Wednesday, August 19, 2015

There's No Business Like Show Business

If you've read my blog these past few months, you already know that I've been diving headfirst into numerous animes thanks to a certain friend. When finishing a series I particularly enjoyed, I often turn to the Internet and YouTube for other anime reviews, suggestions and usually to find the original soundtrack. Over the past few weeks however I have found and continue to stumble down a new dark hole, and now there is officially no coming back out. I've graduated from animes to Japanese musicals, plays, K-drama AND J-drama.

Personally coming from a theater and musical theater background myself, I've always thought and found theater as an escape from the real world. If only for a few hours, I can become completely enveloped in a whole new place. There is nothing to worry about and I can get lost in the magic that is "theater". And though I am no longer able to be in plays and musicals as much as I'd like to these days, I am always excited when I am able to attend and go to this new place for a completely difference experience - no matter the story, style, content, characters or language. I was quite nervous in this hole at first because of the language barrier but after initially discovering the existence of various musicals based on one of my top Summer 2015 animes, Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler), none of that mattered and I became instantly hooked.

To date, there have been three musicals based on various arcs in the Black Butler manga with additional inspiration from the anime series produced by FUNimation. I was not surprised in the slightest that musicals about Black Butler had been produced and received with great success in Japan, while already making a huge impact in the States and overseas. Since its initial release, the manga and animes continue to grow in popularity and both have an enormous and somewhat relentless fan following. Because of this, I had huge expectations for the musicals themselves and if they would be able to live up to the hype and idolization that is Black Butler as as usual, those expectations were far exceeded.

For my next couple of posts, I will be reviewing the various musicals, plays and dramas that I have discovered and give my thoughts on them. Each review will include spoilers, so if you would like to watch one of the shows I review, I wouldn't read the entire play by play synopsis.
(DISCLAIMER: EVERY show includes Uehara Takuya - so prepare for a lot of praise and fangirling)

And with that, let's begin with the leading musical to the rabbit hole - Kuroshitsuji 3: Jack the Ripper

REVIEW 1
Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) 3: Jack the Ripper


Synopsis:

ACT I

We begin with our introduction to Ciel Phantomhive, a young boy who has been kidnapped and is suffering at the hands of what appears to be a sacrificial cult. Wishing to destroy those who have wronged him, Ciel inadvertently summons a demon who offers Ciel a contract. This demon will serve Ciel and see that his ultimate wish is granted, in exchange for his soul. Ciel accepts without a second thought and upon being freed by this demon names his new servant and butler Sebastian Michaelis.


Above: Fukuzaki (left) as Ciel Phantomhive with Matsushita (right) as Sebastian Michaelis

Sebastian dutifully serves Ciel and obeys his every order, but such a life does not come without hiccups. Fellow Phantomhive servants Baldroy, Mey-Rin and Finny always seem to be getting into trouble and end up relying on Sebastian to fix their various mistakes. When one day Sebastian must once again attend to their errors, a pair of messengers to Her Majesty the Queen break into the manor to deliver an urgent message. Upon reading the letter, Ciel learns of the Queens pressing concern over the number of women recently being murdered across London and the killer who has evaded the police and earned a unique nickname from the public: Jack the Ripper. Bound to the Queens service as "The Queens Guard Dog", Ciel informs Sebastian that they will begin working on this case immediately to stop the murders and capture the killer.

The streets of London are as busy as ever, now with local constable and Scotland Yard detectives working on the case. With no leads or clues to report, Ciel and Sebastian travel to the Phantomhive country house where they meet some unexpected guests: Ciel's aunt Madame Red, her incompetent butler Grell Sutcliff and the businessman/black marker dealer Lau. After informing them about the case, the group pays a visit to the Undertaker who is in charge of all of London's dead. Upon providing proper payment the Undertaker reveals that after each woman was brutally murdered the uterus of each victim was carefully removed. Unsure of who to suspect Ciel orders Sebastian to compile a list and question the possible suspects accordingly, all of which Sebastian completes in a few minutes time. After checking the whereabouts of each suspect, Sebastian informs Ciel that there is only one who is unaccounted for: the Viscount Druitt, also known as Aleistor Chambers.


