Every year in Kageki, each Top Star and Top Musumeyaku publishes a recap of their year in the December issue. While in the actual magazine, the Top Stars and Top Musumeyaku have separate sections, for posting I am combining the two statements for each troupe. (I have also only translated the statements and left off the rather overwrought advertising-style intro blurbs just to save time.)
Continue readingThis GRAPH feature gave stars a chance to talk about their current activities and interests, as well as share personal photos. The July issue included Houzuki An, Aya Ouka, Oto Kurisu, and Takato Chiaki
Continue readingZUKA LIVE was an ‘advice show’ style column in GRAPH where readers could write in with questions for stars. Kazuki’s was published in the September 2021 issue, just before her move to Snow Troupe.
(As with all reader features, there is the possibility that I missed some reference in the pen names.)
Continue readingESPECIAL TIME was a long-running invitation talk feature in GRAPH, where one sienne is given the opportunity to invite someone else.
Otozuki Kei’s feature, where she invited Shirahane Yuri, was the very first iteration, published in the February 2008 issue. (There were many other invitation talk features in the past, but usually operated on a ‘relay’ system rather than having both parties be new every issue.)
Some of the outtake photos from the back of the magazine are also included.
Continue readingVoyage 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. Yuzuka and Hoshikaze picked America in the 1970s-80s for their feature, which was published in the August issue.
Continue readingThis book, which is something of an ‘oral history’ of Takarazuka’s Rose of Versailles adaptations, was published by Ascom in late 2005, and features chronological accounts from otokoyaku who had performed in the franchise from its first origins through the 2001 productions. Since the book is derived from transcriptions of interviews taking place often many decades after the fact, there may be discrepancies between accounts.
Please note that the term appearing through the text as ‘theatre-comic’ is translated from the Japanese term gekiga [劇画]. Although this term is described as applying to mainly male-oriented comics in most English-language sources, this is no longer accurate. The definition of this word has changed to also include sweeping, romantic female-oriented works with Rose of Versailles being arguably the most famous of theatre-comics. Takarazuka even published its own magazine of theatre-comics in the 1970s.
Chapters have been split in two to make them more readable without too much scrolling to reach the explanatory footnotes. Some paragraph breaks have also been added for ease of reading in English. I have also included some images printed in the book as well as sourcing many other archival images to illustrate the text.
Continue readingThe second part of this feature is a talk between Ayakaze Sakina, Asazuki Kiwa, and Asami Jun.
Some outake photos from the back of the magazine are also included.
Continue readingThis special GRAPH feature to commemorate Ayakaze Sakina’s ascension was published in September of 2021.
It is being posted in 2 parts due to length. The first part features statements from Ayakaze and new Top Musumeyaku Asazuki Kiwa, as well as a trio Q&A featuring Ayakaze, Asazuki, and Asami Jun.
Some outtake photos from the back of the magazine are included.
Continue readingThis book, which is something of an ‘oral history’ of Takarazuka’s Rose of Versailles adaptations, was published by Ascom in late 2005, and features chronological accounts from otokoyaku who had performed in the franchise from its first origins through the 2001 productions. Since the book is derived from transcriptions of interviews taking place often many decades after the fact, there may be discrepancies between accounts.
Please note that the term appearing through the text as ‘theatre-comic’ is translated from the Japanese term gekiga [劇画]. Although this term is described as applying to mainly male-oriented comics in most English-language sources, this is no longer accurate. The definition of this word has changed to also include sweeping, romantic female-oriented works with Rose of Versailles being arguably the most famous of theatre-comics. Takarazuka even published its own magazine of theatre-comics in the 1970s.
Chapters have been split in two to make them more readable without too much scrolling to reach the explanatory footnotes. Some paragraph breaks have also been added for ease of reading in English. I have also included some images printed in the book as well as sourcing many other archival images to illustrate the text.
Continue readingThis interview, conducted by Ashizawa Jin, was published for Asami Hikaru’s last appearance in GRAPH before her retirement.
Continue reading