#cosmos troupe

[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]

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.

[yaomeis]

GRAPH 2023 January — Cosmos Troupe Special Photo Selection, scanned by me ♡

[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 💖

[sadierobinson7]

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!!

[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

[cercicelle]

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

[symphonysiren]

late hbd to Serika Toa

[berserkerbarbie]

Anastasia [アナスタシア] 2020-2021 by Cosmos Troupe [宙組] Act 1 - Still (第10場 政府事務所(グレブの部屋)／様々な場所) rehearsal vs show

[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.

[yuzukahibiscus]

SEWATCH (95th Class) – 2016 Archives

From 2010, Takarazuka GRAPH has a corner for introducing classmates (douki) in our colour pages. 95th class is the 6th edition and we now disclose excerpts of writer Seo Yuria (Seocchi) and her classmates.

~ Taken from August 2021 GRAPH.

JANUARY – Seo Yuria X Manaki Reika

To celebrate our first issue, the guest is...Manaki Reika of Moon Troupe ☽ It's Chapi~♡ Ah, she's an angel ♡ She's full of clarity....Let'Sewatch the mystery of this angel descending to earth!!!!

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Seocchi: Everyone already knows about the beauty and cuteness of Chapi, so I thought what if we showed a different side of Chapi~

Chapi: No, not at all. But because it's the New Year issue, aren't we wearing these for the New Year?

Seocchi: We thought, "Year of the...Monkey, right? OH!" (LOL) What do you think about becoming a monkey (LOL)?

Chapi: Since I was born, I've been told that I look like a monkey, so it's an honour to be a monkey [for this corner].

Both: (exploding in laughter).

Chapi: My mother used to say, "I thought I gave birth to a monkey" (LOL).

Seocchi: Well, you could say you returned to your roots. What a new feeling (LOL).

Chapi: Yes, that's right. My ears are also "far away from each other" (and while saying that, Chapi flapped her hands beside her ears).

Seocchi: That's cute (LOL).

FEBRUARY – Seo Yuria X Rei Makoto

The guest for this month is the Super Boy, our Rei Makoto of Star Troupe ☆ It's Coto-chan~ (Coto)☆

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Seocchi: I thought would it be possible to show a side of Co-chan that everyone hasn't seen before~ and the result of constant frustration and thinking, I've decided that we should wear the Takarazuka Music School uniforms!!

Coto: First, I need to find my uniform~

Seocchi: Yeah (LOL). How do you feel? Actually.

Coto: No I mean, it's nostalgic.

Seocchi: I remembered that the two of us used to sit side by side whle having lessons.

Coto: That's when both of us were fighting the urge to sleep away.

Seocchi: A time that we were scolded almost every day, but the days where we were very determined.

MARCH – Seo Yuria X Reimi Urara

Now, the guest this time is Reimi Urara-sama of Cosmos Troupe, it's Yuuri!! Let'Sewatch at the mystery of this flawless beautiful girl!!!

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Seocchi: While both of us are thinking a lot about what to do, we heard Zun-chan (Sakuragi Minato) having her interview nearby on "What is your dream if you didn't enter Takarazuka!?".

Urara: We heard her answer, "I'm not sure if this is what I really want to do, but maybe the admirable flight attendants?"...

Seocchi: That's why everyone can see this wonderful Reimi Urara-sama!! (Thanks Zun-chan~♡)

Urara: I hope we can show that relationship between the pilot and the flight attendant (LOL).

Seocchi: There's some story between us... (LOL)

Urara: (LOL). That's fun!

APRIL – Seo Yuria X Tsukishiro Kanato

The guest this month is – remarkable! Tsukishiro Kanato of Snow Troupe!! It's Usshi (Reiko)✨ Wow~ So pretty...She's already beautiful, so let'Sewatch if we could show a mysteriously different look of Tsukishiro Kanato-sama.

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Seocchi: After much thinking...

Reiko: We revived as the anime of "Shonen Ashibe"!! Well, I like Goma-chan. No, not just that, I like seals (LOL).

Seocchi: That's why, Usshi wore a seal costume and searched for various pictures, and found this really cute seal costume, and asked me "how do you think"?

Reiko: No, it's because I said, I want to be a more real seal!!

Seocchi: She seriously ordered this full costume (LOL). How do you feel wearing it?

Reiko: When I actually wear the costume, I can feel it looks fluffier than how Goma-chan was like, (LOL), but I'm really satisfied!!

Seocchi: That's great~ It's a great success that it made Usshi satisfied!

