Synopsis
This musical is based on the first half of the Sailormoon S series,
before Hotaru/Mistress 9 appears. A new enemy has come to Earth;
the Death Busters. Their plan is to steal pure heart crstals and
search for the Talismans. Meanwhile, Usagi-tachi are enjoying their
last few moments of junior high. Usagi-chan is on a date with Mamoru-san
but would later be interrupted by Chibi-usa, youma and the elusive
couple, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. While at Rei-chan's temple,
Ami-chan told everyone that she was leaving to study in Germany,
much to Usagi-chan's dismay. Before she could leave, Ami-chan is
attacked by the Death Busters (mainly Kaolinite). Also, Chibi-usa
is kidnapped by them. The senshi go to fight the Death Busters and
almost won but didn't have enough power to destroy them all. It
would be Sailormoon and later Sailor Planet power that delivered
the final blow. The Senshi all celebrate as evil has been banished
once again. sidenote: a revision was made of this musical but it
was not released on tape and would be remade into another musical
several years later.
Just about every review I've read for this musical
were all negative; I've only read two that were positive. I was
kinda curious, so I went ahead and bought it, expected it to be
awful. I was very suprised. It wasn't bad at all. In fact it was
very funny, cute and very close to the anime(although there are
no Witches 5 or Hotaru). Now don't get me wrong, it's not a bad
musical, it's become one of my favorites but it's far from the best.
But you have to put into perspective that this is just their second
musical.
In my opinion, this is the best cast, as far as
the Inner Senshi actresses go. You have Anza, Ayako, Misako, Kanoko
and Nana, need I say more. Ooyama Anza-sama is so awesome and cute
as Usagi-chan. I don't care what anyone says, she is Usagi. She
has Usagi's mannerisms down and can change from being goofy to sad
really well. She also has a very pretty singing voice, filled with
emotion (in one of her solos, you can see her about to cry) She
just awesome, she must be because she continued to play Usagi for
the next 3 shows and their revisions. Another great actress who
would continue to play the same role for years is Morino Ayako-sama
as Ami-chan. She's so cute, she squinches her eyes when she smiles
and she looks just like Ami-chan when she's in her Juuban school
uniform. Although she doesn't have a lot of lines, she does have
two solos... kind of. She even gets to do Sailormercury's attack
from Ami no Hatsukoi, Mercury Aqua Mirage. Like Anza-sama, she would
continue to play Sailormercury for the next 3 years. Yet another
great actress is Iwani Misako as Rei-chan. She acts a lot like Rei-chan
in the anime, especially when she fusses at Usagi-chan. The only
thing is her voice can get a little shrill but it's not too bad.
This is her first musical as Rei-chan and I think she did a good
job and she gets better in the later musicals. Next is Kanoko as
Mako-chan. She is by far my favorite Sailorjupiter, because in my
opinion, out of all the actresses to play Mako-chan, she acts and
looks the most like her. And she's the only actress who does not
have the annoying habit of talking and singing with a deep voice;
her voice is not deep but not as high as other others, but just
right like Mako-chan in the anime. The only thing about her is she
has a habit of not smiling when she's dancing and sometimes when
she's singing. She sometimes looks like she confused when she's
dancing. I don't know why because she dances pretty well. This is
her second musical and her last, which is a shame because she's
really good. Lastly there's Suzuki Nana-sama as Minako-chan. The
best word to describe her is "genki". She is constantly
smiling; sometimes she smiles so much that she forgets to sing.
Her "genki-ness" works to her advantage because you need
that to play Minako-chan. Nana-sama captures the happy, easy-going,
sometimes bird-brained side of Minako-chan and very few actresses
actually capture and portray those qualities as well as her. Although
she's not as pretty as Minako-chan, you can overlook it because
of her acting. I wish she would have had a better, less thick and
less corn yellow wig though. The 5 actresses have great chemistry
together, mainly because they are all friends from the days when
they were members of Sakurakko Club. It's a shame that this would
be their last musical all working together. Mochizuki Yuuta-sama
was awesome as Mamoru-san. This would be the first time we'd get
to see him in this role. Although he looks nothing like Mamoru-san,
he acts just like him. The scenes with him, Usagi-chan and Chibi-usa
are funny. He also doubles as King Endymion.
The Outer senshi make their first appearance in
this musical....well two of them anyway.There is a scene where you
see the shadowy figure of Sailorpluto (she makes her first real
appearance in the revision). Uranus and Neptune don't do much in
this musical but they do have a snazzy duet together. Kimura Sanae-sama
makes her debut as Haruka-san, and like Anza-sama and Ayako-sama,
she would continue to play her for the entire First Stage musicals
and gradually got better in the role. Her singing voice is a little
too high and her mannerisms are a little too feminine. Sakamoto
Kahoru-san was just WRONG for the part of Michiru-san, period! She
has a deeper voice than Sanae-sama's; it gets deeper when she does
"Deep Submerge". She's chubby and almost look like Shirly
Temple in that frizzy curly wig she had on. The only good thing
about is she has a really good voice (although too sultry for the
elegant Michiru-san) and she looks good alongside Kimura-sama. There's
a scene where they walk onstage, arms around each other in their
Mugen Gakko uniform. Kimura-sama whispers in her ear and Kahoru-san
does a cute but un-Miciru-like giggle.
