Storify.

As is to be expected from the title (Birth! The Princess of Darkness Black Lady) this is a Myu retelling of the Black Moon arc. It looks… a little differently from what you might be expecting, though.

It’s made a couple of changes to allow for the whole senshi cast to appear in the musical, for example, and it sticks to the formula of “Let’s show off every single Sailor Moon costume upgrade” that, I think, all of the second stage musicals have had if not also most of the first stage musicals.

And… So far I like that. It’s really fun to see the musicals stick to roughly the same story and yet manage to spice it up with those smaller changes because it makes the whole story feel much fresher and unexpected. Also the changes meant we pretty much got rid of most all of the daughter/father romance ick that’s in this narrative as well as the part where Demand(o) sexually assaults Sailor Moon. (That particular change also had to do with the fact that Marina was 12 when she played in this musical.) Those are my favourite changes about the whole musical, really.

But the issue I have with this musical is pretty much the same as I’ve been having with most of them: it relies heavily on viewers already knowing key aspects of the narrative, such as the relationship between Chibiusa and Pluto and Chibiusa’s frustration at not being able to transform into a senshi. Honestly, I shudder to think of watching this musical without any prior exposure to the R arc because I doubt it’d make all that much sense to me. I mean, I know the musical is likely aimed at fans who, like me, already know the backstory in the arc and just wanted to see the story acted out in a stage musical, but still. I would have liked it to stand on its own more than it did. 🙁

I’m hopeful that the revision will address the biggest of my concerns. We know from the new musicals that it’s totally possible to fit the narrative into a 2 hour musical, after all, and all I really want is just a little more build-up to the key moments of the second part of the narrative and to get the change I really want (establishing Chibiusa and Pluto’s friendship better) you only need to alter a couple of lines from an early scene.

Anyway, despite having some narrative issues with the musical, I did enjoy it. This musical especially suffered from being one of the later ones I’m watching, I think.

I adored Petite Étrangère when that came out. Absolutely adored it and this is very unfair of me, but I couldn’t help comparing the two as I watched and the script of the new Myu is just better. And the enthusiasm, while there, is nothing compared to the enthusiasm of the first stage musicals especially. So part of my lessened enjoyment is also just that I’ve already seen so many of the Myus that I’m starting to figure out what my preferences and favourites are.

Though, honestly, I would probably have loved the heck out of this musical if it’d just stood on its own more effectively.

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Here’s the Storify!

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As promised, tonight’s musical is the revised version of Transylvania no Mori. You can read the Storify here.

There were, um, quite a few changes to this musical. The second half especially is massively different, with a far greater focus on the Samael/Sailor Quartet as enemies and a completely different role for Astarte that, while not working for my perfectly, works a lot better than the original musical did.

Also Dracul returns because Reasons and the tearful final scenes where everything is going wrong were tearful and upsetting and works masses and masses better for me as well. Some of the same plot issues remain and I don’t think the musical manages to live up to its narrative potential even with the changes, but you know what? It was fun to watch and I got really caught up in it and, honestly, that’s really the main thing I want from all these musicals and the original version, sadly, didn’t give me that. At all.

I didn’t even remember we were going to get a revised version. That’s how badly I wanted to forget it. (Also, my memory is rubbish in general, but that’s not nearly as dramatic to say.)

Next week we do get the third and last instalment in the Dracul trilogy! I double-checked.

And after a weeklong delay, we finally return to the livetweeting of the second instalment in the Dracul saga of Sera Myu. You can read the livetweets here.

This Storify is late largely because I was way way too tired to tackle a livetweet last week and then depression hit for, um, quite a while and when it wasn’t that it was just plain being busy with offline things. So since everyone’s been very kind and putting up with my irregularities first, I opted to just do one and a half musical today! (Watch me not manage to finish the third instalment now either.) That way I don’t have to reorganise the schedule for people.

Anyway! This musical is properly titled (in translation): Decisive Battle / Transylvania’s Forest ~ New Appearance! The Warriors Who Protect Chibi Moon ~ though Chibimoon plays a really small part compared to other musicals. My main impression of this musical is that the presentation of its plot is every bit as messy as some of the First Stage musicals were and, as a result, just as confusing and scenes nearer the end of the musical that should be packing a hefty punch just don’t manage.

I mean, if I’d been a child? Yeah, probably I would’ve enjoyed it just fine. As an adult my main impression of the plot is “Look, if I wanted to construct a sensible narrative arc for all these characters from the scraps you’re giving me, I would be writing it already. I just want to be entertained with a story that does not feel like it’s falling apart at the seams”. Which is a shame because this musical, even more than the previous Dracul musical, offers a chance to really, really dive into some deep questions about humanity and ethics in a way that it’s accessible to children and adults. It’s trying to do some really interesting and neat things. Though, uh, that all said and I haven’t said it in the livetweets, but wow the way it uses Judaism made me really uncomfortable.

I really, really wanted to like this musical. It’s introducing some great ideas in the characters of Vampir and the Amazon Quartet (it does introduce Elizath Bathory and Gilles de Rais – in a musical for children, yes – and then proceeds to do barely anything with either of their backstories which is just a wasted opportunity all around), but it’s also trying to introduce so much and include such grand ideas and dilemmas that nothing every truly gets a chance to shine. This is especially true of Sailor Astarte. She gets this scene which is so inspired by Mistress 9 taking over Hotaru and it’s supposed to be this supermeaningful moment between her and Usagi, but we’ve seen her, like, thrice? And only briefly as the scenes quickly moved on to focus on other more important things? So we know nothing about her at all and we have absolutely no reason to really care and. Just. WHAT WAS THE POINT OF IT ALL THEN.

And… Yeah. I’m pretty sure this musical is going to be one of my least favourite Sera Myu musicals if not my least favourite. T_T