#mihane ai

[laurelilu]

yuzuka rei + mihane ai - labyrinth (fashionable empire)

[beccalendsahand]

"Ahh Prince of Roses, is this really the path you think we ought to take, ahh Prince of Roses take us to glory, will the King said to lead us, make his entrance?" Prince of Roses, Takarazuka 2021 -watercolour, fineliner, gel pen on sketchbook paper, layered digitally

When I had Takarazuka were doing a musical based on the wars of the roses I thought "HOW?" but then I was blown away and it became one of my favourite musicals from last year. My favourite scene was the nightmare scene between Yuunami Kei as Richard III and Mihane Ai as Anne Neville. Loved how Mihane was st so calmly and serene, eyes glazed over as a figment of Richard's imagination whilst Yuunami clings to her with fear in her eyes as the red rose petals start to fall above them. Chefs kiss!

[yuzukahibiscus]

のせ様’s (No-se-sama) Documented Events (March 2023)

(Note: This was taken from “Eto-Bun” (えと文) section in March Kageki 2023. Eto-Bun is a section written by a particular sienne in each troupe to share some little stories about them or about their troupe. Ichinose Kouki is the one writing for Flower Troupe. And I thought, why not drabble and translate a little to see what Hanako has for us!) Hanako is her nickname as mentioned in OTOME, a biography of all siennes in Takarazuka.

A little introduction to Ichinose Kouki for those who are unfamiliar with her.

Ichinose Kouki・一之瀬航季

Entered the Revue in 2014 as the 100th class. Her favourite roles include Oswald Vickers for "A Fairy Tale” newcomers’ performance. She was originally going to have a newcomers’ performance lead for “Haikara-san: Here Comes Miss Modern” in 2020 but it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, she went on Yuzuka Rei’s “Lock-On” Episode as a guest to talk about what she learnt from Rei, being Rei’s first “shinko kid” since she became Top Star. Later on in 2022, she starred in the Bow Workshop “Junjou” (or Complete Devotion) alongside with Mihane Ai as her partner. She also previously joined Minami Maito in her CAST side-A and was one of the members of Flor5. She will be performing with Minami Maito in her “One and Only” dinner show, also the final performance for Minami Maito as a Flower Troupe member before transferring to Senka.

Before you read March Issue, feel free to check the first two of three series in January issue here and the February issue here.

Hi everyone! How is everyone doing!?

Very quickly we’re at our last entry of “のせ様’s Documented Events" this month. It’s hard to say goodbye but at least the underclassmen were finally familiar with calling me “Nose-san!” so Ichinose is very satisfied (check out the January entry for more details)😁 In this month, I’ll document some of the cheerful events as the last entry…✨

Everyone, please have fun reading it!

🌻 The stolen frill pants

Even though this is random, here’s some FYI✨ During the performances, we call the room for changing our clothes as the “Costume Department”, and inside the Costume Department, the room is divided into 4 teams: upperclassmen in Team 1, and middle-classmen are in Teams 2-3 while lowerclassmen use Team 4 and we change in our respective years according to this system.

Then one day…We heard Team 1 people yelling and laughing…! As we’re thinking what’s going on, Kureha-san was standing there wearing short purple and pink frill pants…(laughs).

Why is that! We started becoming concerned and interested with why she looked like that. Mon-san (Maizuki) and Shi-sama (Kazumi) also said, “What the heck~!!🤣” and was erupting into laughter all over again. Shi-sama asked Hito-san (Towaki) close to her and suggested “What if Hitoko (Towaki) also wears it?” Hito-san said, “I’m going to wear it😁✌🏻” (laughs). Then after that Kureha-san removed those frill pants and then again Hito-san wore it, and did various kinds of posing it with it. (laughs)

Then our Kumichou Aoi-san (Mikaze) also asked, “Whose pants are those! LOL” Rinno-san then replied very innocently…”🥺 They took it away frome me~😭” So it turns out this purple and pink frill pants are part of Rinno-san’s rockette costume. “Rinrin (Rinno). It’s no good if you don’t keep (your pants) well. This sight is bad for your eyes!” Aoi-san scolded and with that everyone was bursting into laughter even more. We laughed a little more and the adorable upperclassmen slowly left the scene.

