“Takizawa Kabuki Zero 2020: The Movie” (2020)

With Takizawa Kabuki Zero 2020: The Movie now available worldwide on Netflix, I thought it would be helpful for curious viewers to write up something of an explainer. When I saw that the film was going to be made easily available to “outsiders” my first thought was, “This is good news for me” but my second was, “There’s no way anybody not steeped in Takizawa Kabuki lore is going to understand what’s happening on screen and why.” 

(You can also listen to some of this history in my episode 23 on SixTones and Snow Man.)

So let’s start with the absolute basics and go from there.

* Takizawa Kabuki Zero 2020: The Movie is a product of Japan’s premiere male idol talent agency: Johnny’s & Associates. 

* It’s an attempt to craft a movie version of Takizawa Kabuki, a long-running annual stage play dating back to 2006 (under various names) and originally meant as a showcase for the former idol and now-Johnny’s and Associates vice president, Takizawa Hideaki. (Which means, yes, that means it’s “Takizawa Hideaki’s version of kabuki.”)

* Takizawa Kabuki Zero, specifically, is a showcase for the elite nine-member stage performance and dance unit Snow Man. 

* Takizawa Kabuki became Takizawa Kabuki Zero in 2019 when Takizawa handed over the reins to Snow Man. The “Zero” here (I believe) is meant to signal a renewal. The “2020” signals that it’s the version of the stage play from that year. 

* My understanding is that Takizawa Kabuki Zero 2020: The Movie came about because the pandemic forced the cancellation of the scheduled run of the play in the summer of 2020. Making a movie was a way of turning lemons into lemonade. But to push the metaphor to the breaking point, this tall glass is refreshing but it’s also an acquired taste (and there are a few sour notes.)

Something I brought up on multiple episodes of the podcast is that Johnny’s & Associates has a strong theater division. This culture of attending stage plays is almost completely invisible to foreigners looking at the industry but it is a deeply important part of the Johnny’s & Associates idol culture. There are numerous productions that get refreshed and revived annually. Shock, PLAYZONE, Dream Boys, Shonentachi, A.B.C-Za Johnny’s Densetsu, and Johnny’s Island, among others. Some have loose plots and others are closer to revues. There is also a big overlap with the theater traditions of the all female Takarazuka Theater troupe, whose main theater in Tokyo is located literally next door to one of the theaters where these Johnny’s shows take place and the fans of both mingle interchangeably. (The traditions are so linked that you can often find former Takarazuka actresses cast alongside the Johnny’s talents.)

There is a unique fan culture surrounding these stage plays, completely different to anything you’d find outside of Japan. Speaking from personal experience, (I’ve seen multiple runs of A.B.C-Za Johnny’s Densetsu as well a few other Johnny’s plays and numerous Takarazuka productions), a large plurality (if not outright majority) of fans attend multiple times in order to make sure that they appreciate everything. Fans will try to see the show from close enough that you get hit with water or sweat from on stage (which may be further away than you think if Tsukada Ryoichi or Nakajima Kento is on stage), from far enough back that you can appreciate the full mise-en-scène, on the side where you know your favorite idol is going to appear in a pivotal scene, on the aisle where you know the actors will run down during another pivotal scene, and so on. It can be an expensive hobby but no more so than shelling out to see your favorite sports team’s playoff run. Television is a poor substitute for feeling the roar of the crowd in your bones--or the pounding of the massive taiko drums. 

And then there’s the opera glasses. Any even half-serious fan will bring a pair of opera glasses with her to the performance in order to catch the facial expressions of her favorite idol, even when he’s hidden way back on the stage. In fact, I have a pet theory that one of the reasons Snow Man are so good at live improvisation is that they have spent well over a decade playing everything from back dancing ninjas to 1960s GS band The Spiders trying to entertain not just each other but also the women and girls they know are watching closely through opera glasses. (Snow Man members Fukuzawa Tatsuya, Abe Ryohei, and Watanabe Shota were in the very first run of Takizawa Kabuki in 2006; Iwamoto Hikaru, Sakuma Daisuke, and--my favorite--Miyadate Ryota joined them in 2007.)

These stage shows are built not only for multiple viewings (e.g. there will be scenes that change subtly every night with comedic improvisation) but also for informed audiences who will be expected to have either attended previous runs of the play or to have studied up before they attend. When I went to see A.B.C-Za Johnny’s Densetsu for the first time in 2014, I prepared by learning the basic story and reading interviews with the cast about the production. I would have been completely lost otherwise.

