying to think of an introduction. Letting out a deep sigh, you raised your head with confidence and began to speak.

“My name is (y/n), it’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

Gojo began to introduce you to the people in the room, but one stuck out the most. He had white hair with a slight silver tint to it and beautiful lavender colored eyes. Although you couldn’t see his full face, he seemed to give you a smile when Gojo finally told you his name.

“I think you and Toge will get along the most, which is why i’ll be sending you both on a mission.”

Of course, out of all the people he had to choose him.

“A mission? Already?” You ask nervously. You had just started at the school and he was already sending you on a mission.

“Uhh yeah?” Gojo snickered, motioning for the two of you to follow him out.

You hesitated to follow, but seeing Toge follow him out made you follow as well. Giving a quick wave goodbye to the others, you quickly caught up the boys. As you walked beside them, you couldn’t help but feel nervous and kick the rocks on the road to help distract your mind. You’d never fully experienced a fight against a cursed creature, so you had no idea what you’d do when you’d encounter one. Toge seemed to notice your nervousness and poked your shoulder.

“Mustard leaf.”

Squinting your eyes at the boy, he seemed puzzled as well.

“Mustard leaf?” You ask out of confusion.

Gojo let out a low chuckle before turning to you to explain why he used strange words to communicate. Apparently he was a cursed speech user, and to prevent from harming himself and others, he uses rice ball ingredients to speak.

“So do you understand what he’s saying?” You whisper, only loud enough for Gojo to hear.

“No, but sometimes I act like I do to make him feel better.” Gojo snickered, gaining the attention of the cursed speech user.

After Gojo placed a barrier around the school you were assigned, you were now left alone with Toge. As much as you tried to understand what he was saying, he became frustrated and let out a sigh.

“I’m sorry..” You say, feeling guilty you couldn’t understand what he was trying to say.

He quickly shook his hands and made a few strange gestures that made you raise an eyebrow. With a roll of his eyes he pulled out his phone and began to type into a notepad app.

“Not you, me. You are okay.”

You quickly realized he was frustrated with himself and not you, which made you a bit more relieved.

“I see, what exactly where you trying to say earlier?”

He began to tap his screen fast, showing you another response.

“Wanted to see if you were okay, seemed stress.”

You found it cute he cared about how he cared for you despite you two just meeting. Looking at his soft features you could tell he was a kind-hearted person.

“Awe thank you. I’m just a bit nervous, that’s all.”

Before he could respond, his eyes quickly darted to the curse behind you. In seconds you watched his fingers unzip his large collar and push you out the way.

“Explode!”

Your eyes widened as the curse immediately exploded from just the sound of his voice. Speaking of his voice, he sounded very hot all of a sudden. Snapping out of your thoughts, you quickly rushed to his side to made sure he was okay. Looking at his face you could see markings on both of his cheeks, and his tongue that was stuck out.

“Thank you, are you alright?”

He gave you a nodded and zipped his collar back up, continuing to walk forward as if what he just did wasn’t amazing. Jogging to his side you couldn’t help but smile, he was very cute.

“That’s a very unique technique you have, I like your markings.” You say with a small smile.

You two stared into each others eyes before he whispered a small ‘thanks’. It was a shame he was limited to short words, his voice was so beautiful.

Walking through the halls of an empty school felt so strange, especially with the weird feeling of eyes constantly on you. You’d always have sharp senses, but being with him made you more nervous than you should’ve been. Setting your thoughts aside you took a deep inhale to focus yourself on the mission. As you both turned a corner you were both face to face with a large curse. This time you took the lead and defended him before he used his speech technique.

Placing your gloves in your skirt pocket, you raised on hand and placed it on the curses rough skin. The curse cried out in pain as it’s body crumbled away from just the touch of your palm. A slight sting formed in the hand you had just used, causing you to wince in pain.

“Mustard leaf.”

