This article about the CITY HUNTER junior performance was published by Sports Hochi on August 31, 2021. The original article can be found here (archive link here).
Takarazuka Revue Snow Troupe’s Agata Sen has second junior lead after 3 years in CITY HUNTER – ‘The stage was so bright!’
The junior performance of the Takarazuka Revue Snow Troupe’s production CITY HUNTER – The Stolen XYZ took place on the 31st in the Takarazuka Grand Theatre, Hyogo.
It is the first stage adaptation of the popular manga of the same title, and the protagonist, a skilled ‘sweeper’ (hired gun) named Saeba Ryou, is played by Agata Sen, a star in her 7th year in the company. This is her second junior lead after 2018’s Arc de Triomphe (main cast star – Todoroki Yuu) in 2018, 3 years before.
Due to the impact of the spread of COVID-19, this is the first Snow Troupe junior performance since January of last year. During the curtain call, Agata recalled the cancellation of the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre junior performance last March. “It was so devastating, and when I think about the audience I’ll never forget those days. Even among these uncertain times, I’m so happy that we were able to perform safely with all of you warmly watching over us,” she added thankfully. “In this show each and every person is a hero and heroine. We will all carefully perfect [the roles] we have been given and give it our all so that we can put on an even more sparkling performance in Tokyo (on October 14th),” she said, promising further improvements.
In the main cast, Agata plays Ryou (Ayakaze Sakina)’s tough-guy friend Umibouzu, giving a wonderful performance in a role that’s the complete opposite of the womanizing playboy Ryou. This is her last year of junior performances, and she displays her versatility as a classic-style otokoyaku bearing the responsibility of carrying Snow Troupe into a new era. She said that new Top Star Ayakaze told her “Believe in yourself.”
Since in the role of Umibouzu she wears sunglasses almost the whole time, when Agata was starring in the center spotlight, “It was so bright! (In the main cast) I wear sunglasses most of the time so I can’t see the lights. I could see each and every audience member from the silver bridge, so I was really happy,” she said with a smile.
Ryou’s partner Makimura Kaori is played by Neiro Yui, who graduated as the top of her class in 2019, in her first junior heroine role, and with her sustained vocals she left the impression that a new musumeyaku star had been born. “I felt nothing but nervousness, but once it actually started, I was able to plunge into the world and carry out my role calmly,” she said with a relieved expression. Regarding her selection for her first heroine role, “I wasn’t sure what to do, and to be honest, I was giving it my all with only enthusiasm and energy, but by Tokyo I hope to develop the fine details more,” she said, showing her desires to brush up her performance.