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After 10 years, the Sakura Taisen Musical closed it’s curtains for the final time early last week. I was very glad to be a part of the final performance for this cast in their capacity as the Hanagumi members. Yet the day is also one of sadness that there is no more to come after this.

サクラ大戦 Sakura Taisen has to be one of the most successful game franchises that has graced several platforms from it’s beginnings on the Sega Saturn to the Dreamcast and now PS2 and even PC. 

Making the transition to a musical is not one every game franchise can achieve and much credit has to go to 広井王子 Hiroi Ouji for his clever game design. For the サクラ大戦・歌謡ショウ Sakura Taisen Kayou Show itself, 10 years is magnificent achievement.

In this last production, サクラ大戦・歌謡ショウ ファイナル公演　『新・愛ゆえに』, nine of the original seiyuu cast appeared on stage for the final farewell to the Kayou Show. This of course included 横山智佐 Yokoyama Chisa as Shinguuji Sakura, 高乃麗 Takano Urara as Maria Tachibana, 西原久美子 Nishihara Kumiko as Iris, 渕崎ゆり子 Fuchizaki Yuriko as Li Kouran, 田中真弓 Tanaka Mayumi as Kirishima Kanna, 伊倉一恵 Ikura Kazue as Reni Milchstrasse, 折笠愛 Orikasa Ai as Fujieda Kaede and 陶山章央 Suyama Akio as the ever present Oogami Ichiro. 富沢美智恵 Tomizawa Michie also returned out of retirement to reprise her role of Kanzaki Sumire to the delight of the her fans. As well as numerous other seiyuu fulfilling many of perhipheral characters in the show. I recognised Hikami Kyoko, Yao Kazuki and Chiba Shigeru just to name a few.

The production values of the Kayou Show is most impressive. You can see it in the performance of the actors, the setup of the stage and over execution and direction of the stage show. It is par excellence. It is in this capacity that the Kayou Show has been able to attract an audience far outside the demographic of the game. You have parents bringing their children, elderly couples coming for the song and dance extravaganza as well as the regular game and anime fans in attendance. A truly diverse audience.

The performances were excellent. Over the many years, the cast have become multi-talented allowing them to successfully crossover to stage acting and many of them are continuing in this direction in their career. There were light moments and there was drama and everything you’d expect in a good musical production. And with 田中公平 Tanaka Kouhei conducting in the pit with live band (not quite an orchestra) performing new and old favourites, nothing could stop that wave of nostalgia from sweeping the audience. Especially when everyone stood up to sing 「檄！帝国華撃団」　Geki! Teikokukagekidan. It was a genuinely, very special event.

The DVD will never quite capture the magical atmosphere of these kinds of events. Nonetheless I recommend getting it to those who missed out (and maybe some of the previous ones too) since there won’t be another Kayou Show for the Hanagumi. さらばよ、花組。

Photos from Famitsu and Impress Watch.

This entry was posted by sent on Monday, August 28th, 2006 at 22:32 and is filed under イベント/Events, 女性声優/Female Seiyuu, 男性声優/Male Seiyuu. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.