You had remembered he asked you that question earlier, and he explained to you moments ago he was asking if you were alright. Putting two and two together you understood what he was trying to say.

“I’m fine, just a slight pain.”

He nodded and reached for you hand, but you quickly whipped them away before he could touch them. You didn’t know if letting him touch your hands would harm him, and you didn’t want to risk any chances.

“I might hurt you.” You say, placing your hands behind your back.

“Bonito Flakes.” Toge said shaking his head, reaching for your hand once more.

You gasped once he made contact, but to your surprise nothing happened to him. Mouth open in shock, he observed your hands and markings and gave you a smile before placing them back down gently. Maybe this was what Gojo meant by us getting along. You two shared some common traits.

He pulled out his phone to type into his notes app once more and held his screen in front of his face.

“If you focus hard enough, you won’t hurt the people you care about.”

Gojo had explained to you that throughout your time at the school you’d gain control over your technique, and thinking about it now, he could be right. You stared down at your palms and eyes the two markings on your palms. You knew they meant destruction, so you always thought anything you touched would be destroyed.

The two of you shared a quick smile before continuing your walk around to find the main curse to exorcise, but as you followed the white haired boy, a large tentacle broke through a window startling you both. Large glass pieces flew through the air, some leaving cuts on your exposed skin. Toge took action and unzipped his collar, yelling “Twist.”

The tentacle twisted and you could hear the cries of the curse outside as it retracted its tentacle. That curse had to be the one you were both looking for. It was very large and you could feel how powerful its energy was. Since you were only on the second floor it’d be safe to jump out to save the time of running down the halls and down the stairs to reach the creature. Giving Toge a quick nod, you both jumped out the window.

“Don’t move!”

The curse stilled it’s movements, giving you the time to place your hands on it to destroy it. Since the size of the curse was pretty big, destroying it took a lot of energy and focus. Soon after the contact you made with it, the curse cried out and exploded, causing you to fall to ground from its body crumbling away. Your hands trembled and you silently cried in pain from the intense stinging you felt in your hands.

Toge quickly rushed to your side, one hand placed on your back and the other turning your chin towards him. “Mustard leaf?!”

Even with the pain you felt, you couldn’t help but feel flustered from how close you two were in the moment. You could see all of his features much clearer now. His sharp jawline, pale clear skin, beautiful lavender eyes, he was so ethereal. His eyebrows raising caused you to snap of your daze and made you nudge him away from you to calm yourself down.

“It’s just the after effects, I promise you i’m fine.”

You gave him a quick smile before standing and placing your gloves back onto your hands. He coughed a bit as he zipped his collar up, making you wonder if using cursed speech took a toll on his throat. It must’ve if he had to use it all the time.

Gojo congratulated you for completing your first mission without any injuries and sent you back to the academy in a car with your new friend. During the car ride the two of you shared some things about each other throughout text messages since you still couldn’t fully understand what he was trying to tell you.

You learned quickly that he could be a tease, but you didn’t mind.

The next three months was spent going on missions with your new teammates—Maki, Panda, and Yuta— and intense training. You learned that Maki couldn’t use cursed energy which you found unfortunate, but despite her not having cursed energy she was very admirable. She was extremely flexible and incredibly good at wielding weapons; you lost almost every sparing match against her. The other two were very kind, especially Yuta. He could be very awkward sometimes but told good jokes to make up for it.

One thing you wished you could ignore throughout those three month were the strong feelings you felt towards. Toge. There had always been this strange tension between the two of you whenever it was just the two of you hanging out. Even being his best friend, you always felt slightly nervous around him to the point you tried to avoid him at times. You felt bad when you watched his expression in his eyes change when you ignored his questjons. He, of course, respected your wishes whenever you avoided him. Not ever considering using his technique to force you to explain why you avoided him at times.

…Well, he at least tried to.

Your avoiding had been going on for weeks now and he was starting to become frustrated. Maki wouldn’t even tell him why, he knew she knew but he wanted to hear it come from your mouth.

