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Dream Stars’ Salon - Fuji’s Bar w. Ranju Tomu (Flower Troupe)

This Kageki feature from the mid-2000s had directors Fujii Daisuke and Ueda Keiko trading off hosting a ‘bar’ where they would conduct talk features with young otokoyaku stars. The interview between Fujii and Ranju Tomu was published in the February 2006 issue.

Dream Stars’ Salon - Fuji’s Bar w. Ranju Tomu (Flower Troupe)

Fujii: Welcome to ‘Fujii’s Bar’.

Ranju: Thank you for inviting me.

Fujii, Ranju: (laugh)

Fujii: I think the first time I met Tomu (Ranju) was your debut in CAN-CAN, when I was attached to the production as an assistant… You’ve grown up a lot since then.

Ranju: No, I haven’t grown up a bit~ (laughs)

Fujii: Is that so. I think the really cute thing about Tomu is that you’re really bright and friendly, and while you’re mature you can still be a little bit spacey. You’re someone who’s very easy to talk to. You had the ‘otokoyaku’ atmosphere even as a ken-1, didn’t you. I think I remember in Nao-chan’s (Iori Naoka’s) dinner show, you were ken-5, but they introduced you as ken-15… (laughs).

Ranju: I was constantly being used for that punchline in dinner shows and such as a junior actress (laughs).

Fujii: And then recently it feels as if you’re getting younger by the year (laughs).

Ranju: Yes, people say that to me all the time! (laughs) It really makes me think about how hard I was working as a junior actress…

Fujii: Really… Yesterday, I went to see the Flower Troupe performance, and felt like the kindness and big-heartedness I felt from Tomu is something nobody else could express.

Ranju: That makes me so happy~. For my character of Nicola in Palermo in the Setting Sun, that ‘big-heartedness’ was what I most wanted to express, so I’m really happy to hear that.

Fujii: And then in the revue show you had a really natural sexiness. Recently, you’ve come to the point where you can do things without having to push yourself past your limit, right?

Ranju: I’ve had people telling me ‘You’re more relaxed’ or ‘you seem so natural onstage’, so I do feel like I’ve begun pushing myself less onstage, but in a good way…

Fujii: That might be why you’re really standing out recently. By the way, Tomu, did you like Takarazuka ever since you were little?

Tomu: I started watching Takarazuka when I was in middle school.

Fujii: And did you decide ‘I want to join!’ from the start?

Ranju: No, it was when I was thinking of my future path during high school that it started to get to me. I thought ‘I at least want to try out for it’. So then for a year, I took entrance exam prep lessons in secret from my school…

Fujii: But weren’t you taking dance since you were little?

Ranju: When I was in elementary school I took classical ballet for 3 years, and then in middle and high school I was put in the ‘Creative Dance’ department. We had ballet lessons and danced to our own choreography…

Fujii: So, you can do choreography too!

Ranju: That would be a huge challenge, but I would like to try it once, I think.

Fujii: Oh, that would be great! If you hadn’t passed the exam, what path do you think you would have taken?

Ranju: I like English, so I had the vague idea of studying English in college and doing some kind of work related to that.

Fujii: You’re a really flexible person, so I can definitely picture that. Your grades have been excellent ever since you entered Takarazuka, and then you kept getting roles in shinjin kouens and Bow Hall performances, and lots of appearances in dinner shows. Are there any shows for you that were turning points, Tomu?

Ranju: Maybe the 2001 Bow Hall, Manon. That’s when I really started to aim for being an ‘otokoyaku’.

Fujii: Slightly wicked roles, like your character of Lescaut in Manon, really suit you, don’t they. And then that same year you had your first shinjin kouen lead, Michelangelo. What do you think about that?

Ranju: I was so desperate. It was like I was pushing to the limits of my energy, so I don’t really remember the particulars.

Fujii: But I think it’s exactly that which helped you suit the role so well, perhaps. And then the next year was Drenched in the Amber Hued Rain and Cocktail!

Ranju: In the show Director Fujii created and directed, Cocktail, I was able to sing with Haruno-san, Sena-san, and Ayabuki-san in the opening sequence, and then in the basketball scene I was playing the part of Haruno’s opponent, so I was thinking “is it really okay for me to be doing all this…?” It was a revolutionary show for me, internally.

Fujii: Is that so; it seemed perfectly ordinary to me, though (laughs). When all the current Flower Troupe otokoyaku are gathered, they’re so interesting, no matter what you look at.

Ranju: There were so many stellar otokoyaku when I was a junior actress. Maya Miki-san, Kaikyou Hiroki-san, Aika Mire-san, Yabuki Shou-san, Takumi Hibiki-san, Hatsukaze Midori-san, Kizuki Ayumu-san, Ranka Rea-san...And then at the time, Sena-san, Mizu-zan, and Kiriya-san were in Flower Troupe too, and everyone was so cool… I was like ‘what even is this troupe!’ (laughs)

Fujii: (laughs) And was it good training?

Ranju: For example, they would give very clear advice about the best way to wear a tailcoat, and precisely how many centimeters and millimeters until it started to look ‘just a bit off’. Even now, when it comes to how we’re holding a tailcoat, the senior actresses will still suggest ‘so, let’s do it this way this time’ and keep an eye on that. I think they all have a great aesthetic sense of ‘how an otokoyaku should be’.

