Blu-ray review: Tiger & Bunny The Live

Tiger & Bunny The Live was a stage play which had a limited run between 24th August and 1st September this year. The venue was Zepp DiverCity in Odaiba, Tokyo; a small live house with a maximum capacity of 2,500 people. As this was a seated event, the audience was smaller than it would have been for a packed standing music gig.

Although the show only ran for nine days there were seventeen performances in total. In spite of this, the demand for tickets was at fever pitch and there were many yelps of disappointment on Twitter when the ticket lottery results were announced. Tiger & Bunny was at the height of its popularity. A 'live viewing' was arranged which allowed fans without tickets to instead watch the performance in real time, either via the online Bandai Channel or in theatres. 99 cinemas across Japan offered live viewings of the very last evening performance, with 15 of the venues also showing the afternoon performance the same day in order to serve as many customers as possible.

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the second of the live performances in Odaiba on opening day, though my seat in the fifth row on the second floor wasn't the best. One thing which surprised me was that the audience wasn't entirely female-dominated; women definitely made up the overwhelming majority of attendees yet I was seated close to some very enthusiastic male fans who provided a sense of balance. They were every bit as excited as the screaming girls and cheered loudly whenever Blue Rose came on stage.

There were quite a few things which made Tiger & Bunny The Live special, from the detailed costumes to the blend of music and high energy combat. For me, one of the most exciting elements was that they'd arranged for the two lead seiyuu from the original anime series to reprise their roles for the stage play. Whenever Wild Tiger and Barnaby Brooks Jr. appeared in their civilian attire they'd be played by the seiyuu. For combat scenes, the duo would be played by performers in their hero suits. Since the hero suits cover their faces there was no problem with continuity as the seiyuu could still provide their voices from off-stage. I've seen a few complaints from western fans that Hirata is too old and stout to play the lanky Kotetsu. I disagree with them; his voice makes the character perfect and even if he can't match Wild Tiger's unrealistic physique, his acting skills are pretty good. Morita received loud cheering whenever he did anything cool - which was often - and it was obvious that he loved being on stage. He sang along adorably to his character song when it was playing and showed off some feisty fighting moves in a scene where the heroes battle in their everyday clothes.

The full cast list was as follows:

News roundup: Sengoku Basara manga is delayed, Tiger & Bunny movie home video release is announced

The Japanese home video release of Tiger & Bunny -The Beginning- has now been listed for preorder, and the package looks extremely compelling. According to the listings, the release date is 22nd February 2013 and all versions will come with Japanese audio and a choice of English or Japanese subtitles. The website notes that the subtitles can be switched off.

There's a first press Blu-ray version, a standard Blu-ray, a first press DVD and a standard DVD. The standard editions come with a special booklet, audio commentary and video extras including commercials, the creditless opening and ending sequences and various promotional materials, while the first press special editions add a bonus disc with 180 minutes of extra material, including Gekijouban Tiger & Bunny -The Beginning- World Premiere (Night+Day Movie Special) and highlights from the Tiger & Bunny New Year Otoshidama Special, as well as a segment commemorating the tickets going on sale in Hong Kong and Road To Theater (title subject to change), which is a digest video including greetings from handshake events and from the stage play. The first pressing also includes an special box illustrated by Katsura Masakazu and an exclusive jacket illustration by Hayama Kenji. There will also be a smaller reproduction of the original movie program in a booklet and a bonus drama CD with the usual 'free talk' with candid words from the seiyuu cast.

Amazon Japan is also listing an exclusive steelbook version of the BD special edition, whereas Animate has a premium version with a "Nathan's Fire Room" (Nathan No Fire Heya) radio CD, and Bandai Visual Club is offering a mysterious set of Origami Cyclone's 'personal belongings' with theirs. Other stores in Japan will be including exclusive posters and clear files to attract buyers.

I think I'll go for the Animate special edition as things currently stand. The fact that I had to write three paragraphs to describe the extras for a single compilation movie really highlights the differences between Japanese anime releases and the cheap overseas versions!

The other news from the last couple of days, accordingly, was that solicitations for the February anime releases in the US have been announced and the pickings are extremely slim. So far, the only ones I'll be buying as they come out are both from Sentai Filmworks, namely Battle Girls: Time Paradox (Sengoku Otome ~Momoiro Paradox~) on Blu-ray and Qwaser of Stigmata part 2 (Seikon No Qwaser), which is sadly DVD-only. I can't even remember the last time there was an entire month with so few interesting western anime releases - and why is the show which I want to buy more also the one which is DVD-only? Grr!

