One of the three forms of classical Japanese theatre, 歌舞伎 (Kabuki) is written with the characters for for "song", "dance" and "skill", but likely originated as a phonetic spelling of the noun form of kabuku ("to lean"); i.e. obstreperousness or going outside the norm. It is etymologically linked to the kabukimono, punks of the early Edo era characterized by their defiance of social custom (including wearing bright, bold colours), and committing violence against their social superiors. Kabuki is known for its stylized drama, for the elaborate white-and-coloured face paint (kumadori) worn by some of its performers, and (compared to other Japanese theatre) its ornate stages that include a hanamichinote catwalk.
The earliest troupes were all-women, performing dances and dramatic storytelling. The rapid popularity of the format, as well as the growing wealth of the audience, meant that it was viewed negatively by the shogunate. They put a stop to women and children performances, which led to the Ur-Example for Bishōnen; "Onna-gata
" (literally "woman-role") of Kabuki.
During the Genroku period (from mid-17th to mid-19th centuries), most of the tropes in Kabuki theatre had been codified, such as the posing and the makeup. This includes the idea that ninjas wear all black; the kuroko stagehands wore all black and would move things around during the performance, but not participate. If they held a bird or leaf, the audience was only supposed to be watching the bird or leaf. When one suddenly stabbed another onstage character, it was a surprise.
Mood Whiplash is a huge part of Kabuki plot structure, with heavy doses of slapstick, hammy overacting, and other elements to play humor and drama closely together. Many film and television actors in Asian cinema carry this over into those formats, which may appear stilted or overdone to Western audiences, but is following proper storytelling conventions in Eastern shows.
From the end of World War 2 up to the 1960s, kabuki fell heavily under the influence of occupying United States forces, including restrictions similar to the domestic Hays Code; this resulted in a number of plays being temporarily banned, and funding being prioritised for playwrights with Americaneque styles and/or values. This was partially responsible for the boom of the Tokusatsu industry, as both experienced kabuki directors and disenfranchised newcomers began telling kabuki-esque stories in new media to escape the rigidly-controlled theatre circuit.
The precursor to kabuki is Noh, an even earlier form of theatre originating from the Muromachi Period. Noh is traditionally a higher-class artform, with shorter plays by masked performers which place less emphasis on Spectacle and Audience Participation, and more on music and dance (but with comedy skits in the Intermissions).
Common elements of Kabuki theatre:
- Adaptation Explanation Extrication: When adapting a well-known story or historical event, audiences are usually expected to know the general context going in.
- All There in the Manual: It's fairly common for only the "highlights" of the story to be depicted on stage, which can result in this depending on the level of Exposition.
- Aside Glance
- Ass Kicking Pose
- Audience Monologue
- Audience Participation
- Big Damn Heroes
- Colour-Coded Emotions: The colour of a character's clothing is often used to indicate their emotions, with tricks even used to change the character's clothing instantly mid-scene.
- Cross-Cast Role: Female roles are usually played by men.
- Delayed Causality
- Doorstopper: It's not unusual for performances to last 6 hours or more.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: Red facepaint is associated with heroes and positive emotions, blue with villains and negative emotions, and brown with brutish monsters like oni and tsuchigumo. Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains also get red facepaint, but in comical patterns resembling an animal.
- High-Pressure Blood: Blood is often depicted by having wounded characters throw red scarves.
- Historical Fiction: Fiction set in a distinctive historical period, different than the author's present.
- In the Name of the Moon
- Kabuki Sounds: The Trope Namer.
- Kishōtenketsu: Kabuki traditionally has a five-act structure, with the fourth act being a Breather Episode before the swift and dramatic conclusion.
- Mood Whiplash
- Ninja Prop: Okay, a bunch of stagehands dressed in black are preparing the next scene and... wait, did that stagehand just draw a ninja sword and stab the main character?
- Quest to the West: Heroes generally enter from stage right (facing left) and villains from stage left (facing right). A hero moving in and out of the heroic position can also signify them gaining and losing advantage.
- Red Is Heroic
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Often a Hot-Blooded hero in red facepaint is opposed by a Manipulative Bastard in blue facepaint with similar patterns.
- Slapstick
- "Super Sentai" Stance
- Transformation Sequence: Overlapping with Flung Clothing and The Coats Are Off. Some stage costumes are designed for hikinuki - with an outer layer fastened with thread that the actor or a stagehand can remove mid-scene, causing that part of the outfit to dramatically fall away or turn inside-out before the audience's eyes.
- World of Ham
Examples:
- In Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex's second season, Kabuki theatre becomes a minor plot point. The Anti-Villain is able to realize he's being brainwashed/manipulated when none of his co-conspirators understand his comparison of revolutions to Kabuki plays (because the manifesto they thought they were following, and he thought he got that from, doesn't exist).
- Kabukibu!: The series is all about a high school student who is a fan of kabuki and wants to establish a kabuki club in school.
- In Samurai Champloo the trio attend a Kabuki play with Isaac Titsingh.
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya!: The special short Kirby 3D introduces Kabuki Kirby, a new Copy Ability for Kirby. At first, Kirby transforms into a human kabuki performer who represents the famous warrior Benkei, but it turns out to be a disguise. Kabuki Kirby's real form is that of Kirby wearing a miniature monk robe and holding a staff.
- The Stop Motion shorts of Kihachirō Kawamoto are based on Japanese Mythology and also take inspiration from the country's traditional forms of theatre — Noh, Kabuki and Bunraku puppet theatre.
