Me and My Girl (Moon, 1995)

[nightless_castle]

Summary: A Takarazuka production of the Broadway romantic comedy musical. An unapologetically unrefined cockney gentleman named Bill (Amami Yuuki) learns that he is the 14th heir to the Earl of Hareford. However, he will only receive his inheritance if Sir John (Kuze Seika) and the Duchess (Kuni Natsuki) approve that he is fit to rule Hareford. The Duchess feels that with a little grooming, Bill will be a suitable successor. However, she does not approve of Bill’s girlfriend, Sally (Asano Kayo).

Thoughts about this happy sunshine-y show below!

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Me and My Girl is a very light-hearted and happy comedy so if you want to have a good time then definitely watch this! It's such a pure and cute story but there are also some emotional tear jerking moments in this show though which really just hit you all the more. The music is also really pleasant..

This is my favorite version of zuka’s MeMy, I think the rest are wonderful too but I just think this is a perfect cast and everyone acted so wonderfully in it. I also just like watching older productions of stories set in older time periods since it retains that genuine old-timey charm.

If you’ve never watched MeMy before I would say this one’s a good one to start with. They gradually found a way to include more of the jokes from the original English script as the years went by and refined the show more with later versions, but this version truly delivers when it comes to acting. They really knew how to hit the emotional beats of the story. If you want to watch a MeMy that’s stronger in the romance than the comedy then this is the one for you (it’s still pretty hilarious though). You’ll get the general idea of the characters and story if you watch this one, so watching the other versions later will only Enhance the Experience.

Amami Yuuki is ridiculously charming and is essentially in her element with Bill. Sally is also maybe my favorite Asano Kayo role ever. She really carried the emotional narrative of the show and is such a sweet Sally! The way she acted in one of the scenes hurt me so much it made me cry. Kuni Natsuki and Kuze Seika are also my favorite Maria and Sir Johns. They’re both so soft and you can tell that they’re just loving old grandparents who want the best for Bill and Sally. It also has Shizuki Asato as Gerald (I love when she acts in silly roles), Makoto Tsubasa as the VERY attractive Jackie, and Shiokaze Kou as the funny and pure Parchester.

TN notes:

I apparently had a weird priority to make the lyrics singable for this one. I think it's a testament to how well they translated the songs into Japanese. So my translation is definitely a re-localization(?) of a localization. I just like leaving traces of the original musical in there sometimes.

Also I used up my last 3 braincells to translate Bill’s jokes. I could’ve translated them literally and include a bunch of TN’s at the top of the screen but I just didn’t feel like doing it, so please enjoy my desperate renditions of the jokes.