#Cosmos Troupe

[miriogumi]

the rondo of love and death

takarazuka’s elisabeth 1996-2005. pt2

[mizusjawline]

↳ James Bond Musical (Takarazuka), Feat. Suzuho Makaze as James Bond

[mimiadraws]

thank you serika toa as rocky in high and low: the prequel for being the most guy of all time

[zukadiary]

Cosmos Troupe's Casino Royale to get a worldwide livestream subtitled in 8 languages!

The last day of Cosmos Troupe's Casino Royale will get an unprecedented worldwide subtitled live stream via the platform Beyond LIVE!

Dates/Times: LIVE: June 11th (Sunday) 1:30pm (JST) Re-streaming: June 26th (Monday) 4:00am (JST)

Languages: English Korean Chinese (Simplified & Traditional) Spanish Vietnamese Indonesian Thai

(The stream will not include the sayonara show or taidan speeches)

For the vast majority of Takarazuka history, this would have been unthinkable! Please consider buying tickets and attending one of the Beyond LIVE streams (even if you typically watch a Rakuten stream) to show that there is demand for Takarazuka all over the world!

[TICKETS AND INFO]

[yuzukahibiscus]

Takarazuka Revue Cosmos Troupe Top Star Serika Toa's Retirement Conference

(Source from Sponichi | Before you read – this translation mentioned the incident of the deceased sienne in Cosmos Troupe)

Serika Toa had her retirement press conference on the 3rd in Osaka after announcing that she will be retiring from Takarazuka in April 27 2025.

She appeared in a pearl white suit and didn't cry, but remained a cheerful expression from start to end. The Revue emphasised the importance of "keeping the conference with questions limited to the retirement only"

Serika's message

Every day I continue to learn as I spend my days at Takarazuka that I love so much. This is all thanks to all the supporting fans that I am able to face the stage and myself, so I'm sincerely grateful. I was so happy to find something that I dived into and enjoyed so much. Before the day of my graduation and to repay this gratitude to everyone who's supported me, I want to keep growing as much as I can. Please continue to support me.

Regarding the timing of your retirement, was this affected by the incident of the deceased sienne last September?

I believe retirement is what one would always consider when they have passed a certain year of being in the revue. Everyone, it wasn't really about having a specific goal on my path to pursue the performing arts. Yet it was my goal when I was appointed as a Top Star that I wanted to be the leading role of 3 performances. I have already decided on just doing 3 lead performance when I was appointed a Top Star so there's no direct relation (to the sienne's death).

How did the troupe members react to your retirement news?

There was a little break between the closing day of "Le Grande Escalier" which was a few days ago, and the next performance, so I announced the news to the Cosmos Troupe members via LINE message. I'm not too sure how they react yet, but because we're splitting in two teams of rehearsals, I'd like to meet them directly and respectively on the first day of rehearsals.

What did you learn in the long time of supporting Top Stars?

About the things I've learnt in Takarazuka? I spent half my life there, and (Takarazuka) in terms of shaping me as a person, I'd say that I've learnt almost everything there. The greatest thing I've learnt is to be honest and sincere to myself.

So you wrote a LINE message your troupe members. How did you tell the Top Musumeyaku Haruno Sakura?

I told her at an appropriate time during the "Le Grand Escalier" performances earlier when we met each other directly. I can't say her reaction without her permission...

Message to fans

It's because I have my fans, it's because everyone is here, that I was able to overcome (setbacks). I think I can never repay these (sentiments) no matter how hard I tried. It really was a grand love (from them). But in my remaining Takarazuka life, I will try my best to repay the best I can and to repay even the least, I want to deliver the most amazing stages. Please look forward.

You also told your classmate (Snow Troupe Top Star) Ayakaze Sakina about your retirement news?

Of course, I contacted her. Even though it was a LINE message only. Because of the pandemic, there wasn’t much communication as us classmates or for our troupes (Cosmos Troupe and Snow Troupe). That was truly regretful, because had there been more interactions, I would have learnt more about various things. But she’s a classmate I really cherish. I never dream that I would be staying the longest ever since entering Takarazuka Music School and the Revue, but that’s how it turned out.

