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bitwizetoday at 9:57 AM0 repliesview on HN

I've never seen kabuki live, but it looks fun as balls to attend in person. People shout and cheer at their favorite actors and characters, Rocky Horror style. I also perceive a cultural throughline from kabuki to the flashy costumes, cool poses, "transformation sequences", heroic themes, and so forth in modern Japanese media like anime and tokusatsu. The stylized action, line delivery, and visual language of the costumes, makeup, and scenery are all over the top (esp. when compared to the more subdued and austere aesthetics of noh) and that tickles some deep inner geek in me. Maybe some of the original "punk" ethos of kabuki (kabuku = "to lean", or metaphorically "to be odd") was preserved in all those layers of tradition.