A knock on your door startled you from the book you had been reading as you quickly walked over to see who see who had knocked at such a late time.

Your eyes widened as it was the one boy you had been avoiding for the past three weeks. Before you could close the door, Toge quickly stopped it and forced his way in, closing it behind him.

Usually he’d text you before coming to your room, so his sudden appearance made you nervous since you were dressed in a large t-shirt with only a bra and underwear on underneath.

“H-Hey Toge, what’s up?” You say nervously, fiddling with your hands behind your back. His intense stare made you even more nervous than you needed to be, and you just knew your cheeks were a bright red.

His eyes squinted as he cocked his head to the side, eyeing you up and down before sighing.

“Avoiding.” Toge whispered.

Damn, did he catch on?

“What do you mean?” You say, playing dumb.

He scoffed and pushed past you, heading towards your desk to write on a sticky note. “Don’t play dumb (y/n).”

Did he finally notice your strange behavior? The way you fumbled your words around him and evident blush that always coated your cheeks whenever he touched or looked at you. Maybe avoiding him made him put things together, and now he was confronting you about it. He scribbled down a new sentence, holding the note in your face.

“You’ve been avoiding me, why?”

You gasped in shock at his accusation, of course he wasn’t wrong, but you still didn’t want to admit it. “I have not been avoiding you, Toge.”

He sighed as he rolled his eyes, hands running through his hair before ripping another note to write down another sentence.

“Tell me, please?”

Your heart rate increased from the intimidating gaze he gave you as he held the note out for you to read.

“It’s getting late. You should-”

“Tell me.” Toge said, his cursed energy immediately hitting your body.

Your words flew out of your mouth immediately without any warning, “I’ve been avoiding you because I like you.”

Both of your eyes widened, yours mostly widened because he used his technique on you and he’d never done that before. Your hands instantly flew your mouth as you backed away slowly before you stumbled onto your couch.

Toge took a full stack of sticky notes along with a pen and quickly rushed to sit beside you.

“N-No! I swear that isn’t it. I don’t know why I said that.” You chuckle nervously.

He shook his head and wrote down a note for you to read. “Don’t lie. Do you really like me?”

At this point, your heart was pounding out of your chest, ready to burst at any given moment. You clenched your hands into a fist onto your thighs as you turned your flushed face away from him, too embarrassed to tell him to his face.

“Face towards me.” Toge demanded.

A slight shock ring throughout your body before you felt your body move on it’s own, you now facing Toge again.

“Hey stop doing that! That’s unfair.” You pout, unable to turn your body.

Toge scoffed and shoved another sticky note to your face, “I don’t want to have to ask again. >:(”

You sighed in defeat as you lowered you head, whispering a small ‘yes’.

Toge smirked as he tossed the paper and pen to the side, tilting your chin up towards him, mouthing “I like you too.”

Your mouth parted slightly and Toge took that as his chance to place a quick kiss onto your soft lips. As he pulled back a bit to admire your expression, you could see his sly smile on his face. You knew he was enjoying this. Without thinking, you rushed in to crash your lips against his—a desperate kiss. You practically melted into his touch as his hands traveled up your thighs before pulling you on top of him to deepen the kiss even more.

The moment was perfect to you, something you’d always imagine but never expect to ever happen. His tongue moved hungrily against yours as his grip on you tightened, causing you let out a small gasp. Your hips began to grind against him to help the built up heat forming in your panties. Your fingers ran through his hair through your heated make out session before you both pulled back for air. He looked so handsome like this, his hair ruffled and cheeks flushed, you couldn’t believe you managed to pull him.

“Kiss me.”

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sorry for any spelling errors, i wrote this at like 3 am because i got this sudden urge to write about him…he’s so fine 😇

part 2??

