[Report] Takizawa Enbujo’09 – Act 1

This is more than 7 months late. A continuation from the Enbujo’09 Food & Goods post. But better late than never, I guess. I’ve to post it for my own reference, so this is my super long-winded report once again. Please proceed at your own risk…

Shows: 29 Mar ~ 03 Apr, 2009
Act 1 duration: approx. 1 hr 30 mins

The Stage

This is the view of the stage from 2nd Floor first row.

Opening

Goto Hiromi walked out and played the violin to open the show, like all past Enbujos. But what’s different this year: there’s an opening VTR playing in the background, showing footage from the past Enbujos. Then the curtains came down, and Takki was already in his Ushiwaka costume suspended mid-air, holding the cloth over his head. He flew to the left, right, left (faster speed), right, left and finally right, out of our view.

There were some shows where his body naturally turned to face the back (like on 3/30), and I could see him trying to use his waist power to turn himself to face the front. I think it takes a lot of strength ne, it’s difficult to control where to face when he’s only being suspended by a cable at the back.

Then it was similar to previous years, with the cart and the huge folding pane, and Tono flying out towards the audience in that magnificent red suit.

There were some Jrs who ran in along the aisles to do the dance during the opening. And during the 3/30 show, where I was at Row 5 beside the aisle, this chibi Jr was dancing just next to me, but he was always showing me his butt! LOL~ I was afraid his yukata would hit me coz he kept swinging his arms, and his sleeves were kinda over-sized lol.

Inishie

Tono got back on stage, sang and danced, then disappeared. Yamamoto Ryota threw a white cloth – which flew up and right towards where Tono was on the 2nd floor ledge. And when the light shone on Tono (now with a white cloak), he flew off the 2nd floor, singing “Night & Day….”. But some minor incidents happened during some of the shows we attended:

• 3/29: the white cloth flew up, then dropped down (never reached the 2nd floor).
• 3/30: we were directly below that ledge, and when I looked up, I could see a bit of Tono’s shoes shortly before he took off.
• 3/31: there was no white cloth at all!
• 4/3: when the lights shone on Tono, the staff was still trying to hook the wire onto Tono’s back! I was feeling so nervous just looking at that… and although the song started, Tono couldn’t fly, so he just stood there and sang his lines. He flew off the ledge later, but kept his cool thru’out *pachi pachi*

After flying and singing, Tono flicked his cape once to the beat of the music, and landed on the hanamichi. Spotlight shone on his face, then all went dark.

Jr. Introduction

A chibi Jr. hit the drums on the right side of the stage, the the rest of the Jrs. walked out to introduce themselves. This year’s introductions really made us laugh.

• Kitayama: said he’s about the same age now as Tono when he first did Enbujo, so he’ll work hard!
• Tottsu: did a long and fast tongue-twister on his own name… that made us laugh (although we couldn’t catch what he was saying)! On 4/3, he kamikami-ed!! LOL~ He stopped short in his tongue-twisting suddenly, and everyone laughed!!! Fujigaya couldn’t stop laughing, his entire body was shaking, and when it came to his turn (even though his turn was after Kawai-kun), he was still laughing and couldn’t really talk properly XD
• Kawai: “Everyone, please look properly at this 21-year-old face of mine. I look old, right?”
• Fujigaya: “Everyone, please look properly at Kawai-kun’s face one more time. He really looks old ne!” LOLLLL…

Some other noticable introductions:

• Yamamoto Ryota said it’s his first time doing a CM, and asks everyone to buy some “COMBAT” thing (name of the pesticide!! LOL!)
  *Btw, this is Butoukan’s first CM as a group. This group was produced and formed by Takki in 2007, as the Shounen Club Takizawa Hideaki Special Project! I’m happy that they made it outside of Shounen Club as a group :)
• Tatsumi said stuff like “…. Don’t TATSUMI (touch me)!” and “… TATSUMI (that’s me)!” LOLL

And on 4/3, because Tottsu kamikami-ed with his tongue-twister line, ALL of MAD also kamikami-ed on purpose! XD

Tono introduction

Kawai introduced Tono, who appeared from the hanamichi trap door to introduce himself and the show. He thanked everyone for coming, explained what he’ll be doing during the show etc. On 3/29, I think he kamikami-ed a bit, not really with the words, more with the ‘tone’ of the words.

Happy Days

In this year’s “Happy Days” segment, Takki played a variety of toys – kendama, soccer ball, nunchakus, rubix cube, and finally he would end the segment with “fanning 2 butterflies”.

