#honoo no sho

[smbhax]

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children 2 - Honoo no Sho and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children 2 - Koori no Sho (GBA)

[toku-explained]

The Fire Alchemist

Hagane wo tsugu mono: Garo is back, along with Dougai Ryuga, this with season is I believe the character, beside Zaruba, with the most appearances, if he wasn't already. It's been over 5 years since his last appearance, and 10 years since his debut but the man who restored Garo's shine is here again. So HAGANE, despite its status as the generic armour worn by nameless Makai Knughts has appeared all of twice in the franchise, once in the Makai Senki finale, where we saw legions, and one in Honoo no Kokuin, used briefly by Marcelo, and been depicted a little in side media, Raiga is seen donning one in PGARO Saeijima Kouga, and I believe Akatsuki is implied to have acquired one in Yoseki no Wana. Nameless Knights have frequently appeared, but until now one has not been a main character. PS: Official Subs on youtube.

A Horror using LCD advert boards as a gate is interrupted in hunting by Ryuga and Zaruba (back to the classic design it seems), after a fight it tries to flee to the gate, but Ryuga destroys it, forcing the Horror, Chaurus to fight, he destroys it by summoning his armour, for he is Ougon Kishi GARO Sho. On his way out he is approached by Makai Priest Koyori, who delivers Orders from Mutsugi, her Priest superior, requesting his help, as the Gate of Destruction is opening, she wants him to accompany her to CREACITY. A Gate of Destruction is apparently a particularly ancient gate, able to increase people's Ingatestone so they fall, they know it is opening as Horrors have been appearing more and more, from people who shouldn't have been at risk, Zaruba agrees there is a darkness in the air. The city is lively, and while Koyori confirms they have a Makai Knight in town, she doesn't discuss him further, instead sharing how she wants to protect her home. A construction foreman is hung out to dry by his boss after their attempt to skirt regulations was discovered, and in that moment of despair and rage is seduced by a Horror, murdering the boss and a henchman with a hammer, the last man flees. Ryuga and Zaruba sense the Horror and rush into action to Koyori's amazement. Ryuga interrupts as the Horror has the man cornered, fighting the Hammer wielding form of Regrege while trying to protect the man, he is saved by Koyori arriving, though her hand-to-hand strike doesn't achieve what she hoped, she still helps Ryuga keep the Horror off balance until it flees then takes care of the man as Ryuga chases. Ryuga's chase is interrupted by a Makai Knight in Hagane Armour, who manages to destroy the Hammer then cut down the Horror. The Makai Knight is annoyed to see Ryuga in his territory, even when Koyori turns up, leaving while snapping not to get in his way. Koyori explains he is Shirahane Souma, Makai Knight for CREACITY.

Blazar: The 3rd Wave Kaiju, observed by cameras on the dark side of the moon, has been dubbed Vallaron, and is placing organic bombs with the aim of causing explosions large enough to disrupt the lunar orbit and send it in to earth. On hearing if this development Dobashi burns Emi's father's journal. Haruno has been relieved of duty to make up for SKaRD disobeying orders, and they are now expected to take the rushed to completion Earth Garon Mod.4 to fight Vallaron. Anri and Teruaki will pilot, with Gento and Yasunobu controlling the Mod.3 unit. With 24 hours before they are mission ready, Gento gives everyone 18 hours leave. While the others have moments relating to their focus episodes, Gento tries one last attempt to have Haruno talk, and Emi discussed with Earth-kun how they still don't know what the V99 Kaiju's motive is, leading it to reveal it does know but program blocks prevent it discussing it, but in the name of friendship it gives her an encrypted SD card with the data. After talking with his family, Gento returns to duty while Jun is asleep. Earth Garon deploys, and as it approaches the moon Dobashi intrudes in CCP to watch the mission up close, and Emi starts trying to look at the data in Mopy. Earth Garon is hit by a bomb explosion point blank, knocking out everyone except Gento, including Earth-kun, and he has to strongly request Blazar's help, while Dobashi's men come to stop Emi just as she gains access to the files. Blazar struggles with Varallon until another string of explosions knocks down the immobile Earth Garon and knocks the moon out of orbit, Blazar grabs Earth Garon and leaves it to drift back to earth, then puts massive effort into trying push the moon back. Recognising the exertion is knocking it out, Blazar says a goodbye to Gento and returns him to the cockpit before freezing as well, the moon back in its proper place, but Varallon was blasted free and is now en route to earth. Dobashi orders it be destroyed before making planet fall, but with only Gento conscious aboard an immobile Earth Garon, and Blazar's body drifting near the moon, is there any true hope.

Gotchard: Minato has disappeared and nobody at school remembers him. Greyon tells the Abyssal Sisters that the dolls are only suited to creating Malgam, leaving other stuff to Minato. Renge is basically giving up before the Malgam appears and captures both her and Sabimaru, then snatched Kudoh next to Ichinose, who with Gotchard Daybreak manages to fight it off using JungleJan and RaiDenji. When his counterpart offers him the Gotcha Igniter Ichinose refuses, knowing he should create his own power, he is told he'll have to create it from the treasured item he first created with Alchemy, and lent Daybreak's TimeLord to go back. He finds himself in the Ouroboros Realm 10 years ago, and is shocked to find his younger self there playing with Hopper1 and SteamLiner, and witnesses the Chemies create for him the item, a replica of his father's goggles. While he was warned not to interact with himself, Ichinose accidentally does so and plays while trying to make a plan, TimeLord comes under strain after the interaction. Hopper1 suddenly detects a presence, Greyon and the Abyssal Sisters arriving looking for Kudoh Fuga, they find his book which includes the plans for the key to the door of darkness. SaboNeedle attempts to drive them off, but encased in golf by Greyon. Fuga arrives, Greyon informing him he's already altered the assemblies' memories to believe him a traitor who stole the Chemies. Working in sync with UFO-X, X-Wizard and X Fortress, Fuga incapacitates the sisters and struggles with Fuga, who starts gathering the Chemies in one place, young Hotaro tries to shield his friends, and ours in turn shields both him and the Chemies. The distraction gives Fuga the edge he needs to drive Greyon away. When the dust settles young Hotaro gives the goggles as thanks, and when Ichinose is gone Fuga thanks the boy for his courage, secretly erasing his memories while hoping he keeps the memories if his friends in his heart. Returned to the present, Gotchard Daybreak tells Ichinose that in 5 years Greyon will have nearly wiped out humanity and Chemies alike, as such, to Alchemise his Gotcha Igniter, Ichinose infuses his wish of a world where Chemies and Humans can have peace. When he confronts the Malgam and becomes Fire Gotchard, Gotchard Daybreak notices the form is distinct from the one he created, feeling his counterpart has changed the course of their fate. Fire Gotchard saves everyone and completely defeats the Malgam to save NemineMoon. Gotchard Daybreak, seeing TimeLord cannot keep him there any longer, gives some last encouragement, Ichinose realising his word choice reveals him as his future self too late. Renge and Sabimaru are now motivated to help despite the lack of the Academy, while Minato assures Greyon he will deal with his errant pupil.

Kingohger: While Yanma is forcing Racles to sort gears, he suggests the others kings should try and awaken their sealed royal powers, sealed by the original 6 kings 2000 years ago along as Shugoddom's Ohger Crown was. Yanma starts studying his ear piercing, about the only thing the previous N'Kosopa king left when he abandoned the nation, Himeno's crown, Kaguragi's amulet and Rita's glove chain, and Racles suggests they decide a leader, to Yanma's irritation. Dugded decides it's time to put Tikyu in the collection, sending the Jesters to clear things out. The Kings gather for a competition to decide the leader, despite Gira arguing they don't really need one, Racles acting as judge, but it soon devolves into a full on fight to Gira's horror, and when he asks Yanks for help he just uses the now unlocked power to blast the Shugods and Shugoddom with lightning from God Tonbo, laughing as he declares himself on top. Gira was blasted down to the city, finding the people also fighting, only now realising Hilbill has controlled practically everyone. Kaguragi, immune, distracts her enough for Gira to rush to Yanma as Dugded starts preserving citizens in amber, Gira slugs Yanma and reminds him of his duty of protection, as Hilbill self hypnotises herself into believing herself invincible and grows giant. Now aware and properly able to use his kingly power, Gira and Yanma form King-Ohger and successfully destroy Hilbill. Later, Yanma asks Racles how he felt when he was ruling the world, Racles admitting that despite all his goals he felt on top of the world and drank on power, even revelling in Yanma's seeming death. Realising now he isn't so different from Racles, Yanma goes to everyone to request a resigning to the Six Kingdom Alliance, one establishing everyone as equal and imposing a duty to stop any of the kings if they are endangering the people. Suzume visits Racles in his cell to tell him of this, realising he suggested finding a leader to make them realise this, as he explains the 6 powers were originally one, and the original kings split them in the hopes that they would only be awoken again when their successors united as one in purpose for the good of their people.