Unlike the narrative-driven A.B.C-Za Johnny’s Densetsu, Takizawa Kabuki is a revue made up of vignettes that change each year but fans will still be expecting certain elements when the curtain goes up on that year’s run. Of course there will be sword fighting and songs but on top of that, fans will be expecting (and here’s a digest version of the 2018 play for a quick visual): 

* The namageshou or “live application of makeup” where the idols will sit on stage and carefully apply the white foundation and striking red and black kabuki makeup designs to their faces.   

* The “mask dance” where the dancers appear on stage wearing white harlequin-style masks and as the song progresses they change the color of the masks with a neat bit of stage magic. 

* The fukkindaiko or “Abdominal Taiko” which is a brutal workout but must be incredible to experience live and in person. The entire male cast strips down to just trousers and performs a taiko drumming routine while laying prone, holding themselves up by the strength of their fukkin or abs to hit the drums. (Make sure those opera glasses are ready!)

* “Gojo Ohashi,” a recounting of a traditional story featuring a duel of sorts between the monk Benkai and the great warrior ​​Ushiwakamaru who appears disguised as a beautiful woman.

* The song “With You”, written by Takizawa himself. 

* And there’s water features. After all, the “Taki” in “Takizawa” means “waterfall.”

All of these make an appearance in Takizawa Kabuki Zero 2020: The Movie for this reason.

So, let’s get to the movie. The film combines a good portion of the Takizawa Kabuki Zero stage performances from 2019 with a few music video style performances of Snow Man songs and a lengthy period vignette filmed in Edo Wonderland all sandwiched into a Never Ending Story framing involving a young boy reading book which itself is inceptioned into the overall framing of a stage play. Elements of 2019’s optimistic theme (“sakura” or “cherry blossoms”) have been kept--notably the opening song “Hirari to Sakura”--but the framing with the young boy reading alone in his room and afraid to go out changes the tone considerably to something more melancholy.

While I enjoyed the film immensely as both a fan of Snow Man and of Takizawa Kabuki more generally, the film (as a film) was something of a mixed bag. There were two big problems, as I saw it, and both are tied to the film’s genesis as a pandemic replacement for the stage production. For viewers going into this movie with no context, I think it will be helpful to flag these up front.

First of all, despite making the film widely available (with English subtitles!) most of the content does assume some familiarity with both Snow Man and the Takizawa Kabuki series and will be extremely confusing without that familiarity. I was imagining my mother sitting down to watch this with me because she enjoys musicals and then felt the exact point during the over-long “Nine Swordsman” vignette that she would excuse herself to “check something” in the kitchen and then conveniently not return. (This post is an attempt to help provide some context and explanation missing from the film itself to mitigate the “needing to check something” factor. Also note that Netflix does not provide English subtitles for the sung portions of the film.)

The second problem is that the mixture of film and stage is not always effective and sometimes actively detracts from the performances. As viewers, we process film and theater differently. When I see a magician pull a rabbit out of a hat live on stage, that’s real magic. When I see it on film, it’s not real magic, just CGI or some camera trick. There’s a big difference between seeing an actor do a stunt live on stage in front of my face and watching something I know could be faked with CGI or some other trickery. What I’m getting at is seeing Miyadate Ryota suspended above the stage doing aerial work with no safety harness or anything is absolutely incredible in the filmed version of the 2019 Takizawa Kabuki Zero production but loses the magic when translated from the stage to a filmed setting because we lose that “live on stage” context.

There are enough moments like this where what is magical on stage becomes mundane in a film setting that I hope the team will re-evaluate if a film version is attempted again. Even though fans know the performance skills are not faked, the movie audience should not be left in any doubt either.

Still, there is a lot to enjoy here and the hybrid theater-film movie works quite well in other places. The “Goemon” vignette is superb, taking the stage choreography to another level with the addition of an “on stage” band and chorus and letting the camera drift far closer to the actors than we’d otherwise see. Goemon is a famous historical thief and popular character in kabuki plays. He was eventually captured and put to death by boiling (not shown). This section is preceded by a nod to the namageshou and the big entrance of the titular Goemon (played by Iwamoto Hikaru) in his kabuki makeup and over-the-top costume is a delight. One of the most interesting additions to the vignette was how the chorus would sing the name of the Snow Man member who was in frame at the moment. This would have been impossible to do in a stage production since there’s no way to know who any audience member is peeping at in her opera glasses at any one time but it added something really special to “Goemon,” giving it an even more larger-than-live feel. The big crowd pleasing moment where Miyadate (mi-ya-da-te) tosses his sword to Iwamoto (i-wa-mo-to) from halfway across the theater falls a bit flat for reasons listed above but overall the mixture of film and stage worked very, very well here. 

