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Female Queer Icons of Hong Kong // Yam Kim Fai (任劍輝) and Pak Suet Sin (白雪仙)
Photo 1: Promotional photo for 1955 contemporary movie The Model and the Car (玉女香車) (no video available) (Source: LCSD Museum Collection Search Portal)
Photo 4: Photo from Sin Fung Ming Opera Troupe's 1958 trip
Photo 5: Photo from a 1962 newspaper feature on Yam, Pak, and others at their (?) summer villa in Central, Hong Kong
Photo 6: Christmas celebrations with Yam, Pak, and their protégés of the Chor Fung Ming Troupe
Far and away the most iconic duo in Cantonese opera, Yam Kim Fai (任劍輝) and Pak Suet Sin (白雪仙) – commonly referred to simply as Yam-Pak (任白) – were famed for their partnership both on and off the stage… Click below to learn more!
Edit on 28/07/2023: Updated to link to a photo of the entrance to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum’s Pop Culture 60+ exhibit, and to add information regarding Yam and Pak's marriage status.
Iconic? How?
Yam-Pak are the face of Cantonese opera; you can't talk about the latter without mentioning the former. It's to the point where a gigantic picture of them graces the entrance to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum’s permanent exhibition on Hong Kong pop culture’s evolution across the past 60 years (“Hong Kong Pop 60+”) - they are the first thing you see upon entering!
Best known as the originators - with Yam playing the male leads and Pak the female leads - of five masterpieces of Cantonese opera, namely:
1. Princess Cheung Ping (帝女花)
2. The Legend of the Purple Hairpin (紫釵記)
3. The Dream Tryst in the Peony Pavilion (牡丹亭驚夢)
4. The Reincarnation of Lady Plum Blossom (再世紅梅記)
5. Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom (蝶影紅梨記)
(Note: Princess Cheung Ping, Purple Hairpin, and Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom were made into abridged movie versions, with the Sin Fung Ming troupe members reprising their roles from the theatre productions. Also, the "Fragrant Sacrifice" (香夭) duet from Princess Cheung Ping (movie clip) is one of - if not the most - famous songs in Cantonese opera.)
Yam and Pak were the leading pair and co-founders of the legendary Sin Fung Ming Opera Troupe (仙鳳鳴劇團; 1956-1961), which is widely held to have pushed Cantonese opera forward as an artform due to Pak and scriptwriter Tong Tik Sang’s (唐滌生) emphasis on poetic libretti and adapting source material from Chinese literature and history. (Note: it has been common practice since the 1930's for Cantonese opera troupes to be founded by key actor(s).)
They were also very active in the Hong Kong film industry in the 1950's, being paired in over 40 movies together across roughly 8 years. One of those – the aforementioned Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom (蝶影紅梨記) – is the sole Cantonese opera movie on the Hong Kong Film Archive’s 100-Must See Hong Kong Movies list (IMDB list / archived version of the official PDF). It's a well-deserved inclusion - check out this beautifully-shot dance scene.
Even their post-retirement activities had a significant effect on the industry! In the early 1960’s, they held auditions for prospective students and provided - for free - systematic, hands-on training to those who passed; Yam and Pak even hired other veterans to teach skills they personally were not as familiar with. Prior to this, apprentices were expected to learn primarily from observing their masters, and to pay handsomely for the privilege. Yam-Pak’s methods proved exceedingly effective: the Chor Fung Ming Opera Troupe (雛鳳鳴劇團; 1963-1992) starring their apprentices reigned supreme in the 1970’s-1980’s. Following this success, Cantonese opera institutes - most notably the major 1900s-era guild, the Chinese Artists Association of Hong Kong (八和會館) - started to offer systematic coaching to young hopefuls in the 1980's.
Okay, so why are they queer icons specifically?
The lazy answer is that they're queer icons because nearly all of Yam's roles were male, so Gender is involved by default, and since most hit Cantonese operas of the time were romances, that means you get to see two female actors performing being in love onscreen (and also on stage, but there aren't any video recordings from back then). So far, so Takarazuka Revue.