[just-a-ygo-fan]

VRAINS Episode 63 Cast List

Episode 63: 転生する炎 – Tensei Suru Honoo

(Transmigrating Flames)

Blood Shepherd has searched through Soulburner’s memories and discovered his weakness. Blood Shepherd then uses his vicious Drone combo to overwhelm Soulburner and drive him into a corner. Can Soulburner overcome his weakness and win this Duel…?!

Cast:

Fujiki Yusaku/Playmaker: Ishige Shoya

Ai: Sakurai Takahiro

Homura Takeru/Soulburner: Kaji Yuki

Flame: Yashiro Taku

Kusanagi Shoichi: Kimura Subaru

Dojun Kengo/Blood Shepherd: Okuda Takanori

Bessho Emma/Ghost Girl: Kamakura Yuna

Yoroizaka: Suzuki Ryota

Mizunuma Ryujiro: Nogami Sho

Young Takeru: Inase Aoi

Extras

Script: 前川 淳 || Maekawa Atsushi

Storyboard: 須永 司 || Sunaga Tsukasa

Direction: 武藤公春 || Mutou Kimiharu

Animation Director(s): 川村裕哉, 荏原裕子 || Kawamura Yuya, Ebara Yuko

Credits: DMC3444

[sambart93]

2018.08.21-22 Sengoku Night Blood, SenBura Stage [Review]

Official Site here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Video Coverage 1, 2 DVD PreOrder here and here and here

CAST and CHARACTERS

ODA CLAN Kubota Hidetoshi as Oda Nobunaga Matsumoto Hinata as Akechi Mitsuhide Yokoda Ryugi as Mori Ranmaru Hagio Keishi as Niwa Nagahide Kishimoto Takuya as Shibata Katsuie

UESUGI CLAN Maeyama Takahisa as Uesugi Kenshin Jinnai Sho as Naoe Kanetsugu Aramaki Yoshihiko as Uesugi Kagekatsu

TOYOTOMI CLAN Akazawa Tomoru as Toyotomi Hideyoshi Sadamoto Fuuma as Takenaka Hanbei TAKA as Kuroda Kanbei Yamamoto Ikkei as Maeda Toshiie

Mizukoshi Ayumi as Yuzuki Fujiwara Natsumi as Imari (voice only) Sasaki Yoshihide as Ishida Mitsunari (voice only)

Ensemble: Ando Keisuke, Izumi Shintaro, Ichinose Yoshihito, Terada Yohei, Matsumoto Naoya, Shinozaki Atsushi

NON-SPOILER REVIEW

Overall: This was not as bad as I was expecting (Pre-Thoughts under the cut) but it wasn’t that much good to be honest. The story was pretty boring (it’s a carbon copy of the anime, I was hoping they’d spice something up) but the characters (in terms of personality) were different to what they are in the anime/game; the songs were cringey - especially where they placed them - and honestly were totally unnecessary -- keeping it as a straight stage would’ve been best. The action choreography was very boring, very repetitive, and none of them have unique fighting styles at all; except MakiChan who was obviously given the ‘OK’ to incorporate the choreography he’s learnt from TouStage into this stage. Some parts of this story just DRAGGED OUT while other parts of the story, that should’ve been longer, were short as fuck. The balance, and what they chose to extend, and what they chose to skim over were just all poor choices. The comedy in this IS good; huge kudos to KishiTaku, Ikkei, Tomorun and Taka for the comedic moments because they were very funny and got huge laughs from me and from almost all the audience every time. But the comedy is stretched out with no real rhythm; the entire middle section is just serious whereas the beginning and end is comedy; would’ve been better if they had spread it out more evenly rather than at either end. The costumes looked GREAT! I do give huge kudos to the stylist team because those outfits were very detailed and very well made, I really enjoyed spending time looking over them all. There ARE chunks of this stage that I did enjoy: Kagekatsu’s entrance, Shibata&Niwa’s banter, the higawaris, Tomorun as Toyotomi was perfect etc., but there was so much more that annoyed me or that I wish was different or that I wish had been added that my overall feeling for this stage is meh. And I just felt sorry for the actress in all honesty. I watched her during the curtain call everytime and she just didn't seem happy. When everyone was walking off stage, being stupidly and waving in the crowd, she just kept this small smile on her face with her hands behind her back and walked off quietly; she obviously knows the fans outrage but I wanted her to join in somewhat too. She was already there, she might as well enjoy it. I did feel bad for her. To be honest, the best part of this whole stage? The curtain call! The curtain call was absolutely hilarious! I watched 3 times so I got curtain calls from Sadamoto, Kubota, Hagio, MakiChan, MaeChan and Jinnai-kun. And their curtain call speeches were absolutely hilarious and so much fun! The three from Uesugi clan; Mae, Maki and Jinnai were absolutely hysterical! They were sooooo funny in curtain call!  There was no point giving them individual curtain calls because they all ended up talking together and messing around and doing some skits with each other; they were so funny! Absolutely hilarious! But it is technically really sad that the best part about this stage was the damn curtain call and when they were all able to be themselves again...  Rating: 4/10. If we include the curtain calls then 5/10 because they really were worth the 2 hour struggle.

SPOILER REVIEW

I had enough time, shhh we're ignoring the fact of how far behind I am on my OTHER reviews, to write down some PRE-thoughts and predictions and stuff. I like remembering what I was thinking and feeling beforehand too... So for the stuff this month (ie. in August), each one has this written.

Pre-Thoughts: I am so worried about this play! I was SUPER excited at first but then they announced it was going to be a MUSICAL and not just a stage... THAT'S a terrible choice in my opinion. I think this would be a lot stronger as a normal stage. Next worry I have, in particular, is Sadamoto Fuma and Yokoda Ryugi. Not because of the actors themselves, but because both of them are playing characters I ABSOLUTELY love and adore in the game and I really, really don't want them to fuck it up... Then we have Hagio who, from my previous things I've seen him in, I just don't understand his acting, I just don't like him. So that's another I'm not hopeful about. Then we have MaeChan and Jinnai... while I trust them as actors... for some reason I'm worried about them playing Uesugie and Naoe... especially because Uesugi is really popular and important and is a fan favourite, and Naoe... I just have a connection to him because he's a character in Honoo no Mirage so I already have MakiChan and Hiramaki Jin as my Naoe. Then my finally worry is the damn story... the only COMPLETE clan in this stage is Oda-gumi, so that means it'll be Oda-history-central. So does that mean we're getting ANOTHER stage about Honoouji no Hen? TouStage already covered Oda's history. We already have Hakuouki and TouMyu for historical musicals. So WHY is SenBura a musical and focusing on Oda?! Finally, the other story worry is... they announced the female character’s actress the Sunday two weeks before the damn show started... hmmmm.... ALSO the damn Arasuji-Synopsis hasn't even been put up yet! It STARTS in two weeks! ARGH!!! So yes I am completely filled with worry BUT that isn't going to stop me going and watching it three times...

*

Real spoilers start now...

If you’ve seen the anime or played the game then you know the story so I won’t bother writing it out. Also we’ll be sign coded: ☆ for neutral or positives and ★ for negative comments.

General Comments:

★ The amount of empty seats at each show. Especially in the front rows just made me sad. The first show, the entire third balcony was empty. The second show, the third floor was half empty. And I think again for the third show, I went to, the entire 3 balcony was empty. There was almost no one for touji every time. And think their only sold out show was the first Sunday night show and that's it. Just hurts. And I always had at least 2 seats on one side of me all to myself; I had a 9th and 10th first floor seat. When I was on the 3rd balcony, I had the ENTIRE row to myself. Just hurts my heart...

★ The story is a carbon copy of the anime/game story which really bummed me out. I kind of wanted some of it to be different, especially with how great all the guys (personality wise) are in this, I wanted some more. I especially wanted more historical aspects and their relationships between each other to be more detailed and in-depth.

