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nyxravessnow · 3 years

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Shin Tenimyu - Musical The New Prince of Tennis The First Stage Report

I saw the stream of the first performance of the The New Prince of Tennis musical awhile back and I wanted to write some of my thoughts. But I didn’t really enjoy the show and as I love tenimyu with all my heart, as it is my favourite show, I find it much harder to be super negative about the show when talking specifically about the show scene by scene. But with the casting news for 4th I thought that I would finish this so anyone who hasn’t seen the show can know my thoughts.

I tried to finish it, I really did. But I have no motivation to really talk in length about this show in a deep dive sort of way. I will keep what I did for the 1st half of the show but after that it will only be kinda a summary of my thoughts.

I have only seen the first night and I do not intend to see anymore of this show. I was incredibly disappointed and didn’t not make me want to see the show again or really any of the shin tenimyu shows but I will still watch those as a bad first show doesn’t mean all of them will be bad but I don’t think shin tenimyu will ever really be my thing.

I will say that Tokki, Raima and Maeda-chan are actors I love so I am a little biased towards them

Bare in mind that this was the first performance and while I am not taking that into consideration for my criticisms things could definitely improve before the final show, the one that will be on dvd.

Overall the show was about a 4-6/10 for me. There was only really one scene that brought it to a 6 and without it it would be a 4.

Music: 2/10.

Direction: 1.5/10.

Acting: 6/10

Spoilers under the cut

Actors

Imamaki Hikaru - Echizen Ryouma: All round a solid 6/10. He was cute and delivered his lines very well but still has far to go with his singing and the design on his hair really sticking out from the sides of his hat made him seem much younger which I was not a fan of. This was a problem I had with early Nichika of them making Echizen seem too young and innocent. Like of course he is 13 and is a child but he isn’t this cute adorable boy. He can be cocky and he isn’t all innocent so I hope they don’t keep making the Echizen’s appear super young in this way.

Yamada Kento - Tezuka Kunimitsu: 8/10. I don’t think I really have any issues with his Tezuka at all. He had a very good voice, really good acting.

Houjuyama Shun - Momoshiro Takeshi: 6/10. He has a really good voice for Momo when speaking but his singing leaves a lot to be desired. He didn’t really do very much in the show so I can’t rate him higher than a 6 as I don’t remember very much that he did bar the Oni match.

Gaku - Tachibana Kippei: 7/10. Similarly to Shun I don’t really remember him but his singing was quite good so this is where he landed

Takahashi Ryouya - Atobe Keigo: I’m sorry 1/10. He is an excellent singer and performer but there was nothing about his performance that made me think of Atobe. His voice was quite high, he was not very confident (Blending into the background when it wasn’t his match), saying his lines softly, moving softly. If I couldn’t see the wig I would not have known he was Atobe. I really hope that he can gain some confidence to play Atobe or else I think he was the wrong actor for the role.

Maeda Ryuutarou - Kirihara Akaya/Hiramatsu Raima - Tooyama Kintarou: 10/10. I put these two here together because what I want to say is the same for both. You could absolutely tell they had been in the show before. The two brought confidence not many others had to their roles. They controlled their stage and as soon as they stepped onto it they were their characters. Every movement and every line was exactly like the character. I am so happy that they are continuing in tenimyu and hope that they will help the cast get to their level by the end of this run or maybe in future shows.

Takemoto Yusuke - Shiraishi Kuranosuke: 9/10. By far my favourite of the new cast members. I know a lot of people were apprehensive that he might play Shiraishi as sexy too much but he didn’t at all. He was excellent. The only reason that he isn’t a five is there are still some tiny things he could polish but once those are polished he will be perfect.

Matsushima Hiroki - Chitose Senri: 7/10. Ngl I keep forgetting that he was in this show. His doubles with Tachibana was quite forgetful and he didn’t have any major moments but was also quite good and not many problems in his performance.

