My good friend Cheryl posted a note about something fun, which I had meant to share with her and the world earlier. Here it is, longer than expected but I couldn't help gushing over this stuff I enjoy so much:
What with anime big in Japan, it's branched out so it's not just for TV anymore. It's on-stage in musical theater. There's nothing quite like it here in the U.S. Not only are many anime series expanded into live musical theater, but often the series' seiyuu perform in the live shows. They're not just a pretty voice.
The musical that caught Cheryl's attention was the first one for Kuroshitsuji. I found the anime wonderful, but I have my doubts about how well the series' darker moments could be converted to live action. According to one reviewer, the live show was entertaining, but I want more than that: Ciel is too layered and damaged, too vital to the entire concept, for the role to be performed at anything less than "amazing". And Sebastian in any incarnation simply MUST be graceful and poised, with a mellifluous voice.
Other series that aren't weighed down so much with dark secrets have inspired successful, lively musicals and other live events. Check it out:
- Sailor Moon (c'mon, you know that series is just made for the super-cheesy musicals; whoa, wait a minute: there are twenty-freakin'-nine musicals!!!)
- Inuyasha (apparently not successful enough for a DVD release...)
- Bleach (heck, there's already five of them [and three movies], and the series is still going strong, so I bet there'll be more)
- Prince of Tennis
- Naruto (after a bit of searching, I can't find a video link for this; use your imagination; actually, given how huge the Naruto fanbase is, I'm surprised there aren't a dozen of them already)
- Katekyo Hitman Reborn's ReboCon convention (not precisely a musical, but there's singing and dancing and costumes, so...)
- Pokemon (sadly, not on ice)
- Gurren Lagann live reading (extra credit for this one, because the guy playing Simon is actually Viral's seiyuu, and it's hilarious how bad he is at doing Simon's young voice, plus he's famous for playing Gai Shishio from GaoGaiGar and the audience goes wild when he bursts into his "Gai" voice that everyone loves)
You should give at least a few of them a try if you come across them. Even if you don't get all of the words or if you're not familiar with the stories, you're bound to be entertained by the vivid characterizations and hammy acting.
Somewhat related to the musical theater idea, many seiyuu also release music of their own or songs related to their series, like the Bleach Beat Collections. It's often delicious ear candy when these vocal experts turn their skills to singing.
And of course there's sheer entertainment value, like a collection of people counting sheep, supposedly so you can prepare for bed while listening to a favorite voice lulling you.
But who wants sheep when you can have ham? Norio Wakamoto, who is quite possibly incapable of something lullful, is delightfully, wickedly, impossibly over the top as he counts his sheep. The one recording I found of it has been cruelly deleted from teh interwebz, but I shall continue to search. If I get my hands on a copy of it, I will share. Until then, make sure you explore more of the sheer overwhelming glory of Wakamoto's voice.
And maybe we'll all be lucky enough that more U.S.-based shows will get some of the musical fun. I definitely enjoyed the musicals and musical numbers featured in
Buffy,
Xena,
Family Guy, and
South Park. The cast of
Metalocalypse has toured live, but that's not quite the same as an actual musical. You know, not just the music; it's gotta have the acting and drama and dancing. Or at least an attempt at that. What I'm really drooling over is my pipe-dream of
The Venture Brothers: Rise of the Sovereign with music, lyrics, and choreography by
JG Thirlwell. Wouldn't that just rock your balls off?!