So for our readers. Do take care of your cute costumes because if you don’t, the otokoyaku would be aiming to have them for themselves. Watch out😎

🌻The princess battle

For us Takarasiennes, when we send the graduates off, we have a wonderful culture of “Sending pure white decoration goods to the graduates 10 days before the Senshuuraku and give them a gorgeous goodbye”.

This time, apart from the graduates, there’s also one person leaving Flower Troupe. Her name is Minami Maito-san! It’s hard to say goodbye since she’ll be transferring to Senka, so we thought about creating even at least one or more memories with her! And with that, we assembled the underclassmen and thought about the “D-10 leaving plan”😎Hehehe,

The concept is groundbreaking…

It’s a Battle for the Prince in which “Minami Prince” chooses the “Princesses”💖  (laughs).

D-10. In the morning when we enter the backstage, everyone was getting ready for their fit. Seino (Asuka) was wearing a golden blonde holding a board which wrote “The Prince’s Women”. Tatsuki (Mio) was wearing pizza glasses. Sakino (Mion) did a sexy Showa Regent hair. Itotsuki (Yukiha) not wearing makeup. Natsuki held a board which was “IKEMEN STOP (*Cool guy, stop there)”. Kaito (Asahi) and Reaki (Mira) and Kagami (Seiju) borrowed some offstage musuemyaku skirts, Tsubasa (Anju) and Taou (Shun) and Futaba (Yuyu) wore several red, blue and green Afro hair and somehow also with devil horns.

…Well we’re not princesses anymore.

We’re just a terrorist group (laughs).

Of course for me I wore silver long hair and joined in by holding a board which wrote, “Please wink at me”. (NOTE: EVERYONE: THE TIME NOW IS PAST 8AM. THIS IS REALLY SCARY (LAUGHS).)

Yuzuka-san was also invited to join half-forcingly to wear a tiara, everyone was ready. Everyone waited at the door of the backstage in standby, and the moment when Minami-san entered the backstage, the Battle for the Prince started. We also forcingly asked Minami-san to cosplay as a prince, holding a caned stick and we followed her as she entered into the backstage. Then afterwards, we finished by taking a photo.

As we were dismissed, we princesses asked Minami-san, “Who are you choosing~?😁💓” to which she repsponded…

With just one sentence “I will think about it” (laughs).

The Princesses’ battle is still ongoing. Prince Minami…😁💓 Can I wait for the day when you choose me? (laughs)

🌻 The conclusion

Have you enjoyed “のせ様’s Documented Events”? I’d often be thinking if what I write could make someone happy…and I’ve been very happy for these 3 months.😌☘️

It’s not just about collecting these news stories, but also I felt that this is a section where I could document Flower Troupe in laughter and show you how healing this feels. It’s such a pity that I would have to delete the Stuck Memo in my iPhone. …That’s right!💡 I joked asking “Editor-san! Can I continue writing (Eto-Bun)?” But anyway for the readers who purchase Kageki, please stay tuned for the next month’s issue!

Everyone, in these 3 months…

Thank you very much☘️

From now on, I hope everyone would be filled with this laughter and healing love in this Takarazuka Revue LIFE!

From “Hanako” “Nose-san”

[eralkfang]

#endofyearzukatag: Day 10

10. Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend: What was your favourite costume(s) of the year?

(From left to right: Yuzuka Rei, Hoshikaze Madoka, and Minami Maito.)

Takarazuka always offers an embarrassment of riches when it comes to costuming, but Hoshikaze Madoka (Madoka)’s first outfit in Genroku Baroque Rock blew me away. I could honestly pick any costume from Genroku Baroque Rock; the production’s big, bright, and deliberately anachronistic aesthetic is completely up my alley. But the fact that Madoka’s jacket is pieced together from ribbons of different sumptuous fabrics and features two long golden tassels off her shoulders really puts it over the top for me. It gives the whole look great structure and movement, which Madoka wears brilliantly in the few clips I’ve seen. I’m very excited to see it in action in both the livestream in a few days and as worn by Mihane Ai in the shinjin kouen livestream next month. (It’s yet to be announced, I know, but... c’mon...)

(Makaze Suzuho and Jun Hana.)

I do want to give an honorable mention to Jun Hana (Junbug)’s duedan dress in Délicieux, though. While Madoka’s first outfit was obviously created for Genroku Baroque Rock, this stunning gown is, as far as I can tell, from existing costume stock. (Sidebar: someone give me a 20 hour documentary on Takarazuka’s costume department. Half of that can just be a GoPro walkthrough through their costume storage. Please.) Junbug wears it like a queen—it’s a stunning silhouette on her, the deep blue color is just mwah perfect. But when she does her first kick, she reveals that she has teal and purple skirts underneath! From the little we see, I can’t tell if those skirts are extant to the garment or petticoats or something else, but I just love that little pop of color in an otherwise quite formal duedan.

