Play: Stacys ~The Second Killing of Young Girls a Musical~

Boy, is that title hard to translate.  On Thursday I went to see the widely talked about Musume as zombies play.  Now, unlike many who were probably completely confused by the concept, I was actually familiar with the story. I had never watched the movie myself but I remembered hearing about a schoolgirl zombie b-horror movie several years ago and as soon as I read the title and the premise of the musical in my fanclub letter I knew that was what they were performing.  The only question in my mind was how: how on earth do you perform a play about zombies being chopped to bits on stage?  And with IDOLS!?

The Promotional Poster

Above you see the poster for this time's play.  Of course, as soon as this poster made it to the internet there were outcries of "Reina and Riho dominated again!" forgetting that Kuduu is also in this picture.  Yes, they are the main characters in the story, in fact each is a main character in a separate but interlocking sub-story.  Reina and Riho are good actresses, they work well as leads.  Kuduu does excellent as well.  

Don't let them being leads fool you, the other girls get the same if not more stage time, the stories simply do not focus on them.  But this story doesn't really focus on any of the girls.  The main character is actually the young man who from the beginning of the play where he encounters a weird request by Reina's character that throws his whole life for a loop.  Throughout the play we see him in the background though it is told from his point of view, first about the strange girl he met.  Then about a strange laboratory full of its own secrets.  And finally about a young detective girl and an encounter she has that will change the whole definition of what a Stacy is.

From here on I am going to discuss the story as I remember it.  I do hope the DVD is subbed by someone when it is released as it is excellent.

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Storyline 1 - "My meeting with a mysterious stranger" (that's what I'm calling it)

   So it starts out with a young man sitting gazing at nothing on a bench.  Along comes Reina's character to bug him.  Quickly she throws a weird request at him "Please accept the right to kill me for a second time"  Apparently this is something that many girls are doing these days.  That's right, because girls of the ages 14-16 (different from the novel which was 15-17) all become infected with a strange disease where they die and come back soon after as a Stacy, a being that only wishes to eat and convert the general public, or what we would generally call a zombie.

Reina is in the stage of this disease which is called "Near Happiness", wherein the girl frolics around always happy and laughing at anything.  This is the stage that happens shortly before she is about to die and become a Stacy, and it is at this point that many girls search out someone to kill them later on.  Reina's character unfortunately does not have any family to do the job for her as we learn her best friend became a Stacy and killed Reina's parents.  Reina was the one who had to chop her friends to bits with tools she found around the house.

Over the course of the day in the park, and after we see the Re-killing Forces (what the JSDF has become now that the job of military around the world is primarily to kill Stacys) wheeling off a cart of bodies, Reina and the young man have become close and he has accepted the job of killing her when she comes back to life.  It isn't until the very end of the play where we see the actual scene of him killing Reina in a very long and drawn out death-match.  Before that though we get the Coffee and Milk Dance, a strange dream that the young man often has where girls dance around balancing coffee in one hand and milk in the other.  Hey, no one ever said this kid was sane. (And yes, from what I have started reading of the novel, this is in the novel.)

Masaki demonstrates the ever-famous Coffee and Milk Dance

Storyline 2 - The Stacy Who Talks and the Imprisoned Girls

  Our second storyline takes place in an all girls school where the entire school population became Stacys simultaneously and the Re-killing Forces are now using it as a way to study the patterns of the Stacys.  We meet a very unique Force member who pretends to sing and dance with the Stacys before killing them off as if it is a game.  Except one of the Stacys seems to respond to him as he is about to kill her.  This is the one played by Riho.  She seems to be saying "Help me" which catches the man off guard because Stacys can't talk.  And the fact that Riho resembles his sister who had to kill when she turned.