#inumaki toge #jjk inumaki #jujutsu kaisen #toge x reader #gojo satoru #maki zenin #panda jjk #furukawa yuta #one shot #fluff #smut?#first kiss

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beccalendsahand · 1 year

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Toho Elisabeth 2022: Der Tod Comparision Analysis

After years of being a fan, I finally had the opportunity to see Elisabeth live for the first time this autumn. Me and a friend managed to defeat the odds and nab tickets for not just one but two dates, each with a different Der Tod (It's customary for most Toho musicals to have double, triple, or sometimes quadruple casts of its principal characters in their musicals). It was such a fantastic opportunity to see different actors' interpretations of such an iconic character, and seeing as the last Toho-beth was not filmed and previous recordings have not included every cast member, I thought I'd write up a report here for those curious!

Both Tods, Furukawa Yuta (Silver Tod) and Yamazaki Ikusaburo (Purple Tod) brought new and interesting things to the character that I’m really excited to discuss!

Here we go!

What is Toho-beth?

Toho is a big musical theatre company in Japan who are best known for bringing Broadway, Westend, and other foreign musicals to the country. They have been performing Elisabeth for 22 years now! Their production came off the back of the popularity the musical had with Japanese audiences thanks to the Takarazuka version which was first staged in 1996. The show is directed and translated by Koike Shuuichiro, the same writer and director for the Takarazuka version, but with many changes. The Toho production is praised by fans as striking the right balance between the gothic romance of the Takarazuka version, and the darkness and serious themes of the original Vienna production, whilst still managing to keep Elisabeth the main character of her story.

Disclaimers before we begin:

I have not watched every Elisabeth so my knowledge of previous versions is: Takarazuka: 1996, 2014 and 2018, Toho: 2016, Vienna: 1992 and 2006.

Each of the days I saw Der Tod was starring alongside Manaki Reika as Elisabeth, I do not know how their performances differed if at all when they costarred with Hanafusa Mari

This production had stage kisses instead of real kisses which may have influenced the actor's portrayal of the famous Rudolf x Der Tod kiss scene. I think this must have been a covid related choice, however, it's hard to tell as other Toho productions I've seen recently have had real kisses and Der Tod still walks through the audience in act one… But Lucheni does not walk into the audience or interact with them during Kitsch, so make of that what you will, I guess we won't know for sure till future productions!

Day 1: Furukawa Yuta as Der Tod

My first performance was with Furukawa Yuta. Furukawa's Tod is the most soft, gentle, human Tod I've ever seen. I wasn't sure what to think at first of his portrayal as its so different from other versions, but as the show went on I really became captured by his performance. I left the theatre with so many thoughts, trying to analyze the motivations and psyche of his character, it really made me think about Der Tod in a new way, and just made me more obsessed with the show. I'll try and put my thoughts into words here.

From his gentleness, its very clear that Furukawa plays him as genuinely in love with Elisabeth, however this does not mean that his Tod is not without his dark sides. I think what makes his Tod so good is he lulls you into a false sense of security. He speaks to Elisabeth as a pleading lover and baby Rudolf as a caring adult, but every now and again a flash darkness or anger will appear, reminding you that underneath his human appearance is Death himself.

