TeZukA 3月26日＠渋谷Bunkamura オーチャードホール Review in English

なんとなく英語の方が書きたい事が書けたのと、やっぱ英語下手だけど漫画とダンス両方をそこそこ抑えていて英語もそこそこできる手塚と同じ国籍の人ってのが自分くらいしかいないかなと思って書きました。かなり急いで書いたので文が長すぎて変になってるところもあるし、いつも時制から冠詞まで間違いだらけで恥ずかしいので、いずれどこかに移管するかも。

I wish I was wrong, but at the Orchard Hall in Shibuya, there seemed to be less manga fans than theatergoers. My twitter timeline is consisted of 30% of Manga related people, 30% of theatergoers, 30% of cycle road race fans, and 10% others, and the timeline made me think that it might be true that only theatergoers went to see TeZukA.

So let's put it straight. TeZukA was a great challenge and an inspiring work. As many mentioned, the show included so many 3.11 pieces, actually 3.11 & nuclear topics pretty much occupied the long opening script read in French. Obviously, that is very Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy) who has that lost technology within himself. 3.11 must have been the biggest inspiration for Astro Boy's part, but that is not the reason why I loved this stage. Honestly, Astro Boy or 3.11 was just OK, or less impressive for me compared to the other parts, and even though I felt the portrayal of Astro boy at the opening was doubtful and distracting, the show got better as time passed, and eventually I found that many leads are beautifully organized in many ways. I'm unsure why they made a middle-aged, shaved-hair guy portrait Astro Boy. I mean, even will.i.am has shown off some Astro Boy figures. Perhaps they didn't intend to portray Astro Boy, but meant to depict the difference between the human body itself and an artificial body- reminds us of the classic "999", right? The move was geometric, and for me that wasn't very impressive. They could've done that much better!

However, it didn't take long before my mind was changed. Shaolin master to play Hyakki-Maru from Dororo simply showed how brilliant live performance can be. An acrobatic play of Hyakki-Maru by a real Shaolin fighter is something that you will never meet anywhere but TeZukA in your life. And that's the purpose of goint to theater; to find something unique, to be there for the one special moment you will never have in your life.

Speaking of once in a lifetime opportunity... Guro, the only female dancer from the company got injured and did only limited parts. But many who had seen several stages of TeZukA were surprised how well they managed without making audience feel any lacks. I didn't feel anything lost either.

The following Black Jack part would surpass anyone's expectation. As many have already praised the idea, it quated a TED presentation by Bonnie Bassler named "how bacteria talk", http://on.ted.com/AXCy and that built a great connection between the original Manga, or spirit of Tezuka Osamu himself and the performance. I couldn't wait to see Black Jack dance before I saw the show, but I might have been wrong... he's brainy, and all the Sherlockians learned that brainy is definitely a new sexy this year. And I have no doubt that Black Jack must be the most popular brainy sexy here. So, when BJ and Pinoco - whose height was higher than BJ - appeared on the stage, they started quoting the TED presentation, and immediately I linked a theme of Tezuka - reincarnation of souls - to the presentation, - how small life can be -, and amazed by the accuracy of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's intention.
By the way, fellow Japanese otaku, didn't you find some similar expression recently of the famous Shonen Jamp, which appeared on TeZukA too? Yes, it's our Yoshihiro Togashi. Being suffered from flu, he showed us a story of Koala look-alike Chimera ant with a very rough sketch (oh it's not because of flu? Well, still, he is my most favorite manga writer and that episode was perfection). The Koala ant used be a human, and his body was minced to be served to the queen ant as a meat ball. But he still reminded how he was like as a human after he started a new life as a soldier ant born by the queen. He stated that "The concept of "being small" is not equal to the total amount of energy something small can produce 小さいという概念は そのものが発し得るエネルギーの総量とイコールではなかった", since his soul was succeeded after a tragic reincarnation. Right after I saw TeZukA, that line felt like such a coincidence to me, and I am begging Mr Cherkaoui to make some Togashi-inspired works, as he is one of the best writers in the manga history. That is very much like what Gaoh found after Hayami's death in Phoenix's masterpiece, Episode Ho-o (Chinese origin another name for Phoenix) that life is life, and there's no difference between human and ladybag.

Well then, Comical fights with onomatopoeic characters, moving Manga frameworks, and Japanese Calligraphy inspired works followed. All seemed well organized, but I must say that using Shodo (Japanese Calligraphy) is not the best idea. That made the stage very typical, by using something Japanese that foreigners always love. I was just like, "Oh we get that a lot". I see no connection between Japanese brush (筆) and Manga writers' pens. Using brush is very rare for Manga writers , I know only few, like Ioh Kuroda. On the ther hand, the paper rolls that kept falling down from the top seemed very mystical, and that's right that Mr Cherkaoui picked paper (Kami 紙) as a kind of message from up above, where God (Kami, but different character, 神） might be.

