{"id":466,"date":"2017-03-16T01:59:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-16T07:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/?p=466"},"modified":"2021-01-09T22:52:07","modified_gmt":"2021-01-10T05:52:07","slug":"a-mysterious-hero-goes-into-battle-on-the-takarazuka-stage-flower-troupe-star-serika-toas-action-packed-opening-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/2017\/03\/16\/a-mysterious-hero-goes-into-battle-on-the-takarazuka-stage-flower-troupe-star-serika-toas-action-packed-opening-night\/","title":{"rendered":"A mysterious hero goes into battle on the Takarazuka stage! Flower Troupe star Serika Toa\u2019s action-packed opening night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a translation of Sports Hochi\u2019s article on the opening of My Hero<\/em>, with some statements from star Serika Toa. It was published March 16, 2017, however, the original article has since been removed from the website with no archives available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mysterious hero goes into battle on the Takarazuka stage! Flower Troupe star Serika Toa\u2019s action-packed opening night<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the 16th, the second rank star of the Takarazuka Revue\u2019s Flower Troupe, Serika Toa, performed in the brilliant opening night of her lead musical, My Hero<\/em> at the Tokyo\/Akasaka ACT Theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to writer and director Saitou Yoshimasa, this is the first ever tokusatsu1<\/sup> hero show in Takarazuka history. The story is about a popular actor, Noah (Serika), who after being embroiled in a scandal gets a job as a ‘faceless\u2019 suit actor for the tokusatsu hero ‘MASK-J\u2019. In the process, he tries to find himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During ‘transformation\u2019 sequences, her beautiful face\u2014selling point for a Takarasienne\u2014is hidden behind the hero mask, which is a bit out of the ordinary, but the action sequences where she mows down her enemies are also a sight to behold. \u201cThe suit is easy to move in, so that\u2019s fine, but the mask gives me tunnel vision which is a bit scary,\u201d says Toa. She went to hero shows at amusement parks and behind the scenes at film sets to learn how to time punches and kicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy finishing move is the ‘Wink Shot\u2019. I spin around and the Shockers2<\/sup> are all blown away. It\u2019s the kind of move where I\u2019m like, what the heck is this doing in real life! [laugh]\u201d says Toa, who is enjoying this chance to perform with a less Takarazuka-like viewpoint. \u201cThere\u2019s lines that are totally hero of justice-ish, and we\u2019ll see if I can use Takarazuka magic to get your heart pounding a bit! If you\u2019re like ‘ahhh, that\u2019s so cool!\u2019 then I win,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, Houzuki An and Ayaki Hikari showed off their costumes as ‘Blue MASK-J\u2019 and ‘Silver MASK-J\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Hero<\/em> runs until the 23rd in Tokyo. The Osaka performance lasts from April 2nd-10th at the Umeda Arts Theatre\u2019s Theatre Drama City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 – Japanese special effects and superhero cinema, most stereotypically featuring in-camera effects with stunt actors in masked or other full-coverage suits. Famous examples are Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger<\/em> (adapted for the US as Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers), and the Gojira <\/em>film franchise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 – Enemies from the Kamen Rider<\/em> franchise (though the term is not used in the show script the design is very similar).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a translation of Sports Hochi\u2019s article on the opening of My Hero, with some statements from star Serika Toa. It was published March 16, 2017, however, the original article has since been removed from the website with no … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[30],"tags":[13,360,96,80,68],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466"}],"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=466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":467,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions\/467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}