Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: A Chance Meeting cast profile pictures:
Komatsu Jun'ya as Lan Xichen
Murata Mitsu as Lan Qiren
AndŠYūto as Lan Sizhui
Tsuchiya Naotake as Lan Jingyi
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That feel when you find a person with a really cool face... so you try to draw their face... but you just canāt draw their face... so you waste a week of your life trying to figure out how to draw their face...
Completely unrelated, I watched Pedal stage and I have a LOT of feelings about Mitsu. Definitely didnāt waste a week trying to figure out how to draw him tho
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
GUYS! The drinking theme this time isā drink every time I say āI want to punch (insert part of the Messiah cast or staff here)ā.
Official Site here
Official Twitter here
Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Video Coverage
PreOrder DVD here
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Cast and Characters
Izawa Yuuki as Ariga Ryo
Sugie Taishi as Kagami Itsuki
Nagae Ryuuki as Miike Mayo
Yamaoki Yuuki as Yuugi Kotaru
Hashimoto Shinichi as Kogure Jun
Yamamoto Ikkei as Hinamori Senju
Otsuka Kousuke as Dr.THREE
Kotani Yoshikazu as Kuroko
Yamada James Takeshi as Salyut
Miyagi Koudai as Souk
Araki Kentaro as Cheka
Nishino Ryuta as Tetsu/Tecchan
Toyoshima Kyousuke as Touya
Murata Mitsu as Hangedman
Nakahara Yuya as Ichijima Harumi
Ensemble: Hosokawa Akihiro, Kitamura Kai, Uraei Kenji, Hisada Yuki, Ishigami Ryuya, Sakamoto Kazuki, Takenaka Ryota
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NON-SPOILER REVIEW
Overall: This was good. I enjoyed it all the way through, I was hooked and entertained. The action as usual doesnāt disappoint and thereās an (Koudai, and Itsuki x Arigaās fight) amazing step up in the action and fighting scenes and techniques which I loved. Iām glad we got a LOT more info on the new cadets. However, (oh jesus here I go) I am thoroughly pissed off at everything Ichijima did -- I hate this guy with a passion if you didnāt know. I also feel there were too many storylines; we REALLY didnāt need those ātwo young ex(?)-terrorists on the runā story line... and the second half of the stage with Arigaās twist plot was a little stupid too. There was a bit too much repetition too; some couples fighting over and over. Also so many fires shot and no one died from them?! Come on! Someone shouldāve died! About 4 people get at least two shots into their body and then go ages without seeing a doctor, by reality: someone (or most of them) shouldāve died. And I didnāt really cry either -- the only time tears burst out of me was at a Mamiya reference.
Rating: 7/10
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SPOILER REVIEW
Lets get started shall we....
Story
Itsuki has to get a surgery to remove the chip in his brain so that no one can control him again, yet the price would be that he might lose his memory in the process. All the while, their graduation mission ends up beingĀ āKill Ichijima Harumiā. While thatās going on two guys have decided to betray their group and flee along with a disc that has a computer programme on it for nuclear(?) bombs, which Sakura end up deciding to protect; especially when it turns out Cheka is back and working with Hanged Man. Part of their mission is to go to an island with a tower named the Tower of Babel and infiltrate and stop the terrorists groups so they can reunite the south and north sides of the island -- especially when so many important natural resources are there. And then we get Salyut and Souk who are there so Salyut can find his father, but also get involved with Sakura once more.
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As you can tell... thereās quite too many plots lines going on at once.
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Izawa Yuuki andĀ Sugie Taishi - of course they gave amazing performances, I wouldnāt expect nothing less and they gave nothing less. It was so great seeing them SO freaking close <3 3rd row was a lovely sight! Izawa is so freaking handsome <3 I understand WHY they did it but I think the whole Ariga ālosing his memory and then working with his best friend (and his childhood friend, wtf?!) Hangedmanā was complete bullshit. They couldāve handled it a different way. It wouldāve been ore interesting IF Itsuki had gotten the surgery, lost his memory and HE was the one taken in by HoppouRengo. Makes more sense to me in my opinion.
I didnāt cry at all in this until Ariga was like āIām not alone... I have Itsuki... éå®®ćÆććć«ćć / and I have Mamiya here (in my heart) tooā and I burst out crying and smacked my hand against my mouth. It was like a 30second burst of massive tears.
