MISS DERMARK'S LITERARY RAMBLES: THRICE UPON A SCHOOL PLAY

Go! Princess Precure - Episode 37 (***the School Play episode!***)

My Review

THRICE UPON A SCHOOL PLAY

READY FOR THE SCHOOL PLAYS?

It's about time for the bunkasai (cultural festival) at Noble Academy. And this year, it will feature a cycle of school plays, a different fairytale or love story performed by each class at the boarding school:

THE PRINCESS OF THE MOON

For those who don't know the Kaguya story, in a stageplay of which Minami will star, the perchance oldest among Japanese fairytales (I know it from watching anime since childhood, for this story has been retold oodles of times, from realistic/historical fantasy through comedic to sci-fi retellings in anime across the history of the medium), here's a quick summary in my own words:
A childless elderly couple found a baby girl in a bamboo stalk on a full moon night and adopted her, naming her Kaguya (which means "Shining") because of the light of the full moon. When Kaguya hit puberty, she had become a maiden beautiful beyond comparison, and her foster grandparents had also made a fortune, so suitors streamed in from all directions. But Kaguya wanted to marry for love, so she sent all of her suitors on engagement challenges which were actually impossible tasks and fool's errands.
Finally, the crown prince of the empire won her heart, he was the only one who loved her and vice versa, they were sweet on one another... but then, Kaguya had to leave her loving bridegroom and kindly grandparents to return to the Moon, where she belonged. Kaguya was the daughter of a moon goddess, sent upon Earth to be raised by mortals. Both the prince and the elderly couple try to keep her well-guarded, but she has her duties and her destiny to fulfil.
The story ends with the heroine returning to her palace on the Moon and her heartfelt, fond farewell to her loved ones on Earth... a bittersweet ending, isn't it?

MINAMI (calmly): We're doing the Tale of Princess Kaguya. I'll be playing the lead role.

In the scenery, a full moon in the night sky is already up as Minami expresses her yearning back home to the prince's armed soldiers sent to guard her. Our Kaido scion is perfectly channelling Kaguya!

And here's what it will look like on stage:

TOWARELLA (FEAT. KIRARA AS THE FAIRY GODMOTHER)
The story of Cinderella, however, needs no explanation to you, readers. Quick recap: Orphan maiden abused and exploited by her all-female stepfamily is denied by said stepfamily to attend the Royal Ball until she has finished her chores. Fairy Godmother offers Cinderella her help and magically summons magnificent ball attire and a carriage with escort, the whole package. The spell will wear off at 12 pm. Cinderella attends royal ball, dances with crown prince and they fall in love with one another, she loses one of her glass shoes on the stairs upon leaving just before midnight. Prince Charming, determined to find the owner of the shoe, decides to visit every blue-blooded maiden in the land and try it on them. Finally, the search leads to Cinderella's estate. Stepsisters try shoe on in vain, then Cinderella tries it on... you know the ending. If you're not from another planet, that is.

KIRARA (cheerful and savvy as usual): My class is doing Cinderella! I play the Fairy Godmother. Towachi is Cinderella.

TOWA (confidently): I'll do my best. Please come watch, Brother.

KANATA (smiling, cheerful): Okay.

"Bibbidi bobbidi boo!" Kirara the FGM chants, waving her wand at Towarella.

Though without their costumes, Kirara and Towa are already channelling the FGM and Cinderella, respectively. Bibbidi bobbidi boo, and the heroine looks surprised at the gown she's changed into.

And here's what it will look like on stage:

KENTOMEO AND HARULIET
Romeo and Juliet, then? Like Cinderella, this story has been retold thousands of different times, so many that the book of its adaptations would be another doorstopper. Shakespeare himself proudly holds the Guinness Record for Most Adapted Author to the Screen. Ever.

Two households, both alike in dignity,
in fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
from ancient grudge break to new mutiny...

Well, let's leave Shakespeare be and condense two hours of seriously tiresome (at least not for viewer geniuses like me) pentameter into "Romeo and Juliet, Long Story Short!"

So it's these two young lovers, who unfortunately belong to enemy clans, yet they manage to marry in secret. However, the boy is punished with banishment for killing another young man, and the girl's parents arrange her marriage to this count she doesn't love at all. A friendly pacifist neutral priest comes up with a cunning plan that abso-frigging-lutely cannot fail: the girl, Juliet, should drink a drug which leaves her ostensibly dead and the boy, Romeo, should be informed of it while in exile.
It all goes completely pear-shaped. He is not informed of it all, thinks she's dead, poisons himself. Then she, awakening and finding his lifeless form, stabs herself with his dagger.
In the end, when both couples of parents finally make peace, they have paid with the loss of their beloved children, only making peace when it's too late. Isn't it ironic? And isn't it sad?