What is your future ahead after graduating?

I still haven’t had a complete vision of it. Before April 27, I want to stay completely focused in this world, and beyond that, I hope to be able to find things that make me excited and thrilled.

What did your mother – who was also a Takarasienne – say?

My mother also said, "Do your best"

What are your memories for your 18 years of your Takarazuka life?

There was really a lot. But what changed my conscious, or the turning point for me was the Takarazuka Revue 100th anniversary. At that time, I felt it’s because of the weight of history, and how the seniors have so much love, that this Revue could continue on (its business). And that’s what caused the media to pay attention even more, that it’d be great for Takarazuka Revue to continue developing even further. And to do that, it means I have to enhance my performance, that really change of my conscious (of performing).

What do you hope to leave for the juniors?

What should I say.. Something to leave for them, I’d rather say that I’m looking forward to seeing their future activities!

How was your 18 years of Takarazuka life?

It was a very exciting Takrazuka life.

How did you feel performing again after standing on the stage of the Takarazuka Grand Theatre in the show with the meaning of "the grand staircase"?

I was really nervous on the opening day. I remember only being so nervous, but then I heard the wam applause. The "Le Grand Escalier" had the happiest, and warmest ambience I have felt for the past 18 years."

What kind of troupe do you want Cosmos Troupe to be?

I hope everyone is healthy, and sincerely wish them to be happy.

Her graduation performance will be "110 Love Songs" "Razzle Dazzle" that will be performed in the Takarazuka Grand Theatre from 2025/1/1 to 2/2 and in the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre, from 2025/3/15~4/27.

[nakoayas]

Top Musumeyakus Manaki Reika and Misaki Rion in their joint photobook Deux Princesses (2016)

Scanned from my personal collection.

[senajun4ever]

Just finished watching Takarazukas Elisabeth (cosmos 1998). Since watching Moon 2009, I can’t help but compare the other performances to theirs because my girl Sena played a beautiful Der Tod. But I liked Shizuki Asato, and I’d been wanting to watch it for a while because of Hanafusa Mari. It was my first time watching the Cosmos Troupe, super great!!

[raphaelly]

About the Casino Royale stream on Beyond Live and how to make sure it happens again

I don't often write posts but I wanted to get something out for what is pretty much an historical day for Takarazuka. We just had for the first time in forever an officially subbed stream on Beyond Live, not only a platform fans not living in Japan can access easily without bothering with a VPN but also with subtitles in several languages and with the possibility of a restream with improved english subtitles at a decent hour (not at dawn and not in the middle of the night). And it was just so so much fun. Not only for long time fans but for new fans who never really knew how to get into something as niche as zuka, with people coming from all around the globe.

This is an amazing opportunity we just had and I'm sure we'd all like for this to become a regular thing. However, it's been stated that this stream was basically a test. If this whole operation turns out to be profitable, then we might have more of this. There isn't much we can do now about the profitability but there is one thing we can do to put the odds on our side : absolutely refrain from posting any pic or clip of the stream on the internet. TikTok, twitter, instagram, even private and unlisted youtube videos, just don't post anything about the Casino Royale stream out there.

I'm not saying this out of Respect For The Law. Frankly, I generally don't care about all of this and I'm not trying to preach about the Evil Of Pirating. But it's important for people to know who they're dealing with and Hankyu Corporation (the company owning Takarazuka) is extremely strict on copyrights and has been getting stricter recently. It is all too likely they might not only stop Beyond Live streams but they might even stop Rakuten livestreams, if the international fandom ever gets too careless about what we post.

I say "international" because most of us are used to a complete different approach when it comes to sharing content and the matter of copyrights. In all my fandom experiences, copyrights was never an issue I kept in mind but Takarazuka quickly showed me that it was going to be different. That's why I'm writing all of this, to warn newer fans that as much as I love their enthusiasm, it's better for eveyone if we all try to be cautious, or else we might lose the little we get.

We'll see how things evolve! With time, we could get looser about all of this but for the time being, I really urge all of you who might have taken pictures or recorded stuff to keep it to themselves or only share it through private conversations. Just no public posting.

