Phantom 2004 (Cosmos) GIF

While browsing through my laptop I found this gif I made about two years ago.

It's from one of my favourite scenes in Phantom.

Wao's acting is stunning. I believe that Phantom is her best performance ever and it's close to perfection... so close to perfection I'd say it's perfect! XD

If you haven't watched her version of Phantom yet, you absolutely must!

HOME 私の夢が叶う場所 Lyrics

Tonight I can't seem to get sleepy and a song keeps on ringing in my ears. I had been thinking that I should translate some lyrics for a while, but then I never did. Tonight I decided that I would.

The song is HOME The Place Where My Dream Comes True, from the show Phantom.

It's the first full show I have ever watched so I am particularly attached to it.

The music is awesome and this song is just adorable.

Hopefully I've done a decent job, but if it's not satisfactory please forgive me ;)

So... here it is!

KANJI

いつも待っていた　心の中では
夢に手が届く　その時を
パパは言っていた　その場所に来れば
胸のときめきが高鳴ると

I'm Home この舞台なの
美しい音楽が溢れ　私を包むの
空の彼方に届くように　想いを込めて
私は歌うわ　ここで

素敵なオーケストラが奏でるなら
魔法の世界が広がる
アリアを聞けば感じられるわ
この世に生まれた喜びと幸せも

Dream 描き続けた夢も
いつか願いがかなうとわかるの
この舞台でいつの日か歌うのよ
きっと叶うはずよ
夢は

いつも待っていた　暗闇の中で
天使が囁く　その時を
今　聞こえるあの声
夜ごと探し求めた　幻の声だ
心の中に思い出がそっと甦る
安らぎ感じる　何故か

この子は誰だろう？
僕だけに歌う
野原に咲く名もない花のように
僕にならばできるだろう
彼女を可憐で素敵なブーケに変える


Dream 描き続けた(My Dream 描き続けた)
夢も(My Dream 夢も)
いつか願いがかなうとわかるさ(いつか願いが叶うと分かるの)
この舞台で
いつの日か歌うのよ(いつの日か歌うのよ)
きっと叶うはずさ(きっと叶うはずよ)
夢は

ROMAJI

Itsumo matteita   kokoro no naka de wa
yume ni te ga todoku   sono toki wo
papa wa itteita   sono basho ni kureba
mune no tokimeki ga takanaru to

I'm home   kono butai nano
utsukushii ongaku ga afure   watashi wo tsutsumu no
sora no kanata ni todoku youni   omoi wo komete
watashi wa utau wa   koko de

Sutekina okesutora ga kanaderu nara
mahou no sekai ga hirogaru
aria wo kikeba kanjirareru wa
kono yo ni umareta yorokobi to shiawase mo

Dream   egakitsuzuketa yume mo
itsuka negai ga kanau to wakaru no
kono butai de itsu no hi ka utau no yo
kitto kanau hazu yo
yume wa

Itsumo matteita   kurayami no naka de
tenshi ga sasayaku   sono toki wo
ima   kikoeru ano koe
yogoto sagashimotometa   maboroshi no koe da
kokoro no naka ni omoide ga sotto yomigaeru
yasuragi kanjiru   nazeka

Kono ko wa dare darou?
Boku dake ni utau
nohara ni saku na mo nai hana no youni
boku ni naraba dekiru darou
kanojo wo karen de sutekina buuke ni kaeru

Dream   egakitsuzuketa (My Dream   egakitsuzuke)
yume mo (My Dream   yume mo)
itsuka negai ga kanau to wakaru sa (itsuka negai ga kanau to wakaru no)
kono butai de
itsu no hi ka utau no da (itsu no hi ka utau no yo)
kitto kanau hazu sa (kitto kanau hazu yo)
yume wa

ENGLISH

Within my heart I had always been waiting
for that moment when my hands would reach my dream
dad always said that if I came to that place
my chest would beat fast

I'm home, this is the stage
overflowing with music, it engulfs me
as if reaching beyond the sky, enveloped by emotions
I sing, right here