- In Chapters 33-40 of Awakening, Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Sunstorm, Metalhawk and Pharma put on a kabuki-style play called "The Matchmaker".
- Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.: New York cop Sgt. Harry Griswald, after being dragged to a kabuki show, suddenly finds himself possessed by the spirit of a great Japanese warrior, Kabukiman.
- The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums is about the pampered son of a family's high-end kabuki troupe, who, after breaking with his father over a Parental Marriage Veto, has to take a series of Fallen on Hard Times Jobs with lesser kabuki troupes.
- Kamen Rider Ghost: Goemon Eyecon has a Kabuki and Ninja Theme.
- Super Sentai:
- Gosei Sentai Dairanger featured a Monster of the Week called Kabuki Kid. Notably for this season's monsters, he was not able to transform into a human guise but rather possessed humans. The fact that the stylized paint and wig would appear meant he had to possess multiple people.
- Samurai Sentai Shinkenger had Shinken Blue, a Kabuki actor before he was tapped to be a Shinkenger. The team as a whole was served by ninja-like stagehands as well.
- Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger: The final arc of season 2 has the team trying to prevent a Hostile Show Takeover by "Prism Ace", an Ultraman-like hero created by a Thai company for the Japanese market. As usual, their fight consists of both sides trying to Invoke as many tropes as possible while luring their opponent into Tempting Fate. The Akibarangers eventually achieve victory by tricking Prism Ace into an exchange of Finishing Moves while he stands on the left of the screen and they stand on the right - a well-established victory flag which is nonetheless unlikely to be noticed by a foreigner with little knowledge of Sentai choreography's roots in kabuki.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000: One host segment of Invasion of the Neptune Men has the bots perform Kabuki Theatre for Mike. When Mike comments he prefers Noh Theater (another famous kind of Japanese theater), the bots think Mike doesn't like theater at all.
- Ultraman Tiga: The episode "Flower" revolves around a pair of Kabuki-themed alien invaders who invades a TPC picnic, intending to make planet Earth their personal kabuki stage. Their outfits resembles kimonos worn by Kabuki stagehands, with their faces being modelled directly after Kabuki masks, and the final battle even takes place on a Kabuki-like soundstage!
- Psycho le Cému has the Angura Kei music video of "Yume Kazaguruma" where every member takes a classic Japanese stereotype. One of them, Lida, takes the role of the Kabuki dancer, being disguised with a red robe and mannerisms. Also, the scenery of the video is like a big Kabuki theatre and all the members dance to the song.
- Invoked with Asuka with her tag team of "The Kabuki Wariors" with Kairi Sane. She has used some theatrical mannerism since her time in Joshi Puroresu as Kana.
- Tenra Bansho Zero is designed for one-shot sessions which emulate the structure of a kabuki play, rapidly progressing through short scenes where players take turns as "actors" or "audience" (both of whom can influence events). While the initial setup for each scene is rather formal (with In Medias Res encouraged, and PCs' initial reactions to NPCs being determined by random roll) it is not rigid, with players having many ways to override or derail things in the name of Rule of Cool (including Comeback Mechanics, a mechanic for performing Dynamic Entry when a PC in another location needs your help, and multiple ways to perform a Heroic Sacrifice). Given the fantasy Jidaigeki setting, "Kabukimono" is also a playable class.
- The original Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures in 1976 was presented in Kabuki style, with men playing women's parts and set changes made in full view of the audience by people dressed in black.
- Yotsuya Kaidan is the Ur-Example of the Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl trope, being the story of a vengeful ghost who wreaks havoc on the lives of those who drove her to suicide.
- Capcom:
- Retu, introduced in Final Fight 2, is a Kabuki dancer and the new boss of Mad Gear Gang. He has a large body, long red hair, white horns and a painted face
- Sodom, also from Final Fight, is a Japanese fan with some Kabuki details in personality and theatrical mannerisms in various of the games, mostly his Street Fighter appearances.
- Edmond Honda is a famous Sumo wrestler in Street Fighter who's very patriotic and a fan of Kabuki theatre. He paints red lines on his face, similar to Kabuki makeup, and his public bathroom stage has some kabuki elements on it.
- Kabuki Quantum Fighter: The main premise is to hack a nuclear computer system to avoid an incoming nuclear war in a Cyberpunk future. To do it, a military has to get into the system with a device and get an avatar inside it, which takes the form of a Kabuki performer who also attacks with his hair.
- Kabuki Warriors: A 2001 game created for the Xbox console, where characters wear ornate robes, have painted faces, intricate tattoos, and wear long flowing wigs. They fight in theatre stages, each with a different painted backdrop.
- Samurai Shodown: Kyoshiro Senryo is the Kabuki dancer of the series, present since the first game and using a naginata as his weapon of choice. His movements are Kabuki dances, speaks in Kabuki Sounds, throws flamming fans and even uses a giant frog in a theatrical way. Also, his stages are usually Kabuki theatres.
- The Simpsons: The boss of Channel 6 Station (second half) is a Kabuki warrior on a Japanese-style stage. He lets out one final "Yooo~oh" upon defeat.
- All Grown Up!: In "Memoirs of a Finster", Kimi becomes obsessed with her Japanese heritage, and drags her family into several Japanese activities, including a Kabuki performance. Chuckie is disgusted by the reveal that the white face paint traditionally used in Kabuki used to be made of bird poop.
- In The Simpsons episode "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo", Homer complains that he and Bart had to take part in one while they were in jail in Japan (and he didn't get to be the character he wanted to play).
