Anyone know what performance this tuxedo dance is from? In the close-ups, I spotted Magee, Toshi, Aasa, Mirio, Tamakichi, Masao, etc. (couldn’t tell if there were other Hanagumi otokoyaku in addition to Mirio, but I would assume there were)
I realize it’s not yet July, but it will be when this is over. AND a certain thing is happening on July 29th so therefore…
HERE’S A YUKIGUMI THEMED GIVEAWAY!!!!!
The rules for this giveaway will be slightly different as there will be 5 WINNERS and a couple random giveaway chirashi. Please check the bottom of the post for specifics.
BUNDLE 1: 3 WINNERS
Each winner of this bundle will receive 8 random chirashi from ChigiMiyu’s top run with maybe a Don Juan; depends on the stack as they’re not all the same.
BUNDLE 2: 1 WINNER
The winner of this bundle will receive 1 copy of Sagiri Seina’s Alter Ego and Nozomi Fuuto’s 2015 Personal Book.
PRISTINE CONDITION, NEVER BEEN OPENED OR USED COMPLETE WITH DVDS FOR BOTH.
BUNDLE 3: 1 WINNER
The winner of this bundle will receive Otozuki Kei’s Special SkyStage Box. Contains rehearsal footage covering Kimu’s entire career, from Komu-era Yukigumi to Kimu’s. Bonus points for Cameos of Baby Chigi. Also, a pair of travel chopsticks, never been used.
EACH GIVEAWAY WILL BE ROLLED INDEPENDENTLY FROM EACH OTHER, BUT ONE PERSON WILL NOT BE ABLE TO WIN MORE THAN ONE BUNDLE.
Rules:
Following me is not required, but would be nice
Reblogs and likes both count, but multiple reblogs will not be counted. Also, please don’t reblog from more than one blog if you have sideblogs.
Each person entering will automatically be entered in all 3 bundles. If you only wish to be entered in one or two of the bundles, put the ones you want to enter down in the tags.
As with all giveaways, if you enter, you must be willing to give me your address so I can send you the things if you win.
I’ll be taking entries until Midnight July 9th, Eastern Standard Time (est).
the yukigumi kids went ice skating (it was the wintertime). And everyone’s having fun and skating among the zuggles (my new term for non-Takarazuka folks, or maybe someone’s used it before? idk). For some reason, there’s a car on the ice. It’s totally secured, not meant for driving or anything like that; it’s sort of like how some outdoor museums/parks will have an old bus or something that you can walk through and even sit in. This car is your typical 4-door sedan. Totally untinted windows. One of the yukigumi otokoyaku babies goes into the car because “Oh, look! All the zuggles are hanging out!” All those zuggles are Yankee-types ( ヤンキー ) in mannerism, not so obvious in terms of their clothing. They look harmless enough, but still, Chigi keeps a wary eye on that car/otokoyaku. And *gasp* someone lights a cigarette! Smoking?! What delinquents! Chigi’s having none of it. She skates on over in her typical otoko rashii way. She ends up in a sort of kabe don pose. Left arm resting on the car right above the door, right hand holding onto the door that she opened, and leaning down to talk to the otokoyaku.. I swear it looks very cool in my mind. And she’s like “[otokoyaku’s name], let’s go. Get out.” Because y’know, Chigi can be very protective and looks out for her people.
Yeah, that was my dream. I woke up right after it but it was like 5AM, so I tried really hard to remember it and then went back to sleep. Finally remembered a dream that I wanted to remember! I only wish my dream had more ChigiMiyu in it. Oh well.
THIS SHOW. OMG. See here for my short, little photo post.
Truth be told, I don’t watch many performances because I don’t really have the attention span nor do I have 2-3 hours of nothing to do at a time and once I take a break from something, I often never return. (Also, DVDs are mad expensive, but I digress.) I’m also a bit more interested in the Takarazuka world in its somewhat more organic off-stage activities than the musicals. But now that my Japanese is slowly improving again, my accumulated ChigiMiyugumi stuff is sitting around, and ChigiMiyu is leaving soon, so I just NEED to watch all the ChigiMiyugumi things. I’m trying to make up for the time I lost busy with school.
I don’t even know where to start with Hoshiai Hitoyo. I didn’t read the synopsis until maybe 15 minutes in, and from the get-go the melancholy was STRONG. I knew that this was going to be super sad from the beautiful prologue in the pitch black theater with the ChigiMiyuDaimon dance and Chigi’s song. Chigi! Yes! I wish she would lay off the vibrato more often. She sounds wayyy better without it. The ChigiMiyuDaimon trio song in the tower was beautiful :’) Yuumi’s short harmony in contrast with the tutti part was beautiful.