ROMEO AND JULIET: NOBLE ACADEMY, OCTOBER 2015

Adapted by: Yui Nanase

Directed by: Riko Furuya

RIKO: Our class will be doing Romeo and Juliet.

(General acclaim and hand-clapping across the classroom).

YUI (blushing, a little modest): Riko Furuya commissioned me to write the screenplay.

Good R'hllor! If Yui Nanase, in her mid-teens, has rewritten a Shakespearean tragedy for teenagers to perform, that is the drama club scriptwriter's equivalent of the Luther Bible! Seriously! No other drama club scriptwriter has succeeded at such a Herculean task except Nobuko Kataoka (my own counterpart in W Juliet)! I see Yui already in a near future, rewriting Othello at university, when she's 23 like me!

(General acclaim and hand-clapping).

YUI (blushing, a little modest): Thank you!

RIKO: I also recommend Kenta Hirano for the part of Romeo Montague.

KENTA (eager, feverish, though surprised, standing at attention): It would be my h-honour!

BLOND MALE CLASSMATE (cheerful): Isn't that nice, Kenta?

DARK-HAIRED MALE CLASSMATE (cheerful): Keep it up, Drama Club!

KENTA (blushing, a little ashamed): Okay!

RIKO (still calmly): Yui Nanase recommends Haruka Haruno for the part of Juliet Capulet.

In response, obviously, Haruharu freaks out, her beady eyes and wide open maw: I WILL BE JULIET!? WHY!? I THOUGHT YOU, FURUYA, WOULD BE MUCH BETTER! YOU'RE IN DRAMA CLUB!!

RIKO (shyly): I have stage fright. When I'm on stage, my legs go numb. I want to try my hand in directing as well.

Seriously, lots of School Play episodes across fiction revolve around one of the leads having embarrassment issues, an issue that has never happened to me. And moron audience surrogate Haruharu fits the bill. That requisite of School Play episodes is needed because ostensibly otherwise there would be no conflict or plot whatsoever. My Game of Wands fic cast Rhaegar, a cultured nice guy who happens to be introverted, into the "lead with stage fright" mold. No moron, but still with the same issue seen across continuities. He was type-cast as Lieutenant Cassio in Othello, and at a key scene in the play he was given liquid courage.

But again, this series was not written by me...

OBESE STUDENT: I'm in charge of props, then.

SQUARE-FACED STUDENT: I'm in charge of lighting.

SHORT-HAIRED CHEERLEADER (cheerfully): Leave the...

PONYTAILED CHEERLEADER (cheerfully): ...costumes...

PIGTAILED CHEERLEADER (cheerfully): ...to us!

ALL THREE (giving each other high fives): Yaay!!

So the three cheerleaders who were the threefer desporg summon of the matsuri/summer fête episode are in charge of costumes (my favourite part of any play or film!!). Hope they make it look like Renaissance Italy, for this is a pre-teen series, and setting a Shakespeare play in another time and place (or staging Othello) in such a 'verse would be incomprehensible to the pre-teen target demographic.

KENTA (smiling, friendly, encouraging his partner): Haruka! Let's do this together. (Blushing.) I may not be too reliable.

YUI: Haruka, friend, what do you think?

RIKO (cheerful): I think you'll be perfect as Juliet Capulet!

HARUKA (cheerful, smiling): Then, I'll give it a try!

After having finished the script, an exhausted Yui staggers, reeling, into the violin workshop, the Cures' new headquarters.

YUI (weary, slurring): I'm done with the screenplay! (She collapses in Haruka's arms).

YUI (quickly coming to): I'm fine! This is my masterpiece so far!

AROMA (surprised): Yui wrote that?

PUFF (elated): Amazing!!

KANATA (wondering): A school play?

MINAMI (smiling): Yes.

HARUKA (excited): Our class is doing Romeo and Juliet!!

Then, Haruka proceeds to retell the world-famous tragedy in her own words:

"It's about a boy and a girl from feuding families who fall in love with one another. I play Juliet, the heroine!"

That's the premise in one sentence. The blurb. The one-liner. What even middle-class spectators know about this play.

