#have more

let’s be real, unlike previous posts this is not so much a review as a report transcribed directly from the volleyball nerve centers in my heart. you have been warned.

* where to begin. where to even. begin. with kazuma, i guess. what can i say about kawahara kazuma that i haven’t said already? his performance last night was. incredible. i knew it would be, of course, but – god. between friday night, when i last saw the show (and around when i posted my initial review), and daisenshuuraku, we learned the following story:

on saturday night, kazuma joined kenta and kagechan for the third curtain call greeting. and he talked about how why this particular storyline is so meaningful. four years ago, when he auditioned for haikyuu, he was on the verge of giving up acting altogether. acting, which he’s been doing since he was ten years old. (“for the first time since junior high school, i skipped practice.”) but the reason he decided to audition for haikyuu was because he heard kenta was going to play hinata. and then he got the role of ennoshita. and it changed everything.

so during his flashback scene – when first year ennoshita decides to run away from the struggle, only to feel empty and unsatisfied until he goes back. and then, afterwards, in the locker room. “half of what i did was worthless. for the first time i feel like i was able to fight properly to the end, but i don’t feel satisfied at all.” like. it wasn’t just about ennoshita. it was about kazuma.

* the flashback made kenta and kouhei and keita cry. the scene between ennoshita and yamaguchi made kairi cry. and the scene in the locker room made kazuma himself cry. (my entire section was a fucking mess. self included, natch.) it was just. ugh. i’m so, so, so grateful that i was able to see this in person.

* i failed to mention shiota kouhei in my initial review. i really should have. he’s always been good at making tanaka lovable, but here he was also really good at showing his emotional slump. his tanaka is a little bit softer than the one on the page, but it worked. and like, the sheer amount of ennoshita + tanaka supporting each other in the background at all times – high fives, fist bumps, shoulder rubs. it was. a lot. (and it was even more affecting because of kazuma and kouhei’s relationship irl.)

* the curtain call. was so much. as usual, kazuma got an extra swell of applause during his first bow. then during the speeches, as soon, he got such an enthusiastic and long-lasting ovation that he had to cut us off. then in the middle of his speech everyone spontaneously broke into applause again. he tried to keep it upbeat and cheerful, instead of deep and emotional, but he couldn’t stop us having feelings!!! he did ennoshita’s usual closing bit – “ok, applause, applause!!” (clap clap-clap-clap) – which was cute, and it seemed like he’d gotten through it fine… and then, after yuuto, it was kouhei’s turn, and he spun his usual bravado into “thanks for loving tanaka-senpai! even though this time he got daichi injured… even though he caused trouble for his team… even though he had to be saved by ennoshita over and over…” and then kazuma had to turn his back and retreat to center stage and bend over and brace his hands on his legs to hide that he was crying. THEN kouhei did his usual tanaka wordplay riddle, the details of which i forgot, but the answer to which was “isn’t ennoshita great??” at which point kazuma stood up, walked over, and hugged him, so that kouhei ended up saying his final thanks while kazuma just kind of hung off of him. (then kazuma hugged yuuto as well. second years. ;_;)

andthen, after everyone had left the stage except kagechan and kenta, kouhei pushed kazuma back on to take another bow. it’s too bad it sort of overlapped with kagechan bowing, because they deserved their separate moments of recognition… but it’s also not, like, really in question who people were clapping for. if you know what i mean.

* meanwhile, kt-san was laying out his own fair share of emotions. he started with a simple explanation about how after shoen, he was replaced by akisawa kentarou, and then he was lucky enough to be able to come back – and at that ryoutarou just LOST it, like full on crumply face crying. which obviously his teammates thought was hilarious. and then when he saw ryoutarou crying, keita started to cry too. kenta: “guys. we still have the autumn show.”

according to twitter, keita did the noon show curtain call greeting as well, and kenta said that when he first heard from keita that he wouldn’t be coming back for saien, it was just as the anime was airing this part of the storyline, where daichi’s injured. so kenta was watching and like, crying alone in his house over keita leaving. .____.

then ryoutarou: i said i wasn’t going to cry but… (sniffly) keita-san, thank you for coming back.

* whoosh. ok. somehow i gotta move past karasuno. i love this karasuno so much tho.

* i knew yanagihara rin would be in trouble from the moment he came out for his very first scene (he and hinata watching the little giant) with a tear-stained face. and sure enough, he started to break down before his match was over… but to his credit, he still had a strong line delivery, and pulled off his scenes well. just. while visibly crying. XD

* it was pretty cute how although johzenji was the messy free-for-all team on stage they had it together for their curtain call greetings, whereas wakutani were just, like, an uncoordinated blubbering mess who could barely manage to say “thank you for cheering us on” properly. hasui yuma was crying so hard he could barely speak. goku, who looks like mister tough guy, was messy crying. rin started strong… and then lost his composure once he started talking about being together with such great nakama, haha.

* i was right about johzenji – those daisenshuuraku emotions added the last 10% their post-match scene was missing. matsubara, suzuki, and yasukawa were having a particularly rough time handling their feelings. i was on the opposite side of the theater so i couldn’t see misaki’s face, this might just have been nice acting, but her voice sounded pretty choked up? momo had a very sweet moment in her curtain call speech when she talked about how special it was to be part of two teams, and really feel like she supported them equally, and it doubled her enjoyment of the show. :)

* during the last couple nekoma vs fukurodani scenes, i suspect shouri was having some emotions – hard to tell what in his voice was natural hoarseness and what was feelings. but takato was unflappable as ever… until he came out for the curtain call and his little mischievous cat face crumpled in tears. (and i totally lost it. im not too proud to admit that.)

* HAVING SAID THAT, in my initial review i praised team johzenji for doing a great job balancing comic relief/bench work in the second act, so that they were funny without getting in the way of the main match, but people who have not learned that lesson? takato and shouri. (to a lesser extent takumi and shungo but it’s extremely clear who were the key instigators here.) i love them both to death, but it’s all about knowing the right time and place – a key emotional moment in daisenshuuraku is maybe not the time to be slapping shouri’s ass right behind the main characters, just a comment. i hope the camera and dvd production staff were able to capture those scenes so they have the proper impact without the distraction, and then also get doses of elementary schooler antics at other times.

* …however i uh i did appreciate my prime central view of takato spending the e n t i r e second curtain call leaning on shouri, putting an arm around his waist, cuddling him, whispering in his ear, just generally being Peak Takanyan. it was real good for me. XD

* another thing i didn’t mention in the main review – the show closes with a preview of saikyou no team, kagehina facing off with ushijima… who is then joined by a projection of the rest of shiratorizawa. and i want to give props to katou ken for the perfect eerie movements, craning his neck around, as tendou. i think they’re going to be really good.

* since i was just talking about how where you sit really changes your perception of haikyuu stage – this time i was in the fourth row far left, and i actually thought the effects were more impressive there than from eighth row center (my friday seat). some of the diagonal choreo looked particularly good from that angle. but most importantly, so close to the stage there was an incredible sense of height. i was already impressed with the wire work, as previously indicated, but from the fourth row, i had to crane my neck to look up(“ue wo miageru… kyuugi de aru!”) as they went shooting into the air and it really felt, like, awe-inspiring (cheesy, but you get what i’m saying) to see them soaring up there.

* literally, like, will i need to sell an organ to get daisenshuuraku tickets this fall? bc i’ll do it. i’m ready.