Nemuri Kyoshiro, Hiroshima 1/15

[pyroyale]

I was able to see the last performance of Nemuri Kyoshiro in Hiroshima on Saturday evening. It was my second time as I also saw it in Osaka in October.

I’ve split this report into two – the first is the play synopsis which will be a straight forward description of the plot, and the second is the more personal perspective with the little nuances I picked up on, the fun parts and the things that went wrong XD

Spoilers abound in the synopsis but I’ll try to keep them out of the fun part as much as possible!


Synopsis

(A huge thank you to both wongkk and the Japanese friend who filled in a lot of holes!)

The play starts with a video being shown on the screen that covers the front of the stage. It shows a young Kyoshiro, he’s probably no more than 12-13 years old, visiting a grave. The grave has a single kanji on it, 霊, (soul or spirit) and is the grave of his mother. Blue gentian flowers can be seen in the video and these are the flowers that become symbolic of Kyoshiro throughout the play.

The screen lifts and Kyoshiro is on stage. His katana is drawn and he demonstrates a few parries while the play’s theme song is played. The words NEMURI X GACKT PROJECT display on the video wall at the back of the stage.

Kyoshiro leaves the stage and we’re transported to a merchant’s shop. The two merchants Bizenya and Hijikata are discussing their illegal trade of Western goods and how Kyoshiro opposes them and has succeeded in stopping them. The mercenary Mikumo is kneeling at the side of the stage, eyes closed but listening into the conversation. Ayano and her brother Kazuma come to the store to speak with the merchants. Hijikata has the ear of the damiyo and the siblings want the damiyo to grant their request to have Kyoshiro killed as they believe he murdered their father. Their wishes coincide with the wishes of the merchants and so a plot is hatched for Mikumo to kill Kyoshiro with the help of Kazuma.

Tachikawa is now holding court with the audience and acts as a narrator/newsteller for the audience (a typical character in Japanese theatre apparently!) Throughout the play he alternates between being in the Nemuri Kyoshiro, historical world and stepping back into the real world of Hiroshima and speaking directly to the audience, ‘breaking the fourth wall’. He gets the crowd on his side with some deep breathing exercises and then returns to the plot.

He has an audience with him and tells them scary tales, setting the scene for the black magic aspect of the Kyoshiro story. Kinhachi sneaks up on him as he’s telling these stories and jumps on him from behind, scaring him. A dozen extras come on stage and it’s now a busy town scene with people going about their business.

A man runs on stage in a panic, his clothes ripped and in disarray. He tells the townspeople that a girl’s body has been found in the river - dead and with a black cross marked on her stomach. The state of her body and her physical appearance both bare a strong resemblance to what happened with Kyoshiro’s mother. The townspeople flee, leaving only the main characters on stage.

Kyoshiro returns and is informed of what has happened. He doesn’t say much. Takebe, an older samurai who takes Kyoshiro under his wing and gives him guidance, introduces Kyoshiro to Ayano. Mojikawa, a former pickpocket turned shamisen teacher who also offers guidance to Kyoshiro, tries to push him towards Ayano, firstly by literally pushing him with her hands and secondly by pushing him with her hips. Kyoshiro is embarrassed by their actions as is Ayano, although she introduces herself to him in a suitably respectful manner.

Soon, Kyoshiro is left alone on stage and he walks to the front as the screen descends behind him. The news of the dead girl has reminded him of his mother. The screen shows footage of a black mass full of Christian imagery such as crosses and a statue of the Virgin Mary crying blood. There is a woman in the middle of it all, being held down onto a stone table by hooded men and Kyoshiro’s voice over identifies the woman as his mother.

When the screen lifts, the stage is now a temple and Kyoshiro comes back, stopping to pick the blue gentian. His peace is disturbed by the appearance of Mikumo and a few henchman. They ask him if he is Nemuri Kyoshiro and soon the fight begins. Mikumo watches from the side as Kyoshiro quickly dispatches of the henchmen, the gentian in his mouth, and even uses the flower as a distraction tactic, throwing it into the air to distract the last men before killing him too. When the fight is over, Kyoshiro picks up the gentian again and Mikumo walks away, making it clear that the two will meet again.

Bizenya and Hijikata are back in their merchant store discussing their trade and the plot to kill Kyoshiro and also fill in some of the back story regarding Kyoshiro’s mother. They’re confident that they will be successful in killing him, and restoring their illegal trade.

