ACT ONE Review 2nd January 2023

All opinions expressed are solely my own, I have not been paid to write this, and I have probably misunderstood a huge amount of what went on due to my terrible Japanese.

I was lucky enough to attend ACT ONE at the Imperial Theatre on the 2nd January. Having never attended its predecessor: NAME REDACTED I was unsure of what to expect. 

What follows is personal opinion and what I believe to be the story... I could be awfully wrong. 

The play opened to a group of young boys who has just joined StarTo (worst name ever) as Juniors.

Cue the entry of members of 7 MEN Samurai, HiHi Jets, Bishounen, and Shonen Ninja. The amount of sparkle in their costumes was enough to give me a migraine!

After a little while of singing and dancing this all quickly escalates into a fight over who is the best group. 

There was no real tension or slow build up to what I can only describe as a group of young boys yelling ridiculous things, glaring at each other, and occasionally bumping angrily into each other. I have always found bad angry acting to be cringey, and this was some of the worst I've seen.

 I know we're taught stories need conflict, but this was a perfect example of how not to do it. Accelerating from 0-100 in less than 10 seconds. Also in a time where I feel it would be better for StarTo to show unity of their members, there are other ways for them to add conflict into the story.

Anyway, each of the groups is given an amount of time to demonstrate why their group is the best in a small stage performance of their songs.

Group One: HiHi Jets. Theme - Freedom

This was my first experience to see the HiHi Jets perform a larger set of songs (Countdown doesn't count), and actually I was impressed.

They enter the stage on a car, whilst wearing roller-skates, thank god there's no cops in this world! I have to admit that their songs weren't for me, but as performers they owned the stage. We had drum performances, aerial flying performances and of course roller skating. 

I was definitely impressed by their dancing on skates, I would have broken most of my bones trying that dance without the skates.

Then there was a freedom corner where they allowed a Junior to introduce himself. This particular Junior said that speaking English was his talent. Honestly I was preparing myself for bad English, however the boy did proud. I wanted to stand up and yell "Great job kid". But figured it wouldn't be appreciated.

Group Two: 7 MEN Samurai. Theme - Wild

I am biased here as these are my favourite group, I love all their songs, and their energy performing is fantastic. However, I'm not sure the sound was right in this performance; Or perhaps their usual rock-oriented set just isn't right for the Imperial Theatre sound system. I don't know what it was but B4N4N4 just sounded off.

Whatever was going on with sound they made up for with their energy performing, they used the whole stage and showed off that not only can they play instruments but they can dance well too.

As usual they were in their element with their instruments, performing together as a band. For me their band songs are the best showing each members musical talent. I have to admit I have a soft spot for Rinne on saxophone 🎷 

The little part where the group tried to teach the juniors guitar and instruments was beyond adorable, and the vocals were amazing in this section.

Group Three: Bishounen. Theme - Beauty

Their set was much more traditional in the idea of idols, princely costumes, beautiful visuals and even the vocal arrangement. The boys definitely did their best to represent the beauty of idols.

However, I have to admit my attention was lagging at this point. The running time was approximately 2 hours, and with no break in the middle. Personally I believe sitting down concerts need a break, for stretching legs and a bathroom run. The change of scenery is enough to wake someone up when their eyes (my eyes) are heavy and trying to close. 

I'm also not a fan of going to the bathroom during a performance. I don't want to miss anything and I just feel rude leaving. I know it's not rude but this relates to personal childhood traumas.

So, I'm sorry to say I don't have much to report about Bishounen, my main takeaways were the vocals were on point, and the stained glass window pictures of them were absolutely terrifying.

Group Four: Shonen Ninja. Theme - Passion

Help! At the risk of offending Shonen Ninja fans, but can someone please tell me how am I supposed to remember who is who? There's so many of them!  Apparently they're in smaller units, but I still have no idea. And being so far from the stage I couldn't see facial features to understand any major differences. 

Their acrobatics were great though! You could definitely feel the passion from that. Leaping, back flips, aerial performances, they were giving their all! 

I really wish there had been a break so I could have given the last 2 groups the attention they deserved. Sorry Bishounen and Shonen Ninja, I let you both down.

Finally we ended with a little more bad angry acting, before they came together to perform as one. (I believe... my brain had given up trying to understand at this point)

Overall, visually and vocally the groups were impressive, however the acting needed some work. I know they're talented performers and they can definitely do better.

That said, it was an early show in the run, and it's likely they may change sections, and improve as they get more comfortable with performing. The juniors taking part are a talented bunch, and we're sure to see great things from them all in the future, especially if they combine the beauty, passion, freedom and wildness they expressed. If only we get some better scripts!

*All photos are taken from Pinterest and are not mine, apologies I couldn't find the original links or ownership. Please feel free to contact me and I can remove them or credit you if they're yours.