And I got VERY angry at Itsuki towards the end, when he walked on with a violin and then later takes the violin out and is likeĀ āIāve been practisingā and starts playing it; why they keep trying to ruin Mamiyaās image even more?! I really do feel like the staff (after the stage where they killed Mamiya) got way more complaints than they anticipated and have kind of taken any moment to be likeĀ āweāre so sorry we pissed so many of you off with the Mamiya story line, so hereās any chance we can to mention him and hopefully youāll forgive us?ā but itās just worked the other way for me; just makes me more mad and when Itsuki pulled that move, I was about to get out my chair.
Another moment was that, thereās about 3 or 4 scenes of just Ariga and Itsuki fighting and thereās even a point (I think) where both of them are shot to shit yet theyāre still alive while yelling and fighting each other -- wtf?! It got really repetitive.
The main plot itself was kinda of stupid with Itsuki like āBut if I get the surgery, I might forget you Arigaā it was OBVIOUS Ariga would stay by his side to help him remember?! SO what was the point of that whole plot line?! Jut get the surgery straight away and stop wasting our time with that plot line. I GET why it had to be in the stage but just... common sense! Heād make you remember and get to know him again!
I did kind of like the whole āShirasaki and Yuuri are helping us!ā and itās thanks to Neocromancer that Itsuki gets control of his brain again but just... that was a WHOLE stage ago; get over it with the Yuuri shit.
I really, really loved this one fight between Itsuki and Ariga where they really go at each other at full power: their fighting seemed SO realistic(!!!). I was actually worried they were going to hit each other; they used such power and at a fast speed, and it was such a good moment for fighting choreography that it really looked real! I canāt explain it.It was an amazing fight sequence though! I was super, super impressed!
Their ending was great too! Their grad outfits are so badass!
And someone sent Izawa flowers with a freaking violin in it!!
Nagae Ryuuki andĀ Yamaoki Yuuki - which dumb fuckers thought these two wouldnāt be Messiahs? It was so fucking obvious. I canāt believe ANYONE would think any different. Yuugi even said in AkatsukiĀ āIād hate you to be my Messiahā thatās Basic 101 of foreshadowing and storytelling and setting up the obvious plot line of them being Messiahs! It was so predictable my pet dog couldāve predicted it and I donāt even have a dog! Thatās how obvious ti was! Anyway, I digress.
Itās actually super strange: I hated the new cadets to begin with but for some reason I really, really liked Miike in this one. I want to know more about him. And I like they were paired together (as obviously predicted!). They definitely set up some interesting plots with these two... First we have the wholeĀ ānot wanting to be Messiahsā yet by the end of this stage Yuugi is desperately trying to save Miike when he gets heavily injured, and Miike is like āI thought you didnāt want to be my Messiah... do you finally accept it?ā, and then he next saysĀ ābut unfortunately Iām not someone who diesā which made me think back to Polar Night when he seemed to have supernatural abilities or something, so something else is going on with him. We also have a conversation of how Yuugi used to be religious but now he knows there is no god and Miike just flat out beingĀ āthere was never a god. How could you believe?!ā. We ALSO have Miike going a bit crazy and being likeĀ āI WANT TO BE KILLED BY YOU YUUGI!ā which to me was likeĀ āhe more crazy than I was anticipating! But also thatās kinda sexy and Iām all about that...ā Ā AND we also have Yuugi goingĀ āthereās someone I want to kill with these handsā and Miike is likeĀ āyouāre exactly the same as me funnily enoughā but out of ear shot of Yuugi. So they definitely caught my interest. I might carry on Messiah for them (especially if Koudai, James, Asato and Naoya -- jesus christ give me Naoya back please! - are back for the next stage), thatās how much their relationship interested me. I really, really hope it turns out that the person Yuugi wants to kill IS Miike.
Hashimoto Shinichi and Yamamoto Ikkei -Ā I spent the entire stage going āAsk him Kogure! Ask him!! Tell him Ichijima! Tell him!!!ā but in the end Ichijima was like āyou want to know if Iām your father? ... *whispers something inaudible* You are meāĀ
And my reaction was:
Swear to god if heās a genetically modified clone baby of Ichijima, Iām gunna punch the director in the face.