Female actors playing male roles in Cantonese opera
To give some context, each Cantonese opera performer specialises in one of four major role-types, and Yam was a sung (生) - i.e. an actor specialised in playing standard male roles. Female sung were fairly common in the 1910's-1930's due to women being banned from performing with men during that period, but when the ban lifted in the mid-1930's, many troupes shifted towards cis-casting. Yam was pretty much the only one whose popularity survived the transition. Just take a look at the huge number of Cantonese opera movies produced during the 1950’s-1960’s – you’ll be hard-pressed to find a female sung other than Yam, let alone one with top billing.
Happily, thanks to Yam's immense popularity, her profilic film career (over 300 movies!), and the prominence of Sin Fung Ming works in the Cantonese opera canon, there has been a resurgence in female sung which endures to this day. Two noteworthy examples are Yam's protégé Sabrina Lee/ Loong Kim Sang (龍劍笙) - a star in her own right - and Joyce Koi/ Koi Ming Fai (蓋鳴暉), one of the biggest names still active in the industry.
(Note: perhaps due to cinema being more "realistic" in nature, Yam's early movies often involved her playing female characters cross-dressing as men, including in some Cantonese opera movies. However, she received increasingly more male roles as her fame grew, and from the mid-1950's onwards she was playing male characters onscreen nearly exclusively-- even in non-Cantonese opera movies! See Photo 1 above.)
What sets Yam and Pak apart is that they were particularly known for their chemistry. Long before Sin Fung Ming's formation in 1956, the advertising copy for their first Cantonese opera movie together - Frolicking with a Pretty Maid in the Wineshop (酒樓戲鳳, 1952) - declared "Only this movie has Yam-Pak flirting on the silver screen" (source - 華僑日報 1952/05/23-26). And indeed, they were popular for their flirtatious duets: their Cantonese opera works invariably contained at least one, and such scenes made it into some of non-Cantonese opera (i.e. "contemporary") movies too. In fact, there are not one but two contemporary movies where Yam and Pak's characters are not paired up and yet still sing a duet together in such a way that their significant other(s) become convinced that the two are in romantically interested in each other - see 1952's Lovesick (為情顛倒) and 1956's The Happy Hall (滿堂吉慶) - a weirdly specific situation which doesn't crop up in the other, non-Yam-Pak movies I have seen.
Speaking of contemporary movies, let's talk about a certain plotline that keeps cropping up in works featuring the both of them and where Yam plays a woman! Six of the eleven movies which fit that criteria involve Yam's character cross-dressing as a man (a common characteristic across Yam's handful of female roles), and Pak's character falling for her. Nothing ever comes of it, of course, but, um. It was certainly a trend. Actually, even their very first movie together - 1951's Lucky Strike (福至心靈) - falls into this category.
Such storylines, and the emphasis on their chemistry, are particularly interesting given that both Yam and Pak remained ostensibly unmarried throughout. This was unusual for female performers of their stature, who tended to wed in their twenties, often to fellow-actors or wealthy men (e.g. Hung Sin Nui/紅線女, Fong Yim Fun/芳艷芬, and Tang Pik Wan/鄧碧雲)... In contrast, by the time Yam-Pak retired from the stage in 1961, they were both over 30 years old and without husbands.
Also, did I mention they were popularly believed to be living together? There doesn't seem to be any conclusive evidence either way... although it's a little strange that separate newspaper pictorials depicting "Yam at home" and "Pak at home" seem to be of the same location... however what is conclusive is that they did spent a lot of time together offstage. Pak has talked about how when they had no guests over, Yam would watch TV by herself while Pak was in the living room (source - p93), and protégé Mandy Fung/ Mui Suet Sze (梅雪詩) has said that Pak would sometimes cook for Yam at home (source - 03:53~). They would also celebrate birthdays, New Year's, and Christmas together (see Photo 6 for an example of the latter).