As you can see, the feuding clans in this production are colour-coded: the Montagues wear blue/cool colours and the Capulets wear red/warm colours, just like in Gnomeo and Juliet, in the 1990s film, in the gaslamp fantasy anime, and in the Zeffirelli film (what a serendipity!) I bet neutral characters like Friar Lawrence and Count Paris would wear neutral colours (green, beige, black/white...), or not? There seems to be a colour-coding tradition like this in renditions of R&J...

The whole team of young Shakespeareans is soon busy to the max. Here, you see the costume department on their way to finishing Juliet's pink petticoats.

And the two leads are essaying the mandatory balcony scene, the only one the general public knows from this play, both of them with different results.

KENTA (like a true Shakespearean actor, confident, hammy): That light from the window... Oh! She is my angel!

HARUHARU (cold sweat, in a state of shock): Oh-oh R-Ro-Romeo! Wh-Wherefore art thou Ro-Romeo?

Seriously, Haruharu. This is Romeo and Juliet, not The Queen's Speech. But there has to be a hurdle to overcome for a plot to exist...

A confident person myself, I identify rather with Kenta when it comes to acting and public speaking.

Riko's spectacles flash as Scary Shiny Glasses as she, irate, lowers her rolled up newspaper.

RIKO (irate, over the top, like a drill sarge): Cut!! Cut!! Your voice is too tiny! Your expressions are too rigid! Your emotions aren't in it at all! Please act in tune with the scene!

KENTA (to Haruka and Yui, who commented that Riko is too intense): Pardon her. Miss Furuya gets a bit single-minded when it comes to the performing arts.

RIKO (returning in haste from other work with another team, which had kept her busy): Sorry! Let's keep going.

Haruharu essays the scene over and over, getting scolded by perfectionist Riko at every try for a faux pas, for instance, for saying "Why are you Romeo?" RIKO (drill sarge-like): It's "wherefore art thou"!! Delivered in a louder and less snarky tone than Stannis Baratheon's "Four fewer nails to clean," but still reminds me of it.

In the end, the director has had enough and lost her patience.

RIKO: THIS WON'T WORK AT ALL!!!

Fortunately, the male lead, with a more diplomatic approach to this issue, comes to the rescue.

KENTA (friendly): Haruka, why don't we think about Juliet's emotions together? Over here, I think you should...

RIKO (commanding, writhing and clutching her heart): Sadder! Sadder!! Like you're in love!!

However, drama queen Riko is always harsh as a sergeant, always criticizing every single faux pas Haruharu makes, until the female lead is exhausted.

And then, surprisingly, Riko softens.

RIKO (concerned): Haruka Haruno, I want you to understand your character. If not, the words of Juliet will not reach the audience.

Definitely, all Haruharu needed was a little gentle push from her Romeo.

And from her other Romeo, the one offstage, who approaches her at the riverbank at sunset.

KANATA (seating himself next to her): Haruka? I was doing errands nearby. (Friendly.) What's the matter? Can I read your script?

HARUKA (reaching out the screenplay to him): Sure.

When Kanata has finished the screenplay, he is as moved as I was when my mum told me the story of Romeo and Juliet as a child.

KANATA (sighing): What a sad story. But I think it's a beautiful story. The two lovers stood strong to their convictions.

HARUKA (concerned): What kind of girl is Juliet Capulet? I must... show her emotions... I don't understand it at all. (Sighs.)

KANATA: Is that what you are worried about? Is there anyone who can switch with you?

HARUKA (smiling): That's impossible! Everyone has their own tasks. And... I have decided to do this on my own. If I give up in an instant, it's as if I never had started in the first place.

KANATA (concerned, surprised): You and Juliet are very similar to one another. You are so direct and honest. I just have this feeling.

HARUKA (confidently): I may be as direct as Juliet. (Determined, standing up) Okay! I'll just do this straight on! Directly!! (Massugu!!) (To Kanata, lively) Kanata, will you practice with me?

KANATA (gasps): Huh? (Friendly) Sure.

KANATA (getting up): Here I go then. (Dramatic): Oh, that light from the window... She's my angel!

HARUKA (dramatic, now like a real Shakespearean actress, straightforward, full of longing): Oh, Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet. Romeo is Romeo.

KANATA: I take thee at thy word. If that's what you wish, henceforth I never will be Romeo.

HARUKA: Sigh! Romeo!

For nights, Haruharu stays awake brushing up her Shakespeare.

HARUKA: Why are their families fighting? She is a dreamer... who falls in love...

Kenta, AKA Romeo, even helps his Juliet brush up at class and in the yard, anytime she needs to work on the part.