Join in the #endofyearzukatag here!

[dream-dragon]

I suddenly realized I haven’t read the 104ths profiles yet, and they’ve already got troupe assignments (I wonder why some years they do that at once and some years, leave them unassigned for a while).

Sooo, babies that sound interesting:

Mashiro Yuuki collects socks and her talent is imitating people (she also graduated second in her class, so maybe she has a chance to get tons of socks from her fans)

Maoka Noa’s hobby is relaxing. I like simplicity and truthfulness, what can I say.

Manaha Michi’s talent is rolling up into a little ball and her hobby is making bad puns (why do I see her doing that in a row - first a bad pun and then rolling up. Maybe with making the Shreck cat’s eyes somewhere in between)

Tsubaki Koko _really_ loves camellias, as we can see by her name; her talent is that she can sleep anywhere (useful!) and she wants to play Elisabeth.

Saaya Ichigo loves fruit, especially strawberries, and also wants to play Elisabeth (is there a connection between putting your favorite thing into your stage name and wanting to play Elisabeth) as well as Sally from MeMy; and her talent is cartwheels which sounds useful.

Natsunagi Seia collects things with French bread shapes or patterns - is that even a thing?

Miyahime Koko’s special talent is balancing a toothpick on her eyelash. I want to see this. Or maybe I don’t.

Miumi Sora’s special talent is her sense of direction. May be useful when going on a tour.

Mitsurugi Kai wants to play Lucheni (I love girls who have special role wishes. Even more so even these wishes are not for top star roles. Of course my favoritest thing is when a wish is for non-star-tracked role, but that happened precisely once)

Mihane Ai’s special talent is reading quickly.

Mahiro Ren wants to play Jose from Passion, and her special talents are piano and design - I wonder what kind of design she means. Will she branch into designing jewelry for stage as some seem to do? Also, one of her nicknames is Olaf - I am amused by all those baby otokoyakus that emerge from TMS with such nicknames, I always suspect that it’s from especially successful/favorite roles they did in school.

Ichihane Meru’s talent is moving her eyebrows separately.

Hiiro Fuuka’s special talent is kyogen.

One of Hakuto Seira’s talents is imitating people’s walking styles (and she is Shirayuki Sachika’s little sister, yay!)

Fuuga Kanade’s special talent is writing! (and she enjoys orchestra music)

Ayato Shion plays viola.

Asahana Suwan’s hobby is watching Takarazuka (I love fans!) ... Suwan sounds unusual - and she spells it with hiragana. I wonder if she means “swan”.

Aoha Reiya’s special talent is French! (no English specialists in this class)

And Aira Miko’s talent is reciting jugemu very quickly (that’s a long name from a rakugo story)

... cute class, all in all.

[xoidua]

The Truth Beneath - Sự Thật Hèn Kém : Mẹ Thật Sự Xin Lỗi. Min Jin

Những đứa trẻ không bao giờ nói thật với bố mẹ, chúng thà tin tưởng bạn bè - người ở bên tâm sự mỗi khi thất vọng hơn là trò truyện cùng người thân. Hàng trăm hàng ngàn lý do, rốt cục đâu là câu trả lời chính xác nhất? Vĩnh viễn không có, sự khác biệt từ chính trong suy nghĩ đã giết chết mối liên hệ này.

Đứa trẻ biết rõ nó không thân thiết với bố mẹ, còn bố mẹ mãi không nhận ra điều đó, họ bận rộn quá nhiều thứ. Chỉ đến khi sóng gió ập đến, cuốn trôi mọi níu giữ muộn màng đi, họ mới giật mình phát hiện, từ lâu không còn nghe tiếng con thơ thì thầm.

Nếu bạn muốn bước từng bước theo một bà mẹ, lật lại khoảng thời gian đứa con gái dần rời xa vòng tay để nhìn lại con lần lữa, The Truth Beneath thật sự là lựa chọn tuyệt vời.  

