[Report] Takizawa Kakumei 2011 – Act 1

Sorry I took a long time to write this. Was looking through my reports, and realized I didn’t complete my Tackey Summer Con 2010 reports… If only there’s a DVD for that. AVEX!!

Anyway, back to Takizawa Kakumei 2011, I’m sooooo glad there’ll be DVD! \(^ ^)/ I won’t feel so stressed if I don’t finish this one lol~ But here’s what I can remember from Act 1. I watched 4 shows, and my seats were somewhat like this:

• 1/13 eve: 2F-F left
• 1/14 eve: 1F-R left-center
• 1/15 day: 2F-B left-center
• 1/15 eve: 2F-A right

Pre-Opening

Before the lights dimmed, Hime (Princess) sang along to Goto Hiromi’s violin playing. On 1/13, we entered the theatre at this time. I think 1/14 was the only show that I was seated before Goto Hiromi and Hime walked out to perform the song.

Imperial Theatre 100th Anniversary Opening Show

★ Prologue

ABC-Z introduced the 100th anniversary of the theatre. On the screen were footage of the theatre since construction and reconstruction. A huge roller-coaster ride video (it’s as though we were riding a coaster) was played across 3 screens, i.e. the entire length of the stage. They said that such a performance can only be done in a theatre like Teigeki.

They introduced past famous plays staged here, like Les Miserables and My Fair Lady. Then there was footage of Takki from Dream Boy and last year’s Jinsei Kakumei! There was voice-over from Mori-san as well, when she said the Ai Kakumei dialogue. And finally footage from the very first Takizawa Kakumei in 2009! They showed the scene where Takki wore the gold “dress” thing with black pants haha, and I remember it ended with Takki pointing at us (from “Balance”).

On 1/15 evening, due to an accident somewhere along the JR Yamanote line, I had to transfer to another train and was late. From the JR station, I ran to the theatre… with about 5-6 other ladies lol! I was barely seated, trying to catch my breath, when Dreamboy Takki appeared on the screen.

Anyway, the screen went dark, and suddenly the spotlight was on Takki behind the screen (which was now semi-transparent). He was in this kirakira white-gold outfit with feathers!! Very flashy~~ and sparkling! He started singing the first phrase of the opening song.

★ SHOW

I LOVE THIS SONG!! It must have been quite stressful to have to come up with a song that had to represent 100 years of magic. The tune is catchy and lively, and it was a very Johnnys-like ‘flashy’ performance, but this is my favourite opening so far.

There were LOADS of dancing!! XD

Takki danced on the stage, on the raised platform (very clear when we were on the 2nd floor), and then back to the stage again. The back dancers started filling up the stage, and the other main cast were introduced. Yuma appeared, and the part he sang had a more soothing tune~ and when Nikki appeared, his was more upbeat. I really think that this song is very well-written… can’t wait to see it on DVD!

★ Ai Kakumei

Takki introduced himself and thanked everyone for coming.

Then he performed Ai Kakumei. This song has got to be performed with the water effects ne. When he sang and spoke the dialogue, he sounded like he had a cold… And while he said the dialogue, the airplane and some dancers appeared behind him.

When the beat kicked in, Takki flew above the audience, one leg on the rope. I loved this part coz it made him nearer to us, whether we were on the first or second floor. And he was still so kirakira in that costume. I love seeing how he tucked the rope around his right leg LOL

Back on stage, I always loved how he “conducted” the water during the bridge part. I also loved the end of the song, when the the water shot up from the stage.

Scene #1: Pirates of the Forest

★ Kushimoto Bushi

Takki introduced Nikki, who greeted us “Happy New Year”. He then sang “Kushimoto Bushi” again. This is the 3rd year he’s singing it, he said lol. Then he introduced the story, which took place in Country of Kii. Some Jrs. walked in along the aisles, and they were wearing hats and holding poles.

★ Kakumei Overture

Like previous years, Hideaki appeared from behind the semi-transparent screen – on the pirate ship, singing “Try again”. And he was wearing the same too. But this time his crew was different. No Kisumai, but ABC & Snowman instead. Plus, Hideaki now has a younger brother, Yuma.

Kawai slid down from the top right to bottom left, across the face of the stage (I found out later that this was supposed to be Yuma’s role, but Yuma was slightly injured during the time I was there, so Kawai did it for a few shows). Hasshi did the rope stunt, and the rest of the “red team” (I think it was Watanabe and Sakuma etc. from Snowman…) carried a huge log down on the left side. Yuma called out to his brother~ “Aniki!” and helped to set up the sails for the ship.