Soon the whole thespian team begins to come together.

Does the boy with rumpled hair play Count Paris, Tybalt, or Mercutio?

The paper mâché swords begin to take shape.

And so do the lovely Renaissance costumes, for instance, Juliet's gown, with a flower brooch and lined with white lace.

The other classes are busy as well. Though without their costumes, Kirara and Towa are already channelling the FGM and Cinderella, respectively. Bibbidi bobbidi boo, and the heroine looks surprised at the gown she's changed into.

And Haruka Haruno and Kenta Hirano, together, get under the skin of the most well-known star-crossed lovers in Western fiction.

At last the big day comes. The moment of truth approaches with the Noble Academy bunkasai drama cycle this evening. And even Riko Furuya has become more lenient towards her cast!

Yet at class, the Romeo Montague star is revealed to have a little tension within...

KENTA (nervous, tense): I'm going outside to practice for a bit! (He leaves the classroom in haste)

RIKO (friendly, warning): Don't be late for the real thing!

From the top of the entrance steps, he suddenly sees two girls standing from behind. They're dressed in the same colours, but one has the head of a silver hare and the other that of a golden dormouse...

When Stop and Freeze turn around, Kenta, startled and frightened by their facelessness, tries to run away in a cold sweat.

KENTA (falling): Oww!

However, while running, he suddenly trips and falls flat on his face, as the shadows of the twindividual Dysdarks loom over his back...

KENTA (in a cold sweat): Gasp!

As the final performances approach, Kenta appears to have vanished into thin air. A worried Riko looks all over the boarding school in search of him, but to no avail.

RIKO (stressed): I can't find him! Where did he go?

The staff decide to split up and look for their estranged Romeo.

RIKO (storming on to the front entrance, worried): Romeo! Ken...ta...!

She gasps in astonishment upon seeing Stop and Freeze hovering over her head.

STOP: You have dreams of your own, too. Show us...

FREEZE: ...your dream.

Their visors flash green as the peephole into Riko's heart is opened by force.

RIKO (in her dreams): I will create the ultimate play!

STOP: Stop...

FREEZE: Freeze...

STOP & FREEZE (unison): ...your dream!!

As Riko's dream is Stopped and Frozen, vines of despair grow in the schoolyard...

As the Cures rush into the scene, they're shocked upon realizing who the victim of the week is. Stop guards Riko's Despair Prison.

FREEZE: There's one more here.

PRECURES (turning around): Eh!?

The Cures turn around to see a Romeo desporg and Kenta in a Despair Prison guarded by Freeze.

Now all that can be said is... PRECURE PRINCESS ENGAGE!

HARUKA (furious, to the twindividuals): Riko Furuya! Kenta Hirano! Give them back!

PRECURES (all four, unison): PRECURE PRINCESS ENGAGE!

SEVENTY SECONDS AWAY

STOP: Against two opponents.

FREEZE: Can you win?

(Well, this series has had twofer and even threefer summons before...)

Kanata and Yui stand, with the pet-servants, breathless at the edge of the battlefield.

FREEZE: Then, we'll win in seventy seconds.

AROMA: Why seventy?

Desporg!Riko has a chronometer to count down from seventy. That's why.

STOP: Start.

70 seconds: Desporg!Riko pushes the button, and the final countdown begins.

66-64 seconds: Cure Mermaid discovers what the chronometer actually is.

CURE MERMAID (shocked): This cannot be... A timed bomb!?

57 seconds: Desporg!Kenta performs Double Team/Tajú Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and splits into countless reduced versions of himself, pitting the startled Cures against a regiment of Romeos.

55-47 seconds: the Cures give everything against the Romeos.

46 seconds: Cure Twinkle, with a burst of starlight, does to the Romeos what Gustavus Adolphus did to the Leaguers at Breitenfeld.

CURE TWINKLE (determined): We don't have time for this!!

44 seconds: Cure Scarlet curbstomps the Romeos as well.

CURE SCARLET (determined, as she twirls around and fires a spiral of Scarlet Spark): Time is running out!

30 seconds: Cure Mermaid has an epiphany that will turn the tides of battle...

CURE MERMAID (determined): Stopwatches are electronic. If my water can hit it...

CURE FLORA (happy): It may break and stop!

(All right, Haruharu. Only if the stopwatch is not waterproof. Or if it's the Twilight Zone timestopping stopwatch I have often daydreamed of...)

24 seconds... STOP: Interesting.

23 seconds... FREEZE: Can you do it?