The next scene sees flowers back on the stage again. Kyoshiro is stage right, and Ayano is stage left, tending to the flowers. She pricks her finger on one of the stems and the thorn gets stuck inside. Kyoshiro asks her what is wrong, sees the problem and pulls the thorn out with his teeth. Ayano is slightly embarrassed by his actions and his attention and sits down on one of the benches. Kyoshiro kneels beside her and pulls a cloth out of the top of his yukata, rips a strip off and silently, but forcefully, asks for her hand. He bandages her finger and asks her if she’s okay. Ayano confirms that she is and leaves the stage.

Mihoyo comes on stage with a tray of sake and serves Kyoshiro. He is now seated as she kneels before him and he shares his sake with her (apparently this is a very symbolic gesture, it’s usually done by husbands and wives at their wedding ceremony and has a similar meaning outside of the ceremony). She seems a little overwhelmed by Kyoshiro’s gesture but she accepts and drinks. They stare deeply into each other’s eyes as Kyoshiro strokes her face and lean in closer to each other… and are interrupted by Takebe.

[In my notes from when I saw it in Osaka, it states that there was a brief meeting between Kyoshiro and Mikumo and they had a little fight here before walking away. I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen in Hiroshima and that their only fight was their final fight.]

Kyoshiro is sitting at home, leaning against the wall with one leg folded and a blue gentian in his hand. He’s thinking of his mother again and falls asleep, the gentian falling from his hands. Takebe comes to see Kyoshiro who, at the first hint that there is someone else there, immediately goes for his katana before relaxing when he sees who it is. Takebe comments on Kyoshiro’s choice of simplistic house and Kyoshiro replies that it suits him.

Kinhachi runs on stage with a wooden token. It belongs to the merchants and is proof of the illegal trading that they have been doing. Mojikawa had been caught stealing it from the merchants and they have kidnapped her in retaliation. They want Kyoshiro to return the token in exchange for Mojikawa.

They have Mojikawa bound in the forest. Kyoshiro appears with his katana to the throat of Kazuma but lets both him and the token go in exchange for Mojikawa. There are more henchmen hiding in the woods but Kyoshiro kills them while again, Mikumo merely watches.

Kazuma and Mikumo are shown training with wooden staves. Mikumo is too powerful and skilled for Kazuma and soon has him on the floor as he berates Kazuma for being too soft and not having the right mind-set to kill Kyoshiro. He tells Kazuma to ignore his heart and concentrate on his hatred.

[interval]

Tachikawa speaks to the audience again and is then back in the scene with Kinhachi, Mojikawa and Takebe. They discuss the situation with Kyoshiro and Ayano appears. Kinhachi is enamoured by her but is quickly told off by the other characters. Tachikawa comes to the front of the stage alone as the screen descends and quickly runs through the play so far, acting out the fight scenes and jumping into the audience when it all becomes too scary.

Mihoyo and Ayano are speaking about Kyoshiro when they are approached by several henchmen. One grabs Mihoyo roughly and pushes her to the floor. Ayano protests but is quickly silenced and can only watch as they put Mihoyo into a carriage and carry her away. Due to Ayano’s protests, she is also kidnapped by the henchmen but is allowed to walk with them under her own power.

There is a meeting in the forest between Bizenya and Hijikata. Bizenya no longer has any use for Hijikata and Mikumo kills him. Kazuma finds him and begins to realise exactly who he’s aligned himself with and questions that decision. He fights with Mikumo and is injured, although not fatally.

Kyoshiro comes to the forest and finds the two girls bound. Kazuma sees Ayano bound and decides to join Kyoshiro’s side, the truth behind his father’s death becoming clear. Kinhachi, Mojikawa and Takebe appear and in the initial commotion of Kyoshiro’s appearance, they’re able to rush the guards who had the girls and quickly get them out of the way.

Kyoshiro is soon surrounded by enemies (the green ninjas!) and the epic battle begins. Kazuma helps to begin with, but soon disappears [honestly, I have no clue what happened to him. He was there… then he was gone. I was too busy watching GACKT being awesome]. Wave after wave attack Kyoshiro, first with swords then with naginata and finally with swords again. Kyoshiro dances around them all, slashing them with his own blade and at times, using their own weapons against them.

With the green ninja all murdered, Kyoshiro is left to fight Mikumo. They circle each other before rushing into the fight. Mikumo catches Kyoshiro with his blade and Kyoshiro staggers from the blow, obviously hurt, before facing the fight again. They charge up the stairs at the back of the stage, lunge at each other and the stage fades to black as a flash of light explodes on the video wall .