3/29: Tono played with the kendama – did the「飛行機」move (holding the ball, then swinging the stick into the ball). Then he took the nunchakus from a jr. and tried welding it, but FAILED! He couldn’t even do the first swing properly haha… so he just threw the nunchakus onto the floor LOL… Then he tried the rubix cube, but before completing it, he threw it behind him too!

3/30: Tono played the kendama (OK!), completed the rubix cube (OK! then throwing it away again lol~), then went on to do the butterflies thing. From this show onwards, I didn’t see him play the nunchakus anymore.

3/31: The Jr. doing the kendama did it so well. He must be quite a pro too. Tono also did the「飛行機」move again (OK!), did the rubix cube (OK!), and made the chibi jr. who was doing the nunchakus do “shigin” at the same time. The jr. was so cute, and went “minaaaami….” while welding the nunchakus LOL

4/2: Tono tried the kendama 3 times before getting it OK! *sweat* And after the successful one, while walking away, he made a ‘YOSH! (I did it!)’ kind of action, clenching his fists near his waist~ Kawaii! XD

4/3: Before he played with the kendama, a jr. was juggling the soccer ball, and it almost bounced off the stage. Takki did this funny “nervous” reaction while the ball was bouncing towards the edge of the stage (I don’t know how to describe, sorry~)… then he bowed to apologise to the first row’s audience XD He played with the Kendama, and wanted to try the「世界一周」move (swing the ball onto the left, right, bottom cones, then swing it back into the top stick – but I think Tono tried the ‘extended version’, anyway…). So he tried… all went well until the VERY LAST move…. and he MISSED!! Tono fell onto the floor dramatically with an “AHHH!” XDDD

For the butterflies segment, Tono used two folding fans to “fly” two “butterflies”, which are two pieces of red paper. He put them put on the floor, and using both fans in an upward movement, he got them up in the air.

He then steered them to rest on a pot of white flowers. The butterfly segment went well on all the shows we went to, except for the 3/30 one, where Tono just couldn’t get the butterflies to fly properly. They couldn’t seem to stay airborne. He looked frustrated but kawaii at the same time.

After steering the butterflies onto the flowers, he’d steer them back onto the ground…. and with an upward movement again, the butterflies started flying again… and loads of paper colorful butterflies are being shot out from both sides of the stage – orange, yellow, green, white…. Wow~ when we were at the 4th row, we could catch many of these butterflies from our seat. Even on the 2nd floor on 4/1, some of them also flew to our laps. Of course, we took some of these home XDDD

Byakkotai

Mostly similar to last yr’s but this time, Tono didn’t shout when he ran in from the hanamichi. Tono had different lines this year, asking everyone to believe in themselves or something. The boy this year wasn’t played by Tottsu, but some other Jr. (sorry, don’t remember his name, but his voice and acting was just so-so lol). He walked away and slashed himself… Tono ran and hugged the boy tightly in his arms.

While the boy talked to Tono, their mouths and faces were so close! Kat said she saw how the wind from the boy’s mouth actually moved Takki’s hair LOL… Takki placed his katana on the boy’s neck, covered the boy’s eyes, gave him the final slash, and put him down onto the ground gently. He asked the same questions “Why do these (innocent) kids have to die?”… etc… then the enemies (this time, led by Fujigaya) raised their guns towards Tono. Tono raised his katana, ran towards them shouting “Ahhhhhh!!!!!”… then the lights went out, and sound of gunshots filled the air…

*When Takki ran in on 4/3, as I was just next to the hanamichi, I can hear his footsteps so clearly LOL

Mask, Face Changing & Drums

A huge mask appeared in the background. Same as previous years, Takki’s face was on the mask, and his voice came on. On 3/29, the audio didn’t come on for the first line. The double did the normal masks, umbrellas and fans thing, followed by the green neon mask thingie with many other dancers…. Then Takki appeared at the center of the stage in a “Chinese Opera” costume.

Drums ascended in a row on the stage behind him, and there was a man in black behind Tono too, pulling his costume off twice. His costume changed from red -> blue -> white. Jrs started hitting the drums behind, and there’s water on the drums and light shone up from it, so with every hit, water splashed out. It was really quite magnificent.