The Truth Beneath kể về hành trình tìm kiếm đứa con gái Min Jin của bà mẹ Yeon Hong. Cô bé đột ngột biến mất chẳng hề để lại bất cứ lời nhắn nào. Người chồng Kim Jong Chan do dự sợ ảnh hưởng chiến dịch tranh cử vào Quốc Hội, Yeon Hong chỉ có thể tự mình hành động. Không dấu vết, không chuẩn bị, không manh mối, thứ duy nhất Yeon Hong có thể làm là bám víu vào cô bạn thân Choi Mi Ok của con. Xé rách, đào sâu, phá hủy, tận cùng của tan vỡ, Yeon Hong đánh mất kiểm soát khi càng tiến gần đến sự thật, mặt trái xấu xa càng hiện rõ đày đọa cô.

Tại sao đứa trẻ lại mất tích, tại sao quá khó để tìm ra sự thật, tại sao bà mẹ tốn nhiều thời gian đến thế ???

Vì bà ấy chẳng biết gì cả. Những điều Min Jin và cô bạn thân Choi Mi Ok từng cùng khóc, cùng cười, Yeon Hong chỉ nghe qua lời kể, tuyệt đối không bao giờ cảm nhận được. Yeon Hong đã không tạo cho Min Jin cảm giác an toàn, vì không có cảm giác tuyệt đối ấy, Min Jin không bao giờ nói. Con bé lủi thủi cô đơn, dễ dàng gục ngã, tự đau tự lau nước mắt, tự ngã tự đứng lên. Điều đó dạy nó coi trọng những người dành thời gian bên nó, dù máu mủ hay không, cảm giác được lắng nghe vẫn quan trọng nhất. Chính cái tưởng chừng đơn giản nhưng quá khó thực hiện đã tách Yeon Hong và Min Jin ra, để tận giờ phút tìm kiếm con trọng vô vọng, Yeon Hoang mới nhận ra, muốn tìm được Min Jin, nhất định phải hiểu con bé trải qua những gì.

Xây dựng mối quan hệ lưng chừng giữa bố mẹ với con cái, điển hình trong các gia đình trước kia, hiện đại, và cả sau này. The Truth Beneath để người xem nhìn thấy chính mình trong đó, là bậc phụ huynh chưa từng quan tâm cảm xúc con cái, là đứa trẻ chưa từng dám mở lời trò chuyện. Những mối quan hệ khác, vui vẻ hơn, luôn sẵn sàng đè bẹp tình cảm gia đình ngày càng xuống dốc. Đừng níu kéo bằng thứ gì đó đầy giả tạo, chúng ta chạy mãi theo cái hạnh phúc mà quên mất rằng điểm xuất phát vĩnh viễn từ tâm. Mỗi nhân vật đều sai lầm, đều điên cuồng và mất mát, sau tất cả The Truth Bebeath khiến họ như một bản ngã khác của con người, say mê, tàn nhẫn và dữ dội.

Tình tiết hấp dẫn, bước ngoặt đúng đắn cùng diễn xuất tài năng đã tạo nên sức hút khó cưỡng của The Truth Beneath. Có những khoảnh khác tôi muốn chết đi sống lại với âm thanh hồi hộp, trống ngực đập thình thịch và không khí nặng nề u ám có thể vỡ ra, tràn khỏi màn hình bất cứ lúc nào. Đặc biệt khả năng hóa thân của các diễn viên thủ vai quá hoàn hảo, họ đã thể hiện con người sẽ điên cuồng đến mức nào khi bị đẩy đến bước đường cùng, sắp mất đi ảo vọng hằng mong mỏi. Bên cạnh những giây phút bùng nổ, The Truth Beneath còn cho thấy nỗi cô đơn không ai thấu hiểu giữa xã hội xô bồ, bắt nạt, chì chiết lẫn nhau này.

Điểm yếu chí mạng của The Truth Beneath là sự thiếu cân bằng giữa mức độ đen tối, tàn nhẫn với khả năng tiên đoán của người xem. Cho dù sự thật bị che dấu càng đi sâu càng đáng sợ nhưng không quá mức tưởng tưởng, cơ bản tôi vẫn đoán ra ngay từ đầu kẻ đứng sau giật dây tất cả. The Truth Beneath cũng không tạo đủ nghi ngờ buộc người xem phải lựa chọn, hầu hết suy luận đều nghiêng hẳn về một phía. Điều đó chặn ngang cảm xúc và giảm bớt vài phần kịch tính, hấp dẫn của bộ phim.

