'Totes Adorbs <3 Hurricane' has to be experienced to be believed.
Seeing this show feels a bit like being swept up into a hurricane of hyperactivity and intensity. The performance is complete with wild dance moves, singing, screaming, a remix of 50 different songs and a colour storm of mile-a-minute visuals with Japanese style imagery and manga. It’s like an unusual combination of metal and J-pop, managing to bombard all of your senses, and combine this with a strong cuteness factor.
'Totes Adorbs <3 Hurricane' is kind of like a frenetic, furious 45-minute explosion, with creative use of tofu, water and confetti bombarding the audience in time with the music. You know you are in for something different when you are handed a plastic poncho and asked to take off your shoes before going inside. Most of the audience ends up completely covered in rainbow confetti and tofu.
No matter what your expectations are going into the show, it will most likely exceed them. Time goes out the window, and it ends before you feel like you’ve been there ten minutes. You will probably feel like you’ve taken acid and had too many energy drinks, as one audience member described it. It is a riotous and engaging performance, influenced by a rebellious Japanese youth counter-culture that defies normative expectations. The creators make light-hearted reference to Japanese superfan and celebrity culture, as well as gym-bro culture and romance in the modern age.
The performers begin the show dressed in rainbow-coloured outfits, and there are rainbow flags – presumably as a support of LGBTQIA+ culture – as well as Japanese and Australian flags. The audience is fully-immersed in a frenzy of movements, colourful flying objects, noise, and utter chaos. Parts of the show and people’s reactions are captured with a Go-Pro strapped to a helmet given to an audience member. Shock factor is definitely part of it all, and it is very in-your-face in almost every way, so there are probably some priceless reactions caught on video.
The performers go all out, maintaining a heightened, manic energy for the entirety of the performance. Off stage however, they seem very polite and friendly. At the end of the show they trade places with the audience and help everyone down to the stage. This is a very unique experience and you would not find anything else like it in Australia.
'Totes Adorbs <3 Hurricane' is an energetic, shocking, fun, and berserk roller-coaster ride of a show.