Shortly after Yam's passing in 1989, Pak set up the Yam Kim Fai and Pak Suet Sin Charitable Foundation (任白慈善基金) to support the arts and provide welfare for the elderly. In 1996, Pak made a large donation to Hong Kong University, resulting in one of the buildings being renamed Yam Pak Building (任白樓) in thanks (source).
Thanks for reading! Please feel free to DM me or send an ask if you have any questions, or are just interested in learning more.
If you made it here, have this bonus piece of trivia - Yam and Pak were also well-acquainted with Hong Kong's preeminent queer icon, Leslie Cheung (張國榮), who was a massive fan of theirs. Sadly there don't seem to be any pictures of them before Yam's passing, but here's one of Pak (centre) having afternoon tea with Cheung (left) and his long-term romantic partner Daffy Tong (唐鶴德) (right) at the Cova cafe in the Pacific Place shopping mall.
Edit on 15/08/2025: updated to add details on male leads in Western opera.
Takarazuka:
See here for my beginner's guide to Takarazuka
The official Takarazuka channel on Youtube has lots of well-shot performance clips to check out, and there are even more if you know where to search
Cantonese opera:
For a taste of how deliciously dramatic Cantonese opera can get, check out this short clip of a scene from The Butterfly Lovers, in which the two main characters (played by Joyce Koi/ 蓋鳴暉 and Ng Mei Ying/ 吳美英) struggle to come to terms with the female lead being forced into an arranged marriage
See here for my post on Yam Kim Fai (任劍輝) and Pak Suet Sin (白雪仙), the aforementioned "iconic pair" who dominated the Cantonese opera world
Many Cantonese opera films can be watched in full, in pretty decent quality, on Youtube, and English translations for much of the core repertory for Cantonese opera can be found with a quick Googling. For example, Yam-Pak's Legend of the Purple Hairpin (紫釵記) can be watched here, together with the English translation of the script here.
You can also take a look at my other posts on Cantonese opera here!
Yue opera:
Click here for a clip of Chen Lijun performing a modernised arrangement of a song from the hit Yue opera adaptation New Dragon Gate Inn (新龍門客棧). Basically can be described as "Yue opera and wuxia meet idol aesthetics"
For something more substantial, watch this pro-shot excerpt of the ending of Dream of the Red Chambers, which fuses traditional singing with modern staging. Alternatively, there are plenty of bootlegs of full shows on Youtube, so take your pick!
Trousers roles in Western opera:
Please also check out the "mezzosexual" tag :)
There are definitely some notable cases where the male lead is a trousers role, such as in Der Rosenkavalier, I Capuleti e i Montecchi (a.k.a. Romeo and Juliet), and Orlando Furioso. Also, as @siridealphosphorus kindly pointed out, it's much more common in Baroque operas, such as in Alcina, Ariodante, Giulio Cesare, Serse, and Orfeo ed Euridice.
I highly recommend the queer opera blog Queer Lorgnette, which reviews opera productions with humour, wit, and a distinctly queer and feminist eye
Korean musicals:
See here for my video on Korean musicals, which includes clips from several shows with genderblind casting
L to R: Sagiri Seina, Ouki Kaname, Amami Yuuki, Asumi Rio, Wao Youka, Asaji Saki, Shiraki Ayaka
If you’re queer and into theatre or Japanese media, chances are that you will have heard of all-female theatre company Takarazuka Revue… but it’s also equally likely that you won’t have checked out anything of theirs. For those who are curious but were intimidated by its over 100 years of history, or who just want a quick primer to ease in, click below!
1. Why get into Takarazuka?
L to R: Rei Makoto in Tiara Azul (2024), Yuzuka Rei
For those into androgynous women
As you probably already know, Takarazuka's big selling point is that it's an all-female theatre company where the male characters are played by women. The actresses are expected to continue presenting that way off-stage, which in practice means a lot of handsome women with short hair in binders and men's clothing... Why that might appeal to people who are into androgynous women (or GNC/enby folks) is pretty obvious.