Tôi xem rất nhiều bộ phim điện ảnh Hàn Quốc, có hay có dở, thời gian đầu rất nhiều phim hay, thời gian sau ngày càng cạn kiệt. Đối với tôi hiện tại, một bộ phim khiến tôi không chán nản đến mức chuyển sang ol FB là đã quá tuyệt vời. Kịch bản chắc tay, diễn xuất tròn vẹn cùng những sự thật ẩn sau bức tranh gia đình hoàn hảo, nhuốm màu ngưỡng vọng khiến người xem phải theo dõi đến cuối, suy ngẫm đến cùng.

Lý do tôi không nói về bố Min Jin vì ngay từ khoảnh khắc do dự của ông, tôi đã hoàn toàn không muốn níu kéo. Tôi có thể chỉ trích Yeon Hong - mẹ Min Ji, bởi vì tôi thật sự còn quan tâm, còn kì vọng vào cô ấy.

Hãy thử ghé qua :

https://www.facebook.com/MihanSantos-636204173513199/?modal=admin_todo_tour

Mihan Santos Hello its MihanSantos.mihansantos.blogspot.com

Liên hệ với mình qua email : nguyenhuongzzgacon@gmail.com

------------------------- Cảm ơn các bạn đã quan tâm. Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/beeline92 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xoiduamedia/ Website: http://xoidua.com

[nepasgerber]

Je vais faire le bilan calmement. Je crée des choses, dessine, fait de la musique, des vidéos, depuis plus de 20 ans. Et là je me rends compte depuis deux, trois ans, que je suis beaucoup moins créatif, productif. Mes idées, souvent débiles, me tombaient dessus. En tout cas j'en ai l'impression, si cela se trouve je les cherchais sans que maintenant je m'en souvienne. En tout cas j'ai toujours fait ce métier pour m'occuper, cela n'a jamais été un besoin, une nécessité. Et aussi, car souvent cela m'amusait. Cela fait très longtemps que je ne me suis pas amusé à ça, je veux dire vraiment amusé. L'apogée de ma production a été en 2014. Depuis, je crois, 2010 ça montait en puissance, depuis que j'assumais mon nom, Marc Durand, au lieu de me cacher derrière d'innombrable personnages (Le Monsieur, Mademoiselle Machin, Le Gamin Bizarre, Da Durand, ...). Là, j'ai trouvé d'autres trucs à faire, de plus, plus je vieillis plus les journées, semaines, passent vite. Je ne ferme pas pour autant boutique. Je bosse mollement sur un nouvel épisode de DA WATCH TV FOR YOU. Tout le reste de ma carrière musicale avec da fuck sera dédié à Mihane Yuuki, même si je n'ai rien recommencé et même si je dois faire que des 美羽ゆうきに、僕のすべての愛敬。 bis (ce que je vais essayer d'éviter un maximum, mais bon, je fais ce que je peux, pas ce que je veux en musique). J'aimais beaucoup avoir des idées de vidéo, mais ça fait longtemps que ça ne m'est pas arrivé et tout ce qui est bandes dessinées n'en parlons pas. Peut être qu'un jour ça redeviendra l'usine comme au bon vieux temps, en attendant je vais attendre en m'occupant autrement.

[yuzukahibiscus]

のせ様’s (No-se-sama) Documented Events (January 2023)

(Note: This was taken from “Eto-Bun” (えと文) section in January Kageki 2023. Eto-Bun is a section written by a particular sienne in each troupe to share some little stories about them or about their troupe. Ichinose Kouki is the one writing for Flower Troupe. And I thought, why not drabble and translate a little to see what Hanako* has for us!) *Hanako is her nickname as mentioned in OTOME, a biography of all siennes in Takarazuka.

A little introduction to Ichinose Kouki for those who are unfamiliar with her.

Ichinose Kouki・一之瀬航季

Entered the Revue in 2014 as the 100th class. Her favourite roles include Oswald Vickers for "A Fairy Tale” newcomers’ performance. She was originally going to have a newcomers’ performance lead for “Haikara-san: Here Comes Miss Modern” in 2020 but it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, she went on Yuzuka Rei’s “Lock-On” Episode as a guest to talk about what she learnt from Rei, being Rei’s first “shinko kid” since she became Top Star. Later on in 2022, she starred in the Bow Workshop “Junjou” (or Complete Devotion) alongside with Mihane Ai as her partner. She also previously joined Minami Maito in her CAST side-A and was one of the members of Flor5. She will be performing with Minami Maito in her “One and Only” dinner show, also the final performance for Minami Maito as a Flower Troupe member before transferring to Senka.

