Aran Kei – Aran: Epilogue

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.

Some paragraph breaks have been added for ease of reading in English. I have also collected many archival images from various sources to illustrate the book.

Continue reading

Aran Kei – Chapter 14: Visiting my “other hometown”

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.

Some paragraph breaks have been added for ease of reading in English. I have also collected many archival images from various sources to illustrate the book.

Continue reading

Flowers Blooming, Dreams Blooming #11 – Aran Kei (Dec 2007 GRAPH)

Ashizawa Jin is an illustrator/columnist who seems to have worked for GRAPH since the 1960s (yes, you read that right). His interview column gets a new title every year but usually the format is fairly similar. The 2007 column was called Flowers Blooming, Dreams Blooming, and this interview with Aran Kei was published in the December issue.

Continue reading

Aran Kei – Aran: Chapter 13 – “Looking at my foundations in Korea”

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.

Some paragraph breaks have been added for ease of reading in English. I have also collected many archival images from various sources to illustrate the book.

Continue reading

days – Aizuki Hikaru (August 2017)

days was a photo feature in GRAPH where performers created a journal or blog-style timeline of photos with captions. Aizuki’s, recorded while she was still a Cosmos Troupe member features the end of Chateau de la Reine through the start of rehearsals for A Motion.

Continue reading

Aran Kei – Aran: Chapter 12 – “Ability conquers luck”

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.

Some paragraph breaks have been added for ease of reading in English. I have also collected many archival images from various sources to illustrate the book.

Continue reading

On first and last chance at 18, Nanpei Yuria achieves TMS entry with only 3 months’ prep…even her instructor is shocked: “I’ve never seen someone pass with such a short preparation time”

This article about a member of the newest class at the Takarazuka Music School was published by Sports Hochi on April 10, 2021. The original article, written by Uchida Hiroki [estimated name reading] can be found here (archived version here).

Please note: though Takarasienne’s birth names are not officially publicized once they debut as performers, TMS coverage and documentation in the media uses those names. This article may be redacted in the future if I receive requests from relevant persons, or at such point I feel personally it would be appropriate.

Continue reading

Upcoming book plans

The posting of ‘Aran’ will be completed at the end of May, and I will be taking June off of Friday book chapter posting (there may be some other features posted on Fridays during that time, but I am undecided).

I hope to begin posting ‘Berubara and I’, a book of compiled long-form interviews with OGs about the history of The Rose of Versailles, in July, but it is a very involved translation process requiring much outside research for context notes, so I may put it off further to give more time to complete it.

In that case, the book starting in July will be Sena Jun’s ‘Words for the Day’, which was published in 2008 during the leadup to ME AND MY GIRL and Ayano Kanami’s retirement.

Aran Kei – Aran: Chapter 11 – Trusting in “the power of entertainment”

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.

Some paragraph breaks have been added for ease of reading in English. I have also collected many archival images from various sources to illustrate the book.

Continue reading