I also try to stay away from sad and angsty movies, TV series, etc. but Hoshiai Hitoyo was SO worth the emotional turmoil. Because I’ve watched very very few Chigi shows and I think I’ve mostly seen snippets of just the comedies (not Hoshiai Hitoyo, Kenshin, etc.), Chigi’s acting surprised me a lot, as did Yuumi’s. And Daimon’s too, haha. Chigi’s such a jokester IRL with a quick wit and I think I usually just think of her as an adolescent boy. But man, did I really feel for Kinosuke (and Genta and Sen). There were a couple times where Chigi seemed to be trying too hard with the “stormy” expression and was aiming a bit too high with the personal turmoil. Might be a byproduct of watching a recording rather than being in the theater live. And regardless, she was generally as natural and subtle as she is goofy and douchey in Lupin and in The Count’s Daughter (based on the few clips that I’ve seen for those shows). Occasionally, forcing her voice so deep sort of took me out of the moment. Mostly during the ending Kinosuke/Sen scene. But I loooooved her main shogun council costume. Ugh, so handsome.
Yuumi, Yuumi, Yuumi. This is the second performance of hers that I’ve seen, the other being “The Merry Widow.” I loooove Yuumi because she is such a demure princess off stage (although that itself is sometimes a frustrating), yet can be so FIERCE or confident or tragic on stage. Chigi mentioned the gap between Yuumi’s off-stage personality and on-stage personae before and I agree 200%. I love her Sen and how she stood up to Kinosuke on multiple occasions despite her attraction to him. Her scene with Kinosuke on the tower near the end irked me, though. [SPOILER-ISH] “I’ve only ever loved you,” and suddenly she more or less dismissed how horrible Kinosuke has been? It seems like she even contemplates life with Kinosuke. What?? Obviously a writing issue rather than an acting one. But this seriously bugged me. Or maybe it’s just because I haven’t experienced a love that strong where I’d stick with that person throughout all of that crap. Or maybe your interpretation is different! Feel free to let me know what you thought about this part![/SPOILER] She really made me feel for Sen’s constant battle between attraction and loyalty. She has a quiet strength some times throughout Hoshiai and a very present strength at other times, and I loved it.
Look at those literal sweat and tears. I forced my non-Zuka fan friend to watch this, and I self-indulgently gave her a ChigiMiyu primer by showing her all the random SkyStage clips I’ve collected. (Having her watch Hoshiai was more of a ruse to gush over ChigiMiyu.) My friend was also super surprised at Yuumi’s acting chops and on-stage confidence.
Daimon! She does starry-eyed adolescent and weary adult very well. I think most of the performance stuff that I’ve seen Daimon in were revue otokoyaku dances, in which she obviously channels a whole different persona. So lovely and heartbreaking to see this side of her acting with numerous heart wrenching facial expressions.
+1 for such a convincingly real performance. The facial closeups during the end of the Kinosuke/Genta conflict just shattered my heart.
Other random shoutouts:
Fight scene was A+
Reiko, is quite handsome, I must say. And she’s been getting lots of big roles recently. Oh ho ho ho, let’s see what happens, shall we?
Saki as Chobiyasu is SO LOVABLE.
Seshi! Yas, you fierce scarecrow.
The princesses’ song and dance was so pretty <3
In theory, it felt a little weird to watch Takarasiennes play kids, but they were great. Convincingly adorable.
I wish I could experience being part of the stage crew. Or if I could just hang around backstage during musicals, I would love that too.
The revue was meh, in my humble/honest opinion, as far as Takarazuka revues go. A couple of catchy songs, but it was a bit too glittery and all-over-the-place for me. “But it’s Takarazuka!” you say. I know, but still. Chigi and Miyu don’t even have a proper duet dance. A proper duet dance, in my mind, consists of just them two on stage with a nice finish and bow. “La Esmeralda” is, however, the complete opposite Hoshiai Hitoyo, thank goodness.
Welp, that’s all for my Hoshiai Hitoyo ramblings. But I’m more than happy to exchange more opinions if you want to discuss!
As much as I love ChigiMiyu, I’ve ashamedly watched zero of their shows as a top combi. Yes, I know... “HOW?!?!” The basis of my love has been decidedly shallow and entirely based on Sky Stage/photoshoot happenings. Don’t worry, I have watched some of their non-top musicals... But only like 1-2.
Deciding to finally cave in to Hoshiai Hitoyo was such a good and bad decision. Beautiful in so many ways, but so frickin’ sad, omg.
Long review soon to follow. Well, not so much a review as a text-dump of my thoughts.
dededos
romaincrisis
kianamaiart
blakekathryn
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