#shinjin kouen

[berserkerbarbie]

🛒 | エリザベート 20th Anniversary ( スペシャル・エディション)

Elisabeth by Cosmos Troupe 2016 | shinjin kouen   Der Tod [Rukaze Hikaru] & Elisabeth [Hoshikaze Madoka]

[kira-akira]

a shot-for-shot comparison of asumi rio as der tod in:

moon troupe 2009 shinjin kouen vs flower troupe 2014

act 1 / act 2 (cw guns)

[liminal-roses]

Maisora Hitomi as Lady Condulmer in Casanova (2019) shinjin kouen

[zukadiary]

hello, I hope you are doing well

I am someone who only recently learnt about Takarazuka, but someone that really caught my attention is Yuki Amami. I was wondering if you could tell me some information about her time in Takarazuka since it's quite difficult to find information in English. I know she didn't stay for long time and that upon leaving she built a career for herself in the entertainment industry. My inquiries are about how like big she was, what she known for, what sort of persona did she embody, what her time was like as a student, any anecdotes about her time with revue honestly anything you could offer me would appreciated. Thank you for your time

I'll do my best! I'm definitely not an Amami Yuuki expert, but I can give you a bullet list of things I know off the top of my head:

She's the youngest top star ever, she became top when she was still of age to be in shinjin kouen. This probably won't ever happen again.

Fun trivia re: above, her classmate Shizuki Asato had the shinko lead for Amami's Gone with the Wind. That's also probably never going to happen again (with otokoyaku). She and Zunko were very close friends.

More fun trivia re: above, it's very rare for a troupe's nibante to be senior (class wise) to the top star. Until this year, Amami's nibante Kuze Seika had been the only such nibante to actually take over as top afterwards (Hozuki An will be the second when Tsukishiro Kanato finishes the Tokyo run of Eternal Voice).

Amami's extreme popularity is hypothesized to be due to her unusually natural acting style (unusual for stage performers at the time). I've seen Japanese articles talk about the improvements in on-stage microphone technology that grew popular during her Takarazuka career, and how not needing to project with her natural voice to the back of B-seki may have helped her both develop and popularize this style.

Her acting style is what garnered her attention in the larger entertainment industry. It's suspected that the reason she was made top star so young is the company guessed she would choose to leave early for greener pastures on her own anyway, so they opted to capitalize financially on her popularity while they could.

She is the noted fave of many other big-name Takarazuka actresses who came after her (e.g. Nanami Hiroki and Nozomi Fuuto, who even addressed her childhood diary as if it was written to Amami Yuuki).

She's such a prolific actress that she has an IMDB page

[asumictransl]

Voice in Blue Guest Messages

translation on (09/22/2023)

From the Voice in Blue concert booklet

Messages from Asumi Rio's four top musumeyaku, and her classmate!

Content below the cut

Ranno Hana

Q1. What comes to mind when you think of Asumi Rio?

In the past, meat! The day before a shinjin kouen or shonichi she would take me out to eat some meat and then we’d quickly disperse! Ah... I wish I could say something cuter. Asumi, how are you doing now?

Q2. If you could appear together in a show together again, what kind of relationship would you like to play?

I love her Matsugae Kiyoaki in Spring Snow, so an extremely sadistic and arrogant person...... No, wait, I’d like to bicker on stage with an extremely arrogant Asumi (laughs)!

Q3. A message for Asumi Rio’s 20th Anniversary

Asumi, congratulations on your 20th anniversary. From her hatsubutai in Senor Don Juan, even when I was a fan, I always watched Asumi shining on stage...... Then I too became a part of Moon Troupe, and we were paired together for the first time in Fancy Dance’s chuuzume, then from there it was every performance. Then there was the Yume no Ukihashi shinjin kouen, then my transfer, and then finally our fateful reunion in Flower Troupe. She also had that truly unexpected Elisabeth ohirome. I was happy from the bottom of my heart to be able to sing, dance, and act with her again.

Asumi Rio is a glimmer of hopeful light!! Throughout these 20 years, I’ve always felt this way. Today I’d like to celebrate with all of my love with the other former wives and you guys!

Kano Maria

Q1. What comes to mind when you think of Asumi Rio?

Courage.

I was able to study under and be guided by such an incredibly courageous person known as Asumi Rio. Even after accomplishing a beautiful change from otokoyaku to actress, the way I see courage in her is everlasting. She would give me advice on how to be better on stage while wiping away my tears, and when I almost fell down the stairs in stage rehearsals she firmly grabbed me and saved me...... There’s too many times like that to list where her courage was on display!