Here's to hoping we get tons of livestreams with subtitles in the future 💖

[miriogumi]

the rondo of love and death

takarazuka’s elisabeth 2007-2018. pt1

[ilovetkrzuka]

Takarazuka Actress found dead, believed to be suicide

According to multiple news sources, on 9/30/2023, at approximately 7:04 AM, a woman 25 years old was found lying on the parking lot of an 18th story apartment building in Takarazuka City. The police found on the 18th floor a bag with belongings found to be of an actress of Takarazuka Revue.

According to the article on Bunshun Online, the actress was born in 1998 in Kyoto, the oldest daughter of a 140 year-running vintage shop and is a member of the Cosmos Troupe. According to an affiliate of the Revue, the actress A had a younger sister, and lived in the apartment building owned by their father together. Actress A debuted in 2017.

Cosmos Troupe's first day of performance "PAGAD/Sky Fantasy" was on 9/29, and the actress went on stage as usual, but on 9/30 the actress did not appear for the performance. Takarazuka Revue announced cancellation of the run of the performance from 10/1 to 10/8, due to multiple performers feeling unwell.

^Official Announcement from the Takarazuka Revue

[oscarsasylum]

you are music or whatever the hell they sang together that broke me forever

[symphonysiren]

late hbd to Serika Toa

[yuzukahibiscus]

Jewels of Takarazuka – Serika Toa-san [Cosmos Troupe] (from Fujingaho August Issue)

"I realise that I'm colourlessly transparent in nature that I haven't changed much."

This series documents the powerful words of Takarazuka Top Stars that give courage. The new Cosmos Troupe Top Star Serika Toa-san appears on this month's issue. No matter what kind of profound roles that she plays, Serika-san always gives a feeling of a "dominant immaculacy". If you look at her and things surrounding her, you'd realise that she has been walking forward without hesitation and her accumulative experiences have reflected this complex but beautiful radiance, which we now want to know more about what she is thinking about.

(Note: Happy Shonichi for Serika-san's "Xcalibur"! This is her first performance as a Top Star, and it's worth the celebration of a translation:D)

“I am colourlessly transparent”. I remembered being a little shocked when I heard Serika-san’s words from before. Because Takarasiennes always do their best to showcase their respective strong styles…

3 years has passed since then, and now she has become Top Star, I wonder if there have been any changes?

“I’m not sure if there were any changes. But my position before was that I was able to play many interesting roles. It really was a good experience that I got to play a wide range of roles.”

So among those, what was the most ambitious role that you’ve taken on?

“I would say Rocky from “HIGH AND LOW” was quite difficult. It was very hard of Kuroki Keiji-san to play [Rocky] with that impression, and later knowing that [HIGH AND LOW] was going to be staged as a musical, there was difficulty that Takarazuka Revue is going to be performing this. [Such as thinking Rocky]’s going to be singing…? Finally, I wanted to mix a little of Kuroki-san’s vibes of Rocky [into my portrayal] and aimed to adjust my mindset to perform as such on the stage.”

What lies at the heart of Serika-san’s approach to portray these characters?

“I would make myself aware with how these roles would ultimately end up as. After figuring our their final destination and the “present” [of the plot], then I dive deeper from there. When there’s a goal and the present [starting line], then my approach is that I’ll delve deeper into whatever is in between the two.”

Would that also be a way of thinking that can be used not just for approaching your characters?

“I’d say so. When I think about my objective, and the current situation that I’m in, I will go deeper into that gap in between…For instance, if I couldn’t turn well in my dance, I would think whether there was something wrong with my posture. When I realise my situation, then the image of the solution will appear itself. The key is how to focus on yourself. No matter what you do, knowing about yourself is the best shortcut of growing up and improving. And the many failures will be the times when you know more about yourself. Looking back on the failures, it’s shock after shock after shock... You definitely want to evade [from those failures]. But you can’t escape from them by chance and each time you’d have to think logically… and that’s the approach that made me arrive at this point.”

Behind that sparkling smile as she talks, she looks back to the failures and realises these experiences that have accumulated solidly. But those times had been difficult… I wonder what she would be thinking during these times?