MAY – Seo Yuria X Minami Maito

The fifth guest is Flower Trouope otokoyaku Minami Maito (Maiti) ❀ I wanto see~!! Let'Sewatch the stunning muscles of this girl!!!

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Seocchi: If we talk about Minami, it's muscles!! That's why I immediately think of the muscleman Superman, and we had a meeting over this photoshoot [concept] (LOL).

Maiti: What!? Is my image really like that? I thought (LOL).

Seocchi: No, when we first met, you were skinny!! Then after the summer of being a primary course student (yokasei), I was so shocked (LOL).

Maiti: Right, right, when I came back my uniform seems stiff [from the muscles] (LOL).

Seocchi: I thought, what did Minami do in the summer!!!!! I remember everyone being crazy over it (LOL). That image is too strong, you definitely need to be Superman this time!

Maiti: But, this costume seems too buff (LOL). This is too exaggerated!! Look at the texture of these muscles (LOL)!!!!

Seocchi: How do you feel actually wearing it?

Maiti: No, but it seems easy to turn on the switch to get into character with this kind of costume (LOL).

Seocchi: (LOL). That's great!!

Maiti: Like that "I'm a hero!" kind of vibe. (LOL)

Seocchi: If you feel good about it, you should wear this under your rehearsal clothes next time, and when something happens, you can remove those clothes to reveal yourself as Superman!! Then it would be great!! (LOL)

Maiti: I got it!! If that's necessary, I'll give Seocchi (Seo) a call! Believe in me!!

Both: (exploding in laughter).

JUNE – Seo Yuria X Misaki Rion

This month we have our princess from Cosmos Troupe 💕 Let'Sewatch at Misaki Rion (Mirion)~ 👀

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Seocchi: We decided easily this time.

Mirion: Yes, yes, I asked Seocchi "Can I be a nurse?"

Seocchi: Surely, I also wish to see how Kumi-chan (Misaki) is as a nurse (LOL).

Mirion: Since I was young', I've admired nurse so I thought, "Nurses are good!!" and decided on the theme quickly.

Seocchi: How does it feel? To be a nurse.

Mirion: I'm very satisfied because it feels my wish is fulfilled! Holding onto the syringe, I felt it was fun to feel how it is for a nurse (LOL). (I also enjoyed seeing Kumi-chan's look as a nurse!!)

Seocchi: I'm also excited because I want to play as a doctor!!!!

Mirion: You seem to really like the stethoscope (LOL).

Seocchi: Yes (LOL). This feels like "The Dangerous Love of the Doctor and the Nurse" (LOL). I hope everyone could feel happy seeing this photo and imagining various situations!

JULY – Seo Yuria X Kizuki Yuuma

This month, let'Sewatch at the mysterious Mayupon, or Kizuki Yuuma of Moon Troupe, who is so inclusive and gentle towards others~✨

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Seocchi: This time, I hope it'd be great to do a concept of boys' friendship that I could do only with Myaupon.

Mayupon: Right!! We talked about, let's make this look manly as possible!

Seocchi: So, we told the edtors we wanted to do something like [the movie] "Umizaru", and we didn't think we'd have these costumes handmade!!

Both: Thank you so much!!!!!!

Seocchi: How does it feel wearing these?

Mayupon: Yes, this is so fun ♪ Of course, we wear various kinds of costumes on stage, but this feels totally different!!!

Seocchi: That's right. This feel like "Real Men's" kind of feeling (LOL)! And with that, we'd be happy if this lets everyone realise Mayupon's new charms!!

AUGUST – Seo Yuria X Hinami Fuu

This month, we have our princess from Star Troupe✨✨✨ Let'Sewatch the mysterious Fuu-chan, or Hinami Fuu!

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Seocchi: We always talk about tropical countries ☼✨

Fuu-chan: Right! We never knew we would love tropical countries so much ✨

Seocchi: If there's a chance, I always thought I should go to the Sebu in Philippines with Fuu-chan and Matsuko (Renju Kouki) ☼

Fuu-chan: Right!!! My first overseas vacation was at Sebu, and it was really exciting✨✨✨

Seocchi: Every day would be so fun✨ So we decided to wear something we would in these tropical countries! How does the photoshoot feel for Fuu-chan?

Fuu-chan: Well, fun✨ Wearing the aloha shirts, holding on to the ukuleles immediately!!!

Seocchi: Yes✨✨ It's as if we could see the sun in front of us ☼

SEPTEMBER – Seo Yuria X Sakuragi Minato

This month, let'Sewatch the mysterious Zun-chan, or Sakuragi Minato of Cosmos Troupe, who always flashes the wonderful child smile ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Zun: About sommelier, it's just a Style we simply want to do!!!

