I watched the first stream of this and thoroughly enjoyed it; although as to whether the show is objectively a good musical, maybe not. Still recommended as a rare chance to watch a Takarazuka show easily and legally though, and to encourage future international streams as Kitsune says. There was clearly no sense of obligation felt by the writer/director (Shuichiro Koike) to be true to the tone or plot of the original novel or the Daniel Craig film (I haven't seen the 1960s film). This show instead takes the recognisable character of Bond (here given a 'warmer' personality) and a few plot points from the novel, to tell its own, less gritty and more old-school musical comedy-esque spy adventure story. This 'Casino Royale' incorporates not just the Soviets, but descendants of the Romanovs, '60s student protestors in France, and more. There were a couple of particularly 'quirky' choices made that I don't want to spoil for anyone planning on watching the second stream; they all added to the fun though.
Edit: The English subtitles were sometimes a bit quirky too. They may be tidied up before this is re-streamed though.
Updated On: 6/11/23 at 04:31 AM