When the stage is lit again, Mikumo is stood at the top of the stairs and Kyoshiro is kneeling at the bottom. There is no noise or movement for several seconds, leaving the audience to wonder who won the fight. Eventually, Kyoshiro’s heavy and exhausted breathing can be heard and Mikumo begins screaming his name. Kyoshiro stands straight and Mikumo staggers down the stairs, planting his katana in the ground before falling to his knees. He tells Kyoshiro that their fight was fun, before finally dying.

Ayano, Kazuma and Mihoyo [I think it was just those three… there were more characters than that in Osaka] come back on stage to find Mikumo dead and Kyoshiro victorious. Ayano and Kazuma now realise that Kyoshiro did not kill their father and ask him why he didn’t tell them. Did he want them to discover the truth themselves? Kyoshiro states that they shouldn’t try to read his intentions or question his motives. He’s a cold man who acts as he wishes for his own reasons, not to please or help others. He leaves the stage, telling them to be their own people and not to look to him for guidance or judgement.

The video wall shows a written statement from Kyoshiro [that had to be written by GACKT, that style is pretty distinct I think] and Kyoshiro’s voice rings through the speakers. “The gentian grows alone. The hagi flower grows in a group. Both have a beautiful existence but they don’t need to be the same as each other. Nemuri Kyoshiro.’ [thanks to wongkk's Japanese friend for that! I think the words and the metaphor of the flowers is very apt for Kyoshiro and his lone wolf lifestyle]

A short video is shown of the young Kyoshiro visiting the grave again and then the actors come back on stage for the applause of the audience.



Notes

[+] the theatre was huge! The website lists the capacity as 2,000 people and for my showing, at least, it looked sold out. I’d love to know how many people will have seen this play by the time it has finished. I’m sure there a lot of repeat attendees but it’s still a lot of people!

[+] They had a prototype of the Nemuri Kyoshiro Limited Photo Album on display by the merchandise table. I didn’t see it until I was too far past it to look properly, but from what I saw it didn’t have the photos inside. A Japanese lady had a quick look and the pages were blank and looked like a typical photo album with little folders for the photos. I don’t know if the real thing will be like that or printed pages. It’s big though, the same size as the DEARS version of RE:BORN and twice as thick.

[+] My own purchases for myself were the soundtrack and one of the katana phone straps as I forgot them both in Osaka. I was very good!

[+] I was really lucky with my seat. I was third row, on the end again (just like Osaka), but the rows curve in such a way that I was as close to the stage directly in front of me as those in the front row were to the stage in front of them. I had nobody in front of me either. I seem to be dropping really lucky with my GACKT tickets lately.

[+] I was close enough to smell the Platinum Egoist when GACKT came back on stage for the first time after the interval. It was the second time I was near enough to GACKT to smell him and really, PE does smell better on GACKT than it does on anyone else.

[+] GACKT still had his right ankle strapped up. It didn’t slow him down at any point, but I could see that sometimes, he’d put his right foot down and then start shuffling it around slightly as if he was trying to find a stance that didn’t hurt quite as much.

[+] At the Camui Gakuen shows, Junji dressed up as Kyoshiro (aka Junjiro) and mimicked GACKT’s performance. Kyoshiro, especially during the first half of the show, answers most questions and comments directed at him with a dismissive “hmph” and this is what Junji mocked the most. So, whenever GACKT did say “hmph”, I struggled to not laugh because I was just thinking of Junjiro.

[+] During the first fight, GACKT span around quickly, his katana in hand, and the short sword fell out of its sheath and flew across half of the stage. It was really lucky that it went across the stage and not into the audience. He didn’t pause for even a fraction of a second and just continued on.

[+] During the scene where Kyoshiro and Mihoyo share the sake, they’re interrupted by Takebe. In Osaka, he simply started talking to interrupt them. At this show in Hiroshima, he did something different…
♪君に逢いたくて 誰よりも逢いたくて...♪
…he sang the first two lines of 君に逢いたくて (Kimi ni Aitakute). Mihoyo had to stifle a laugh and even GACKT smiled so I’m pretty sure that wasn’t scripted. Takebe then told Kyoshiro that it was a song by GACKT, and Kyoshiro replied “I KNOW!” (知っている)

[+] There was another scene, I think during the second half, where Takebe ad libbed something that GACKT wasn’t expecting but I can’t remember the scene or what was said. All I can remember is that it ended with Takebe saying to someone in the front row that GACKT was “kawaii, ne?” and then GACKT threw his usual “I’m not cute!” fit (despite the fact that he does everything he can these days to prove that he is cute)

[+] For the scene where Kyoshiro falls asleep, he still does the eyes slowly closing, head slightly drooping cute (there’s that word again) routine but he now continues it when he wakes up. In Osaka, he simply woke up and was fully alert. In Hiroshima, he jumps for his katana but then starts rolling his neck and shoulders and acting dozy throughout the rest of the scene. I’m mentioning it because firstly, it involves more acting on GACKT’s part (he doesn’t have much chance to actually *act* in the play really) and secondly, while he’s doing these actions, he’s making those soft grunts and stretching noises that you’d expect from someone stretching their limbs after sleeping in an awkward position. So, when Takebe is talking, all you can hear in the background is GACKT grunting and groaning. It’s highly distracting.

