When yesterday my friends asked me to show them my photos, I looked on Tokyo streets, and remembered my first visit to that city
Of course I remembered my friend Sae-san and her mother. 'twas her who asked me why I got interested in Zuka
Now that I recall it, I was wrong in my answer. I told her that the first time I heard about Takarazuka was when I fell in love with Suzukaze-sama and read her biography after watching 'Rurouni Kenshin'. It was much earlier, though
The first time I heard about Zuka was when I was some 13 years old and visiting a disc shop famous for many cheap cds and dvds with anime I bought 'Sakura Taisen' the movie - partly because of a bright picture on the cover, partly because 'twas written there that the movie was created by people who created GitS, a work that everyone knew that time. After watching the movie I was simply fascinated. The song opening the movie, a song for Christmas celebration titled 'Kiseki no Kane' was the first anime song in my life that I wanted to download and listen to, apart from songs from BSSM (hope you understand what BSSM means). However, with me having access to internet for less than a year (which means both poor speed and poor skills in web-surfing) 'twas impossible - and I gave up
The song itself was Takarazuka-styled enough, but the setting was even more reminding of Takarazuka. All the girls were wearing suits and tails, and it did not seem wrong or strange to me even for a moment. When in the end of the movie the girls were performing in a play where a greater part of the characters were male, with Sakura and Rachel being kind of a princess and a warrior (if I am not mistaken) - this kind of transformation did not surprise me at all, either. However, even though I read that the plot was inspired by a really existing theatre I could not imagine that I could ever to know it more closely, so I gave up
Several years after I became a fan of Suzukaze-sama, but her seiyuu career was not a prosperous one. Then I read her biography. Of course her Takarazuka career was mentioned and of course her playing Oscar was mentioned there. Being already aware of what BeruBara is about, I was completely fascinated by the very fact that she played there, but... thinking that such a rare and old performance would never be available in the web... I gave up
A month later I watched 'Sakura Taisen' which was a randomly made decision. This time, being a more experienced searcher I was actble to find the OVAs, the series and the movie with the original voicing, and the whole collection of OST for the world of SW. 'twas the OST that made me fall in love with the style of Zuka music and Zuka performances, though the performances of SW girls were never shown from the beginning to the end, and most of the songs were never used in the anime. However, even the rare and short referrals were enough. The only thing that surprised me was a short video on YouTube where Takano-sama and Yokoyama-sama were performing as Maria and Sakura playing in a performance of the 'Imperial Revue' - there was a moment with their characters kissing and I thought it to be an unusual thing for seiyuu to do such a thing. On the other hand, I felt even more interested in Takarazuka and I wanted both to watch the musicals based on SW universe, and their origin - Takarazuka itself. Still, not believing in my own and the internet power, I gave up
A bit more than a year later, the fact that marked the start of my Takarazuka journey was my second friend, Seiko-san, asking me if I had a particular place I wanted to go to while in Osaka last summer. Never being a shy person, I mentioned Osaka Castle, Umeda Sky Building, and a random theatre. While searching for info about theatres in Osaka I read that Takarazuka is quite close to Osaka city, and 'tis pretty easy to go there. I wrote to Seiko-san - 'I would like to go to a theatre at least once, be it a traditional one - Bunraku or Kabuki or Noh, whatever. I also have a dream of visiting Takarazuka'. However my friend did not have any interest in it and she only answered me that going to Bunraku is really possible. So I went there with her. I was very happy I was able to meet with this kind of art, and realizing that asking Seiko-san to go to Takarazuka would be too much, I gave up
After reading about Takarazuka on the website describing Osaka I visited the official website of the Theatre, but the English version of it. A strange thing, but the photos of Kiriya-sama and Aono-sama seemed to be the most interesting to me. This might seem unreal, but I really got interested in Moon Troupe Top Combi simply judging by the Top photos on the English version of the official website. This fact has a perfect evidence consisting in me discussing the photos with my friend, when I first opened the page. I remember clearly how the conversation developed. My friend wrote to me and asked me what I was doing, I answered that I was searching for a theatre to go to and found Takarazuka, then my friend asked me for the link. We discussed everything there was available on the English page about the Troupes. I remember my friend saying she liked Star and Snow Tops (Yuzuki-sama and Otozuki-sama) the most, while thinking that still, it was Cosmos Top (Oozora-sama) who would make the best otokoyaku. I agreed that Oozora-sama was looking the most manly, but my primary interest was Kiriya-sama - because of her face which seemed to be so warm and also an unusual a face for a Japanese. While discussing Top Musumeyaku-san we thought Ranno-sama to be the cutest one, but while I liked Aono-sama's face a lot, my friend said she had too perfect a beauty. Imagining how great it would be if I could go to Takarazuka, that was the end of the conversation
