taichi saotome stage show and the obachan posse

before emiko left for florida, i promised i would go with her to her favorite stage actor’s show.  saotome taichi is this 19 year old kid that is part of a family of stage performers.  the family troupe travels around japan performing various things like taishuu engeki (a traditional theater performance related to kabuki), traditional and modern mixed dance performances, and taichi’s specialty: onnagata.  “what is onnagata?” you might ask.  emiko told me that it’s very beautiful, graceful, prestigious, blah blah blah, but what it really boils down to: he’s a cross-dresser.

just like creepy dudes love young girls (bishoujo), creepy women love young dudes (bishounen) like saotome taichi.

granted, he’s a very GOOD cross-dresser, but he has been trained in the art of wearing makeup, dancing in kimonos, and looking/acting just like a woman.  and i’ll have to admit, there were a few times during the performance that i forgot i was watching a dude because he looked exactly like a woman.  really well done with the makeup and the dancing.

if i didn't tell you this was a guy, wouldn't you think he was just like a woman from the old school ukiyo-e pictures?

an ukiyo-e picture for frame of reference.

the most entertaining  thing about the show, though, had nothing to do with the actual show.  it was taichi’s obachan fanbase.  i was probably one of 15 men in the 1000-seat theater.  and of the women in the audience, i would say the average age was above 40.  COUGARS!

women actually outwardly embrace this?

every time taichi came on stage, they would shout and wave their arms, “TAICHI-KUN, GANBATTE!”  “TAICHI-KUN, DAI-SUKI!”  i mean, these were 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 year old women.

ok, maybe they weren't cougars. is there a term more elegant term than just really, REALLY old cougars?

i told emiko that she and all his fans were just creepy.  imagine if me and a bunch of old dudes were to religiously follow a girl/group of underage girls, go to concerts, scream out at them while they perform, and—–wait!  that’s what guys do for AKB48, and those guys are called OTAKUS!

akb48 theater on the 8th floor of don quixote in akihabara. so much B.O. you wouldn't even know...

in the end, i sorta enjoyed the bad acting and weirdness of forgetting i was watching a dude.  it was something that i may not do again but was a good enough experience to try once.  and now i know that emiko is a girl version of an otaku.  awesome.  OBACHAN POSSE OUT!

lady on the front right looks ready to pounce, if only it meant NOT breaking a hip.