Last year’s popular ‘Monthly Episode!’ has levelled up into a mini-essay column! Based on their own unique personalities, all of the participants will pick a theme from the list and write for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nTakashiro Kei (Theme: ‘Letter’) Sena Jun (Theme: ‘Emotion’) Shiomi Maho (Theme: ‘Encounters’) Aran Kei (Theme: ‘Outer Space’) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Oozora Yuuhi (Theme: ‘Photograph’) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mirai Yuuki (Theme: ‘Books’) Kiriya Hiromu (Theme: ‘Kind of a Pathetic Story’) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mizu Natsuki (Theme: ‘My Favorite Things’) Ayabuki Mao (Theme: ‘Earth’) Tatsuki You (Theme: ‘Children’) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yamato Yuuga (Theme: ‘Movies’) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Matobu Sei (Theme: ‘Companions’) Sou Kazuho (Theme: ‘Movies’) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Otozuki Kei (Theme: ‘Something I’m into’) Ryouga Haruhi (Theme: ‘Fortune telling’) Tsukifune Sarara (Theme: ‘Parents’) Ranju Tomu (Theme: ‘Nervousness’) In this Kageki feature, the follow-up to a feature published in 2002, a group of younger otokoyaku pick topics from a list and write a short reflection or anecdote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20],"tags":[13,354,445,42,37,329,303,51,297,52,221,33,260,449,17,447,298,446,448,450,53],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2189,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169\/revisions\/2189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/em>I’ve received letters from so many people since I entered Takarazuka. Now that email and other kinds of technology are mainstream, the written word is a precious thing, and I think they’re really fun. When I’m reading the letters people have sent, they’ll write about so many different things\u2014Their thoughts on the stage, as well as things that happened at school, at their work, at home–so as I’m reading, I get the strangest feeling that I’m actually there talking with them. Your letters always cheer me up, so please keep sending them!! I’m waiting \ud83d\udc96<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-3-4.jpg\")
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<\/em>You’ll never believe what I did the other day!! I went skydiving!! \u2026It made me so emotional!!
I’ll never forget what it was like to look around as we jumped out over the clouds. My ears hurt a ton, but it was all so wonderful I didn’t care at all. But at the same time, it made me think\u2026what tiny things people are. I don’t think its exaggerating to say it changed my worldview, it was such an emotional!! experience for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-3-3.jpg\")
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<\/em>Since my family moved abroad right after I was born, I used to really struggle with reading and writing in Japanese. I couldn’t get used to picture books, and it would take me ages just to get through a book.
However, now I’ve come to love reading. Through reading my powers of imagination have gotten stronger, and I’ve been able to experience many things you can only get in Japanese, like ‘wabi-sabi’, and ‘the beauty and spirit of the Japanese language’. I want to keep encountering more kinds of Japanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-3-5.jpg\")
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<\/em>When I was little, I often spent nights without sleep thinking about outer space. Japan is on Earth, and Earth is in space, but what is space in? How big is infinity? Of course, no matter how long I puzzled over these things there wasn’t an answer. One day I consulted my father about it and what he responded with was: “Don’t think about all that stuff, just go to sleep!”
Someone, please give me a satisfactory answer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-3-6-685x1024.jpg\")
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<\/em>You know the phrase ‘no eye for [blank]’? Well, I’ve got no eye for photographs. First off, I don’t even have my own camera, and the disposable camera I bought last autumn is just sitting in my bag with most of its film left\u2026 (Since I feel like\u2026I have to at least use it once \ud83d\ude05). And I don’t even know how many cameras I have sitting around full of undeveloped film\u2026 So recently I’ve started thinking ‘Oh, thank goodness’ when I’m being photographed for work like I am today (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-2-3.jpg\")
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<\/em>I love reading. There are books all over my house. Or rather, the books that couldn’t fit into my bookshelves are heaped up all over the place.
