Mori Keaki published this essay book the month before her retirement as Top Star of Snow Troupe. It is mainly a memoir of her personal journey in Takarazuka, as well as her early life. Her writing/formatting style is kind of unique, and I tried to reproduce or reflect it as much as possible.
It’s a really lovely book that ended up making me cry many times. I hope you enjoy it!
For a table of contents with links to all the posted chapters, go here.
Continue readingThis reader survey was published in GRAPH in April 1999, midway through Zunko’s run as Top Star of Cosmos Troupe.
The questions included which of her roles was the favorite, which of her characters people would want to be in a romantic or friendly relationship with, and others.
Continue readingThis talk session with the brand-new Top Combi and nibante of Cosmos Troupe was published in the March 1998 issue of Kageki. At the time the talk was recorded, Cosmos Troupe had yet to stage a full performance; they were just about to leave for their inaugural Hong Kong tour, Mugen Houjushou/This is TAKARAZUKA!. It was published after they had returned.
Continue readingThis article about the Cosmos Troupe anniversary event was published in Hochi News on February 20th. (Archive link here.)
Continue readingThis interview, published in the December 1992 Kageki, features the four Top Stars of the time (Shion Yuu, Mori Keaki, Anju Mira, and Suzukaze Mayo) reminiscing about their experiences in the Takarazuka Grand Theatre before it was entirely rebuilt. There’s a lot of details about their early careers and time as fans themselves before entering the company.
Continue readingThis is a short article reporting on the October 10th red carpet of Thor: Ragnarok. The original article was published by Sponichi and can be found here (with some photos of Amami meeting various cast members). (Archive link here.)
Please note: there is some discussion of the Las Vegas shooting.
Amami Yuuki meets Oscar-winning actress she admires for the first time in L.A. – “I’m so inspired”
On the 10th (the 11th in Japan Time), actress Amami Yuuki (50) participated in the Los Angeles world premiere of Thor: Ragnarok (dir. Taika Waititi, opens Nov. 3d). In the Japanese dub, she provides the voice for the character played by Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett (48), the ‘goddess of evil’ Hela. Amami, a big fan of Cate, met her for the first time on the red carpet. “I’m really inspired,” she said, bursting with happiness.
She deeply respects Cate’s talent, which has won her two Academy Awards, as a fellow actress. So much so that in January of this year, she flew to New York to see Cate’s first time taking on the challenge of Broadway in The Present. Cate wore a close-fitting gold dress, and as she approached the red carpet Amami said “she’s here, she’s here, she’s in gold,” with sparkling eyes.
Amami said in English “I’m actually your dub voice actress. I’m so honored,” and Cate replied excitedly “Oh my god! You are? I want to go to Japan right away and hear you!” After the premiere, during a question session, she smiled and said “since I’ve worked for so long listening to her voice it’s as if she’s not a stranger at all. I’m so moved that I was able to meet her.”
Due to the effect of the shooting incident in Las Vegas on the 1st, there were metal detectors set up at the authorized participants’ entrance. There was such strict security that someone working on the film said “I don’t remember there ever being this level of security before.” Amami said “the people who were victims – I have no words,” but also stated “part of our job is cheering up people who are down. When I see all the people who came here today, I’m really glad we were able to hold this event.”
This is a long interview with Sena Jun that goes into her TMS years and her journey to becoming Top Star. It was originally published in Smart Flash on August 10, 2017. (Archive link here.)
This was translated with some editing and assistance from chemicalperfume.
Smart Flash is…a bit of a tabloid, but this is direct text of an interview so I felt comfortable translating it. There are other articles about Takarazuka they have done but they feel more invasive, so probably you won’t see any other Smart Flash content unless they do more interviews like this.
Please note that many of the rules discussed have since changed due to reforms in TMS discipline guidelines.
Continue readingThis talk from the January 1998 Kageki pre-dates the creation of Cosmos Troupe, and features 3 of its future members discussing those prospects.
