JIDAIGEKI / CHANBARA OTHELLO AU

JIDAIGEKI / CHANBARA OTHELLO AU

Oni no Me mo Mi-mo Namida (Even Ogres have Tears in their Eyes)

Ever since he was orphaned and fled persecution from the Catholic League and Inquisition in his native Low Countries (so it's 30YW times or such) by stowing away on a clipper, Louis has been a stranger in this strange island nation as rent by war as the Europe he left behind. Towering head and shoulders over everyone else, blond, blue-eyed, bearded, and burned rosy by the hot sun, he's had to struggle for his life, and for a niche in the establishment, ever since he landed here as a pre-adolescent.
With his second-in-command, personal translator, and boyhood friend Ritsu-kun, an Osaka lowlife, stevedore, and interpreter with his wits about him (and who sees the fair leader as more than just a friend), Louis Vreeswijk, now called Aka-Oni (Red Ogre), leads a rebel group against the shogunate.
However, a botched castle-storming has the paths of Louis and Ritsu cross with those of Ayame, a spirited, kind-hearted heiress (and daughter of the iron lady dowager Kikuhime); aside from her adopted brother and childhood playmate Hideki, and her intended fiancé Ryóga. By Ayame's and Hideki's side, Louis finally sees that there are those who love him, instead of dreading him, for his strange features, seeing the man instead of the monster... and the feeling is mutual, reciprocated.
Too sorry that a jealous Ritsu takes advantage of Ryóga's shyness, Hideki's weak head for liquor, and finally Louis's deepest fears about Ayame... all to keep the one he loves all for himself...

All Ayame Sengakuji wanted was some freedom from the constraints of a noble only child's ordinary life in the late Warring States era, bred for decoration and to carry the dynasty further.

All Louis Vreeswijk wanted was not to be seen as an ogre (oni) due to his foreign European features: rosy and blue-eyed, with facial hair and towering head and shoulders above the locals.

"WAKE UP, LADY SENGAKUJI... THEY'RE TAKING YOUR DAUGHTER TO OGRE ISLAND (ONIGASHIMA)!"

Add a stevedore / interpreter from Osaka, a dashing childhood friend, a trans kabuki "actress," a spurned heir-to-the-dojo fiancé, a lace handkerchief, a keg of Cognac... and what have you got...

...but a strange Othello jidaigeki AU, in which the "noble monster" is one of us Europeans?

Cast:

• Louis Vreeswijk (Othello)
• Ayame Sengakuji (Desdemona)
• Ritsu (Iago)
• Ryóga (Roderigo)
• Hideki Kisaragi (Cassio)
• Akira (Emilia/Bianca; also significantly an onnagata, ie a crossdressing actor)