Fujii: It’s something that’s passed down from senior actresses to the junior actresses. You were ken-7 in Cocktail.

Ranju: Yes. I had a lot of different experiences that year, with Gone with the Wind, Shadow of the Moon, and Elisabeth.

Fujii: How do you feel about singing, Tomu?

Ranju: I’ve studied it for a much shorter time, compared to dance. When I entered the Takarazuka Music School, if I had to use my voice in singing or acting, I never knew what I ought to be doing… In Director Shibata’s acting class he would always call on me as ‘that girl over there, with the strained voice’. I had a complex for a while that made it hard for me to get my voice to come out. Right now it’s not as bad as it was before, but unlike dance, where I can just go with my feelings, I have to think about using my voice more and tell myself ‘I just need to do it how I did in the rehearsals.’ When I hear Osa-san singing, I think that it feels really good, and I want to be able to use my singing to express what’s inside myself that way too…

Fujii: In the shinjin kouen of Elisabeth, it definitely seemed that while your gestures and such were very striking, you were nervous about the singing.

Ranju: Especially in the Takarazuka shinjin kouen I never got over the nervousness… I was in a battle with myself every day until the Tokyo performance. I remember that even right before the performance, I had shut myself in the dressing room baths and was singing. Finally, at the very end, it felt like I had made it over a huge mountain during that performance.

Fujii: That was a good experience for you, wasn’t it. You seemed to be enjoying yourself singing in the recent production of Ernest in Love, so I thought ‘she seems like she’s grown a bit…’

Ranju: Thank you very much.

Fujii: You were playing all sorts of roles in 2005, weren’t you. Hachigorou in Kurawanka was such a skillfully done role that it almost made me think you were ken-30 (laughs).

Ranju: (laughs) Although it was a hard time with the switch roles and things, the junior actresses put so much energy into it, and I think that show really helped everyone in the cast grow.

Fujii: After that you played Gunther in Marakesh: The Crimson Tombstone, and the outside performance R-HATTER*. You were so cool!

Ranju: Although at first I couldn’t even picture how things might end up, but Hattori Yuukichi-san was very understanding of what a ‘Takarazuka otokoyaku’ is, and put together choreography that showed off how the otokoyaku looked.

Fujii: But it was the kind of choreography that you wouldn’t see very often in Takarazuka, right. It needed a very high technical level, didn’t it?

Ranju: Yes. At first I was struggling just to keep up. Performing with foreign male dancers was a very valuable experience for me that really made me rethink ‘the appeal of an otokoyaku.’

Fujii: Although you’ve developed quickly and have the image of a ‘star student’, have you ever had times where you’ve come up against a barrier or that you can’t relax?

Fujii: I’ve never relaxed… Since I haven’t been practicing since I was a child, I feel like if I don’t practice more than everyone else I won’t be able to do it. When I was in the music school, I would dance at home until late at night, and I had my family buy a tap mat so I’d be tapping away at that...I was desperate (laughs).When I was a junior actress I hated being called ‘star student’ and I would break down sometimes. “Even though I’m always at my limit trying to deal with things, why do they still say those things about me…” I would think.

Fujii: I’ve never seen Tomu in a panic like that.

Ranju: I don’t let people see that (laughs). I hate failure, you see. Starting when I was around ken-3, I was able to act in the plays together with the senior actresses, and in the revues even though I was one of the youngest I would be able to join them, but I still couldn’t do things at the level the senior actresses were at… A lot of the time I would end up in the dark, deserted rehearsal room just crying, ‘Wah~’ (laughs)

Fujii: Oh… But you don’t do that any more now?

Ranju: No, if I can’t do things how I think I should be doing them, I’ll have a cry at home (laughs).

Fujii: You don’t want other people to see, yes. So, how are you going to progress from here? Can you tell me roles you want to play, or dances you want to do?

Ranju: In terms of plays, I want to do a really passionate grand romantic story. In terms of dancing, I’d like to do something in latin style, or some really vigorous dancing that they don’t do a lot in Takarazuka. Also, a really Takarazuka-style duet dance… When I was in the music school, in Shime-san’s (Shion Yuu’s) class, she told us “in your loudest voice, shout out your dream of what you want to do onstage”, you know. So, I said “I want to do a duet dance wearing pure white, surrounded by white smoke!” (laughs). I do want to do a charmingly romantic duet dance.

Fujii: So, finally, what do you think is the appeal of ‘Ranju Tomu’?

Ranju: Eh~, do I have to say it myself? I’m blushing… (laughs) Let’s see, first would be ‘Passion’. That’s been my theme ever since I was ken-1.

Fujii: Oh~ that’s great.

Ranju: From now on, I want to develop ‘big-heartedness’ and ‘sweetness’.

Fujii: Wonderful! I think Ranju has the ‘Takarazuka atmosphere’ in the best way, and you’re really irreplaceable. I’m looking forward to seeing how you flourish from now on.

Ranju: Yes. Thank you very much!

* This was a co-ed modern ballet production featuring Japanese and foreign ballet dancers as well as a few Takarazuka actresses.

#takarazuka #article translation #sienne: ranju tomu #troupe: hana #staff: fujii daisuke

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