Reality Check:
Sadly, after "graduation" (i.e. leaving Takarazuka), nearly all such actresses will transition into feminine presentation and take on female roles. It's similar to the "lesbian glasshouse" idea in Class S yuri, but for gender non-conformity. That said, there are some notable counter-examples: Shion Yuu and Nanami Hiroki have basically refused to change their presentation after graduating (the latter still frequently plays male characters in both anime and stage productions), and things are more relaxed lower down the rungs too.
L to R: Wao Youka & Hanafusa Mari, Sagiri Seina & Sakihi Miyu
For those into butch/femme pairs
Just as roughly half of Takarazuka's actresses specialise in male roles (otokoyaku/男役), there is another half specialising in female roles (musumeyaku/娘役). On top of that, Takarazuka is split into five different troupes, and for any given production, the male lead and female lead are automatically assigned to that troupe's "top star" (leading otokoyaku) and "top musumeyaku" (leading musumeyaku) - the "top combi".
Unlike leading pairs in other theatrical traditions, the "top combi" concept extends to them being marketed as a pair in interviews, magazine features, TV programmes, etc. Just watch the mini TV special where Sagiri Seina and Sakihi Miyu visit Tokyo Skytree and Sumida Aquarium-- it's basically a date, and is described as such by the commentating TV announcer. Likewise, Wao Youka and Hanafusa Mari were interviewed about being a "golden combi" by women's magazine Fujin Kouron (though to be fair this was after they had, improbably, managed to win a Kikuta Kazuo Theatre Award - an award for individuals - jointly, for their "splendid performance as a combi" in 2004's Boxman).
Taken to its extreme, there have been cases where the Japanese public have been convinced that a top combi was dating, as with the immensely popular 1980's pair Daichi Mao and Kuroki Hitomi... It's no wonder that the actresses themselves frequently describe it as being like an arranged marriage.
Separately, due to certain reasons, it's practically part of the job description for top musumeyaku to adore their top star partners. This, in theory, inadvertently creates a safe space for any top musumeyaku who could be gay for their stage partners... Just to illustrate, during her graduation speech, Hinami Fuu repeatedly referred to her feelings for her top star partner Hokushou Kairi as koi (恋), a word specifically denoting romantic love, and nobody blinked an eye.
Reality Check:
Due to conservative attitudes in both Japan and Takarazuka itself, most actresses go on to marry men, including many of those named above. Vanishingly few are publically out, though former otokoyaku Higashi Koyuki (stage name Aura Maki) is a queer activist and was one half of the first same-sex couple to be married in Japan, and another former otokoyaku, Misuzu Aki, has been living with her female partner in Europe for years. Just, well, don't forget that being married to a man isn't necessarily evidence of heterosexuality.
L to R: Asumi Rio in The Poe Clan (2018), Sagiri Seina in Rurouni Kenshin (2016)
For lovers of anime and manga
Takarazuka is probably best-known as the inspiration behind Revolutionary Girl Utena, Revue Starlight, Kageki Shoujo, and Sailor Moon’s Haruka and Michiru, but did you know that it also inspired seminal works featuring androgynous female leads such as Princess Knight? If you enjoy “prince-type” characters in yuri, you’ve got them to thank
Apart from inspiring anime and manga, Takarazuka also does quite a few animanga adaptations itself! Most famous are their Rose of Versailles musicals, but other popular adaptations include Ace Attorney, Rurouni Kenshin, Lupin III, Boys Over Flowers, and Hagio Moto’s bishounen vampire vehicle The Poe Clan. They’re also doing a Castlevania musical this year!
