Senka Top Star Todoroki Yuu wrote this blog-style column in Kageki for many years until her retirement (first as ‘Talking to Myself’, then ‘Talking to Myself With Photo’ and finally as ‘Talking to Myself With…’).
In February of 2013 she wrote about weddings, among…other things.
Continue readingFormer Senka Top Star Todoroki Yuu wrote this blog-style column in Kageki for many years until her retirement (first as ‘Talking to Myself’, then ‘Talking to Myself With Photo’ and finally as ‘Talking to Myself With…’).
In her July 2021 page, one of her last columns, she wrote about her earliest days in Snow Troupe with some old photos from Monsieur du Paris, as well as her upcoming final performance.
Continue readingThis article covering Todoroki Yuu’s retirement press conference was published by Kobe News Next. The original article was written by Kataoka Tatsumi [estimated reading] and was originally published here on March 18. (Archive link here.)
Continue readingFriendship Networking was a relay-style talk feature published in GRAPH in the early 90s. This talk between Takumi Hibiki and Todoroki Yuu was published in August 1992.
Continue readingThis article about the 2015 Takarazuka Special was published by Daily Sports Online on December 20th, 2015.
Takarazuka stars of all troupes gather for traditional year-end performance
On the 19th, stars from 5 Takarazuka Revue troupes gathered for the traditional year-end performance Takarazuka Special 2015, held at the Umeda Arts Theatre in Osaka. Excluding Flower Troupe’s Top Star Asumi Rio, who was performing in Tokyo, there were 4 Top Stars performing: Moon Troupe Top Star Ryuu Masaki, Snow Troupe Top Star Sagiri Seina, Star Troupe Top Star Hokushou Kairi, and Cosmos Troupe Top Star Asaka Manato, as well as Todoroki Yuu of Senka and 50 up-and-coming young stars from all their troupes.
Moon Troupe’s Ryuu Masaki, who announced her retirement yesterday, said “This is my last Takarazuka Special. I’m going to give it my all.” Star Troupe’s Hokushou Kairi, who is participating in her first Takarazuka Special as Top, said “I have my learner’s mark on,” as she displayed the learner’s permit mark emblazoned on the back of her jacket, which gained huge applause from the audience.*
In each troupe’s segments, they performed parodies of their Grand Theatre shows of that year. Since it’s not ordinary to see the actresses being so silly, the audience was in a whirpool of laughter. Also, this year there was audience participation, since at one point the actresses descended into the audience and taught the choreography for the new song “New Century, Next Dream” composed for this year’s performance. With the audience and the stage performers in unison, everyone was excited.
Finally, Todoroki Yuu stated “for Takarazuka’s 101st year, we want to create our Next Dream together with everyone.”
* (as far as I know not having actually seen the show) Hokushou Kairi is referring to the sticker that new/learning drivers in Japan have to put on their cars. Example below.