Another vignette that straddled that film-stage line very well was the one titled simply “Suite”, which again takes the stage choreography and makes it even more larger-than-life. The members race onto a stage filled with clowns and female dancers/baton twirlers of the 2019 production (don’t ask, just go with it) and also now including a woman doing mermaid swimming in what looks like an upside snow globe and then we get this nice shot that captures the whole stage as the members dance, the camera drifting slowly back and forth. Then there’s a moment where Snow Man runs off stage and comes bounding back on from the wings with these flying leaps. It’s nice on stage but for the filmed version the camera was brought around so that it looks like they’re jumping right at you and a nice slow motion effect was added for just that little bit extra. Again, a good use of movie magic to add to the theater production. The section finishes with a truly glorious rain dance, the members collapsing on the ground at the end.

There’s also the couples dance where Sakuma Daisuke and Abe Ryohei appear in full onnagata (female kabuki dress; here’s Saotome Taiichi performing as an example) to dance with Meguro Ren and Watanabe Shota. No special effects required; just lovely and very skilled performances. 

Most of the second half of the film is taken up by the extremely entertaining tale of Nezumi-Kozo (“rat boy”) which (again) is going to be extremely confusing if you’re coming in knowing nothing. Here’s the short version: back in 2014 Takizawa played Nezumi-Kozo (a famous Robin Hood type thief from Japanese folklore) in a television drama titled, Nezumi, Edo wo Hashiru and he also incorporated the character into a vignette for Takizawa Kabuki. For the Snow Man Zero version, we open on Nezumi’s funeral and the vignette centers on the characters attempting to find their own way without Nezumi--a plot that makes sense only if you know that it parallels Snow Man taking over Takizawa Kabuki. 

This entire section is delightful. It was filmed on location at Edo Wonderland and the comedic fourth-wall breaking done by the cast on stage translates very well to a film context. Snow Man are all extremely capable actors and they tone down their on-stage characters just enough to make them read as natural on film without going too far. Not too big, not too small. Just right. This section is all subtitled on Netflix and if you’re looking for just a taste of Snow Man and Takizawa Kabuki without necessarily committing to an entire film, I’d suggest watching the opening number (embedded above) and then skipping ahead to the Nezumi section (about an hour or so in). It’s absurd and extremely funny in all the best ways.

The characters are: 

* Omaru (Fukuzawa Tatsuya in his best panto-dame drag), a vain shopkeeper in love with Nezumi.

* Shinkichi (Iwamoto Hikaru), a policeman who finds himself considering taking up Nezumi’s mantle.

* Shinnosuke (Miyadate Ryota), a pompous nobleman who has lost his life’s goal with Nezumi’s death. (Miyadate is hilarious. There’s one part that had me in tears where he runs into a woman on the street and then they keep going the same way as they try to get around each other.)

* Abezou (Abe Ryohei), a cat. (And honestly only Snow Man would put one of their most handsome and charismatic members in a cat costume and have him talk exclusively in meows.)

* Kinosuke (Sakuma Daisuke) and Ginosuke (Watanabe Shota in “ugly” glasses), two wealthy and vaguely incestuous brothers. Their names translate to gold (kin) and silver (gin). Kin-san is flighty and air headed while Gin-san is a massive nerd. 

* The Shadow Gang: Izo (Raul), Kanbei (Mukai Koji), and Hanbei (Meguro Ren). Villains looking to cause havoc in Edo… except Izo might be having a change of heart.

This section ends with a massive stage fight in a waterfall, as it should.

Takizawa Kabuki Zero 2020: The Movie is more than just what’s on screen. It’s the culmination of almost 15 years of stage plays and fan memories of those stage plays. There are undoubtedly fans who saw the 2020 film who were in the audience for that first run in 2006 and who got to watch baby Fukka and Abe-chan and Sho-pi grow up to become the stars. It’s impossible to capture this history in a standard movie review and I’d take any who tried with a massive grain of salt.

I love Snow Man and Takizawa Kabuki so I’d be thrilled if we got another filmed version--although I’d be even happier if I was able to travel to Japan again to see it in person. With more time to prepare for a film properly, and especially after the experience of doing it once, I think some of the problems I noted would be avoided. In the meantime, I can revisit all of my DVDs and enjoy the option of dipping in for a song or two on Netflix.

If you’d like more Snow Man x Kabuki content, they filmed a behind-the-scenes tour of the theater in 2019 available on Youtube. It’s important to keep in mind here that Raul is the absolute cutest embodiment of the viral “a job will have you 19 with a 35-year old best friend” tweet as he had just joined the group in the video and is over a decade younger than the rest of them.

For just more Snow Man content, I wrote a post on how much I loved them over here and you can find their music videos and other content on YouTube. (Just make sure to search for “Snow Man Johnny’s.”)