Furukawa Tod and Elisabeth

His love for Elisabeth is perhaps the first time I've fully understood their relationship. Despite being a big Takarazuka fan I've always found the ending very jarring, as one scene ago Elisabeth says she doesn't love Tod and then suddenly she's running into his arms at the end and singing about their love for each other. Even in previous Toho and the Vienna versions despite the lyrics for the song being different, I've still found it a strange ending, but Furukawa and Manaki did it incredibly. I think as Furukawa's Tod is more gentle, already it is easier to understand why Elisabeth is drawn to him. Elisabeth is seeking independence and comfort, so why would she fall for a Der Tod who is literally pushing her around? When Furukawa comes to her it is always like an infatuated man hoping for his love to be returned, but because he is Death he doesn't know how to express his feelings, and things become muddled for him. I got the impression that he wanted to give Elisabeth his love but sadly he couldn't help who he was, and that part of him that is Death manifested itself still in his actions. Like creating chaos amongst the people, and killing baby Sophie and Rudolph. My favourite scene between the two of them was the doctor scene in Act 2. When Elisabeth says she wants to die, Furukawa says the line “おお、エリザベート、待っていた！” “Oh, Elisabeth! I’ve been waiting (to hear those words/for this moment)!” he says it with such happiness and almost child-like excitement it’s both creepy and sweet at the same time. His happiness in dark contrast to the reality of what he will do to her. Also, this is the first scene where we have Tod do more than just hold Elisabeth in his arms, as he runs his hands up and down her body, a very bold move for Furukawa Tod who until this moment has been relatively reserved around Elisabeth. This really added to the unsettling feeling of the scene, Tod is so carried away in this moment, running about the stage excited to take his bride back to the underworld, all the while Elisabeth is just stood there rigid in shock. Such an interesting moment in the show. I really liked how Tod’s emotions toward Elisabeth felt very consistent throughout the show, it was refreshing to see such a genuine feeling of love from Death towards Elisabeth, even if he did not act on his love in the right ways. The song before Elisabeth’s death again really gave us this message. When Franz Joseph says that Elisabeth is his, I feel that usually, Tod's reply that no, it's in fact him that she loves, is very confident, he knows he has the upper hand over Franz, but Furukawa sings it like a human cry, like he's trying to convince himself. There's this uncertainty in his mind but he is willing it to be true. When he and Elisabeth are together finally it is not a big romantic gesture, it's a very small moment and he gently kisses her and sets her onto the coffin and looks on sadly. He finally got her, but only for the briefest moment.

Furukawa Tod and Rudolf

The Rudolf arc has always been my favourite part of Elisabeth, so I was excited to see how it was performed in this version. This was definitely the part where I fully got on board with Furukawa's Tod and started theorising in my head about what his interpretations meant. As said above, Furukawa Tod talks to baby Rudolf like a caring adult, there isn't the usual sinister undertones that you feel with most other Tods in this scene. Furukawa stretches out on the stairs, propping his head up with his arm, and listens intently to Rudolf when no one else does. A part that I found particularly interesting is how when Tod takes the gun from baby Rudolf and Rudolf faces away from him, standing at the front of the stage looking at the audience, Tod looks on at him, with his arm outstretched, gun laid on his palm as an offering. This is in stark contrast to Shirota and Yoshio in the 2016 version who both pointed the gun at him as if about to shoot him.(something else I just wanna mention is his hilarious reaction to the "I killed the cat" line, Furukawa first raises his eyebrows in shock, then narrows them in confusion and then smiles and nods like a proud dad, brilliant) When we get to “yami ga hirogaru/Fie schatten werden langer”, and the famous kiss scene, it's a very interesting moment. Usually, at least in the takarazuka and Vienna versions i've seen, the kiss is a very aggressive and/or possessive move from Tod. In the 2016 Toho version, it is Rudolf that kisses Tod after Tod gives him the gun. This time Tod kisses Rudolf, but it is, like everything Furukawa does, a gentle kiss. As said in the disclaimer stage kisses are used this time so perhaps that contributed to this direction, but what makes it even more striking is that after he kisses him, he slowly steps back and watches on with a sad, almost regretful look on his face as Rudolf turns to the audience and slowly raises the gun to his head. A moment that is usually interpreted by previous Tods as a victory moment, is painted as one tinged with sorrow by Furukawa. As I said before I get this impression that his Tod is fighting with his duty as Death and this human emotion he's feeling for Elisabeth. And this scene really made me think that. Perhaps he came to care for Rudolph too, but he befriended him for a reason and now he has to see it through. Or maybe in this version Tod isn't even doing these things to get Elisabeth, perhaps Rudolph's death was always his fate and Tod is just doing his duty.

