>>Now purple means it was a senshuuraku special and italics are song names (or where a song should be but I don't know the name because it's new)<< A few minutes before the show started, a cast member or two would come over the speakers to give the usual warnings (this is before the lights went down and everything). Please turn off your mobiles, pagers and other things that emit signals, please don’t stand etc. They also did something character related before telling everyone to get excited.
Rukia: Please do not stand during the show. If you try to stand then… hah! Bakudo #61; Six rod prison! *kidou sound effect*
Gin: Now, Ikurose---
Audience: SHINSOU!!
Gin: Hona—
Audience: SAINARAAAA!!
Gin: Everyone… it’s only the start of the show…
(Also at one stage you can hear Renji laughing in the background)
Byakuya calls on Renji to yell “IS EVERYONE REEEADDYY???” because he refuses to do it himself~
Tousen put on a very cutesy voice, not sure why though, he was very persistent in making sure everyone knew his name; “This is Tousen Kaname. *talk talk* This is Tousen Kaname. *talk talk* This is Tousen Kaname!!!”
Izuru stutters a bit, whether that was on purpose or just Eiki stuffing up his lines, it was hard to tell~ Then at the end he puts on a very sexy voice and says “I hope you are getting excited, ne?” three times! Gin steps in and interrupts him towards the end.
Hitsugaya-taichou read out the warnings in a very dull voice, like he didn’t even want to be there and has Matsumoto-san jump in with the complete opposite amount of energy.
Ichigo on the final night gives the warnings, and says before the lights even go down “Everyone, thank you for everything these last 5 years.” –at this point you can see tissues and hankies coming out all over the theatre. Ichigo too threatens the audience with a "Getsuga Tenshoouu!!!"
So a few minutes later a very soft “la la la la la” (eerier version of the la la la’ing in No Clouds in the Blue Heavens) starts over the speakers. The chatter dies down as the la’ing builds. The lights fade and curtain rises. The la’ing ceases abruptly and there is a dead silent moment before the lights on stage blast on and Ichgio’s cry comes over the speakers; “HAVE WE KEPT YOU ALL WAITING???”
As the audience begins cheering, characters come in singles and pairs onto the stage. Starting with Byakuya, Soifon-taichou and Yoruichi-san, 4th Division, Izuru and Momo, Shuuhei and Renji, Hitsugaya-taichou, Gin and Tousen, the 11th, Rukia and finally Ichigo runs on with the taiin. With a call of “Bleach”, actual small explosives go off above the cast members’ heads, causing the audience to jump every time.
They break into a chorus of Dark of the Bleeding Moon which includes small re-enactments of fights during the Soul Society arc. It starts with Rukia vs Taiin, she joins with Ichigo before running off stage. Ichigo vs Gin, vs Ikkaku, vs Renji.
Izuru vs Momo, Momo vs Toushiro, Yoruichi-san vs Soifon-taichu. Hanatarou runs on being chased by the taiin, who are sent away by Unohana-taichou. Hanatarou thanks her but as she leaves he’s chased off the other side of the stage by the same taiin. Shuuhei jumps in and swings his sword once, poses, and runs off (poor thing has so little to do in the SS arc). Then three battles start simultaneously; Gin vs Hitsugaya-taichou, Tousen vs Zaraki-taichou and Renji vs Byakuya. This part ends with Ichigo vs Byakuya. The rest of the cast walk back on without their swords and with one final line “Bleeding Moon” the show has begun!
Renji and Ikkaku are telling the audience to get pumped, making sure the 2nd floor aren’t slacking off and such until Ichigo tells the two to shut up so they can get along with the show; BUT FIRST! Ichigo goes on to tell Gin off for always singing “that song” by himself at the end of the shows and Gin teases Ichigo for being jealous, and how cute it was.
Ichigo: “… Yeah I’m jealous! So what?!”
The rest of the cast sort of wave at Ichigo to calm down, poor Hinamori-san towards the back looks terrified~ So Ichigo, to stop Gin from hogging the spotlight at the end of the show, kicks of Hona Sainara. (Why they made this the SECOND song is still beyond me)
Being the second song and all, the audience was already an absolute mess towards the start of the show at senshuuraku. I mean saying goodbye when the show’s just started? Cruel.
Without a break, Hanatarou opens Yuzurenai Mono Hitotsu. The taiin run into the audience as Izuru tells the audience to watch them if they don’t know the moves, and Renji reminds everyone to treat the actors on stage as a mirror image. (I noticed Gaku enjoyed screaming back at girls that screamed when he walked past)
After two choruses of this song, Shuuhei steps forward to open Kawaranai Kimochi. The first verse is now made up of Shuuhei, Hinamori-san, Soifon-taichou and Ikkaku. Izuru sings his usual solo line and is joined by Hitsugaya-taichou after that. All six sing the next verse before the entire cast joins in.
After this song everyone wanders off stage, Ichigo lags behind to wave at everyone and Byakuya stands towards the side of the stage, commenting on how peaceful it is. Yoruichi-san then jumps back and pokes him and teases him for a while.
“BYA~KU~YA~BO~U~! Ho-re-ho-re-ho-re~ Come catch me~”
Somehow this leads into a new duet between the two, including disco balls and ballroom dancing. It’s a nice song and Byakuya’s facial expressions are hilarious.
At the end of the song Yoruichi-san pokes him again and he curses her, only to have Soifon-taichou march on stage.
“What was that, Kuchiki-taichou?” *glares*
Soon all the female characters are on stage and telling Byakuya he needs to be kinder to women. Hinamori-san makes a comment about kind and gentle men but I’m not sure what she said. Either way, Unohana-taichou says it’d be best if they taught Byakuya what it takes to be a kind man, which of course is the cue to break into Josei Shinigami Kyoukai. This song is done with Byakuya floating around the stage, looking rather terrified.
When all the girls walk off at the end of the song, Byakuya comes back on and looks off into the distant, telling Hisana how Rukia has become so strong.
Izuru’s head pops up from the back of the stage and he hums in a very cute way.
“Hmmm? Mmmm?” Before calling off stage; “Everyone!! We can take the stage!!”
He runs off and on march Renji, Shuuhei, Ichigo, Ikkaku, Zaraki-taichou and Hitsugaya-taichou (Izuru hurrying on soon after) in the Men’s Shinigami Association Uniform- much to the delight of many fangirls. Byakuya makes to leave but is caught by Renji.
Ren: Ah! Taichou where are you going? You need to be a part of this too!
Bya: Renji. When did I ever consent to-
Ren: Here you are, these are for you. *hands him a pair of sunglasses*
Byakuya stares blankly at the sunglasses while Renji and Shuuhei introduce the assosication and how they speak in a Hiroshima accent. Ichigo and Renji argue until Hitsugaya-taichou tells them to get on with it, otherwise he’s going home. So Izuru makes the first proposal for a topic, then I think Shuuhei or Ichigo, then Izuru again and eventually Hitsugaya-taichou. (Somewhere in all this chaos Byakuya has put on the sunglasses and is now standing there like a statue) Ikkaku is last to make a suggestion, which is rejected like everyone else’s was, but Zaraki-taichou supports it and they break into a new song about … annoying women? Or something like that.
The song is funny and they all look like idiots. Byakuya joins in on the dance, but is constantly looking at the others to make sure he’s doing it right. At one stage they all (except Byakuya) throw off their shihakusho and are prancing around completely topless.
We see Hinamori-san, Hanatarou, Soifon-taichou and Yoruichi-san walk on behind the men and suddenly the song stops, lights come on and Hinamori-san yelps at the sight in front of her. (Funny thing here is that Shuuhei and Izuru are the only two that seem to care they’re topless, because they’re the only two that go grab their discarded uniforms and try to cover themselves up)
Hinamori-san claims they were just out walking and is questioned by Izuru about the things she was saying about kind men earlier. I didn’t understand exactly what happened here, but Izuru is really happy and dances down to the edge of the stage, followed by Renji and Shuuhei. But his celebrations are cut short when Hinamori-san mentions the kind of man she was talking about was like Hanatarou who has true kindness, Soifon-taichou and Yoruichi-san agree and soon the four leave. Izuru looks shattered and falls to his knees while Hinamori-san lingers to tell Hitsugaya-taichou how funny he looks with those sunglasses.
The men are left in an extremely awkward moment, Zaraki-taichou mentions how he just doesn’t get women. Ichigo is first to leave, then the 11th and Renji and Shuuhei try to stop everyone.
Shuuhei: Ah, Hitsugaya-taichou…!
Toushiro: Shut up! *takes off glasses* Don’t ever speak to me again.
Hitsugaya-taichou runs off and Renji and Shuuhei look alarmed when you hear the sound of something being smashed off stage. They sigh and a louder smash (of sunglasses I am going to assume~) is heard. The two sigh again and turn to see Byakuya has been standing there the whole time since the song ended. Byakuya walks over to Izuru and tells him to stand, and that as men they must always stand with their chest out and proud. (Shuuhei and Renji puff their chests like idiots) Izuru whimpers a “…hai…” and is told off by Renji and Shuuhei. He’s dragged to his feet by the two (and Shuuhei finds a need to slap his butt?) and is asked what a man is. The three take turns improvising this scene.
Senshuuraku had Izuru saying that if a man cries, he must do it with his chin held high.
All three chorus that a man always has to have chest forward and proud and they sing and dance a little from the previous song, throwing off their shihakusho again. Byakuya finds no need to stay and walks off stage. When the song ends Renji says they should go drink and the three make to leave, only to be interrupted by Matsumoto-san~!!!
She tells them she’s been off drinking and partying and it’s really cute watching Shuuhei attempt to talk to her.
Shuu: Ah, Rangiku-san it’s been a while since –
Ran: Haahh! It’s all so much fun! *totally ignores him*
When Izuru asks what she’s doing here now, she says that of course she is here to sing. Shuuhei takes the chance to suggest that she sings a duet with him, sometimes he says it stuttering, sometimes full of confidence. Either way, Matsumoto-san laughs, slaps his arm and says “You and me do a duet??? HAHAHA! Get real, if I’m singing, it has to be… this song, doesn’t it?”