(Well, in theory, but they quickly get off-topic…)
This feature was translated from Shizuki’s memorial book anthology, but seems to be unabridged.
“Rush! Fresh!! Push!!!” Shizuki Asato and Asami Hikaru with Yumeki Noa
Shizuki: Komu-chan (Asami), you were in Flower Troupe with me for three years, right?
Asami: That’s right.
Yumeki: When I was a ken-1, I was in Flower Troupe for a year because of troupe rotations.
Shizuki: What, really?
Asami: So we were actually in the same troupe together… But there’s still tons of things I don’t know about Zunko-san…
Shizuki: Ask me whatever you like!
Asami: Is it okay even if it’s something serious?
Shizuki: Sure, go ahead.
Asami: Is there something you’re good at cooking?
Shizuki: What’s serious about that! [laughs] I’m pretty good at gooking anything. If somebody says ‘cook this’ I can make anything, but if I don’t have to I won’t cook. I’m best at stuff like curry, stew, and beef stroganoff.
Yumeki: Let’s flip that around, is there something you’d like people to make for you?
Shizuki: Rice! [laughs]
Yumeki: If that’s it I can probably manage.
Shizuki: I’ll be content with just warm rice and miso soup. If anyone would like to cook for me, I’m hiring~!
Asami: If you say stuff like that you’ll get mobbed! [laughs]
Shizuki: Actually, I love eating breakfast. As soon as I get up I can eat steak or anything.
Yumeki: Me too! Cake or whatever is OK!
Asami: Whaaaat!?
Shizuki: When I go to bed at night, I fall asleep looking forward to what I’ll eat for breakfast.
Asami: I don’t get hungry at all until midday. So I don’t believe you.
Yumeki: I like having a bit of a drink before bed; what about you, Zunko-san?
Shizuki: I do too! There’s always gin and such in my fridge.
Yumeki: Same here!
Asami: Are you particular about glassware?
Shizuki: I’m ridiculously fussy about it! But all my nice crystal, like Baccarat, shattered in an earthquake…
Asami: I can see you in a dressing gown with your legs crossed, holding a Baccarat glass…and of course with the lights dimmed…
Shizuki: [laughs] I do like a dark room.
Yumeki: Me too!
Shizuki: We really think alike.
Yumeki: I like scented candles, so I’ll light some and then drink with the lights off.
Shizuki: Same here! We should move in together!
Yumeki: I-if this gets printed I’m in for it! [laughs]
Shizuki: I don’t like bright rooms. So my room is full of ennui.
Asami: So cool! I’m the opposite. If it’s not nice and bright I feel weird. I couldn’t live with Zunko-san…
Shizuki: Bummer…
Asami: You don’t look disappointed at all!
Shizuki, Yumeki: [laughs]
Yumeki: Your room must be nice and neat.
Shizuki: I’m a person who loves cleaning.
Asami: You can cook and clean too! You’d make a great wife!
Shizuki: Actually, I’ve recently decided to reject marriage. [laughs] I like living alone too much, you know?
Asami: That’s right.
Yumeki: When I was in grade school, I wrote an essay in Home Economics about how I would never ever get married, and the teacher got really mad at me.
Shizuki, Asami: [laughs]
Shizuki: You should do what you like, and live how you want.
Asami: At the end I’d like to ask one actually serious question. Now that a new troupe is finally being created, what kind of troupe do you want to make it into?
Shizuki: I want it to be a troupe where it’s as if all kind of things were put in a box to freely mix together. I want to avoid unnecessary separations between junior and senior actresses as much as possible, so that there’s an environment where anyone can mutually discuss anything. At this point, nothing’s really fixed about the new troupe, so I want us to all work together bit by bit to create it.
Asami: Hearing you say things like that makes me really excited, Zunko-san.
Yumeki: I’m really happy.
Shizuki: I’m sure it’ll be hard to start from square one, but I want to “open the door”.
Asami: And then we…
Yumeki: Can leap through it!