It is with great pleasure that I thank Tachibana Remi-san for sponsoring today’s review! Remi-san was kind enough to give me the DVD of Sailor Moon Musical – Un Noveau Voyage (ミュージカル「美少女戦士セーラームーン」-Un Nouveau Voyage-) so I can tell you all about it! Thank you Remi-san!
Right off the bat, this is pretty much the best cast I’ve ever seen in a Sailor Moon Musical. While I really enjoyed the one I saw live in 2002, (before they changed it around that summer and put it on DVD as practically a different story), this one really stands out as one of the best I’ve ever watched. Generally speaking, I’ve enjoyed the three new musicals and the alternative versions of the first three seasons they’ve put together.
In Un Noveau Voyage, we begin with Haruka, a pop idol, and and Michiru as a very obvious couple. I say “obvious” because while Haruka is physically intimate with Michiru in “public”, if they weren’t a couple, there’d be no need for that in private and here, at the beginning, they start in private. I particularly like the opening number, as Haruka on “stage” sings her song, while we watch Michiru responding to her. Really, really nice opening.
The rest of the story slips back into recognizably third season key scenes and therefore I don’t feel obliged to summarize the plot at all. ^_^ Instead, I’ll talk about all the things I liked.^_^
First of all, the wigs were amazing. I know that’s a silly thing to think of as “first”, but really the hair looked so good. Particularly Makoto, Rei and Ami.
The cast now contains a number of former Takarisiennes, notably Yamato Yuga who plays Mamoru, Shiotsuki Shuu, who plays Haruka (and whose autograph adorns the booklet inside the DVD, thank you Remi-san!) Yuki Kaon, who plays Professor Tomoe, Fujioka Sayaka, who plays Michiru and Oogi Kei who plays Kaolinite.
The shift to all-female casting makes a lot of sense, even if it’s really pandery. But, as I said elsewhere recently, “when pandering is for us, it doesn’t suck after all.” ^_^
Kaolinite’s voice….swoon. You never get an alto in these things. She wasn’t a mezzo-soprano or a contralto, either, an actual alto. Oogi-san was a terrific Kaolinite.
Michiru’s voice is eerie. Even my wife noted that Fujioka-san sounded like…Michiru.
I’m sorry to see the cast for the Inners have to leave their roles. “Graduate” is the euphemism the idol world uses for this. The fans believe they were made to leave at this point, which is annoying. They were perfect in their roles. Best I’d ever seen. But there’s an obvious fetish going on in the “graduation” process. Clearly nostalgic tears and sniffling has become a thing that is now part of the process of being in a musical role or idol group. Blecch.
The other thing of note was in a couple of the stage pieces. There were two scenes in which a triptych-set up allowed for duets and trios to be sung that I really liked. This culminated with a fantastic piece n which Hotaru in the center is sung about by Kaolinite, Chibi-Usa and the Professor, then the Outers and the Inners in a really intense and creepy song about this one girl’s fate, Light of Ruin, Hametsu no Hikari.
And my final thought is that I’ve really come to like the new final number, Ai no Starshine, although I kind of miss Ai no Senshi. ^_^
Ratings:
Overall – 9
I really enjoyed this musical. Thank you so much Remi-san!