22-18 seconds: All the Romeos leap into the air, surprising the Precures.

16-15 seconds: All the Romeos fuse into one.

14-12 seconds... STOP & FREEZE (unison): It's over, Precures.

The Cures storm towards re-fused Desporg!Kenta.

8 seconds: A tourbillon of petals fired by Cure Flora hits Desporg!Kenta right in the solar plexus.

7 seconds: STOP & FREEZE (unison): What!?

4-3 seconds... CURE FLORA (at the top of her lungs): Cure Mermaid!!!

03-02 seconds: A blast of water fired by our Kaido shero lashes at her opponent's timed bomb.

1 centisecond: The stopwatch is drenched and hijacked in the nick of time, as Desporg!Kenta falls backwards to the ground.

CURE FLORA: Today is a very important day!! For Riko, for Kenta, and everyone else at school!! We've done our very best to prepare for today!! We won't let everyone's hard work (ganbaruyo) go to waste!!

As he hears these words, Kanata suddenly has an epiphany... Another one of his memories is surfacing.

Time for encapsuling both desporgs in a single Éclat d'Espoir!

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

After both their desporgs are purified, the twindividuals retreat without saying their usual catchphrase for a change:

STOP & FREEZE (unison): This is all? (They retreat, at unison, through twin keyhole portals).

The dreams of both prisoners are saved at unison, and it is revealed that Kenta's is being a thespian actor (Is the Pope Catholic?)!

When both of them come to, Kenta groans in pain...

BOY WITH DARK UNRULY HAIR: Kenta!

SHORT-HAIRED CHEERLEADER: Thank goodness.

KENTA (rising up until he sits down, in pain): I... Ow...

(Now listen: what he has said is a pair of false friends. "I", the first person pronoun in English, is "yo" in Spanish and "jag" in Swedish. "Ay" in Spanish and "Aj" in Swedish, the pain interjection, are said "Ow" in English.)

Kenta groans in pain and looks down to his right ankle, which is swollen and purple with clotted blood. Having had three sprains (and once to lean on crutches for a week because of it), I know how painful it is.

EVERYONE (shocked): Gasp!

KENTA (clutching his ankle): Just now... (Remembering how he fell while fleeing from the Dysdarks).

KENTA (getting up in haste, swallowing the pain): I'm fine! This is nothing! (He winces and staggers and then falls backwards to sitting down again.

KENTA (broken, shuddering, sobbing): I'm... sorry...

YUKI: Can anyone take Kenta's place?

RIKO (concerned): Does anyone remember Romeo's lines?

YUKI: That's impossible.

RIKO (shuddering, in a cold sweat, struggling with her stage fright): I must... No, I can't!!

Kanata looks into Haruka's eyes with a look of concern, and he has yet another epiphany.

KANATA (approaching Kenta): If it's the part of Romeo... I think I can do it.

Everyone else is astonished.

TOWA: Brother?

SHORT-HAIRED CHEERLEADER (surprised): You're...

KIRARA: He's Towachi's older brother.

SHORT-HAIRED CHEERLEADER: Towa Akagi's?

KANATA (sincerely, hand on heart): I have practised a lot with her. And I remember most of the lines.

YUKI (concerned): Is that okay?

SHORT-HAIRED CHEERLEADER (concerned): I guess he can star in the play...

YUKI: If an outsider joins us, we can't get the award.

(So it is a contest between different classes, like a teenage stage Cannes Festival, and every single group must be comprised solely of Noble Academy students...)

SHORT-HAIRED CHEERLEADER: But that's better than nothing...

And the moment of truth is impending...

VOICE OF TEACHER (megaphone): All students, please go to the gym.

KENTA (in pain, clutching his swollen ankle, groaning): We gave it all... for today... Please take the part... of Romeo...

YUKI (determined): All right... let's do it!!

SHORT-HAIRED CHEERLEADER (concerned): But...

YUKI (still determined): If we explain things properly, I'm sure the teachers will understand! We just can't ignore Kenta's wishes!! (To Kanata) Towa Akagi's older brother. Please play the part of Romeo...

HARUKA: Wait!

YUKI & SQUARE-FACED STUDENT (unison, startled): Huh?

HARUKA: I may not be good at acting, but I think we need to do this ourselves. I may not be finding the right words to say this... I may be a bit stubborn... But I don't care if we fail. (Determined.) I want to create a stage that belongs to our class!

Everyone is astonished.

KENTA (clutching his sore ankle, in tears, sobbing): I knew it... I want to be... on stage! I'm sorry.