“When there were times that I couldn’t help myself, there is a great presence [of support] from everyone in the troupe after all. There were many times that I thought we could overcome this because we’re all in this together. I believed that my roles and lines exist for partners [that act alongside me]. For example, if I have to portray an amazing role, it is by the strength of surrounding factors that could show how amazing the role is. So for that, everyone and I must be careful with showing it. This [cooperation] is the culture of Takarazuka Revue, and also the responsibility of an upperclassman. When [the cooperation] is being executed, you can feel from everyone [that they are working on it together].

When she was transferred to Cosmos Troupe [in 2018], I thought how Serika-san used to say it was difficult to guide her juniors but for Serika-san now, she felt a great change in herself from that.

“After all, when we communicate daily, I got to know how this person is like from their ways of thinking in this process. It has been a while since I transferred into Cosmos Troupe and I’ve been feeling great changes since then. Of course, this is also for the change in position. Our great troupe leader (kumichou) Susshi-san (Kotobuki Tsukasa) and [previous] Top Star Makaze (Suzuho)-san graduated, and I’ll have to think of how to lead the whole troupe. But when I give advice to my partners, or when I look back on how I console [people] from their troubles, in the end that was the greatest I’ve seen in my growth.”

From there, Serika-san’s Cosmos Troupe begins. What are your hopes for the reliant Cosmos Troupe members?

“Everyone in Cosmos Troupe is very serious and are very skilled. But even we enjoy being fun and unserious every day, we try not to do that on stage…I hope to support everyone and adding colour to the sophisticated Cosmos Troupe members is one of my missions.”

Her [Top Star] debut performance will be “Xcalibur”. This will be Japan’s premiere of this Korean musical with the songs composed by Frank Wildhorn.

“Korean musicals have an image of [encompassing superb songs]. For this performance as well, the volume and textures of Mr Wildhorn’s songs are fantastic. It takes the strength to sing Mr Wildhorn’s songs but it’s great to sing them. Besides, some songs delicately touch the heart and you could feel the softness of the piano melody. When creating this performance, the songs help me expand the imagination on how to portray my role, so I am looking forward to other hints that this musical would provide.”

Even with a condensed career, she has this immaculacy and transparency that never fades, and from there she continues to solidly accumulate her honed skills and mentality… Along with the struggles [that may rise], we look forward to how Serika-san’s energy will radiate.

MY JEWEL ~The jewel of the heart~

When talking about her teacup poodle Candy-chan (on the right), Serika-san’s face melts away in happiness.

“I love her dearly because I thought that I should work harder every day for her… Since she came to our house, I never wanted her to hate this place, or fear this place. When I ask “are you gong to sleep?”, her fixed position is [sleeping] on my lap… She’s just a princess.”

On the left is her chiwawa Purin-chan from her family home.

ON STAGE…

This is from the finale of “Casino Royale~My Name is Bond”.  Serika-san played an antagonistic role of Le Chiffre, but in the finale she showed a bright smile and appeared almost like a “Prince Highness”. This costume with a tight collar is matched in noble elegance. 

Cosmos Troupe performance: Musical “Xcalibur” (Adaptation and Direction by Inaba Daichi)

The Korean production company EMK Musical created numerous works such as  “Mata Hari”, “The Man Who Laughs” and they collaborated with the outstanding creator Frank Wildhorn for this gigantic musical. Ever since the premiere in 2019, this has been a topical performance with over 32 thousand audiences in Korea.

[berserkerbarbie]

[mizusjawline]

Denial: No, Suzuho Makaze can't be going into retirement yet, she's too hot and she has too much talent to go 😭😭😭😭

Anger: How dare Suzuho abandon me like this, doesn't she know I have a raging crush on her?

Bargaining: Maybe if I scroll through enough nice pictures of her on Pinterest she'll magically come back to me

Depression: She really is retired for good now........

Acceptance: Actually Serika is super hot and a brilliant actress and she absolutely deserves to inherit the role of Top Star from Suzuho. Cosmos Troupe is in good hands with her and can once again look forward to a super talented lead.