Takarazuka meme

[winter]

From mizukusa:

Rules:
1. Comment and name the actress you want me to comment on. I'll comment back a few lines about what I have to say about her, as in what I like about her, my favourite role of her and so on.
2. If you comment, post this in your own journal, so that others have a chance to ask you as well.

(The above can also mean a character in a fandom we share. The tribulations of a multifandom existence...)

Comments

[wottie.livejournal.com]

Hm. I know your Ichiro Maki squee, but... Hanafusa Mari, maybe?

[winter]

Amazing is the one word that comes to mind. The very drive and determination and endurance she must have to deal with a career this long is staggering - from the first extra-quick promotion, to co-creating the Takarazuka Elisabeth, to each subsequent partner, until it totalled twelve years. I do think that without her, Takako may have never become top star at all - certainly not such a long-lasting one.

As for her performances - I prefer the early years, because as time went on I have the feeling that she stopped experimenting and pushing herself. It may be sacrilege, but with Takako, Mari seemed more focussed at making Takako look good than at finding ways to challenge herself acting-wise. With Maki and Zunko (I haven't seen Mari-Tom or Mari-Yuki yet), she was more about finding ways to be amazing on her own, exploring how high she could fly, and finding out it was very high indeed. (My suspicion seems borne out by her lack of stage-time since retirement, I think. It's no longer her greatest ambition.)

The one memory I'll always have of her will be this sweet girl standing next to Maki at her sayonara show curtain call, all in tears. First goodbyes are sweetest ♥

[wottie.livejournal.com]

Oh god, that scene you mention makes me cry all the time. I would icon it if it didn't feel so disrespectful. I agree with you - Takahana is one of my favourite combis, but it's no question that she and Ichiro reached a level of magnificence that she didn't have with anyone else. (Incidentally, are you interested in seeing her and Yuki? I'm sending off your stuff tomorrow so.. you know... i could tuck a surprise in there for you. ;) I love the way her eyes shone when she was on stage with Ichiro - they had such a stardrop quality to them that, even though she became more polished and more graceful and more perfect in later years, could always win me over with their sheer brilliance.

[winter]

*bats eyelashes* :D

(Also, do I owe you anything? I'm so busy these days that I forget!)

[muffin-song.livejournal.com]

Ootsuki Sayu.

[winter]

The first show I saw Nacchan in was Lucifer's Tears. It's one of my top five Takarazuka shows in all aspects, but one of the ways it stood out for me was as the first time I noticed actresses beyond the top three. One of these instances was when I realised that while Lucifer and Lilith's relationship was beyond me (mostly language-wise), I was finding Sebastian and Yvette adorable. Kimu, just out of shinkos, and Nacchan, in her first major Daigekijou role, will stay with me. I saw clips from the shinko as well, and she was lovely.

The other time she really struck me was in Karamazov. It takes a lot to be a foil for Tonami at her most passionate, but Nacchan managed it in spades.

One thing I'd love to see would be the ShinYukiBeth shinko. I'm sure her Elisabeth was stunning.

[violet-tango.livejournal.com]

Because I am all the time awfully curious what people think about here, I'll be totally obvious and say Ouki Kaname. :P

[winter]

Sariel ♥ That was the first time she came to note, with that smile and that witty look in her eyes. I got the shinko digest later, and was seriously impressed by her as well, and I loved the way she was the baby of AQUA5, deferring to everyone else. Then in Japan last year, I got the Zorro DVD. Evil!Kaname was wonderfully amusing in the old Zorro tradition, though taking second stage to Evil!Yumiko (no-one should be that gleeful while cackling).

Then there was Legend, and she floored me. I knew the whole broken-foot saga, and for someone to be in so much pain and yet give a performance that meant so much - I mean, I knew her voice rocked. Live, the depth of her acting was surprising. And the way she fit into a new troupe from the get-go, turning the natural awkwardness of it smoothly into an aspect of Yeon Hogae's character.

(It didn't hurt that everyone seemed to be bent on teasing her to bits. She's far too convenient for that!)

[violet-tango.livejournal.com]

Now I think I need a 'Kaname approves of this' icon. But I don't think I have a single picture of her with thumbs up. :P

YES. So much YES on what you say.
Have you seen her Bonnie and Clyde? If no, you definitely should. If her Hogae characterization impressed you already, Clyde might work perfect for you as well.

I love everyone for having teased her. They had to break her egg shell, and they managed to do so perfectly. I might sound a little too much like 'I totally know Kaname' here, but she actually spoke openly in the past about how she started to put up a wall around herself between her hatsubutai and 2009.
And then, so it seemed to me, Hoshigumi just came and run over that wall, broke it down and pulled her out of this, and were just what she needed so badly.
To get back to the facts, she said in a recent interview that she thinks she changed a lot since her transfer, and both the fact that Hoshigumi is so openminded and wonderful, and the fact that Chie and her are going along so well helped her a lot.

[winter]

*nodnod* It really felt to me like in Snow, she was able to hide behind everyone else as the baby yonbante - even as yonbante she had Hiromi as not!co-yonbante to hide behind. It was probably good for her development in her just post-shinko years (I think pushing seito just out of shinkos into big roles has to be done very carefully), but it was time for her to go on to her next challenge.

Incidentally, I love the R&J clips so much. Tybalt is my favourite role :D

[caithion.livejournal.com]

I am on a kumicho kollection: Asuka Yuu!

[winter]

Long may she reign :D She's been a molding force in Snow for two decades now, and I'm fairly sure she's the one holding them together in such a distinct and recognisable style. I also love her quiet character-actress ways, and her Grunne was one of the indelible impressions from the first Elisabeth.

I sometimes worry that all in all, Naga-san must be over fifty now, and the constant performing schedule takes its toll. Her retirement would suddenly remove 22 years of history and experience from the troupe, and I must admit I dread it. It's one of my Yuki-qualms, the fact that the upper ranks are not so much thin as missing entirely.

(And she was so precious in the gameshow Aqua4 special!)