As the rest of the force members come in ready to clean up the bodies they go to kill this last remaining one before being stopped by crazy man.  They won't believe him when he says she talked because that simply can't be, Stacys don't talk.  Stacys don't have emotions or react to anything, they simply search for meat.  Before they can override crazy man and kill Riho anyways they learn that in another part of the school a truly insane man (driven so by the job he has had to do all these years) has released the locks on all the rooms containing Stacys and the school is in complete chaos.  This storyline is never fully wrapped up, we simply see the Stacys and the Force members fighting and presume that most of the force members are killed.  At the end though all members do hear Riho's Stacy speak and are thrown into disbelief.  This news spreads as a rumor around the country.

Storyline 3 - Drew, the Stacy Hunter

At the opening of this third story we see a hilarious song and dance that is an advertisement for chainsaws that are "sure to get the re-killing done right", and a young girl named Drew.

The last story focuses on Drew, a character played by Kuduu.  She is 13 years old and 11 months, so just before the period where she may become a Stacy.  And she has some special powers that allow her to attack and kill Stacys without having an actual sharp weapon in her hand.

After the opening commercial scene we see her entering what is presented as an abandoned building and approaching a young man who is leading a Stacy (Ayumi) on a leash.  We learn that it is his girlfriend and he is not going to let her be killed.  He swears that she can control her urges and is still the same girl, though we see her straining at the end of her chain to try and kill the young man while his back is turned.

Drew sees this as well and explains to the man that she is simply doing her job, her job to kill Stacys with these mysterious powers she has.  When asked about her name she explains that her name is actually 公江（Kimie) but because of how the character looks she is always called Hamue and decided to rename herself after Drew Barrymore.

She is finally persuaded by the young man to help him hide his Stacy just as the Re-killing Forces arrive and misunderstand the situation.  They are being told to not take any chances and so end up killing Drew before she has become a Stacy (though we know at this point she is in the Near Happiness stage) .

The scene changes and we hear reports of how Stacys are now evolving and becoming stronger, especially those who show mysterious powers are coming back to life with those powers ten-fold.  So an order is given to kill girls before they become Stacys, as soon as they display the Near Happiness signs of laughter and frolicking.

And so the Force Members arrive at what is a hospice for girls about to become Stacys run by a kind but very stupid doctor.  He constantly gets punched and kicked by the Stacys around him, with the girls using the excuse that they are Near Happiness and cannot help themselves.

And here is where all three stories collide.  The boy and Ayumi Stacy arrive at the hospice, with the doctor being amused at what he sees as keeping a Stacy as a pet.  Then Drew arrives, though we know she has been killed, and yet is still able to talk to the soon-to-become Stacys about not giving up hope.  Ayumi speaks in front of everyone, including the forces that have arrived and they realize the rumors are true.  And the Near Happiness girls along with Drew agree to cover for the boy and Ayumi Stacy who seem to be able to form a bond and should go off and create a new life that is half-Stacy half-human.  Reina's Stacy has also been wandering even though she should have been dead and we are left at the end of the story seeing a new world of Stacys being reborn.

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At least that is all I remember.   Of course there are many more details that I don't know where to put in or just how accurate I can relate them to the story but the main thing I want to say is that this musical (yes it is indeed a full musical, with lots of very difficult to sing lyrics about killing and god being a fun-loving madman) is amazing!  It isn't an idol musical.  It is a well-produced and well-rehearsed production.

In many cases the girls are running around so quickly on stage that one mistake could make a few of them end up on a pile on the floor.  All of the girls did an excellent job and portrayed the emotionless Stacys quite well.

Riho, I must say, has gotten a lot of control over her voice recently.   A solo song her character had involved a lot of range and she was able to pull it off flawlessly.  I could say I want Kanon to be the main character, but just because she is my oshi that doesn't mean it is always what I want.  She did excellent in her role and danced fiercely (often on my side of the stage)

I can't wait for the DVD of this to come out.  I want to see it again so badly that if I didn't have work tomorrow night I would pay for the Ustream to see it again.  Anyone who can watch the Ustream should, it is well worth the price of paying for it.

I leave you with a shot from the press performance.