On the manga side of things, the main news for me this week was from Udon Entertainment. The second and final part of Haibara Yak's Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends (Sengoku Basara 2) manga has been delayed for a few weeks awaiting final approvals. It should be coming out in December now instead of November as planned. For some reason, it's still not being listed on Amazon, but it's readily available for order from most other stores like United Publications. I enjoyed volume one and the artwork is stunning, so the finale will be a guaranteed purchase when it finally reaches stores. Let's hope that Udon are able to bring some more of the Sengoku Basara manga titles over in English one day.

Nico Nico Douga: Hetalia and Tiger & Bunny, for a change

For once, these aren't Sengoku Basara videos! The MMD pickup ranking posted yesterday had two fantastically dynamic videos from other fandoms squeezed in between the Touhou and Hatsune Miku skits. Since I haven't prepared a proper post for today, I'll draw attention to these new finds.

In the first of the two MMD videos, Japan and the UK (both  from Hetalia) dance to Sode Fureau Mo Tashou No En.



Next, the Tiger and Bunny characters participate in an exhilarating take on the song Hikari, by Utada Hikaru.

News roundup: Takarazuka's Sengoku Basara is confirmed

There's always so much to report when it comes to Sengoku Basara updates.

The main news for today is that the leaked information from Capcom was correct: the famous Takarazuka Revue will be performing a musical play based on Sengoku Basara in the new year (English press release here). The play will be staged by the Revue's Hanagumi and star Ranju Tomu and Ranno Hana, running from June to July in Shibuya's Tokyu Theatre Orb. Tickets go on general sale in April. I have some mild concerns about how some of the costumes will translate to the reasonably dignified Takarazuka format, but overall this is very exciting news. I wonder if they'll stick to the game melodies for the music or incorporate themes from the anime as well? It's difficult to decide which I want more: a beautiful otokoyaku playing Uesugi Kenshin, or a light-hearted story about Ootomo Sourin singing his way through feudal Japan.

The 'Basarazuka' announcement was timed to coincide with the first performance of Butai Sengoku Basara 3 ~Setouchi Kyouran~. It will be a long time before I can see the Butai show for myself, so in the meantime Capcom have kindly released details of the special stage play merchandise to drive fans further into a frenzy. The two stars of the Setouchi region look fantastic in their costumes. As always some items will sell ludicrously quickly and it looks as though they're initially only on sale to those people lucky enough to have a ticket for the show already. There's also a notice on the official stage play website which advises that visitors to the performance can reserve the DVD version when they attend in order to receive special photograph goods.

On the bright side, typing this did at least remind me to check the status of the Tiger & Bunny The Live home video release. It's coming out sooner than I thought on the 22nd November; I must preorder!

Back to the SenBasa news, yesterday brought us the cover art for the fourth volume of the popular Gakuen Basara anthology manga series and I like the unusual layout a lot more than the previous book's cover. Gakuen Basara 4 is available through any store which carries Japanese books and comes out next week on the 8th November, priced at 1,029 yen.

It looks as though Spring will be a good time to be a SenBasa fan as today Capcom also announced Sengoku Basara Magazine, a premium publication with a lot of special content. More details are due later in the month in Dengeki Maou. There will also be some new Kodansha Box Sengoku Basara 3 novel releases coming up.

That's not all, as Spring will also see the next live event: Basara Matsuri 2013 ~Haru No Jin~ over the weekend of the 30th and 31st of March 2013. The venue this time will be the Ryougoku Kokugikan sumo hall. Guests announced so far are Morita Masakazu (Maeda Keiji), Hoshi Souichirou (Sanada Yukimura), Okiayu Ryoutarou (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) and Ishino Ryuuzou (Chousokabe Motochika). I'm scrambling to check my funds...

It looks as though the next wave of information will be at the end of November, when the follow-ups to most of these announcements are scheduled. Today is also notable for being the day that most applicants for Winter Comiket (FuyuKomi) hear whether or not they will be able to have a space at the event, so to say that the overall SenBasa fan demographic is buzzing with excitement would be no exaggeration.

The other general news is that Sengoku Basara 3 Utage is receiving a priced-down release in Japan on 13th December, just in time for Christmas. On PS3, it's joining the "Playstation 3 The Best" budget line while the Wii version is moving to the "Best Price!" label. Utage is a fantastic game, and even more fantastic at a lower price point. If you wanted more after playing the English adaptation of Sengoku Basara 3 (Samurai Heroes), but were worried about the language barrier importing its standalone expansion, it's now become affordable enough to banish those fears, right?

Finally, the Sengoku Basara fan club "Eiyuu No Kai" (affectionately referred to as "Hideo No Kai" by certain fans) will finally be releasing its second printed newsletter imminently. It's going to contain reports on various events as well as details of an exclusive event DVD. This blog won't be reporting on any of this material directly as it's intended for fan club members only, but on a personal note I'm looking forward to receiving it - as well as paying the EMS shipping fees. The things we do for love.