*cue Bengara Koushi*
Renji and Izuru are excited for her and have to drag a stunned and probably slightly heartbroken Shuuhei off stage, telling him to get a hold of himself.
This song is now sung with fake dynamic mics held by each actor. Hitsugaya-taichou has his microphone pressed against his forehead in a fed up fashion the entire song.
At the end of the song, Matsumoto-san thanks Hinamori-san and Hitsugaya-taichou. Gin questions why he wasn’t thanked and there’s a short silence.
Someone found a need to yell “don’t mind!” (Japanese slang for don’t worry about it or don’t think too much of it I think?) every show. It was pretty funny at first because Matsumoto-san laughed and repeated it to Gin. Got a little tiresome afterwards… not sure why it annoyed me as much as it did.
On the final show Matsumoto-san looks away and in a low voice mutters very quickly “thank you” before running off stage.
Hinamori-san runs off with her and Hitsugaya-taichou walks past Gin, rolls his head back a couple of times and either laughs at him, repeats the “don’t mind” line or sometimes just walks off, trying not to laugh too hard. Gin is left rather confused and follows him off stage.
Now starts the only kind of serious scene in the show.
Ichigo walks on, singing Furitomenu Ame against a guitar solo. He sits on the steps of the set, curled up and upset as Rukia walks on somewhere behind him. As his song ends, Rukia stands in silence and then a small part of the curtain opens behind her, showing her in the centre of a pillar of light as she sings Semai Sora. This I thought was a very beautiful way to represent the tower she was locked up in.
After that there is a brief silence where we can sort of hear the “la la la la la” from the beginning of the show. Rukia looks up, and mutters “No … Clouds… in the … Blue … Heavens…” and then the back curtain splits open as Te wo Tsunagostarts. The backdrop is now a beautiful gradiented wall that changes colour now and again. It starts off of course as a clear blue sky as Rukia and Ichigo look around at the brightened world. The two sing their duet before the stage darkens and they walk off.
I’m no fan of this pairing, but that was probably the most beautiful scene in the entire show, and I just loved it.
This now I assume is the scene they said Kubo-sensei wrote. It shows Zaraki-taichou’s monologue after his fight with Ichigo. He sings a song lamenting about his life of fighting and collaspses on the side of the stage to be carried off by some of the 4th Division.
The taiin are frantic about how Zaraki-taichou was defeated and Ikkaku walks on stage with his crutch, telling them about the orange-haired boy that defeated him. Ikkaku knows that Zaraki-taichou is now in the 4th Division, but he’s not sure where.
Hanatarou walks on and notices the 11th Division so turns to audience saying “Shh!!” and he staggers slowly across the stage, picks something up and keeps walking, all the while with the 11th watching him. When they confront him he quickly says,
“Yamada Hantarou desu!”
…but of course they don’t let him sing his song. They threaten Hanatarou that he’s in for it if he doesn’t tell them where their Captain is.
Ikkaku: UNLESS!
Taiin: …unless…? Unless…? Um…??
And the taiin are left to do their own jokes here, most of which I didn’t understand. One time they had three standing behind each other, pretending to be Hanatarou and sing a line of his song. Another run rushes past with his sword drawn and the three fall to the side in three different directions, as if Hanatarou had been sliced into three.
Of course I didn’t understand the joke, but on the 8th it was an ONIGIRI JOKE~!!! Just like back in Saien~ The second the word “onigiri” came out everyone cheered.
Ikkaku asks again where Zaraki-taichou is and Hanatarou points in all directions of the stage, sending the men running whichever way he points. He even points up and they all leap up yelling “Zaraki-taichouu!!” When Ikkaku tells him to stop messing with them and just tell them, Hantarou steps forward with his hands on his hips, saying as a 4th Division member he is now allowed to divludge onto them the information they want. So of course they all surround him and try to attack him, but Hanatarou throws a shinten on them all, causing them to collapse.
Unohana-taichou walks and commends them all for being able to stay conscious even though they were hit with the shinten. She orders them to leave and they do. She tells Hanatarou he shouldn’t use the shinten so recklessly but excuses it and asks him to take her to Zaraki-taichou.
The scene is then a conversation between Unohana-taichou and Zaraki-taichou. He demands she tell him when he can fight again but she reminds him that while in the 4th Division, his life is in her hands (she says this while pointing a pair of scissors to his face) and he just nods and sits there.
Unohana-taichou: Does it hurt?
Zaraki-taichou: Ch, these wounds are nothing.
Unohana-taichou: …. Does it hurt?
Zaraki-taichou: … … just a little.
He tells her about how fighting is his way of life and she calls him weak for it. She cuts some flowers and puts them in a vase by his bedside and tells him to rest.
Before she can leave he asks her for the name of the flowers and she asks him to name them. Unohana-taichou sings a line from Oyasumi Nasai while Zaraki-taichou looks at the flowers and the scene ends.
Tousen is now on a high platform, alone and a voice plays the role of this friend that died a long time ago. The voice clearly belongs to Hinamori Kumi-chan, so it was a little creepy hearing Hinamori-san say “Kaname” so many times.
What I found heartbreaking about this scene, was the way Kuranuki-san used more his own voice, so it was a light lighter and gentler than the Tousen we are use to, that is until we reach the point where he tells us of his friend’s death. He breaks into a sort of interpretive dance of some sort, jumping, crawling and his body just flailing. I think if you’ve read recent chapters of the manga, this scene really shows how the death of his friend destroyed Tousen’s life, and how far it made it fall. I was actually almost brought to tears watching this scene.
Shuuhei walks on as the music dies down and Tousen backs away. Everyone else enters and Tousen exits. The lights come on and everyone is staring off stage.
Renji: …what in the world was that just now?
Izuru tries to brush off the awkward moment and asks what they should do next. Gin has an idea but has forgotten the name.
Gin: “Ha…ha….? He…he?....Hi ….hi …..fi…Film fes!”
He honestly sounded like he was racking his brain for the right word the first few shows, but the last few shows he was just saying the ‘ha …ha…he….hi” bits, but it was still just as funny.
Gin mentions how at the Film Fes last May, his scene with Rukia was brought up and how people wanted to give it ago (his “uso” scene). He turns to Rukia, who collapses onto the ground and sings the first line or two from Kuzusareta Kakugo. Gin dances a sort of box step thing next to her while Ichigo and Renji rush to help Rukia up (Shuuhei is also off to the side making dramatic arm movements trying to wave her up).
Gin suggests a contest but Hitsugaya-taichou says he needs to demonstrate the game first. So Gin picks a random victim and demonstrates by asking his victim “do you know why me arms are always tucked into my sleeves?” and always makes a stupid remark they turned into bananas, or fish, or his goddarn guitar. Then getting right in their face he says “uso” (I lie).
When Gin demonstrated it to Hitsugaya-taichou, I guess it was because he can’t put his hand on the spiky hair, but he grabs his chin and tilts it up when saying it.
And yes, people screamed because dear god it looked like they were going to kiss.
Whenever they start, two spotlights hit whoever is playing the game, and it looks very dramatic (and rather hilarious).
Once that’s done, Gin opens up the floor.
THE USO CONTEST.
This of course changed every. Single. Show.
I cannot for the life of me remember all of them, and it didn’t help I didn’t understand all of them, but I remember some, and was told of some others my friends had seen.
Shuuhei vs Toushiro
Shuuhei: A-re? Hitsugaya-taichou? Where are you? Huh? Where’d you go? Hitsugaya-taichou? *pretends Hitsugaya-taichou is so small that he can’t see him at all until he bumps into him* Oh! There you are =D
Toushiro: …Hisagi………!!!!
Shuuhei: *backs away quickly* Uso! Uso! I’m just kidding, sorry! Just kidding!! Uso…
Momo vs Toushiro
Momo: *pats his hair* Ow! Ow! You’re hair’s so spiky! Ow!
Toushiro: …….*fumes*
Momo: Uso~
Shuuhei vs Renji
Shuuhei: Abarai… do you like my Shuuhei-sensei corner?
Renji: E-Eh?
(I didn’t understand much more of this scene, but Renji starts backing away with Shuuhei in his face, telling him to start his own “Oshiete, Abarai-sensei” corner? XD)
Yoruichi vs Renji
Y: Abarai. You like my breasts don't you?
R: .......e-eh?
Y: Earlier you were just watching them bouncing weren't you???
Yoruichi-san starts edging closer towards Renji, making grabby hands at her self and then very slowly sings Nya nya to Punya punya, all the while making very much hand actions*
*Renji's eyes slowly fall to her chest, and his hands slowly come up, imitating her actions*
Y: Uso. *walks off very satisfied*
Renij: …. Just …. Where am I?
Tsuki yo Oshiete Kure starts playing and Renji sings a few lines from it before stomping, fed up of being teased and walks back to his spot on the stage.
Izuru vs Gin
Izuru: *takes his arms under his sleeves like Gin (who is chuckling uncontrollably)* Ichimaru-taichou. Do you know why my legs are always shaking under my hakama? *wiggles legs*
(once again I didn’t catch the punch line, but Izuru was very cocky and watching him of all people go “Uso!” to Gin was priceless)
Shuuhei vs Izuru, Renji and Momo
Shuu; Kira. Hinamori.
Renji; Eh? *points to himself and people laugh*
Shuu; Kira, Hinamori, we as fukutaichou...
Renji: Huh? Wait....
Shuu; *puts hand up* I'm getting to you, just settle down!
XDDDD
Renji is slightly embarrassed but nods with a laugh and lets Shuuhei continue.
Shuuhei mentions how they may not have their Captains around anymore (even though Ichimaru-taichou is right there… *Shuuhei says this and glances at Gin then ignore him*), then says how they as fukutaichou need to stick together. He makes the three compliment each other, then tells them that was pathetic. But then he starts saying how the Academy trio are always together while he’s left out in the cold, alone. He starts crying and the other three get worried and move over to him. Shuuhei then turns around and goes “Uso.”