Books and theatre have something in common. Imagination!! While I’m reading, all the different scenes spring into my mind. And in the same way, when I’m given a script and start reading it, it all starts whirling through my head\u2026 I want to keep reading so much my house starts to look like a library!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-2-2.jpg\")
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<\/em>The new version has started, huh. I defeated the deadline instantly. Hope you’ll stick with me through the year! I’ve got to figure out a good theme for the first month! But nothing really comes to mind\u2026 Hmmm \ud83c\udf65 Oh, right, the other day, my cactus withered. Everyone! Cacti can actually wither! Did you know that!? It looked like a mummy\u2026 Wait, instead of telling a pathetic story am I actually bragging??<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-2-4.jpg\")
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<\/em>You might not think it to look at me but I love sweet things. People tell me my image fits black coffee, wine and cheese, but I love sweets \u2728 I can’t live without them. I try not to eat too much but it’s so haaaard!! Once I’m eating I don’t do it by halves \ud83d\ude05 Seriously, during a show, I end up facing down mountains of specially selected super delicious treats\u2026I suffer so much trying to restrain myself \ud83d\ude05 Please don’t add to my suffering too much. I hope you have a nice day \ud83d\ude04<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-2-5.jpg\")
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<\/em>The first theme I chose is ‘earth’. Right now I’m playing Rudolf, and when I’m seeing things through his view of the world, I can really understand why he would be considering the world and have such love for it\u2026 He wasn’t just thinking of the Hapsburg dynasty, or his own country, he was desperately trying to bring salvation on a global scale. Right now, there’s so much happening all over the world. Sometimes I’ll also think “The world is sinking into darkness…If only I could take the helm…But I can\u2019t do anything…”. But I also feel happy about living in a peaceful place like Japan\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-4-2-871x1024.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
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<\/em>When I was a kid, I was basically a little boy. What I mean is, my hair was always short, I was really tan, and I remember I would only play with the boys. Also, what I remember the most is, after I’d take a bath my father would always take his own hairbrush and put my hair in a side-parted pompadour. Is that still affecting me now!? (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-4-3-725x1024.jpg\")
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<\/em>Recently I saw a movie called Gosford Park. The story is about the network of relationships between English noble society and the servants who live parallel to them, and I kept being surprised and thinking “Oh~! So this is what English nobility are like!”, so I learned a lot. Everyone is wearing black tailcoats, from the young men to the grandads, so that’s also a must see! Everyone, I really recommend you watch it.
Tani<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-1-3.jpg\")
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<\/em>I have so many friends I’d never have met if I didn’t enter Takarazuka \ud83d\udc96
I love all of them so much \ud83d\udc96
Even though it feels so natural to be with them every day, when I think about how one day we’ll all have to part it makes me want to cry.
But even so, I’m proud of the fact that I have people I can think that way about.
They’re my precious treasure \ud83d\udc96<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-1-2.jpg\")
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<\/em>Recently I saw a movie called John Q. It’s the story of a father who takes hostages in a hospital for the sake of his desperately ill son. As for the story itself, sometimes it made me want to say to the screen ‘There’s no way this is going to work, you know’, but the way Denzel Washington cried in the role of the father, and the father-child message he gave at his son’s bedside really resonated in my heart and I broke down crying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-1-5.jpg\")
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<\/em>“Cooking”\u2026All of you who think this isn’t something that suits Otozuki Kei! Tsk, tsk, tsk \ud83d\udc96 Recently I’ve gotten into cooking.
Now, this isn’t ‘a man’s cooking’ but ‘an otokoyaku’s cooking’. I’ve done stews and pasta, and recently I even tried cabbage rolls. I can’t make any guarantees about how the end results look or taste, but it’s a great way to change up my mood. So, what should I try making today? Everyone, if you have any nice recipes let me know.
You can address them to the theatre\u2026 (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-1-4.jpg\")
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<\/em>Recently, during the latest Tokyo performance, I had my fortune told for the first time in my life. I was so nervous\u2026and as for the results\u2026Apparently, my stage name and my birth name are both alright, and as for the rest, it was so much stuff that just made me nod, “right, right”. Just as I thought I could relax, the fortune teller said “Oh, you don’t have a marriage line, do you\u2026”
Huh!! I couldn’t believe my ears. I was so disappointed\u2026and then right away, I asked “So, uh, when does that line appear!!”. It was a very impactful debut into fortune telling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-1-7.jpg\")
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<\/em>When I was a student, every day I’d get on a packed train at the same time, and suffer under the pressure of time and people all the way to school. One day, I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I decided to try going somewhere far away. All the students and office workers got off the train, and I arrived at a station I’d never seen before. I was hungry from stressing about so many things, and when I ate the lunch my mother had made for me, I thought “What am I doing\u2026” and started to cry. “Mom, I’m so sorry\u2026” I was 17, it was spring, and I felt my parents’ warm and tender love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/monthly-episode-hyper-2003-feb-1-6-705x1024.jpg\")
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<\/em>I want to perform comfortably, without feeling too much ‘nervousness’\u2026 That’s what I always think, but especially for junior performances, where I only have one shot at it, I get really nervous. When I was a junior actress, people would tell me “You look so confident!” even when my legs were shaking, which was really strange to me. Recently I’ve come to think I can change things by altering how I think about it, so I’m telling myself I want to feel a good kind of nervousness while I’m on stage \ud83d\ude2e<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"