Wao Youka & Hanafusa Mari in Phantom (2004)
For the theatre nerds
Female Phantom of the Opera, duh
Jokes aside, Takarazuka’s unique position in the theatre world can't be overstated. As a rule, all-female productions are either smaller-scale, one-offs dependent on the work, or part of a theatrical tradition completely separate to Western-style plays or musicals (hello, Chinese Yue opera). Takarazuka is the exception: it offers productions comparable in size and scale (and budget) to the largest West End and Broadway musicals - it just so happens that it's all-female.
If the all-female aspect doesn’t excite you then why are you here, then let me emphasise again: Takarazuka is totally worth checking out as a production company in its own right. It is very much a part of the broader Japanese musical industry, and one of its powerhouses at that. Just take a look at some of these clips from past productions (all around 5 mins or less):
(a) Maeda Keiji - a musical loosely inspired by real-life samurai Maeda Keiji;
features an uncannily convincing horse performed by two people in costume which needs to be seen to be believed
(b) Ephemeral Love - a period piece about the doomed love between Prince Rudolph
of the Hapsburgs and his lover Marie Vetsera
(c) The Man Who Never Sleeps - a biographical musical about Napoleon Bonaparte
(d) Casino Royale - an adaptation of the 2006 James Bond movie of the same name
(e) BADDY - an off-the-wall sci-fi comedy featuring loads of velvet suits, silly shellfish outfits, and queerness.
Wao Youka and Hanafusa Mari in Dracula (2011)
2. Random Queer-ish Trivia
It's pretty common for former otokoyaku to be cast in WLW roles: Sena Jun headlined the 2018 Japanese production of Fun Home, Otozuki Kei cameoed as a lesbian escort in 2022 LGBTQ-themed J-drama Kojinsa Arimasu, and Seto Kazuya played the owner of a lesbian bar in 2024 yuri J-drama Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko. (Incidentally, Sal Jiang, the original creator of Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko, has mentioned being a fan of Sena Jun when she was younger)
Otokoyaku are sometimes mistaken for men, with amusing results: Yuzuka Rei was thought to be a “host” by a passer-by while talking to her fans, and Houshou Dai has mentioned being hit on by a woman before. But the prize goes to Todoroki Yuu, who like many women once had to rebuff unwanted advances from a man—except in her case, he thought that she was a guy
Before entering Takarazuka, Sou Kazuho – eventual Snow Troupe top star – went to a co-ed school and had long hair. To her confusion, this didn’t stop her classmates from asking her to play a male character (possibly the male lead, IIRC) in the school play. They saw her as an otokoyaku even before she did!
Continuing with the high school theme, former Cosmos Troupe top star Wao Youka has boasted about how in her high school days, she received more Valentine’s chocolates than her brother, and in fact second-most out of her year. Important note: she went to a girls’ school
Speaking of Wao Youka, her 2011 Dracula (see photo above) - from @cryoverkiltmilk's “Cunt Dykecula” post - wasn't actually a Takarazuka production! Since Wao was acquainted with and later married its composer Frank Wildhorn, some assume he was the one to cast her, and that Hanafusa Mari was brought in due to being her old stage partner. But Wildhorn had wanted Wao to play the female lead. It was she who insisted on Dracula. And Hanafusa wasn't just a third party... she had been Wao's manager since 2007, having retired from the stage after graduating and only just returned with 2010's Dietrich. (She played Edith Piaf, legendary chanson singer and “very good friend” of bisexual icon Marlene Dietrich, played by Wao.) Dracula was the swan song for their partnership, with Hanafusa going on to conquer the Japanese musical industry as she had Takarazuka-- but it marked the first, and so far only, time a top combi performed as romantic partners after graduating.
On a separate note, renowned queer photographer Leslie Kee has been responsible for taking the cover portraits for Takarazuka's offical monthly publication Kageki (歌劇) since 2010. You should definitely check out his ongoing "Out in Asia" project – he's taken literally thousands of photos of out queer people in Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan in a bid to raise visibility
Lastly, in November 2015, Takarazuka City became the first Japanese city outside of Tokyo to announce its support for same-sex partnerships… though this may of course be a total coincidence.
