#literally know even less about madoka other than hes a part of the god troupe so. he is now a part of the winter troupe :)

[gompereatsall]

uhh im just gonna ramble about my a3 "winter swap" au for a bit because i really love it but i doubt i'll ever make anything for it

(to preface: it's been a while since i've played a3 and reviewed its story, so I may have some things wrong here and there. it's part of the au now lmao)

okay so basically just an au where tsumugi, tasuku, hisoka, homare, and azuma are actors for the God Troupe instead of Mankai. (inspo for this was just that I, a tsumugi lover, just really wanted him to be mean and a "bad person" i have no idea why) These guys are the most popular actors for the god troup with Reni as their director; Taichi and Haruto also act for the god troupe, but they almost never get to see the spotlight, only as background characters. The two were lowkey treated like shit by Reni, and all they wanted was to become a good actor and to get fame.

It's still the same song and dance: Reni sends in Taichi as a spy, but Taichi ends up joining Mankai instead. Things explode over at the god troupe, especially between Tsumugi and Tasuku when the latter actor said he would also be leaving the god troupe. except before tasuku leaves, he essentially tells haruto, "you don't have to deal with this shit, you can come with me and join mankai." he doesn't at first, Tsumugi answering for him, "no, he won't and you won't," but Tasuku promptly left after that to see Tachibana. (Tasuku did offer Tsumugi to join Mankai with him, but Tsumugi was more disgusted with the idea of acting for the rival troupes, and was also angry that Tasuku was "abandoning" him). After stewing for a while, Haruto realized he hated being treated like dirt by the god troupe more than he hated mankai; he left and joined mankai shortly after tasuku left.

Needing a winter troupe, Izumi happily let Haruto and Tasuku join after the audition. Seeing potential in him, Haruto become the leader for the winter troupe.

Meanwhile, Tsumugi is fucking PISSED and is in an even worse mood than usual, and azuma, homare, and hisoka are starting to get sick of his shit. Reni, who's also getting sick of his shit and needing him to calm down, offers to Tsumugi that they should challenge mankai. Reni wanted to do this just to one up the rival troupes, and tsumugi saw this as a way to show Tasuku that he was better than those other actors, and to have him come back to Tsumugi.

Haruto took a while to adjust to the mankai company. He still acted like he was better than them all, and only tried to stop acting superior after getting a good talking to from tasuku, izumi, and others who were done with his shit. he is still confident, but his arrogance got knocked down a few pegs after meeting yuzo for the first time. He starts to settle in after a while, though. He was able to apologize to Taichi for treating him so badly before, and was able to befriend the boy. There, he started to feel like he belonged, and even started to let people call him by his real name, Genta Yamada, and slowly stopped hiding his dialect.

Izumi, taking on the challenge, still needed more members for the winter troupe, only having two at the moment. Holding auditions, Shift Arakawa finally decides to at least try and follow his dream, and ends up getting a part in the winter troupe. Madoka and his father have been working for the god troupe for a long while; after seeing the ad to audtion, in an act of defiance being fed up, Madoka audtions to be apart of the winter troupe. To be honest, I'm still not sure about the last troupe member; I'm leaning toward the idea of Guy appearing much earlier in the story for the same reasons, and he joins the winter troupe.

It takes a long while and some supernatural things to happen, but they all begin to understand one another and get closer as actors and as family.

but tasuku still misses tsumugi, his childhood friend. he was a nice guy, a good friend, but something changed when he started acting for the god troupe and under Reni. It's the same thing that made Taichi and Haruto so desperate to attention, the same thing that makes Hisoka either stay in his room or leave all day, the same thing that makes Homare say nothing other than his lines, the same thing that makes Azuma drink so so much. He just hopes that they're all right (even though he knows deep down they're not)