If a wonderful orchestra plays
the world of magic broadens
if I hear an aria, I can feel
the joy and happiness of being born in this world

Dream, I know that some day
my wishes will come true, and the dream I've kept on painting too
someday I will sing on this stage
that dream
is definitely going to come true

I have always been waiting in the darkness
for that moment when an angel would whisper
now, I can hear that voice
it's the illusory voice I looked for nightly
in my heart memories are gently awoken
somehow, I feel peace

Who is this girl?
Like a nameless flower blooming in a field,
she sings just for me
if it's me, then I probably can
change her into a lovely and gorgeous bouquet


Dream, I know that some day
my wishes will come true, and the dream I've kept on painting too
someday I will sing on this stage
that dream
is definitely going to come true

Note: I didn't translate the bits in the brackets simply because they have the same meaning as the sentences coming before them. The only reason why they have been added in the JP lyrics is because at that point Eric and Christine sing at the same time with some slight differences in the wording. But trust me, the meaning is the same ;)

I hope that this is of some help :D

I will probably translate some other lyrics later on!

When otokoyaku play female roles... Part I: Ouki Kaname

Sooner or later, all otokoyaku end up playing a female role, whether it be a big or a small role, just for one dance or for a whole play (well, maybe not all otokoyaku, but many :P ).

Opinions on otokoyaku playing musumeyaku roles are varied.

I must say that most of the times I get a weird feeling when I see an otokoyaku playing a female role. I can't really explain why, but I suppose that it might be because I'm so used to seeing them as men that it's weird to see them playing women... even though they are women!

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to have a look at what otokoyaku playing musumeyaku look like, and I decided to start from my beloved Ouki Kaname - my favourite top star at the moment, as you probably already know ;)

Kaname has played various female roles, though mainly short ones. She has probably played more female roles than I know of, but here are four roles I know about, in chronological order, from the oldest to the newest!

1. Queen of the night

Takarazuka's dream kingdom, 2005, Snow troupe

It's a short video, but I think that Kaname looks fabulous. In this dance both Kaname and Ozuki Toma play the queens of the night... sexy! ;)

Here's the video!

2. Cinderella

Miroirs, 2008, Snow troupe

This is a video I never get tired of! Kaname looks fabulous in her Cinderella dress, and I love the fact that in the end her otokoyaku side clearly comes out... :P

Click here for the video!

3. In the desert...

Luna Rossa, 2011, Cosmos troupe

In this dance Kaname is soooo sexy! I honestly think she looks fabulous... though I must say, it's so easy to tell she actually is an otokoyaku ;) But, compared to some other otokoyakus, she is still feminine enough :P

Unfortunately I couldn't find a video for this scene, but here are some screen caps I have taken from the DVD ;)

4. Pineapple Queen

Amour de 99!!, 2013, Cosmos troupe

Over the top but extremely pretty, welcome this year's Pineapple Queen!

It's an unforgettable performance, trust me ;)

Unfortunately there is no DVD yet, so I couldn't take any screen shots, but here's a couple of photos of the Pineapple Queen :D

希望を捨てるな！The Count of Montecristo / Amour de 99!! (II)

On Sunday the 17th, Monday the 18th and Sunday the 24th of March I went to watch  the new Cosmos troupe show, The Count of Montecristo / Amour de 99!!

I loved it so much! And I must say, I liked it more the second and third time. The first time I was a bit taken aback by the fact that they changed quite a bit the story compared to the novel. I understand it was necessary in order to turn a novel which is over a thousand pages long into a one hour and a half musical, though.

At any rate, the music is first class! The songs got stuck badly in my head, so now I am really looking forward to the DVD and CD!

WARNING: from here on there might be SPOILERS!

The first act, The Count of Montecristo, was a bit difficult to follow at first, but extremely well done. Not only the songs were great (one of the songs actually makes me want to cry every single time I listen to it), but the setting was also really really good. In particular, the scene in which Edmont Dantès is in prison, the stage is really awesome: there are two levels, and on the lower level you can see Dantès getting more and more desperate by the day, while on the upper level you see scenes of what happens in the lives of those who are free (Mercedes, Danglars, Fernand etc).

