This talk is from the April 2017 issue of Kageki.

chemicalperfume assisted with editing and filling in trouble spots!

Sparkling TIME – Minami Maito and Seo Yuria

Seo: When they decided we would be doing this photoshoot, we were in adjacent rehearsal spaces so we talked a lot about clothes and hairstyles.

Minami: We would even get together in the hallway and mess with each other’s hair, like ‘don’t you think it would look better this way?’ ‘No, more like this!’ (laughs)

Seo: The junior actresses who saw that looked so confused (laughs). And then during the photoshoot we totally cracked up whenever we looked over at each other (laughs).

Minami: Even though the image for the shoot was supposed to be on the serious side… (laughs)

Seo: I was struggling so hard not to laugh, because I couldn’t handle the atmosphere of ‘no, you can’t laugh’.

Minami: We’ve always been the type that laughs a lot.

Seo: Yeah. When we were Lower Students [in TMS] we would often burst out laughing together and get scolded.

Minami: Speaking of that, what about the field trip our class went on to Huis Ten Bosch¹? We were in a three-person hotel room; me, Amanocchi (Seo), and Kocchan (Rei Makoto).

Seo: That’s right. As soon as we arrived we dove into the bed and started reading tourist pamphlets and talking about where we wanted to go, but before we realized it we all fell asleep…

Minami: When we woke up it was already night (laughs). We made a mad dash to get ready and go out but everyone else had already finished sight-seeing.

Seo: Most of the shops had already closed. Even the chocolate fondue place we said we simply had to go to…

Minami: I seem to remember the only place we ended up going to was this souvenir shop selling music boxes and such.

Seo: You’ve got a good memory (laughs). Because of that I still don’t have any idea what Huis Ten Bosch is like. Lower Students can never win against the urge to sleep.

Minami: And then there was ‘A-5’ right? Since our surnames all begin with “a”, the 3 of us, plus Manaki (Reika) and Ai (Sumire) were usually grouped together in dance lessons. There was also that one time when, as the 5 of us were retracing the previous set of moves, the teacher’d already started explaining the next set, and we got scolded for dancing the wrong thing.

Seo: Oh, I wasn’t there then.

Minami: No way! We were totally all there! (laughs) Actually, didn’t you always say ‘I don’t want to dance with them all the time!’ (laughs)

Seo: Right. That’s because you all loved dancing, and would really go for it, but I was at the level where it was a struggle to even remember the choreography.

Minami: I remember that too. But it’s really interesting when I see how powerfully you’re dancing now. (laughs)

Seo: You think I’m doing well?

Minami: Yeah. And you even wink my way so much!

Seo: Well~ It seems like you want it~

Minami: Of course I’m happy, but you overdo it a bit…(laughs) It’s so fun to go and see your performances.

Seo: Isn’t it? I’m also really happy to see my classmates enjoying themselves on stage. I want to get up and yell ‘Yay, Mina-chan! (Minami) Way to go!’

Minami: Cut it out! (laughs) But I definitely find myself wanting to go like “wooo!” at the stage.

Seo: Last year’s Takarazuka Special was really fun too.

Minami: Yeah. So much that I was kind of thinking ‘is it really okay we’re having this much fun?’

Seo: First off, we got to do musumeyaku roles…

Minami: In the rehearsals, everyone laughed the most at Amanocchi’s pair dance (laughs). Especially the face you made in the final attitude.

Seo: (laughs)

Minami: It would have been so elegant otherwise, but then you made such an indescribable face (laughs)

Seo: It’s because me and Ari-chan (Akatsuki Chisei) were both simultaneously thinking ‘we made it! It’s over!’ Mina-chan’s female role was really cool. Though your back was…a little scary.

Both: (laughs)

Seo: We all gave each other corrections, right. People were saying how when you were supposed to be kissing Ai-sama (Aizuki Hikaru) you got too forceful so it looked like you were head-butting her instead.

Minami: (laughs) I got all kinds of advice. I was thinking ‘it’s so fun and lively being with classmates from the other troupes.’ When we went down into the audience we were all freely enjoying ourselves.

Seo: We were in the second-floor seats, right? That was awesome! We were doing call-and-response with the audience.

Both: (laughs)

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Seo: While I think with all my classmates that they haven’t changed over time, that especially goes for you.

Minami: Hold up, isn’t that bad!?

Seo: No, it’s not. I don’t mean it that way (laughs). I mean that Mina-chan’s general vibe hasn’t changed at all, so when I’m with you it’s really reassuring. But you’ve become more masculine on stage.  Your onstage appeal is really amazing. ‘She’s definitely a Flower Troupe member’ it makes me thing.

Minami: When I go to see Amanocchi’s stage performances I think ‘she’s definitely a Star Troupe member’ too. Star Troupe is really aggressive in the way they present themselves; it’s like the troupe’s signature aspect.

Seo: I know what you mean! People in Flower Troupe are more like (*stroking her hair*) ‘glitter…glitter…’

Minami: (laughs)

Seo: When I went to see you I was like ‘I want to be that glittery’.

Minami: Really? Okay then, when Amanocchi comes to watch I’ll do my best to turn up the glitter even more!

Seo: Yeah. I want to be able to glitter like that myself as well as being aggressive.

Minami: That will be a jumble of passion (laughs)

Seo: When Mina-chan comes to watch, I’ll turn the heat up to maximum!

Minami: (laughs loudly) I’m looking forward to it (laughs).

Seo: I think it’s good if we can each continue improving our respective good points. Recently the number of classmates of ours has dropped, so I’ve realized even more how significant their presence is. Also, there are more junior actresses now, and though up to now we were the ones being taught, now we’re the ones needing to give guidance, and we’re at the state where we have to think about the state of the troupe as a whole.

Minami: Yes. When we were junior actresses, those who were the age we are now were really great; I often doubt if I’ve reached that level myself. And as I stayed on longer I was given more and bigger responsibilities and things that I had to work hard on. But since I know how fun it is onstage, I can give it my all in rehearsals, so I hope I’ll never lose that sense of enjoyment.

Seo: At the same time I want to be a performer who, when someone comes to  a show, even after ends it still affects them so they think ‘that person was really good’ for a long time afterwards.

Minami: That’s important too. Stage is a thing where if the performers are enjoying themselves it will definitely come across to the audience, so one’s human nature shows too. So I want to improve as a performer, of course, but I want to improve as a human as well. …Oh, I said something cool at the end, didn’t I! (laughs)

Both: (laughs)

1 – Students at TMS go on a class trip in each year; Huis Ten Bosch is a theme park in Sasebo, Nagasaki. It’s styled after a traditional Dutch town and also features an all-female revue troupe, which has some Takarazuka OGs as members; however, the revue was not established until a few years after Seo and Minami’s Lower Student year in the Takarazuka Music School. Park website here (english version).