Seo Yuria’s 95th class interview series was published in GRAPH through 2016. Her talk with Hoshino Anri was published in the November issue.
(Yes, she does use that many exclamation points in the original)
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 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~ 👋
GRAPHOO!, an image feature published in Graph in 2015, had siennes present photos based on a keyword, in a spoof of the Yahoo search engine. The December issue featured Serika Toa, Rinjou Kira, Hoshino Anri, and Asami Jun.
Graphoo! This month’s keyword: “Gorgeous”
Serika Toa: All the musumeyaku livening up the rehearsal room
This is a picture from the independent rehearsals for Melodia. I think the musumeyaku of Flower Troupe are all so lovely and gorgeous. Their rehearsal clothes are always so cute, so I thought it would be a shame not to share! That’s why I wanted to present this [laughs]. Also, Marin-san [Yuuma Rin] said “There’s an up-and-coming musumeyaku fifth from the left” [laughs]. That’s right, if you look closely, Marin’s together with them in this picture since she happened to be passing by. This turned out to be such a gorgeous photo!
Rinjou Kira: Amneris’ costumes are so gorgeous!
I thought Amneris’ [Reimi Urara’s] costumes in A Song For Kingdoms were so beautiful and gorgeous that I had to get a picture together with her. All her costumes are splendid, but I thought this gold costume was especially nice. I have a headdress to wear as well, but it’s really heavy. Amneris really appears as if she possesses all the wealth of Egypt [laughs]. I had the role of a priest, and it was hard to convey my high rank as well as the strength and pride of Egypt since I didn’t move around very much. However, it was fun to have a different viewpoint in the show rather than just being a soldier.
Hoshino Anri: The costumes and the sets and the stars…everything was gorgeous!
This is an old photo I found when I was going through pictures at the time my classmate Ei-chan [Hanae Chiho] was about to retire. In the prologue of Dawn of Solferino 9 members of our class made up the chorus surrounding Chika-san [Mizu Natsuki] and Yumiko-san [Ayabuki Mao], but we were only ken-1 so it was a huge responsibility! Even so, we couldn’t do very well [laughs], so we even asked the two of them to watch us rehearse. In the performance, even the otokoyaku were wearing showy dresses [laughs] and being showered in the light made it a proud moment.
Asami Jun: Having everyone together for the A-EN senshuuraku
For the last performance of A-EN ARI VERSION everyone from ARTHUR VERSION joined us on stage. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a picture of everyone, but it made me really happy. Even though this was a Bow Hall performance, it was a double feature with a gorgeous revue show. In the play, Director Noguchi gave names to everyone’s character, and wrote out detailed characterizations for all of them. When I was standing on center stage during the revue, I felt the energy from everyone around me, and I felt like I had to respond to them. I will work hard to use this experience to help me in the next Grand Theatre performance!