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setraWell... that was Rikkai Second.
I knew after listening to the soundtrack (several dozen times) over the past couple of weeks that the lyricists and composers had done their job. Now it was just up to the choreography and directing. And the boys.
Overall, I'm quite content.
A couple of scenes stuck out incongruously. Namely Rikkai's winter flashback. (Dear god but Kanesaki looked good in that uniform). The intermission placement was awkward. Oh yeah... and Kite sucked. His movements, his expressions, his speech style. Just /not/ what I wanted for Kite.ladyofthegate said it more explicitly, so I'll leave it at that. I worry for his characterization in the fandom.
What the Higa/Rokkaku flash did accomplish was directing the mind forward. All through the backstages, which we watched afterward, I wasn't thinking about Rikkai itself, I was thinking about the boys and how much I despised Luke C.'s acting.
And then I lost a lot of my mental commentary, so the following is written real-time as I re-watch the my smaller on my computer.
"Omaera, Gakeppuchi GIRIGIRI"
This song was pretty much everything I wanted it to be. Rikkai in dark aggressor mode, replaying the doubles matches, assured victory and the physical presence of Yukimura among them. It was the perfect opening to the myu and I loved it.
"Koko kara... ore-tachi"
This song is, again, /perfect/ for the moment. Like I said in my Review of the CD, this song reminded me of what Seigaku is. Who they are and how they work and what that means.
Jumping right into the data match. Masei and Kento were /on/. I adored them.
The chibi flashback was cute, but the childish voices didn't quite click for me. There was actual tennis and chibis with Gakuto hair though, so it was all good. They made Renji closer to having said something than the anime did, which I approved of.
"四年と二ヶ月と十五日"
Masei is strong in this song. What loved about watching their match and the opening songs is that everyone looked thrilled to be there. Like they could barely keep from grinning. Kento was
"俺は過去を凌駕する"
This song just works for me. Sure it's sung by some of my least favorite characters, but it's so right for the match and for the feeling that Seigaku puts into Inui. He started the series as a villain, and then he was the gag. He fell from the regulars, he was a nerd and made undrinkable drinks. And here he is. And their shot at 関東優勝 is in his hands. Make or break.
He rises to the challenge, of course and it's clear that this match has been what both Kento and Masei have been waiting for since they got their roles. They're polished and perfect.
"四年と二ヶ月と十五日"
I love their mid-match mental conversation..
I love that Renji had to force Sanada to punish him. I love that the 三鬼 are all on a first name basis.
Akaya's song.
I got all distracted by Genki's hips and forgot to love how bratty he sounds going "Hey Genius!" Also, the backup dance help from D1 and D2 was greatly appreciated. I still like that they used it as a transition into "Bloodshot" and Akaya's escalation.
"勝ちに執着する男"
The development for Fuji was nicely done, though the song felt long and overly slow when surrounded by the faster songs adjacent to it. And while Aiba is a talented singer now, I wish they'd given him more time to dance
Akaya's wicked laugh when Fuji was blinded
"負けることを許されない王者～友情のテニス"
...Kanesaki has a nice haircut.
OK... when Yagami was /lounging/ in his bed and observing his team... was I the only one that sporfled? I mean... the /look/ on his face. My Seiichi-muse didn't help at all of course.
I think poor sequencing and poor cameraman-ship made the presentation of this Myu a little less effective then it could have been.
Intermission and Tezuka break. I liked the flash to him in Kyuushu. It was a nice touch and it worked for reconnecting the story.
[I would have moved the intermission up by one song. That's all.]
"神がかりのテニス...だから勝つのは"
I adore this song. I adore the soloists and the beautiful Akaya-beating and flipping out. Third time though... flashbacks are a tension drop. And this is a high tension match. Hell, they put a flashback in the /middle/ of a high tension song.
That's my issue. The really catchy songs are all too short. The slow ones and flashbacks and explication /feel/ too long.
"君を信じている"
I was /pissed/ at the sound mixing on this song. This is the one slower song that I really really like on the soundtrack, and the stage was pretty well set up (not quite as well as I was hoping, but my head is a special place). So the sound being a little fucked up and the bgm being a little too loud was upseting to me.
