REVIEW: welcome back, charisma! - charisma house

NOTE: this review is about the stage play, not its drama tracks or comic adaptations. despite this, please take note that there are spoilers mentioned in this entry for scenes that are also adapted in other Charisma House media.

REVIEW #15: Welcome Back, Charisma!

Content Type: Stage Play

Media/Franchise: Charisma House 

overall thoughts 

• AAA I MISSED MY CHARISMA HOUSE STAGE BABIES 😭💖 the weirdest creatures ever <3 
• I'm always in awe at how the stage production managed to get seven super weird humans to act out seven super weird characters. like here I am watching Haruki Mochida-kun wag his hypothetical tail like Iori would do and Ryousei Tanaka-san doing not-so-family-friendly gags like Amahiko would do. I gotta hand it to these actors, they're real shit for toughing this out ✊
• the music soundtrack is genuinely so addicting like now I'm sitting here, writing this entry, with the tune "chaaarisuma, chaaaarisuma~" looping around my head again and again 😭
• I adore how engaging the audience is with the way they were laughing at so many parts (so real honestly this was just pure comedy)

• Yoshun Kyokama-san as Fumiya is too fucking funny like. I can't get over the way he just has that thousand-yard stare (and his eyes are so glaringly porple too) and stands there with his hands in his pockets like an overgrown Cheeto in his maddeningly orange outfit 💀 I also love how he probably has one of the least lines/speaking time among the cast but every time he does speak he just radiates insane aura and just says the most hilariously out of context shit 😭 ALSO PLSSS he was truly hitting those dance moves in the theme song. and in any song actually (what a lethal combo between his soulless stare and very enthusiastic moves) 
• Iwata Tomoki-san as Rikai is so so cute!! 🫶 I love his little mannerisms like when he clasps his hands together when he sits down, when he quivers and fumbles a bit with his hands, and when his eyes go momentarily wide 🥺 I'm so happy that he brought Rikai's quirky and obnoxious traits to life while making Rikai so so endearing. I also appreciate the ✨zesty✨ vibes he's giving (like his little wrist flicks?? the way he was sobbing and it was giving drama queen wail??) ALSO HE'S SLAYING THOSE BOOTS LIKE?? 
• AAA I LOVE OMARU-CHAN AS TERRA 💗 MY LOVELY QUEEN!! I adore how much emphasis their gestures have and how they talk so fast when they're excited!! ALSO THEY'RE JUST SO SO PRETTY!! them wearing that cute dress + high heels is so cute and they're even cuter when they fix their hair and blink rapidly sjfbjf Terra I adore you <3 
• Ryousei Tanaka-san as Amahiko is just. unbelievable. I'm always in wonder at how they managed to make him do all of the weird shit Amahiko pulls off. but seriously tho HE IS SO GOOD AT POLE DANCING?? 😭 also the way he randomly popped up wearing just the ribbons + another moment with just the sasa plant leaves was too funny ✋ I love how stage Amahiko seems like a fan favorite too with the way almost anything he says makes the audience laugh!! he's genuinely super charismatic and silly 
• OOHH I adore Haruki Mochida-san as Iori, they look so adorable + there's something about their voice as Iori that just scratches my brain right 💖 also the version of Welcome Back, Charisma that I watched featured Iori's Charisma Break, I'm so happy for them!! 🤩 they look AMAZING in Iori's CB outfit (I still cannot believe that the stage play adapted these outfits btw because some of them, like Iori's, are undoubtedly incriminating...) 
• Saru's stage actor is so silly because Saru's really just a simple-minded creature. he doesn't bow properly during curtain calls and he just flops around in the background until someone uses reverse psychology on him so that he relents 😭
• ouuu Ohse-kun's stage actor has so much cute energy like he's the pleading face emoji 🥺🫶 I love how they portrayed Ohse being both a really depressed bean and a really unhinged creature, but also as someone who's really sweet!! I loved how they adapted the scene where Ohse builds a Christmas tree for the Charismas + he writes down a wish about wanting to be with the Charismas forever 💗

• I can't get over the way when they were doing a fire drill Rikai just hop-stomped and all the other Charismas jump-turned like fucking Wii bowling pins 😭😭
• I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY ADAPTED THE LOW PRESSURE SCENE 💔 out of all of the scenes they could've adapted from the drama tracks they really had to choose that one... Tanaka-san portrayed that so well and everyone else was just comically too casual about it 😭 also I can't get over the way Fumiya was just seated there munching on donuts commanding everyone else to attack Amahiko 
• AAA AMAHIKO AND OHSE'S SEIYUUS MADE AN APPEARANCE!! I've been watching the "extra Charisma" scenes individually and I adore how they got the Charisma House seiyuus + other celebrities to appear on the stage play. I firmly believe that the vast majority of these scenes are hilariously improvised because they're just saying the most random stuff ever (prompting Rikai to blow his whistle every now and then 😭) it was also so funny when the asparagus-kesparagas tongue twister showed on screen and everyone started laughing