There are two Chibi-usas, why I don't know. Miyagawa
Ai-chan was very cute as Chibi-usa and just as annoying as the Chibi-usa
in the anime. The scenes with her and Usagi-chan fighting over and
around Mamoru-san were funny. Kawasaki Mao-sama makes her first
debut as Sailorchibi-moon. She wasn't very good, mainly because
she was too young for the role. She could barely pronounce her linesand
a lot of times looked confused. I personally think that Miyagawa
Ai-chan could have handled being both Chibi-usa and Sailorchibi-moon.
Finally there are the villains. Shunsaku Yajima-san
was pretty good as Professor Tomoe, although I think he played the
role a little too seriously; he does get maniacal every once in
awhile. sidenote: watch closely during La Soldier, he doesn't look
too happy about dancing. I have issues with Hanayama Yoshiko as
Kaolinite. I mean, her acting was ok but she wasn't seductive or
sinister enough. And she lip-synchs terribly and she moves stiffly
and jerkily. She has a nice voice though and she looks a lot like
Elizabeth Taylor. The Death Managers were really funny. Kasahara
Ryuji-sama made his first "debut" as the Death Manager's
leader, Desuraa (although he played Kunzite in the revision of Gaiden,
Dark Kingdom Fukkatsu Hen, it was never released on tape). sidenote:
Ryuji-sama would later play Professor Tomoe in a later remake of
this musical. The funniest scene with the Death Managers is when
Deburee and Desuruu appear as Rei-chan's two crows and Desuraa and
Desuree dress up as Haruka and Michiru. The Death Nightmares, who
were double-cast as both the chorus/dancers and youma, were ok,
not too much you can say about them. Edo Ado-sama makes her first
debut in Seramyu period in this musical. Ishikawa Kaori-san also
makes her debut and even has a few lines.
The score for this musical was pretty good. It
would have been better if all of the songs weren't lip-synched though.
I was surprised that the show opened with La Soldier. The Inner
Senshi sang the whole thing except the first chorus. Solar Miracle
Make-up is one of my least favorite battle songs and it seemed a
little out of place. Talisman wo Sagase is a cool song and is one
of my favorite villain songs along with Muma no Odori which is really
seductive and erotic. Choubi Uranus to Neptune is such a cool song
and Sanae-sama and Kahoru-san sound and look good together. Dream
Yume wa Ookiku is really cute, although the oversized props may
have been too cute. Tabidachi is kinda sad and you can hear and
se the emotion in Anza-sama's voice and face. Anza-sama and Ayako-sama
sounded really good in duet part of the song. Tuxedo Mission is
one of the better Tuxedokamen image songs.... and funny (Tuxedokamen-sama
ga ippai!!!) I don't care for the military version of Sailor War
94; the words are different from the Gaiden version. L'amour D'amour
Moonlight is such an awesome battle song... well, it's more of celebratory
song for beating the bad guys. La Soldier was sung again at the
end. This would be the last time the entire cast dances to it.
The effects were both good and bad, ranging from
a flash of blue light and bubbles for Sailormercury's Aqua Mirage
to lasers, glitter, fireworks and strobe lights for Sailor Planet
Attack. This was the first musical to use wires and they didn't
do a good job. Not only did they use wires constantly throughout
the show but you could see them even from far away. The sound effects
were kinda cool; they used a lot of sound effects from the anime,
like Sailormercury's entrance and Sailormoon's Moon Spiral Heart
Attack. There wasn't much a set; just Professor Tomoe's laboratory,
a gondola for Usagi and Mamoru's date, a torii-like sign leading
to Rei's temple, and a few chairs and a flightboard to simulate
an airport. The costumes were okay, except for that lime-green jacket
Yuuta-sama had on..... and the one Ryuji-sama had on at the end...
eeewwwww!!!!
All in all, this a pretty good musical, better
than what I expected. A lot of things were handled carefully and
nicely, like a glittery sound to simulate heart crystals and the
scene when Usagi and Mamoru's gondola turns into a daimon. They
also added the senshi's manga attacks, such as Jupiter Coconut Cyclone
and Venus Wink Sword. Also this is one of the few musicals not to
have a musical number for the big fight scenes. This musical could
have been A LOT better though. First off, they should not have used
wires wires so uneccessarily. Why do Sailorjupiter and Sailorvenus
have to fly during Solar Miracle Make-up? Do Tuxedokamen and Desuraa
have to fight in midflight? Since when is Sailormoon's Moon Spiral
Heart Attack done in the air? Also, instead of the Death Nightmares,
they should have had the Witches 5 instead and they should have
featured Hotaru in this musical instead of the next one. Then there's
that infamous Usagi henshin scene where shares wears this huge,
hideous, over-gliterry Serenity dress over her Sailor fuku.... not
cool. Aside from all the negatives, this is still a good show. Don't
believe the hype; it's not as bad as a lot of people say it is.
And if you are a First Stage fan, like I am, or into are Sakurakko
Club, then this is definitely the musical to get.
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