Ok, I'll admit it. I haven't read the Rikkai manga yet. But oh my god I love this match. And Doori. That's all.
Mid-Notes while I ignore "風林火山" a little:
-Masa needs to get back to being Niou. He's good enough, but his speech style wanders all over the place and isn't Niou.
-The lighting and set directors need to watch some earlier Myus and learn how to effectively do asides without being boring. This is not a directing problem, nor entirely a scripting problem (though they didn't help).
Actual comments on "風林火山":
Oh yeah... the song is good. But it's better without the somewhat cheezy choreography. It should have been handled within the match without stage rearrangement.
Long.... the match feels long. Maybe the manga is to blame for that. But I think it's the song placement. If Fuurinkazan had been mixed in among it, or had covered a little more of the development... yeah. Anyway.
Now there's smex.
I mean... the TezuRyo match.
I mean "俺を倒せ～お前は青学の柱になれ"
...I adore this song. I told the story of it bringing me literally to my knees before. I still feel almost that way. It's maybe the one flashback that I probably won't get annoyed at.
AGAIN. AGAIN with the bad lighting and timing choices just murdering the tension. They've done flashback-in-match better than this before. Many times. WHY fuck up now?
Because with the gap of silent explication, it takes that extra moment to get back into "SAMURAI". In which the choreography is ok. And I love the smoky 無我の境地 effects. And the fact that they mention Chitose. No one knew back then that he was just a wonderfully enlightened hippie with geta and an afro. We all just went 'ooooh... who's /Chitose/? O_O' Pfft. *abstains from rude remarks about Shitenhouji*
"that song whose title doesn't quite work in english"
I have a /strong/ visual association with Echizen's red-sleeve outfit. A strong association with Yanagi!Ryoma... which is a little hard for me to handle, even though I've been fighting it for hours and it's still there.
HIGA.
HigaHigaHigaHiga.
Chinen looks awesome. The flow of his speech is piss-poor. But he looks fine.
Kite is sitting kinda funny, but he looks good too.
The Okinawa-ben is toned down. Way down. Like... it's comprehensible now. ;_; No fun.
And then Luke C. sings. The song is good, but I knew that already. His voice belongs in a different character. His attitude belongs on an MC in the Cabaret musical. The choreography is bad and doesn't help.
Why is this here again? It a little of 'look, captive fangirl audience, what new shinies we are preparing to bring to you!'.
It probably doesn't help that until the 4th we don't know anything about Higa aside from the fact that they don't play well with others.
"Koko kara ga... ore-tachi 2"
I noticed - especially for Tezuka - when listening to this reprise that the lyrics were all translated to the past tense. While watching it, I amended that. /Everyone/ was pretty much in the past tense... except Tomo/Kaidoh. Symbolic? Or am I reading too much into it?
Anyway, I loved the cyclical nature of the song being brought back and the meaning still working. I think, however, that it could have been done without dropping Higa into the mess. They didn't fit. I was expecting them to be included a bit earlier on, even just sneaking around and being a gag... but they weren't. They just showed up at the end. It should have been the start of a new Myu, not the ending of Rikkai. And with the extra time cut off the end, they could have shifted the intermission earlier and balanced the acts back out.
Still annoyed at the flow.
Regardless of my hatred for him, their attitude and the material of their costumes. I find Kite's pants vaguely hypnotic. I have to /try/ to look away.
Being in character is not required during CURTAIN CALL honey. Play along a little. Grr.
ＦＧＫＳ
It's still a good song. I was hoping for some more exciting choreography now that it's in a real Myu and not just a Dream Live, but I'll live I suppose. The shiny almost makes up for it.
I'll comment later on the sad lack of entertaining adlib from the 日替わり members and my (still-growing) disappointment with the handling of Higa. I'm glad I'm not watching Luke C.'s journal, because I'd probably go take it off my friends list. ;_;
Some day soon I'm have to cope with the loss of the 三代目 cast. The End of Tennis Take 4? I think not. With HigaMyu already in rehersals and all my favorite boys (read: Doori, Ba-chon, NakaMasa) on my flist, I'm not really worried. I just hope they get back to some better planning and organization.
For the moment:
"I'll have to assassinate him to prevent further character assassination."
