Translation of Aran’s section of commentary on her character published in the August 2008 issue of Kageki, taken from the larger feature. Paragraph breaks are added for ease of reading.

Aran Kei (Sir Percy Blakeney):

For this production, when I was working on how to put my character together, I felt like I was able to get hold of it a lot quicker than normal. Mr. Wildhorn’s music is all really splendid, and because of that I was able to stir up those feelings naturally. This was especially so in the song in the first act ‘Prayer’ where I have to express my character’s suffering. While I was having trouble with the emotion, when I was singing my feelings would gradually increase so the music really saved me.

Percy is a hero among heroes. He has a strong sense of justice, he’s cool, he has a sense of humor, and he’s a really charming person. During the performance, I wanted to make his love for Marguerite the most important thing. Percy really loves Marguerite. He probably fell for her because of her beauty and her appeal as an actress. But even though he loves her, he can’t dispel his doubts about her, and he can’t tell her about the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, so there’s always conflict between them. During ‘She was There’ everything is resolved and he feels it’s alright to love Marguerite, so it’s a number that’s full of his love for her. In the last scene they’re at the height of happiness. Percy is overflowing with joy now that he knows that he loves her.

Percy doesn’t feel anger at the French Revolution itself, but at the unfair purging of the aristocracy. He sees Chauvelin as a rival to his own League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, but he also has some doubts about his relation to Marguerite and suspects he might be a love rival as well.

Since when Percy is disguised as Grapin he’s always doing silly things, I’m always a little worried that if I go too far as Grapin people might lose the thread of the story… I also have to keep in mind as I perform that he isn’t supposed to be recognized as Percy. Furthermore, when I’m be arguing with Chauvelin, if I go too far in my responses Chauvelin might break character, so I have to make sure there’s a good balance there.

In the C section of the Finale I sing ‘When I Look At You’ which is actually my favorite song, so I’m very happy to be able to sing it. And the sabre dance is really fresh and cool. In the duet dance with Asuka I think we create a world for just the two of us that has a grown-up atmosphere.

Heading into the Tokyo performances, I hope that Percy’s many faces will be even more distinct, that the fun scenes will be even more fun, the touching scenes even more touching, and that it will have a new emotional resonance with the audience.