The Cinderella Effect ~ Part 3

As predicted, my copy of the Cinderella DVD did arrive on said Saturday. Needless to say, I was elated. I slotted the disc into the player the first chance I got and sat impatiently through the starting credits. Since I was excited to watch the TakaGaki scenes, I skipped the front chapters after gaining enough satisfaction from seeing Risa's name alongside that of Prince Christopher :D

After repeated viewings of Cinderella and her Oji-sama's dance in addition to being enthralled by the body contact between them, the icing on the cake came in the form of the way they were gazing into each other's eyes (Tee hee hee) I was so over the moon after witnessing the subtle interactions between those two, you could say I was floating ridiculously close to my ceiling XD Over that same weekend, I ran through the musical a total of four times. I know that is scarcely enough tribute to be paid to one of my favorite MM pairings. But I truly had no more opportunities to watch it again. Since I own the actual DVD, there is plenty of time throughout the rest of my life to view it again XDDD Here are my thoughts and opinions of the girls (up till 7th gen) after watching.

Takahashi Ai

I had never doubted Ai’s abilities and unsurprisingly, I was satisfied with her presentation of the main role. Leader is a disciplined young woman and judging by Ribon no Kishi, you know Ai-chan would spare no expense so as to deliver the highest level of perfection. Her amazing dancing skills aside, what made me view her in a whole new light is her crying scene during the duet when Cinderella and the Prince held onto each other. How she managed to tear on cue without the help of those little bottles of eye wash solutions would probably remain one of Earth’s greatest mysteries.

Niigaki Risa

Ahhhh my beloved Gaki-san. What can I say except that I was floored by her portrayal of the Prince? Granted, she didn’t make him out to be a cool or imposing figure as most people would expect. But hey, this was indisputably new and refreshing. Prince Gaki was endearing and charming. Akin to the little boy nephew or neighbor who you would whisk home in a heartbeat to showoff and parade in front of all your family and friends. He is the perfect epitome of cute in that red jacket and white pants. With regards to Mame-chan, the only imperfection came in the form of those scarily tall boots.

Kamei Eri

In the beginning, I didn’t feel her hairdo at all. I mean, an orange/pink wig with loops and a weird bun? Nonetheless, it’s hard to not fall in love with Eri. She could pull off adorable even while playing the bratty younger sister. How many actors given the evil character can do that successfully? Her blatant tossing of those cakes / puffs /? added delight to her acting and appealed to the audience. I felt whatever little time she had with the Prince was done exceptionally well. I don’t know if the hand rubbing at the ball was initiative on her part but it was awesome and really upped the comic factor. One final thing about Portia, the peeks you get of her stomach every now and then due to the design of her costume leaves you craving for more *drools*

Michishige Sayumi

As contrary to popular belief, Sayumi did get lines. They weren’t significant ones but at least she got to speak. I’m not sure if I’m right on this but it did seem that the fairies were on stage rather frequently throughout the musical. It could have been due to the fact that they had to flank the godmother in quite a number of scenes. Nevertheless, the bunny did a great job. She was beautiful in a youthful manner whenever she appeared as a townsfolk and relatively believable as the clad in green fairy. I have to give Sayumi extra credit for agreeing to wear that awful shiny green outfit. Oh and she was breathtakingly stunning in the pink gown. Her dance with Koharu? Mesmerizing.

Tanaka Reina

Reina has always struck me as the kind who would fit right into a cosplay function or as a waitress in a maid café. Hence, I didn’t find her image of Joy too hard to swallow. In my opinion, she didn’t exhibit any astonishing acting chops. Her behavior and actions as Joy is very similar to the usual Tanaka Reina of MM which she portrays repeatedly on screen. Although I probably shouldn’t fault her too much for her lackluster performance as it could have been worse if another person was thrust with the elder sister role.

Kusumi Koharu

With her height, Koharu has no problems playing a guy. Previously, I would have had reservations considering how high pitched and squeaky her voice is. However, she has shown both fans and haters alike that she is capable of pressing her voice low. Her role as the herald while not that substantial did make an impression on me. I cracked up every time she had to recite the Prince’s outrageously long name with a straight face and is still dumbfounded by how she manages to not get tongue tied. Koharu can emote to a decent level so I feel she has potential and can achieve great things if trained properly. Her dancing with Sayumi at the ball was perfectly in synch and I find them a very attractive looking pair. I know I mentioned this already but I just had to say it again :D

The Mini Live

As a fan, I love watching MM sing and dance. Therefore, having a mini concert thrown in works for me. On the other hand, if I were someone who went to the musical for the sake of the Takarazuka actresses, the flesh display in sexy red outfits would in all certainty scare me off. Let’s say I was somewhat impressed with the idol group’s performance and was willing to not condemn them to the lowest point in hell after the graduation of every single member I could effectively connect a name and face. Seeing young nubile girls half my age burst onto the stage shaking their hips and flaunting a size zero figure wouldn’t make me a happy camper. No sir, I think I would be extremely annoyed that my respected Takarazuka actresses were placed on the same level as yet another idol group. By catering to wotas, UFA pretty much blew their chances of easing MM or H!P for that matter back into the mainstream fan base. *Sigh* That was from a sensible fan's POV. Now that I can kick off that goody persona, I can announce my utmost delight and affection for the performance. Seeing Ai, Risa, Eri, Sayumi and Koharu looking so hawt in Cinderella Complex, The Peace, Shabodama and Resonant Blue makes my day :P