Hey everyone! Have you being doing well?

I am Ichinose Kouki who’s here on “Eto-Bun” for the first time! “のせ様’s Documented Events” will be the title of this time’s “Eto-Bun” corner. The parent for titling the name is my douki Honoka (Seino) ✨

Readers like you may think, “Eh!? Isn’t Ichinose’s nickname Hanako”...!

Actually, underclassmen do call me “のせ様”~. Hahaha. In Flower Troupe, we call (OG Marika Yume-san) as “Yume-sama”, (Kazumi-san) as “Shii-sama” and others by adding “-sama” to their nickname... how cool is that✨ I also want to live up cool like that! So when given this opportunity of writing for “Eto-Bun”, I have the strategy to induce the underclassmen to start calling me “のせ様” lol.

In these 3 months, I’ll be updating everyone a lot about the charms and updates of our Flower Troupe friends.

Please look forward ☘️

🌻 Intimidating “KAGEKI”

So now, now. Let’s commemorate this as my first entry!

As I start writing, I researched more about “Eto-Bun”... “Eto-Bun” has been a general corner in “Kageki” from the time of! Showa Year 43 (1968).

“What...half a century ago!?” I was surprised.

For reference, once again I opened up the “KAGEKI”s I have at my home again and when I opened the portrait photo, the thing I immediately saw was...

“Yuzuka-san is so cool! The best!”

“This angle is nice✨“

“Hey! My douki looks great too😍”

And it was so fun reading it that this time I didn’t quite want to turn the next page yet. There’s the roundtable discussion, backstage notes. Sometimes I realised there would be new corners and I familiarised myself in reading several of these (“KAGEKI”) books. And very quickly, time passed. Lol.

Has everyone had such experience before!?

I’d say this is why the charm of “KAGEKI” is intimidating.

🌻 Flower Troupe University・Starts School!

As we’re embracing the New Year in the Grand Theatre, now Flower Troupe’s in the middle of rehearsals, but actually from the start, we were arranged with quite an irregular rehearsal pattern.

To trace back the events, this happened in the next day after meeting day (*shuugobi; the day when rehearsals of performances start). As we entered the rehearsal classroom, it was like entering a school. In front of the large white board, there were long desks and long chairs aside each other. Sensei was in her seat and holding a mic, all was readily prepared...How would this start!? We thought as we stay seated. Then Koyanagi-sensei (*director of “Mayerling”) said this.

"Everyone, have you learned the way of speaking Japanese?😁”

For me, I had Japanese lessons, but was not taught specifically the way of speaking it. Then Koyanagi-sensei continued to say, “even for English, when you are admitted into the overseas drama schools, the first thing is to directly learn about the way of speaking for your mother tongue”.

Oh...! So on that day Koyanagi-sensei prepared for us Flower Troupe members a special “Acting Enhancement Lesson Club”✨! What kind of theatrical troupe is Takarazuka like? What does an actress do? She asked us many of these foundational questions...and then started picking siennes to answer�� lol.  Then when it comes to the situational acting class, Aoki Tsukasa was given the role of a rock singer character and Hoshikaze had to play her fan and it was a lot of fun. From the Top-san to the most junior underclassmen we’re all given an opportunity to play this, so it was exciting from start to finish...!

When we Flower Troupe members were having these lessons, it really felt like a framed memory of our school life. In a day of these lessons, (we’d be asked) “What is Takarazuka? What is a musical? What is language/words?” and once again we learnt a lot through this process. It was really interesting knowing all of such things...!!

Koyanagi-sensei said, “Everything is about conveying the “language/words”. That’s why it shouldn’t get too convoluted, but it should be enunciated word by word,” and that’s how Flower Troupe University came to an end☘️

🌻 The healing god appears!

During a weekend in the rehearsal period...

Suddenly, the healing god appeared!!

That week was a challenging time for the underclassmen, having to rehearse for both the musical and the choreography for the show (*Enchantement). Our heads felt like being in a state of sea urchin (*maybe meaning full of spikes, frustrated and headaches...) As I returned home for the week, feeling accomplished like “I’ve done it!”, several people seemed to have discover something...