There were a few extremely dramatic scenes, but also a couple of really funny ones. The scenes in which appeared Bertuccio (Ozuki Toma) and the pirates were often the stress releaf. In particular, there is one scene with Bertuccio, Vampa and the pirates/smugglers which is really funny. I am not an expert of Japanese accents, but I have a feeling that the pirates speak with a Kyushu accent... which would make sense since I believe that Kyushu was an area with quite a lot of pirates in the past. And that was also funny. (I might be wrong though, so feel free to correct me!)

It goes without saying that Ouki Kaname was amasing in the role of the count: every time I see her on stage my admiration towards her increases. Not only is she extremely beautiful, but she's an excellent actress. Her singing might not be one of the best among the top stars, but she conveys such emotions that I get lost for words. She's the best ;)

I must say I was also really really pleased with Misaki Rion: her Mercedes was spot on. In several scenes she moved me to tears. Thumbs up for her! I'm ashamed to say I don't usually pay much attention to musumeyaku (unless they annoy me) but she was so good that I feel it's my duty to spear a few words for her. Just as I thought, I think that Kaname and her make a great combi.

Yumi Hiro, Ozuki Toma, Asaka Manato, Nanami Hiroki, Hasumi Yuuya... there are so many awesome actresses in the current cosmos troupe that I can't possibly talk about all of them. Honestly, great GREAT job sora gumi!!!

The second act, Amour de 99!!, was full of energy and interesting. It was a celebration of Takarazuka which followed its history. The actresses performed dances from several old shows.

Some of the dances were really amasing (there was one with blue costumes which I particularly loved, but I can't remember the name right now, and I don't have the program at hand... sorry).

The most notable part was probably the "pineapple queen" dance, in which Kaname wore the pineapple queen costume and showed her bare legs. She was awesome! I am always amased by the fact that she looks gorgeous both as a man and as a woman. 

I also really liked the tuxedo dance. It was actually very simple, with plain black tuxedos and red roses. I liked the fact that Kaname wore a tuxedo just like everybody else, with no rhinestones on it. It was really very very elegant. At the end of the dance Kaname gave the rose to one of the spectators... and I died of envy ;) every single time!

Another important part was probably a dance in which Ozuki Toma danced with Kaname dressed as a musumeyaku. I must say though that I don't think that Ozuki Toma pulls off the musumeyaku role too well. Somehow, I kept on seeing a man dressed as a woman on stage XD

On a side note, there is one scene in which Kaname has to take off a wig and a fake beard on stage. On the 18th, the beard got stuck and the mic fell off. I was impressed by her reaction: she didn't show any sort of emotion, she went on with her lines as if nothing had happened, and as soon as she could turn around so that the mic side of her face was hidden, she put it back on swiftly. She did so well, that my friends who were not looking through the opera glasses at that moment didn't even notice it. Congratulations Kaname, you really are a pro!

This is about it. Awesome show, definitely a must see. I'm glad I got to see it three times, and I wish I could watch it again. This show is really special to me, not only because I like it, not only because my beloved Ouki Kaname stars in it, but for one more reason... it's going to be my last Takarazuka show in quite some time. :(

Unfortunately, I had to leave Japan on Monday... so now I'm stuck in Europe and I'm missing Takarazuka (and plenty of other stuff) already. I wish I could have stayed, but I like to think of this as destiny: there must be a reason why I had to come back to Europe.

At any rate, even though I'm not in Japan any more, I will do my best to keep this blog updated with interesting news and curious facts.

Unfortunately I only have access to a rather bad Internet connection at the moment, so I cannot upload photos. I am really very sorry, but I don't have a choice. I hope to be able to get a better connection within a couple of months (which sounds like a hell of a long time...)

Thank you so much for reading my blog! :)

P.S. 希望を捨てるな！(don't throw away hope) is a line in one of The Count of Montecristo's songs. Since I was feeling down about having to leave Japan, it touched me deeply...
It also is sort of the message of the whole show :) Great, isn't it?