Taiin vs Ichigo
Taiin: Hai!
Gin: And your opponent?
Taiin: *glare at Ichigo* The orange haired ryoka boy!
They circle him and tell him how much they hate him, and how they’ve put up with him for 5 years. But eventually it still ends with Ichigo cutting them all down?
Zaraki-taichou vs Unohana-taichou
Zaraki-taichou tells her about how great she is and how lately he’s been feeling weird and all this.
Zaraki-taichou: Th-those flowers you gave me earlier… I’ve chosen their name.
Everyone else coos while Unohana-taichou blushes.
Zaraki-taichou: I named them… Retsu.
A bit later he says “Uso.”
Unohana-taichou looks at him and asks which part of that speech was the lie and he says “Oh uh… all of it.” She glances at him for a moment before looking away, sighing sadly and heart broken.
Zaraki-taichou vs Izuru
I don't remember what happened in this one exactly... but Izuru looked scared and his legs were shaking XD
Soifon-taichou vs Byakuya
I’m not entirely sure what in the world happened here, but Soifon-taichou I think was trying to get Kuchiki-taichou to do a back flip? She had all the taiin surround him from behind, as if to catch him in his attempt because she was sure he’d fail.
She demonstrates but yes “Uso” before poor Osamu-chan makes the attempt.
Renji vs Rukia
Renji: Rukia… you’ve gotten so beautiful. You are such a beautiful young woman now. You’re so great…
Rukia: …
Renji: Us-
Rukia: *SLAPS HIM ACROSS THE FACE*
Renji: E-Eh?
Izuru vs Shuuhei
Izuru: *very drunk* Haha! Earlier you looked like such an idiot, stuttering infront of Matsumoto-san. *puts on Shuuhei impression* Do you want to sing a d-d-d-uet with me? Hahaha!!
Shuuhei: ……>[
Izuru claims this though is Shuuhei’s chance and drags Matsumoto-san on stage, who is also drunk, and they offer Shuuhei his duet.
Shuuhei: Eh? Eh? Really? I well… *flushed*
Izuru and Matsumoto-san: USO!!!! HAHAHA!!!
Unohana-taichou vs Gin
Unohana-taichou: The truth is… I have always felt very uneasy around you.
Gin: …
Unohana-taichou walks up to him and waves her hand in the air because she can’t reach his head and Gin has to bend down and basically place his head under her hand.
Unohana-taichou: …Hontou (it’s true)
Rukia vs Byakuya and Ichigo
Rukia: Nii-sama… (she points out there’s something wrong with the bottom of his haori I think, not sure what, like the hemming is loose or something maybe?) … Ichigo! Get down there and check!
Ichgio: What?!
Byakuya: …
Rukia: Go on!
Ichigo unsurely bends down to lift Byakuya’s haori and is kicked down by Rukia.
Rukia: You’re not worthy to touch Nii-sama’s clothes, know your place brat! (her line from waaaaay back when) Let us go back, Nii-sama.
Byakuya: … *walks away with Rukia following him*
Ichigo: …I was protected…again! Aaahh!!
Everyone has a good laugh, and Ichigo just lies on the floor and even starts singing … Furitomenu Ame I think? For a while the cast just laughs until he finally gets up and goes back to his spot.
Ichigo vs Byakuya and Renji
(I have no clue how this was an uso scene, I can hardly remember the end actually)
Ichigo drags the two into the centre of the stage and says something like “the two of you had a really big fight back there, I think you should make up.” (referring to Renji vs Byakuya during SS)
Ichigo starts chanting “te wo tsunago” (let’s hold hands) and calls to the audience to help, so everyone is chanting this until Renji and Byakuya of course, hold hands. Ichigo then ‘leaves them to it’ and runs off. Can’t remember how this ended darn it.
Taiin vs Gin
I’m not sure what happened here either, but all the taiin circled around Gin and tuck their arms into their sleeves. The prize moment of course was them all walking up to Gin (who is trying so hard not laugh, and failing a little) and chanting “USO~!”
Renji vs Izuru
Renji goes on to "hypnotise" Izuru, making him do stupid stuff like jump when Renji commands and what not.
Ren: "You ... will... jump..."
Izuru: *bounces*
Ren: "You... will... jump..."
Izuru: *jumps a little higher*
And eventually...
Ren: "You will... take off your hakama" (I don't think that's what he said, but something along the lines of that, or untie your obi or something, I didn't actually understand any of it but....)
*girls squeal and Eiki chuckles*
Ren: "You will...take off your hakama..." *moves closer to Izuru*
Izuru: *starts untying his obi*
*more screaming*
Renji: Uso.
The cutest part here I think (aside from how hard Eiji and Eiki were trying not to laugh; Eiki especially) is how amused Ichigo looked in the background. Later Izuru in turn tries to make Renji jump, and when he says jump you see Ichigo bounce too.
Renji vs Ichigo (senshuuraku)
Renji gets Ichigo to stand next to him and he weakly grasps his shoulder, taking his “Please save Rukia!” (Rukia wo tasukete kure!”) pose.
Renji: Kurosaki… even though it’s humiliating… I beg of you… rub my shoulders.
Ichigo: ….Ah. *rubs Renji’s shoulders*
Renji; Ah yeah, that feels better… wait no no no! That’s not what I wanted to say! *makes Ichigo stand next to him and goes into the pose again* Kurosaki… I beg of you… give me a back massage.
Ichigo: …Ah. *does so*
Renji: There we go, yeah that feels better… no no no! That’s not it either! *poses again*
Kurosaki… I beg of you… don’t forget us.
*heart breakage and you can just feel the sudden overwhelming sadness that has crashed all over the audience. Tissues come out again*
Renji: Look around you… everyone on this stage, the Captains, the Vice Captains… they’re all looking at you right?
Ichigo: *nods slowly*
Renji: That’s because we all love you… everything we’ve been through … now look into the audience. Everyone is looking at you. They all love you, Kurosaki. So please… don’t forget this moment, this experience, don’t forget us.
Ichigo …………………….Ah.
*audience is crying*
Renji then attempts to poke Ichigo like Yoruichi-san did to Byakuya but Ichigo spins around and gets him first. It was so cute, but everyone was crying and too sad to laugh too much. We laughed and cheered, but mostly my mind was thinking “Eiji what the heck are you trying to do to us?!”
(More than anything, I was very impressed Ichigo/Tatsuya didn’t cry here- or slap Renji silly. I was seriously waiting for someone to cut him off and tell him to stop making the audience cry)
Rukia vs Gin (senshuuraku)
Rukia talks about how successful the Uso Contest is going, but asks Gin if he remembers the origins of this scene. She remembers (and wants revenge) and asks Gin to look around and note that every single person on the stage is his enemy (Tousen is of course backstage).
Rukia: The only enemy here… is you.
Every single person on the stage draws their sword on Gin!!! This was so unexpected and Gin’s face was priceless, because Tuti later admits on his blog he had no clue this was going to happen. I was laughing so hard I don’t even know what they were saying beyond this.
Gin walks backwards and Rukia and a few others slowly advance on him (Izuru however is glued to his spot while everyone else walks towards Gin), he eventually walks into Hitsugaya-taichou’s sword (who by the way, honestly looks like he’s about to rip Gin’s head off).
Rukia motions with her hand for Gin to duck down a little because she can’t reach his head and says a simple “Uso”.
Everyone else sheathes their swords and Rukia says “Let’s enjoy the rest of the Live show together” in a triumphant voice.
Gin is left pretty speechless after this, it was hilarious.
So after the Uso Contest, which is usually 3 or 4 matches, Gin asks everyone that participated to line up and he chooses a winner. The winner is left to give some sort of victory speech before Gin’s voice comes over the speakers, congratulating the winner, and that their prize would be that they are to dance the lead to “this song”; Catharsis of Eternity!
Gin and Tousen walk on in their Hueco Mundo outfits and the characters all disperse, Shuuhei and Izuru of course look at their Captain’s going “Eh? Eh?!” and Gin says this is some sort of fan service- to which Izuru replies with a very cheery “Hai!” before running off.
Zaraki-taichou: Did not sing a word and spoke all of Aizen’s lines XD
Ikkaku: Enjoyed it a lot.
Izuru: Enjoyed it too much!
Ichigo: Amusing~
Taiin: Were hilarious running around the stage as a group and nearly tripping over each other while also trying not to get in Gin and Tousen’s way.
Byakuya: Soo coool~
All cast: HILARIOUS. Izuru would be dancing all of Gin/Tousen's moves as well, because he knew them apparently, and followed Gin around the stage like a puppy. Weird thing of course was that Shuuhei followed Izuru too... but of course watching Gin and Tousen fight everyone off so they could get to their positions on time was great~!
When the song finishes, Gin thanks them and then suddenly…
Aizen: It seems you are all having fun.
Lead: That voice… Aizen (taichou)?!
(The taichou was of course left out or added depending on who was addressing him)
They had done a pre-recorded message where Aizen would comment on how they got some person to dance his role. Tousen quickly apologises and says it was all Gin’s idea (Ichigo points accusingly at Gin during his turn) only to have Aizen ask “who was it that did not put a stop to this?” (Ichigo then points at Tousen) Gin asks Aizen to rate the person’s dance and Aizen gives a random number (The taiin got something really low if I remember right and Izuru got …. 80-something I think?)
Any time Gin asks Aizen an actual question though, there would be silence and Aizen even goes “well, if that will be all, everyone, take care”- completely ignoring the question, or there would be like a minute of silence where Gin keeps calling “Aizen-taichou? Are you still there? Can you hear us?” and the audience just laughs as the actors on stage wait for some sort of answer.
Ikkaku I remember looking all over the stage for where Aizen’s voice was coming from, Hinamori-san grinned up at the sky with her hands clasped together (;___;)
Aizen always “the three of you” and on the nights with the Taiin and complete cast dancing his role, there would always be laughter and Gin asks “Aizen-taichou… can you not count?” (on these nights you see the Taiin and on the full cast night Shuuhei, looking around and counting the number of people on stage).
