This article about Chapi’s retirement press conference was published by Sankei West on January 16, 2018. The original article and many photos can be found here. (Archive link here.)
Note that all the years given are in Japanese era reckoning.
Moon Troupe Top Musumeyaku Manaki Reika ‘wants to support’ Tamaki Ryou, who cherished her like an older sister, ‘until the very end’ – retirement press conference details
The Takarazuka Revue Moon Troupe’s Top Musumeyaku, Manaki Reika, held her retirement press conference at the Takarazuka Grand Theatre in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, on the 16th. Manaki said with a smile “I want to support (Top Star) Tamaki (Ryou)-san until the very end to the best of my ability. I want to keep challenging myself.”
Manaki was wrapped in a unique, pure white dress. “I consulted my classmate (former Cosmos Troupe Top Musumeyaku) Misaki Rion about it. I’d like to wear white too, I thought,” she smiled.
She first considered retirement when she played the difficult role of Marie Antoinette in 1789: Les Amants de la Bastille in Heisei 27. “That performance was a turning point for me. While I thought ‘I want to challenge myself with even more things” I also thought no other experience could be happier than that. I thought I could retire anytime without any regrets,’ she said, looking back on her career.
However, previous Top Star Ryuu Masaki declared her retirement the next year. Revue Director Ogawa Yuuji stated “We wanted Manaki to support young Top Star Tamaki Ryou. And we also felt that both for Takarazuka’s and her own benefit she should let her amazing talents continue to blossom.” Manaki also felt impelled by Tamaki saying “let’s try our best together,” and thinking ‘if my being here would help only a little’, became one of the mainstays of ‘New Moon Troupe’.
Manaki is from Sakai in Fukui Prefecture, and debuted in Heisei 21, after which she was assigned to Moon Troupe. In her first, Lower Student year at the Takarazuka Music School she was a musumeyaku, but after her height increased she changed to otokoyaku immediately prior to her second Upper Student year. In Heisei 23 she changed to musumeyaku again. In Heisei 24, when Ryuu was appointed Top Star, she was appointed Top Musumeyaku to be her acting partner. Since September of last year, she has been the acting partner of current Top Star Tamaki.
Before this announcement, she informed her acting partners Ryuu and Tamaki, as well as her colleagues in Moon Troupe and her classmates, of her intention to retire. She said Ryuu told her “at least make sure you enjoy it until you retire.”
“Ryuu-san gave me a lot of guidance and was a teacher to me, as I hadn’t even gone a full year since changing to musumeyaku. Even since her graduation, she’s given me a lot of advice on what I ought to do. I have nothing but gratitude for her,” said Manaki. Tamaki, who has known her since the Takarazuka Music School, where they were 1 year apart, said “you’ve done such a good job”.
Manaki is 167cm in height, and her triple threat abilities of dancing, singing, and acting have brought her rave reviews as a musumeyaku. Last summer, Takarazuka Revue President Ogawa Tomotsugu traveled to the United States to thank world class director Tommy Tune, who had served as special supervisor for the Moon Troupe production of Grand Hotel. “He praised Manaki, saying that if she could speak native-level English she could perform on Broadway, and that her acting and aesthetics were wonderful.”
After the press heard this, Manaki was asked whether she had considered performing on Broadway. “I’ve never thought about it,” she laughed. ‘Meeting Tommy-san changed me a lot, so I have bigger dreams and I’d like to take on the world,’ she added with a smile, acknowledging the compliment. Finally, she was asked the ‘inevitable question’ – whether she was leaving in order to marry. “Thank you! I thought you might not ask me that. But I’m not,” she replied, making everyone laugh.
By the time she retires, her career as Top Musumeyaku will have lasted 6 years and 7 months, only second to former Cosmos Troupe Top Musumeyaku Hanafusa Mari among Heisei Era Top Musumeyaku. “It’s certainly a long time (laughs). But it seems like it’s passed so quickly, even though it’s a time full of so many strong memories,” she said.
In the ‘New Moon Troupe’ she was given many roles full of individualism. Manaki said “I feel that it took a long time (of being Top Musumeyaku) in order to be able to be not only a traditionally lovely musumeyaku full of modesty, fairness, and grace, but also make roles interesting in a way unique to me. I wanted to be a musumeyaku full of possibility.”
The time it is said to take for an otokoyaku to become truly polished is called ’10 years to otokoyaku’. Manaki is coincidentally retiring in her 10th year since joining the Revue. “My mother told me about the 10 years to otokoyaku, so when I joined I assumed I’d be there for 10 years. When I became a musumeyaku I thought, ah, maybe not, but I want to go back and tell myself ‘it was 10 years in the end’,” Manaki said with a smile.
Her final performance will be in one of Takarazuka’s masterpieces Elisabeth: The Rondo of Love and Death (adapted and directed by Koike Shuuichirou). Her ultimate beauty will be displayed in the title role. It will run in the Takarazuka Grand Theatre in Hyogo from August 24 to October 1, and in Tokyo from October 9 to November 18.
Also, prior to her retirement performance, and for the first time in 17 years1 for a musumeyaku, she will have an unexpected solo lead performance in the Takarazuka Bow Hall, Saint of Love – Sainte d’Amour (written and directed by Saitou Yoshimasa), from July 1-7.
President Ogawa said ‘This is a rare case. Since she has worked so hard and done so much for the Revue, we wanted to give her a special performance. I hope it will show off all of her appeal.’
Manaki said “while at first I wasn’t sure if I could do it, I’m terribly happy. I told the director I want to continue to challenge myself until the very end.”
1 – I believe that the performance referred to here was a concert, and Chapi’s is the first musumeyaku-led play in considerably longer.