The Count of Montecristo / Amour de 99!!

Today's a happy day: the sale of Cosmos troupe's Montecristo tickets has started!

I can't wait to go watch this show, in which will of course star my dearest Ouki Kaname together with the gorgeous Misaki Rion.

This is going to be their second show as top stars, let's hope it is at least as succesful as the first!

I have bought tickets for March the 18th, so it's going to be a bit of a long wait...

In the meanwhile, enjoy the promo video ;)

1 Year Anniversary (/^O^)/

Today it's exactly one year since I first started writing this blog!
So, to celebrate, here's one of my very favourite scenes.
It's an extract from Cosmos troupe's Nice Guy! (second act of Classico Italiano) starring Ouki Kaname and Oozora Yuuhi.
Enjoy! :)

P.S.: and happy Valentine's day ;)

Akatsuki Chisei: this year's Hatsumoude Poster Model

This is Akatsuki Chisei (暁千星) and she's this year's Hatsumoude Poster Model.
Wondering what that is?

Every year the Hankyu corporation picks a couple of people who will go to the first visit to the shrine on behalf of the company and feature in a series of posters.
One of these people is always a Takarasienne who has debuted during the past year, usually the one who has graduated at the top of her class. The 'siennes who are chosen to be Hatsumoude Poster Model usually go on to have a brilliant career, e.g. Hanafusa Mari, Yuzuki Reon, Misaki Rion...
You can find a full list here.

These past weeks the Hankyu Railway stations walls are covered in these posters, and this picture also features on the front page of TOKK (a free information paper published by the Hankyu Hanshin Toho group).

Akatsuki Chisei debuted in Brilliant Days / Climax (Cosmos troupe) and was also featured in JIN / Gold Spark (Snow troupe).
She has not been assigned to a troupe yet (like all other Takarasiennes who graduated in 2012).
It's completely unrelated to Takarazuka, but it might be interesting: she is the daughter of a former pro baseball player (Yamauchi Kazuhiro).

I am looking forward to see how she improves and grows, and I wish her all the best for her Zuka career!

In TOKK was also featured an interview. I hope to get time to translate it soon :)

AQUA5

What would you call a band made of five otokoyaku? A boysband? A girlsband? ... a "Takaband"?

At any rate, call it what you may, it exists! ...or at least, it used to exist, since they have disbanded now.

But you can still find their music and videoclips, and that's what matters!

AQUA5 was a J-Pop group made of five otokoyaku who were in the snow troupe: Mizu Natsuki (top star at that time), Otozuki Kei (current snow troupe top star), Ouki Kaname (next cosmos troupe top star), Ayabuki Mao and Ayana Oto.

They were active from 2007 to 2010, when the lead Mizu Natsuki retired from Takarazuka.

They only released three singles and one album, and they had one live concert in Tokyo.

They also participated in the popular Japanese TV program "Tokyo Friend Park II" - go watch it if you can, you can find the video on tudou.com, it's really funny!

Honestly, I am not really into J-Pop (I prefer rock), but hearing these five great Takarasiennes singing together is still nice.

If you haven't listened to their music yet, then you should give it a go. Takarasiennes are really good singers after all, and it's nice to see them in a different kind of context.

Here are the links to the videoclips for their three singles:

Time to love (absolutely love their look here!)

Aqua Feel, Aqua Soul

Shirayuki (I think it's a really pretty PV)

Hope you'll enjoy this :)

OUKI KANAME + MISAKI RION are Cosmos troupe's next top stars!

Ladies and Gentlemen, great news: Ouki Kaname is going to be Cosmos troupe's otokoyaku top star starting in July!
I am overjoyed! I honestly believe she fully deserves this, I like her a lot. She's great at singing, dancing and acting - and she looks amasing.

As for the new musumeyaku top star, it's going to be Misaki Rion. I must admit, I know nothing of her since I haven't watched any recent flower troupe shows. I hope that she will be a good match for Ouki Kaname, it would be a pity otherwise. If she is, then I think we will witness a new golden combi like Wao Youka and Hanafusa Mari.
Wouldn't that be great?