Gin makes some remark and waltz off and Tousen will stomp up the whoever sang the lead and storms off himself.
Gin always walks off going “Aa~aa~ah” so on the final night, Tousen looks at everyone and goes “aaahh!!” really annoyed at all this fuss and storms off, Shuuhei chasing after him as Izuru too runs off after Gin. Hitsugaya-taichou also angrily follows Gin (he is seriously right on his heel) off stage at senshuuraku, and I swear it I was expecting slashing and other sounds of Hitsugaya-taichou murdering Gin backstage.
Hitsugaya-taichou comes on after the excitement has died down and makes one of Hinamori-san because he’s still upset about her comment on his sunglasses.
Toushiro: Baka. Baaka. Baaaka! Stupid bed wetter Momo. Baka. Ba-
Renji walks on: Hitsugaya-taichou! What are you doing?
Toushiro: Oh Abarai… nothing.
He turns to leave and Renji tells him not to worry about it, but is unable to assure him the sunglasses looked good without laughing.
Toushiro: Why you--!
Renji: Ah, it was a joke, a joke!
Hitsugaya-taichou brings up how Rukia is always with Ichigo now and the two sing a new duet. (The only line I really understood was Hitsugaya-taichou’s last line “Time we can’t get back”)
Soifon-taichou cartwheels on and does some cool moves before a giant OMAEDA doll is thrown at her. She grabs it, releases her shikai and stabs the doll. She waves it in the air going “OOOHHHH” as if it were Omaeda calling out in pain.
She throws the doll to the centre of the stage and grabs it again.
Soifon: “What’s wrong Omaeda?” *waves doll in the air*
Soifion/Omaeda: Oooohh!! Sooomeeoonne, heeelp mee, ooh heeelp! *is thrown across the stage again*
Soifon: This is the end *stabs again*
She goes onto throw the doll around, bashing it’s head against the head, stepping on it, head butting it and then finally launching it half way across the stage.
(By far the funniest scene no matter how many times you saw it)
She calls the doll boring and summons the taiin, only to beat all of them up too. She leaves in a huff and all the taiin are left looking very frightened.
The TAIIN song starts and the line is now “Someone … please tell us…just how do we keep winding up in these situations?” They have carried the Omaeda doll into the centre and lain in between them like a lost comrade. Then a SECOND LINE!
“And… just… what Division are we in?”
Izuru then runs on stage saying he understands their feelings and knows the perfect song for the moment; HIGH RISK, NO RETURN!!!
Izuru and Shuuhei have mostly split Matsumoto-san’s lines between them, and the taiin have taken a few as well. The song is pretty much the same, if not better to be honest because Izuru and Shuuhei are together; a LOT.
The funniest part has to be when they sing “Who even needs a Captain”, EVERY CAPTAIN runs on stage and just glares at them, Izuru, Shuuhei and the taiin back into each otherm rather frightened until the Captains all just as swiftly disappear again.
Instead of putting up two fingers like they did in Bankai:002, everyone holds up a single finger at the end of the song and chant “ONLY ONE! Only one! Only one!” as they march off stage.
Ichigo and Yoruichi-san hop onto the stage and Ichigo realizes as quickly as the audience;
Ichigo; “If it’s just the two of us… don’t tell me next is that song!”
Yoruichi-san laughs and confirms for Ichigo that indeed next is “that song” and Rukia wouldn’t have all the fun by joining, because this time, she was joining in too! Before she can open the song though, Ichigo cuts in saying it’s really unfair he is the only one to be left out of the song. “It’s ten minutes, TEN MINUTES!” He says he’ll join too, but Yoruichi-san tells him he’s not even part of the Gotei 13. So Ichigo says he’ll just dance with the taiin! Thus Ichigo opens “Mou Hitotsu no Chijou 2010; All cast version!”
As usual they did the last two times Burimyu was in this theatre, the cast comes through the back doors with lanterns (everyone was already turning around before Ichigo was even done talking) and make their way up to the stage.
(Once they form 2 lines, the 369 boys are all together :3)
Turning back to the stage you see FIRE. They had fire stands on stage! The ordering was changed slightly, with the addition of Yoruichi-san but of course the loss of Aizen. But never the less, the song was brilliant.
(What I don’t understand is why it went Matsumoto-san, Hinamori-san, Hitsugaya-taichou. It would have made more sense to keep the 10th together, I’m pretty sure those two girls have the same melody for their parts anyway!)
An interesting part I noticed was how Ichigo is off stage for the 4th Division’s part, but when Rukia begins, he comes on stage and kneels down to watch her, and once she’s finished he dashes off again. Intersting touch.
Ichigo fanboys about how awesome the song is afterwards, Hitsugaya-taichou even mutters “you didn’t even sing though”. Rukia interupts him and tells him that she needs him to be her backup dancer for the next song, but Ichigo says he can’t do it, so he has to pick a replacement. Ichigo picks someone and runs off. Rukia will ask that person if it’s alright and once they agree, she calls “Music!” and on comes Song For You.
Renji always guides whoever it is to their starting position, and always looks very “senpai” like, as he is the ‘usual’ back up dancer for this song.
Ikkaku; HILARIOUS!! He was so energetic about it, and halfway through broke into his “luck luck” dance- which distracted Renji, who was still trying to dance but was laughing at the same time.
Hanatarou; Adorable, and I think he broke into his own dance at one stage too.
Unohana-taichou; Amazing! She did it so well, without ever breaking her character’s grace!
Hinamori-san; SO CUTE!! And she and Renji kept smiling at each other too~
Hitsugaya-taichou; Awesome~ He was doing it rather dramatically, sort of ‘just because I can’.
Izuru; The way he SMILED the whole way through, he just looked like he was enjoying it so much! He too, smiled at Renji a lot, with Renji smiling back. (ACADEMY TRIO LOVE)
All cast; BRILLIANT. They had prepared this before hand as everyone seemed to have a spot to stand and the whole thing was very neat and tidy.
Good god Nagayan can … bend over backwards. I was a little worried his head was going to touch the floor and he’d fall over or something.
After this people exit for Ichigo to come out in his Bankai outfit to sing Where is My Body.
Next is the final spurt to the end. Everyone comes back on with their swords and sing Yureru Soul Society; now with choreographed moves! They don’t dance per say, but perform with their swords similar to the way they did it in Bankai:002.
(I remember watching this part at senshuuraku, it came so quickly I was thinking “nonono! It can’t be ending, it can’t be ending!!)
Finally, everyone sheathes their swords and begin BLEACH.
Once that’s over they all wave and say bye, Ichigo thanks everyone and they all leave the stage.
Everyone claps and it eventually falls into a rhythm as we all wait for the encore (one night it was really messy though, and at senshuuraku there was a lot of energy, like everyone was pleading for it not to end).
Soul Shout was the encore this time around and Ichigo’s voice is heard thanking everyone again. The cast run into the audience and spend the first verse singing and dancing with the fans. And of course with much thanks to Tuti’s dance studio from the DX dvd, everyone knew the chorus~
Some of the taiin even managed to bolt upstairs.
They all run back onto the stage for the second half of the song. Characters are split into trios and dance separate little dances in their own areas around the stage.
The end of the song is also when the canons of streamers burst into the audience, and everyone says goodbye again, waving and the show ends.
SENSHUURAKU
Of course at senshuuraku no one moves and falls into the rhythmic clapping again. My friend and I were crying and saying to each other that they couldn’t just let it end like that, they couldn’t!
And as expected, the cast come back in two conga lines. They enter from either side of the stage, hands on each other’s shoulders until they meet in the middle to form one line.
Tatsuya!Ichigo of course addresses the audience and opens simply with;
“Today was the final show.”
The audience laughs, as everyone is a complete mess of tears and sniffles, kind of like “no duh, why else would we be crying like this?”.
Tatsuya laughs and says “Did you guys know that?”
He goes on, thanking everyone for everything these last 5 years. He talks about how much this show has meant to him, and how he became an adult through this show (having started when he was 19/20), and that this show was his entire youth.
He passes the attention to Eiji!Renji who is also trying to be strong. He tells everyone that shouldn’t cry (as if) and that tomorrow they will all move on. We all have to keep our chins up and keep walking our own paths, and we have to go on towards the future and get on with our lives. But just for tonight, we can cry our hearts out.
Tatsuya concludes by thanking everyone again, and he is really strong until he virtually breaks down at the end of his last sentence. Everyone cheers for him, encouraging him and he opens the special extra encore for tonight; The Other Side of A Limit.
The entire cast is already on stage and they simply step forward when they reach their part. Tatsuya throws an encouraging grin at Kouhei!Hanatarou when it reaches their part because the poor boy’s entire face is basically red from crying.
Nagayan was more or less a mess too, the girls as well, and I heard even Naoya was shedding enough tears to smudge his 69.
As the song continues, white stars and hearts begin floating down from the ceiling, creating the most beautiful image. I managed to catch one and it seemed the cast had written little messages on them. You see some of the actors trying to throw down some of the stars/hearts that accidently land on the stage.
At the end of the song, everyone waves and says goodbye one last time, until finally the curtain drops.
No one is able to get out of their seats yet as everyone sits there crying and mourning the end of this wonderful show. I myself could not get a grip of myself and was crying into my knees.
Tatsuya appears one last time, having gathered all the stray foam hearts and stars from the stage and passes them out into the audience. He thanks us all again and disappears.
The heartless ushers begin asking people to leave a minute or two after the show had officially ended, but of course everyone is still so shaken with emotion, it takes us all a lot longer to empty the theatre than it usually would.
We were allowed to linger outside of the theatre for about an hour until the cast came out to leave for their after party. We were given one last chance to say goodbye, and it was nice. Some of the cast members looked absolutely drained though (Naoya!) but some still had their usual energy (Tuti).
And then… it was over.
Rukia: Please do not stand during the show. If you try to stand then… hah! Bakudo #61; Six rod prison! *kidou sound effect*
Gin: Now, Ikurose---
Audience: SHINSOU!!