Above: Viscount Druitt

Having graduated from medical school but never gone into practice, Ciel is confident that the Viscount must be the killer. When the Viscount holds a ball at his manor Madame Red, Grell and Lau attend, with Sebastian escorting Ciel who is dressed as a young lady. Knowing Druitts weakness for young things, Sebastian flaunts Ciel around until he captures the Viscounts attention. As planned, the Viscount becomes infatuated with the disguised Ciel and the two leave the ball to a more private setting. Once they are alone, the Viscount uses a drug that temporarily makes Ciel pass out, and when he wakes, he finds himself tied and in a small cage surrounded by guests from the ball. While being auctioned off, Ciel decides he is tired of such games and summons Sebastian who promptly arrives to rescue him. Having rescued his master, Sebastian and Ciel leave the ball knowing that although the Viscount may be a pervert, he is not the killer.

The group returns to the country house where Ciel and Madame Red begin to play a game of chess. Madame Red expresses her concern towards Ciel regarding the case and his well being, continuously telling him that she has always thought of him like a son. Receiving little response from Ciel, Madame Red begs Sebastian to never leave her nephews side. Sebastian agrees and follows after his master.

ACT II

London is still in a panic about Jack the Ripper. Feeling they have gotten a little closer to solving the case, Ciel and Sebastian decide to stake out a London street hoping to confront Jack the Ripper. When a scream suddenly rings throughout London, Ciel and Sebastian rush to the scene but arrive to late and find the woman already dead. Sebastian pulls Ciel away from the body and covers his eyes and the killer walks our dripping in blood. Sebastian casually addresses the killer and confirms his suspicions regarding his identity. A human alone would not be capable of such murders, therefore, something inhuman is the killer - and that inhuman being is none other than Grell Sutcliff.


Above: Uehara Takuya as Grell Sutcliff in his True Form

Grell completely denies his involvement until Sebastian reveals that Grell isn't the person he appears to be. Grell laughs at Sebastian as he changes into his true form - a flamboyant young man with long red hair and skull glasses who is known as a Shinigami or Grim Reaper. Having revealed his true form, Grell praises himself for being such a good "actress" and confesses that he has always found Sebastian attractive. Disgusted, Sebastian further questions Grell until he reveals that his actions were driven by a certain woman. Sebastian and Ciel are shocked to see Madame Red step out of the shadows. Ciel explains how the two were suspects from the start and that each woman murdered had a specific medical operation performed prior to their deaths. Having been discovered Grell attempts to kill Ciel with his Deathscythe, a tool used by Grim Reapers for harvesting human souls which for Grell takes the form of a chainsaw. Sebastian interferes as Ciel orders him to put an end of Jack the Ripper. Madame Red flees the scene with Ciel following close behind as Grell and Sebastian continue their fight.

Ciel finally catches Madame Red and confronts her about her crimes. She suddenly pulls out a knife, attacks Ciel and wounds his arm. Grabbing him by the throat, Madame Red prepares to kill her own nephew, but before she does so she hears the distant voice of her sister, Ciel's mother, calling out to her. Seeing that his master is in danger, Sebastian sacrifices his arm to Grell's scythe in order to save him. As Sebastian lunges to kill Madame Red Ciel suddenly revokes his previous order and stops Sebastian. Madame Red drops the knife and bursts into tears as Grell orders her to kill Ciel. Deciding that she cannot do it, Grell plunges his Deathscythe through Madame Red. This releases what is known as the Grim Reapers true power: the cinematic record, which shows the entire life of a humans life from their perspective and gives reapers the power to decide whether that human deserves to live or die.


