In the 2010 GRAPH photo feature (featuring an unreplicable pun on the Japanese word for ‘3’), performers presented photos from their third year in the company. The September issue featured Misuzu Aki, Sakura Ichika, Daigo Seshiru, and Makaze Suzuho.
Continue readingThis interview featuring Moon Troupe’s top couple, Sena Jun and Ayano Kanami, was published in the February 2008 issue of GRAPH.
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 not accurate. The definition of this word 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.
Installments will be posted every two weeks, with some breaks if the next chapter is not complete.
Continue readingTalk DX is a long-running GRAPH talk feature where Top Stars and their main otokoyaku co-stars discuss their current Grand Theatre performance before the shift to Tokyo. The El Halcon/Revue Orchis talk was published in the February 2008 issue.
Some outtake photos from the back of the magazine are included.
(Please note the translator has not seen Revue Orchis.)
Continue readingBackstage Journal is a short Kageki feature where very young cast members write anecdotes about what’s going on behind the scenes of the productions. They’re not very deep, being full of emojis and more like blog entries than articles, but they are a good way to get to know the newest actresses in each troupe.
This one is by Flower Troupe member Kashiro Kiho (of the 87th Class), and was published in the February 2003 issue.
Continue readingThis talk between Asami Hikaru and her classmate Aran Kei was published in Asami’s final GRAPH issue, published in December 2006.
Some outtake photos from the back of the magazine are included.
Continue readingTo the Future is a GRAPH interview feature for up-and-coming young performers that has gone through various versions over the years. This was published in the February 2010 issue and features Star Troupe performers Toa Reiya and Kitori Mariya.
Continue readingThis interview was published in GRAPH in the December 2021 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 not accurate. The definition of this word 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.
Installments will be posted every two weeks, with some breaks if the next chapter is not complete.
(Please note some images used in this chapter are from photographs rather than scans; I hope to replace these with better quality scanned versions later.)
Continue readingIn this Kageki feature, the follow-up to a feature published in 2002, a group of younger otokoyaku pick topics from a list and write a short reflection or anecdote.
Continue reading