Time to Soar! #4 – Ashizawa Jin interview with Serika Toa

Posted on April 26, 2021 by kittychan

Ashizawa Jin is an illustrator/columnist who seems to have worked for GRAPH since the 1960s (yes, you read that right). His interview column generally gets a new title every year but has been fairly consistent format-wise in recent years. I’m giving him his own tag in the Staff category since he is one of the few interview conductors to be credited by name in the publications.

This interview with Serika Toa was published in the May 2017 issue of GRAPH (while she was still a Flower Troupe member) and seems to have been recorded during or around the production of MY HERO.

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Aran Kei – Aran: Chapter 10 – My precious, precious family

Posted on April 23, 2021 by kittychan

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.

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flourish – Arisa Hitomi (Star Troupe)

Posted on April 19, 2021 by kittychan

flourish was a GRAPH feature where usumeyaku talked about things like their favorite scenes and costumes, and showed off handmade stage accessories. Arisa’s was published in May of 2017.

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Aran Kei – Aran: Message from Ninagawa Yukio

Posted on April 16, 2021 by kittychan

Some paragraph breaks have been added to make it more readable in English. I have also collected archival images from many sources.

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Dress Press – Shirahane Yuri, Elisabeth

Posted on April 12, 2021 by kittychan

Dress Press was one of the many costume-analysis features that have been published in GRAPH over the years, this one focusing on musumeyaku gowns specifically. In this edition, featured in the August 2007 issue, Shirahane Yuri talks about two of the costumes she wears in her role of Elisabeth.

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Aran Kei – Aran: Chapter 9 – A happy “normal life”; but in the end still an otokoyaku once in a while?

Posted on April 9, 2021 by kittychan

Paragraph breaks have been added to make it more readable in English.

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Rose of Versailles Special Report – Part 2 (Cosmos Troupe)

Posted on April 5, 2021 by kittychan

This survey of the main stars in both Rose of Versailles 2001 casts was published in GRAPH in May of 2001. At the time, Star Troupe was performing Oscar and Andre in Tokyo, and Cosmos Troupe was performing Fersen and Marie Antoinette in Takarazuka. Due to length, the two troupes’ responses will be posted separately.

A few notes on their answers, as well as possibly more familiar Japanese titles for the songs mentioned, are included in [italicized brackets].

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