It’s questions like these that really made me fall in love with his Tod. Well done Furukawa!

Day 2: Yamazaki Ikusaburo Der Tod

2 weeks later I was back in the theatre for Yamazaki Tod! Ever since Yamazaki got cast as Der Tod back in 2020 I have been so intrigued as to how he would play him. I consider his Lucheni as my favourite out of all the ones I’ve seen so I was wondering if his Der Tod could live up to his Lucheni... AND IT DID!

Yamazaki put David Bowie back into Der Tod, he had so much command over the stage, strutted around like a rock star and went full commitment to the glam rock androgynous style. The long purple hair, eyeliner, and amazing costumes (black mesh billowy shirt HELLO???!!!!) a bi-icon. I think whilst Furukawa made a completely new version of Der Tod I feel that Yamazaki took us back to the origins of role but added in the Japanese influence. My first impression was a man playing Der Tod like a Takarazuka actress, but as it went on a realised that wasn't quite it. If I was to compare him to any other Tod I’d probably mention Kim Junsu from the Korean production, whilst I haven’t the full show, from the few clips of it I’ve seen I instantly thought “this is the KPOP der Tod”, I feel like Yamazaki did a similar thing, but instead of KPOP it was JRock. He was really reminding me of Visual Kei Rock bands like The Gazzette and SID with his performance. His vocals were out of this world, merging visual-kei sound with undertones of musical theatre training creating this ethereal and at times sinister sound. I think this was so cool to see as originally Der Tod was inspired by David Bowie and Glam Rock which Japanese Visual Kei music was inspired by. This influence has been absent from the Toho and Takarazuka versions with more of a focus on the fantastical elements so it was nice to see that added back in. I must say when watching the show before I had found Furukawa and Kuroba Mario's pop/rock style high notes endearing (affectionate), like they were trying but couldn't quite get there, so it really was amazing hearing Yamazaki sing them like a true rock star would. In terms of acting, his take on the role is a lot more classical, in that this is definitely a Tod that loves chaos, someone who takes pleasure in toying with people's lives.

Yamazaki Tod and Elisabeth

Unfortunately, Yamazaki’s Tod does fall back into my problem with Tod’s I’d seen before, where at the end of the show I was left thinking “yeah but why is Elisabeth with him?”. Yamazaki’s Tod is definitely more obsessed with her on a surface level rather than being in love with her. His take on Tod is much darker in comparison to Furukawa’s, he has much more of an eerie presence and quite vacant expressions that make you wonder what he is thinking. Whilst Furukawa's darkness is hidden by his gentle exterior, Yamazaki’s is all there for you to see. He is very in control of his movements, everything feels very precise, whilst Shirota gave us an in-human Der Tod by playing him with animal-like gestures to make him seem almost like some kind of "creature", Yamazaki achieves this in-human Der Tod by being completely devoid of feeling. There was just something incredibly unnerving about him like you could tell something was not quite right behind the eyes. I think this feeling is best described by this Twitter user who did these beautiful Der Tod illustrated head cannons saying “I feel like he sleeps upright in a coffin…I’m not sure if he actually sleeps though”.

A moment I particularly liked was when he appears to Elisabeth in her chambers and pops up from behind her chair. Whilst most Tods seem to play this as a quick jump scare before stepping out from the shadows straight after, Yamazaki just stays there, arms draped over the top of the chair like “oh you poor thing”. It reminded me of a cat toying with its pray. I think that moment sums his Tod up very well.

To compare his Tod to the moments I liked from Furukawa, the doctor scene also feels very different, Yamazaki’s Tod feels very confident, he isn’t running around the stage with glee, and he surprisingly isn’t as heavy handed as Furukawa was. Though he stilll runs his hands over Elisabeth it’s a much more subtle moment, perhaps in his eyes, he’s had her from the start so doesn’t feel like he needs to act so desperately.