*Takizawa Rope Action :  I think this was supposed to be performed here (according to the pamphlet), but I read from the jp bbs that it was removed from the show few days before my first show. This was the scene where Takki fell and injured himself last year so I’m glad that they actually removed it… as if the rest of the show wasn’t physically demanding enough… This year, it was performed from 1/1 to 1/6, and then again on 1/10.

Nikki appeared on the right of the stage, Hideaki called “Chichi-ue!” (Father!), and jumped down from the ship to the stage. Nikki said that there was nothing more he had to teach Hideaki… that’s all I caught lol. Then suddenly, Hime ran in from the left, calling “Hideaki-sama!”. One of their men were injured, and Kawai suspected there was a traitor amongst them.

★ Set sale ~ Downstream

Hideaki decided to leave this forest and head for Country of Kii. But Yuma questioned “What is Country of Kii to us?”, and Hideaki replied that it’s their lives. Yuma didn’t seem happy, but Nikki supported Hideaki, and they let down the sails… This part was quite cool. Hideaki slashed his sword in the air, and the sails behind came down.

On 1/15 evening show, the right side of the sail got stuck lol.

And they set sail for the Sea of Kii.

Scene #2: Sea of Kii

★ ONE NIGHT

Similar to previous years, the screen came down with the overlaying moving ship visual… I think this is still one of the classic ‘Takizawa Kakumei” scenes :) And I love ONE NIGHT~~ this year’s version is similar to last year. There was no ‘high note’ like in 2009. I love the water effect at the end of the song – and somehow, I love the SOUND of the water effects…

They had finally reached the Sea of Kii…

But suddenly the sky turned dark and the water stormy…

★ Whale

A huge whale appeared with a weapon stuck in its body. The bad guys (green team) showed up, led by Tottsu and Queen of Kii. Hideaki asked who she was, and she said, “Have you forgotten me?”. Sou, she’s the one who killed his mother. “My mother’s enemy!”, he said.

★ Sea Battle

And they started fighting… on planks, on the ship, fighting bad guys who flew in the air… Hime was captured in a net, and held captive by the bad guys. Her scream was really so ‘sharp’ that it’s piercing yo! And finally, Hideaki jumped off the ship into the water.

He flew above the audience (3D flying) to the right side and pulled off a plank from the “ship”… then to the left and threw that plank to the “shore”. He continued bouncing up and down, frantically struggling in the ‘water’.

Scene #3: Ryugujo (Undersea Palace)

★ Urashima Tarou

Then the music changed, and became very dreamy. Nikki’s narration and the chibi Jrs’ (Snow Prince Jrs) singing told us that Hideaki has entered Ryugujo (undersea palace). This song is nice hehe~ and Yuma came out on stage as well & posed with the dancers.

Hideaki slowly floated to the stage. He asked, “where’s this place?” and Nikki, manager of Ryugujo “for the 3rd time” *lol* (on another day, he said he was still single LOL), came to greet Hideaki. And he introduced the song on the ‘hits chart’.

★ Yoku Asobi Yoku Manabe

This NYC song was performed by Yuma and chibi Jrs. Chino-kun was one of them~ *pinch* I like this song ne~ it’s nice & catchy hehe~

★ Yuuki 100%

This song is nice too! Hikaru Genji sang it first back in the what, 80s? And then more groups sang it, but finally NYC. I was looking at Chino-kun again, coz he was so small compared to the rest lol. He did a high-five with Yuma towards the end. Kawaii~

★ Water World

Takki came on stage wearing a black suit. The female dancers did the quick change of clothes from yellow to red to blue and then silver. Then Takki held a huge cloth in front of him, threw it high up in the air, and when the cloth dropped to the ground, he was in a white tuxedo.

All the above went well… except the show on 1/14!!

Takki threw the cloth up~ and something happened!

Apparently, he didn’t manage to change his clothes in time, so when the cloth was falling down, one of his hands was grabbing at the cloth, trying to prevent it from falling to the ground… while the other hand was hidden, seemingly tugging at something LOL~ It was so funny!! After about two seconds, he let the cloth fall onto the ground, and he was in his white tuxedo! *phew* *wipes sweat*

Takki grinned and made a really cute face like “See! I’ve done it!” kind of expression, yet and “Oops!” kind of expression at the same time! We were just clapping and laughing haha~ I was really lucky to be able to witness that :)

Then Hime came on stage, and Takki & Hime did the ballet dance thing. Takki seemed to still be grinning from the previous incident on 1/14 fufu~ BTW, this year’s Hime looked older than Takki ne. I think 2009’s Hime’s petite size still fits him the best ne. Anyway, Takki “threw” Hime, and caught her again, and I noticed during one of the shows, that when Takki and Hime had eye contact — while she flew very close to him — he smiled *melts*

★ DEEP

Nikki-san came out and announced the ‘No.1 song’, DEEP! I love this song! It’s really catchy, and Takki sang the second verse before moving to the right side of the stage for his “little play” XD

Last year, this ‘play’ was held at the back of the stage, so we couldn’t see clearly what he was doing. I’m so glad that this year it was moved to the front! My eyes were just on him all that while haha… Basically, Takki would sit at a small table, with female ‘waitresses’ around him… drank wine, looked at the ‘menu’ etc.