Gin: Hona—
Audience: SAINARAAAA!!
Gin: Everyone… it’s only the start of the show…
(Also at one stage you can hear Renji laughing in the background)
Byakuya calls on Renji to yell “IS EVERYONE REEEADDYY???” because he refuses to do it himself~
Tousen put on a very cutesy voice, not sure why though, he was very persistent in making sure everyone knew his name; “This is Tousen Kaname. *talk talk* This is Tousen Kaname. *talk talk* This is Tousen Kaname!!!”
Izuru stutters a bit, whether that was on purpose or just Eiki stuffing up his lines, it was hard to tell~ Then at the end he puts on a very sexy voice and says “I hope you are getting excited, ne?” three times! Gin steps in and interrupts him towards the end.
Hitsugaya-taichou read out the warnings in a very dull voice, like he didn’t even want to be there and has Matsumoto-san jump in with the complete opposite amount of energy.
Ichigo on the final night gives the warnings, and says before the lights even go down “Everyone, thank you for everything these last 5 years.” –at this point you can see tissues and hankies coming out all over the theatre. Ichigo too threatens the audience with a "Getsuga Tenshoouu!!!"
So a few minutes later a very soft “la la la la la” (eerier version of the la la la’ing in No Clouds in the Blue Heavens) starts over the speakers. The chatter dies down as the la’ing builds. The lights fade and curtain rises. The la’ing ceases abruptly and there is a dead silent moment before the lights on stage blast on and Ichgio’s cry comes over the speakers; “HAVE WE KEPT YOU ALL WAITING???”
As the audience begins cheering, characters come in singles and pairs onto the stage. Starting with Byakuya, Soifon-taichou and Yoruichi-san, 4th Division, Izuru and Momo, Shuuhei and Renji, Hitsugaya-taichou, Gin and Tousen, the 11th, Rukia and finally Ichigo runs on with the taiin. With a call of “Bleach”, actual small explosives go off above the cast members’ heads, causing the audience to jump every time.
They break into a chorus of Dark of the Bleeding Moon which includes small re-enactments of fights during the Soul Society arc. It starts with Rukia vs Taiin, she joins with Ichigo before running off stage. Ichigo vs Gin, vs Ikkaku, vs Renji.
Izuru vs Momo, Momo vs Toushiro, Yoruichi-san vs Soifon-taichu. Hanatarou runs on being chased by the taiin, who are sent away by Unohana-taichou. Hanatarou thanks her but as she leaves he’s chased off the other side of the stage by the same taiin. Shuuhei jumps in and swings his sword once, poses, and runs off (poor thing has so little to do in the SS arc). Then three battles start simultaneously; Gin vs Hitsugaya-taichou, Tousen vs Zaraki-taichou and Renji vs Byakuya. This part ends with Ichigo vs Byakuya. The rest of the cast walk back on without their swords and with one final line “Bleeding Moon” the show has begun!
Renji and Ikkaku are telling the audience to get pumped, making sure the 2nd floor aren’t slacking off and such until Ichigo tells the two to shut up so they can get along with the show; BUT FIRST! Ichigo goes on to tell Gin off for always singing “that song” by himself at the end of the shows and Gin teases Ichigo for being jealous, and how cute it was.
Ichigo: “… Yeah I’m jealous! So what?!”
The rest of the cast sort of wave at Ichigo to calm down, poor Hinamori-san towards the back looks terrified~ So Ichigo, to stop Gin from hogging the spotlight at the end of the show, kicks of Hona Sainara. (Why they made this the SECOND song is still beyond me)
Being the second song and all, the audience was already an absolute mess towards the start of the show at senshuuraku. I mean saying goodbye when the show’s just started? Cruel.
Without a break, Hanatarou opens Yuzurenai Mono Hitotsu. The taiin run into the audience as Izuru tells the audience to watch them if they don’t know the moves, and Renji reminds everyone to treat the actors on stage as a mirror image. (I noticed Gaku enjoyed screaming back at girls that screamed when he walked past)
After two choruses of this song, Shuuhei steps forward to open Kawaranai Kimochi. The first verse is now made up of Shuuhei, Hinamori-san, Soifon-taichou and Ikkaku. Izuru sings his usual solo line and is joined by Hitsugaya-taichou after that. All six sing the next verse before the entire cast joins in.
After this song everyone wanders off stage, Ichigo lags behind to wave at everyone and Byakuya stands towards the side of the stage, commenting on how peaceful it is. Yoruichi-san then jumps back and pokes him and teases him for a while.
“BYA~KU~YA~BO~U~! Ho-re-ho-re-ho-re~ Come catch me~”
Somehow this leads into a new duet between the two, including disco balls and ballroom dancing. It’s a nice song and Byakuya’s facial expressions are hilarious.
At the end of the song Yoruichi-san pokes him again and he curses her, only to have Soifon-taichou march on stage.
“What was that, Kuchiki-taichou?” *glares*
Soon all the female characters are on stage and telling Byakuya he needs to be kinder to women. Hinamori-san makes a comment about kind and gentle men but I’m not sure what she said. Either way, Unohana-taichou says it’d be best if they taught Byakuya what it takes to be a kind man, which of course is the cue to break into Josei Shinigami Kyoukai. This song is done with Byakuya floating around the stage, looking rather terrified.
When all the girls walk off at the end of the song, Byakuya comes back on and looks off into the distant, telling Hisana how Rukia has become so strong.
Izuru’s head pops up from the back of the stage and he hums in a very cute way.
“Hmmm? Mmmm?” Before calling off stage; “Everyone!! We can take the stage!!”
He runs off and on march Renji, Shuuhei, Ichigo, Ikkaku, Zaraki-taichou and Hitsugaya-taichou (Izuru hurrying on soon after) in the Men’s Shinigami Association Uniform- much to the delight of many fangirls. Byakuya makes to leave but is caught by Renji.
Ren: Ah! Taichou where are you going? You need to be a part of this too!
Bya: Renji. When did I ever consent to-
Ren: Here you are, these are for you. *hands him a pair of sunglasses*
Byakuya stares blankly at the sunglasses while Renji and Shuuhei introduce the assosication and how they speak in a Hiroshima accent. Ichigo and Renji argue until Hitsugaya-taichou tells them to get on with it, otherwise he’s going home. So Izuru makes the first proposal for a topic, then I think Shuuhei or Ichigo, then Izuru again and eventually Hitsugaya-taichou. (Somewhere in all this chaos Byakuya has put on the sunglasses and is now standing there like a statue) Ikkaku is last to make a suggestion, which is rejected like everyone else’s was, but Zaraki-taichou supports it and they break into a new song about … annoying women? Or something like that.
The song is funny and they all look like idiots. Byakuya joins in on the dance, but is constantly looking at the others to make sure he’s doing it right. At one stage they all (except Byakuya) throw off their shihakusho and are prancing around completely topless.
We see Hinamori-san, Hanatarou, Soifon-taichou and Yoruichi-san walk on behind the men and suddenly the song stops, lights come on and Hinamori-san yelps at the sight in front of her. (Funny thing here is that Shuuhei and Izuru are the only two that seem to care they’re topless, because they’re the only two that go grab their discarded uniforms and try to cover themselves up)
Hinamori-san claims they were just out walking and is questioned by Izuru about the things she was saying about kind men earlier. I didn’t understand exactly what happened here, but Izuru is really happy and dances down to the edge of the stage, followed by Renji and Shuuhei. But his celebrations are cut short when Hinamori-san mentions the kind of man she was talking about was like Hanatarou who has true kindness, Soifon-taichou and Yoruichi-san agree and soon the four leave. Izuru looks shattered and falls to his knees while Hinamori-san lingers to tell Hitsugaya-taichou how funny he looks with those sunglasses.
The men are left in an extremely awkward moment, Zaraki-taichou mentions how he just doesn’t get women. Ichigo is first to leave, then the 11th and Renji and Shuuhei try to stop everyone.
Shuuhei: Ah, Hitsugaya-taichou…!
Toushiro: Shut up! *takes off glasses* Don’t ever speak to me again.
Hitsugaya-taichou runs off and Renji and Shuuhei look alarmed when you hear the sound of something being smashed off stage. They sigh and a louder smash (of sunglasses I am going to assume~) is heard. The two sigh again and turn to see Byakuya has been standing there the whole time since the song ended. Byakuya walks over to Izuru and tells him to stand, and that as men they must always stand with their chest out and proud. (Shuuhei and Renji puff their chests like idiots) Izuru whimpers a “…hai…” and is told off by Renji and Shuuhei. He’s dragged to his feet by the two (and Shuuhei finds a need to slap his butt?) and is asked what a man is. The three take turns improvising this scene.
Senshuuraku had Izuru saying that if a man cries, he must do it with his chin held high.
All three chorus that a man always has to have chest forward and proud and they sing and dance a little from the previous song, throwing off their shihakusho again. Byakuya finds no need to stay and walks off stage. When the song ends Renji says they should go drink and the three make to leave, only to be interrupted by Matsumoto-san~!!!
She tells them she’s been off drinking and partying and it’s really cute watching Shuuhei attempt to talk to her.
Shuu: Ah, Rangiku-san it’s been a while since –
Ran: Haahh! It’s all so much fun! *totally ignores him*
When Izuru asks what she’s doing here now, she says that of course she is here to sing. Shuuhei takes the chance to suggest that she sings a duet with him, sometimes he says it stuttering, sometimes full of confidence. Either way, Matsumoto-san laughs, slaps his arm and says “You and me do a duet??? HAHAHA! Get real, if I’m singing, it has to be… this song, doesn’t it?”
*cue Bengara Koushi*
Renji and Izuru are excited for her and have to drag a stunned and probably slightly heartbroken Shuuhei off stage, telling him to get a hold of himself.
This song is now sung with fake dynamic mics held by each actor. Hitsugaya-taichou has his microphone pressed against his forehead in a fed up fashion the entire song.
At the end of the song, Matsumoto-san thanks Hinamori-san and Hitsugaya-taichou. Gin questions why he wasn’t thanked and there’s a short silence.
