This book is a memoir of Aran Kei’s time as a member of Takarazuka, as well as her post-Takarazuka career and memories of her childhood. It was published in 2010 to commemorate the 20th year of her stage career. It also features messages from Takarazuka classmates and other colleagues and theatre artists she has worked with.
Paragraph breaks have been added for ease of reading in English.
Message from Asami Hikaru – “Touko is the absolute leader of our 77th class”
Asami Hikaru is from Miyagi Prefecture. She entered the Takarazuka Revue in 1991. She became Top Star of Snow Troupe in 2002, and achieved great acclaim when she played Oscar in The Rose of Versailles in 2006, retiring later that same year. After leaving Takarazuka, she has done a broad variety of work, focusing on stage performance. Some of her most prominent stage appearances include Kiss of the Spider Woman, Elisabeth, Cyrano, Roman Holiday, and Omohide Poro-Poro. On TV, she was a regular cast member for the NHK drama Oscar the Temp.
When Touko became Top Star, the feeling of ‘Oh, her time has finally come’ welled up in my chest. All of us classmates who learned together with her in the Music School, and worked together to improve ourselves as junior actresses, believed that she would definitely be the first of us to rise to stardom, so I feel that her becoming Top was a hope that all of us in that class held. When some of us in the 77th class are talking, we can never forget about our leader, Aran Kei.
When she, the representative of the 77th class, left Takarazuka as the final one of us, it seemed like a wonderful closing chapter to our class, like it was fated. Although in the Takarazuka Music School I never talked to her very much, we ended up together in the homey atmosphere of Snow Troupe, and we’ve been close for a long time after that.
Even recently, I still often go out to eat with Touko, or go out shopping with her. Her attitude towards shopping is really great, so it’s really fun to go out shopping with her. Even if I’m not buying anything, just watching Touko shopping cheerfully is a great way to destress (laughs).
She wins over the audience with her great acting and singing skills, and no matter what, she always takes on the shows and her roles earnestly. I’ve learned so much from Touko. After retiring, she’s been able to find roles that let her express her subtlety as well as her emotional depth, and I feel like her talents as an actress have bloomed even more. I believe that from now on she will become an actress who can represent Japan by displaying her talents not only in musicals but in other genres as well.