Taka-Goods

As promised, here are the pictures of the Takarazuka goods I have managed to gather since I arrived in Japan :)
Behold the lovely additions to my precious collection! :-P

LEGEND OF THE GALACTIC HEROES @TAKARAZUKA

It's been over two months since I last posted something and it feels like a horribly long time.

Honestly, I do have a good excuse for the delay: I have left my job and moved to Kyoto, where I am going to be studying for a while. Moving and saying goodbye to everybody has taken up quite a lot of my time. Now I have almost finished settling in my new apartment, and I can start breathing again.

As you probably already know, Kyoto is pretty close to Takarazuka - of course this is not the main reason why I have chosen to come here, but it has certainly had a degree of influence on my choice of city.

And here come the relevant news: on Friday I have been to the Grand Theater to watch the Legend of the Galactic Heroes!

It has been my first time watching a Takarazuka live, and let me tell you: it's an incredible experience.

I know it sounds obvious, but it truly is so much better than what one can gather from the DVDs that I am at a loss for words strong enough to describe it.

What really is astonishing is that I believe the singing sounds even better live.

It was my first time not only at the Grand Theater, but also in Takarazuka, and I have found both the theater and the city very pretty.

The theater doesn't look that great from the outside, but the inside is actually really nice. I expected it to be a lot more over-the-top, but it isn't. It's elegant and... well, very grand indeed.

But the important part is the show... and I have no clue about how to start.

It has been an amasing, dream-like experience.

To be frank, at first I was a bit sceptical when I heard that they would make a Takarazuka based on a sci-fi story. I must also say that I was particularly displeased as it is Kaname's first show as top star (and as you have certainly already guessed, she is my absolute favourite 'sienne). Nevertheless, I decided to give it a shot - curiosity won against my disbelieving side. I am glad it did.

The plot was actually pretty interesting and a lot deeper than I thought -if any fan of the anime reads this, I sincerely apologise: I did thing that it would be just meaningless flying and killing, but I am ready to confess that I was utterly wrong.

The setting was fabulous. They found some very original ways to make the audience feel the movement of the spaceships and to make it credible. Of course, the fight scenes were just a minor part of the show, but those were the scenes that I worried most about. They were magnificent. The truly great thing is that they were also different from anything I had ever seen before.

I don't wish to spoiler too much, but just try imagining screens, laser lights and steam...

...then mix all this with some terrific costumes. They were similar to those in the anime, but with a Zuka touch to them which made them breathtaking. There was the right amount of glitter, the right amount of  swishing capes (only one, actually, but still, it was the right amount), the right amount of stern military uniforms.

Let's not forget the music, which was perfection. There were some really nice tunes, and, as I stated earlier, the voices of the actresses were even better than what I expected. And let me tell you: my expectations were really high on that score.

I was left speechless by the fact that all the voices blended together so well.

I am afraid that this isn't a very complete review of the show, but as I said, I am afraid to spoiler too much.

Let me just add a couple of things:

1. I hope that they will make a sequel... it's not just that it would be nice, I believe that the show actually needs it in order to feel complete.

2. I feel that a huge CONGRATULATIONS must be said to all of soragumi: the new troupe is stronger than I could have ever imagined.

I am also very pleased with Misaki Rion, even though I would have loved for her to have a bit more of space within the show. But anyway, I can now safely say that she's not only gorgeous, she's also an excellent 'sienne.

There would still be so much more to say, but I'm afraid that I might bore you. Besides, it's really late here and I haven't been sleeping much of late due to jetlag.

I might write another post adding details later on, but I can't promise it.

What I am sure I will do, is to publish the pictures of all the goods I have bought :D

As for now, please have a look at the pics of the theater and its surroundings.

There is also a photo of Kaname... though I am aware that it is impossible to recognise her and that the photo is blurred. I shall post it all the same, because it's the only proof I have that I saw her leave the theater ;)

I am sorry for the quality of the photos, I didn't have my best camera on me. I hope you enjoy them anyway!

Cheers!

VIDEOS: Roméo & Juliette

I have been thinking for a while about whether I should post link to videos of full shows or not.

On one side, I know it would be helpful to all those who want to learn more about Zuka but don't have much money to invest in it (besides, I would be a hypocrite if I said I don't watch shows in streaming).

On the other side, I know it is not fair towards the actresses and the industry.

If I had never had the chance of watching shows online, I would never have known much about Takarazuka. The DVDs are way too expensive to buy them on a whim, without being sure that you'll actually like the show. Besides, I think that most people (such as myself) don't have enough money to buy all the shows they wish to watch.

So, I have decided to publish the links to the shows.

