Okay, so I watched act 1 of the new Sailor Moon Musical "Kaguya Hime no Koibito" and spoiler: it felt like wasted time. Even NewMyu is more exciting to watch and I say that as an official NewMyu-hater-disliker...
You can watch the musical full for free on vk.
I included screenshots to make my little notes a bit more exciting. Disclaimer again: I am and will forever be honest with my opinions. If I think something sucks, I'll say that it sucks. (Spoiler: This was even too boring to suck lmao). Tbh. I have no idea how the manga handeled this story so I will make references from the S-movie.
- The musical starts with the song "You are my universe" and I have to say, it reminds me strongly of Tsukiiro no Chainon. That is not particularly a good thing because those random J-Pop songs these days have a bad thing in common: There is not really a melody in them? Like it feels too mechanical and not like music anymore. I couldn't really follow the melody because it was actually not existing. A good thing is that every Senshi has some solo lines in the song but that doesn't make it better. I am for example not sure if I could sing it with that lack of melody and rhythm.
- Next thing is the costumes. Was there really not enough money to make them look not THAT cheap? Also, Chibimoon's costume looks so baggy? And her wig looks, I quote @vampiru-chan "like a burst sofa cushion" xD.
- What annoys me too is that we got those no-name background-dancer demons again. SO boring like wtf finally get something interesting like in Banitimes again!
- However, the choreography wasn't as bad as it usually is in NewMyu and with that I mean they were not swinging their arms like crazy while running and walking from on end to the other end of the stage. So I grant a bonus point for the choreography.
- Yuuka-Saturn NAILED her solo-line. Good girl.
- I am still annoyed, that we got that all-female cast again! It might be rare, but I am still a straight girl in this fandom and I need real men again xD And I think all the lovely gay fanboys in the fandom agree xP.
- After the dance-fight-song-scene we see how Kakeru finds Snow Princess Kaguya's ice crystal as he does in the movie and then we get to know that it is winter and the Senshi will celebrate Mako's, Mina's and Setsuna's birthdays all together. And I have to say, she doesn't do ANYTHING, she is only a side character and simply...well there - BUT I LOVE Shinjyu-Haruka so much, omg. Finally a good Uranus! Her face reminds me of Asako but she is stronger and her male-like acting does not feel that forced. Too bad she was in a musical that was not about the Senshi at all :(
- Again I have to say, WHO, WHO thought it was a good idea to cast a Sailor Moon with that kind of face? Like, literally wtf. Tbh I would sue the surgeon who is responsible for this.
- Okay, now we found out why the costumes are so cheap: The whole budget was spent on the civilian outfits. They are so sweet and so pretty, omg. I want to have them all!
- But because all the money was spent on the outfits, there was no budget left for Artemis >:( He is only mentioned.
- Then lemme ask why our Usagi-chan is so bitchy here? She pushed Minako to the side in a very-not-Usagi-like style??
- Okay, birthday goes on and we get a birthday song and then some kind of idol-song by Mina and Mako. And the songs are not memorable at all :(
- What I liked was this little scene between Rei and Usagi. Looks like a reference to the anime where both quarrel a lot and it feld refreshing.
- And I have to say, that the lovely voice of Kisara-Mako/Jupiter reminds me SO MUCH of my friend's voice @missemperor you gotta cover her, nobody would notice the difference lol.
- Okay, now Himeko sings a song of how Kakeru developed as a professor or something and it makes no sense because Himeko is just so unimportant. Oh, yes and I never liked her in the movie because she was such a fkn bitch to Luna? I mean, I don't like Luna either but stop bullying the cat, bitch.
- as I mentioned in my last post about KaguMyu - we do not have a real setting again :/ But they tried to compensate that with heavy projections even from thought bubbles. I'd liked it better if there had actually been a setting but okay, we live in the century of technology and not of proper requisites.
- I also wonder why Michiru always has such a cute voice in Nelke productions? Ever watched the anime? She has a normal adult voice which sounds very elegant but not cute. But besides being a side character, Ayana plays a decent Neptune/Michiru.
- The rest of the musical is basically Luna and Kakeru doing stuff? But it feels like nothing happens T_T. Btw. the actress of Kakeru reminds me STRONGLY of a Zuka actress too. Apropos Takarazuka: Riku Sorahana is a cool Mamoru. Maybe a bit too cool for Mamoru but I like her.
- Another thing I noticed: The birthday scene, in the beginning, was just to show that this musical actually has the Senshi in it. Because after that scene... they are gone. There is that one scene with Usagi and Luna à la how does a kiss taste and then Chibiusa sings (very badly, omg. Why not casting a child that can sing?) a very annoying song, of how Luna is in love.
Overall:
- It was so boring. Literally, nothing happened. It felt like wasted time and yes, I know that the story is mainly about Luna but....geez no. I had a bit of hope that this musical might be better than the last ones but I have to say out of the new musicals - NogiMyu stays the best.
- Those songs were really not good and not memorable at all. They feel like the typical mass-production these days. Maybe BaniMyu was so good because back then it was a rare thing for anime/manga to turn into stage plays? I mean, today almost every anime/manga which is a bit popular gets a musical. Plus BaniMyu had Akiko Kosaka for the songs (and Queen Ado for the choreo <3).
- Funny thing: Usually in the new musicals it is that the first act is rather good or at least ok while the second one is boring af - but in this case, I doubt that this can get even more boring - maybe act 2 will be good then? Ewwww, we'll see but I do not have big hopes, tbh.
- If I had to rate it with points while 10 points would be super good and 0 points super bad, I'd give it so far 2 points. (LR, PE and UNV would even get 3 to 4 points, wtf it's really so bad xD. Okay, no they'd get at least 3 but still xD).