Shintani David - Lilident Krauser: 10/10. Like Maeda-chan and Raima you could tell that he had been in the show before, albeit much less than they had. For anyone who doesn’t know, he was an understudy and doubled as the part of Lilident in vs Rikkai Nationals. Very solid performance

(Warning I know much less about the high schoolers so this will be more on their acting in general rather than whether they were good as that character)

Ono Kento - Tokugawa Kazuya: ?/10. He was barely in the show and I have no idea how I could rate his performance. Pretty solid.

Okamoto Yuuki - Oni Juujirou: 8/10. Solid performance. Good enough singing for the role.

Aiba Hiroki - Irie Kanata: He wasn’t in the show so I can’t write a judgement of his performance

Yasue Kazuaki - Irie Kanata: 9/10. He was so excellent. Singing, acting, everything was top notch. Similarly to Yusuke he’s only not 10 because he has some small things to polish.

Chanhe (dunno how to spell his name) - Nakagauchi Sotomichi: 6/10. No real comments, pretty solid.

Matsushima Yuunosuke - Yamato Yudai: 6/10. Pretty good, singing okay.

Suzuki Ryouhei - Miyako Shinobu: 6/10. Didn’t have many lines or do very much, pretty overshadowed by Tokki (Will cover him next). What he did do was good, singing could use some improvement.

Tauchi Tokihiro - Matsudaira Chikahiko: 10/10. Absolutely perfect. He brought so much energy and character to his performance that I don’t think any other new actor brought. He owned the stage, even competing with Maeda-chan for my attention when on stage. He had so much presence and would draw your eyes to him. He made everything seem so natural and not acted. Like the continuing actors he became his character on stage rather than acted them out.

Takahashi Shunichi - Suzuki Shun and Tsurimoto Minami - Washio Issa: 6/10. Didn’t do too much, pretty solid performance.

Murakami Kouhei - Kurobe Yukio/Izumi Shuhei - Saito Itaru: 6/10. Pretty standard for a coach. Singing was good.

Kishi Yuuji - Mifune Nyuudou: 10/10. Absolutely amazing. Everything about his performance was perfect. By FAR the best voice in the cast, incredible singing.

Direction and choreography

I am not a director so I cannot be too specific about details but I can say what I liked and didn’t. (Every comment is specifically about the direction not singing or acting). I have studied theatre though so I do have some insight from that angle Also, please don’t criticise what I classified as the same scene and what as different.

Scene 1: Echizen in America, 1st song

Good beginning, very solid for a first show opening.

Scene 2: High schoolers practicing while middle schoolers arrive, coach song

Felt very reminiscent of the vs Fudomine shows where Echizen first arrives at Seigaku, I really liked this.

Scene 3: Middle schoolers and high schoolers collecting dropped balls, middle schooler song

Was not a fan. I didn’t like how close everyone was but also randomly placed. I know it is inevitable with such a small cast of middle schoolers but I would have liked to see them more with their teammates in little clusters and slowly appear in front of Seigaku. Maybe even projecting images of other middle schoolers getting balls if none are to appear.

I did like how Echizen arrives out of the back at the end though

Scene 4: Oni vs Momoshiro, Oni solo, Momo solo

Done pretty well, will talk in other section about stage design. Both actors were solid in their tennis, no missed moves that I saw. Built up Oni’s power well, showing him as a strong player. Showed Momo’s desperation well in the blocking.

Was not a fan of only having unknown high schoolers watching on. Makes sense in an anime or manga that has time to build up and unlimited cast but this show only has three hours to build up characters that may never return or become more important later. They did not need lines but would have been interesting to see them watching the match

Scene 5: Saito and Kurobe

Pretty simple scene, just the two talking. Pretty gay.

Scene 6: Saito talking to the middle schoolers about elimination matches, Saito solo

I think the middle schoolers could do with being less clumped up around him as it makes the cast of characters seem small and does not give an indication of scale. Liked the stillness of the middle and high schoolers during his song.

Scene 7: Echizen and Kinchan meet Tokugawa and Oni, Echizen vs Tokugawa, Echizen and Tokugawa duet

I really love the way Oni and Tokugawa are tall and imposing and unmoving or slow moving on the outside of the stage where as Echizen and Kinchan are being active in the middle, shows contrast between the characters well.