Flower Troupe in Takarazuka Fantasia (2015 Taiwan tour)
3. Where to Start?
Nearly all Takarazuka shows since the 1990's are available on DVD (earlier ones are on VHS), and these recordings are very well done - they have great video and audio quality, are well-edited, and use a large number of camera angles
They do livestreams and live broadcasts of performances as well! You can watch a livestream from your mobile or PC by spoofing your location. For a more communal experience, if you're in Japan, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, you can catch live broadcasts of Grand Theatre performances at a local cinema
VODs of selected productions are available on various platforms, including Amazon Japan, though this still requires location spoofing. If you're actually living in Japan, you can also consider subscribing to Takarazuka's official TV channel (yes, that's a thing) Sky Stage - they do a lot of reruns of past performances
With that done, here are several recommendations if none of the productions mentioned throughout the post caught your eye!
(a) Elisabeth - Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay's musical about Empress Elisabeth ("Sisi") of Austria and the fall of the Hapsburg Empire, featuring an (inevitably very sexy) personification of Death and fantastic music. Takarazuka has done many, many productions of this, so just search them and pick whichever looks most appealing - but you won't go wrong with the 2014 Flower Troupe production, which has a very strong cast and a more refined version of the staging
(b) Phantom - Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston's adaptation of Phantom of the Opera. Though obviously not the ALW version, the music is actually pretty great and Takarazuka goes all-out on the costumes and stage magic. All the productions are wonderful, but my favourite is the original 2004 version (which is also the one which went viral on Tumblr before - thanks, @wheel-of-fish!)
(c) Rose of Versailles - no list would be complete without Takarazuka's representative work, buuut I wouldn't necessarily recommend starting here if you're looking for a typical musical experience. There are loads of productions to choose from - note that these are split between a version focused on protagonist Oscar, and another focused on Marie Antoinette and her lover Fersen - but the 1991 Moon Troupe production is my personal pick
(d) Casanova - a light-hearted romp in which Casanova is reimagined as a charming playboy who falls for the feminist-minded daughter of Venice's mayor... only, she doesn't know his real identity. The very catchy music was commissioned from Dove Attia, the producer behind French musicals Mozart, l'opera Rock and 1789: Les Amants de la Bastille. Check out the performance digest here!
(e) Shinjuu: Koi no Yamatoji - Takarazuka puts Chikamatsu Monzaemon's tale of the doomed love between a commoner and a courtesan to a classic rock score (see this clip!). An Edo-era work that doesn't just focus on samurai and nobility, this romantic tragedy offers a grounded look at the social pressures of the time. (Though if you do want to watch something focusing on Japanese nobility, I highly recommend Takarazuka original and guaranteed tearjerker Hoshiai Hitoyo.) There are quite a few productions of this, but I've only watched the 2014 Snow Troupe one, which was very good.
Thanks so much for reading! Please feel free to DM me or send an ask if you have any questions~ I definitely want to do a follow-up post on musumeyaku, and maybe delve into Wao and Hanafusa's history (it's messy, but fascinating)... but we'll see!
'They say you learn to know when it's time to go like a sick joke'
Sequel to 'You carve into my marble now you'll never be apart from it', AgathaRio's fic 'Sick Joke' (inspired by the song Sick Joke by Xana) out now on ao3.
Hope you'll join me in this short journey through love and death.
'They say you learn to know when it's time to go like a sick joke'
Sequel to 'You carve into my marble now you'll never be apart from it', AgathaRio's fic 'Sick Joke' (inspired by the song Sick Joke by Xana) out now on ao3.
Hope you'll join me in this short journey through love and death.
'They say you learn to know when it's time to go like a sick joke'
Sequel to 'You carve into my marble now you'll never be apart from it', AgathaRio's fic 'Sick Joke' (inspired by the song Sick Joke by Xana) out now on ao3.
Hope you'll join me in this short journey through love and death.