#OKAY. I know jack shit about madoka and shift bc i stopped playing after the en server closed down. #just. in this au they're apart of the winter troupe okay? #shift told azami abt manki; later when he runs away he goes straight to shift and stays with him. same events of him joining mankai #literally know even less about madoka other than hes a part of the god troupe so. he is now a part of the winter troupe :) #Is tsumugi lowkey a bad person in this au? yes #he tries to emotionally manipulate people whether he realizes it or not #hes been through shit; don't get me wrong that doesnt excuse anything #but he has a long way to becoming that person he used to be before meeting reni and became his mentee #just. ugh. so much angst between tsumu and tasu #tsumugi just smiling and happily challenging izumi to the act off thing. and deep down hes so furious that she 'took' tasu from him. #but he's cool on the outside! he would never let that show. #this was not proof read :) sorry #a3 #a3! #a3! au #a3 au #a3 tasuku #tasuku takato #a3 tsumugi #tsumugi tsukioka #a3 hisoka #hisoka mikage #a3 homare #homare arisugawa #a3 azuma #azuma yukishiro #a3 reni #reni kamikizaka #a3 haruto #haruto asuka

[romijuli]

Tsuzuru for the ask!

Em I hope you’re ready for an essay cause this is basically an essay.

What I love about them: HOOOOO BOY I could be here for hours I love this man. I didn’t entirely get the concept of a comfort character or self-shipping before I met this man. Anyway. I love the whole “I am the sole sane man in a sea of chaos” thing he’s got going, I love how much nonsense he gets swept up in, I love how flustered he gets at the slightest provocation, I love his tendency to talk before he thinks when it’s something vaguely romantic and then IMMEDIATELY backpedal so hard that an otherwise-unnotable comment becomes very much noticeable, I love how much he cares about his family even when he’s away and even when he’s ragging on tadoru. On a meta level I just LOVE the idea of a character who, mizuno’s dad aside, has had everyone in his lifetry to do their best or even just “not actively tried to be an asshole” and he still wound up kinda messed up, because sometimes life is just LIKE that and I feel like I dont see that enough. I just. I love him.

What I hate about them: PLEASE STOP PASSING OUT I know, rationally, that Tsuzuru’s character development in that regard will probably come last out of all of Mankai because passing out is His Thing and they wouldn’t wanna take away his “distinguishing quirk” or whatever but I am honestly worried for this man

Favorite Moment/Quote: okay I know I just said that but honestly the passing out is REALLY funny and I always look (looked?) forward to seeing where the hell Tsuzuru would pass out next. Actually I think that was a big part of me realizing he’s my fave! (A special shout-out to the anime winter arc where they ended the ep with him still on the floor.) Also anything with citron those two are hilarious, his birthday backstage where kaoru is like I HOPE YOU TWO GET MARRIED is very good god bless, and the bit in the anime where he’s writing r&j and passes out and wakes up to a blanket and a cup of coffee!!! That’s so cute and I guess it’s more about room 101 but it’s such a good scene and really good for getting him started on his “I dont need to be so self-reliant anymore” development I’m honestly sad it was made for the anime why didn’t they do that in the game????? (I may update this when I actually read clockwork heart’s story, which I unlocked yesterday but have been too much in Writer Mode to read)

What I would like to see more focus on: honestly the answer differs in canon versus fanwork! In canon I would really like them to focus on the whole “this man has Issues but apparently doesn’t even realize it” thing, but in fanwork…okay so I talked about this on Twitter but his initial SSR backstage has him helping with an autumn troupe show (Roman episode??? No one in winter troupe is there even in the dorms so) in a way that’s almost like assistant director-y??? No one talks about that?????? Is that part of being the playwright or did you just insist on doing assistant director stuff on top of the other stuff bro PLEASE. (Also the occasional chuuni moments, yes they exist, go check his clockwork heart n card it’s REALLY funny also the bit in the Merlin backstage where he and spring troupe are larping at dinner it’s so good)

What I would like to see less focus on: please just give me anything with this man I will consume it

Favorite pairing with: myself or my self-insert TSUZUMISUKAZU in any permutation I could rant. I have practiced The Rant. Other than that…Omitsuzu is cute, Tsuzuita and Tsuzucito are both very funny and adorable, I have a bit of a soft spot for tsuzusaku, tsuzuizu is cute, I am not caught up in jp at ALL but I’ve seen some Tsuzuru/madoka here and there and I think that’s adorable,

Favorite friendship: Tsuzuru and citron are HILARIOUS I love them, platonic tsuzukazu is fun as well, I have a very strict “Tsuzuru and Izumi are bffs” agenda, also literally any interaction with his brothers that I’ve seen so far

NOTP: any of the y1 under-16s.