Act 2's opening was mind-blowing. Of course I couldn't keep my eyes off from him in Act 1 either because of his beautiful pirouette, but Daniel Proietto's Michio (from MW) portrait was incredible. Some might have assumed he was Japanese. His dark hair and skinny body might look like so, but his flexibility and smooth dance technique stood out from other dancers. In the interview Mr Cherkaoui answered that he liked Tezuka because many characters are two-sided. Even though I'm crazy about Watchmen, V for Vendetta and Dark Knight (I mean, these are diverse), yet I would say that's true that western comics tend to have "evil villain vs good hero" situation, while you can find both sides in one character in some Japanese manga *1 What I saw in Michio's dance was also ambivalent, innocence/guilty, purity/seduction, male/female, foreigner/Japanese. I wouldn't have been surprised if the portrait wasn't visually accurate, and actually I liked HUNTERxHUNTER even though the drawing was way too rough, or Black Jack on the stage wasn't cute as I imagined (sorry...he's an ideal man for manga readers! But on stage he was brainy-sexy if he opened his mouth!). But if you could see a portrait as perfect as what Daniel Proietto did... you'd be just blown away.

In the Act 2, the screen showed some essential pieces of Tezuka, including MW's bed scene, Buddha's opening with the devotion of a rabbit, Moopie's death in front of Masato from Phoenix, a dead slave deliverling rice to lord, and Human Insect which I hadn't even heard of. The readings wasn't as big as it was in Act 1, but the finale of Astro Boy, Mirai Moriyama explained what Astro Boy was suffering from, and how he came into a decision. Osamu Tezuka's life after the war was so much different from what it used to be, and the writer wasn't sure if human can choose to be good in the freedom. It was built into the Astro Boy's question, "Am I willing to help people, or am I just programed to be so?" They presented the last scene from Astro Boy animation version, where Astro Boy brought an out-of-control rocket to the sun knowing he might not be able to return. Did his sacrifice prove that he chose to be good? I couldn't tell. Actually I've never heard of Astro Boy's ending before, animation is much harder to track than comic books after a few decades. One thing I am sure is TeZukA lacked a sight toward a very important Japanese mentality; devotion. We devote ourselves to a lot of things, commonly to work, and many killed themselves without quitting/escaping. Tezuka sometimes described these value as a beautiful thing as seen in Buddha or Astro Boy that I mentioned above. Astro Boy's decision to sacrifice himself might be brave, strong, but a weak person can do the same. I didn't like Astro Boy's part both in Act 1&2.

The way the graphic artist typed Chinese characters in the inverse order was kind of odd, reminded me of the strange typing scene in Disney's Mulan. I know the artist is Japanese but it felt so much like stereotyped. I only loved few scenes, when onomatopoeic graphics formed a silhouette of a character, or when framework moved to fit characters on the stage and made me feel that the actual human beings are just too big for these frames. Yet, that was the finest screen work on theatrical work I've ever seen, as I usually hate the idea, especially when it's on Andrew Loyd Webber's work (some would know what I'm referring to).

The ending was also with Japanese calligraphy, so I felt the same thing as Act 1, like it was a bit stereotyped because I found no connection Manga, but I liked the paper/god (Kami/Kami) idea. A very sensitive ending that paid so much homage to Tezuka was absolutely the best tribute ever paid. I can't believe that was to be done by non-Japanese. Yeah I know Saint Brothers (聖おにいさん) did a great job too - as a parody - and it's been exhibited in British Museum, but this is far beyond that. People, TeZukA is literally traveling around the world not only London. Who imagined this? So I'd like to end this review with a word for Manga lovers. You know what? I really wanted to see you in the theater. Why am I getting reviews by theatergoers only? A lady sitting next to me said she had never read any Tezuka work and she'd been keeping rent Black Jack unread for years. Even she came to the theater! If anyone find a review from Otaku side, just let me know and prove me wrong. It just feels so odd that we, I mean, Otaku and theatergoers are divided like this, because I am both of them very naturally.

*1:Expanded information. If Japanese character doesn't seem ambivalent to you, it might be you are focusing on popular comics. People who read One Piece, Naruto, Dragon Ball or even Osamu Tezuka are not considered as real Otaku (comic nerd) here because it's too popular. It's like saying you are crazy about music by only listening to Katy Perry and Maroon 5 (I love them both). Popular comics tend to feature a passionate, straightforward hero. But basically, comics are for underdogs and it has a deep observation for human being. Many adult male comics focus on losers, and female comics likes gender related issues, gay relationships, biological mavericks. I simply don't know why foreigners like Naruto that much, it's one of the most boring comics on Weekly Boy's Jump right now. In Western culture, I believe musicals are for underdogs, and that made me a big musical fan.