Synopsis
This musical is a remake of the musical Usagi, Ai no Senshi e no
Michi. Professor Tomoe and his minions are back. He was working
on a new experiment, Homunculus or perfect super human beings. Professor
Tomoe's new boss is Death Vulcan, a unseen being from outer space.
He needs the Star Seed of Chibi-usa to gain universal power. Also,
Professor Tomoe has also revived Count Dracul who grants him the
power to transform into the Undead Berzerk. The rest of the musical
plot is just like the original. This musical is the first part of
the Dracul trilogy.
I heard that this musical was a remake, so I thought
I'd look at the original musical, which I wound up liking. So I
had high expectations of this musical. With the exception of a new
plotline and new songs, the two musicals are almost parallel. This
musical is also the starting point and end point for a lot of the
musical's actors.
When I first heard about Seramyu, Miyuki Kanbe-sama
was the first Sailormoon actress I'd ever seen. From her appearance,
I was impressed and couldn't wait to see her act and sing. She is
VERY genki and VERY cute; if Usagi-chan was real, I think she would
look like Kanbe-sama. To say this was her first musical, she did
an AWESOME job. She can get a little over-excited at times, but
you can overlook it. My only problem (and people are going to hate
me for saying this) is her singing voice. She has a nasal, teeny-bop,
Britney Spears-esque singing voice. I don't feel any emotion in
her voice, just her trying sing pretty. Other than her singing voice,
Kanbe-sama is awesome. Akamine Hisano-sama's acting has gotten SOOO
much better. I had issues with her in Kaguya Shima Densetsu, but
now I really like her lot. She looks and acts just Like Ami-chan.
She has a pretty voice, although, like Kanbe-sama, she can get nasal.
And she's an awesome dancer, she dances the best out of all of the
Inners. She's now definitely one of my favorite Sailormercury actresses
and it's a shame that this is her last musical. Another actress
that I've changed opinions about is Kanda Eri-sama. Like Akamine-sama,
I had issues with her, but I totally like her now. Her acting was
good in Kaguya Shima Densetsu, but it's gotten better (and it gets
even better in the next musical) I still don't care for Inada Nao-san
as Minako-chan; I don't thinks she's right for the role. Her voice
is to deep and gruff, she strains her voice when she sings, and
she just isn't genki enough. I think the only reason she was cast
in the role is because she's a model. It took me awhile to like
Kuriyama Emi-sama as Mako-chan. She has this awful habit of constantly
screaming her lines in a deep voice. She still does it every now
and again, but she's gotten over it. Other than that, she's awesome.
Now for the Outers. Takagi Nao-sama ws great as
Haruka-san, as always. Asami Yuko-sama was ok as Michiru-san, although
she has a habit of looking kinda evil. She's ok, but I'm not that
wild about. I really like Watanabe Teruyo-sama as Setsuna a lot....
could it be because she looks just like Saito Rei-sama. It's scary,
she looks just like her, she even does Saito-sama's "hands
on hip, smile and cock head to the side" pose. Unfortunately,
this is her first and last musical; I really wished she could have
stuck around to do some more musicals. Mita Mao-sama is yet another
Second Stage actress that I just startinng to like. This is the
first musical to have Hotaru-chan in that black dress she wears
in the anime. Mita-sama is a little loud as the soft-spoken Hotaru-chan
and she tends to smile at really odd times, but other than that,
she's a pretty good Sailorsaturn. Alas this is her last musical.
Gunji Ayano-sama is my favorite Second Stage Chibi-usa.
She's gotten a little bigger and her voice seems to have a gotten
a little bit deeper. The only thing about her is she screams her
lines. She already has a loud voice, she doesn't have to scream.
This is her third musical and, you guessed it, her last. Hidemasa
Edo was.... ok as Mamoru-san. He so feminine and he has a habit
of getting out of character and making strange faces. Also, I don't
care for his singing voice. For some reason , his acting is better
when he's Tuxedokamen that when he's just Mamoru-san. One good thing
about him is that he looks good next to Kanbe-sama.
Kasahara Ryuji Kasahara-sama was an awesome Professor
Tomoe. In fact, he was more better and more like the Professor Tomoe
of the anime than the actor in the original version. sidenote: Kasahara-sama
was in the original musical and played one Tomoe's henchmen, Desuraa.
He's manical and smiles just like Tomoe and he's awesome when he
turns into the Undead Berzerk. He gets a little wild, especially
during FIRE when he was swinging the Semail Sword. This is the first
musical where he played the straight man, although he had a few
comic moments here and there. Ono Kazuko-sama plays the seductive
Death Lamia or the new Kaolinite. *drools* One word.....HOT. She
is SO sexy, especially when she sings "Kubisuji wo Sashidase."