Favorite headcanon: tsuzuru dyed his hair to match tadoru. Except that’s probably canon actually hm. I like to think that he ends up staying with Mankai until he stops writing, even if he stops acting. Maybe that’s just me trying to cope with EN’s loss idk

#asky meme #I may have also rehearsed this ask cause I had a feeling Tsuzuru would come up lmao

[zukadiary]

Chateau de la Reine / VIVA! FESTA! ~ Cosmos Troupe 2017

Mixed feelings and spoilers ahead!

The Plot: We’ve been blessed with a full script translation thanks to @makalations​‘s hard work, so I’m going to keep it very brief: Mirion is running a scam by double booking two tour groups in the same famous hotel at the same time so she can scrape up enough money to prevent her tour company from going under. Tour participants include Maakun (a novelist trying to find inspiration for his Louis XIV love story) and a bunch of other weirdos, antics ensue as the tour company tries to keep the two groups apart and they all kind of get to know each other.

Overall impressions: On the plus side, pretty much all the main players in Soragumi down to the kumichous had their own little side story going on (except Rui Makise and Rukaze Hikaru who receded into the background for this one), which I appreciated as someone who loves the whole troupe and whose fave was just a black angel. I followed the story with no problem, and I think I always wind up giving extra points to shows that make me feel like my Japanese doesn’t suck. They definitely put together a style, and I enjoyed the ridiculous costumes. I was, however, left curious to know more about what the overall vision was; the backgrounds were so drab it felt like they splurged on a custom wardrobe and ran out of budget. Even though the aesthetics could not be more different, it kind of reminded me of Count’s Daughter in that they bothered to stay out of the recycle bin to tell a visual story, but Count’s Daughter took that down to the last corner of the stage and Chateau de la Reine fell short (maybe this is a DVD problem, I don’t know).

On the minus side, it was lazy comedy with no real character development. It reminded me of being 15 and dying laughing at a lot of truly terrible anime because I was just so into it that you could shove any tired trope down my throat and I’d swallow it enthusiastically and beg for more. Puns so simple I understood them, half the characters rolling their Rs all the time, Louis XIV’s dramatic entrances (you could taste the freeze frame allowing a gust of flower petals to blow by)… NO JOKE, Maakun literally crashes into a door like this:

BUT, there is most definitely a give and take with these things. The trade-off for  a one-act troupe showcase is relying on stereotypes for character development to keep the show under 5 hours. Looking at a theatrical masterpiece like Hoshiai, 3 people got really meaningful roles. So I guess as long as a star’s run has a balance of both, I’ll take this occasionally. I do wish the comedy had been a little more creative. I think I laughed the hardest when poor miserable Zunchan picked her chin up and agreed to lead her shafted tour group to see the opera house “from the outside!” because it was the middle of the night… that was cute!

People:

Asaka Manato as Kitashirakawa (yeesh) Ukyo, the aforementioned novelist, was not what I’d call brilliant because it was not the most brilliant character… but she got to do some things she is uniquely good at, namely being kind of a jerkface and performing physically improbable feats of weirdness with her lanky limbs. Entertaining within the parameters of everyone here being a caricature.

Misaki Rion was equally the lead and very much boss lady in charge. I heard a lot of complaints that Reiko was not a role worthy of Mirion considering she retired on it, but I’m not sure what more you can expect out of a career spanning 2 partners and iconic leads like Aida and Elisabeth. This was a strange little show and for what it was I liked Reiko; I also liked that she basically orchestrated the whole scam. It was a much more interesting premise than a love story. Despite it being Maakun and Mirion’s last show together I didn’t even mind that it was romance-lite; they finished on equal footing holding hands, and that pretty much sums up their wonderful partnership for me.

