#first review

Today I received a review from my first Beta reader @inkspireedits whom give me some:

With a well organized and clear word drive with very punctual and useful questions which were answered with an honest opinion; targeting each topic in analytical way, but also on the emotional way and how they impact the story.

Some of the more important points for me were the: “Show more-tell less”. I admit I tend to get lost a bit on explanations, and thanks to those observations I would be more careful to not be so repetitive.

I am pretty much aware that grammar and format are my biggest weakness. English is not my first language but I haven’t even thought about punctuation or separate dialogue tags. There was an example included on the drive of how the dialogues would sound better and how they should be written to be clearer.

Hearing horror/thriller genre would prompt anyone to say – “Death Note” leaving the classic hits to remain underrated. One such highly underrated anime is Naoki Urasawa’s Monster!

The anime sums up the genre nature (horror/thriller) right from the opening music sequence, which is highly eerie and sets up viewers in a mystery mode, and the motion sequence fuels this eeriness. The story is set in Germany post-soviet era and we are introduced to the protagonist – Dr.Tenma emigrated from Japan – and is a promising doctor working in a prestigious hospital in Germany. In short, the actual anime starts after a small incident caused by Dr. Tenma and the consequences he faces due to his act.

What makes this anime interesting?

Story: The anime is celebrated highly for its story flow and character design, without which it would be a disaster. Though we start the story from the protagonist’s view, as the series develops we are introduced to multiple characters, and the viewers are left to struggle with limited information and a higher thirst for the next event of consequence. Thus the anime subconsciously makes the viewer part of the story and keeps us at guess. The story is itself multifaceted and the role of a detective is handed over to the viewer, personally, this is where the anime wins our hearts and mind. Without making the pace monotonous for the viewer, the characters in turn make us question a few things.

Music & Voice: Without any ghosts/vampires or supernatural, this horror/thriller stays raw and real, with the characters facing real issues, and coping to tackle them. Though this is a serious anime, I didn’t feel the lack of power-ups and fighting, this is especially achieved with the great assistance of music and the voice acting. The music holds the anime in many spots and sets the viewer for the about-to-happen events yet remains unspoiled. The voice is far off from a typical anime and suits the character’s age and role with a mix of a German accent. Moreover, it would be more precise to describe this anime as an emotional horror for the sensation this provokes within the viewer than a horror genre.

Artwork/Animation: The anime is set in the post-soviet, berlin wall breakdown era and releases diverse emotions and reactions. For an anime lacking anime-style fight sequences, the artworks capture these reactions and emotions sharp and precise. Even the background, depicting the era is portrayed to utmost detail making us live the moments of the story. The mix of eerie mild music, artwork, and characters mess with viewers’ emotions from joy to fear.

First Cabaret Review !!!

WHEN?: Monday 15 November, opens 10 December 2021 booking to 14 May 2022 RUNTIME: 155 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

We’ve followed Buckley’s career from BBC1 casting show I’d Do Anything, through West End and films including Romeo and Juliet and predict this will be the role that will catapault her to superstardom.

Read on for reasons including how good Redmayne and Douglas are and how we’ve never heard an audience reaction like it

We’ve never heard a more raucous standing ovation like it in many decades of theatregoing and Buckley’s sneery and angry performance of this show’s title track at its conclusion is the absolute pinnacle of an unforgettable revival.

We’re in the back row of the stalls but, thanks to the repurposing of this venue, we’re only 7 rows from the stage and within touching distance – we could but we don’t! – of Oscar-winning lead Eddie Redmayne.

Redmayne’s EmCee has a ginger wig with white make-up during the opening number Wilkommen as he emerges from below the in-the-round stage at the centre of The Kit Kat Club in the Playhouse.

The intimate staging means the cast brushes past the audience through this venue’s many aisles as they make their way to and from the stage.

Redmayne sings strongly and gives a very physical performance which shows how contorted he can become and even goes topless during comedy number 2 Ladies but it is Buckley who has finally found a challenging role she can excel in which is a true test of her fabulous singing voice but also of her sharp acting skills.