★ There isn’t so much of a plot.... I really felt like ‘why is she here?’ because even the romance plot-line was non-existent besides the one or two scenes she has with Toyotomi and the only reason Toyotomi has this plot line is because Tomoru is one of the lesser actors so fans won't get as pissy about it if it’s him with the plotline -- you can obviously tell who the bigger stars are by the way their stories are written and their relationship with Yuzuki (very much non-existent so the fans of theirs don't get pissy) and the fact that only THEY got SOLO SONGS. And even with her in, they don’t really explain WHY she is there. The mention Meguhime ONCE and that's all! And then we spend the rest of the play looking for her stupid phone -- why would she need it?! Why does she need it here?! It ain't gonna work! So why look for it?! Ugh... And they don't explain her at all. They very quickly go 'oh we know you have magical blood but none of us will use it as a weapon of war' and that's it! So why is she there?! Just ughhh.... you could've very easily taken her out of it and just kept it between the boys and their stories and their dynamic. She really was unnecessary. There’s literally nothing about her that is explained that’s linked to the main plot and there isn’t really a plot at all. But I guess that matches the games plot... sorry, I stopped reading the stories after the first Uesugi chapter xD

★ But going ALL against that, I feel like almost all their personalities in this are different to what they’re like in the game - or at least how I’ve imagined it. And this caused problems for me. But this also goes back to my non-spoiler comment of 'they spent more time on stuff that wasn't important and didn't flesh out the parts that would've been good' and one of these parts is the boys' personalities and histories and relationships etc. I wanted ALL that! I wanted more! AND the very short time we do spent with, say, Niwa...Hanbee...Kuroda...Ranmaru... I felt like ALL their personalities were SO different to what we've become accustomed to in the game. Especially Hanbei and Ranmaru. I LOVE these two in the game! Hanbei is CRAZY as shit in the game! He's so damn creepy and he's so risky and loves putting Yuzuki in danger, but in this stage? He is literally her BFF and just acts like a child. WHAT? That's not Hanbei! And with Ranmaru?! Where's his creepy as voice?! Where's his constant threaten to steal Yuzuki's blood in this?! There was none of it! Give me my creepy boys back! So yeah, safe to say I didn't like Fuuma or Yokoda as my favourite boys. BUT again, I blame this on the script, and the fact they didn’t want to piss fans off. If they had spent more time, especially with the Ranmaru x Hanbee fighting scene, then maybe we could've seen their personalities more, we could've heard their voices more, they would've had more time to show me the characters that I love. But no -___- Oh and MakiChan's character?! He changed him COMPLETELY! First of all his voice was no where near as soft and he very quickly changes all because of Yuzuki! Which pissed me off! Kagekatsu is supposed to be this shy, quiet, timid, I'm worried about what my father will do and what he thinks, type of guy but in the stage, MakiChan basically goes to Yuzuki straight away, he opens up STRAIGHT away, he goes against his father STRAIGHT away, he goes to save her rather than his father STRAIGHT AWAY. It really rubbed me the wrong way. Again, if we had spent MORE time with the transition of this character then maybe it would've been more justified but he literally changes within a day.

Sigh... let's get some good in here...

☆ KishiTaku, Ikkei and Tomorun were the funniest! They were absolutely hilarious! Their parts during the higawaris were genius and even when it was scripted comedy their timing and their performance of those comedic moments were spot on and perfect and had me laughing hard (and most of the audience) every time! They were so good as the comedic ones and I wish they had been given more time to be funny. TAKA and Hagio had a very funny moments too! They both were good but were a little bit inconsistent compared to the three above, but that could just be down to their personality/their acting style/their stage experience.

☆ TAKA looked very pretty as Kanbei and he did a really good job as Kanbei too!

☆ The costumes looked much better and more fitted in person than it does in the visuals and everything. Their costumes were so gorgeous and so detailed! I spent just as much time looking and googling all over their costumes as I did watching the play. They were seriously well made and looked so gorgeous!

☆ I realised afterwards just how many damn PuriStage actors there are in this! We have KishiTaku, Hinata and Ayumi -- okay maybe not so many but when I realised, it made me think that maybe the casting director had been to PuriStage and dediced to take a few from there. But PuriStage was a big project so maybe it's just a coincidence xD

Okay back to a few more bad points...

★ I wish...I really wish... I REALLY wish... I really, REALLY wish they hadn’t put the songs in this. They felt so unnecessary. And the parts where they did put them in felt so awkward and out of place and just didn't fit in my opinion. And the dances in them were so cringey too. Everything to do with the songs were cringey. They really were not needed. And the favouritism in the songs too! Only MakiChan, MaeChan and Ikkei got solo songs. Why? Because they're the most popular actors? Because they sold you the most tickets? Because they're getting the biggest salary? Because (2 of them) they did the game as well as the stage? Just what was the stupid logic against giving them solo songs? Their characters aren't even that important -- as in they aren't the main characters! Why give Oda a group song, then Maki and Mae solo songs, then a Toyotomi group song and finally an Ikkei solo song? Seriously, what was the fucking point besides 'cos their fans are the ones that'll be coming the most' such bullshit. And the songs... just why put them in.... and oh god the dancing during the songs.. especially Jinnai's dance during MaeChan's song... that was weird as fuck. I cringed so much in my seat.

★ There’s not enough comedy spread evenly. There's comedy with Oda Clan and Toyotomi clan but smack in the middle where we have this huge Uesugi plot line, there is no comedy and it really drags the story and the stage. Spreading the comedy out more evenly would've been best.

★ The fighting choreography wasn’t good. None of them were unique. They literally all had the same exact style, except for MakiChan who obviously was allowed to use his TouStage skills. It was bland, uninteresting, you couldn't tell any uniqueness between any of them, it was all very repetitive skills. Maybe I've just been spoiled by the magnificence that is TouStage's choreography but... even Shinobi no Saga (review still to come), every single character had a unique way of fighting and you could easily see the difference between them all! And that's supposed to be from a production company that's way below Marv and Kadokawa's level and even they managed! I seriously tried to find something different about each of their fighting styles but it was all the same...

★ The final point is me being nitpicky but I really hated how they did ‘Oda’s Castle’ and ‘Later that Night’ and ‘The Night Day’ signs in the background. I understand it’s because ‘ooohh just like the game!’ but it just felt condescending and pointless to me. We KNOW we’re at Oda’s castle, and it really doesn’t matter how much time passes or whether it’s the same night or not; it really does not matter for this story.

Back to the final few neutrals/positives!

☆ I noticed MakiChan is still favouring his left leg when he runs and fights and spins and stuff but it’s understandable. We don't want him going completely back onto his right leg and fucking it up again.

☆ I really, really enjoyed that for a lot of the play there is a lack of music and it's just the characters talking. I noticed it straight away and at first it was odd but I grew to love it very quickly.

☆ Imari is cute as all hell okay. I will fight anymore who thinks any different. And I absolutely love HOW they animated him and the different situations they put him in in this!

☆ Related to the costumes but, the wigs in this also are very well done! They looked very well made and they flopped around properly and looked really good!

*

Now for specific parts; I’ll split this into the order in which the story flows:

1. Yuzuki going from her world to the introduction of SenBura’s world:

☆ The show opens with her. The introduction of her is very quick and they establish her transportation to the SenBura world very quickly too which was nice. Within the first 2 or 3 minutes we go into Senbura’s world and we get thrown right into a fight scene where all the members are individually introduced.

☆ I like how quick the opening is.

☆ I like how they introduce each character. They each come in and then they pause as their name and title pops up on the screen behind, and a spotlight is on them. A very quick and efficient way of introducing everyone.

☆ The yakuma/bad guys/creatures’ first entrance is really good and the stunts they do here is great! One of them does a back flip and such.

★ The Yakuma picks Yuzuki up but then immediately puts her back down. Why?? You successfully captured her at that point? I really don't understand, besides plot-armour, why they grabbed her and then put her back down...

2. With Oda Clan:

Yuzuki is very quickly snatched by Oda while Toyotomi and Uesugi bicker as to who should take her. So she goes to Oda's castle first.

☆ I really, really, really loved KishiTaku's comedy in this. He was so funny and so perfect as Shibata! He had so many good moments! A few to mention is just after Yuzuki gets comfortable there and Shibata decides to bring Niwa and Yuzuki along to go boar hunting with them, but before they leave, he wants to get some stuff so he's like 'You should come (with us on the trip). But wait here (while I get the goods)' but she doesn't understand if he just changed his mind about her joining and she goes 'well which one?' and his reply 'どっち？どっちでも 笑 // Which one? Both! *laughs*' and it was very well timed and delivered.

☆ So they go boar hunting but they spot Imari who they think is a regular tanuki, so Shibata declares 'change of plans! We chase the tanuki instead!' so they run on and off stage about 3 times chasing Imari (it's very funny) and eventually get more tired every time. It gets to sunset and they're exhausted with no boar or tanuki in hand. But they completely forget to check that Yuzuki stayed with them so Shibata turns around, sees her and goes 'yup... いるな / she's there!' and continues chasing the tanuki xD I really love the Tanuki chase scene so much. It’s very funny seeing them getting more and more out of breath as they keep going past.

☆ After chasing the boar, Shibata tries to hug Niwa but Niwa is like 'don't touch me! You're covered in sweat' but Shibata continues to try and hug him and jokes 'well from now on you can be... not Nagahide, but Asehide! (ase means 'sweat')'.