Tono’s stunt was unbelievable too! A camera will be on Tono’s face while he changed the face-masks. But this year, he not only changed masks with the flick of his hand, he was also breathing IN and OUT… It was shown clearly on the video feed in the background — the mask would be sucked in and out at the “nose” area, and he did it according to the beat. By the time Tono removed the last mask to reveal his face, we could see his nose red (from all the breathing).

There were more drums being brought out and more hadaka Jrs holding their drum sticks. Tono stood in the middle, removed his opera costume, and there he was in this sleeveless black top and silver vest. KAKKOII!! He started off by drumming, then shouting “Ha!”, and all of them drummed according to the beat, shouting “Ha!” in unison as well… It had a very “WOW” kind of feeling, and you could see his biceps with every hit of the stick! UWAAHHH~~ *DIES*

I think all fans – Takki fans and Jr fans alike – were hyperventilating by then!

The segment ended with loud shouts from all in unison “Ha! Ha! HAAA!”. Then the stage darkened… and on the right side, Yamamoto Ryota struck the gong, while another Jr. (can’t remember who), waved a large white feather…. After a few “gongs”, the introduction music for “Mugen no Hane” played.

Mugen no Hane

KYAAA~~ The introduction already sounded so nice, then they appeared in their suits and hats!!! Tono had put on a silver jacket outside that sleeveless top~ KAKKOIII!!!!! There was a huge moving feather as a backdrop~~ really pretty!!! This song (and Sha La La) were probably the main reasons why I wanted to go back to the theatre to watch more shows. The dance was so cool!! The 4 Jrs also wore suits and hats but their suits were of a darker color.

“Mugen no Hane” is really well-written; nice melody and meaningful lyrics. But watching the dance AND listening to a brand new Takki song for the first time LIVE is something that hasn’t happened to me before this. “Mugen no Hane” was really something like “WITH LOVE” – a LOVE AT FIRST HEAR kind of thing. This time, it was a LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT as well!

遥かな願いをこの手に　強く包み込んで
無限の空に解き放つ　さあ羽ばたいていけ

After Tono sang these lines alone, he used his right hand to do a wavy “feathery” form. I love that move, it went well with the music. Then the beat kicked in, and the kakkoii dance started. Loads of hand actions, with this “finger walk over the hat” thing (according to the latinish guitar notes) just before the first verse started. I love the line just before the chorus 「ずっと探してた、僕の心に光る星」. Somehow these words just got to me… especially the 2nd half of that line, and the way Tono sings it…

Then the chorus came and I already found myself tapping along with the music :D

There’s a bridge part where it was just PURELY DANCING from Luckys (Tono + Enbujo Four) & Jrs. A huge white cloth with many feathers on it (very pretty) dropped down behind them as they danced this bridge. My favourite part was when they formed a 5-ppl column with Tono in the middle, and they all started to do this alternate left-right hand move thing…

They also formed a V shape, with Tono right in front – taking off their hats, tossing in the air, turning and catching them, putting their hats back… Tono would ALWAYS tuck his hair behind his right ear after putting on the hat! For every show I went, he’d do that! XDDD And there’s a part where they did a bit of hip move and arm “wavy” move LOL… I’m so bad at describing. It’s a pity they never performed the full dance before outside of Enbujo’09…

At the end of the song, Luckys sang the last lines together, unlike in the CD version where only Tono sang it. And they stood in a row (Tono in the middle), doing the feather hand thingie again *DIES*

Sha La La

Towards the end of Mugen no Hane, the large white cloth was removed and we could see the props for Shalala. While the intro played, Tono walked to a couch which was already on the stage. He put on a black&red scarf and sat on the couch. Tono sang the first verse and chorus there. Surrounding him were female dancers with long beige trench coats, hats (their hair were tucked in) and high heels.

Tono stood up and took off their coats and hats, revealing sexy girls with long hair in slinky red/black shiny dresses. One of the female dancers even did a pole dance/spin on top of this platform which Tono climbed on. Luckys were initially sitting at the back of the stage, but soon, they also came towards the front and danced with the females.

All of them did the chorus together, and WOW!! The thing about Sha La La… you have to watch the dance, and not just listen to the song. It was so “WOW!!!” when ALL of them did the chorus AT THE SAME TIME (the whole theatre seem to be shaking lol).

One of the most “memorable” furitsuke was the “trumpet blowing” LOL!!! Kat & I made fun of it several times. There was a part where they’d hit their chests TWICE after singing “kokoro” (heart). And another memorable one has to be the final “SHA LA LAAAAAA” where they raised their left arm, and their right did this “ripples” thingie downwards.