Q2. If you could appear together in a show together again, what kind of relationship would you like to play?

Something unlike in our Takarazuka era with a simple set, like a play dialogue heavy show, and our roles being close to one another (what a luxury that would be). Something like a relationship between two people who happened to be sitting next to each other on the shinkansen, or two regular customers to a cozy cafe...... My dreams are endless.

Q3. A message for Asumi Rio’s 20th Anniversary

Congratulations on your 20th anniversary. I am truly honored to be able to be a part of your celebratory concert. Asumi will always be my driving force. For that ever-shining person, from the bottom of my heart here is my utmost respect and thanks. Here’s to a wonderful concert!

Senna Ayase

Q1. What comes to mind when you think of Asumi Rio?

Hydrangeas!

I heard that she liked them, and whenever hydrangeas come in season and begin to bloom I always think of Asumi. Nowadays, whenever I see a pretty one blooming on the roadside I always get happy and take a picture...... so now my phone’s camera roll is full of pictures (laughs). At some point they became one of my favorite flowers!

Q2. If you could appear together in a show together again, what kind of relationship would you like to play?

Childhood friends! I think it would be really fun to play an affectionate drinking scene talking to each other. I always thought that scenes where Asumi was drunk were so excellent and impressive, so the fans must also love it, right?!

Q3. A message for Asumi Rio’s 20th Anniversary

Congratulations on your 20th anniversary! I have been so moved and inspired by the way you always think so thoroughly about your roles and pour all the love that you have into playing each and every one. To be able to celebrate such a momentous anniversary with you makes me truly happy. I’ll sing with every bit of heart and care.

Yuki Hana

Q1. What comes to mind when you think of Asumi Rio?

She never compromises anything no matter what.

If she has the slightest bit of time, she’s training, practicing her singing, it’s an image that’s seared into my brain... her after rehearsals alone doing those voluntary trainings. Of course her costumes and accessories as well, and her specific angles, etc; she’s particular about everything down to the millimeter. Witnessing that part of Asumi up close, spending those years with her, it gave me truly invaluable experiences in my life.

Q2. If you could appear together in a show together again, what kind of relationship would you like to play?

I really love Asumi singing “Ai wo tomenai de” in her concert Love Arena (I love any Asumi though) just before she retired, and I think the lyrics, ��Because I will protect you no matter what,” were a nosebleed moment for everyone else too. Just like these lyrics, my delusion is wanting to see a delinquent Asumi, and get taken out on a date by said delinquent Asumi...

Q3. A message for Asumi Rio’s 20th Anniversary

Asumi, congratulations on your 20th anniversary. I am truly happy to be able to celebrate with you like this. I am the utmost grateful for the miracle of having Asumi come to live as Asumi Rio, and being able to meet and hold such a relationship like this. I will continue to pray for Asumi’s continued health and happiness from here on.

Nagina Ruumi

Q1. What comes to mind when you think of Asumi Rio?

A translucent being. Going back to around 23 years ago, on the day of Takarazuka’s entrance exam day, I passed by Sayumi* in the hallway and I had to look again because she was shining with cuteness and beauty. ‘These are the kind of girls that get accepted,’ I thought. Our examination numbers were close, and we also sat opposite of each other once, such translucent skin and beauty, I just sat there and gazed at her without thinking. Even now this hasn’t changed a bit, when we had the chance to do a job together for the first time in forever the other day, I excitedly threw out a barrage of questions like, “Why are you so cute!” “Why do you just glow like that!” (laughs).

Q2. If you could appear together in a show together again, what kind of relationship would you like to play?

When we performed together we were parent and child, so something outside of that, as long as the roles are sufficiently intertwined with each other!

Q3. A message for Asumi Rio’s 20th Anniversary

Congrats on your 20th anniversary concert. When you think about it, we have a 20-some year relationship. Not just your translucent beauty, but also that translucent* heart you have always had continues to heal me. An actress that with such translucence added on top of the talent of working hard, has the charm of being able to be painted in any role. I have nothing but respect for her. I’m truly happy to have been classmates with Sayumi, and now once again be able to star with her like this. She has an irreplaceable existence. Here’s to eternity, from now until we become (grandpas?) grandmas.

I’m truly looking forward to Sayumi’s continued growth in her life as an actress. Notes:

*Mirio's real name is Sayumi, so this is what her classmates call her.

*What Kacha means by 'translucent heart' likely some sens of 'pure', but she uses the same word she used to describe her beauty so I kept it for effect.