On 1/13: He drank the wine slowly at first, and towards the end, he did a very quick bottoms-up. His head tilted backwards and then bounced back really quickly. I don’t know how to describe it properly lol~ but he did it like 3 times.

On 1/14: He drank the “wine” really slowly. BTW, did I mention? There isn’t actually any drink inside, it’s just an empty wine glass that he’s holding hehe. Anyway, he drank it slowly a few times, and for the final one, his head fell backwards and stayed there LOL.

On 1/15: I can’t really remember which show it was, but I think he poured the “wine” over his hat lol. And I think he also ‘wrote” something on the ‘menu’ with his finger… and all the girls looked and laughed together. There were loads of Takki smiles during this segment, and I always found myself grinning (with my eyes still fixed on binocs hehe).

Nikki did not repeat the chorus of DEEP like last year, he said that this year he won’t repeat it… lol. And Takki did the magic ‘table trick’… and passed the white ball to Nikki. Nikki made fun of the Jrs. who froze in their positions, and one of them was trying hard not to laugh.

Nikki did the juggling of balls, this time there was interaction with the audience. He would throw two balls to the audience – one on each side – and ask them to throw it back to the stage. On 1/14 I think, someone in the audience didn’t cooperate or something, and Nikki was so funny, he made a “WTH” face (hands on hips) which made us laugh! He couldn’t do anything, so he got a new ball from the Jrs.

★ Miracle World

The last of the juggling was with the neon balls, so the lights went off.

When the lights came on, Takki was already behind in his pink fish costume! And Yuma was in blue! Two of them in front and three (Hasshi and two from Mis-Snow-Man) behind in yellow animal costumers lol. They did the same Miracle World dance like previous years and then the “water shapes” game.

I remember during my last show, Takki shaked his butt while he’s on top of the platform!

Anyway, this year there were ‘crab’ and ‘squid’ shapes in the water curtain. There was also one ‘continuous swirling shape’ that the Jrs had to do and sometimes Takki joined them.

On 1/14, Takki pretended to do but actually he was running outside of the water curtain (so he definitely won’t get wet). Needless to say, the Jrs got soaked. Especially Hasshi~ he’s the one who always got a “NG” haha~

On 1/15 day show, Takki REALLY tried to do the swirl shape thing. During the night show, one of the Jrs asked Takki to join the ‘shapes’ game as well, so he did. There were shapes like clubs, spade, diamond… but Takki waited… and only jumped when the heart shape appeared :)

At the end, Takki and Yuma did the final jumps together~ KYAA!! ♥

★ Ai wa Takaramono

Nikki came out with two chibi Jrs holding a treasure box each.

“These are…”
“Children.”
“No, I mean those…”
“Oh, they are treasure boxes.”

And Yuma wanted to open the box on the right!

Takki shouted “NOOOooooo!!!” but Yuma opened it, and….

On 1/13: …A “Happy Birthday” song played! Sou, it was Yuma’s 17th birthday!! We clapped and celebrated for him. He was shocked, and said that at first, he thought it was a mistake by the staff LOL!

As it was my first show, I didn’t know what was supposed to happen.

For the other shows, when Yuma opened the box, “Ai wa Takaramono” played. The box had two CD covers of “Ai wa Takaramono” on it. For the 1/14 & 1/15 shows, Takki looked “surprised” while everyone clapped along to the song~ He gave a “How come you guys know this song?” kind of confused expression, and clapped lightly as well.

Then Nikki-san said “This is the No. 2 song — I’m sorry, but the No.1 song is DEEP! — Now on sale at the theatre lobby!” LOL~ After saying this, he said “Disperse!” and all the dancers ran off stage. There’s only one box left, and Yuma asked what’s inside. Nikki said that this box can’t be opened. It contains a treasure, a new world.

Scene #4: Bamboo Forest

★ Glowing Bamboo Forest

Someone called “Hideaki!” and told him that Hime was spotted in the Glowing Bamboo Forest.

★ Kareha no Kage

Same performance as last year.

