Actor Highlight: Takasaki Shouta
Highlight can also be found on Clockworkstage.
Takasaki Shouta was born in 1988 and made his stage debut in 2008 playing Kikumaru Eiji in the Musical Prince of Tennis series. Since then, he's been in many productions, both live, in stage and musicals, and on the big screen. While not exclusively, he does tend to stick to 2.5 productions and today's highlight is going to be one of these:
Yamazaki Suzumu from the Hakuoki Musical series.
While Takasaki was the third actor to play the role, he is, as of this writing, the longest running actor to play the role. He played Yamazaki in six different plays, starting with Kazama-hen in 2014, and finally ending his role with Harada-hen in 2017.
For anyone unfamiliar with the series, Yamazaki is a more minor character. He is only a spy in the Shinsengumi, unlike the other characters who are mostly captains. He did not have a romance route of his own (until the two most recent games) and only appears in any notable amount in Okita Souji and Hijikata Toshizo's routes in the Hakuoki games. In the musicals, he's given a more prominent part, especially since another character with a similar role, Shimada Kai, was removed for the musicals.
As a character, Yamazaki can best be described as overly serious, dedicated, and loyal to a fault. While he will bicker with Okita, the only humor ever associated with him is how he's serious all the time, even when the situation doesn't call for it. He also puts Hijikata up on a pedestal, which is an important point.
Of the three actors who have played this role, Takasaki Shouta stands out as fitting the role the best, in comparison to the original game, at least according to the admins. Despite Takasaki's naturally bubbly personality, on stage he's always painfully serious, running around and constantly both on and off stage.
There are two points in particular in which Admin Alt decided that Takasaki played Yamazaki the best. A spoiler warning is in effect from here on. First off, one of the most notable features, especially in the earlier games where Yamazaki had a minor role, was how much he seemed to almost worship Hijikata. Takasaki played this beautifully, always watching Hijiakta even when he didn't need to be and kneeling in front of him to deliver messages or news as if it was completely natural.
Also, the most notable moment was his death. Yamazaki always dies, in every route except his own, at some point. The historical figure he is based on, of the same name, died as well, so it's unavoidable. However, Takasaki's performance in Kazama-hen was outstandingly beautiful. He rushes in to save Hijikata from Kazama but ends up becoming a fury (half demon) himself and then pleads with Hijikata to kill him. This is Yamazaki's final act to protect the Vice Captain that he holds dear and watching that death really hits home how much Yamazaki values Hijikata and doesn't value his own life. His action helps direct Hijikata in the second act, even though he no longer appears on stage.
On a much more subjective note, Takasaki also looks the most like Yamazaki so far. As a character, he's very slight (the third shortest at just taller than Toudou Heisuke and Yukimura Chizuru) and Takasaki is naturally short, giving a good height comparison to the other actors.
When it comes down to it, all of the actors who have played Yamazaki have been good, and Takasaki Shouta's performances have ranged from good to fantastic in other roles. But if the Admins had to narrow it down to one, his depiction of Yamazaki has to take the cake.
--Written by Admin Alternatewarning