☆ Later, Shibata and Niwa manage to get the boar and bring back it's meat but they start arguing over who actually got it. 'I was the one who suggested we go' 'But I was the one who captured it!' 'But I was the one who brought the meat here!' And when they argue amongst themselves, Yuzuki laughs and says something like 'you both did well! That's so cool!' and they turn to her and immediately their faces soften and they go 'な！！！な〜〜 // I did it, RIGHT!! *Yuzuki talks* ...riiiight' all happily. It was very funny.

☆ Akechi gets injured and has to rest at one point and so all the boys want him to feel better. Ranmaru is on his way with food for Akechi when Yuzuki spots him and he gets all embarrased and lies who the food is for. Then Shibata and Niwa come back with the meat and try to give it to Akechi and Ranmaru is like 'at least cook it before you give it to him!', and then Niwa takes out these Obako leaves (= the English is 'Plantago asiatica'.) and tries to give them to Akechi but Ranmaru slaps them out of his hands and they fall to the floor. Immediately Niwa gets all quiet and depressed and is like '....洗ったのに / I even washed them.... I washed them.... even though I washed them...' and Ranmaru feels very upset so picks them up, cleans them and puts them in the rice porridge for Akechi. It was a very cute moment! The next moment was great too! So they're all in Akechi's room and they get super upclose to him as he goes to eat the rice porridge, in anticipation of what he thinks about it, but they get too close and so Akechi feels uncomfortable and stops, then tries again, then stops again, and tries again. Finally he does eat it and says it's good and they all smile and are relieved. It was cute. Also, because Akechi is okay and is enjoying the rice porridge, Shibata starts crying and Niwa looks up to the sky to try and stop himself crying.

☆ Shibata cries about two or three times while we're in this first section and it was adorable and really cute.

★ I was a little sad to find out just how much of the comedy was scripted. I really wanted the AseHide to be higawari, and I really wanted the 'どっち？どっちでも 笑 // Which one? Both!' to be higawari and/or ad-lib too but it wasn't. So I was a little disappointed, BUT kudos to KishiTaku who made it feel so natural every time and the timing was always so good!

★ The Oda group song is right at the end of their story arc and it just felt really sudden and out of place. It's not a bad song but the placing is really awkward and the dancing is pretty cringey. I think for the group songs they just used the anime clan ones, but the solo songs seem original for the play.

★ I wish we had been allowed penlights and audience participation because penlights would've been perfect for this Oda group song.

★ As predicted in my pre-thoughts, I didn't warm up to Yokoda's Ranmaru. First, his voice is too low, in comparison to the characters visuals and the seiyuu's voice in the game, and he just wasn't creepy enough and he didn't seem as innocent.

★ Oda just 10000% reminded me of Hakuouki's Hijikata in this. I know both of them were similar in real like; both are pretty disliked, both are stern, both are strict, but I didn't like how Kubota's Oda just reminded me of Hakuouki's Hijikata completely (FYI I HATE Hakuouki's Hijikata).

★ Hagio did well in some parts, like he got a giggle out of me from the Obako scene (his delivery was inconsistent for it though. The second show I saw, he did the best delivery of this scene), and I liked Nagahide and Shibata arguing at each other, but for the most part he was very.... forgettable. Outside of those two scenes, I don't remember him in this stage at all. He's just so forgettable to me. And one of these scenes, he's only good in it because he's got KishiTaku to work with who's really good at these angry but comedic scenes; he had someone to work with so it wasn't even with his own acting skills that I enjoyed those scenes. And Niwa is very much the same as every other character I've ever seen him play so he wasn't memorable to me in this. I know he has a LOT of fans so, 

DEAR HAGIO FANS: is there a stage of his you recommend I see? What was his best performance? I'm open to changing my mind!

★ At the end of this story arc, they end up fighting the Yakuma again and this is when Toyotomi shows up again to fight Oda, and Kagekatsu saves her while they fight amongst themselves. During this battle scene, I wanted more Ranmaru x Hanbei fighting so I could get a better opinion on the actors and their performance. But in this scene, they just clash swords and then run off stage, so all their fighting is done OFF STAGE. Which really annoyed me! Why not spend more time showing me the boys fighting and their dynamics? I don't need to see Yuzuki getting saved; you can do that off stage! Show me the boys fighting each other, give me interesting dialogue between them, show me their rivalry! ESPECIALLY show me a long fight between Ranmaru and Hanbei because they're my two favourite characters!!!! Ugh...

3. With Uesugi Clan:

So during the last battle, Kagekatsu shows up, almost like a spy because he's all covered up, and saves Yuzuki from the battle field and takes her to Uesugi's castle. Here Kenshin explains that Oda wants to use her blood as a weapon, but here they swear never to use it for such use and that she should just relax here for the time being, especially because she got injured during that battle so it'll take some time to heal.

☆ Kagekatsu gets attacked during that Oda-arc-ending battle pretty badly by the Yakuma and he ends up on the floor in a lot of pain, but being close to Yuzuki, who's leg was cut open, he can sense her blood and I really liked how here we had Kagekatsu's heartbeat as the main sound and every time his heart beat, Maki would jolt to the sound, it was very well done. I really liked this small moment.

☆ Also during this battle, Kagekatsu first comes on stage with a hood on, so as to hide his face, but when the Yakuma attack, his hood naturally falls down and it's really nice. In the third show actually, the hood even fell of his shoulders but he caught it very smoothly and just kept it in his hand as he pulls Yuzuki away from the battle.

☆ Again, staying with this battle at the end of Oda's arc, you can tell MakiChan got to choose and do his own choreography, because it was far advanced compared to everyone else's, and it at least looked unique compared to everyone else too. It's really obvious that it's his choreography from TouStage.

☆ I really, really liked the practise/keiko scene between Kagekatsu and Naoe. It was a small scene but I really appreciated and enjoyed it.

☆ Prior to MaeChan’s solo, there is a scene between him and Naoe where they talk about Kagekatsu and how he has changed as well as how Kenshin plans to keep Uesugi's clan alive and Naoe is like ‘I will protect you no matter what, I will always be by your side’. I really liked this scene between them.

☆ So we have MakiChan's solo... I'm on the fence about this one. It IS a good song and you can tell he was really putting his all into the song, and he's not necessarily a bad singer. BUT again, it just feels out of place to randomly have a song put here and there.

☆ At the end of this arc we have a battle between Uesugi and Toyotomi, Toyotomi's clan essentially ambushes Kagekatsu and Naoe so they can steal Yuzuki. Once Yuzuki has been taken, Kagekatsu and Naoe are to the front-right of the stage with a single spotlight on them and you just know that on the DVD/BR that is going to be a great two shot on it! Also you can clearly see the chemistry between MakiChan and Jinnai in this!

★ I feel MakiChan’s Kagekatsu was much different in this compared to him in the anime and game itself. It felt like he very quickly changed from being this shy and timid and worried character to suddenly defying his father and being stong and outspoken. It was all a bit strange and sudden. And it was even weirder when at the end he goes to save Yuzuki rather than his father which is also strange because he would never abandon his father, especially when you see how he is in the game.

★ MaeChan's solo song. It was awkwardly placed, it's not a good song and oh god the worse part is Jinnai in this song. Jinnai's dancing during MaeChan’s solo is weird. Weird as all hell. I hate the projection mapping visuals in this song too.

★ It was strange that MakiChan and MaeChan got solo songs in this rather than an group Uesugi song... Favouritism much?

★ This middle section arc with Uesugi has no comedy in it so while it is intersting to an extent, it felt like it dragged towards the end of this arc. Even though, I think, it's the smallest arc out of the 3 clans, it drags compared to the other two arcs because they have stupidity and silliness in them.

4. With Toyotomi Clan:

So Toyotomi ambush Naoe and Kagekatsu while they are in the forest looking for Yuzuki's phone (apparently a main plot of this stage, ugh. Why would you need your phone?! You cannot use it here! Dumbass.)

☆During the ambush, Ikkei came on stage with a kimono wrapped around his body and head and he was pretending to be a girl and stealing Yuzuki xD 

☆ Obviously Yuzuki is pissed when she's first taken to Toyotomi so she pushes him away and Toyotomi is just like  'chinmoku // you won't respond'. I really like the end of this scene when Toyotomi goes 'Ki ga Kawatta == I've changed my mind' and everyone think he's pissed because Yuzuki pushes him away but instead he's like 'let's go find your SumaBo'.

☆ I love how they call it a SumaBo instead of a SumaHo (for Smartphone). And after she's explained it they're like 'So you press it and then... do this. So thiiisss then thiiis / こうでおう〜' which got a lot of good laughs.