Cabaret is a 1966 musical by Kander and Ebb set in Berlin opening on New Year’s Eve 1929 as the Nazis are ascending to power. We join American writer Clifford Bradshaw (an engaging Omari Douglas, so good in Constellations and TV’s It’s A Sin this year) as he arrives in Berlin to write a novel and visits The Kit Kat Club where Buckley’s Sally Bowles is a singer.

Our congratulations to the venue which we enter through Stage Door via an atmospheric basement where we are given a token for a welcome drink. We make our way through 2 bars where performers interact with guests to give us a real sense of what it might have felt like to be in a German club in this period. Staff wish us: ‘Happy New Year!’ because we’re in The Kit Kat Club in Berlin on New Year’s Eve 1929.

We return to this production in a few weeks where we will dine in the 1st 5 rows around the stage for a more immersive experience but the cheaper seat we enjoyed this evening was well worth its cover price.

The show’s heart is maximised by the growing relationship between 2 of the older characters, Herr Schultz played beautifully by Elliot Levey and Liza Sadovy’s touching portrayal of landlady Fraulein Schneider.

The appearance of a swastika on the arm of 1 of the guests into her home sends real shivers up the spine.

Redmayne gives a superlative performance as the nightclub host but we think it is this re-engineering of the story to put Bowles at its heart that will linger longest in the audience’s memory.

We’ve heard Maybe This Time many times but it is only really in this Rebecca Frecknall-directed (Summer And Smoke, Almeida and West End) version that we felt we fully understood its meaning and context.

Judi Dench played the Bowles role in its 1968 1st West End production, Liza Minnelli was iconic in winning the Oscar for the 1972 film but we felt Buckley brought something original and sprinkled it with stardust.

Anything Goes at the Barbican this year was 1 of the best theatrical productions we’ve ever seen with a phenomenal leading actress and this Cabaret is certainly up there with it.

What good is sitting alone in your room when there’s a Cabaret this magical in the West End to lose yourself completely and utterly in.

Pictures via Facebook courtesy Marc Brenner and Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Tickets

Have you heard any of these songs or seen any of these shows? Let us know what you thought in the comments below

First impression:

Woong experienced something that was awful and traumatizing, but I hope we’ll learn more about why and how he ended up with his parents. There must be a reason why his biological father left him. I hope so, because if not it will be cruel. How can a parent leave their child alone in the city? We also got a flashback to their breakup where Yeonsoo left and “abandoned” him in a sense and it had same kind of feel as his past with his biological father. Her leaving him must have hurt him extremely. It also hurt me when Woong broke down about how his father left him, but this time he had Yeonsoo beside him and she comforted him with a gently kiss.

I love Woong’s parents for a million reasons, but one of them is how they agreed on Yeonsoo being the right person for him, because she is. One of the reasons why she’s the right one for him is that she remembered this specific date and recognized his pattern of disappearing each year, where Jiwoong didn’t. They also finally communicated in this episode - both drunk, but it was beautiful and it broke me too see them this vulnerable with each other. I hope they’ll date again, but please let Jiwoong and Woong still be friends despite what will happen.

It is my wish that Jiwoong will move on, but I know it must be difficult for him. I hope he’ll realize he has someone right in front of him who is interested in him and give her a chance. Chae-Ran has gotten more confident these past episodes and this time she invited Jiwoong out, but I feel like he only accepted as a coworker/friend. The only thing that made me a bit confused is that the background music had a romantic feel to it. I genuinely hope that we’ll see their relationship develop into something romantic. At least something where he has acknowledged that nothing will happen between him and Yeonsoo and be okay with that.

It’s got a low budget live theater style about it. The direction used is very intimate with close-ups and panning around the characters and environments. Random songs play every other scene and the writing is delivered through narration of the main 2 characters.

As for the story - there’s a lot of detail with this. The families encourage the main characters to make their “first kill”. One a first kill of a monster, the other a first kill of a human. It feels heavy-handed and claustrophobic as it is from the respective main character’s perspectives. But there’s quite the premise developing here that could certainly stretch out for a whole season, not too sure about any more than that.