The song ended with Takki sitting on the couch and everyone surrounding him.

He took a can of TaKaRa Can Chu-Hi (Lemon) from the couch, opened it, took a sip, and walked to the hanamichi. A director’s chair had by then been raised up from the trap door onto the hanamichi. The back of the chair read “Takizawa Group”.

Takki walked towards the chair and passed the can of chu-hi to a member of the audience. During the first show, there wasn’t any can drink. They added it only after the 2nd show, I think. While walking towards the hanamichi, he would introduce both songs that they just performed, and when he mentioned “Shalala”, he would raise his hand with the can drink LOL!

On 4/1, he wanted to give the can to a girl, but realized she’s a high school student (not allowed to drink alcohol yet), so I think he gave it to her mother (who was beside her). When he gave the cans to the audience, he’s usually say “If you don’t mind (drinking from the can which I’d just drank from)…”, but all of us will go “ehhh….”, and he’d tell us “please buy it (if you want to drink)” LOL. But the problem is, WE CAN’T FIND IT ANYWHERE!! Either we’ve been to combinis which Takki fans already invaded, or they brought in too few lemon flavoured one! t__t;

Director Takizawa – Short Film

Takki took a handheld video camera from a staff-san to film the audience, and whatever the camera filmed would be shown on the huge screen. He would film randomly a member from the audience, and most ppl that got filmed were shy, laughing, covering their faces, etc. It was really funny :)

On 3/29, he forgot to take the camera, and continued talking for a long time before realizing that staff-san was trying to shove it to him from behind! LOL… his “wasureta! (I forgot!)” was so cute!

One girl he filmed was right in front of him~ and he did a really close up of her, she kept smilng, moving away, and tried covering her face~~ and he said “Oh, I’m too close?”, something like that~ kawaii~~ On 3/30, he filmed 2 guys, and they turned out to be the Ishihara Pro.’s CEO and another actor. Takki thanked them for coming, and for “taking care of him during Kokuchisezu” :D

He told us to be mentally prepared for the film which he planned, wrote, produced, directed, acted, and edited – he did a total of 6 roles. He sat on the director’s chair, and watched the first part of the film with us, before sinking down the hanamichi trapdoor. The lights dimmed and it’s as though we’re in a cinema watching a horror movie ne.

I WAS REAAALLLLY SCARED!!! I’m a rather quiet person when it comes to watching butais, but during this part on 3/29, I screamed out like 5 times!! And midway through the screening, Kat and I were huddled together, making high-pitched funny sounds lol! We are both really DAME at horror movies ne…

I screamed till I laughed… and laughed till I cried!!

After the whole thing, I was in a state of unrest >.< And right after this film is the Legend of Anchin & Kiyohime, the “ghost” segment of Enbujo! The PERFECT story to link the horror movie to ne!! Of course, I’m not afraid of it anymore, having watched it 6 times. By the 4th time, I already could sit through without covering my eyes, without screaming. In fact, we were giggling, mostly at others’ reactions…

Summary of the VTR:

Matchy-san was seated in a first row seat of Shimbashi Enbujo (the very theatre we’re in!). He started to narrate. The lights behind him went off, but he continued to speak…

Takki drove a car with the 4 Jrs in it. Fujigaya was beside Takki, and Kitayama, Tottsu and Kawai were behind (from left to right, in that order). He drove towards a tunnel… and entered it. As he drove past a bend, a ghost (in white, with long hair — the same ‘attire’ as the ‘ghosts’ of the Anchin/Kiyohime segment) appeared behind them, at the bend. Then the car suddenly came to a halt!

Takki got out of the car to check, and looked under the car (scary~~), then squatted beside the door and looked towards the front of the car, but the ghost started crawling towards him from the back!!! Takki seemed to feel “something” behind, so he stood up and looked towards the back. Nothing… SILENCE… but when he turned back, the ghost was right in front of him!! *GAAHH!!* but he didn’t seem to see it! He got back into the car, and told the Jrs that there’s nothing… then he continued driving.