I really like there not being a net here reinforcing that Kinchan and Echizen just run off and do their own thing with no regard for officiality.

Did not like the two random ensemble cast members appearing to watch and commentate, felt very weird and slightly meta.

Scene 8: Elimination matches

I have EXTREMELY mixed feelings here. On the one hand I think the direction is excellent with the spotlight, the figures who lose falling and the single lines echoing. On the other hand, I hate that they didn’t have many of the matches and skipped over them completely, especially the lack of cast members (which I will touch on later). If they do the elimination matches in another show and this was building up to it then I take back my negative comments and I’ll be very happy about that. But if not I think this was not enough to cover them, especially since so many were missed out

Scene 9: Kinchan vs Oni, Kinchan and Oni duet

I really love this scene. A lot of, again, slow movements from Oni contrasting the never still form of Kinchan. Probably my favourite choreography from the show with Kinchan darting back under Oni’s legs. Doubles to show Oni’s maturity vs Kinchan’s childishness as well as showing Oni not taking Kinchan too seriously and letting him just run around aimlessly before he beats him.

Scene 10: Irie and Chitose talking

No real comments, they just stood and talked.

Scene 11: Saito takes Kinchan and Echizen to the mountain

Liked them lying on the floor together, part of a series of things linking Kinchan and Echizen together. It was a bit weird seeing Tokugawa just watching them lie on the floor and catching their breath before giving them a message and leaving. Liked Saito picking them up by their collars, gives the impression that he doesn’t care that they are children. Which he doesn’t. Scene of climbing suffers from lack of actors as this could be a good place to add in comedy, which the show is lacking, but since they only have Momo, Echizen and Kinchan, none is created.

Scene 12: Mifune solo (ft. Echizen and Kinchan )

Loved how he is sat in the beginning, instantly shows his character. Along with his heavy slow movements and slightly hunched back. Liked it showing the middle schoolers climbing in the background, showing that he is not caring about their effort or wellbeing in getting to him. Liked the breaks to show Echizen and Kinchan and the complete shift in tone, will talk more about later in song, but also in lighting and speed of movement.

Scene 13: Middle schoolers arrive at the camp, hs vs ms outside match

Love the distance between the high schoolers, creating a sense of scale. Despite looking down usually being a sign of strength from the person standing you got a sense of Mifune’s power as they are all looking down on him sipping his sake.

Loved the lighting for the high schoolers vs middle schoolers match. Fluid movements of the hs vs the random movements of the middle schoolers.

Scene 14: Training back at the main camp, ms getting their place on court 5

Really liked the running on a off stage but would have liked to see characters return to stage and run off again like a consistant training menu and would have liked to see the words detailing their training be on the screen for a tad longer.

Liked the short matches between the ms and hs but would have liked to see the hs look a bit more helpless in their movements.

Scene 15: Coaches talking, court 5 and 3 meet, Irie and Tokugawa chat

Coaches talking is pretty standard

Liked the ms entering from different sides vs court 3 entering from the same side. Gives the impression that court 3 is a team whereas 5 is a lot of good individual players thrown together.

Chat again, pretty standard

Scene 16: Oni talking to his court, court 5 song

I like them being spread out. Like them walking around at the beginning of the song with only Oni spotlighted to show he is bringing them together.

Scene 17: Yamato and Tezuka talk

Like the distance between them, showing how far apart they had grown due to time and also in personality, contrasted later during their duet.

Scene 18: Lining up, Nakagauchi vs Liladent

Liked contrast between Oni being just behind court 5 whereas Tokugawa is behind the bench (?). Of course court 3 isn’t Tokugawa’s court but it reminded me of Oni actively helping his court vs Tokugawa sending Echizen away to improve.

Pretty standard tenimyu match with no songs. Liked the show of Nakagauchi’s power by showing him being thrown into a fence, like Taka-san one of the strongest middle schoolers was in Shiten, but being unaffected by this. Of course I know it was done in the original so they also had to do it but I like how the direction is similar in both cases.