If only he performed this in the white outfit later (the one that matches the pants perfectly hehe~). Hmm, actually, I think this might be my least favourite performance of this show. Not that I didn’t like it, but it just showed how much more I liked the rest LOL

★ ONE NIGHT (vocal trio)

While Nikki, Hideaki and Yuma stood in front (3 spotlights, one on each of them), behind on the raised stage, there was a flashback scene of Hideaki and Yuma while they were young – 2 chibi Jrs played them. Chibi Hideaki told his younger brother he’s OK not being the future King of Kii, something like that.

Then there was the scene where their mother was executed by the Queen of Kii. Some trick was done to make it seem as though her head was chopped off. Just after the execution scene, grown ups Hideaki and Yuma shouted “Haha-ue!” (Mother!). Nikki said that their mother’s death caused Hideaki to change.

Yuma asked Hideaki why he wanted to return to the Country of Kii, saying that Hideaki was ambitious, and asked him to stop doing so.

The music intro of ONE NIGHT played, and Hideaki sang it alone at first. Nikki went off stage, and Hime came in to take his place. And the three of them – Hideaki, Yuma, and Hime – sang ONE NIGHT together. They were standing in their own ‘spotlights’.

Scene #5: Battle with the Queen of Kino

The background dancers were standing on that multi-storey slots thingie, but this year, each of them held on to neon-green/yellow ‘shadows’ while they danced, so there was a ‘ghostly’ kind of effect~ Hideaki’s crew came out on stage and told him that they’ll stick with him to the end.

They all sang the last chorus together.

After that, Hideaki said that “this will be the last battle!”

★ battle day

Yuma walked into the bad guys’ territory, and I think it was Goseki (or was it Tsukada) who said that it’s okay to leave Yuma alone, as “the problem lies with Hideaki”. Hime appeared and said something to Yuma, asking him to leave or something. But the evil Queen appeared.

★ Shostakovich “Revolution”

The stage turned and rotated, and this time it was Tottsu who climbed up to that ring thing. Actually, Hime was the daughter of the evil Queen. And I didn’t really know what they were talking about but I heard something like the Queen wanting Yuma to call her “Mother” from now or something lol~

Anyway, quite suddenly, Prince Charming Hideaki – in this gorgeous and KIRAKIRA white suit – came in from the right of the stage on his ship!!! Wahhhh~~~~ The entire ship moving in, plus the spot light suddenly on Hideaki~~ he was so KAKKOII!! I love this scene~ XD

★ Battle

Hideaki said, “So, the traitor is Hime…” And he told Yuma that that woman “is our mother’s enemy! (Why are you on her side?)” Then both gangs started fighting… And Hideaki was shining wherever he went lol.

Hideaki climbed up the high platform on the left of the stage, and we knew he was going to do the dive. He was high up where the lights were.

Tottsu ordered his men to shoot Hideaki, and like last year, we could see “arrows” shooting diagonally from bottom right towards Hideaki (via the water curtain’s “rain effect”).

Hideaki got “hit” and fell down.

This year, I’m not sure why but Takki seemed to be in the air for a longer time. I’m sure it’s just my imagination, but somehow all the stunts this year seemed more “heartbeat-stopping” for me. Maybe because he was in that sparkling white outfit? lol~ But seeing the dive in real life… It felt like everyone was holding their breaths then.

★ One-on-One Fight

Yuma pointed the sword at Hideaki. He wanted to stop his aniki… Ah, I really love this scene ne. Hideaki vs Yuma… Aww~ I love how Hideaki shouted “Yuma!”, and while they fought, he asked if this was going to be their destiny.

Yuma was definitely physically weaker than Hideaki, but Hideaki couldn’t bring himself to attack his younger brother… Aww~ I wanna watch this again…

While the two were fighting, sneaky Hime, who at first asked them to stop, went from the back and stabbed Hideaki!! There was a moment of silence… as Hideaki went down onto the floor. Hime then wanted to kill herself… but was stopped by her mother. Apparently, Hime loved Hideaki. But I was screaming in my heart “baka onna!!!” lol~

Yuma wanted to forget everything and start life anew… so he headed for that box of youth which has now appeared behind them on the raised stage.

★ Act 1 Ending

Hideaki saw that, and slowly stumbled up there… wanting to stop Yuma from doing anything foolish. There were loads of voiceovers from the Queen, Hime, Nikki, etc… telling him not to open the box… but it was no use. Just when Yuma opened the box, Hideaki shouted “No!!”, jumped towards and pushed Yuma away.

He took Yuma’s place, and became an old man.

The place started crumbling and the curtains closed to conclude Act 1.

==

I wonder if I’ll start on Act 2, though I very much want to coz I haven’t got to the best part yet LOL~