There’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 more turnover.)
Kujou Asu was the Snow Troupe writer for the second quarter of 2017. In this one she talks about events backstage of the rehearsals for Bakumatsu Taiyouden, including Sakihi Miyu’s last Takarazuka birthday party.
Asu’s Snow Troupe Forecast! – May 2017
Hello to everyone reading this May issue of Kageki – nice to see you again.
Once again, it’s time for this month’s edition of ‘Asu’s Snow Troupe Forecast!’ After turning in the manuscript for last month, I thought I could relax and do a leisurely search for material, but before I knew it it was time for the next issue…in any case, here’s this month’s report on our harmonious Snow Troupe~ Enjoy ✨
Happy happy happy Birthday
This happened during rehearsals.
The day was March 16th. And March 16th is…Bingo! Yuumi-chan’s (Sakihi’s) birthday 💖
When rehearsal ended and everyone was taking a break, suddenly all the lights of the studio went out and… An adorable cake made its entrance, accompanied by the Happy Birthday song!! Even though she had started crying from the sudden surprise, she still politely thanked the senior actresses – ‘Even while you were all so busy…Thank you so much… 😭’. Just like our Yuumi-chan.
As Yuumi-chan thanked everyone through her tears and we all warmly congratulated her, Chigi-san (Sagiri) approached. And what was Chigi-san holding but…a bouquet of cute pink roses!!! Yuumi-chan was so happy that she started crying all over again…and then, Chigi-san picked up the delighted Yuumi-chan in a bridal carry 💖 They were such a lovely pair that all the Snow Troupe members totally forgot how tired we were from rehearsals and got teriffically excited, and started taking photos as if our lives depended on it. Yuumi-chan seemed so happy to have Chigi-san there for her for her last birthday of her time in Takarazuka…and all us Snow Troupe members were delighted she shared that happiness with us 💖
Translating [T/N: This as you can guess caused some issues…I mostly went with whatever result kept it funny]
One day, I discovered that Riisha-san (Tooma Kazuki) had been reading aloud from an English-language novelization of Romeo and Juliet that a fan had given to her, translating it into Japanese as she went along. However, it ended up as an adorable jumble of Japanese and English… Momo-san (Momohana) told me about it, laughing all the while, so I thought I’d share a little bit here.
‘Benvolio, Romeo’s cousin’ > ’Romiozu cousin’s Benvolio’ …That just made it more complicated.
‘lightning [sic] candles, putting the finishing’ > ’Kyandoru raitingu, puttingu finisshingu’ …So basically you didn’t translate at all!
‘I want you to marry him’ > ‘Go ahead and marry him, dearie’ …That’s just a mess (laughs)
It’s a shame I can’t show you more than this, but I’ve got a feeling Riisha-san has the potential to give me some really high-level funny material, so I’m keeping a close eye on her from now on 💖
We couldn’t bring ourselves to stop her
This happened while we were learning choreography for the revue…
‘Good morning!’ Anko (Anno Konomi) arrived with a refreshing smile on her face. But when she put her knee to the floor to start her warmup! A small run in her black tights near her knee totally ripped open!!! When she noticed, Anko started simultaneously panicking and laughing at herself. None of us otokoyaku there could help, since otokoyaku don’t wear tights as a rule. ‘Ahaha…they ripped! Ahaha…’ It was as if it had happened to somebody else.
Anko thought desperately…thought and thought and suddenly hit on an immediate solution. And that solution was: to color the part of her leg that showed through the hole with permanent marker!! After that she was like ‘alright!’ and started the rehearsal in good spirits. But, though this seems really obvious…once she started dancing the hole and the colored part didn’t stay lined up… Since the person in question was really dedicated to learning the choreography she didn’t notice herself (laughs). Since I was next to her I would say ‘it’s showing’ and off Anko would go to color her leg again.
Personally, wouldn’t it be just fine to leave the hole alone? Surely it would be a pain to get the pen off afterwards…that’s what I thought, at least, but Anko seemed so happy and satisfied with herself that nobody had the heart to stop her…
In search of material
With the ‘Words and Pictures’ deadline coming up, I randomly asked Ai Sumire, who was next to me, if she knew anything fun I could add. But, I soon realized it was a mistake to ask her… She ignored how diligently I was searching for material and just sang ‘🎵 life itself~ is fun~ 🎵’ Definitely…definitely Ai Sumire is a really fun person. Just hearing that little song, I laughed and forgot I was disappointed.
After that, Anri (Hoshino), who had seen what was going on, came over. ‘Asu-bro, why don’t you use some of my material~’ I would gladly write tons, but…do you, specifically, have any material? When she heard that reply, she turned to some classmates of hers nearby and pleaded ‘Somebody~ do some kind of funny mistake I can use for Words and Pictures material~ 💦’ Come on, what’s the point of that?! But Anri was really cute when she did that so I got her to let me use this anyway 💖
How did you enjoy the second edition of ‘Asu’s Snow Troupe Forecast’? See you next month~ 👋