{"id":849,"date":"2018-08-27T21:13:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T03:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/?p=849"},"modified":"2021-01-09T20:54:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-10T03:54:09","slug":"ever-since-i-was-15-my-heart-has-been-in-takarazuka-asumi-rio-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/27\/ever-since-i-was-15-my-heart-has-been-in-takarazuka-asumi-rio-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cEver since I was 15, my heart has been in Takarazuka\u201d – Asumi Rio Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This interview with Flower Troupe Top Star Asumi Rio was published in the June print edition of\u00a0Marisol<\/em>\u00a0magazine and then posted to their website on August 17, 2018<\/a>. (Archive link here.<\/a>) There\u2019s a very pretty photo as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cEver since I was 15, my heart has been in Takarazuka\u201d – Asumi Rio Interview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhenever I hit a wall I think: I love Takarazuka, I love being an otokoyaku, therefore \u2018I just have to do it\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She discovered the Takarazuka Revue the summer she was 15 years old. Asumi Rio\u2019s story began with one video a friend at her ballet school loaned her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was so struck by that sort of world I\u2019d never seen before, and I was obsessed the moment I saw it. The day after that, we left for a family trip to Hong Kong, but my head was full of thoughts of ‘I just want to get home soon so I can watch that video again\u2019. I remember thinking that the Hong Kong cityscape at night looked to me like the onstage illuminations, and I couldn\u2019t eat so I was thinner by the time I made it back to Japan (laughs). My parents love travelling, so they took me all sorts of places, but that vacation is the only one I don\u2019t remember much at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way she pushed her way through by force of will when her parents opposed her application to the Takarazuka Music school is a well-known story. \u201cI locked myself in my room for three days and nights crying, and in the end I ended up with a fever.\u201d After entering the music school, \u201cI was the kind of student who would desperately clean the spot that was known for being assigned to historic stars,\u201d she says with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that girl is now the Flower Troupe Top Star. It\u2019s unbelieveable the overwhelming presence that her delicate frame can hold, with acting skills that let her play a young boy even up to a sensual adult man, and in contrast to her onstage presence is her sweet face\u2026although she attracted attention quickly due to her abundance of talent and began climbing the stairs to stardom, it was by no means a smooth path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was a junior actress, I was given a lot of child roles, and then I kept getting female roles as well. I entered Takarazuka so I could be an otokoyaku, but they don\u2019t need me as an otokoyaku right now\u2026I had times where I was really struggling with thoughts like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While she was in Moon Troupe, she was cast in switch roles with then-Top Star Ryuu Masaki in the Takarazuka Grand Theatre. She is a unique star who has overcome all the unprecedented situations she has encountered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEver since I was little my mother would keep telling me ‘You don\u2019t have any willpower.\u2019 But now I think that was probably a good thing. It made me think, no matter what the situation, I have to put in more effort than everyone else, I have to strive harder than anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her secret to overcoming things is just ‘scolding herself\u2019. Her main rival was herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I would feel in crisis as an otokoyaku, acting gave me confidence. Through acting, I learned that an otokoyaku\u2019s appeal isn\u2019t just from outward appearance but comes from the inner self as well. And people around me would often say ‘You really like acting, don\u2019t you.\u2019 That taught me that if I just work hard and do my best that things will get through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year is her fifth year as Top Star. Before she realized it, she had one of the longest Top careers in all 5 troupes. Her motto has been the phrase ‘It\u2019s never too late for beginnings\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThough my partners or the other troupe members keep changing, that means I can make new discoveries. Also, I keep feeling like I want to take on new challenges. I want to be an otokoyaku with both Takarazuka otokoyaku style and a new ‘me\u2019, pursuing both stability and new thrills. Even in my fifth year as Top Star I keep thinking that I have to put in even more effort to accomplish that.\u201d  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This interview with Flower Troupe Top Star Asumi Rio was published in the June print edition of\u00a0Marisol\u00a0magazine and then posted to their website on August 17, 2018. (Archive link here.) There\u2019s a very pretty photo as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[30,5],"tags":[13,354,360,35,68],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849"}],"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=849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":850,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions\/850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}