☆ The higawaris were gold in this! I'll try and break it down by each performance. The set-up for the higawari is that they get a letter and a stone from Ishida Mitsunari and he says it looks like something every time so then they have to improvise and each time a different member was chosen too. Tuesday Night: The rock was balancable so Ikkei tried to balance it on his purlicue but he kept dropping it and we all died of laughter. Wednesday Afternoon: The rock was omanjuu so Kanbei tried to eat it, but it didn't work so then he tried to cut it with his sword. And Ikkei was at the other side of the stage yelling 'Mada Kanbei Ikeru! // It's still alive Kanbei!' so Kanbei kept trying to break it.  Wednesday Night: The rock was a yakizakana (fried fish) and Sadamoto had to do the improve for it this time so he put the rock down and pretend to fry it and cover it in salt and everything. It was pretty funny.

☆ Toyotomi gets drunk one night and ends up running out of the castle. Eventually he comes back, claiming he's found Yuzuki's SumaBo and when she opens the box, inside is a まつぼくり/Matsubokuri/Pine Cone. At first she's like 'what is this?' and Toyotomi replies 'well you said it was something with lots of buttons and you press it and then you put it to your ear. Well, that's it!' and she's like 'this isn't it'. So in horror Toyotomi slowly turns to Kanbei for confidence and Kanbei just nods so Toyotomi turns back to Yuzuki, 'no, this is a Sumabo!'. But she replies 'but... what can I do with this?' and again he turns to Kanbei, but this time Kanbei turns away from Toyotomi's stare. There's a moment of silence before Toyotomi yells out in anger, picks up the pine cone and throws it off stage. Kanbei goes running for it and when he comes back (at least in the second show,) he jumps down the stairs and lands perfectly in front of Yuzuki and gives it back to her. The comedic timing in this scene is very well done and had me giggling everything time. During the Wednesday afternoon show when I saw this, part of Taka's outfit actually broke off and fell next to Toyotomi, and Tomorun picked it up so confused which got everyone laughing. It was almost like he was thinking 'why you giving me this?!' xD and then Tomorun smoothly gave it back to TAKA who was also confused, so he hadn't realised it'd come off xD

☆ Drunk Tomorun/Toyotomi was great!! He really knew how to act, and he would stumble about and the boys would try and keep him upright and such.

☆ TAKA's Kanbei was actually very good too! He looked very pretty too!

☆ There are scenes where MakiChan and Tomorun both fall to the ground and I thought both of them did very well at it. It looked realistic enough.

☆ Also Tomorun is really great with the big jumps he had to do.

☆ One thing I've always loved about Tomorun's acting is how fluidly he can switch between temperaments. There's some scenes in this where he goes from really happy and then suddenly gets really dark; or the other way around, and I love it when he switches between two. It really worked well for Toyotomi's character!

☆ There is actually a proposal scene from Toyotomi in this arc and it was really sweet; It's when they're going through the streets of his town and I really enjoyed it. It was super cute that he was like 'after this war, please be my wife.' and she replies 'are you proposing to me?' and, with a nice detail, he replies 'what's a propose?'.

★ For the Toyotomi group song, I really wish there had been audience participation for it because of how fun it is! The boys clearly were singing about and making it look like they were celebrating and having a party while singing, so it would've been nice if the audience had been allowed to clap and cheer along with them.

★ There is one part of this play that really irked me. So there is a scene where Hanbei explains, to make her feel welcome, that he'll make whatever she wants to eat, so she replies 'Pasta'. Naturally the boys don't know what pasta is, given the time period, so they ask her what it is and she replies 'oh that's difficult to explain'. Now the first time around, this didn't bother me, BUT upon my second and third viewing, my brain immediately thought 'hold up bitch, they fucking know what noodles are! Why not just explain that pasta is HARD, straight noodles?! Stupid idiot.' Seriously, noodles were brought to Japan from China about 800AD in the Heian Period, which is WAY before the Sengoku period! It really, really, really, really, really has gotten to me that she was too dumb to liken pasta to noodles!! THEY HAD NOODLES!!!! JUST EXPLAIN PASTA IS LIKE NOODLES!!! Can you tell how much this little skip-over in the script and the fact she didn't even both explaining what pasta is, has gotten to me?! Is Yuzuki supposed to be this stupid, ignorant 21st century adult who never paid attention to history class? Because I'm pretty sure IN THE GAME she realises who she's with and she realises 'oh I can't say what'll happen to them in case I change history' or was I making that part of the game up for myself? ALSO the freaking production company is MARV; they KNOW their audience knows and likes history, they KNOW this audience has seen Hakouki, TouStage, TouMyu, so WHY skip over this nice little tidbit of history that would've been a nice little addition to the script. But NOOOO she was too lazy to even bother to explain WHAT PASTA IS!!! I need to go breathe somewhere...

★Linking to this argument. There are two times in fact where she says '説明は難しい = this is difficult to explain' rather than actually explaining. That is SLOPPY, POOR writing. You could've easily just explained away the pasta thing. The other scene where she sloppily says this is when she's with them and she says 'Oh this place is much like my own world, yet it's different too' and they asks her 'why?' and she just replies '説明は難しい = this is difficult to explain'. But to me this is again just sloppy writing! You could've easily had her say 'oh the sakura trees and the architecture is the same but where I'm from we have these huge buildings and giant lights that stay on all night' or something like that. It just sparks laziness to me that the script writer couldn't be bothered to have her say even this much. Did they just want her to be dumb as fuck or something? Just *sigh*...

****Or maybe it's just me; maybe people usually just go to enjoy and to be entertained and don't think so logically about things. Maybe it's just me and my personality; I really love looking into such details, I really love thinking over such things; this is why my reviews will always have a negative to them. I don't go just to be entertained: I want to be entertained, but I also want to be made to think, I enjoy thinking things over. So yes, this really got to me! I can’t even think of pasta the same way anymore...

★ At the end of this scene, Toyotomi clan finds out that Uesugi have gone missing and that Oda have been ambushed by the Yakuma. It's at this moment that the boys are like 'lets take over their castles while they're gone!' but Yuzuki is against it and starts yelling that they should go and help them. Now I understand she had good intentions, but my god, her screaming and yelling is the worst ugh. It was really difficult to understand what she was saying because it just wasn't clear when she was yelling and screaming.

5. Final Battle:

So the final battle is when Toyotomi is finally convinced he should help Uesugi clan, who have gone missing, and Oda clan who are ambushed by the yakuma, and there is a giant yakuma roaming the land.

☆ There was slow-motion during Ikkei's solo as they were battling which I thought was really cool!

★ But why Ikkei got a solo song (besides favouritism and fan-service) I have no idea, because he isn't exactly a main character. But it wasn't a bad song.

☆ I really, really liked the duo fight scene with Kenshin and Naoe in this final battle.

★ But the choreography in this final scene was very obviously the same for everyone else and repetitive.

☆ Towards the end when Toyotomi swoops in and save Naoe and Kagekatsu, Kagekatsu tries to help Toyotomi out but he's like 'go to your father! Go and help him!' and Tomorun's final 'Ikeeeee / LEAVE NOW!' to Kagekatsu was so cool and so great!

★ I hated the synced fight-dancing from the rest of the cast during Ikkei’s solo song. At first they were fighting the yakuma but the second half of the song, they all just faced forward and did a fighting-dance thing and I hated it. I wanted to see them actually fight. Why not during this point do solo fighting scenes and switch in and out between them? Seriously, this stage is just LAZY.

☆ I loved when Oda demands he uses Yuzuki's blood so he can get his strength back and fight the final boss, and Toyotomi is just begging Yuzuki not to. But Toyo's also on the ground very weak so he drags himself over to her and when he tries to grab her hand, she's just far enough away that he misses and flops down onto the floor. I super loved this hand grab moment! You could see and feel the desperation in Tomorun's eye and voice. It was VERY well done. Also when he's like 'please don't make me take your blood (so I can fight too)' and you can tell he really doesn't want to and he’s on the ground yelling ‘fucks sake / kuso!!!’ because he’s too weak to help and save Yuzuki without her blood’s assistance. It was great acting on Tomorun's part.

★ There is NO henshin! They (3 of them) take her blood but none of them change their forms! I wanted to see their henshins!!

6. Ending Scenes:

☆ The ending was satisfactory because it ends with them all swearing they'll never use her blood as a weapon or for their own gain. They also swear that they won't get angry if she doesn't choose them. But it perfectly ends with her not explicitly choosing any of them, and suddenly it goes into the final song with all the boys singing as she walks off stage. It was the best choice for the ending they could've made without pissing any of the audience off.

Curtain Call Goodness

NOW FOR THE BEST PART OF THE WHOLE PLAY! THE CURTAIN CALLS!!!