Scene 19: Shiraishi and Akaya vs Miyako and Matsudaira

BEST SCENE OF THE SHOW. If every scene was like this one the show would be 10/10. Without this scene the show would be a 4/10 or perhaps lower.

Miyako and Matsudaira’s song was great.

Shiraishi’s solo was so good.

Shiraishi and Akaya’s duet is by far and away the best song in the show. The only song that really felt like ‘tenimyu’ and reminded me of what I loved about tenimyu.

Scene 20: Camp training, Mifune sends Echizen/Kinchan/Momo to get Sake, Mifune solo

Pretty solid, suffering from a lack of actors and it felt a bit flat. Mifune’s singing was amazing again, though I think he did slightly get too many songs bc Mifune isn’t as important to the plot as the musical seems to make out, as far as I’m aware.

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So, that’s the first half.

IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ SOMETHING VERY NEGATIVE AND HARSH, PLEASE STOP HERE.

This show might be one of my least favourite 2.5d shows I have ever seen. The dancing was okay, the singing wasn’t great, the show did not feel well thoughtout and it was just so disappointing. So, many of the actors were rather underwhelming and despite so much going on the show felt boring.

I may have not read the shintenipuri manga but I have seen the anime and it is really funny. This show was barely funny, so many jokes were cut out seemingly for no reason other than the characters who made the jokes not being there. But I do not understand why there weren’t there. I get they couldn’t have every shintenipuri character there but there are quite a few I think they could have added that would have brought a lot, not just to fill the numbers as the stage did feel quite empty quite a few times. Sanada, for example, would have been a very good addition to the cast he speaks to a few of the people there, he rallies the middle schoolers going up the mountain and they already use him quite a bit through voice recording so I do not see why they couldn’t actually cast him.

The show was just lacking the heart that normal tenimyu has. Every tenimyu show before this, even the ones I haven’t enjoyed as much like Remarkable Match Fudomine or Seigaku vs Shitenhoji 2nd season, made me want to watch them again. They still drew me in and got me invested in the characters, partly because of excellent chemistry between the actors. Honestly, so few of these actors had good chemistry with one another. Raima and Maeda-chan quite honestly felt good with everyone. Tokki and Ryouhei were good as Miyako and Matsudaira, Kento and Yuunosuke weren’t bad as Yamato and Tezuka and Ryoya and Kazu were pretty okay. I didn’t feel a connection between almost anyone else. I don’t know if this was the actors not feeling comfortable with each other or the fast pace of the show that left no time for actors to develop in character chemistry but I am leaning towards the 2nd as the backstage photos would suggest they got on well.

This show felt like tenimyu’s attempt to make a Toho show. And it did not work. The show took itself way too seriously instead of in normal tenimyu where they seem to have a blast and it’s okay to understand that the show is ridiculous. I don’t know if this is at all what they were attempting but with the new attitude and the actors from Toho, especially Mifune’s actor who they gave a lot of solos to, it certainly felt like that to me.

I am not just being negative about shin tenimyu because I wanted tenimyu to stay the same forever. I was very prepared for new things in shin tenimyu but I don’t think the approach of let’s keep virtually nothing from past tenimyu really appealed to me. I honestly did like some of the new stuff they tried but I think they should have kept more things the same and phased stuff out later down the line when people were more onboard with shintenimyu. I.e. not in their first show.

I will talk more about the issues I had with casting in my next post as I will finally talk about the casting of 11th Seigaku and 4th Fudomine.

RANT OVER

Okay, now I’ve gotten a lot of my negative thoughts out of the way.

Thanks for reading this half review, and I’m sorry it took so long. I personally wouldn’t recommened to anyone who is a massive tenimyu fan to check out this show but please don’t just take my word but see what other people think to.

Please continue to support my reviews and leave a like and maybe send me a message so we can chat about stuff.

#self #rant #shin tenimyu the first stage #the new prince of tennis musical #the first stage #review #negative

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