Dear Anon,

Thank you for your ask. I don’t know too much about Shirota Yu, but I’ll share whatever I do know ( ^ω^ )ヅ I shall try to do it in the same format as I did for Inoue Yoshio.

Who is Shirota Yu, and who is he to Furukawa?

Shirota Yu is one of the princes of TOHO like Furukawa is. He is an outgoing and upbeat person, usually very optimistic. He is known for his goofiness and being an enormous sis-con (the girl in the picture).

Shirota and Furukawa

Like Inoue, personality wise Shirota is also quite the opposite of Furukawa, but they get along very well. They are both allumni of the musical ‘Prince of Tennis’ who later made their way into TOHO.

Furukawa is a great lover of comedy and humour, and is very funny himself. But he is so in a very calm, or almost gloomy way. When Furukawa is with his friends however, he brightens up and gets wacky together. Shirota is one of those friends Furukawa opens up to.

There is not much of a senior-junior relationship between them it seems. Unlike with his senpais such as Yamazaki or Inoue, Furukawa and Shirota usually do not really talk about the work they have at hand behind the scenes. They usually just start wacking right away.

Here is a rare video of Furukawa and Shirota failing at playing Mario.

Shirota as a Performer

I have not seen a lot of Shirota’s performance. Theatre-wise, so far I have only seen his Der Tod and his Phantom. Outside theatre performances, I have seen him in multiple other movies and series. (He was Not!Aberline in the live action of Kuroshitsuji for example.)

To be entirely honest, Shirota’s performance is not really my cup of tea. I think he has a good voice, but his acting is usually quite one-sided. He very often has this overgrown golden retriever puppy vibe going on. For some roles it is absolutely great, but for others it is less suitable. In my personal opinion, his acting lacks JUSTTTT that extra layer of dept I am looking for in a character.

I think the problem might be because Shirota seems a bit afraid or unable to pull really weird or ugly faces.  Or in the very least, he doesn’t pull them. He is always very handsome no matter the role he plays. Just like my personal criticism towards Inoue, I also think one always first sees Shirota, and only then the character he plays.

Though Shirota’s interpretations are usually great! He is capable of conceiving very refreshing interpretations for his roles, and it’s always a pleasure to read interviews with him. He is just a very cheerful person who seems very respectful towards other people.

I have not seen a lot of Shirota’s dancing, but he seems to have a very good control of his muscles, and his movements are solid. Of course he is a 190cm tall wall of muscles, so he is able to perform some moves with greater ease than others.

In this gif below we can see how in comparison to Inoue, Shirota easily picks Furukawa up as though it’s nothing. (Though, it’s not like Furukawa weighs anything…)

Shirota as Der Tod

Der Tod is my favourite role for Shirota. I really like his interpretation of playing a different Death depending on whose death he is. He also interpreted that Der Tod never had any reason to mature (a bit similar to Furutod), so his Der Tod is a very childish Der Tod. He would often strike some fetus poses, or shout where other Der Tods don’t shout. It is very nice to see such a tall and muscular Tod acting like a toddler.

My main criticism towards Shirota’s Der Tod is that he seems a bit inconsistent in his interpretation, rather than that it’s clear that he is ‘shapeshifting’. During some scenes with Rudolf, sometimes he would be the tyrant who rules everyone, shining with absolute confidence. But at other times he seems like a toddler stamping for attention, getting angry that people wouldn’t listen to him.

The most striking discrepancy to me is who ShirotaTod is to Rudolf. Is he his ‘friend’ like he proclaimed? Or is he the new father figure who is there to replace Franz I? At other times he also seems to be Rudolf’s seducer, tempting him into ‘falling in love’ to trick him into suicide.

With Lucheni too, ShirotaTod seems to be the creation of Lucheni’s fantasy, while in other scenes it is like he is an entirely separate entity of his own.

I understand that this is probably the ‘different Der Tod depending on whose death he is’, but somehow I was not 100% convinced.

But regardless, I really appreciate seeing a huge macho toddler ShirotaTod is, and I also respect his interpretation of this role. But most importantly, I appreciate him for being a fierce friend to his pals, his joyful spirit, and shameless glee in goofing around.