In this Top Star survey series published in GRAPH in 2006, fans were asked to rank characters in a variety of categories (such as ‘favorite character’, ‘character I would most want to marry’) as well as their favorite costumes.
Haruno Sumire’s was published in the December issue.
Continue readingThere’s a section in Kageki called ‘Words and Pictures’ where one sienne from each troupe is chosen quarterly to write about behind-the-scenes episodes from their troupe. (It’s slightly similar to Troupe Report, but longer and with a fixed turnover.)
Mizu Natsuki was the writer for Cosmos Troupe in the first quarter of 2003. In this installment, she discusses the Setsubun festival tradition of ehoumaki, as well as behind the scenes of Miracle of the Holy Star and rehearsals for Pierre the Mercenary.
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 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 Natsuzora Momomi (of the 86th Class), and was published in the February 2003 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 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 readingSeo Yuria’s 95th class interview series was published in GRAPH through 2016. Her talk with Moon Troupe Top Star Manaki Reika was published in the January issue.
(Yes, she does use that many exclamation points in the original)
Some outtake shots from the back of the magazine are included.
Continue readingThis classmates feature between Star Troupe members Kurenai Yuzuru and Mahiro Shun was published in March, 2009, a few months before Mahiro’s retirement.
The translation is sourced from Kurenai’s memorial book, so while the talk appears complete, some of Mahiro’s extra content was omitted.
Continue readingThis talk series between classmates was published in the early 2000s. The talk between Oozora and Sena was published shortly before Sena’s official transfer to Moon Troupe.
The translation was sourced from Sena Jun’s memorial book, but seems basically complete.
Continue readingESPECIAL TIME was a long-running invitation talk feature in GRAPH, where one sienne is given the opportunity to invite someone else.
Tsukishiro Kanato’s feature, where she invited Yuzuka Rei, was published in the December 2018 issue.
Some of the outtake photos from the back of the magazine are also included.
Continue readingThis photo and essay book was written by Moon Troupe Top Star Sena Jun and published during promotions for the 2008 show ME AND MY GIRL, where Top Musumeyaku Ayano Kanami retired. It’s very charming and occasionally emotional.
Some chapters are very short, or contain only pictures, and thus are combined.
The book also featured dual Japanese and English chapter titles, which were not always the same. Where these differ, both are included, with the translation of the Japanese title following in brackets. (For example, Chapter 8 is That time [The era of Asa and Osako])
This is the last section of Words for the Day! Friday book chapters will be going on hiatus until I start posting Berubara and I in January 2022.
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