And suddenly, blood streaked down the windscreen of the car. Then a face and eyes of the ghost suddenly appeared, splattered on the windscreen! And the car came to a halt, steered slightly towards the right. Everyone looked frightened, including Takki now. He said “shall we go back?”, and started driving again, wanting to get out of the tunnel asap…

But just as the car was about to exit the tunnel, the face and eye of the ghost appeared again suddenly on the windscreen! (I don’t think they could see the ghost at all~ It’s only us viewers who could.) And the car came to a halt for the 3rd time! Everyone looked shocked, and in fact the car had stopped right at the edge, on top of a cliff. The 3 Jrs behind had such shocked expressions that it was funny and made us laugh lol. I think, if it were not for the ghost, they would have fallen off the cliff ne.

~~~~~

Then it’s back to Matchy-san sitting in the theatre front row. He continued to narrate, and I heard “…maybe in this theatre too”… iyaa… scarrryyy~~ actually, the background music was scary too…. and VERY SUDDENLY, the ghost’s face and eye appeared on the huge screen we were watching (the entire stage screen of the theatre)!!! With a loud bang! EVERYONE SCREAMED (I think mostly from shock, and then fright lol)!!!

At that moment, or just slightly before that scene, an ‘old lady’ and some ‘ghosts’ from the Legend of Anchin & Kiyohime already started walking down the aisle in the theatre, scaring people. During the 4/3 show, I was sitting 6 seats away from the aisle, and the old lady threw herself towards the girl in our row. I was far away, but I got a shock and screamed LOLLLL….

An incident happened on 1st April when the media were here to film for WS:

As usual Takki gave the Takara can chu-hi to a fan near the hanamichi, sat on his director’s chair facing the screen, and the VTR started playing. The audio worked fine but the video was flickering, alternating the real video and a green screen. We were sitting at 2nd floor first row, and had our binocs on Tono throughout. His reaction was so cute! He turned to the back (where the video staff were), then turned back to the screen with a smile on his face. But the video still flickered (and no, it WASN’T an April Fools’ joke!)…

Then Tono stood up. He’s now standing beside his director’s chair, on the hanamichi. He folded his arms while looking at the screen, and he was grinning LOL! When he stood up, some fans including us laughed! Imagine his frustration – the ‘highlight’ of the show screwing up, AND it had to happen when the media was around to film!

Suddenly the screen blacked out and the audio stopped. The lights came on, everyone was like “Eh?”, and Tono said in a really cute way “Cho~tto matte kudasai! Shall we do “Sha La La” one more time?” *LAUGHTER* Then, right after he said that, we heard some screams and shrieks!!

Actually, a staff ran along the hanamichi aisle, wanting to tell Tono about the video problem, but as the staff was a female, with long black hair, wearing all black, those fans seated along the hanamichi thought that she was a ghost, and they screamed! Wahahahahahaaa… Tono was laughing too (he looked so cute when he’s amused~) and said, “daijobu~ it’s only a staff! A SUTAFFFUUU!!!” *ROFL!!!*

The staff whispered to him something, and he apologised to the audience about the problem, and said he was told to talk to buy some time. He talked about filming (started from morning), about Matchy-san etc… Then the staff came and whispered something to him again… He “whispered” back (but letting us hear what he said): “ja, dou suru?” LOLLL… He said it in such a cute way! Everyone laughed!! ^^

Then, he turned back to us, and in a serious tone, said “Due to a bad video problem, we are unable to show you the video….” We all went “EHHHHH….??”… and he tried to explain again… but we “Eh….” even more, and he said loudly “Ja, dou suru iin da yo!” LOLOLOLLLL…. and we all LAUGHED again! I really admire Tono ne~ he’s so good at handling situations like this. Although there was a real big problem going on, he could make us laugh and make jokes out of the situation… Actually, at that time, we didn’t even know the media was around coz we were upstairs…

He apologised again… and sat back on his arm chair, then instead of the VTR, they started performing the Anchin & Kiyohime scene. Takki’s chair sank down the hanamichi… and from here, I guess he was RUSHING like mad to get changed into the red-haired snake costume!! He usually has the duration of the VTR (5 mins+) to change, but this time, the entire thing was cut short… That’s why he took longer than usual to appear on stage. And due to the video problem, there was no background VTR during this show’s Anchin & Kiyohime story.

~~~~~

Everything continued from there as per normal, until after the comedy skit by the 5 “onnas”, and after they introduced themselves, the curtains for Kabuki opened, and we were waiting for the backstage VTR of Tono to play on the screen. But the screen was blank! And I was like “OH SHIT! VTR PROBLEM NOT FIXED YET?”! Then Tottsu came out from the hanamichi trap door with his pipe again~ (if you read further on, he would have come out once already when Tono was painting his face white)… And told us that “This is sudden, but… Just now we had some video trouble…” but now the problem has been fixed! And they’ll be screening the scary VTR… RIGHT NOW! LOLLLL….