The song with Franz Joseph is again more classic Tod, he sounds very confident that he has her. I don’t have any analytical things to say about this scene but I think it's worth mentioning that he licks the knife before giving it to Lucheni, make of that what you will...

Yamazaki Tod and Rudolf

So after seeing Furukawa’s interpretation I was so intrigued to find out if this was unique to Furukawa or if it was a new direction the Toho production was taking Der Tod's character, and I'm excited to say, both actors had completely different interpretations! So let's start with baby Rudolf. Yamazaki sits beside Rudolf and intently listens to his story, the “I killed a cat” moment did not get any laughs from the audience this time as Yamazaki played it completely straight, continuing to listen, nodding along as if it's the most normal thing in the world to hear from a young boy. When Rudolf goes to and faces the audience, from behind him Yamazaki Tod puts the gun to his own head whilst watching Rudolph. His Tod is not subtle with where this story is going. The kiss scene was gentle like Furukawas but it felt much more sinister and instead of looking sad and watching him kill himself like Furukawa did, Yamazaki is cold and unfeeling, he turns his back on Rudolph and leaves him to kill himself, alone in his final moments. I re-watched the same scene in the 2016 production to see how it compared and it was very interesting to see that whilst both Yoshio and Shirota turned their back to Rudolf too, they were still stood beside him. Yamazaki turns his back and walks up centre stage and pauses with his black angles flanking him in 2 lines on either side as Rudolf slowly realises what he's about to do and shoots himself. I can't remember what the black angels did with Furukawa but it was definitely different as Furukawa chose to stay beside Rudolf in that scene. It's so fascinating to me how these interpretations weren't just individually chosen by the actor but were actually worked on to involve the ensemble cast as well, creating differently choreographed scenes depending on which cast you saw. Any similarities between them? I think I would have to see the show again to notice more similarities, but sadly that won't be happening unless we get a recording (please Toho we are BEGGING YOU) but the one thing that did stick out to me was they both do this same gesture. I don't know how to describe it. They do this thing where, -again I wish I could see the show again so I could work out if there's a pattern of when they do this gesture- they like take their hand and starting from wrist at their lips run their hand down, fingers caressing their lips, and they kind of have this fascinated/spark in their eyes? I have no idea if that makes any sense...actually that artist I mentioned earlier, drew it on Furukawa here. It's quite a creepy in-human gesture, I like to think maybe he's feeding on human emotions when he does it...Whatever it was I find it so intriguing that that's the one link between them. I'd also really like to know if either of them were inspired by any particular Takarazuka actresses. Yamazaki has a scar-like tattoo on his hand that makes me think of Mizu Tod and Furukawa's whole look with the wig and costumes and even some of his acting choices reminded me a lot of Asumi Tod at times.

Closing thoughts It’s so hard to know who was my favourite as they both had such completely different interpretations, it felt like I was watching two completely different characters. I think for me personally what one lacked the other made up for. For example, as a long-time fan going to see Elisabeth live for the first time Furukawa took me a while to get on board with as his human portrayal meant that he didn’t have the big bombastic stage presence that you expect from Der Tod (his singing is gorgeous by the way, I mean this more in the nature of his character choices mean his performance is overall much more subtle), so going back and seeing Yamazaki gave me that big showman performance that I had been wanting to see. However, Yamazaki didn’t give me the full satisfying gothic romance feelings that I've always felt missing from Elisabeth that Furukawa managed to really pull off. And his new interpretation left me with my mind buzzing. What they both did though was prove that there is still so much to explore with this character and this show and I love how Toho is still letting Der Tod be an androgynous fantastical being when it seems the Vienna productions have been trying to pull away from that in their recent productions. I really hope this production gets filmed so that everyone can see the talents of not just these men but the entire cast, seeing this show was a dream come true and I know it will give everyone so many new thoughts and theories about this wonderful musical!

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