As I saw the car that passed by, isn’t that Yuzuka-san’s dog Noah! Noah-kun suddenly appeared before us...✨

“Ka...Ka...Kawaii———————♡” (Cute)

Yuzuka-san held Noah-kun’s little hand and stuck its hand out of the car window and started waving it✨ Together with Yuzuka-san’s beautiful hand, we saw Noah-kun’s small hand. What-What-What an angel! As Yuzuka-san and Noah-kun waved their hands, that sent the weariness of the underclassmen away. (Besides, Ichinose is always touched by the beauty of Noah’s fluffy fur and side profile. I want to tell you...more about how touching this is) Yuzuka-san, Noah-kun, thank you for making us healed with happiness♡

I have other Yuzuka-san’s episodes I want to share, but ah~! I’m running out of pages!! Please look forward to the next entry...! This time, I’ve shared fully about the appearance of Noah-kun😁✨

Once again... Everyone, thank you for reading this first entry of my “Eto-Bun” to the end. Since we’re at the start of 2023, I’m so honoured to share with everyone my stories☘️ There’s so much I want to record document about but here I’m up at my 2 pages. From the start of the year, it would be the Flower Troupe performance. I look forward to seeing everyone in the audience.

Everyone, please be happy in 2023!

With love! From “Hanako” “(Ichi)Nose-san”.

[beccalendsahand]

Takarazuka End of Year Tag 2021 (Part 1)

In which I finally answer my own tag!

You can find the questions here I decided to answer the questions in 2 posts, first 7 questions today, and the rest tomorrow coz I've realised I've run out of time, so without further ado...

1. Sumire no Hana: Did you find a new favourite this year? (Either someone who has entered the company this year or someone who has been in the company a while but you have only just become a fan, or both!)

I have a couple for this! All musumeyaku! I started the year by noticing Irodori Michiru as Mozart in Fortississimo, I thought she was such a fun character and it's so unusual to see musume in male parts so that made me even more interested in learning about her. Then later in the year, I saw City Hunter, which although wasn't really my thing, I did come away from it thinking "michiru was so cool in that", haha! So now I'm definitely going to keep watching her shows, I really want to see her shinjin koen "hoshiai" and "wansu"!

The other two I have become a fan of is the ladies of the moment for the Flower Troupe, and that's Hoshizora Misaki and Mihane Ai! They just absolutely blew me away as Isabelle and Ann Neville in Prince of Roses. I found them so striking because of how young they looked and yet how fierce their acting was. When Urara as Margaret Beaufort says to Mihane "You're a strong woman aren't you?" I really felt like it was not just Beaufort's thoughts of Ann but the thoughts of us watching Mihane on stage. They both seem to be getting great roles so I'm excited to see where their career takes them!

2. Never Say Goodbye: Which taidansha was the hardest for you to say goodbye to this year?

Do I even need to answer this one? It is of course Hana Yuuki. Hana Yuuki means so much to me, she's a an actress that kind of sneaked up on me. I became a takarazuka fan when she had just become Top Musume but I didn't become a fan of her right away, perhaps it was because I was still infatuated with all the otokoyaku at that point, or maybe it was because there was only "fairy tale" and "koisuru" to watch of her top run at that time. But then gradually I started to like her more and more, and once reihana top combi happened and I saw the Haikara-san live stream suddenly she became my entire fan identity. I think she is brilliant. I love how she strives to keep improving and you can see how she has grown with every performance. I also love her acting, she performs with this honesty that I've never seen from any other performer, she completely transforms into whoever she's playing, and even if she has to act in a cartoony style (for a manga adaptation for instance) she still manages to get to the heart of her character and make them feel real. I was so heartbroken when she annouced her taidan, "haikara" hadn't even finished yet! I had prepared myself for a good couple more years with her and then BAM! She was gone. But I love how right till the end she never got typecast, for such a short top musume run she got to play so many different kinds of women, maybe even more so than top musume who have had longer careers. She had an incredible final show as Pompeia in Augustus and a beautiful send-off in her sayonara show, which contained so many moments that will stay with me forever. Thank you Hana for brightening my days x

3. Material Girl: Favourite piece of merch (most treasured Takarazuka thing you have bought yourself this year, OR if you didn’t buy anything this year, a piece of merch that is on your wish list)

Speaking of Hana Yuuki, my most treasured piece of merch from this year has to be my bromides of the sayonara show in Tokyo. I was convinced because of proxy service that by the time white rabbit would be able to buy them for me they'd be sold out, but they weren't! My momentos of reihana.