After watching the VTR, Tottsu came out again (still with his pipe LOL~), and announced “Next up is… Takizawa Kabuki!!!”… and we all went EHHHHH….? It’s definitely a weird feeling to switch from horror (anchin & kiyohime) to kabuki (white paint make up, and comedy) to horror again (the VTR), and back to Kabuki again LOL!! But Tottsu handled the audience well too. He’s a bit like Tono in that sense. I remember Tono said that about Tottsu in the pamphlet, that could handle unexpected situations well too.

After this incident, I really admire them and how they kept their cool throughout. Although it was a ‘mistake’ or ‘trouble’, it became a really precious and memorable experience. I’m sure it was for all the fans who attended that show~ XD

Legend of Anchin and Kiyohime

Same as last yr, so I won’t go into detail.

But there was also an incident on 3/30 when we were at 4th row on the right (where a “ghost” climbed perpendicular to the wall). This ghost, after climbing up and down the wall, had to ‘catch’ the cable and hook it slowly onto Tono (for him to fly), but she had to act as though she’s a ghost, so she can’t just grab the cable like that. She had to pretend, swaying here and there… But this day, the cable wasn’t very obedient lol. It kept swaying from left to right, and just kept avoiding her hand.

The fans in the first 2 rows even tried to help to catch the cable for her, coz it was taking up too much time~ Tono was already out by then and talking… and usually, this ghost had to catch the cable, and go up the stage BEFORE Tono comes out. This day, she grabbed it really late, and immediately walked up to the stage and hooked the cable right on Tono. *Phew~*

I was so anxious, and even turned to look at Kat when I saw the ghost having difficulties catching the cable. Kat gave me a look so I assumed that she also saw it. But it turned out that, she was actually looking at something else and totally didn’t see what I saw! *lol~ we’re always on different frequencies*

Taki no Shiraito

Similar to last year, just that this time there were onlookers (Jrs) watching her do her flower water tricks.

On 4/1, Takki kamikami-ed!!! But nobody laughed. I think it was because of the video malfunction that caused anxiety among the team. Back stage, they must have been doing last minute re-arrangements of the sequence of performances etc. It’s the first time I’ve seen him kamikami during a serious scene… >.<

Anyway, on 4/2 & 4/3, the water thing on his right doesn’t seem to be working well. The water pressure isn’t as strong, or something’s wrong with the nozzle… the water didn’t shoot up as high as usual.

White Make Up

Tottsu appeared from the hanamichi trap door, and introduced Takizawa Kabuki. Tono walked in topless like last yr, and started painting his face white (the live video feed was in the background). Tottsu said that although the face painting looked easy to do, it’s in fact really taihen. He also said, “Master (Tono) said that I’m forever a bishonen (pretty boy)”. LOL!! He then ran towards Tono, and asked “sou desu yo ne!”, and Tono would mutter “ittenai!” (I didn’t say so!) LOL!

Tottsu also sang – and danced – the first 2 lines of “Sha La La”. He rolled on the floor, skipped and danced, and used his “pipe” as a mic! So funny! During the first show on 3/29, it made Tono laugh (giggling while painting his face – eyes closed~~~~)! Tono’s expressions made us all laugh~~ he’s soooooooooooo cuteee!!!!!! Tottsu also asked everyone to buy the Sha La La single when it’s out (everyone applauded when he said that) XD

The “Onna” Jrs. came out and sang “With Love”, but our eyes were on Tono who was touching up the paint, adding blusher to his cheeks, and adding more white paint to his face (how thick is that~). Then after the song ended, there was the close-up of Tono painting his lips red. Everyone was just watching him paint…

This year, he took his time to paint his lips, so the music was playing for longer than last year. I love that music btw~ And as usual, when he painted his lips, I would always look with my binocs, at the video feed. I would just be focusing on his lips area… the way he steadily held the brush… This scene was one of the most ‘special’ moments of watching the show live :)

Takizawa Kabuki

The Jr kabuki segment was really funny this year. The first show was almost the same as last yr’s, but from the 2nd show onwards, MAD added loads of funny things that made us all laugh… I remember the shop attendants were spinning like ballerinas while the curtains were closing lol…

After the 5 “onnas” introduced themselves with their umbrellas, the curtain opened, and the VTR of Takki backstage was shown. This year, they didn’t screen it on the striped curtains, so it was a really clear and full view of the VTR. Tono then appeared in the purple kimono from the hanamichi trap door with his umbrella.