Seocchi: No, no matter how we say it, this look great.

Zun: Yes (LOL). It's just black, so it may look plain~ Which is why we also used wine bottles and glasses.

Seocchi: I think this makes it look really stylish!!

Zun: I hope to wear this costume one day on stage.

Seocchi: It was fun to feel like a sommelier even for a short while~♫

OCTOBER – Seo Yuria X Asami Jun

This month, let'Sewatch the mysterious Asami Jun of Moon Troupe or Aasa✨✨ Truly from her name, she is beautiful from the morning~ (*Asa 朝 = morning; Mi 美 = beauty)

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Seocchi: I asked you, what do we want to do?

Aasa: We thought about our similarities...

Both: We have a strong visual!!!!

Aasa: Then, we decided on doing [the manga series] "Thermae Romae" and on the day when we wore the costumes, and tried the first photo, and we chekced to find out??????????????

Both: We have a weak visual!!!! (LOL)

Aasa: This is an emergency situation 💦 She quickly came to the dressing room of Moon Troupe since we were performing (LOL).

Seocchi: Yes, I went to Aasa's makeup table and both of us desperately wanted to make up for it.

Aasa: We started putting more makeup! (LOL)

Seocchi: How did you feel wearing this?

Aasa: It feels comfortable and it makes me feel really good! As if, this was how I would be like in my past life (LOL).

Seocchi: You're not wrong! Have you worn this type of costume on stage before?

Aasa: Nope, this is my first time! Also it was fun to use different small props for the photoshoot✨

NOVEMBER – Seo Yuria X Hoshino Anri

This month let'Sewatch the mysterious Hoshino Anri of Snow Troupe, or Hiroko ❅

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Seocchi: This time, both of us thought over quite a lot. Then Hiroko suggested, "Should we do baseball [concept]?"

Hiroko: Yes! If you turn on the television, you can see the rankings of Se Ring or Pa Ring, [Hiroshima Toyo] Carp and [Fukuoka] Softbank [Hawks] would be the top positions respectively, and they are baseball leagues of our hometown, so we wore their jerseys✨

Seocchi: Well, I believe when this [October] issue, Carp would definitely win by then!

Hiroko: Softbank too! Because they are so powerful!! If Carp wins, wouldn't that be since then 25 years since their last win?

Seocchi: Amazing! Hiroko knows so much! (LOL) When both teams win, let's celebrate together!

Both: Let's do this!!!

Seocchi: How does it feel wearing this uniform?

Hiroko: No, before wearing it I was already thrilled. I was even more excited to wear it! I was jumping around just thinking of it before Seocchi came! (LOL)

Seocchi: Ahaha (LOL). So cute.... 💦but I missed your moment💦

Hiroko: (LOL)

Seocchi: As expected, won't seeing these uniforms make your heart race? Because we've always seen these uniforms!!

Hiroko: Yes! We saw them before, and now we're wearing them ✨

Seocchi: The photoshoot was fun. But for our hats....

Hiroko: Instead of holding onto them, we were holding on the baseball bats instead (LOL).

Seocchi: Because we felt it would be awkward with our hands empty.

Hiroko: We're not used to that (LOL).

DECEMBER – Seo Yuria X Yuzuka Rei

This month we have Yuzuka Rei of Flower Troupe to grace the last edition✨ Let'Sewatch the mysterious Rei-chan 👀✨

~About the theme of our cosplay~

Seocchi: The costumes for today are really surreal! (LOL)

Rei: Really! When I wore it, this was more surreal than I imagined (LOL). It's Christmas when we talk about December, which is why we dressed up like that.

Seocchi: Right! I was thinking if I should do Santa or the reindeer, but she said, "But Santa Claus won't look as funny, right?" (LOL) As expected✨

Rei: (LOL). So we featured supporting characters! But I was surprised because I was surprised because I couldn't do many poses with these costumes (LOL).

Seocchi: Right! That's something we missed out💦 Because [trees and snowman] give off inanimate vibes (Iaughs).

Rei: Even if we act a lot into it, our faces...

Seocchi: Becomes emotionless (LOL).

Rei: It's rare that it was difficult to smile [in this costume] (LOL). Which by the way, I read this corner every month! But I thought, "She doesn't call me a lot....will this end without me...." (LOL).

Seocchi: Really.... (erupts into laughter). So you felt anxious over it, I'm sorry!

Rei: Nah, but this was great fun–♪

[agustosboceg1]

[acclaaa]

Shut up I'm broke

[dossei-dossei]

sapa