Tag Archives: Sienne: Sakihi Miyu

Backstage Journal – Arisa Hitomi (Lupin III/Fancy Guy!)

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Backstage 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 cute and fun way to get to know actresses and hear more about behind-the-scenes goings-on from a different point of view than the main stars.

This one is by then-Snow Troupe member Arisa Hitomi (of the 98th Class) and was published in the April 2015 issue.

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The Costume: Sagiri Seina and Sakihi Miyu (Greatest HITS!)

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The Costume is a GRAPH feature where Top Stars give a detailed photoshoot of certain costumes and explain their key details. These two feature Snow Troupe Top Stars of the time Sagiri Seina and Sakihi Miyu introducing costumes from their holiday revue Greatest HITS! and were originally published in the January 2017 issue.

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Snow Troupe Troupe Report, April 2017

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Troupe Report is a Kageki feature where an appointed reporter will write about current events in the troupe or ask troupe members for questions to answers sent in by readers. Reporters are generally only replaced on retirement, unlike other backstage features that rotate monthly or quarterly.

Snow Troupe’s Troupe Report has been written by Sahana Mako since 2012. The April 2017 edition focuses on Snow Troupe’s performance of One Night of Stars/Greatest Hits! in Nagoya’s now-closed Chunichi Theatre.

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Sakihi Miyu makes her acting debut playing her historic Takarazuka senior, Otowa Nobuko!

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This article about Sakihi Miyu’s acting debut in The Story of Koshiji Fubuki was published by Sanspo on Nvember 25th. The original article can be found here (along with several photos of Sakihi in costume). (Archive link here.)

Sakihi Miyu makes her acting debut playing her historic Takarazuka senior, Otowa Nobuko!

It was publicized on the 24th that Sakihi Miyu (26), former Top Musumeyaku of Takarazuka’s Snow Troupe who retired this July, will be making her debut as an actress in the Asahi mid-day drama The Story of Koshiji Fubuki (Mon-Fri 12:30pm airtime), which starts in January of next year.

In the drama, Takimoto Miori (26) plays the famous post-war star Koshiji Fubuki (died 1980, aged 56), a former Takarazuka Top Star1 and singer who was called ‘the Queen of Chanson’, in the story of her life. Koshiji performed as an otokoyaku Top Star in her time in Takarazuka, and after retirement recorded many hit songs, such as ‘Hymne a l’Amour’.

Ms. Sakihi plays Koshiji’s Takarazuka classmate Otowa Nobuko (died 1994, aged 70), who became a famous actress after retirement. As Ms. Sakihi is making her acting debut playing her historic senior, who also performed as Top Musumeyaku in Snow Troupe, she is unusually motivated. Her acting skills have been highly praised since her time in Takarazuka, so she stands out as a performer.

In the storyline of the drama, Ms. Sakihi, who returns to her ‘old haunts’ to play her character from her time as a Takarazuka Music School student, says emotionally “everything’s new to me, but everyone helps me out and I am learning new things every day.” Regarding the responsibility of playing the famous actress Otowa Nobuko, she says “as I watched various materials of hers I started thinking that she was a really alluring person. I’m also explaining to Ms. Takimoto, in my own way, how precious the relationships between otokoyaku and musumeyaku are.” As she has the most personal experience, she is advising Ms. Takimoto, the lead, about Takarazuka.

“I am aiming to become an actress like a Jack-in-the-box, someone who will make people think ‘she’s such an interesting person’,” she says about her future ambitions. As she uses her great talents from Takarazuka to brighten this drama, she is rapidly climbing the stairway to stardom as an actress.

1 – While the article uses the Top Star/Top Musumeyaku terms, and Koshiji and Otowa were leading performers, the terminology is not historically accurate as the Top Star system dates to the 1970s. However, Japanese sources often use this terminology for older stars for ease of comprehension.

Asu’s Snow Troupe Forecast! – May 2017

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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~ 👋

The countdown starts from the moment of becoming Takarazuka’s Top Star: Sagiri Seina’s retirement

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This is an extremely interesting article about Sagiri Seina’s career and the Top Star system as a whole. It also discusses her unique partnership with Sakihi Miyu.

The original article was written by Murakami Kumiko and published in Nikkan Sports on June 11, 2017. (Archive link here.)

The countdown starts from the moment of becoming Takarazuka’s Top Star: Sagiri Seina’s retirement

The Takarazuka Revue is surrounded by a ‘violet-colored’ veil. Its greatest charm, if described in the words of the Japanese seasons, is that just like the sakura, it is most beautiful because it is fleeting. No matter how popular or outstandingly talented the Top Star, nearly all retire within an average of 2-2.5 years. This countdown starts from the moment of ascending to the position of Top Star.

Sagiri Seina, who said her farewells to the Revue’s home theatre in Hyogo Prefecture on May 29th, had the 2550-seat Takarazuka Grand Theatre operating over 100% capacity for all 5 of her Grand Theatre shows. She retires having achieved a new record.

In the 103-year history of Takarazuka, achieving unprecedented numbers is not so out of the ordinary. Plays are chosen to suit the character of the Top Star, and for original shows a system of ‘writing to the star’ is in place. Thus, the Top Star has an extreme level of responsibility: it is not going too far to say she bears the full responsibility for ticket sales.

Besides the obvious preparation for shows, the Top Star has a wide range of duties, from fan events to business promotions, as well as creating an atmosphere in the troupe that produces the best shows possible. The effort and motivation this requires has a limit of about 2-2.5 years. Sagiri Seina herself said at her retirement announcement conference that ‘while if I could maintain this level of energy I would love to continue being an otokoyaku forever, that is impossible, so I have to leave.’

During this limited time of being Top Star, her affinity with her partner musumeyaku also has a great influence on her path. Top Musumeyaku are not installed in their position because of their still in singing, dancing, or acting. Their potential compatibility with the Top Star is considered most important, but until they actually perform together it is impossible to know how well they actually work together. The excellence and synergy of Snow Troupe’s Top Combi of Sagiri and her partner musumeyaku, Sakihi Miyu, caused an explosion of popularity.

It is a partnership of equally talented actresses. Sagiri always aimed to put Sakihi on equal footing with herself, which, in the world of Takarazuka where the otokoyaku always comes first, meant that Sakihi also bore a great deal of responsibility. The fans, knowing the two were also close in their private lives, happily supported them.

In the ‘Farewell Recital’ performed on the final day of the last show at the main theatres, the Top Star is generally the sole focus for around 70% of the show. However, in the case of this combi, around 40% of the songs were duet numbers, an unprecedented amount. Sagiri said ‘I decided on this set list after conferring with Sakihi.’ A Top Star ‘conferring’ with their musumeyaku partner is also unprecedented. As a symbol of this trust, there was also a succession of duet dances. Their partnership’s ‘bonds’ were fully displayed, leaving nothing behind on their departure from the Grand Theatre.

Graph Treasure Box: Sakihi Miyu (February 2016)

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One of the behind-the-scenes comics from the December 2015 issue of Graph. (The feature it accompanied is not yet translated.) ‘Fuwari’ was a musumeyaku interview feature where the guests for the month go to a cafe and chat, or in Miyu’s case, hunt for fashion tips…

art by Masuck. (Image editing by the-rear-admiral-reborn)