This article about Star Troupe Top Star Kurenai Yuzuru’s retirement press conference was published by Nikkan Sports on February 6, 2019. The original article with photos can be found here. (Archive link here.)

“Has anybody ever cried this much…” Kurenai Yuzuru makes fun of her own tearful outburst

Top star of the Takarazuka Revue’s star troupe, Kurenai Yuzuru, who announced that she would be retiring from Takarazuka on October 13th, held a press conference at a hotel in Osaka on the 6th.

She wore a pure white suit and a silver necklace at her throat. Her distinctive personality and ability to make tears into laughter were displayed thoroughly. “And here I thought I wouldn’t cry…” “Once I get started crying, it just doesn’t stop, see.” “Has anybody ever cried this much (At their retirement press conference)?” – she continued to joke about herself despite her tears.

Kurenai is from Osaka, and joined Takarazuka in 2002. She has a splendid figure at 173 centimetres, and as might be expected of an ‘Osaka-ite Top’, she is talented at comedy, taking pride in her ability to bring witty performances full of humanity. She wielded these talents explosively.

After her ascension to Top Star in November of 2016, she also appeared in things such as the “Dream Jumbo Lottery” television commercial, which allowed her to utilize her masterful speaking skills. She was given the responsibly of a “PR Representative” for the company, and last autumn she starred in the Takarazuka Revue’s 3rd Taiwan performance.

Regarding her retirement, she said that she decided “Right after the close of my (Grand Theatre) debut (in March of 2017), The Scarlet Pimpernel.”

Although many Takarazuka Top Stars have said that “a bell goes off inside you and you know” about when to retire, in Kurenai’s case, “I felt like it might never go off in my whole life.” Even before she passed the Takarazuka entrance exam, she would imagine herself commuting to the school by train – it was a “holy land” she yearned for.

“If I could join once again after retiring once, I would. I want to wear the Music School uniform again. I wasn’t any good at the morning cleaning sessions, but no matter how tough things where, I was happy just wearing the uniform.”

This was her expression of her love for Takarazuka. Her feelings of never wanting to leave were too strong, so in order to lay down a limit for herself, “I thought of the number 5. 6 shows (as Top) would be overdoing things a bit. And 4 shows isn’t enough. I would retire after five shows. I decided to put all of my strength into those shows. Ah, and there’s (my singing group) Kurenai 5, too, isn’t there. I only just thought of that, but wasn’t I clever?” she said, laughing as she looked back.

Kurenai will retire with Top Musumeyaku Kisaki Airi, at the conclusion of the Tokyo performance of GOD OF STARS – Saints of Cuisine/Éclair Brilliant, which opens in the Takarazuka Grand Theatre in Hyogo on July 12th. It will be her 5th main theatre show since becoming Top.

“I forgot when I told (Kisaki), so I called her. We ended up spending like an hour chatting about pointless stuff,” she laughed wryly. She said that she informed Kisaki when she planned to retire during the performance of ANOTHER WORLD in April of last year.

Kisaki replied “I’ll graduate together with Kurenai-san, I don’t have a shadow of a doubt.” And their ‘married for life’ retirement was decided. She informed the other members of the troupe on the 3rd of the month.

“It sounded too cheerful when I said it, so everyone was frozen like ‘…’ After that, they cried for me. I was happy.”

It’s just like Kurenai to hide her sadness inside and put on a joking exterior. She described how her attitude when informing them of her retirement decision totally bewildered the other members of the troupe.

The show that she has the strongest memories of is The Scarlet Pimpernel, which was her first junior performance and her Grand Theatre top debut. It was her first experience under the direction of Koike Shuuichiro, who is known for his strict direction. When asked about anecdotes, she said “I was having too much fun with the side entertainment (at cast parties)… but through that, I was able to learn more about how fun it was to make people happy, and how to entertain people, and how to develop a sense of service.”

When asked about after her retirement, she said “right now I can’t think about anything except Takarazuka. Or really, I don’t want to.” She said that her path was undecided. She left it at “if I was to encounter some possibility, then I would consider it.”

Also, when the question of if she was retiring to marry came up, she joked “I’m so happy someone asked me that question,” before replying “I’m not. You cannot have a marriage with one person, after all,” making everyone laugh. However, after that, her expression turned earnest. “In Takarazuka, I married Kisaki, and there are also all of my precious fans,” she continued, expressing her gratitude to those who supported her in her theatre career for 17 years.