She is just awesome, so much better than the original Kaolinite
and she has the high pitched "evil anime villainess" laugh
which is perfect. She also has beautiful sultry singing voice and
is a pretty good dancer. The Death Managers were funny, a little
annoying, but funny (MA, MA, MA, MA MANAGERS) Kanzaki Jun-sama is
hilarious as Desuraa, practically stole the show. He's gotten a
little more feminine though, but I think that's just his character.
Takuma Seiko-san has serious problems and she scares me and so does
Kashigawa Takashi-san. Yukimura Yoshiya-san is pretty funny. He
does a pretty good Hotaru-chan impression. Mochizuki Yuuta was an
AWSEOME Count Dracul, almost as good as Bela Lugosi himeslf. It's
so cool seeing him play a really other than Tuxedokamen/King Endymion,
especially as a villain; he looked just like a vampire. His acting
as good as always and his singing voice has gotten much better.
I looked this musical's version of the Death Nightmares. Their costumes
are really pretty and they seem to have more to do. Kawasaki Miki-sama
is SOOOO awseome; she's my favorite Seramyu villainess (I can't
wait to see her as Esmeraulde in the new musical); I'm proud of
her, her roles get bigger and bigger. Ado Endo-sama has been bumped
up to Death Nightmare 1 (in the original musical, her debut, she
was Death Nightmare 2) and she even has a couple of lines here and
there. If you notice, she has a ghetto-style hairdo; cool!
The score is exactly the same as the original and
in more or less the same places as the original. If it weren't for
a sprinkle of new songs, the musical would be kinda boring. An Evil
Dream is a pretty cool song and Kanbe-sama actually sounds good
singing it. Then there's Wake up Usagi. It's ok, I don't really
care for it. Then there's Homonkulusu Tanjou Zenya, Kasahara-sama's
first real solo; his voice has improved. Speaking of improved singing,
there's Yuuta-sama's solo, Dracul Hakushaku no Kodoku. Ladies in
the audience must loved hearing this love song. Then there's the
coolest new song in the entire musical- Kubisuji wo Sashidase. This
song is SOOO awesome. Ono Kazuko-sama sounds absolutely awesome
singing this and she looks SOO hot. Her voice has a twist of sultry
Broadway and delicate Japanese *drools* Finally there's FIRE. This
song ROCKS, it's one of my favorite battle songs; they keep getting
better. That takes care of the new songs, now for the old ones.
Muma no Odori sounds better than the original especially with Ono-sama
adding her sex appeal to it. Gondola no Koibito-tachi... I wasn't
felling it. I felt no romance between Kanbe-sama and Hidemasa-san;
they were just standing there both trying to sound pretty and imitate
Anza/Yuuta's version. Chou Bi Uranus to Neptune sounds better than
the original. Takagi-sama was awesome, especially the way she moved
during the song, but Asami-sama can use some help on her singing
voice. Solar Miracle Make-up sonded really strange; it was obviously
lip-synched but the voices sounded real high and distant. Yume Dream
wa Ookiku was ok. Akamine-sama's solo sounded good, but the rest
could have sounded better. I didn't care for this version of Tabidachi.
Once again, it was just Kanbe-sama trying to see pretty, no emotion.
So far, To A Brand New World has been sung by 4 different Hotaru
actresses. Mita-sama's version sounds the most "Hotaru-like."
If you're a Hotaru fan, you'll like this song, particular this version.
This version of L'amour D'amour Moonlight is awesome; they added
two part harmony- cool!
This musical was ok, but it could have been better.
The acting was pretty good for the most part and so was the singing.
There weren't a lot of choreography, at least as fr as the senshi
were concerned. The bad guys did all of the dancing. There weren't
a lot of sound effects or lighting effects. One thing I liked was
the sets, they were pretty elaborate. The only thing I did not like
about this musical was that it was too much like the original; they
scenes are almost practically the same.... from Chibi-usa getting
attacked during Usagi-chan and Mamoru-san's date,the Death Managers
dressing up as the Outers, to Ami-chan dying at the airport. If
it weren't for the new song and new plot twist, the two musicals
are almost exactly the same. This was, however, a good starting
point for Kanbe-sama, she did an excellent job. If you want to see
how she fared, this is the musical to see. This musical is by far
the best out of all the Second Stage Musicals, but the original
(with Anza-sama) is much better.
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