☆ TUESDAY NIGHT: Curtain Call Speeches from Oda/Kobuta and Naoe/Jinnai. Kubota talked about how much he sweats in his costume and that he's managed to lose 5 kilos so far just from all the sweating and he said he hopes to lose 5 more before the end of the run. Jinnai talked about how he and MaeChan have been working together and have been debuted for 8 years now and have worked together on a lot of projects and that it was his first time with MakiChan but he was enjoying it and having so much fun. To this point MakiChan replied and continued the conversation and talking about how fun their dressing room is with the three of them. It was very clear and very obvious how much Jinnai and MakiChan get along. It was very obvious how well all three of them get along which made me very happy! And at one point MakiChan burst out ‘Why am I talking during your speech?!’ and Jinnai hit him on the shoulder xD They also talked about they love playing the game 'UesugiGokkou' in the dressing room so they did an example of it for us all: It is/was Maki and Jinnai pretending to argue with MaeChan trying to get in the middle and being the mediator but the both end up hitting him on either side of his arms. It is/was very funny!

☆ WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: MakiChan/Kagekatsu curtain call greeting (sorry, I don't remember who else..) and when Tomorun said 'Kagekatsu!' Jinnai replied instead and everyone burst out laughing. As MakiChan spoke about his usual 'this is super fun, I love working with MaeChan again. We work together a lot actually. And it's so fun in the dressing room. I hope we can finish this run without any injuries' but then Jinnai suddenly complained 'your sword keeps hitting me every time you move!' so then MakiChan started doing it on purpose xD

☆ WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Fuuma and MaeChan's curtain call (I am so bloody lucky I got all three of theirs!). As MaeChan was talking and thanking people, MakiChan and jinnai slowly went around the back of MaeChan, and then came up in front so they were blocking his view of the audience, and then they started aruging between the two of them who Kenshin prides better/more. So then Maechan tried to break it up but of course, at the same time on either side of him, they hit him on the shoulders. MaeChan said they had been practsiing all day for this moment xD and Tomorun was like ‘we ALL do it you know! It's not just your group who does this in the dressing room!’ xD Fuuma's speech was just about how he had to do the rock higawari today and he hoped everyone could understand what he was doing and if it was fun. We all applauded so he understood we enjoyed it and understood it.

Seriously, the curtain call was the best part and so funny and it was so great being able to see just how well Mae, Maki and Jinnai get along ^_^ it made me very happy in my heart xD

*

And there we go! There’s a lot of negative but I think I gave enough positives so that people who aren’t as logical or critical as me will enjoy this stage. There is a lot to like about this stage.

[toku-explained]

@stevetbqh asks: Has it been explained in depth, in any Garo media exactly why females can't become Makai Knights? Warning: this post has serious spoilers for a while chunk of the Garo franchise. As far as any research into the topic has told me, no. While trying to research the topic I've seen people claiming that women are naturally more stained with Inga or that certain things that only happen to (cis) women would prevent them from being able to fight Horrors all the time. That of course, is terrible, and ignores the fact that any Makai Knight with a Madougu partner is already out of action for one day a month, and that if periods prevented women from fighting we wouldn't have a veritable army of badass Makai Priestesses who have never been shown as unable to fight. My assumption has always been that, in universe, the answer is simple sexism. Let's remember that the Makai Order have been in existence for millennia, and by necessity managed to be spread across the world and somewhat organised for centuries even when that should be impossible despite this. My assumption was always that the Senate, for whatever reason, declared women could not be Makai Knights, probably subscribing to typical views, and no further thought has gone into it in their minds. The problem with this is that given the Senate don't seem to actually keep good track of the members of the Makai and familial links, surely at some point a daughter of a Makai Knight would have trained herself to the same level as a Makai Knight and been able to summon her parents' armour, even if only recently. But no, apparently all daughters of Makai Knights have only ever trained to be Makai Priests. The whole issue of women not being able to be Makai Knights has only really been covered a few times. Before I get to the people for whom it's a plot point, I want to talk for a moment about how a Makai Armour is passed in. There seem to be two ways, either a Makai Knight releases their armour, be it on retiring or as they die, to a son or student to claim, either at that moment or when they are ready, or it is passed directly along the bloodline without the direct involvement of the knight, which has only been depicted in the anime seasons. The previous Garo in Honoo no Kokuin had died with no male successors, and his armour passed to the possession of his daughter Anna, and remained with her even after a male heir, her nephew, was born, (don't recall if she knew about that though), only passing on to a man when her son, Leon, was born as she died, even though she couldn't use it. Although I doubt she would have tried to use it anyway. Also to get it away, it would appear based on Alice in Dragon's Blood that women were able to become Ryu Knights, the predecessors to the Makai Knights, even if I'm not 100% on the details of Ryu Knight Alice. So let's move now to the only female characters who have actually expressed a desire to be Makai Knights. First of all, Rekka, in her debut in RED REQUIEM was most of ours first avenue into the knowledge that women couldn't be Makai Knights. We know that she desired to inherit her father Kengi's sword from a young age, and it seems that this would have been something he would have liked to happen. This carried over into her adulthood, as she always dressed in a manner similar to a Makai Knight despite being a Makai Priest. While certainly bitter about the fact that literally the only thing preventing her from being a Makai Knight was her gender (and Kengi's sword presumably being lost in a Horror's realm when he died), part of the film was about her still being able to fight just as well as a Makai Priest, she has proven to be one of the most capable in fighting Horrors, and since RED REQUIEM has had no issues with not being a Knight, possibly recognising that part of her issues with it were due to her father's death. I can't remember if this was ever an actual issue but I think Rekka had issues with womanhood, possibly being ashamed of her gender because of it preventing her from fighting as a Knight, and had to learn there was no shame in being a woman. It's been a while since I watched RED REQUIEM and I think I'm making some of this up. I used to hope they were building to some day doing a story where the law was changed and Rekka became a Makai Knight, but I've recently realised Rekka isn't the Knight this story should be told with. Yuna should be. Now Yuna at her introduction in BLACK BLOOD was pretty similar to Rekka, the daughter of a late Makai Knight desperate to avenge him, with one major difference. She can use a Makaiken. Now I know some took the explanation of how Yuna could wield Kuroudo's sword as a statement that women flat out couldn't wield Soul Metal, but I disagree, partly because why does Rekka use a knife in combat if it isn't Soul Metal? The reason Yuna required the method to wield a Makaiken that she did was because she would have spent her entire life up until Kuroudo's death training as a Makai Priest. It takes years of training to wield Soul Metal in combat and control it properly, which she simply hadn't had. Of course my explanation of this is kind of dampened by the fact that Alfonso in Honoo no Kokuin and Yasusuke in Guren no Tsuki both became Makai Knights with only months at the most of training. The best I can do to explain it is that they were both already morally upstanding individuals with standard combat training, and so their training would have focused almost entirely on the use of Soul Metal. Anyway, the reason Yuna can wield Kuroudo's Makaiken is because she had her father's arm bones magically placed into her arm, sort of tricking the Makaiken I suppose. Now this had serious issues and she would several times be rendered unable to fight by serious pain as her body seemed to try to reject the bones. Everyone saw this as a temporary measure, as soon as she could avenge Kuroudo with his own sword they were going to remove the bones. However, in Yuna's latest appearance in Makai Retsuden, while she had started using a Madou Brush again, she was making serious efforts to still fight with the Makaiken, seeming almost to be unsure of what direction she should go down. At the climax of that episode, fighting against an enemy she was able, using both her Makaiken and her Madou Brush, to create and open a Makai Circle in an attempt to summon her father's armour. While the armour didn't emerge, it was enough for Fudo Leo, secretly testing her, to appear and end the test. Now Leo is significant within Garo as the only character who is both a Makai Priest and a Makai Knight. He certainly wouldn't be the only one in universe, but he's the only one we've met. Except, as he points out, Yuna is also both a Knight and a Priest. She may not be able to summon an armour, at least not yet, but outside of Makai Senki, we have no proof that any of the title less Knights we have encountered could do that either. Some of them must have been able to, but all of them? Probably not. Furthermore, the fact the Senate had Leo test Yuna in this way in the first place suggests they are considering the possibility of female Makai Knights. While Yuna didn't make an appearance in Dragon's Blood, it is my sincere hope that, if we see her again, it will be with the ability to summon her own armour. And now let's talk about everyone's favourite semi-example assuming anyone even knows about it, Shakunetsi Kishi YAIBA. Most of us first found about it when information about Makai Kessen GAOH, the only Garo Pachinko machine to actually get noticed by fans. YAIBA was one of three original Makai Knights featured in the game, alongside Jushin Kishi GIGA and villain Takasumeragi Kishi OUGA. GIGA would a couple of years later make the leap to screen in GOLDSTORM Sho, but the others haven't. Well sort of. YAIBA is actually from the novel Youseki no Wana, one of the three prose products that came about between Byakuya no Maju and RED REQUIEM. And as you can see, appears to be female. Now here's where things get complicated, and I probably have some details wrong. Now English sources I can find now, which weren't around back when I did my research into the novel, seem to say that YAIBA has a female form by default. I'm not sure I believe that given the properties of Makai Armour, but all official depictions do use the female form. Now my understanding of YAIBA is that it's user, Godo Akira, was young when one night, a woman he knew named Misaki became a Horror. Misaki attacked him but he was saved by a Makai Knight, but was left cursed, and would with a fever involuntarily become Misaki. Eventually he would learn to control this, or at least induce changes on his own, but I'm unsure if uncontrolled changes still occurred. There's something about having at least some attraction to men as Misaki that isn't there as Akira that could be problematic since who he is shouldn't be changing. It so happens that the man who saved Akira, and apparently supported him somewhat, was Barago. Despite his own nature, he told him about the Makai and would seem to have trained him somewhat, but also told Akira, who had come to wish to be like him, to give up, as women cannot be Makai Knights. Despite this, Akira managed to become a Makai Knight, even acquiring the title of YAIBA, and operated in the Southern district. When someone who at the time only knew them as Misaki asked how they summoned armour, Misaki said 'half of me is male after all' Whether YAIBA truly counts as a female Makai Knight isn't something I can really answer. Hope this helps.

