02x06 - Growth

[bunniefuu]

There was once a great battle.

Renowned warriors continued to fight

for their own beliefs and ambitions.

However, no one won the battle

and the 21 swords

that held the fate of the world

were scattered in the Far East.

This story begins

when a man obtains a particular sword.

BLADE

TSURUGI

KIZAMI

MONME

TOUKI

PRINCESS SAYA

TOKYO BLADE

STAGE PLAY

I'm a traveler!

Can I have some water?

Hello?

Huh? Isn't anyone here?

A sword?

What is this?

It's glowing

Hey! Who are you?

Why don't you introduce yourself first?

I'm Tsurugi, one of the sword masters.

You can give up

that Allied Sword and leave

or you can fight me. Take your pick!

This sword

belongs to me.

What a fool!

Regret your decision in hell!

What's an Allied Sword anyway?

You don't know anything, do you?

I'll tell you, so you can die in peace.

An Allied Sword is no ordinary sword.

It bestows various powers on its owners.

And the owner who's recognized

as the strongest by the Allied Swords

will obtain Nation Steal,

the power to conquer a nation.

A power so strong

that it can conquer Japan?

Nice.

I've always wanted to be a King!

I'll become the strongest

and become the King of this country!

Don't make me laugh!

Ouch

Please stop! I don't wanna die yet!

Then, do you admit I'm stronger than you?

I do! You're stronger than me, okay?

Shinjuku is ahead of here?

Yeah.

There's a rivalry of powerful leaders

in the underground dungeon.

If you can defeat Kizami,

who's the strongest among them,

Shinjuku will be yours.

I see.

I thought you wanted to be a King too.

It can't be helped.

Those who are defeated in a battle

either choose death

or become the opponent's subordinate.

When you become a King,

just make me your Minister.

Then I, Tsurugi,

will open up a royal path for you!

SHINJUKU

You're done for!

Right back at you!

Yay!

-Blade

-Kizami!

Damn, you guys are strong.

I can't be a King

if I end up stumbling here, can I?

Hey,

take us with you.

When you become a King,

make me a General. Okay?

We didn't choose to live underground.

We were kicked out by

the demons in Shibuya.

They're much stronger

than the usual demons.

I guess our next goal is set.

Next,

we slay those Shibuya demons.

Blade.

END OF ACT ONE

TO THE SECOND AC

TOKYO BLADE

STAGE PLAY

This is the end of the first act.

The second act shows the conflict between

Blade's Shinjuku Cluster

and the Shibuya Cluster,

which are made up of demons.

And that begins

with the battle between these two.

You betrayed us?

I've always been a Shibuya demon

led by Princess Saya.

Do we really have to fight?

My parents forced this sword on me

and now I'm dragged into this battle.

Sakuya Kamoshida.

A popular actor,

who's valued in 2.5D stage plays.

He's usually a frivolous playboy.

But he truly is a great actor.

I don't want to fight.

Please run.

Then, we won't have to fight.

I'm begging you. Just run.

Get out of here.

His character's personality

is the exact opposite of his,

but he's

reenacting the original perfectly.

Get lost!

His acting ability is incredible.

Damn it.

Can you make the sound effects louder?

Okay.

-How's that?

-Good.

Let's check your positions.

Yes, sir!

Thank you for introducing Kamoshida to us.

He's a great actor.

I'm glad you like him.

Since you're using Lalalai,

I thought you didn't want

this play to be bound by 2.5D rules.

That's my intention too, of course.

I want the new audiences to be

fans of theater,

and not only fans of 2.5D plays.

So, it would be awesome

if I could follow the existing rules

whilst breaking them a bit

to give the play a little edge.

That's why I'm using Lalalai,

but Kamoshida is just incredible.

His respect for the original work

is very high,

even within the 2.5D industry.

He knows exactly

how to bring 2D characters to life.

There's no better role model than him.

Everyone in Lalalai instantly realized

they had a lot to learn from him

and they absorbed all the 2.5D methods

like a dry sponge.

That's good to know.

I'm glad I was able to help.

Both Arima and Aqua are talented too

and I do trust your casting ability.

But I just don't get why you chose him.

He's not that famous

and his acting skills are nothing

compared to the veterans.

He could barely get a passing mark.

To be honest, I wasn't going to choose him

after seeing him in Sweet Today.

But you kind of

pushed me to use him, right?

Why is that?

You think

he has a hidden talent or something?

Not really. It's my personal feelings.

Personal feelings?

Isn't that how the world goes?

If you see an open seat,

you give it to your favorite.

He's good-looking and has a good voice.

He can take his time

to get better at acting.

Could you not use my play

for his acting practice?

That's not it.

I chose him

because I thought you'd like him too.

Don't you like those types too?

The ones who work their heart out.

I won't lose!

See? He's no longer the boy

who was in Sweet Today.

He's been working on his acting skills.

It's actors like him who'll leave a mark.

Besides, I'm sure she'll be the judge

of whether casting him

was a mistake or not.

We have the world's toughest critic of him

right here.