Someone found a need to yell “don’t mind!” (Japanese slang for don’t worry about it or don’t think too much of it I think?) every show. It was pretty funny at first because Matsumoto-san laughed and repeated it to Gin. Got a little tiresome afterwards… not sure why it annoyed me as much as it did.
On the final show Matsumoto-san looks away and in a low voice mutters very quickly “thank you” before running off stage.
Hinamori-san runs off with her and Hitsugaya-taichou walks past Gin, rolls his head back a couple of times and either laughs at him, repeats the “don’t mind” line or sometimes just walks off, trying not to laugh too hard. Gin is left rather confused and follows him off stage.
Now starts the only kind of serious scene in the show.
Ichigo walks on, singing Furitomenu Ame against a guitar solo. He sits on the steps of the set, curled up and upset as Rukia walks on somewhere behind him. As his song ends, Rukia stands in silence and then a small part of the curtain opens behind her, showing her in the centre of a pillar of light as she sings Semai Sora. This I thought was a very beautiful way to represent the tower she was locked up in.
After that there is a brief silence where we can sort of hear the “la la la la la” from the beginning of the show. Rukia looks up, and mutters “No … Clouds… in the … Blue … Heavens…” and then the back curtain splits open as Te wo Tsunagostarts. The backdrop is now a beautiful gradiented wall that changes colour now and again. It starts off of course as a clear blue sky as Rukia and Ichigo look around at the brightened world. The two sing their duet before the stage darkens and they walk off.
I’m no fan of this pairing, but that was probably the most beautiful scene in the entire show, and I just loved it.
This now I assume is the scene they said Kubo-sensei wrote. It shows Zaraki-taichou’s monologue after his fight with Ichigo. He sings a song lamenting about his life of fighting and collaspses on the side of the stage to be carried off by some of the 4th Division.
The taiin are frantic about how Zaraki-taichou was defeated and Ikkaku walks on stage with his crutch, telling them about the orange-haired boy that defeated him. Ikkaku knows that Zaraki-taichou is now in the 4th Division, but he’s not sure where.
Hanatarou walks on and notices the 11th Division so turns to audience saying “Shh!!” and he staggers slowly across the stage, picks something up and keeps walking, all the while with the 11th watching him. When they confront him he quickly says,
“Yamada Hantarou desu!”
…but of course they don’t let him sing his song. They threaten Hanatarou that he’s in for it if he doesn’t tell them where their Captain is.
Ikkaku: UNLESS!
Taiin: …unless…? Unless…? Um…??
And the taiin are left to do their own jokes here, most of which I didn’t understand. One time they had three standing behind each other, pretending to be Hanatarou and sing a line of his song. Another run rushes past with his sword drawn and the three fall to the side in three different directions, as if Hanatarou had been sliced into three.
Of course I didn’t understand the joke, but on the 8th it was an ONIGIRI JOKE~!!! Just like back in Saien~ The second the word “onigiri” came out everyone cheered.
Ikkaku asks again where Zaraki-taichou is and Hanatarou points in all directions of the stage, sending the men running whichever way he points. He even points up and they all leap up yelling “Zaraki-taichouu!!” When Ikkaku tells him to stop messing with them and just tell them, Hantarou steps forward with his hands on his hips, saying as a 4th Division member he is now allowed to divludge onto them the information they want. So of course they all surround him and try to attack him, but Hanatarou throws a shinten on them all, causing them to collapse.
Unohana-taichou walks and commends them all for being able to stay conscious even though they were hit with the shinten. She orders them to leave and they do. She tells Hanatarou he shouldn’t use the shinten so recklessly but excuses it and asks him to take her to Zaraki-taichou.
The scene is then a conversation between Unohana-taichou and Zaraki-taichou. He demands she tell him when he can fight again but she reminds him that while in the 4th Division, his life is in her hands (she says this while pointing a pair of scissors to his face) and he just nods and sits there.
Unohana-taichou: Does it hurt?
Zaraki-taichou: Ch, these wounds are nothing.
Unohana-taichou: …. Does it hurt?
Zaraki-taichou: … … just a little.
He tells her about how fighting is his way of life and she calls him weak for it. She cuts some flowers and puts them in a vase by his bedside and tells him to rest.
Before she can leave he asks her for the name of the flowers and she asks him to name them. Unohana-taichou sings a line from Oyasumi Nasai while Zaraki-taichou looks at the flowers and the scene ends.
Tousen is now on a high platform, alone and a voice plays the role of this friend that died a long time ago. The voice clearly belongs to Hinamori Kumi-chan, so it was a little creepy hearing Hinamori-san say “Kaname” so many times.
What I found heartbreaking about this scene, was the way Kuranuki-san used more his own voice, so it was a light lighter and gentler than the Tousen we are use to, that is until we reach the point where he tells us of his friend’s death. He breaks into a sort of interpretive dance of some sort, jumping, crawling and his body just flailing. I think if you’ve read recent chapters of the manga, this scene really shows how the death of his friend destroyed Tousen’s life, and how far it made it fall. I was actually almost brought to tears watching this scene.
Shuuhei walks on as the music dies down and Tousen backs away. Everyone else enters and Tousen exits. The lights come on and everyone is staring off stage.
Renji: …what in the world was that just now?
Izuru tries to brush off the awkward moment and asks what they should do next. Gin has an idea but has forgotten the name.
Gin: “Ha…ha….? He…he?....Hi ….hi …..fi…Film fes!”
He honestly sounded like he was racking his brain for the right word the first few shows, but the last few shows he was just saying the ‘ha …ha…he….hi” bits, but it was still just as funny.
Gin mentions how at the Film Fes last May, his scene with Rukia was brought up and how people wanted to give it ago (his “uso” scene). He turns to Rukia, who collapses onto the ground and sings the first line or two from Kuzusareta Kakugo. Gin dances a sort of box step thing next to her while Ichigo and Renji rush to help Rukia up (Shuuhei is also off to the side making dramatic arm movements trying to wave her up).
Gin suggests a contest but Hitsugaya-taichou says he needs to demonstrate the game first. So Gin picks a random victim and demonstrates by asking his victim “do you know why me arms are always tucked into my sleeves?” and always makes a stupid remark they turned into bananas, or fish, or his goddarn guitar. Then getting right in their face he says “uso” (I lie).
When Gin demonstrated it to Hitsugaya-taichou, I guess it was because he can’t put his hand on the spiky hair, but he grabs his chin and tilts it up when saying it.
And yes, people screamed because dear god it looked like they were going to kiss.
Whenever they start, two spotlights hit whoever is playing the game, and it looks very dramatic (and rather hilarious).
Once that’s done, Gin opens up the floor.
THE USO CONTEST.
This of course changed every. Single. Show.
I cannot for the life of me remember all of them, and it didn’t help I didn’t understand all of them, but I remember some, and was told of some others my friends had seen.
Shuuhei vs Toushiro
Shuuhei: A-re? Hitsugaya-taichou? Where are you? Huh? Where’d you go? Hitsugaya-taichou? *pretends Hitsugaya-taichou is so small that he can’t see him at all until he bumps into him* Oh! There you are =D
Toushiro: …Hisagi………!!!!
Shuuhei: *backs away quickly* Uso! Uso! I’m just kidding, sorry! Just kidding!! Uso…
Momo vs Toushiro
Momo: *pats his hair* Ow! Ow! You’re hair’s so spiky! Ow!
Toushiro: …….*fumes*
Momo: Uso~
Shuuhei vs Renji
Shuuhei: Abarai… do you like my Shuuhei-sensei corner?
Renji: E-Eh?
(I didn’t understand much more of this scene, but Renji starts backing away with Shuuhei in his face, telling him to start his own “Oshiete, Abarai-sensei” corner? XD)
Yoruichi vs Renji
Y: Abarai. You like my breasts don't you?
R: .......e-eh?
Y: Earlier you were just watching them bouncing weren't you???
Yoruichi-san starts edging closer towards Renji, making grabby hands at her self and then very slowly sings Nya nya to Punya punya, all the while making very much hand actions*
*Renji's eyes slowly fall to her chest, and his hands slowly come up, imitating her actions*
Y: Uso. *walks off very satisfied*
Renij: …. Just …. Where am I?
Tsuki yo Oshiete Kure starts playing and Renji sings a few lines from it before stomping, fed up of being teased and walks back to his spot on the stage.
Izuru vs Gin
Izuru: *takes his arms under his sleeves like Gin (who is chuckling uncontrollably)* Ichimaru-taichou. Do you know why my legs are always shaking under my hakama? *wiggles legs*
(once again I didn’t catch the punch line, but Izuru was very cocky and watching him of all people go “Uso!” to Gin was priceless)
Shuuhei vs Izuru, Renji and Momo
Shuu; Kira. Hinamori.
Renji; Eh? *points to himself and people laugh*
Shuu; Kira, Hinamori, we as fukutaichou...
Renji: Huh? Wait....
Shuu; *puts hand up* I'm getting to you, just settle down!
XDDDD
Renji is slightly embarrassed but nods with a laugh and lets Shuuhei continue.
Shuuhei mentions how they may not have their Captains around anymore (even though Ichimaru-taichou is right there… *Shuuhei says this and glances at Gin then ignore him*), then says how they as fukutaichou need to stick together. He makes the three compliment each other, then tells them that was pathetic. But then he starts saying how the Academy trio are always together while he’s left out in the cold, alone. He starts crying and the other three get worried and move over to him. Shuuhei then turns around and goes “Uso.”
Taiin vs Ichigo
Taiin: Hai!
Gin: And your opponent?
Taiin: *glare at Ichigo* The orange haired ryoka boy!
They circle him and tell him how much they hate him, and how they’ve put up with him for 5 years. But eventually it still ends with Ichigo cutting them all down?
Zaraki-taichou vs Unohana-taichou
Zaraki-taichou tells her about how great she is and how lately he’s been feeling weird and all this.
Zaraki-taichou: Th-those flowers you gave me earlier… I’ve chosen their name.