Also wanna give a shout out to le cinq in general, I ended 2020 with 3, now i have 9! They are perfect for my interests, the photos make great art references, and then the scripts help me study Japanese! XD I love my le cinq collection, they give me the serotonin I need to get through these dark days. Earlier in the year when I was in my uni house, I felt pretty rotten, and I had this ugly wall in my room that had gross marks on it and cracks in the plaster that I would stare at from my bed, which made me feel worse. But then I covered it with my le cinq posters and it honestly gave me a boost every time I looked at them.

4. Mon Paris: Did you discover a new fav show that was not from this year? (This can be any fav show that you saw for the first time this year that was released before 2021)

This is super hard actually coz I realised that whilst in my first year of zuka I watched as many things as I could, this year I've become set in my ways. I just watch reihana on repeat and then maaaaybe I'll watch the latest official live stream (I think the only time I'm guaranteed to watch an official live stream is if it's hanagumi, I'm sorry). So I've thought long and hard about this trying to remember what I watched. And I think I'm going to go with a trick answer and say, the Casanova shinko! So I've seen Casanova before, but I've never seen the shinko. So many people talk about how good the Casanova shinko is so I was so I've been meaning to watch it for the longest time, and then a month or so ago a friend streamed it for me and it was such a fun experience! I loved seeing Hana again and so many other siennes who since then have become really big in the troupe. It was a delight!

5. Wings of the Heart: Favourite fandom memory (this could be a fun stream experience, going to the theatre with friends, all collectively freaking out about something together, anything really!)

Without a doubt it has to be watching the Nice Work official live stream together with friends. My favourite thing about being in the zuka fandom is the community we have. Watching streams together is always fun, but there was something extra special this time. We had been absolutely convinced we would never see this show because it was a broadway adaptation, but then last minute it was announced we would get a live stream and we all FLIPPED the hell out. We couldn't believe our luck. I don't think I've ever been so excited for a show before, it just sounded so perfect for reihana and hanagumi, I was so excited. And then when we did watch it we all changed our names and icons to reihana and nice work related so nobody knew who was who anymore and we just spent the stream filled with joy! It was a very special time.

6. Where is God (kami wa dokoni): What Hankyu announcement shocked you the most this year?

I'm gonna go with something totally random for this and say getting rid of the Tokyo Theatre's QR? What's that all about? Idk it's just was the most random thing and makes no sense, a theatre without a gift shop? I get that it's a little small but they litterally have a massive one across the road that people could go instead. Lol it does not affect me at all but I have fond memories of that place T-T

7. The Final Dance (Saigo no Dansu): What was your favourite duedan of the year?

I'm going to do a trick answer for this and say the most beacutiful dance I've ever seen, reihana barefoot dance in cool beast. UGH its so delicate and tender and bewitching and beautiful and poetic. I love the beauty and the beast type story that goes with it too and ahhh its just so perfect, no other duet dance comes close.

[eralkfang]

#endofyearzukatag: Day 2

2. Never Say Goodbye: Which taidansha was the hardest for you to say goodbye to this year?

(From left to right: Seino Asuka as Henry Tudor and Yuunami Kei as the Duke of Gloucester/Richard III.)

Yuunami Kei (Yuunami). I know, I know, she doesn’t taidan until next year, but doesn’t the process of accepting taidan start with the taidan announcement? 

The announcement that she would be retiring wasn’t a shock in and of itself. It seems to me that there are a few obvious points in a sienne’s tenure with Takarazuka where she might consider taidan, and Yuunami was definitely at one such inflection point. It was the timing of the announcement that took me by surprise. Her turn as the villain and nibante in Prince of Roses really felt like she’d taken her skills to the next level. There’s a scene in that show that can be best described as “the madness of King Richard” that she (and Mihane Ai!) just nail, from the tender emotionality to the dramatic bombast. (The grim exhaustion of Richard telling Anne that he’s tired...) Prince of Roses left me dazzled by the brightness of Hanagumi’s future, and it didn’t occur to me that Yuunami wouldn’t be in it.

Oh, I’ve gone and made myself sad. Well, there’s nothing to do except enjoy the time we have left with her in Takarazuka (she doesn’t taidan until February!) and support whatever she decides to do after. 

Join in the #endofyearzukatag here!