Above: Takuya (Grell) decides if Liv (Madame Red) deserves to live or die

Madame's cinematic record begins with her and her sister meeting Lord Phantomhive. She recalls her hatred for the red hair she inherited from her father and how she came to love the color red and Vincent Phantomhive. After her sister falls in love and marries Lord Phantomhive, Madame is sure she will never find happiness. Soon after she meets a man of her own, marries and becomes pregnant with a child. Though she is finally happy, tragedy strikes which claims the life of her husband and almost takes her own, but the doctors were only able to save her by removing her uterus and unborn child. Alone in the world, Madame travels to the Phantomhive manor to visit her sister but she arrives to find the manor engulfed in flames. She attends to funeral of her sister and her husband before returning to work at a prestigious hospital. When a prostitute one day approaches her about aborting her recent pregnancy, Madame snaps and decides to stain everything red. She kills the prostitute and begins to remove her uterus when she meets Grell and the two decide to work together in murdering young women across London. The record continues to show Grell killing more and more young women until eventually killing Madame with his scythe and ending her cinematic record.

Grell expresses his disappointment towards Madame Red and how she doesn't have what it takes to wear such a color. He then tears her long red coat from her dead body and puts it on as he bids a final farewell. As Grell walks away, Ciel reminds Sebastian of his orders to kill Jack the Ripper and that one is still alive. Grell lunges once more at Sebastian and begins comparing them to Romeo and Juliet which disgusts Sebastian. The pair continue to fight until Grell wounds Sebastian so deeply that part of Sebastian's cinematic record is revealed. Clips of Sebastian's life flash before Grell's eyes but Sebastian's true life from the past two years comes to light, showing Sebastian deal with Baldroy, May-Rin and Finney. Wanting to see more of Sebastian's record Grell once again charges Sebastian with his scythe. As he does so, Sebastian pulls the waistcoat from his body and jams it into Grell's scythe rendering it useless. Horrified, Grell tries to pull the coat from his precious scythe but is unsuccessful. Sebastian laughs and prepares himself for their upcoming hand to hand combat which he is highly skilled in. In a matter of seconds Sebastian is able to knock Grell to the ground and leave him curdling in pain. Sebastian then uses this opportunity to pull his coat from the scythe and prepare to kill Grell with his own weapon. Sebastian raises the scythe to kill screaming Grell but before he can kill him, something suddenly knocks the scythe and Sebastian away.


Above: Matsushita as Sebastian (left) and Takuya as Grell (right) fight

Sebastian looks to the roof to see another reaper, William T Spears. Grell attempts to flirt with Will but is only knocked unconscious once more as Will explains the rules of the Reapers and how Grell has broken these rules the Reapers live by. Will continues to pummel Grell as he reluctantly apologizes to Sebastian for the trouble Grell has caused. Sebastian is un-phased by William, throws Grell's scythe back and watches as Will drags Grell by his hair back into the darkness.

Ciel reappears as Sebastian apologizes to his master for allowing part of Jack the Ripper to escape. He then suggests they return to the manor. Traumatized by the nights events, Ciel agrees and is almost unable to stand. When Sebastian attempts to help Ciel swats him away claiming he can do this on his own. The two leave the streets and return to the manor where Ciel sends a message to the Queen with the news that they have solved the case. A few days later, Ciel attends Madame Red's funeral and bids his final farewell to his beloved Aunt. Though everything has returned back to normal, Ciel gives Sebastian a new order to never leave his side. Sebastian vows his allegiance and brings the show to a close as he fantasizes about the day he will finally devour Ciel Phantomhive's soul.  

REVIEW

Without knowing it was the third and most recent in the Kuroshitsuji musical installment, Kuroshitsuji 3: Jack the Ripper was the first musical I watched and the beginning of this new, dark hole. Coincidentally, it is the only musical I've seen thus far that was not English subtitled as it only ran in Japan last year. Thankfully since I had seen the anime I knew the arc of the story it was based on, as well as knowledge of what was to come even if I couldn't understand the lines directly.

