Voyage With You was a Kageki photoshoot and interview feature where the Top Combi picked a destination and time period for a photoshoot, as well as having a talk about the location and related Takarazuka shows. Ayakaze and Asazuki picked 1950s Italy for their feature, which was published in the February issue.
An outtake from the back of the magazine is included.
Voyage with You – Ayakaze Sakina and Asazuki Kiwa (1950s Italy)
What if we could travel to any time, anywhere…?
1950s Italy
After the photoshoot…
Ayakaze: Doing 1950s Italy was my own arbitrary decision (laughs). In Snow Troupe, we did Roman Holiday, and you and I were both in it, right?
Asazuki: That’s right.
Ayakaze: Basically I just love the atmosphere of Italy in that era, and I thought clothes inspired by that would look great on you.
Asazuki: (blushes) The fashion and hairstyles of this era are so lovely, and I’ll look at them for inspiration all the time, so I was really happy [you decided on] this time period.
Ayakaze: I haven’t worn this kind of costume in a while, and I thought it would be all kinds of fun to do something that felt like Roman Holiday. The photoshoot was really fun, wasn’t it?
Asazuki: Yes!
Ayakaze: It made me remember when I went to Italy.
Asazuki: It felt like we were really travelling, it was so fun.
Ayakaze: Right! I hope everyone can get the same feeling when they see it in print.
If you could actually go…?
Ayakaze: Have you been to Italy?
Asazuki: I haven’t.
Ayakaze: Oh, okay. I went a few years back, and when I’d go places like the Piazza di Spagna, I’d be imagining it like something out of a movie, but then when I got there there were sooooo many people sitting all over you couldn’t even see the stairs!
Asazuki: (laughs)
Ayakaze: I was like, Oh? Is…is this it? (laughs). There was construction at the Fontana di Trevi, so I couldn’t see it. So I’d love to go with you sometime. I want a do-over (laughs).
Asazuki: (laughs) I’ve been thinking for a while that I’d love to go to Italy the next time I take an oversees trip. But under these circumstances we wouldn’t be able to eat gelato on the steps of the plaza, right. I’d really like to do that.
Ayakaze: That’s right. Though, I did have gelato! Somewhere else. But the Piazza di Spagna was totally different from what I pictured (laughs).
Asazuki: (laughs).
Memorable shows
Ayakaze: Of course if we’re talking about Italian shows, the first thing I think of is Emblem of Venezia.
Asazuki: Of course.
Ayakaze: It was our pre-debut, and I went to Venezia on that trip I was telling you about. It was so beautiful I’ll never be able to forget it. I got to the station in the evening, and the sunset on the streets was just…I remember when I came out of the station, without even thinking I said “It’s so beautiful!!!” (laughs)
Asazuki: (laughs)
Ayakaze: And so together with those beautiful memories…well, my character isn’t actually that fond of the city of Venice itself (laughs). The sets were so pretty, right?
Asazuki: Totally! I had looked it up for my research and thought it was very beautiful, but then when I went onstage it felt like there was another layer, and it became so much more defined.
Ayakaze: Yeah, yeah.
Asazuki: They live in such a beautiful city, and they all have such passion inside them… I was able to experience what it was like to love someone to such an extent, the way hardly anyone would ever experience in a normal life.
Ayakaze: On the one hand, since it’s a Shibata show it has the love scenes I’ve been wanting to do as an otokoyaku, and then there was also the acrobatic feeling that came from Director Sha (Tamae)’s direction and choreography (laughs). That was also really memorable to me.
Outtake:
Enjoy an outtake from the shoot where Saki-chan (Ayakaze) and Kiwa-chan (Asazuki) are showing their energetic expressions like a scene from a movie.