2017.09.06 Edit:Ā Just realised I kind of didnāt talk about Kogure at all xD we got to see him being less stable and breaking down, after Ichijima kidnaps him and beats the living crap out of him, in this one which was great. I loved towards the end how hesās likeĀ āIām gunna find Ichijima and kill himā so heās been completely pissed off by Ichijima which was great to see! Thereās also a scene towards the end where Ikkei helps him get to safety, but then both of them have the same thought ofĀ āfuck itā and come running back ingot the theatre to help the other cadets. Itās going to be interesting seeing these two bond over their hatred for Ichijima. End Edit
And then we have Ikkeiās character who clearly has hate towards Ichijima and heās not quite right in the head. Heās got a sadistic side to him; you can tell by the way he smiles when he fights. Unfortunately thatās all I picked up about him. I donāt know how he and Hashimoto will work as a pair BUT since both of them have beef with Ichijima and both hate Ichijima (bet they donāt hate him as much as I do!!!!!), I hope they do a double murder on Ichijima and then become like a badass anti-Sakura group...ooooh that would be fucking awesome! Rather than Terrorist-turns-Sakura (which weāve seen before) itād be great to see Sakura-turned-Terrorist group happen! I just really want Ichijima dead okay...
Otsuka Kousuke andĀ Kotani Yoshikazu - this ended up being a pairing I was surprised to see and actually wanted. They were a good combination and Dr. Three just took all the crap and humour and jokes Kuroko had xD he even ended up joining in towards the end of the stage.
Kuroko... my precious Kuroko.... he had so much more comedy in this one! He hit so many of them with his slipper and it made amazing sounds and was very funny every time! He also ended up as acting leader of Sakura for a while which was awesome! I wish heād stayed as the head... there was also a funny moment when Dr.Three tells him he has to become the boss (bosu) but all Kuroko hears is him being called ugly (busu) which was funny xD He also makes a joke of how tall the Tower of Babel is and says āthatās like 9000 Ichijimaās! Itās three times taller than skytree!ā
But... Iām surprised weāre just going to ignore that he killed Misu-san though... it hasnāt affected him in Akatsuki OR this stage... I thought heād be a bit... emotionally unstable but he was more energetic and fun as usual.
But I do love Kuroko and he kept everyone entertained ^_^ another time he sniffs Ichijimaās jacket and is immediately likeĀ āumm... Iāll go wash itā xD
Yamada James Takeshi andĀ Miyagi Koudai -Ā Koudai really impressed me this stage. Iāve only ever seen him in Tenimyu and I knew he was playing a rather sexy guy in Brave10 and I knew he was in SSL but I havenāt seen either of those two, so I didnāt really have an opinion of him -- and in ALL honesty, I thought he was the same guy as the one who played Reiji in PuriSute... ANYWAY, I really liked his character in this! Thereās any good things about him; heās a good combination with James, I liked their interactions. His fighting style is both bad ass and sexy. He doesnāt use any weapons, just his fists and body and my oh my, did he use those legs to wrap himself around many of them... he was on top of quite a few of them some times too... it was real sexy... I think there was a part with him and Ikkei wrapped around each other and on the floor and rolled around and I was like āplease do carry onā. I am very much looking forward to see more of his sexy fighting style xD
Another thing about him is even though heās in loads of layers, you can still see how TINY his waist is and his nice his body is! I knew he was on a diet for Brave10 but thatās finished so surely heās been eating normally again, but still he has a wonderfully slim waist! I couldnāt not look.Ā
James was just as pretty as ever with that hair of his. And his face <3 so close, I got such a good look at him ^_^ I was surprised that his motivation this time around was to find his dad who was taken under Specter. I was even MORE surprised when he ends up offering and helping Sakura! WTF?! But we did get a few moments of Izawa and James fighting each other which I enjoyed obviously <3 such a shame we wonāt see them two fight each other again =ā[ Iād pay just to have a stage of them fighting each other... I wonder who his dad turns out to be.... Iām sure itāll get revealed and Iāll be excited to see!
But swear to god, they make Koudai and James the new Misu and Amane pair; Iām gunna punch the director in the face. Same goes for the new purple kids; if they become major roles and something similar to Amane and Misu; Iām gunna punch the scriptwriter in the face.
Araki Kentaro as Cheka - I was surprised how they brought him back! I thought he was going to be a flashback piece but turns out, he didnāt die in Akatsuki. Pretty sure heās dead this time though, we saw him collapse this time around. He is a very sexy character and a very sexy man.... He did a great job. I canāt praise him enough.