RIKO (determined, coming close, soothing Kenta by patting his left shoulder): Let's do this, Kenta Hirano.

KENTA (looking up to Riko, still teary-eyed):

RIKO (determined): But if it hurts, switch with me immediately. Got it?

KENTA (looking at Riko, astonished): Furuya-san!

Though Riko's hands tremble, she is sure of what she is saying.

YUKI (determined): Let's do this! Follow Kenta's lead! Let's do it!

SQUARE-FACED STUDENT (determined): Yeah! We've come this far!

Kenta is already brought up on his feet with Minami and Kirara for adorable human crutches. Though he finds it a little awkward to have to walk with a Lady on Each Arm...

KIRARA: We've got to hurry!

MINAMI (winking her right eye): Let us help you here.

KIRARA (cheerfully): We don't have time.

FLY ME TO THE MOON

The curtain is about to part for the Princess Cures on the stage of today... Up first is the Heian-era tale of Princess Kaguya, starring Minami Kaido in the title role.

GRANDFATHER (?) (desperate): Princess Kaguya! You must not go!

KAGUYA (MINAMI): Lord Grandfather, I must return to the Moon.

Minami faithfully expresses Kaguya's dilemma of being torn between two worlds...

BIBBIDI BOBBIDI BOO!

Next up is Cinderella, Class 1 Star's production, starring Towa Akagi and featuring Kirara Amanogawa as the Fairy Godmother.

FAIRY GODMOTHER (KIRARA) (savvy): The magic will wear off at midnight, at twelve sharp.

CINDERELLA (TOWA) (elated): I understand! I will definitely come home by then.

VOICE OF TEACHER (megaphone): That was Cinderella, by Class 1 Star. Next is Class 1 Flower, with Romeo and Juliet!

Thus, up with the curtain, and let the Bard play!

NEVER WAS THERE A STORY OF MORE WOE

Two households, both alike in dignity,

in fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

from ancient grudge break to new mutiny...

Act One, Scene IV: The masked ball at the Capulets'.

At the masked ball, Kenta dances the minuet perfectly, not caring about his sprained ankle (is it because his stage fever releases endorphins?)

Act Two, Scene II: the balcony scene. Romeo Montague enters the garden of the Capulets' mansion, where their only daughter, his beloved, is waiting for him on the balcony.

ROMEO (KENTA): Oh, Juliet! Where art thou? (Passionately.) That light from the window... Oh! She's my angel! (He trips and falls flat on his face, racked with intense pain)

Yet this Romeo begins to get back up again...

JULIET (HARUKA): Who is over there! (Coming down from the balcony) Oh! You are Romeo! Your leg is hurt! How heartbreaking! (She helps Romeo/Kenta get back up again).

JULIET (HARUKA) (passionately): Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo! That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet. Romeo is Romeo!

ROMEO (KENTA) (passionately): I take thee at thy word. If that is what you wish, henceforth I never will be Romeo!

The lovers get married by Friar Lawrence...

Romeo crosses swords with Tybalt...

Finally, Romeo and Juliet are together in death.

Backstage... Kirara, free from her blond wig, is pleased with how the performance unfurls.

The director and scriptwriter, both excited, give one another high fives.

Even the Headmistress and Deputy Headmistress are pleased with such a rendition of Shakespeare's tragedy most used for School Play plots.

ROMEO AND JULIET: ENCORE

After the play, at sunset, Haruka and Kanata are sitting on the riverbank.

HARUKA (pleased): Thank you, Kanata. Somehow, we were able to do our best until the very end.

KANATA (smiling): Haruka, you're so straightforward (massugu). Just like Juliet.

HARUKA (standing up, passionate): Oh, Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

KANATA (bending the knee, reaching out his hand): I take thee at thy word, if that's what you wish. Henceforth, I never will be Romeo.

There they stand, both of them smiling and enjoying the sunset...

...their friends watching their romance unfurl...

And the final still of this episode is of them holding hands.

But for how long will this idyll last?

To crown this episode, Cure Scarlet does the solo musical number of today's ending!

Kanaetai mirai he no michi (The path to the future you want to make true)
Sore wo "yume" to yobu no nara (You may call that your "dream")
Nakama to hashiri daseba ī yo ne (Just take off with your friends)
Let's Go! (Go!) gokigen'yō (Let's go, go, have a nice day!)
Let's Go! (Go!) Sukāretto! (Let's go, go, Cure Scarlet!)