Everyone else coos while Unohana-taichou blushes.
Zaraki-taichou: I named them… Retsu.
A bit later he says “Uso.”
Unohana-taichou looks at him and asks which part of that speech was the lie and he says “Oh uh… all of it.” She glances at him for a moment before looking away, sighing sadly and heart broken.
Zaraki-taichou vs Izuru
I don't remember what happened in this one exactly... but Izuru looked scared and his legs were shaking XD
Soifon-taichou vs Byakuya
I’m not entirely sure what in the world happened here, but Soifon-taichou I think was trying to get Kuchiki-taichou to do a back flip? She had all the taiin surround him from behind, as if to catch him in his attempt because she was sure he’d fail.
She demonstrates but yes “Uso” before poor Osamu-chan makes the attempt.
Renji vs Rukia
Renji: Rukia… you’ve gotten so beautiful. You are such a beautiful young woman now. You’re so great…
Rukia: …
Renji: Us-
Rukia: *SLAPS HIM ACROSS THE FACE*
Renji: E-Eh?
Izuru vs Shuuhei
Izuru: *very drunk* Haha! Earlier you looked like such an idiot, stuttering infront of Matsumoto-san. *puts on Shuuhei impression* Do you want to sing a d-d-d-uet with me? Hahaha!!
Shuuhei: ……>[
Izuru claims this though is Shuuhei’s chance and drags Matsumoto-san on stage, who is also drunk, and they offer Shuuhei his duet.
Shuuhei: Eh? Eh? Really? I well… *flushed*
Izuru and Matsumoto-san: USO!!!! HAHAHA!!!
Unohana-taichou vs Gin
Unohana-taichou: The truth is… I have always felt very uneasy around you.
Gin: …
Unohana-taichou walks up to him and waves her hand in the air because she can’t reach his head and Gin has to bend down and basically place his head under her hand.
Unohana-taichou: …Hontou (it’s true)
Rukia vs Byakuya and Ichigo
Rukia: Nii-sama… (she points out there’s something wrong with the bottom of his haori I think, not sure what, like the hemming is loose or something maybe?) … Ichigo! Get down there and check!
Ichgio: What?!
Byakuya: …
Rukia: Go on!
Ichigo unsurely bends down to lift Byakuya’s haori and is kicked down by Rukia.
Rukia: You’re not worthy to touch Nii-sama’s clothes, know your place brat! (her line from waaaaay back when) Let us go back, Nii-sama.
Byakuya: … *walks away with Rukia following him*
Ichigo: …I was protected…again! Aaahh!!
Everyone has a good laugh, and Ichigo just lies on the floor and even starts singing … Furitomenu Ame I think? For a while the cast just laughs until he finally gets up and goes back to his spot.
Ichigo vs Byakuya and Renji
(I have no clue how this was an uso scene, I can hardly remember the end actually)
Ichigo drags the two into the centre of the stage and says something like “the two of you had a really big fight back there, I think you should make up.” (referring to Renji vs Byakuya during SS)
Ichigo starts chanting “te wo tsunago” (let’s hold hands) and calls to the audience to help, so everyone is chanting this until Renji and Byakuya of course, hold hands. Ichigo then ‘leaves them to it’ and runs off. Can’t remember how this ended darn it.
Taiin vs Gin
I’m not sure what happened here either, but all the taiin circled around Gin and tuck their arms into their sleeves. The prize moment of course was them all walking up to Gin (who is trying so hard not laugh, and failing a little) and chanting “USO~!”
Renji vs Izuru
Renji goes on to "hypnotise" Izuru, making him do stupid stuff like jump when Renji commands and what not.
Ren: "You ... will... jump..."
Izuru: *bounces*
Ren: "You... will... jump..."
Izuru: *jumps a little higher*
And eventually...
Ren: "You will... take off your hakama" (I don't think that's what he said, but something along the lines of that, or untie your obi or something, I didn't actually understand any of it but....)
*girls squeal and Eiki chuckles*
Ren: "You will...take off your hakama..." *moves closer to Izuru*
Izuru: *starts untying his obi*
*more screaming*
Renji: Uso.
The cutest part here I think (aside from how hard Eiji and Eiki were trying not to laugh; Eiki especially) is how amused Ichigo looked in the background. Later Izuru in turn tries to make Renji jump, and when he says jump you see Ichigo bounce too.
Renji vs Ichigo (senshuuraku)
Renji gets Ichigo to stand next to him and he weakly grasps his shoulder, taking his “Please save Rukia!” (Rukia wo tasukete kure!”) pose.
Renji: Kurosaki… even though it’s humiliating… I beg of you… rub my shoulders.
Ichigo: ….Ah. *rubs Renji’s shoulders*
Renji; Ah yeah, that feels better… wait no no no! That’s not what I wanted to say! *makes Ichigo stand next to him and goes into the pose again* Kurosaki… I beg of you… give me a back massage.
Ichigo: …Ah. *does so*
Renji: There we go, yeah that feels better… no no no! That’s not it either! *poses again*
Kurosaki… I beg of you… don’t forget us.
*heart breakage and you can just feel the sudden overwhelming sadness that has crashed all over the audience. Tissues come out again*
Renji: Look around you… everyone on this stage, the Captains, the Vice Captains… they’re all looking at you right?
Ichigo: *nods slowly*
Renji: That’s because we all love you… everything we’ve been through … now look into the audience. Everyone is looking at you. They all love you, Kurosaki. So please… don’t forget this moment, this experience, don’t forget us.
Ichigo …………………….Ah.
*audience is crying*
Renji then attempts to poke Ichigo like Yoruichi-san did to Byakuya but Ichigo spins around and gets him first. It was so cute, but everyone was crying and too sad to laugh too much. We laughed and cheered, but mostly my mind was thinking “Eiji what the heck are you trying to do to us?!”
(More than anything, I was very impressed Ichigo/Tatsuya didn’t cry here- or slap Renji silly. I was seriously waiting for someone to cut him off and tell him to stop making the audience cry)
Rukia vs Gin (senshuuraku)
Rukia talks about how successful the Uso Contest is going, but asks Gin if he remembers the origins of this scene. She remembers (and wants revenge) and asks Gin to look around and note that every single person on the stage is his enemy (Tousen is of course backstage).
Rukia: The only enemy here… is you.
Every single person on the stage draws their sword on Gin!!! This was so unexpected and Gin’s face was priceless, because Tuti later admits on his blog he had no clue this was going to happen. I was laughing so hard I don’t even know what they were saying beyond this.
Gin walks backwards and Rukia and a few others slowly advance on him (Izuru however is glued to his spot while everyone else walks towards Gin), he eventually walks into Hitsugaya-taichou’s sword (who by the way, honestly looks like he’s about to rip Gin’s head off).
Rukia motions with her hand for Gin to duck down a little because she can’t reach his head and says a simple “Uso”.
Everyone else sheathes their swords and Rukia says “Let’s enjoy the rest of the Live show together” in a triumphant voice.
Gin is left pretty speechless after this, it was hilarious.
So after the Uso Contest, which is usually 3 or 4 matches, Gin asks everyone that participated to line up and he chooses a winner. The winner is left to give some sort of victory speech before Gin’s voice comes over the speakers, congratulating the winner, and that their prize would be that they are to dance the lead to “this song”; Catharsis of Eternity!
Gin and Tousen walk on in their Hueco Mundo outfits and the characters all disperse, Shuuhei and Izuru of course look at their Captain’s going “Eh? Eh?!” and Gin says this is some sort of fan service- to which Izuru replies with a very cheery “Hai!” before running off.
Zaraki-taichou: Did not sing a word and spoke all of Aizen’s lines XD
Ikkaku: Enjoyed it a lot.
Izuru: Enjoyed it too much!
Ichigo: Amusing~
Taiin: Were hilarious running around the stage as a group and nearly tripping over each other while also trying not to get in Gin and Tousen’s way.
Byakuya: Soo coool~
All cast: HILARIOUS. Izuru would be dancing all of Gin/Tousen's moves as well, because he knew them apparently, and followed Gin around the stage like a puppy. Weird thing of course was that Shuuhei followed Izuru too... but of course watching Gin and Tousen fight everyone off so they could get to their positions on time was great~!
When the song finishes, Gin thanks them and then suddenly…
Aizen: It seems you are all having fun.
Lead: That voice… Aizen (taichou)?!
(The taichou was of course left out or added depending on who was addressing him)
They had done a pre-recorded message where Aizen would comment on how they got some person to dance his role. Tousen quickly apologises and says it was all Gin’s idea (Ichigo points accusingly at Gin during his turn) only to have Aizen ask “who was it that did not put a stop to this?” (Ichigo then points at Tousen) Gin asks Aizen to rate the person’s dance and Aizen gives a random number (The taiin got something really low if I remember right and Izuru got …. 80-something I think?)
Any time Gin asks Aizen an actual question though, there would be silence and Aizen even goes “well, if that will be all, everyone, take care”- completely ignoring the question, or there would be like a minute of silence where Gin keeps calling “Aizen-taichou? Are you still there? Can you hear us?” and the audience just laughs as the actors on stage wait for some sort of answer.
Ikkaku I remember looking all over the stage for where Aizen’s voice was coming from, Hinamori-san grinned up at the sky with her hands clasped together (;___;)
Aizen always “the three of you” and on the nights with the Taiin and complete cast dancing his role, there would always be laughter and Gin asks “Aizen-taichou… can you not count?” (on these nights you see the Taiin and on the full cast night Shuuhei, looking around and counting the number of people on stage).
Gin makes some remark and waltz off and Tousen will stomp up the whoever sang the lead and storms off himself.
Gin always walks off going “Aa~aa~ah” so on the final night, Tousen looks at everyone and goes “aaahh!!” really annoyed at all this fuss and storms off, Shuuhei chasing after him as Izuru too runs off after Gin. Hitsugaya-taichou also angrily follows Gin (he is seriously right on his heel) off stage at senshuuraku, and I swear it I was expecting slashing and other sounds of Hitsugaya-taichou murdering Gin backstage.