[sambart93]

2018.01.13 Pandora Note Stage Greeting: Show 3 [Report]

Official Website here Official Twitter here

CAST and CHARACTERS

Tomita Sho as Masushima Takashi Hiramaki Jin as Oomiya Tomohiro

MOVIE OVERALL: This was a pretty good movie. It certainly was ridiculous at points but the twist was really good and took me while I catch on with. Also there were fanservy moments and it did get somewhat BL-y at one point; I love Sho and Jin working together so of course I enjoyed this! AND　it was MUCH darker than their previous Seishun Discovery Films which was a nice change of pace! The only one thing that got to me what how repetitive and how much louder the 'background' music is in this movie. But I kind of saw an early screening so hopefully they've fixed that by the time they probably set it out into the public on March 17th. Also this movie is way too short! It's only 23 or so minutes long, but I could easily watch a full minutes of this story! GIVE ME MORE! MOVIE RATING: 8/10 -- It's difficult to rate Indie and Lower budget movies because they're obviously not going to look perfect but I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was with actors I love >.<

STORY

Tomita Sho plays a very successful manga artist but he is having trouble writing a sequel to his hit manga and his deadline is days away. He's be completely locked in his room trying to figure out and during that time he's lost assistant after assistant and manager after manager due to his unattractive and mean personality and attitude. One day, the manga company send over a newbie to help him with his manga, Oomiya. But shortly after Oomiya comes in and brings fanmail to Takashi, Takashi quickly searches through the pile for a specific fanletter. He finds it but the fanletter is a threaten: write me a story I'll love and send it to me asap but if I don't deem is satisfactory then I'm going to let off the bombs. Turns out the outside of his apartment is covered in bombs. So he has to do the letter's bidding. Turns out it's not the first time he's recieved a threatening letter from this person.

Go under the cut for complete story spoilers, spoiler review and the event details!

Story Spoilers:

Turns out the person who was sending the letters is non-other than Oomiya. Takashi had seen and taken Oomiya's story and turned it into a hit manga and never gave him credit! So Oomiya wanted revenge. He went so far as to spike Takashi's coffee with sleeping medicine and when Takashi wakes up, he's tied to a chair with a Battle Royale-esque choker around his neck!! (I don't quite remember who they reconciled BUT) It ends in them partnering up and Takashi vowing to give him credit from now on. So with Takashi as the artist and Oomiya as the story writer, they team up and it all ends happy!

So many points about this movie I want to talk about!

Can we FIRST talk about the whole Takashi/Sho handcuffed to a chair with Jin/Oomiya being totally crazy and evil! It was so hot..... It mean, it was intense... oh who am I kidding; I freaking loved this moment!! SO MUCH BL-NESS! I was dying >.< doesn't help that they did Honoo no Mirage together!

Another FINE moment was right at the beginning of the movie when Takashi/Sho walks out completely shirtless and just walks around his house for like 5 - 10 minutes. It was so beautiful! He has such a nice body! I was definitely having way too much fun gazing all over THAT! xD

I really loved Oomiya when we're first introduced to him; he's so sweet. But I also love that as the story progresses, his character so very switches personality so easily and he gets real angry and crazy at Takashi a few times throughout the movie before we finally learn he's out for revenge! The switches were such good acting from Jin!

BOTH of them are just good looking and so handsome! I enjoyed watching both of them!

And disgusting little me got WAY too much out of the fact we could clearly see sweat patches from Jin in this movie -- I've  a FREAK I know!

The apartment Takashi lives in has SO MANY DETAILS! The room is just filled with loads of manga and lots of artist drawers and interesting figures etc. It would literally take me more than 3 showings to be able to see and find everything! It's a really interesting room!

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THE EVENT

I was only able to go to the third and last event of this! They had three total and the first two had things like making videos and a quiz etc. This last one showed the entire movie, had a talk and did some merch from the movie giveaways. 

Quite a lot of the people from the first two shows, also came to this one, SO when Jin and Sho first came on, they totally freaked out at their appearance. They looked so ridiculous and geeky, it was hilarious -- I'll explain later what it's all about. Jo-ji also asked them to turn to the left and to continue talked while facing that way but while Jin was talking he went, 'why is it so much easier for me to talk like this?!' xD they soon faced back to the front because the audience were laughing too much from the ridiculousness of it.

Also quick side note before I move on: JIIIINNNNN ISSSSS SOOOOOOO PREEEEETTTYYYYY!!!! (^_^)// and so damn tall!!!!! He's so handsome ♡

The MC for the third show was Jo-ji!! Who was at Sho's birthday event the weekend before (see here) and said that Sho had asked him to do this event too very last minute. They talked a little about how much last weekend's event was too and that he was happy to be an MC for him ^_^ they're such good friends!

At the question section, Sho wanted Shachou, the head of TokiEnta, who was at the back of the seating area, to ask the first question, so he responded ‘... why the hell are you all looking like that?!’ referring to the hairstyle. This is where they finally explained that during the Second Show KishiTaku (Kishimoto Takuya) had been the MC and had ShichiSan hair (hair parted to one side). It had been a hit so for the final show, Sho and Jin wanted to do it too! It got a great reaction! Especially because it fit the whole suppose to be 'sensei' << manga artists are called SENSEI >> look.

Another question was from a fan who asked Sho what he thought of his tied up scene and he’s like: ‘well of course I got excited. I’ve done it many times before.... AS AN ACTOR! Not in private!’ None of us believed him! He continued on: ‘also Jin was really close to me as you saw (so that's why I was excited)’. But he admitted that he was worried if an earthquake hit while he was tied up because ‘Jin would definitely be the first to run out the room. All the staff would leave me too!’ Then he finished by talking to the fan who asked the question directly, ‘if you have time. Try it with a friend!’ Jo-ji was like ‘you’ve dug a DEEP hole Sho’ xD

At one point Jo-ji said:

Jo-ji: you were both the blue ranger (in super sentai) right? Sho&Jin: Yeah we were Sho: *looks at Jji* ... you’re wearing blue! You’re like a ranger like us! Jo-ji: why do you think I have a blue suit on?!?! I didn’t do it by accident! Sho: Oh really? Jo-ji: YES!

There was a really cute moment between Sho and Jo-ji too!

Jo-ji/じょーじ:僕もトキ人間ではないがー/ I'm not a TokiEnta guy anyway but... Sho/翔さん: 半分トキ人間だよ / You're 50% TokiEnta じょーじ: …… 4割だ / .... 40% I thought it was cute!

And at the end of the event, Sho told us ‘we (me and Jin) will work together again’ and I freaked! Almost like the next Honoo had been decided! xD I hope it has! I hope it's them!

*

GOODS

This pamphlet has SO MANY good shots in it! AND it came with their signatures ♡ so, enjoy!

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And that's all! I am WAY behind on reviews as I've been too busy on my days off the past few weekends, so hopefully they'll be coming through over the next few weeks and I'll hopefully catch up and everything by the time Dance with Devils and Patarillo comes around at the end of the month =]

[sambart93]

2018.01.07 Tomito Sho’s 36th Birthday Event - Second Show [Report]

So I got the opportunity to go to Tomita Sho’s birthday again which I was super happy about! I went last year too! 

If you don’t know Shosan (as I call him), but he’s such a good actor. He’s been in quite a bit of big stuff (Super Sentai, TouStage etc.) but he’s never the main but he is DAMN good at what he does! I highly recommend his Honno no Mirage series and Toei Hero from last year! He’s in the same Ent Company as Aramaki Yoshihiko, Baba Ryoma, Tamaki Yuki etc and he’s SUCH a great guy! Anyway, I’ll stop blubbing. Onto the event!