Doko kako mo ikiru chikara ni (No matter what happened in the past, the power to live on)
Watashi no honō dare mo kesenai (exists in my eternal flames.)
Tsunaida te towa ni shinjite (I believe in these hands held tight, forever)

Yūki tamesu kyō wa kitto (Because I have the courage today,)
Ashita kaeru tame ni aru kara (tomorrow I will definitely change!)

Goran purinsesu! Guran purinsesu! (Take a gander, princess! Grand Princess!)
"Yume" wa hate shinaku tsuzuite (Your dreams will continue on...)
Hora ne! Minna wo matte iru no yo (See! Everyone else is waiting for you!)
Goran purinsesu! Guran purinsesu! (Take a gander, princess! Grand Princess!)
Sharara sekai ni wa shiawase ga niau yo (Shalala, the world deserves more happiness, so...!)
Kibō no kagi de tokihanate! (Set it free with the key of hope!)
Let's Go! Purinsesu Purikyua (Let's go, Princess Precures!)

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:

It's the much expected School Play episode (SQUEEE!!!), in all its period costume and acting glory, and a certain class at Noble Academy, being a bastion of high culture, has settled for staging Shakespeare's most well-used tragedy for teenage School Play plots, id est, Othello.

(No, not Othello! I was actually joking!!)

As you can see, the feuding clans in this production are colour-coded: the Montagues wear blue/cool colours and the Capulets wear red/warm colours, just like in Gnomeo and Juliet, in the 1990s film, in the gaslamp fantasy anime, and in the Zeffirelli film (what a serendipity!) I bet neutral characters like Friar Lawrence and Count Paris would wear neutral colours (green, beige, black/white...), or not? It seems to be a tradition in Romeo & Juliet canon to colour-code this way...

"I can't wait to see which part Seira Azuma will play!! With her otokoyaku appearance, broad shoulders, boyish short hair... I see her dreamcast (only a conjecture/dreamcast so far) as either Count Paris, Tybalt or Mercutio. She would do great as a quirky Mercutio, a dashing Count, or a quick-tempered Tybalt!!" I wrote, at first impatiently and full of fire, upon realizing, to my disappointment, that Seira would not do any Shakespeare.

On the distribution of the plays: For once, we have different classes of students cast in different plays, so there is a whole FESTIVAL/CYCLE of School Plays at Noble Academy!!! Sadly, there's not Othello. Or Twelfth Night. Or the Magic Flute. Or Three Brothers (Rowling). Or Wizard of Oz. Or the Snow Queen, though I have made dreamcasts with NA students for all of these stories. On the dark side, the whole cast will not be concentrated in a single play. On the good side, and this matters more, there are at least three different plays, which means a more diverse offer! It is a contest between different classes, like a teenage stage Cannes Festival, and every single group must be comprised solely of Noble Academy students...

On the Council's Kaguya: We did not see clearly: other than the students playing Kaguya's foster grandparents, whose faces could not be recognized from afar, they were cast according to gender (Shun or Naoto as the one who says "Please don't leave us"?). And Minami as Kaguya was lovely, tailormade for the part, but this can't hold a candle to the Cinderella that would come afterwards. (PS: I seriously have the headcanon that Seira played one of the failed suitors sent on fools' errands!).

On Towa's Cinderella, feat. Kirara as a savvy FGM: The role Kirara was cast into fit her like a glove, being a savvy fashionista. With that blond puffy hair (actually, a wig) and her personality, she reminded me of Bonham-Carter's performance in this springtime's live-action film. Whether Towa Akagi, a real-life orphan and dethroned princess, would trump Lily James was at first unclear to me. But now I see it's true. Towa looks as good in pink as Lily in blue, and her expressions of elation and surprise were wonderful. (PS. In my headcanon, Ranko, Kirara's old-time rival, played the wicked stepmother, dressed in green and acting as a hammy exaggeration of Cate Blanchett's part.)

On how R&J has been woven into GPPC: As you can see, the feuding clans in this production are colour-coded: the Montagues wear blue/cool colours and the Capulets wear red/warm colours, just like in Gnomeo and Juliet, in the 1990s film, in the gaslamp fantasy anime, and in the Zeffirelli film (what a serendipity!) I bet neutral characters like Friar Lawrence and Count Paris would wear neutral colours (green, beige, black/white...), or not? The twist of having not a lead with stage fright, but a lead struggling to please a primadonna director to whom the Bard is SERIOUS BUSINESS, and overcoming that hurdle with her love interest within the play and the one in her life... was beautiful. Ellaria, in Game of Wands, was a control freak as well, and part of the first Dornish arc regarded Jaime Lannister trying to channel Iago for her (and for Elia's) sake, a hard task until he learned how similar both of them (the actor and the part he was cast of) were, much like the Haruka/Juliet parallel, until the primadonna director became more lenient in the end.