[+] Kinhachi, Mojikawa and Tachikawa did a little song and dance routine during one of the scenes that the other actors (Takebe and possibly someone else, I can’t recall) didn’t seem to expect. It sounded like a toothpaste jingle from an advert as the lyrics were all related to dentistry and they were showing off their teeth. I think the audience recognised it so it’s probably famous in Japan but I didn’t know it.

[+] When Tachikawa ran into the audience, he sang the chorus line of 君にためにできること (two GACKT songs sung and neither of them by GACKT *sadface*)

[+] I could remember a few things about the play so I knew when the epic fight with the green ninjas was about to happen. As I was watching the play, I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye and nearly jumped out of my seat when I was saw six green ninjas, complete with katanas, squatting at the side of my chair! Instead of running on stage from the sides like in Osaka, they lined up in front of the stage and jumped on from that angle but before they showed themselves, half of them hid beside me. I felt like calling for Kyoshiro to protect me XD

[+] Tachikawa kept forgetting that it was the last show in Hiroshima. He’d say to the crowd that they should come again tomorrow…. only to remember that there was no tomorrow and the next show was in Sendai. He tried to get people to go to Sendai but even he realised that was too far (about 6-7 hours by shinkansen) so suggested we all go to Tokyo instead (only 4-5 hours!)

[+] I think Taya now subscribes to the GACKT School of leg waxing. He was flashing a fair amount of thigh too although he did have very tight, white shorts underneath.

[+] A few things had changed with the final fight. It was definitely longer as I remember being disappointed in Osaka that the epic final battle between Kyoshiro and Mikumoto, the fight the whole play had been building towards, was over so quickly. The death scene was dragged out far too long though and started to become quite comical, I thought.

[+] In Osaka, when the play finished the credits were shown on the video wall and that was it. Lights on, go home people. This time, all of the actors came back on stage for their curtain call. Whether that’s something new or just because it was the last show in Hiroshima, I don’t know. The green ninjas came through the crowd again, Kinhachi (aka GACKT’s old dancer Taya) was doing his Paparappa moves and of course, GACKT took as much applause as he could and looked distinctly smug about it all. He had that perfect “yes I’m awesome, APPLAUD ME” look on his face. He threw his gentian into the audience and a lucky woman in the second row caught it.

[+] One thing I love about seeing Nemuri, is that there is no security. I know that a play is a different and more refined setting than a live but I can’t see the GACKT of five years ago appearing on stage only 2-3 feet away from a crowd without having *some* security there.

(This is the slightly perverted point. It discusses the important point of GACKT’s thighs. You have been warned)
[+] When I saw the show in Osaka, I saw a few flashes of GACKT’s underwear. It was the same as the glance you could see in the CM for the photo box – you could see so far up his thighs that you could see the underwear too. But in Hiroshima…. damn. I don’t know why he even bothered wearing the yukata during the first fight scene. At one point the yukata must have moved and it put the split central, instead of on one thigh and as he stood in a wide fighting stance, I could see not only *both* of his thighs, but his entire crotch and bulge. Seriously, PUT IT AWAY GACKT (well.. maybe not). He really has no shame whatsoever and if I was him, having seen that, I think I’d be naked permanently!

His chest was on view quite a lot this time too. He was always readjusting the neck of his yukata and showing more of his chest. He looks bigger again… I think he always loses weight over the course of a tour but he seems to have put back on that weight he lost during YFC. I thought he looked bigger during the Camui Gakuen tour too (and the video in this month’s GG of the shirtless training shows that he was bigger again) and he was definitely bigger here.

XD


This has to be filmed for a DVD at some point. Whether it’s kept in tact as a stage play, or filmed on location, I think it deserves to recorded and seen by a wider audience. GACKT is perfectly believable as the cold and slightly detached Kyoshiro and although being serene, silent and strong isn’t really stretching his acting abilities too much, that can be forgiven due to how epic the fight scenes are.

Now, I want to go to Tokyo… I won’t though. Nope.

(And congrats to anyone who made it through all of that without falling asleep! I have a tl;dr tag for a reason!)