I think what really draws out someone to a story is the complexity and depth of a character and how well that translates to an audience. Plot is important and all but the human aspect of contradiction and emotion is what makes it alive. Chiyoko's version is a fresh interpretation, but it stops at novelty at best. The way I see it they went with a 'girl with a thousand masks', but they didn't actually explore the ironically 'human' aspect that draws the audience like Kei did. Kei's version was divine yet also human at the same time. Her princess fan was unreal yet grounded; terrifying, charming, strong, and weak all at the same time. All the other characters were also complex, subverting good and bad and that's what makes it interesting. The impression I got with the second team however had been polished, so much that the characters seemed like an animation and not people I could empathise with. Like folktales. Which may be to other people's tastes, but most people probably won't be like. If the second team actually showed some emotional development on the second half of the play it may put some meat to their performance.
I think what really draws out someone to a story is the complexity and depth of a character and how well that translates to an audience. Plot is important and all but the human aspect of contradiction and emotion is what makes it alive. Chiyoko's version is a fresh interpretation, but it stops at novelty at best. The way I see it they went with a 'girl with a thousand masks', but they didn't actually explore the ironically 'human' aspect that draws the audience like Kei did. Kei's version was divine yet also human at the same time. Her princess fan was unreal yet grounded; terrifying, charming, strong, and weak all at the same time. All the other characters were also complex, subverting good and bad and that's what makes it interesting. The impression I got with the second team however had been polished, so much that the characters seemed like an animation and not people I could empathise with. Like folktales. Which may be to other people's tastes, but most people probably won't be like. If the second team actually showed some emotional development on the second half of the play it may put some meat to their performance.