Casting & Individual Performances :

Proper casting is essential, especially when dealing with a musicals adaption of Black Butler. Fans have a very specific and high set of expectations of how the characters are portrayed both in appearance and personality. Wrong casting could easily spell disaster, but luckily, the casting for both Kuroshitsuji musicals I've seen, has been nothing but perfect.

The Cast:
Sebastian Michaelis - YuYa Matsushita
Ciel Phantomhive - Nayuta Fukuzaki
Madam Red - Akane Liv
Grell Sutcliff - Uehara Takuya
William T Spears - Teruma
(Other characters include Viscount Druitt, Undertaker, Baldroy, Mey-Rin, Finnian, Fred Aberline and Sharp Hanks)

Sebastian Michaelis was played by rising actor and singer YuYa Matushita. To put it simply, YuYa is the perfect Sebastian; from his appearance to his personality and physical physique. With a beautiful voice to boot, YuYa will always be the one true Sebastian in the Kuroshitsuji musicals and has reprised his role in all three produced, as well as a re-run on Kuroshitsuji 2. If more musicals are made I can only hope that YuYa continues to make audiences and fangirls alike melt all over again.
Just as important as Sebastian is Ciel Phantomhive played by thirteen year old Nayuta Fukuzaki. I was very happy to see an actor cast who is actually the age of Ciel and this added greatly to Fukuzaki's performance. This not only made Ciel more relatable as a character but also showed the unique relationship between Ciel and Sebastian in an interesting way. Fukuzaki was able to perfectly capture the conflicting emotions held within Ciel Phantomhive as well as portray him with great ease, making Fukuzaki the best Ciel actor thus far. Just behind the two leads is Madam Red played by Akane Liv, Madam Red is a very complicated character who require a great deal of thought and Liv's portrayal of Madam Red was true to both the manga and anime making her entire performance incredibly impressive. And last but not least, also my favorite character of Kuroshitsuji besides Sebastian, is Grell Sutcliff played by Uehara Takuya. Like Matushita, Takuya is the beyond PERFECT choice to play Grell Sutcliff. Everything about his performance is incredible, and like Matsushita, Takuya has reprised his role in all three Kurishitsuji musicals. Because of Takuya my love for Grell has multiplied tenfold.

Set, Costumes and Score:

The set for Kuroshitsuji 3: Jack the Ripper was more advanced than the sets used in previous productions. Various movable pieces, staircases and levels were utilized throughout making the production visually wonderful. I was most impressed with Sebastian and Grell's actors as they had the most movement and fight scenes on various parts of the stage. The costumes for this musical were also quite magnificent. Each characters costume was made with incredible detail and perfectly matches the outfits worn by the animated characters. As a super fan of Black Butler myself, I was thrilled to see that the director payed attention to such details. With its beautiful sets and costumes, the true star of Kuroshitsuji 3 was its musical numbers. Each was perfectly representative of the characters and were done with great vocals and choreography, with the vocal performance of Liv (Madame Red) being especially breathtaking.

Final Thoughts:
The episodes surrounding the Jack the Ripper arc in the anime were always my favorite, so to find a musical of the arc that was very well done was wonderful. My first ever Japanese musical - and it was awesome!

EXTRA:
The entire musical is on YouTube and linked below. Unfortunately, due to its recent production within the last year, Kuroshitsuji 3: Jack the Ripper has not yet been given English Subtitles.

(Black Butler) Kuroshitsuji 3: Jack the Ripper

Have questions about the show, its actors or anything about Black Butler? Just leave a comment!

Kuroshitsuji is a nothing short of a staple - it is simply one hell of a manga, anime and now, musical.

NEXT REVIEW: 
Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) 2: The Most Beautiful Death in the World & The Tale of a Thousand Souls and A Fallen Shinigami

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