#yufuin en

I already had high expectations because I adored the first stage play. I am not going to compare the two, because it's been too long since I last watched the first, but I hoped to enjoy this second one as much as the first and I was not disappointed. Indeed, 2025 was a great year for Boueibu!

Disclaimer: I am not proficient in Japanese in any way and the streaming was only up until Sunday night, so I managed to fully watch the show only once. Before it went down, I rewatched most of it a second time, and managed to to understand something more, but there are whole scenes where I really understood too little. So forgive me if what I can tell you is limited to the bits I sort of understood. And ddmittedly, I mainly rewatched the bits with the Boueibu and the songs, which is why I will describe them more in detail.

The play starts with the Earth Defense Club soaking at Kurotama, as usual. The conversation this time revolves around the meaning of the word totonou and about sauna. The boys try to give their own version of what totonou means (none of them is convincing), and Io goes on about the difference between wet Finnish sauna and dry Finnish sauna. At some point, Gora enters the bath: Yumoto and Gora sing Brother Lover Rapper with an incredible choreography provided by the rest of the Boueibu, involving brooms and flying towels. It's amazing, trust me. (Brother Lover Rapper is usually one of the songs I skip when I listen to my Boueibu playlist, but this is going to change after watching the show... it is too catchy)

Afterwards, the Beppu twins and the Beppu apes appear. I didn't quite catch what they say there, but it's interesting how they managed to render the apes: there were two actors wearing the Binan uniform, and at their sides they had two human-sized mannequin/puppets wearing the same uniform, and the two actors moved them in unison. So you basically had six people (2 real, 4 fake) doing the same moves at the same time. It was pretty cool.

The day after, En and Atsushi go to school. England and the Student Council are mentioned, and En tells Atsushi to write an email to Kinchan. As Atsushi does so, En slips on a pool of water and hurts his butt. Atsushi goes all serious and says: "Enchan, this is not water, this is sweat". The sniff at it and (to nobody's surprise) it smells, lol.

For whatever reason they guess it must have been their fellow student Asebi Shiori to leave it there, and as they mention him, he appears, and he goes all on about how great sauna is.

Yumoto, Ryuu, and Io arrive. Yumoto tries to offer Asebi a discount/free entry ticket for Kurotama, but Asebi dips it in the pool. Io gets mad at Asebi because he dared to waste a free entry ticket like that.

Asebi's friend, Tatsuzou Kurata, tries to talk to Asebi but the latter doesn't want to listen to him. I don't know what the drama between them is about, and I have no clue about what goes on when Asebi has his long monologue that eventually leads the Beppu to find him and turn him into a monster.

Anyway, when the Earth Defense Club meets again, En suggests they try to go to the sauna. Yumoto isn't happy about that, but they eventually decide to try it out. On their way to the sauna, they meet with Kurata, who is worried for his friend Asebi.

After that, the lovelacelets warn them there is a monster loose, so they start running toward it. En goes like "and what about our sauna" but the others drag him with them - little they know they will encounter a sauna monster! :D

The way they managed to show the transformations was quite cool. I will not describe it because it won't sound as cool as it looks. Have faith.

So the Battle Lovers face the sauna monster. They decide that Cerulean should attack first, but as he shoots his Cerulean Aqua on the burning coals of the monster, what he obtains is a cloud of steaming hot vapor, and they all get burned. Their attacks aren't very effective at all.

The Veppers appear, have some small talk with the Battle Lovers, and then they mention sport drinks (because if you sweat too much you will get dehydrated in the sauna, I guess). The monster then brings a glass for each of the twins, and they drink in front of the Battle Lovers, who are desperate for a sip.

Now the Battle Lovers are prisoners in the sauna. They try to tear the wall down but they can't. Yumoto feels unwell because of the heat and faints.

Luckily, Gora appears among the audience! He carries his axe in his pants (literally) and smashes the wall, freeing the Battle Lovers. He carries Yumoto away and all of them run from the monster.

(Poor Atsushi slips while running away but En helps him up - I don't think that was planned, but it was cute)

Long story short, they eventually face the monster again, but this time he isn't alone: there's ...some guy with him? They call him sensei*. He speaks to the Battle Lovers but I have no clue what happens there. At this point the scene seems to be mostly improvised, and successfully, as the audience keeps laughing. Good for them because I literally have no clue about what is going on. All I know is that this sensei guy tells Haru to confess something to the Boueibu and he confesses his love for someone.

* If I understand correctly, on each day the show had a different special guest.

Anyway what happens is that the Boueibu defeats the monster by discovering the true meaning of totonou. In order to do so, they have to jump in cold water - jumping down from the stage while screaming - then get back into the sauna - jumping back on stage while screaming - for several times in a row (and En's actor at this point only sits on the stage and never does the whole jump). Eventually they reach the totonou stage and turn the monster back.

Kurata appears and he and Asebi hug and it's all very sweet and moving too bad I don't know what they talk about.

The final scene is, of course, all of them taking a bath in Kurotama.

Scattered through the show there are a few Veppers songs and - my personal highlight from the show - a very endearing scene where the Beppu twins meet Gora early in the morning, as he is splitting wood. He offers to teach them. They start splitting wood together and eventually both twins serenade Gora using the axes as microphones. Absolutely delightful.

The last 20 something minutes before the final onsen scene are literally a concert, with a mix of Vepper songs (Star the Vepper, 純情革命D.F.G, Shooting Star) and the two Boueibu OPs (Fallin' Love and Love is Power), to finish with another Brother Lover Rapper duet with Yumoto and Gora in their battle costumes.

I enjoyed the concert part so much! (also because there was little to understand there) I think the two Veppers were amazing in dominating the stage so well. They had great energy and executed their moves flawlessly. The Battle Lovers choreographies were amazing too, especially the final Love is Power!

I really can't wait to have the Blue Ray and watch it again ;; The final choreography (Love Is Power) had everyone on stage and then the actors went down among the audience and it must have been such an experience to be there :D

I enjoyed the performances very much. The Beppu twins were spot on, and the Hakone brothers had such sweet interactions ;; Atsushi's actor seemed to have a great time doing his part. En was also spot on, and had a great "nandatteee" moment. Atsushi and En's actors had great chemistry and well deserved spotlight as a duo, too bad the same can't be said for Io and Ryuu. I enjoyed their performance, with Io being so well mannered and graceful, and Ryuu being quite energetic but also very sweet. They just didn't interact as much as En and Atsushi did, which is a bit of a pity.

I enjoyed Yumoto's actor too, he had so much energy and could be very endearing, too. Perhaps he couldn't deliver fully when he sang the duet, but then again that duet song is not the easiest to sing if you are jumping up and down the stage. It is but a minor thing anyway, and didn't take anything away from the fun.

It was great to see the actor who played Io in the first stage play back on the stage! I like him very much, he has incredible energy and was clearly thrilled to be there with the rest of the cast. The actor playing his friend was also very sweet ;; I want to know more about their story!

I wonder if the recorded version that will be put on the Blue Ray will be the same as the one they streamed (f.e. the OP on twitter was, I think, recorded on a different day because it's is slightly different from the one shown in the streaming).

I can't think of anything else to add. If you have any curiosity or question feel free to ask! I really can't wait for the Blue Ray to come out so that more people can watch this play and we can comment on it together, it was really awesome.