On the costumes: The colour and flavour of Renaissance Italy, Heian-era Japan, and nineteenth-century Central Europe, the respective settings of all three plots, are perfectly conveyed by the period costumes. The feuding clans in the Shakespeare production are colour-coded: the Montagues wear blue/cool colours and the Capulets wear red/warm colours, just like in Gnomeo and Juliet, in the 1990s film, in the gaslamp fantasy anime, and in the Zeffirelli film (what a serendipity!) I bet neutral characters like Friar Lawrence and Count Paris would wear neutral colours (green, beige, black/white...), or not? It seems to be a tradition in Romeo & Juliet canon to colour-code this way...

On the scriptwriters: Good R'hllor! If Yui Nanase, in her mid-teens, has rewritten a Shakespearean tragedy for teenagers to perform, that is the drama club scriptwriter's equivalent of the Luther Bible! Seriously! No other fictional drama club scriptwriter has succeeded at such a Herculean task except Nobuko Kataoka (my own counterpart in W Juliet)! I see Yui already in a near future, rewriting Othello at university, when she's 23 like me!

On Kenta Hirano (Romeo Montague): Kenta, you're meant to be an actor. I mean, I see him debuting in his professional career as Lieutenant Cassio in his late teens or twenties, filling the hand-kissing, the "I'm not drunk" insistance ("Thish ish my enshign [pointing at Bianca], thish ish my wight 'and [waving his left hand], thish ish my weft [waving the right one]. I can shtand upwight and shpeag well..."), and the swordsfights with all of that sheer passion and élan he has got. As a school Romeo, I see him as the best actor to play the Montague heir in fiction, whose counterpart in real life (though a pro Romeo) would be Richard Madden (THE KING IN THE NORTH!!). And that resolve to star in the play in spite of his injuries... that is passion. That is an iron will. That is the stuff thespians are made of. And thus, he deserves a song dedication as well:

Empty spaces...

what are we living for?

Abandoned places...

I guess we know the score.

On and on...

does anybody know what we are looking for...?

Another hero,

another mindless crime

behind the curtain,

in the pantomime...

Hold the line!!

Does anybody want to take it anymore?

The show must go on!

Inside my heart is breaking,

my make-up may be flaking,

but my smile...

still stays on.

The show must go on!

The show must go on!
I'll face it with a grin!!

I'm never giving in!!

On... with the show!!!

I'll top the bill, I'll overkill

I have to find the will to carry on...

On with the... on with the...

show!!!

The show must go on!

On Riko Furuya (director of R & J): This young thespian, with her short fuse and her control-freak tendencies, fits the definition of Primadonna Director to a T. And Shakespeare is SERIOUS BUSINESS to her. Love her expressions, just like I frigging adore every fictional character with outrageous emotional display (Shut or Kimimaro, to give two more examples within this 'verse). Renly Baratheon would ask "Is she a ham?" But I see Riko, like me, is powered by passion. Even when she gradually opens up and becomes more lenient towards the cast of her play. Such passion is what Dysdarks have always exploited... Her decision to become understudy as Romeo Montague for an injured Kenta, in spite of her stage fright, shows how much she is developing already...

On the twofer desporg summon: Once again a twofer!!! To be honest, you know how much I love episodes with a double or triple monster of the week!! Both of the victims were, of course, the most likely candidates for StopFreezing: the wannabe thespian Romeo and the primadonna director.

On Kanata's memories: This time, a little more memories have resurfaced from hearing the verb "ganbaru" (the fansubs put it as "hard work" but it's more "giving it all/giving everything"), which may recall Kanata's ordeal as a freedom fighter convicted to the cause.

To wrap it all up: Yet another Shutless episode with enough goodness (School Play episode with gorgeous period costumes) to make up for the absence of my favourite Dysdark. And also a breather, the calm before the storm of the upcoming two-part finale...

IN NEXT EPISODE (38)

There's a new familiar-looking student at Noble Academy. His name, to add more fuel to the fire, is "Kurosu" (Japanese spelling for "Cross", a minimal pair with "Close"). And this cool and badass newcomer Closes in on our sheroes, ready to lure them into a treacherous trap...