Everything was mostly similar to last yr, except:

• Oshichi’s long flowing red cloak looked slightly different
• Oshichi got to speak a line on top of the tower! XD

On 3/29, nobody knew he was going to speak so we were clapping when Oshichi struck the pose on top of the tower with her bell-stick. But from 3/30 onwards, I think coz the audience were quite similar to the previous day’s, we all kept quiet and waited for him to say the line….

I thought Oshichi said something like ‘inochi (something) (something) te mo…’ LOL. I couldn’t catch it at all since it’s kabuki speech hahaha… But Nyanco told me later that he said “Inochi ni kaetemo” (even if I must exchange my life~).

I don’t know what is wrong this year, but I witnessed so many “misses”. In the Kabuki segment itself, there were two rather notable ones.

4/1:

When Oshichi was on top of the tower, I saw Tono release his red cloak down the tower, took the stick off a hook (to hit the bell), and hit it ONCE, and I didn’t know what happened, coz I looked away from my binocs to watch him do the backwards arch. But when he got up and was supposed to hit the bell, it was then that I realised, there was NO STICK in his hand!! I don’t know where it went. It dropped or something (Kat said she heard a sound), but in any case, there was already no stick in his hands, so there was NO WAY he could hit the bell! I was panicking for that one second, and the next thing I knew, Tono only DID THE ACTION of hitting the bell… and he only did it once, then stuck his right hand out to strike the final pose (the light shone on him!).

I really admire Tono, the staff and their coordination!!! He usually would hit the bell many times before striking the pose, but the audio & light staff-san that day were on their toes, at least they were attentive to what’s going on live on stage. The light shone on him right on time! Sugoi ne~ *pachi pachi*

4/3:

During the transition from purple kimono to the white one, somehow the cloth got STUCK at his feet! We saw the two men in black behind trying frantically to pull the costume… but there was nothing Takki could do. He just stood there on the spot and flapped his hands/sleeves to dance. He couldn’t move his legs at all as both assistants tried to free the costume…

It was such a tense moment. And we all clapped to give them encouragement!! And as kabuki music is rather monotonous, after the men managed to free the costume (it seemed to take AGES to do so!), I think Takki and the female dancers behind were already quite lost as to which part of the dance it was supposed to be.

I saw the female dancers looking at each other, trying to make sure that they were synchronised in their moves. And Tono just SOMEHOW danced and *MIRACULOUSLY!!!!!* managed to get back into the rhythm to do the backward arch…. HONTO NI SUGOI DESU YO!!! I really admire his cool and calm-ness in such a situation. I felt soooo panicky, and I was only watching! LOL!

But this segment was a wish come true for me ne. After watching last yr’s Enbujo, I longed to see Oshichi LIVE again. And even after getting my Enbujo’08 DVD, and watching Oshichi, nothing beats watching her live, striking the bell on top of the tower! And my wish came true… and now that there will NOT be an Enbujo’10, I’m so glad I went to the 2009 one…

Chuushingura

Kawai introduced the story, Kitayama walked in along the hanamichi, Tottsu did seppuku and sank down the stage, then dancers appeared and Tono slid down from the top of that platform. Wow, the sakuras were REALLY FLYING OUT towards the audience when Tono landed on stage!! It was a beautiful sight~~ Tono wore a red thing around his black costume this year, and used a katana with a white sheath.

The dance was mostly similar, but there were some extra moves, like all the baddies carrying Tono up (Tono lying parallel to the ground). Tono also did some moves with his katana and the sheath, and there was a move where he had to place back the katana into the sheath behind him. For one of the shows, the sword couldn’t really find the sheath, but Tono managed to delay the “closing snap” to fit with the music :)

The dance with the females remained~~ and they touched him more this year! One even slid her hand down his arm lol. Anyway, they did the “breaking into the house from the rooftop” move (i.e. Takki standing on top of the TT platform) again. But this time, after Tono struck the pose up there, we all applauded first, before he came “crashing” down.

Then he had to bash thru some “paper pane”, jumping through one from the elevated stage down to the normal stage, where he jumped through another one. “Blood” splattered when he crashed through each pane.