I knew after listening to the soundtrack (several dozen times) over the past couple of weeks that the lyricists and composers had done their job. Now it was just up to the choreography and directing. And the boys.
Overall, I'm quite content.
A couple of scenes stuck out incongruously. Namely Rikkai's winter flashback. (Dear god but Kanesaki looked good in that uniform). The intermission placement was awkward. Oh yeah... and Kite sucked. His movements, his expressions, his speech style. Just /not/ what I wanted for Kite.
ladyofthegate said it more explicitly, so I'll leave it at that. I worry for his characterization in the fandom.What the Higa/Rokkaku flash did accomplish was directing the mind forward. All through the backstages, which we watched afterward, I wasn't thinking about Rikkai itself, I was thinking about the boys and how much I despised Luke C.'s acting.
And then I lost a lot of my mental commentary, so the following is written real-time as I re-watch the my smaller on my computer.
"Omaera, Gakeppuchi GIRIGIRI"
This song was pretty much everything I wanted it to be. Rikkai in dark aggressor mode, replaying the doubles matches, assured victory and the physical presence of Yukimura among them. It was the perfect opening to the myu and I loved it.
"Koko kara... ore-tachi"
This song is, again, /perfect/ for the moment. Like I said in my Review of the CD, this song reminded me of what Seigaku is. Who they are and how they work and what that means.
Jumping right into the data match. Masei and Kento were /on/. I adored them.
The chibi flashback was cute, but the childish voices didn't quite click for me. There was actual tennis and chibis with Gakuto hair though, so it was all good. They made Renji closer to having said something than the anime did, which I approved of.
"四年と二ヶ月と十五日"
Masei is strong in this song. What loved about watching their match and the opening songs is that everyone looked thrilled to be there. Like they could barely keep from grinning. Kento was
"俺は過去を凌駕する"
This song just works for me. Sure it's sung by some of my least favorite characters, but it's so right for the match and for the feeling that Seigaku puts into Inui. He started the series as a villain, and then he was the gag. He fell from the regulars, he was a nerd and made undrinkable drinks. And here he is. And their shot at 関東優勝 is in his hands. Make or break.
He rises to the challenge, of course and it's clear that this match has been what both Kento and Masei have been waiting for since they got their roles. They're polished and perfect.
"四年と二ヶ月と十五日"
I love their mid-match mental conversation..
I love that Renji had to force Sanada to punish him. I love that the 三鬼 are all on a first name basis.
Akaya's song.
I got all distracted by Genki's hips and forgot to love how bratty he sounds going "Hey Genius!" Also, the backup dance help from D1 and D2 was greatly appreciated. I still like that they used it as a transition into "Bloodshot" and Akaya's escalation.
"勝ちに執着する男"
The development for Fuji was nicely done, though the song felt long and overly slow when surrounded by the faster songs adjacent to it. And while Aiba is a talented singer now, I wish they'd given him more time to dance
Akaya's wicked laugh when Fuji was blinded
"負けることを許されない王者～友情のテニス"
...Kanesaki has a nice haircut.
OK... when Yagami was /lounging/ in his bed and observing his team... was I the only one that sporfled? I mean... the /look/ on his face. My Seiichi-muse didn't help at all of course.
I think poor sequencing and poor cameraman-ship made the presentation of this Myu a little less effective then it could have been.
Intermission and Tezuka break. I liked the flash to him in Kyuushu. It was a nice touch and it worked for reconnecting the story.
[I would have moved the intermission up by one song. That's all.]
"神がかりのテニス...だから勝つのは"
I adore this song. I adore the soloists and the beautiful Akaya-beating and flipping out. Third time though... flashbacks are a tension drop. And this is a high tension match. Hell, they put a flashback in the /middle/ of a high tension song.
That's my issue. The really catchy songs are all too short. The slow ones and flashbacks and explication /feel/ too long.
"君を信じている"
I was /pissed/ at the sound mixing on this song. This is the one slower song that I really really like on the soundtrack, and the stage was pretty well set up (not quite as well as I was hoping, but my head is a special place). So the sound being a little fucked up and the bgm being a little too loud was upseting to me.
