#senka: let's watch this ep

[kanamesengoku]

[zukadiary]

Takarazuka (& adjacent) week-end roundup 8.2.19

Hanagumi will be re-staging Haikara-san ga Tooru for Yuzuka Rei’s Grand Theater debut in March 2020. I called this a bottle episode on twitter but no one else thought it was funny

The God of Stars shinko was Tuesday and it looked lit; also based on frequent choice of work-bound walking partners, classmates Maisora Hitomi and Amato Kanon appear to be BFFs. I’m glad they got to lead a shinko together before Maisora is no longer eligible

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz roles were assigned, obliterating my faint hopes that somehow Yuuki Shion had been left out of this small theater run by accident

Asami Hikaru and Asami Rei will be appearing in what looks like the Broadway version of Anastasia, thanks babe for a) doing a big musical for a change b) getting it out of the way before the Olympics

Ok, I swear I’m not even like, trying to be biased here with who makes it into my entirely subjective and undoubtedly incomplete news roundups, but Nanami-friggin-Hiroki just keeps doing stuff, lighting our preconceptions of what you can do with an OG career on fire and throwing them into the ocean. Ya girl literally held a virtual ochakai, dropped a horny music video with thought-provoking lyrics I intend to share at some point, and snagged her own brand new SkyStage segment despite being retired, ep 2 of which appears to be let’s discuss how real men are more disappointing than otokoyaku (submissions open!)

Meanwhile over on the other end of the spectrum, MiyaRuri is a cryptid, sharing news such as “I’m gonna be at a thing at a shrine in Himeji that I think will be airing on this obscure channel only in this one prefecture” exclusively in disappearing insta stories

Poor suffering Tsukishiro Kanato has been announced OUT of Buyokai but specifically IN I Am From Austria, despite the former starting 3.5 weeks after the latter (in all seriousness, I get it, buyo is specifically rough on the back/hips/etc). Last night I dreamed that I ran into Reiko, who had been gone so long her hair had grown past her shoulders and she was fully a Girl. I hope to god that’s not a premonition

Light of my life Kazuki Sora (& crew) danced to Uptown Funk in her Brilliant Dreams

And, of course, the long-awaited TRANSFER ANNOUNCEMENT (here in English)

My ENTIRELY PERSONAL, CORRECTNESS NOT AT ALL GUARANTEED transfer takes:

My stomach is still somewhere in my basement re: Hitoko. That’s... our baby (stop I know I married into Soragumi but 絆！絆！y’all). Taking personal feelings out of it, if they wanted a cleanup hitter of that generation to stabilize gutted Hanagumi in as few moves as possible, they did it. She is and has been the most—tbh, only—surefire, clear-path, absolutely tracked otokoyaku out of all the 96ths and 97ths. She’s talented in all areas, and she’s a Prince Charming type, which in my opinion makes her a chameleon and will allow her ultimately to mold well to Hanagumi’s vibe. She will absolutely give them the support they need. But keeping personal feelings in it... she’s been Yukigumi’s clear-cut future for like at least 7 years. I saw her first ginkyou solo live. I watched her go from scared to scary stage presence. I was so looking forward to her eventual reign. I know this stuff always happens, I know she’s still gonna get it, and she might get it sooner than she would have. But I’m real sad she won’t be getting it where I watched her grow up. 

I knew Aasa had no chance if her competition was Hitoko. Now... hmm.

Kiwa is such a WHOOPS, we take that back

I’m not gonna pretend to know what they have planned for Aichan and Ayaki Hikari in Hoshigumi. From what I’ve observed, I’m not sure they’d have moved Kiki in the first place if they had confidence Aichan would make it to top stardom. Even if she’s not Coto’s successor, she’ll probably get all the nibante roles for the time being, and she’s someone who can sell the small theaters until an actual successor is decided upon. This move, out of all of them, makes me wonder if recently something somewhere didn’t go according to plan. I got the impression they offered Aichan the senka option as a courtesy, since at the time there wasn’t really room for her in a troupe; I’d be surprised if the PLAN was to move her out of it again so soon. Plan aside, I like her a lot and I’m glad she’ll be back on a regular schedule. 

Only semi-related, back in the day I thought Aichan to Micchangumi would have been a genius move. They caught on a few centuries too late.

Ayaki Hikari (Hitoko’s classmate), someone who will be ken-10 in her first Hoshi Grand Theater and has only ever split a bow, is probably just moving out of the way, and the Hoshi producer liked her and took her. I think she’ll likely get better roles than she did in Hana, but I need to see some definitive proof before I’ll buy that they have any intention of actually pushing her. 

Shidou Ryuu I think is also just moving out of the way—this is a 3-person Hitoko ripple effect. Why to SORAGUMI, the last troupe that needs bodies, who knows—although I guess that could always be “the last troupe that needs bodies, FOR NOW”. That said, I didn’t think the company considered Riku specifically someone who needs to be replaced, but if there’s one person in the whole company I had to put in the exact same category of person, it would be Shidou.