Then, he went to the hanamichi to do the 45deg. platform run & jump thingie. But this year, he threw white streaks at the baddies.  And then, it’s the free fall — or rather, the DOUBLE FREE FALL!!

On 3/29 (the opening show), when I saw the props being pushed out by the crew, I was already so anxious. I didn’t know what was that 2nd-level crash mat for…

Tono threw his katana onto the ground, climbed up the metal skeletal structure till he reached 3rd floor level (where the lights were). And there was another “structure” that was half the height of the first pushed till it was in front of the first structure!

Then what happened was:

Tono would free-fall from the 1st structure onto the 2nd structure. And immediately after he landed on the 2nd structure’s crash mat, the structure suddenly tilted sideways towards us (with a cracking sound!), and Tono would fall down onto the stage floor WITHOUT A CRASH MAT!!! There was NOTHING at all on the stage. It’s just the stage itself! And that structure was probably 1-2 floors high? I don’t know, but it was a huge height to fall down from, and without a landing mat. The moment he landed, there was a sound. And no, it’s NOT sound effect, it’s really the raw sound of Tono hitting the floor! OUCH!!! The scariest was… during some shows, he would just lie there for a good few seconds, motionless… We were so worried!!

But I thought about this, and maybe he didn’t even know that he was lying there for that long…

When I was in secondary school, I did a handstand and just let my body fall flat down the other way on a gym mat, and wham! my heart seemed to have popped out of my body! lol~ I needed a few seconds to regain “consciousness”~ And what Tono did was worse, coz he has falling from a higher height, and there wasn’t even a gym mat to cushion the fall. No wonder he laid there for a good few seconds before picking himself up from the ground… [/digress]

Right after that scene, Tono stood up, staggered a bit, and Kitayama appeared on the other side of the stage. Same as last yr, Tono slashed at Kitayama, smoke filled the place, and then Tono walked out of the smoke with a white cloak over him, and walked off via the hanamichi, behind him were the juniors. Kat & I kept looking at his face to make sure that he wasn’t hurt from the double-fall stunt just now.

On 4/3, he walked past us along the hanamichi, and we were wow-ing at how serious/straight he looked. He always looked straight ahead on the hanamichi. Actually, we found out that out of the 5 of them (Tono & Enbujo4), only Fujigaya sneaked peeks at the audience while dancing/walking on the hanamichi~ LOL~ Funny Fujigaya! Oh, and we both had a close look at Enbujo4. Kitayama looks quite good in person ne!! Haha! He wasn’t like this 2 years ago when I saw him at the train station after an Enbujo 2007 show. Btw, he was waiting for the train, but turned back and saw me. I saw him looking at my Enbujo shopping bag, and our eyes met! (the only JE guy I’ve EVER had eye contact wif LOL~) But I didn’t bother much about him as I didn’t even know his name then. I only knew he was “one of the Jrs in Enbujo” LOL. I should have went up to him and asked him for Tono’s number lol~! [/digress]

Gojo Bridge

Anyway, back to Tono… and… Tono, dressed as Ushiwaka, holding the cloth over his head, walked out along the hanamichi towards the stage again, and I was JUST beside it on 4/3!!! I was so close that I could rest my elbow on the hanamichi itself yo! And when he’s approaching us, the girl behind me bent her head lower… I did the same too, coz that’s the only way you could see his face (since he was covering it with the cloth)!

AND OMG!!!! HE LOOKED SO BEAUTIFUL, SO HANDSOME, SO DAMN GOOD!!!! *HYPERVENTILATES* It was just for that 2 seconds or so, but I could see his *KIRAKIRA* face looking straight ahead (ignoring all the stares from the sides), his skin was sooo flawless (probably coz of the makeup or whatever), so fair, so shiny (filled with sweat, I think lol~)… His sharp nose, perfect jawline, curvy lips, and those eyes!!! They were shiny~ *KIRAKIRA*~ LIKE PUPPY EYES!!! Sorry, I KYAAAA like mad whenever I recall that moment ^^

Right after he walked past me (and I could see the girl behind me flailing like mad too! hahahahaha~), I remember turning towards Kat and *kyaaaing* silently. She reminded me to breathe… coz I really almost stopped breathing haha~ I think that was the CLOSEST I’ve ever gotten to Takki! He was less than a metre away!

Phew~ and that was pretty much the end of Act 1 :)

I don’t know if I’ll write about Act 2 or not. But I can still remember at least 3 scenes clearly now, especially those tears that couldn’t stop flowing…