Inspired by the Anon's recent ask: What are your thoughts on an Emerald Witch musical?
Dear Daydragon17,
I personally think that the Emerald Witch Arc is the most likely next candidate for a musical adaptation.
Last Solid Arc
First of all, that arc is quite popular and is considered the last solid arc among the Japanese fandom. The arc wherein R!Ciel is introduced and Undertaker explicitly confirmed to be the villain is of course interesting, but many agree that the story was all over the place. Starting from the boy bands, to everything that only inspired more questions than it answered… The Blue Sect Arc is so vague that people can’t even tell whether everything that happened since the boy bands belongs the axis of same arc, or whether we have been reading multiple side-arcs. (Example; the part where Meyrin and Ranmao are doing research is commonly acknowledged as a new arc in Japan, but if one were to argue it is part of the Blue Sect Arc, nobody could very well argue against.)
The Emerald Witch Arc however, is solid. We know when it starts, we know when it ends. It also introduces interesting characters like Sieglinde and Wolfram, offers a high-stake villain, and also touches upon the truest emotions of our main characters.
Face Behind the Front
O!Ciel makes a very stupid mistake by not believing in ‘the werewolf’s curse’, so he recklessly enters the forest and falls ill. However stupid, we did get to see how incredibly broken O!Ciel actually is when he isn’t left with any spare mental capacity to put up the ‘Lord Ciel Phantomhive’ front. Similarly, we also got to explicitly see how terrible Sebas is at being human when his patience is tested too much, even now.
“Seriously Sebas… shocking a human OUT of trauma? Brilliant.”
Sebas: “It worked, did it not?”
“… touché.”
ANYWAY, in short, this is the arc wherein we see the two main characters unmasked for the first time in present timeline (i.e. not in a flashback).
Thematic Potentials
The setting of the Emerald Witch Arc could offer a very satisfying set provided that MKP (Musical Kuroshitsuji Project) has the budget for it. The artificial Medieval setting can also offer glorious opportunities for delicioussss costumes (unlike tame school uniforms), as well as provide a clear theme for the music and choreography.
Child Actors
Though it is always hard to find child actors who can bear the weight of a main cast, it must certainly be possible to find someone suitable for Sieglinde. I know TOHO has quite many very very talented girls, for example. If TOHO can find them, then surely someone else can too.
Reo is really too big now… so they’d also have to find a new actor for O!Ciel. I wonder who would be next. Reo also left some pretty big shoes to fill.
Female Characters
The Emerald Witch Arc is without doubt the arc with the most female characters who also take active parts within the story. So far in the Kuromyu, we have had a primarily male cast. With Sieglinde, the Witch and the rest of the ‘villagers’, Kuromyu would have a very stark change in cast structure. It would be very refreshing to see Kuromyu having more female characters in the spotlights. So far we’ve only had Madam Red who was actually part of the main cast. Grell and Lizzy were still more a support cast than main.
Wolfram
Wolfram is the character I am most excited about (partially due to a very biased dream). I have been dreaming of seeing Watanabe Daisuke - Furukawa’s best friend in the world - as Wolfram.
Not only is he a fierce friend and that I want him to be able to share Furukawa’s precious Kuromyu experience, but he is also a first tier actor from TOHO just like Furukawa (He no Prince though. IMPERIAL! DUB HIM ‘KNIGHT’~!)
Watanabe has a wide array of facial expressions; fierce, cute, emotional, poker… That’s Wolfram if you ask me.
Increasingly More Serious Tone
The Kuromyus have become increasingly more serious in tone.
🌹 In Lycoris that Blazes the Earth, the obvious comic reliefs were Aberline and Hanks, of course. But Grell, Lau, Undertaker, the Viscount, the Phantomhive servants and even the Double Charles were comical characters.
🎪 Then came Noah’s Ark Circus, where only the AberHanks duo were the comic reliefs. Other characters such as the Phantomhive servants and Dagger etc. had occasional comical scenes, but otherwise they were serious characters. However, I personally found AberHanks’ presence resulting in mood dissonance at times in this ultra dark story. Sometimes a very heavy event just happened, and the audience was not even allowed to time to let it sink in before AberHanks already burst with their slapstick. The pacing of this musical was incredibly fast simply because the arc is long and the musical only 2 hours. I understood that they had to rush it, but I think that a lot of time - time which they didn’t have - was wasted on unnecessary comedy. I did the sum, the unnecessary comedy in total was 30 minutes at least.
🚢The theme of Tango on the Campania was considerably less dark than Circus, but the tone felt much more serious still. There, the comical scenes were an addition rather than an integral part of the musical. To me, the balance felt better. AberHanks still got their moments, but they never hijacked the story the way they used to.
This darker and more balanced tone was very well received, and I think it conceivable that they will try to keep this up for potential future musicals.
🐺 Though developments do not need to happen linearly, I think the dark themed Emerald Witch Arc would be a befitting candidate for a next adaptation. It is an arc that deals with childhood trauma, gas-lighting, brainwash, racial genocide, child mutilation etc. If this will become the next musical, it would be wise to take itself more seriously. AberHanks are so iconic to the Kuromyu that there is no way they are going to leave them out, but it would be best if the balance could resemble Campania more than Circus.
Personal
Also, I need to see Furukawa Yuta do this. ⇊
We have seen Furukawa being demonic before, but is that enough? Don’t we want to see Yunbastian FLIPPING HIS SHYTE!? Ò▽Ó