I want to believe that all those who are interested in Zuka want the industry to prosper and wish to be fair to the Takarasiennes and all other people who work towards the success of the shows.

Therefore, please let me give you just one little piece of advice: even if you watch the shows online, please try to support our beloved 'siennes as best as you can. Set yourself a budget, watch the shows you are interested in and then pick your favourites. Please buy the DVDs at least for those.

Since it's the first show I have written about in this blog, I think that it would be a good option to start with the links to the videos of the Roméo & Juliette shows.

Star troupe version:

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5
part 6
part 7
part 8


 
 Snow troupe version:
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4

 (On a side note, I am looking forward to this year's Moon troupe version as well!)

Please note that the videos are not uploaded by myself, so if a link stops working I cannot upload it again or fix it myself.

However, please let me know if a link does not work and I shall try to find another one - if possible.

Have a great time :)

Angel's Ladder (Pride and Prejudice)

I am a huge (really huge) fan of Jane Austen's.

I've read all of her books, some of them several times.

I've watched all known movie and TV series productions of her works.

So, honestly, I was really thrilled when I found out that star troupe's Angel's Ladder (天使のはしご, Tenshi no Hashigo) is a version of my beloved Pride and Prejudice.

A combination of Takarazuka and Jane Austen sounds enthralling to say the least!

I believe that its romantic atmosphere fits perfectly the Takarazuka style, and it could be really interesting to see what they come up with to render the intrinsic irony of the story.

Of course i am also really looking forward to find out how they render the characters.

One extra point in favour of this show: Suzumi Shio (who is unfortunately retiring in august) is the lead.

I liked her performance in Romeo and Juliette and I am really curious to see her in the role of Darcy.

I have high expectations of her.

Unfortunately I have not been able to watch the show yet (I think that the video might just not be available yet), but I have found a teaser video that has quite frankly made the wait even more unbearable than it already was.

I fervently advise you to have a look! Here's the link. ;)

DRACULA

Uff... it's been a while since I last wrote on here!

Sorry for the absence!

While I was away from the blog, I finally managed to watch a show that I had been wanting to watch for quite some time.

It's not actually Takarazuka, but it's linked to it: the Japanese version of DRACULA, starring Wao Youka and Hanafusa Mari (and also Natsumi Abe, who previously was part of Morning Musume).

The show was very good, though I must (reluctantly) admit, that I liked Wao better back in the Zuka days.

Still, the show is definitely worth watching.

I honestly think it's awesome that the golden combi Wao-Hanafusa is still active even though their Takarazuka days are over. No matter what the reason behind it might be, I love that.

I also found out something pretty interesting in an interview with Wao regarding this show: apparently Frank Wildhorn was keeping the part especially for her.

Since this is not a Takarazuka show, there wasn't any need for the main male character to be played by a woman... and yet he picked her.

Most of you probably already know this, but Frank Wildhorn and Wao had met in 2006 because of her last show as a top star, Never Say Goodbye (an incredibly good show in my humble opioion), which was written by Frank Wildhorn himself especially for the occasion.

That was already a great honour, but I believe it's an even greater honour that he kept the role of Dracula for her up til 2011. Apparently (according to the interview I mentioned earlier), Frank Wildhorn had already talked about having Wao as Dracula back in her top star days.

At any rate, Wao makes without doubt a pretty good Dracula and her skills are impressive, even though, as I already pointed out, I wouldn't put it among my favourite performances.

Still, I encourage you to watch it if you have not watched it yet!

Here you can find a video of one song of the show(WARNING: this might be a spoiler!)

And this is the first part of the interview I mentioned earlier.

If you feel like watching this musical, you can find it on tudou.com ... if you can't find it, let me know and I'll help you out!

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 :)

On the Night of the End of the World

If you were a football fan, how would you feel if one of your favourite musicians wrote a song for the world championship?

One of the things I truly love besides musicals is... music. Especially rock, and especially Japanese rock.

So, of course, I am a great fan of X-Japan.

Lately I was looking for some info, so I had a look at Yoshiki's page on wikipedia (which I hadn´t done in a while) and I found out something great!

As one of his many jobs as a composer, Yoshiki has written a song for the 90th anniversary of Takarazuka!

This might not be great news for some of you, as it dates to 2004, but I was thrilled when I found out about it.

The song was performed by Haruno Sumire, flower's troupe top star at that time.

The title is 世界の終りの夜に (Sekai no owari no yoru ni), which means "on the night of the end of the world".

I think it's really beautiful... well, Yoshiki's works usually are.

I have found the videos for two versions of this song, you can find them here and here.

Enjoy!