Wow long time no post... It's not that I haven't been trying to translate I've just never finished anything lol. But yes its been a crazy year both in terms of Mirio and just normal life!! I'm sure most of you know my Mirio happenings (if you don't just know I'm living my best life), and who would have guessed that even though theater is so much fun, going on top of school and work stills drains so much energy out of you. I'm going to do my best to translate more things out of this concert booklet because it honestly has so much content and the concert was just, long story short, amazing. Thanks for reading!!

[bulanpagi]

amashi juri as fujiwara no takaiko and reika haru as fujiwara no tokitsura in ohten no mon (moon, 2023) | agata sen as saeba ryo in city hunter shinjin kouen (snow, 2021) | takato chiaki as herlock sholmes in the great ace attorney (cosmos, 2023)

[rivalsforlife]

Great Ace Attorney Takarazuka Casting Update

because of course you can trust me to update you on this!

We got a little more information today about the casting choices for the new Takarazuka adaptation of The Great Ace Attorney, which I posted about previously. This is going to be a less formal update post, I'm just gonna give a summary of what I've found out so far. Links will be either to the official Takarazuka page or to Takawiki, which is an online wiki of Takarazuka info, where I'm getting most of my information.

In summary: this update revealed the cast for Ryunosuke Naruhodo (or at least confirmed it), Susato Mikotoba, and Herlock Sholmes, as well as all the other actresses who will play as-of-yet unidentified roles.

The previous information on the play said that the lead role (who is now confirmed to be Ryunosuke, though we could have assumed as much) is being played by Rukaze Hikaru. She's had one previous lead role in a regular musical, and four "shinjin kouen" lead roles, which are to my understanding special performances of a regular musical for the more junior performers in the troupe. She has been in the Cosmos Troupe since 2012, though unfortunately was not in the cast for the third AA musical.

Susato Mikotoba has been confirmed to be the lead female role, played by Yamabuki Hibari. She has been in this troupe since 2019, and has had two lead female roles in shinjin kouen performances, but this is her first lead role in a regular musical. Of particular interest for this topic, one of her junior leads was as Irene Adler in the Sherlock Holmes play this same troupe put on in 2021.

It feels relevant to note here that in all the previous AA musicals, the lead female role was occupied by an original character who ended up being the love interest - Leona, Lucia, Alison. The lack of an original character in this role suggests to me that this musical won't be pulling that. It does, however, suggest the possibility that Susato could be considered the love interest in this play -- though we do not have any confirmation of that, and having this role doesn't inherently mean she will be, and I sure am hoping that won't turn out to be the case!

The last casting decision is for the role of Herlock Sholmes/Sherlock Holmes, played by Takato Chiaki. From what I can tell from other plays, the secondary male role seems to usually be a deuteragonist or antagonist -- in the other AA musicals, this was the role occupied by Edgeworths (Miles in the first two, Gregory in the third.) This fits with information we had previously that Sholmes would likely fit in this position. If they continue the same opening song they had from the original three, Sholmes is the one singing about counting his falling tears. Anyways, Takato Chiaki has had one lead role in the past and two junior lead roles, and graduated at the top of her class in 2015.

The other roles haven't been decided yet, though I can find the list of other actresses who will be appearing in this play. Of note is Akina Rui, the only one to have been in a previous AA musical, with an unnamed role in the third one. Also of relevance is Natori Rei, who is a senior actress who has been performing since 1971! As far as I can tell she's part of the "Senka" troupe which consists of senior members that specialize in certain things and can join performances from any troupe as necessary. (Nagina Ruumi, the actress for Larry Butz in the third musical, is also in Senka, but won't be coming in for this one.) Natori Rei apparently specializes in Japanese dance, and typically plays male roles, so it'll be interesting to see what role she plays in this musical.

And not a casting decision, just something odd I noticed -- this troupe seems to have overlapping performances, with the other one being a small performance of Xcalibur, which wouldn't be odd on its own except that this performance is where the troupe's new top star is debuting. I don't know what that's about I don't follow takarazuka stuff outside of this, I just thought that was interesting. So this performance will only have half the cosmos troupe in it.

I will update again whenever full casting decisions are released and/or we get an official poster and/or if more plot information comes out. With what we have here it isn't enough to draw any conclusions about what the plot will be like, since the three characters mentioned were already in the summary, except that we can be pretty sure we don't have Victorian Era Leona. Though that might come at a cost :/

Anyways, thanks for reading if you're as interested in following this stuff as I am.

[arbitrarygreay]

For potential link rot purposes, this is an interview MC from 2008 Hello! Project Shinjin Kouen 9gatsu ~Shibakouen STEP!