Hisashiburi - It's been a while!

Huff... Feels like I've been gone from the blog for ages!

Sorry about that, I've had a really busy couple of weeks with guests at home.

I didn't really get a chance to watch any new Zuka lately, but I have been checking the Takarazuka news.

I was hoping to be able to announce the new Cosmos troupe top star in this post, but unfortunately the name has not been made public yet.

I am confident that I guessed right in my previous post, but I'd like to know for sure!

Anyway, during my absence, I DID IT! ... I mean, I subscribed to the Takarazuka Graph! :)

I had been thinking about it for a while, and I finally did.

I should receive it starting from April's issue. I have subscribed for 3 months for now, but I plan on renewing my subscription after that.

I hope that this blog will get more and more interesting after I start receiving the magazines... we shall see.

Stay tuned just in case! (^__^)

Have a nice day!

A Beautiful Life

美しき生涯

Isn't that a really great title?

It's a 2011 Cosmos troupe show starring, of course, Oozora Yuuhi, Nono Sumika and Ouki Kaname.

As soon as I first read the title and saw the chirashi, I had a good feeling about it.

Actually, I don't know what it's about - and I don't plan to read the synopsis before I watch it, I like the suspense - but it's definitely on my waiting list.

Today I have seen one tiny piece of it, just one short song, and now I really want to watch it.

Here's the video, with Ouki Kaname (I do hope she becomes Cosmos troupe's top star, I like her better and better every time I see her perform!).

Enjoy!

Who will be the next Cosmos troupe top star?

I was quite frankly crushed when I found out that Oozora Yuuhi (current Cosmos Troupe otokoyaku top star, picture on the left) was retiring.

Though I realise that she is probably not one of the most technically skilled singers, or the best looking otokoyaku, I still like her very much.
She is an excellent actress: as far as I have seen, she always is spot-on in her character interpretation, no matter whether she portrays a stern historical character, a silly young man or a mysterious adventurer.
Probably, the fact that I totally love Shangri-la's Sora is also one of the reasons why I like Oozora Yuuhi. Thinking that I can't see her in such roles anymore makes me a bit sad.

After the first shock, I started thinking: who will take her place as Cosmos troupe top star?

Some time ago, when she got the lead role in The Journalist and the Emperor, I feared that Hokushou Kairi (picture on the right) might take Oozora Yuuhi's place. That would have been a real disappointment for me, since I don't like Hokushou Kairi at all. To me, she has not enough charisma, nor the appropriate looks. Her voice is ok, I guess, but nothing extraordinary.
But it has been announced that she is going to enter the Senka troupe (a group formed of elder actresses who do not wish to retire and take on various roles as support for other groups instead), so she will not be Oozora Yuuhi's successor. I feel relieved.

I have a new guess as to who will be the new top star and, if I am right, I shall be very pleased. Not because I would have guessed right, but because I like the candidate.

So, here we go: my guess is that Ouki Kaname (picture on the left) will take on the top star role in Cosmos Troupe. How is that?
Well, probably it is a very obvious deduction, but still.
She joined the troupe in spring 2011, just after Ranju Tomu (at the time the main candidate, I think) left Cosmos troupe to become Flower troupe's top star. Honestly, I doubt that's a coincidence.
The fact that Ouki Kaname is going to get the lead role in Robert Capa also hints that way, doesn't it?

I think it would be awesome if it really happened and I probably would regret a bit less Oozora Yuuhi's retirement.
I know I've said it before, but, even if I haven't seen her perform much, I really like her. I loved her Tybalt in Star troupe's Romeo and Juliette and I am eager to see more of her, especially in prominent roles.

I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Welcome to the world of Takarazuka!

宝塚の世界へようこそ！

Whether you are a "veteran" fan of Takarazuka, a new adept or even if you know nothing about this colourful world, I hope you will enjoy reading my thoughts and reviews!

There are so many different aspects to Takarazuka ("Zuka" in short) that one just never knows enough about it, and it is very difficult to decide where to start from when explaining what it is.