Today I'll watch the second act but I doubt it will get any better... :(
BANDAI! GET SERA MYU BACK AND DO GOOD STUFF AGAIN!
Okay, Act II is watched and I have to say, it was better than the first one.
That was probably because we had more songs (?). From which I forgot most already again. xD
Disclaimer: Leni is honest again, if you can't take that, don't read it.
Spoiler-filled notes with screenshots under the cut:
- First of all... it happened even less than in act I... if that is even possible. The "story" goes: Kakeru is ill, Himeko worried but still doing her thing in America, the Senshi fighting Kaguya - almost dying after doing nothing, Luna sings a song, the Senshi are free again and Super Sailor Moon appears, then everything is fine and as a Christmas present Luna gets turned into human does her flying thing with Kakeru and then realizes that Artemis is the better choice (here, in the manga and in the movie a BIG FAT WTF, LUNA! >:o)
- What I have to admit is that Luna (both Lunas!) is a brilliant singer and saves a lot of screentime with her wonderful voice.
- Act II has more Senshi in it but they literally do nothing but almost dying. No one can do anything besides Super Sailor Moon in the end. I don't even remember if I heard any attacks? They feel so useless and almost like bland background characters - we had this in the Dracul Arc but that was okay because the story focused on other characters but they were still there! The CHARACTERS were still there doing character typical stuff. And here...they exist..sometimes.
- Gotta say that after Shuu and Sayaka, I LOVE those two but like the rest, they don't do anything. A part of this cast is so wasted. They could be so good but they do not have the chance to shine because they don't do anything. Isn't this musical called a Sailor Moon musical? Why aren't the Senshi doing anything? I don't get it!
- Also may I add that Kaguya is the craziest bitch, I have ever seen? That is actually a good point because in the movie she was, as the Senshi here, just there. And here she has some kind of crazy personality? If we can call it personality, lol. But again...what are her motifs? Why does she want to freeze this planet? We'll never know.
- And then puff paff suddenly the Senshi pull themselves together after Luna sang a song and then we got Super Sailor Moon and then there is no finale because it is already the end! Boom bam! Kaguya dead! And we only have like 30 minutes of act 2. Can a musical be so short? I guess they did not have enough boring scenes to fill the musical with...or the story was simply not giving us more.... who knows?
- okay, I want to apologize that I called Rinko a plastic surgery face - I do not know if she actually did a surgery, she just looks like it. Her face just looks very unnatural to me and what makes it worse, she looks zero like Usagi. Even worse, she has zero Usagi attitudes. Worst, she does not feel like an Usagi at all. Having a chat with my bestie @vampiru-chan, who asked me how I'd rank her in a Sailor Moon ranking, I said, I'd put her in the same dustbin I already put Hotaru and Shiori. Because none of them was the littlest bit Usagi to me. This sounds hard? Life is hard, honey.
- We had quite some actresses here, who have quite a lot of potential to become good Senshi or Sailor Moon Characters. I am talking particularly of Kisara Matsumura (Jupiter), Rei Kobyashi (Mars), Shinjyu Terada (Uranus), Ayana Kinoshita (Neptune), Yune Sakai (Luna), and Marisa (human-Luna).
I did not include Riku Sorahane (Tuxedo Mask) because I really have enough of the cool Takarazuka actress playing an out-of-character cool gangster Mamoru. She is a great actress and a great singer but I don't like what NewMyu does to Mamoru even though it's sexy (yes, I am looking at you, Tani ;3)
Hellu, it's me, the typical NewMyu blue filter again
*OVERALL*
- *Story* It was boring. But not like NewMyu usually tends to be, with telling the storyline of the manga in the most boring way (talking of NewMyu 2013-2017). No, it was boring because nothing happened. I watched two hours of this musical and I don't remember a proper plot or memorable scenes. I remember that, as a child, I only liked the movie because the Outers had their full transformation with that amazing music in it. I never really cared for Luna's sudden love for Kakeru. But at least there was a storyline? Even if it was only for an hour, there was a story and something happened. But in here... nothing. I also did not like that the Senshi were merely side characters. We had no real character scenes and if there wasn't the birthday scene, the complete cast would have felt even more unnecessary.
- *Cast* Talking of an unnecessary cast. Human Luna (although a great singer) was so unnecessary to be extra cast! Cat-Luna could have played her very well too. Why? Because she is the same person, just with two legs. They did not cast a proper Mistress 9 in UNV but in here a double-Luna? Nelke, that makes no sense. Instead of a second Luna, you could have cast an Artemis. Or even better, bought better costumes.
- *Music I* We have quite some OSTs in the background which is a new thing for NewMyu, applause! But somehow it was too difficult to let the instrumental version of "You Are My Universe" play in the Curtain Call? Why was it the vocal version? Eh?
- *Music II* The songs are not memorable. I already forgot most of them again. I think I liked the ending song and the first part of the Outers song. The rest is not something I would listen to. "You are my Universe" is no image song that is catchy or iconic in some way.
- *All in all* Wasted time. This is a pity because some actresses would be really good if they had the chance. But they won't get another. As my friend @vampiru-chan said, if there will be a new mass-production Sailor Moon musical, they will cast everyone new again.
*Did I like something?*
- We got an OST, even though it was a poor OST but at least we got one
- Moonlight Densetsu was a Service Number and no Crystal song
- Shinjyu and Ayana had a lot of potential
- That ending song was nice
TO MAKE THIS CLEAR! I don't want to say I hate everything about KaguMyu. I am just very disappointed with the outcome. It feels so much like a wasted chance to produce finally something good again. Or at least something better than since 2013.