Hitsugaya-taichou comes on after the excitement has died down and makes one of Hinamori-san because he’s still upset about her comment on his sunglasses.
Toushiro: Baka. Baaka. Baaaka! Stupid bed wetter Momo. Baka. Ba-
Renji walks on: Hitsugaya-taichou! What are you doing?
Toushiro: Oh Abarai… nothing.
He turns to leave and Renji tells him not to worry about it, but is unable to assure him the sunglasses looked good without laughing.
Toushiro: Why you--!
Renji: Ah, it was a joke, a joke!
Hitsugaya-taichou brings up how Rukia is always with Ichigo now and the two sing a new duet. (The only line I really understood was Hitsugaya-taichou’s last line “Time we can’t get back”)
Soifon-taichou cartwheels on and does some cool moves before a giant OMAEDA doll is thrown at her. She grabs it, releases her shikai and stabs the doll. She waves it in the air going “OOOHHHH” as if it were Omaeda calling out in pain.
She throws the doll to the centre of the stage and grabs it again.
Soifon: “What’s wrong Omaeda?” *waves doll in the air*
Soifion/Omaeda: Oooohh!! Sooomeeoonne, heeelp mee, ooh heeelp! *is thrown across the stage again*
Soifon: This is the end *stabs again*
She goes onto throw the doll around, bashing it’s head against the head, stepping on it, head butting it and then finally launching it half way across the stage.
(By far the funniest scene no matter how many times you saw it)
She calls the doll boring and summons the taiin, only to beat all of them up too. She leaves in a huff and all the taiin are left looking very frightened.
The TAIIN song starts and the line is now “Someone … please tell us…just how do we keep winding up in these situations?” They have carried the Omaeda doll into the centre and lain in between them like a lost comrade. Then a SECOND LINE!
“And… just… what Division are we in?”
Izuru then runs on stage saying he understands their feelings and knows the perfect song for the moment; HIGH RISK, NO RETURN!!!
Izuru and Shuuhei have mostly split Matsumoto-san’s lines between them, and the taiin have taken a few as well. The song is pretty much the same, if not better to be honest because Izuru and Shuuhei are together; a LOT.
The funniest part has to be when they sing “Who even needs a Captain”, EVERY CAPTAIN runs on stage and just glares at them, Izuru, Shuuhei and the taiin back into each otherm rather frightened until the Captains all just as swiftly disappear again.
Instead of putting up two fingers like they did in Bankai:002, everyone holds up a single finger at the end of the song and chant “ONLY ONE! Only one! Only one!” as they march off stage.
Ichigo and Yoruichi-san hop onto the stage and Ichigo realizes as quickly as the audience;
Ichigo; “If it’s just the two of us… don’t tell me next is that song!”
Yoruichi-san laughs and confirms for Ichigo that indeed next is “that song” and Rukia wouldn’t have all the fun by joining, because this time, she was joining in too! Before she can open the song though, Ichigo cuts in saying it’s really unfair he is the only one to be left out of the song. “It’s ten minutes, TEN MINUTES!” He says he’ll join too, but Yoruichi-san tells him he’s not even part of the Gotei 13. So Ichigo says he’ll just dance with the taiin! Thus Ichigo opens “Mou Hitotsu no Chijou 2010; All cast version!”
As usual they did the last two times Burimyu was in this theatre, the cast comes through the back doors with lanterns (everyone was already turning around before Ichigo was even done talking) and make their way up to the stage.
(Once they form 2 lines, the 369 boys are all together :3)
Turning back to the stage you see FIRE. They had fire stands on stage! The ordering was changed slightly, with the addition of Yoruichi-san but of course the loss of Aizen. But never the less, the song was brilliant.
(What I don’t understand is why it went Matsumoto-san, Hinamori-san, Hitsugaya-taichou. It would have made more sense to keep the 10th together, I’m pretty sure those two girls have the same melody for their parts anyway!)
An interesting part I noticed was how Ichigo is off stage for the 4th Division’s part, but when Rukia begins, he comes on stage and kneels down to watch her, and once she’s finished he dashes off again. Intersting touch.
Ichigo fanboys about how awesome the song is afterwards, Hitsugaya-taichou even mutters “you didn’t even sing though”. Rukia interupts him and tells him that she needs him to be her backup dancer for the next song, but Ichigo says he can’t do it, so he has to pick a replacement. Ichigo picks someone and runs off. Rukia will ask that person if it’s alright and once they agree, she calls “Music!” and on comes Song For You.
Renji always guides whoever it is to their starting position, and always looks very “senpai” like, as he is the ‘usual’ back up dancer for this song.
Ikkaku; HILARIOUS!! He was so energetic about it, and halfway through broke into his “luck luck” dance- which distracted Renji, who was still trying to dance but was laughing at the same time.
Hanatarou; Adorable, and I think he broke into his own dance at one stage too.
Unohana-taichou; Amazing! She did it so well, without ever breaking her character’s grace!
Hinamori-san; SO CUTE!! And she and Renji kept smiling at each other too~
Hitsugaya-taichou; Awesome~ He was doing it rather dramatically, sort of ‘just because I can’.
Izuru; The way he SMILED the whole way through, he just looked like he was enjoying it so much! He too, smiled at Renji a lot, with Renji smiling back. (ACADEMY TRIO LOVE)
All cast; BRILLIANT. They had prepared this before hand as everyone seemed to have a spot to stand and the whole thing was very neat and tidy.
Good god Nagayan can … bend over backwards. I was a little worried his head was going to touch the floor and he’d fall over or something.
After this people exit for Ichigo to come out in his Bankai outfit to sing Where is My Body.
Next is the final spurt to the end. Everyone comes back on with their swords and sing Yureru Soul Society; now with choreographed moves! They don’t dance per say, but perform with their swords similar to the way they did it in Bankai:002.
(I remember watching this part at senshuuraku, it came so quickly I was thinking “nonono! It can’t be ending, it can’t be ending!!)
Finally, everyone sheathes their swords and begin BLEACH.
Once that’s over they all wave and say bye, Ichigo thanks everyone and they all leave the stage.
Everyone claps and it eventually falls into a rhythm as we all wait for the encore (one night it was really messy though, and at senshuuraku there was a lot of energy, like everyone was pleading for it not to end).
Soul Shout was the encore this time around and Ichigo’s voice is heard thanking everyone again. The cast run into the audience and spend the first verse singing and dancing with the fans. And of course with much thanks to Tuti’s dance studio from the DX dvd, everyone knew the chorus~
Some of the taiin even managed to bolt upstairs.
They all run back onto the stage for the second half of the song. Characters are split into trios and dance separate little dances in their own areas around the stage.
The end of the song is also when the canons of streamers burst into the audience, and everyone says goodbye again, waving and the show ends.
SENSHUURAKU
Of course at senshuuraku no one moves and falls into the rhythmic clapping again. My friend and I were crying and saying to each other that they couldn’t just let it end like that, they couldn’t!
And as expected, the cast come back in two conga lines. They enter from either side of the stage, hands on each other’s shoulders until they meet in the middle to form one line.
Tatsuya!Ichigo of course addresses the audience and opens simply with;
“Today was the final show.”
The audience laughs, as everyone is a complete mess of tears and sniffles, kind of like “no duh, why else would we be crying like this?”.
Tatsuya laughs and says “Did you guys know that?”
He goes on, thanking everyone for everything these last 5 years. He talks about how much this show has meant to him, and how he became an adult through this show (having started when he was 19/20), and that this show was his entire youth.
He passes the attention to Eiji!Renji who is also trying to be strong. He tells everyone that shouldn’t cry (as if) and that tomorrow they will all move on. We all have to keep our chins up and keep walking our own paths, and we have to go on towards the future and get on with our lives. But just for tonight, we can cry our hearts out.
Tatsuya concludes by thanking everyone again, and he is really strong until he virtually breaks down at the end of his last sentence. Everyone cheers for him, encouraging him and he opens the special extra encore for tonight; The Other Side of A Limit.
The entire cast is already on stage and they simply step forward when they reach their part. Tatsuya throws an encouraging grin at Kouhei!Hanatarou when it reaches their part because the poor boy’s entire face is basically red from crying.
Nagayan was more or less a mess too, the girls as well, and I heard even Naoya was shedding enough tears to smudge his 69.
As the song continues, white stars and hearts begin floating down from the ceiling, creating the most beautiful image. I managed to catch one and it seemed the cast had written little messages on them. You see some of the actors trying to throw down some of the stars/hearts that accidently land on the stage.
At the end of the song, everyone waves and says goodbye one last time, until finally the curtain drops.
No one is able to get out of their seats yet as everyone sits there crying and mourning the end of this wonderful show. I myself could not get a grip of myself and was crying into my knees.
Tatsuya appears one last time, having gathered all the stray foam hearts and stars from the stage and passes them out into the audience. He thanks us all again and disappears.
The heartless ushers begin asking people to leave a minute or two after the show had officially ended, but of course everyone is still so shaken with emotion, it takes us all a lot longer to empty the theatre than it usually would.
We were allowed to linger outside of the theatre for about an hour until the cast came out to leave for their after party. We were given one last chance to say goodbye, and it was nice. Some of the cast members looked absolutely drained though (Naoya!) but some still had their usual energy (Tuti).
And then… it was over.
AHHH.... thank you so MUCH... :D
ReplyDeleteThis is just great, why do I just find this recently... >_<
but how come you know about all of their show??? do you really watch all of them? I'm so jealous. I wish I can go to Japan and watch this great Bleach again
Thank you for sharing, this all so precious. I'm really moved by what you write. And yeah I can feel the sadness when it reachs the other side of a limit. the casts all are so great and the their characters are the best.
I want to watch this all over again....
,~_~,
NB:
So Ichigo comes on stage when it's Rukia's part to watch her? so sweet...
woah- its 2017 and almost 2018 and we just reply you- how "awesome" We are.... sorry, and yes! they are the bst cast eva!! Thanks for loves my blog!
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