Ok, I'll admit it. I haven't read the Rikkai manga yet. But oh my god I love this match. And Doori. That's all.
Mid-Notes while I ignore "風林火山" a little:
-Masa needs to get back to being Niou. He's good enough, but his speech style wanders all over the place and isn't Niou.
-The lighting and set directors need to watch some earlier Myus and learn how to effectively do asides without being boring. This is not a directing problem, nor entirely a scripting problem (though they didn't help).
Actual comments on "風林火山":
Oh yeah... the song is good. But it's better without the somewhat cheezy choreography. It should have been handled within the match without stage rearrangement.
Long.... the match feels long. Maybe the manga is to blame for that. But I think it's the song placement. If Fuurinkazan had been mixed in among it, or had covered a little more of the development... yeah. Anyway.
Now there's smex.
I mean... the TezuRyo match.
I mean "俺を倒せ～お前は青学の柱になれ"
...I adore this song. I told the story of it bringing me literally to my knees before. I still feel almost that way. It's maybe the one flashback that I probably won't get annoyed at.
AGAIN. AGAIN with the bad lighting and timing choices just murdering the tension. They've done flashback-in-match better than this before. Many times. WHY fuck up now?
Because with the gap of silent explication, it takes that extra moment to get back into "SAMURAI". In which the choreography is ok. And I love the smoky 無我の境地 effects. And the fact that they mention Chitose. No one knew back then that he was just a wonderfully enlightened hippie with geta and an afro. We all just went 'ooooh... who's /Chitose/? O_O' Pfft. *abstains from rude remarks about Shitenhouji*
"that song whose title doesn't quite work in english"
I have a /strong/ visual association with Echizen's red-sleeve outfit. A strong association with Yanagi!Ryoma... which is a little hard for me to handle, even though I've been fighting it for hours and it's still there.
HIGA.
HigaHigaHigaHiga.
Chinen looks awesome. The flow of his speech is piss-poor. But he looks fine.
Kite is sitting kinda funny, but he looks good too.
The Okinawa-ben is toned down. Way down. Like... it's comprehensible now. ;_; No fun.
And then Luke C. sings. The song is good, but I knew that already. His voice belongs in a different character. His attitude belongs on an MC in the Cabaret musical. The choreography is bad and doesn't help.
Why is this here again? It a little of 'look, captive fangirl audience, what new shinies we are preparing to bring to you!'.
It probably doesn't help that until the 4th we don't know anything about Higa aside from the fact that they don't play well with others.
"Koko kara ga... ore-tachi 2"
I noticed - especially for Tezuka - when listening to this reprise that the lyrics were all translated to the past tense. While watching it, I amended that. /Everyone/ was pretty much in the past tense... except Tomo/Kaidoh. Symbolic? Or am I reading too much into it?
Anyway, I loved the cyclical nature of the song being brought back and the meaning still working. I think, however, that it could have been done without dropping Higa into the mess. They didn't fit. I was expecting them to be included a bit earlier on, even just sneaking around and being a gag... but they weren't. They just showed up at the end. It should have been the start of a new Myu, not the ending of Rikkai. And with the extra time cut off the end, they could have shifted the intermission earlier and balanced the acts back out.
Still annoyed at the flow.
Regardless of my hatred for him, their attitude and the material of their costumes. I find Kite's pants vaguely hypnotic. I have to /try/ to look away.
Being in character is not required during CURTAIN CALL honey. Play along a little. Grr.
ＦＧＫＳ
It's still a good song. I was hoping for some more exciting choreography now that it's in a real Myu and not just a Dream Live, but I'll live I suppose. The shiny almost makes up for it.
I'll comment later on the sad lack of entertaining adlib from the 日替わり members and my (still-growing) disappointment with the handling of Higa. I'm glad I'm not watching Luke C.'s journal, because I'd probably go take it off my friends list. ;_;
Some day soon I'm have to cope with the loss of the 三代目 cast. The End of Tennis Take 4? I think not. With HigaMyu already in rehersals and all my favorite boys (read: Doori, Ba-chon, NakaMasa) on my flist, I'm not really worried. I just hope they get back to some better planning and organization.
For the moment:
"I'll have to assassinate him to prevent further character assassination."