Man, Makoto hasn’t aged in over 20 years Takechan didn’t get to answer in this, but she’s on the front row, furthest to the right. Meanwhile that weirdo giving the last answer there became the H!P Overlord and a graduate school student in, like, art history or something, so follow your dreams y'all.

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

Elisabeth das Musical (Takarazuka 2014 shinjin kouen): Death is Unimpressed.

[berserkerbarbie]

Kacha being the love of my life as Anthony Black in Paradise Prince by Cosmos Troupe 2008 | shinjin kouen

[kira-akira]

a shot-for-shot comparison of asumi rio as der tod in:

moon troupe 2009 shinjin kouen vs flower troupe 2014

act 1 | act 2 (cw guns)

[nessie665]

Not really)? At least not in the way we are used to.

This is from newcomer performance (also called shinjin kouen or Shinko cast), which means that for each new play the revue does, there is one night where junior stars get to play the leads, this is so they can gather stage experience

I find logical that this is also some sort of understudy system, if something ever happens to the top star, however I lack the knowledge to confirm this last bit

nice get up, nerd

[liminal-roses]

Hoshizora Misaki as Marie in Years of Pilgrimage shinjin kouen

[zukadiary]

Takarazuka news roundup 2023.12.19

Additional cancellation announcements from the official site:

① Cosmos Troupe's upcoming small theater shows, Excalibur (Serika Toa/Haruno Sakura, scheduled for Hakataza -> Umeda Arts) and My Blue Heaven (Bow Hall, scheduled to be Kazeiro Hyuuga's first Bow lead), have both been preemptively canceled. All future appearances of Cosmos Troupe actresses TBD.

② The company previously announced that they would reduce the number of performances per week and the number of shows per year, in order to reduce the actresses' workload. This initiative will start from shows that have already been announced, and in some cases, tickets that have already been sold. The following performances are canceled:

Star troupe RRR/Violetopia: Takarazuka performances from 1/1-1/5 (opening day becomes 1/5 at 3:30pm); The 3:30pm shows on 1/11, 1/18, and 1/30 (2-show days become 1-show days); Shinjin Kouen is canceled. Tokyo performances at 6pm on 2/29, 3/5, 3/18, and 3/28; at 1:30pm on 3/12 (2-show days become 1-show days).

Flower Troupe Arc-en-Ciel: Takarazuka performances 2/9-2/10 (opening day becomes 2/10 at 3:30pm); 2/18 11am, 2/20 3:30pm, 3/5 3:30pm; Shinjin Koen. Tokyo performances 4/13, 4/14 (goes from two shows to one, 1:30pm becomes opening day); 6pm shows on 4/18, 5/2, 5/7, 5/14; 1:30pm shows on 4/25 and 5/24.

Snow Troupe Boiled Doyle on the Toil Trail/Frozen Holiday: Tokyo performances at 6pm on 1/9, 1/16, 1/23, 1/30; the 1:30pm performance on 2/6.

③ All 110th anniversary festivities for 2024 have been canceled. This includes:

The 110th anniversary ceremony scheduled for July

The 2024 Takarazuka Special

Sports Day

Rescinding publication of the 3rd-party investigation report

Translated from the official site:

Regarding the sudden death of a Takarazuka actress of Cosmos Troupe, we continue to extend our sincerest condolences to all of her surviving relatives. As announced on December 7 in relation to this incident, based upon written notice received from the family’s legal team on 12/6, along with the contents of the press conference held by said legal team, we made the decision to conduct a second investigation that will examine the facts of the case more closely. We are still taking the problems outlined in the investigation report that we released on 11/14 very seriously. However, as the issues present are not limited to those outlined in said report, after taking into account the information shared by the family’s legal team via the aforementioned documentation and press conference, and with the deepest consideration for the bereaved family’s thoughts and feelings, out of sincere desire to continue our earnest consultation with the family, we have made the decision to rescind publication of our report at their request. Additionally, we will continue to work toward achieving a formal compensation agreement with the family.

Threats demanding Takarazuka performance cancelation

Tiny blurb translated from 47News

In the aftermath of the sudden death of an actress from the Takarazuka Revue in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture, we've learned today, December 19, from an inside source, that the company has received numerous messages with threatening contents via post and email, demanding that the reopening of performances be suspended.

[rinnguyen13]

Kazama Yuno as Luigi Lucheni

[ilovetkrzuka]

Shinjin Kouen Main Roles for El Japon/ Aquavitae announced: 

*Kamata Harumichi - Makaze Suzuho = Kazeiro Hyuuga

*Katarina - Hoshikaze Madoka = Hanamiya Sara

*Alejandro - Serika Toa = Anon Yuusei