'They say you learn to know when it's time to go like a sick joke'
Sequel to 'You carve into my marble now you'll never be apart from it', AgathaRio's fic 'Sick Joke' (inspired by the song Sick Joke by Xana) out now on ao3.
Hope you'll join me in this short journey through love and death.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
This is my favourite choir song from the 2025 anime movie soundtrack! The accompanying animation is top notch from editing to camera angles and light. The whole scene was something that the anime movie did very well. And the lyrics of the song really add to the risqué vibe. I had a lot of fun translating this one.
Please note that English is not my first language and I speak only intermediate Japanese. So this translation could be much improved—and I might make changes later. Some of my word choices may be more liberal than your average literal translation.
This is the translation of the Japanese lyrics of the long version of the song included in the Song Collection. If you watched the movie with English subtitles, they show the lyrics of the song in the English dub.
Masquerade Masquerade
A banquet of blooming flowers
Masquerade Masquerade
A single night’s dream
Hide your face and reveal what’s in your heart
Let’s forget about everything else
And dance
Masquerade Masquerade
A banquet of secrets
Masquerade Masquerade
A bite of the sweetest fruit
Dancers cross paths and drift apart
Love’s poison coils in a swirl of champagne bubbles
[Men’s chorus]
Love’s contest
[Women’s chorus]
Is just a shallow game
[Men’s chorus]
Where did the little rabbit go?
[Women’s chorus]
Where are the hounds running to?
[Men’s chorus]
Sin and pleasure
[Women’s chorus]
Love and immorality
[Mixed chorus]
Whispers and sighs sway to the rhythm
Masquerade Masquerade
A butterfly living in a dream
Masquerade Masquerade
A carillon chiming in the distance
Hide your face and leave your name behind
Let’s turn this moment into eternity
And dance
Fizzlin' fizzlin' fizzlin' fizzlin' 心が弾ける
Changin' changin' changin' changin' 何かが始まる
Maybe it's me, maybe it's me
Surely it's me, surely it's me
Find me, catch me
Find mе, catch me
Fizzlin' fizzlin' fizzlin' fizzlin’
As if my heart will burst open
Changin' changin' changin' changin’
Like a new beginning
Maybe it's me, maybe it's me
Surely it's me, surely it's me
Find me, catch me
Find mе, catch me
退屈は 死に至る病
踊りつづけなければ
蒼ざめた月を抱いて
忘れる 夜明けには
Boredom is a disease that ends in death
So we have to keep on dancing
Embrace the setting moon because
Come dawn, this will all be forgotten
Fizzlin' fizzlin' fizzlin' fizzlin’
Like a stirring in my heart
Changin' changin' changin' changin’
Like a whisper in my ear
Maybe it's me, maybe it's me
Surely it's me, surely it's me
Find me, catch me
Find mе, catch me
I keep sinking
Into a hazy, distorted dream
A fleeting waltz
It’s the night of the Masquerade
Fizzlin' fizzlin' fizzlin' fizzlin'
Changin' changin' changin' changin'
Maybe it's me, maybe it's me
Surely it's me, surely it's me
Notes:
The line “A butterfly living in a dream” stood out to me, as young Marie Antoinette was also portrayed as a butterfly in the 1979 anime series. She first appears chasing a butterfly in the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace in the aptly-named episode 2 “Fly! The Butterfly of Austria.” I don’t remember a similar analogy in the manga, so this might well be a coincidence as the 2025 anime movie is very loyal to the source material.
The “Find me, catch me” part might be referring to the last two lines from Marie Antoinette’s image song: “Please, isn’t there anyone who can find me? I am right here all alone.” Sometimes I feel like I must be imagining half of the cross references I notice, but if this was intentional, then it adds a very nice touch. I just checked the album notes and it seems that the lyricist of these two songs is the same person. So maybe I’m not imagining it after all?
Also, I just noticed Fersen in this frame! The lower half of his face is visible on the right. This must be when he sees Marie Antoinette for the first time as his lips part ever so slightly in awe.
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