Nishino Ryuta andĀ Toyoshima Kyousuke - can we not? They were super pointless. Their story line was super ridiculous too. Their storyline was something likeĀ āthey decided to run away from their terrorist group while still holding an important computer programme disc and get the protection of Sakuraā. What the actual ********. We could just not have this plotline and the stage wouldnāt have suffered. Why.... WHY were they here?! And I almost lost my shit when Ichijima asked them if they wanted to join Sakura - I was likeĀ āPLEASE NO NEW CADETS!ā but they refused -- thank god. I hope they arenāt back in the next stage but they probs will be -__- they didnāt need to be in this. Them nor their storyline was needed..
Murata MitsuĀ - this guy is always amazing at whatever role he does. I was so happy to have him back in Messiah. But for GODSAKE. Can Ariga stop killing everyone heās fucking paired with?! Ā Ariga killed his Messiah Mamiya. He almost killed Itsuki multiple times in this one. And he ended up killing his old friend Hangedman in this! What the actual fuck. Yāknow Ariga, YOUāRE the one who needs to be shot and killed; NONE of the ones you killed! *breathes* sorry...
Hangedmanās story ended up being somewhat very human and very real and sad and it kind of touched my heart and ended up liking him.... especially because thereās a cute, funny adlib/comedy scene between him and Ariga which melted my heart towards him (goddammit script writers! Weāre supposed to hate him!), it was such a cute and good scene for them.
2017.09.06 EDIT:Ā However, I am a little concerned and feel like this relationship was sloppy writing... Ariga has met Hangedman many times throughout the Messiah series but not once did he really seem to show he knew him nor imply or hint was even childhoods/best friends with him. Have I missed this point in a previous sage or did they really create this random relationship just solely for this stage and storyline? End EDIT
Nakahara Yuya -Ā Ugh look who it is: Ichijima himself! First we get the mission to āKill Ichijimaā came up, I was actually shocked; my mouth dropped down. But then he ended up being on the terrorist side and I was like āabout FUCKING time this secret came out! I KNEW it!ā but then he does another switch-a-roo and IS actually on Sakuraās side and I was like ā*flips table* FUCK this bullshit.ā because I have not once, not ever trusted Ichijima; it makes so much fucking sense for him to be on the bad side and for him to get killed by Sakura but oh no āhahaha just joking guys, I am really on Sakuraās sideā bullshit really pissed me off. AND THEN to make it worse he did that bullshit move to Kogure and THEN!! Ariga didnāt kill him! I gave the biggest fucking sigh and loads of people around me heard. I fucking want this tosspot dead asap! He shouldāve been dead STAGES ago, but ādue to popular demandā the fuckers brought him back into Messiah! << I want punch the casting and director who made this decision. Iāve never liked him, he should die, heās not a nice person, heās manipulative as fuck, I HATE him. JUST DIE!
*takes a break*
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EXTRAS
A gun went flying off stage tonight and some of them had to do finger guns because they were down a prop - seriously, how do you NOT have backups?! Iād have a whole stock of guns ready! During curtain call the first thing Sugie talked about was apologising for the gun falling of stage. It sounded like it didnāt hit or hurt anyone but they were very apologetic, but you could feel the whole room likeĀ āwe really donāt care. Please donāt waste your time apologising. We donāt mind what happened,ā but obviously if it had been filming day, people wouldāve been annoyed.
Also during curtain call, Izawa and Sugie both looked to the right at the same time and they both looked straight at me for a bit longer than they shouldāve.... I was starting to feel the sweat xD
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On the way home, I saw this guy with really nice hair in a bun and I immediately went āAraki?!... nah it wonāt be... it canāt be....Ā *he turns to go down the stairs* HOLY SHIT IT IS ARAKI!! HEāS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!! SHIIIIT I LOOK LIKE A STALKER!!! I LOOK VERY MUCH LIKE A STALKER!! IāM JUST GOING TO THE TRAIN STATION!!! WEāRE GOING TO THE SAME TRAIN STATION!Ā OMG ARAKI!!!! ... be cool... be coolā I freaked the fuck out internally.
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Speaking of idiots I want to punch; I want to punch myself! WHY did I preorder the DVD?! Seriously, I just ant the backstage and extra bonus disc stuff. I really donāt care much for this stage -- Iām sure in time itāll grown on me and grown in my brain but right now, Iām kinda okay with never seeing this stage again. This one is supposed to be my last Messiah stage anyway so, trying to push thoseĀ āthrow awayā feelings to the front xD
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There we go! My rather quick recap of Messiah xD I kinda wanted to get this out fairly quickly because, unlike most of my other reviews, Messiah is one that people actually read and want to know about.