Honestly, when I start talking about my passion for Zuka to people, they don't really get what I find so fascinating about it and they sort of freak out.

I guess that to understand the charm of this world you need to watch some of its shows first.

Maybe you also need to have some kind of natural inclination towards androgen characters, kitsch costumes, grand atmospheres and aesthetics that don't belong to your own culture (as far as my knowledge goes, the aesthetics of Takarazuka do not really fit into Japanese aesthetics either, so it could be considered "foreign" even to them).

But first things first: what is Takarazuka?

Takarazuka is a Japanese type of theater that features musicals played only by female actresses.

Having only male actors is something that most people have heard of (think of Kabuki or even of European theater up to the XVII century), but having only female actresses is a lot more rare.

So in Takarazuka you have women playing both female (musumeyaku) and male (otokoyaku) roles.

The actresses attend a special school during two years in which they have dancing, singing and acting classes.

During that period, the stage sex of the actresses is decided according to their physical appearance, skills and (though it is not as important a factor as the others) personal preference.

Once their stage sex is decided, they will stick to it (even when they are not on stage) until they leave their troupe.

It is rather rare to have actresses play both female and male roles, but it is not unprecedented.

There are five Takarazuka troupes:

花組 - Flower troupe

雪組 - Snow troupe

星組 - Star troupe

月組 - Moon troupe

宙組 - Cosmos troupe

Actresses often switch from one troupe to another at some point, they sometimes switch between several of them during their career.

Each troupe has its own top stars: one otokoyaku and one musumeyaku.

The top stars play the lead roles in the shows of their troupe with few exceptions.

The "real" top star is only one, though: the otokoyaku top star. The otokoyaku have a higher status compared to the musumeyaku and they usually have a wider fan-base as well.

The musicals played in Takarazuka are often set abroad, mainly in Europe, and the genre is predominantly romance.

Some of them are based on famous manga (such as "The Rose of Versailles"), others on existing musicals (such as "Elisabeth" or "Romeo and Juliette") and some are original Takarazuka productions (e.g. "Never say goodbye").

The costumes are stunning, sometimes getting to a pitch of kitsch-ness that is almost unbelievable. They love sequins, rhinestones and feathers.

You might wonder now about what is there to Takarazuka that fascinates me so much.

1. The actresses are incredibly skilled. Of course, some are "better" than others and I do have my favourites and my, let's say, "not-so-favourites", but overall the level is amasingly high.

I am not a singing, dancing or acting expert, so I cannot go in detail, but my impression is that they do extremely well in all these fields.

2. The otokoyaku. Their mere existance is one good reason to watch Takarazuka. Some of them are so good at what they do that I can't get myself to think of them as women - given that their purpose is precisely to enact men, isn't that a wonderful thing?

I must say, their "male" performance is strongly stereotyped (and so is the musumeyaku's "female" performance) but still, there is some kind of "magic" to it that is difficult to put into words.

The musumeyaku are not one of the reasons I like Takarazuka, though for some people they are. Don't misunderstand me: I believe them to be excellent at what they do, but somehow I am not as impressed with them as I am with the otokoyaku.

3. I love musicals. I guess that, if I didn't, I probably could not stand Takarazuka. But, given that I am absolutely a huge fan of musicals, I really appreciate the variety of their shows: they go from comedy to drama, from sci-fi to traditional stories. Besides, they perform about 3 shows per troupe every year! One can just never get bored.

4. I loooove romance, and I like it the "old-way". Yes, even when it's cheesy.

Of course, everyone has their own reasons to like Takarazuka and I don't mean to say that your reasons for liking it should be the same as mine.

I simply hope that, if you were not sure whether to plunge into the world of Takarazuka or not, I have motivated you to go for it!

Last but not least, if you want to learn more about Takarazuka, I suggest you to visit the TakaWiki. You'll find loads of interesting information there!

P.S. The picture I have uploaded for this post is of Wao Youka, my absolute favourite otokoyaku, in the show "Phantom" (2004).