When I entered middle school,

I was quickly taken advantage of

by a third year.

That's when I realized that I was popular.

People would gravitate to me for no reason

and if I liked a girl, they'd ask me out.

People thought I was funny

when I made fun of awkward kids.

And I thought I was funny

for teasing them.

Most things went well

without me making much effort.

People seemed to have high hopes for me.

And I was broke,

but part-time jobs are a pain.

"Well, I'll just go with the flow."

That's what I thought.

In the original manga's battle scene,

Kizami seemed stronger.

But,

I can't feel that from his performance.

Why do they use bad actors for

the work you put your heart and soul into?

Seriously, his acting is

not much better than an amateur's.

Do I have to lower my level to match him?

What a drag.

Get out of my face already.

You're a lousy actor

who gets jobs solely with your good looks!

I know.

I know that I suck.

Ever since I saw that performance.

I knew others had to

adjust to my acting level.

And the fact that it had ruined the drama.

are you even having fun

with a face like that?

Was I really this bad?

It could've been different.

If I had given my all from the start,

this drama would've been

so much better.

You have more stamina than I expected.

My acting tutor said

actors need stamina more than anything.

So I've been running every day.

Ever since we finished sh**ting

Sweet Today.

I see.

A demon like you

This is a pretty big action scene,

but he's not out of breath.

Don't make me laugh!

I guess he's been rehearsing

more seriously than I thought.

But look at the audience's reactions.

-The guy playing Kizami is a bit

-Yeah.

He's not very

I'll k*ll you

and we, the Shibuya Cluster,

will obtain the Heavenly Maiden!

See?

The audience thinks

you can't act.

So what if they think you're a bad actor?

Are you kidding?

What kind of advice is that?

I swallowed my pride to ask you this.

Say something more

If this play becomes a flop again

because of me

I wasn't trying to be dismissive.

I'm saying

you should use it to your advantage.

What? That's not possi

It's possible.

The battle against Monme

is your big scene.

How you use your

one-month rehearsal time is up to you.

But trying to improve everything

will be a waste of time.

Then,

don't you think you have a better chance

focusing on one scene?

If the audience is underrating you,

it means they're letting their guard down.

Keep this basis of entertainment in mind.

For example,

if the bullied kid in class,

or the quiet and plain girl in glasses,

or the geek who you thought was a loser,

or the actor

you thought had no talent at all

suddenly did something really amazing,

it'd be awesome, right?

-Did you see that?

-Yeah.

That was exactly like the manga!

W-Wow!

I didn't draw that thinking

someone could actually do it.

But he reenacted the scene perfectly.

Amazing!

Did you put him up to this?

Not really.

I just told him that he should

use his weakness to his advantage.

That performance came from his hard work.

A surprised person's emotions are fragile.

As a human, it's natural for us

to gather more information

when something unexpected happens.

The audience will put more weight

on his acting from this point on.

Now's the time.

So, he learned some circus trick.

That's not what they want.

Everyone is here to see us act.

No point if you can't pull that off!

This scene is where I lose

for the first time against a strong enemy

after fighting him with

nothing but my willpower.

This is where

the highlight of my scene begins!

Kizami.

Observe and learn a little more.

Yes, sir.

You can't get past here, Blade.

Fight us if you want to go through.

Sounds like fun.

Get him, Blade!

We'll take over.

I've been taking lessons properly

for the past six months

but the actors here

are on a different level.

They understand their character's feelings

and they're able to

express those emotions naturally.

You're weaker than me.

Sure, I am weak.

But I was able to come this far

because of my friends!

Let's settle this, Monme!

Just saying the dialogue in the script

doesn't cut it.

I wonder how

Touki feels about Princess Saya.

Does he admire her? Is it love?

Or is it more complicated

You're analyzing other characters too?

It's important!

Other characters' feelings towards her

affect what kind of person she becomes.

I'm stupid.

So, I can't analyze like Kurokawa does.

I can only barely understand

what kind of person

this Kizami character is.

What kind of person are you?

You got beaten up by someone

who you looked down on.

You struggled shamelessly and lost.

So lame.

Why do you

look so miserable, like me?

Like me?

Oh, I see.

You thought you were strong,

but you realized how weak you are.

You feel pathetic,

and ashamed,

and frustrated.

Well, I can totally relate to that.

He's

His frustrated emotions are gushing out

from his eyes to his fingertips

strong enough to reach the audience.

I used most of my rehearsal time

to delve into this feeling.

For the past month,

I poured all I have into this one minute.

I don't care

if you've been acting for ten years.

For the next minute,

I won't lose to anyone!

MELT IS SO COOL #SWEETTODAY

I won't

lose to anyone!

See? I was right.

You did well. We'll take it from here.

Um, Mr. Kamoshida.

I'm sorry about the ad lib

Hey, not bad! That was totally different

from the dress rehearsal.

Good job expressing your emotions.

Keep it up, all right?

Nothing beats acting with emotions.

I finally understand the meaning of

what you said back then.

This is fun.

Is that so?