But first things first:

HAPPY 36TH BIRTHDAY TOMITA SHO!!!

PRE-SHOW

I did kinda feel like I was imposing because it was very obvious a lot of the fans know each other, especially one older lady; I’ve seen her at ALL of the Shosan stuff I’ve been to (Honoo, TokiEnta Events, His Birthday) and I feel like she doesn’t like me. As if she sees me and thinks ‘ugh this casual fan’. It was so strange this day because it was like she was the MC; she was going around and knew and was talking to pretty much everyone! Also I felt really bad because by coincidence I ended up being right next to where the line to go in was by chance and I almost asked if she wanted my spot but I felt she was giving me death stares. 

Also, I always forget how much older (than me) the Shosan fans are… not many early twenties or under 30s here and a few always bring their kids along. It’s so interesting seeing the difference between Sho’s fans and Maki’s fans. Also I much prefer just how small of a group Sho’s fans are compared to the ridiculousness of Maki’s fanbase now (but we’ll save that rant for another day).

Just before the show started, the Shachou (he owns and runs TokiEnta, Sho’s entertainment company) came on stage with Sho’s eye mask on and green wig from the school PE uniform bromides (more about that later) and explained the rules of the show, but because he ahd the eye mask on, he couldn’t see which was he was facing (obviously the wrong way) and Sho came over the speaker and went 'you’re facing the wrong way’ we all cracked up laughing including the Shachou himself.

Also one of the the producers had ALL of Sho’s bromides and chirashi stuck to his jacket, shirt and hands. So he was a walking advertisement for Sho xD also he was the time keeper for the show.

GOODS COMMENT

Unfortunately I had already made the decision to ONLY pay for a cheki but I was super upset when I saw how amazing his bromides and calendars!! Seriously, he’s got a school kids PE uniform on and bright green hair in some of his bromdes! He teased about his bromides weeks ago and it was shots of him in different coloured wigs but damn when I saw he also did a school one! I died! Seriously Sho’s Bromides are amazing! I hope TokiEnta do their (what seems to be an) annual ritual of having an event where the past goods stock is there so I can pick them up! 

THE SHOW

I lost my breath when Sho came on stage because he came on in this Date-like outfit and he looked amazing!!! He had a long black wig and red eye contacts in too! He looked SO DAMN GOOD!

ANNNND this is why I always go to Sho’s stuff! As usual he was absolutely hilarious and I did nothing but laugh the entire time! Also he’s super laid back! The show was only supposed to be 90 minutes but he’s like 'is everyone okay for time? Yeah? Okay! We’ll just keep going!’ and his producer couldn't stop him nor did he mind so much xD

He got so many birthday videos during the second show; Takasaki Shouta, Maki, Baba Ryoma (Alongside Kawaharada who introduced himself as Chanel xD), Tamaki Yuki, Nakamura Seijiro, and Ino Hiroki. And when they just kept coming, he was like 'ANOTHER?! AGAIN?!’ and of course, with most of the videos, he couldn’t take them seriously! 

Baba Ryoma’s was so stupid and was essentially him and Kawaharada promoting their stage to which the video got caught off half way through so we all died laughing, and Sho said ‘what’s he doing now? Mobsaiko 1000? 100? Has anyone seen it? …*no one puts their hand up*… not one hand’ everyone died laughing xD

Ino’s video cracked me up so hard. Ino asked ‘why didn’t you invite me as a guest (to your Birthday Events)? I invited you to mine…… SHO! (no 'san' which makes it super casual and impolite) Let’s hang out next time!’ And Sho was like ‘I can’t invite someone who’s in such a big jimusho (entertainment company)!’ XD

MakiChan’s video was also promoting his stage, Ensemble Stars, and he said 'akemashite omedetou (happy new year)’ instead of 'tanyoubi omedetou (happy birthday)’ xD 

Tamachan’s was ‘lets drink next time’ and Shosan is like ‘I don’t even have your number!!’ XD Nakamaru was like ‘I only know drinking Sho so...’ and Sho was like ‘you went to the TokiEnta event with me last Feb! Did you already forget?!’ XD 

Shouta was DRUNK during his video to him and he got a random (Sho knows him) guy to pretend to be Shouta while Shouta was behind the camera laughing so hard and Sho was just like 'wtf... why would I ever expect anything from you anyway'

ALSO! Jo-ji (they did TouStage together) turned up half way through the event and yelled ‘I went to the wrong venue!!!’ he first went to the event hall in Shinjuku (of a similar name) and then had to track all the way back to this venue. Also Sho was super surprised when he turned up because Jo-ji had been writing on his twitter that he was still in his home town and Jo-ji went 'yeah, I was lying so I could surprise you. I got back to Tokyo DAYS ago!' Also he brought Sho some Date Masamune Sake (apparently it's sake that Date loves and Jo-ji went all the way to Sendai for it -- I want to try it!). Sho was so funny opening his presents; he threw the wrapping and boxes down like a little excited child.

In usual Sho Birthday Event style, we went through his calendar of 2017 and looked at what he did on different days and what his schedule was like and we could just put our hands up and ask questions, because (and I paraphrase Sho) 'this ain't an event if you don't get involved. It's only interesting because you guys are here'. So here are some of the questions and stories:

*(About TouStage) Apparently GingaGekijyo’s Backstage is tiny compared to the stage used for TouStage in Fukuoka, so during the Fukuoka Kouen Sho was running freely backstage because there was space to between his scenes.

*Sho went and saw PuriStage and said he’d like to be in it because he likes to move around but then saw how tired KishiTaku was and was like ‘nah I’m good’ xD

*Also they talked about the one time Jo-ji made him an American Dog and how good it was. Of course us fangirls were going crazy with our imagination on that one haha

*He showed us a VTR of the Gekidan Handsome from last year and Sho asked who hadn't seen this series and there were quite a few of us and he cracked up 'how weird this must look like to you who haven't seen this series,' because it really did look ridiculous. One scene literally had Sho in this skin-type black short jumpsuit with a wind machine in front of him and toilet paper wrapped around him while he sang; what the hell xD

*We also got an exclusive look of the new Game of Laplace visuals, weeks before they were released, when he started talking about GoL from last year and asked the producer if it was okay to show it. Also the producer was like 'we used mannequins this time around and now I have about 30 mannequins in my house! I'll give them out (to fans) if you want one! I'll look like a mad man if anyone comes to my house' xD

*If I remember anymore, I'll add them here.

Some extra things; Whenever someone late came to the event Sho went 'okay... se----no! (after 3) IRASHAIMASE! (welcome!)' and the whole crowd would say Irashaimase to the late commer and every time the fan got super embarrassed but that's what Sho is all about xD

Also at the end, as requested from fans, he recited some lines from plays he's done. So he did some Date lines from TouStage and of course he did the Bai from Honoo no Mirage and a few more lines from Honoo. I think he did a Gekidan Handsome line too. During his Date line, Jo-ji came running back on stage (still with the damn wig on) to join him and continue the scene. And when that finished Sho went 'why are you still here?!' to which Jo-ji replied 'I can't leave until I've taken a picture with you!' and Sho replied 'then pay for a cheki!' XD also a bit later Jo-ji yelled 'lets go drinking already!'

CHEKI

So it came to the chekis, and Jo-ji did sweep in before the fans to get one with Sho xD this time around the poses were set so you could either choose from handing hands, hugging, arm wrapped around the shoulder or this silly o_o/(_)\o_O movement where you make a circle with your hands touching. I can't explain it. It was stupid. It was ridiculous!

Anyway, I got nervous during and before and after my cheki of course. So I got the arm over the shoulder pose with him and he said it was okay if I did it back to him so our arms were wrapped around each other ^_^ and at the end as usual we got a hand shake and he said (HE SAID!) 'またね / see you later' I just effing DIED inside because that means he remembers me!!! SHHH I know I'm crazy but it definitely felt like he remembers me!

And as usual I said thank you to the staff who did the cheki, she always does it, and as I came down the stairs, the Shachou was against the wall next to the door so I did my usual greetings to him too. And then, I left.

GOODS

Sho always makes plaques with his kanji for the year painted on, by him, which we get for free at the end of his event. I almost forgot to it pick up because I was so dang nervous xD

*

It was so much fun! I was so upset when I couldn’t go to his 15th Anniversary last year so I was happy I could make it up to him by coming to this one! I love Sho. He’s such a great guy and he’s so funny and he’s very intelligent too! He’s just the best! And I kinda hope he does a 16th Anniversary Celebration this year so I can go!

Did I persuade you to become his fan?!