Makaze Suzuho as the apparition of Louis XIV, dwelling in the chateau that was formerly his and inspiring Kitashirakawa’s novel, was probably my favorite part of the show if I toss my biases aside. Her Louis exuded an air of being so very done with all of these ridiculous people, while simultaneously being completely unaware that he’s definitely the most ridiculous person present. It was delightful.

Aizuki Hikaru as a tacky old rich real estate magnate with a toupee, and his arm candy/former hostess Hoshikaze Madoka, were the height of caricature; we learn almost nothing about them beyond that bare bones backstory and what’s conveyed through their clothing and their age difference. Nothing against their performances, but on the show level this was one instance where despite a lack of effort put into characterization we’re just supposed to find them funny (he’s old and absurd and she’s young and silly and they’re dating, get it??). I do appreciate Aichan’s willingness to lean all the way into a completely over the top character. This was a layup for Madoka.

Sumiki Sayato plays Makoto, a kind of grumpy cop paired against his will with Sorahane Riku’s Crayon, who is ostensibly a man in drag (we’re not given enough information to nail down Crayon’s gender identity). Crayon takes a shine to Makoto immediately, and this is another trope we’re just supposed to find funny—grouchy dude doesn’t want anything to do with the always-cheerful, flamboyant drag queen who won’t take no for an answer. WORKING WITH WHAT WE’VE GOT, I enjoyed both of their performances. Akkii is too sweet to fully immerse herself in the jerk who’s just a jerk for the sake of being a jerk, which made her eventual softening both foreseeable and convincing. Riku was hamming it up, and the fact that she was a head taller than Akkii in her heels really made the whole dynamic. And they got a kiss!

Sakuragi Minato plays Togawa, another guide in Reiko’s tour company, responsible for the group that paid less and thus constantly struggling to keep them out of the hotel at the choicest hours. This role was a waste of Zunchan, yet I can’t imagine anyone other than Zunchan in this role. She was adorable and pitiful and 110% invested; I just watch her constantly evolving offstage and I’m waiting for that role that makes me go WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH ZUNCHAN?!

Junya Chitose as the editor was another highlight. She’s both wholly supportive of Kitashirakawa’s eccentricity and a force to be reckoned with herself, and she spends most of her stage time drunk/ hungover/ flirting with Sora. When she’s stumbling, glasses askew, on the silver bridge, you can’t help but pray to the gods she’s not leaving with the next show.

KazukimotherfuckingSora as Pierre, the only one aside from chief bellboy Sao who really has to speak French, was A CHOICE, because she CANNOT DO THAT. There’s a scene where she tells everyone she remembered the name of a place and it sounds like she’s choking. But like everything else she does she took her adorable lavender blazer and ran with it, and I was in stitches, and honestly I don’t know who else she could have played. I miss you, you dumb idiot <3

Mentions: Kumichous were a married couple (<3), Reimi Urara was the memory of Louis’s lover with not a heck of a lot to do, and my not-a-real-character shout out this time goes to club singer Fuuma Kakeru (and Sao finding a way, at great pains I’m sure, to make issuing orders to the other bellboys sexy).

VIVA! FESTA! was not Hot Eyes but nothing will ever be Hot Eyes.

Quick hits:

Catchy theme song, catchier yosakoi chuuzume that had me dancing at work all day today feeling grateful I don’t go to the office

Worth it alone for Night on Bald Mountain featuring Kumichou taking center stage in a very Maleficent getup

I’m not into this boy band trend… but I am also aware that whether or not I am into this boy band trend in the moment depends heavily on who is pointing and winking at me

The festa theme could definitely have been more obvious throughout, but props to Nakamura S. for not falling back on Carnivale for a change. I could honestly watch an entire revue of yosakoi

Can I have a Sora angle? God that kid can dance. I REALLY MISS YOU, YOU DUMB IDIOT <3

Not a set of all-time winners, but I liked everything enough to watch again!

#reviews #chateau de la reine #takarazuka