Having no intentions of visiting the theatre I lived on spending money carelessly and freely. Until one day we went to Kyoto with Sae-san. 'twas a nice short trip for one day which could have ended in nothing, if the Hankyu Corp. was not completely aware of the power of advertisement. The posters of the upcoming 'The man from Algiers' were already on every column and every wall inside the Hankyu railway station in Kyoto. Moving through the station at 6 in the evening is always a difficult thing, everybody is coming home from work, daily business, etc. Sometimes I ended up moving in an awkward way. This time the mob made us go straight ahead, towards the column with Zuka posters. Seeing the poster I could not understand what was going on inside me. I hesitated a bit if what I thought of deserved being put into words, but, unaware of what I do, I automatically uttered 'oh, those are Takarazuka posters, aren't they?' and Sae-san's answer changed my world. She told me that those were, and that she knows about Takarazuka a lot, and that she is a fan, and that her mother had been working there for some time. We discussed how great it would be if Sae-san could take me to Takarazuka once, but realizing I still had a week to spend in Japan, I was completely sure I have no money to spare so that I could go to the Theatre. Therefore, I gave up
When I came back to the hostel, I phoned my mom as I did every evening and told her everything simply to share my feelings. My mom's answer was the second half of what changed my fate completely. She told me - no more presents, no more buying unnecessary cute things. Save money and go to the Theatre - that is what she told me. I was still hesitating. Saving 5000 yen was not an easy thing to do, and the current performance was still 'Phantom', while I remembered I did not like the movie a lot. I checked the schedule. The performance was about to end. The next one was a completely unknown to me 'The man from Algiers'. A strict prohibition on buying anything apart from the necessary foodstuff and railway tickets could really make it possible to go. This was the last straw
I mailed Sae-san asking her if it would be possible for her to take a day-off and go to the Theatre. She agreed. Soon she mailed me again saying she bought good tickets because 'twas Thursday and the performance was not a very popular thing (like BeruBara, for example). I was happy
While going to Takarazuka by train I asked Sae-san which troupe was to perform. She told me 'twas Moon but I did not match the word 'Moon' with the info I read on the website. 'twas not until the curtain rose when I realized I see the ones I wanted to see the most - Kiriya-sama, Aono-sama, and the rest of the Moon Troupe, the one I felt something special about. My happiness knew no limits. However, I could not save much more than 'twas necessary to buy the tickets, so I did not buy even the programme
Just yesterday I read someone saying that going to Takarazuka knowing nothing about it is wrong. Going to the Theatre should be a fulfillment of a dream cherished for a long time. Oh, is it so?
OK, I went there knowing nothing apart from the fact that there are Tops in each Troupe, which seemed to be a natural thing for me (someone should play the lead, why not it be people assigned to this position?)
What did I lose by doing so? Oh, pretty nothing. Did I fail to experience that special feeling of longing to be there? Was I not eager? Was I not worried? Did I miss the doubts about what it would be like? Nope. Perhaps I was even much more looking forward to it, because I wasn't expecting anything in particular, only a great day in my life
What did I gain? I went there completely unaware of the plot - so I was able to judge the story by myself. I went there unaware of what ni-san-...-bante is - so I was able to note Masao's and Mirio's acting as outstanding and I praised them inwardly being completely unbiased. I knew nothing about revues - therefore my shock caused by the revue's beauty, sparkling, energy and mood was much stronger compared to what I could feel if I had already watched some videos. In general, I knew nothing about the theatre - so I was feeling the atmosphere keenly, acutely, almost painfully. I had no warming up, probably this means I was not a true fan - but I was not going to fall in love with it so madly, so desperately. I was not going to visit it frequently. I was not going to come back there ever. Of course, I was not going to buy the goods, watch more, read about it more. In other words, this proves that I was not simply fascinated by some performances based on a story I like (f. e. BeruBara), or that I felt interested in a particular performance/sienna/... and went to see it/her on stage. My love towards Takarazuka developed as a pure thing, being caused by Takarazuka itself, and the previous times when I heard about it were only a prologue, not the primary reason
Again, I was not expecting anything, and I gained everything. Just imagine it as a simple equation. If you expect a good performance and you see a good performance - your impression is just the same as you predicted. If you expect a poor performance and see a great performance - your impression is much stronger than you could imagine. If we take, for instance, 5 for 'excellent' and 1 for 'bad' then we can compare the first case as expecting 5 and gaining 5, and the second case as expecting 1 and gaining 5. My case was different. I was expecting 0. This does not mean I was expecting a completely bad performance, no. I was expecting nothing. And if you remember, you cannot divide by 0. My impression was not equal to what I expected, nor 'twas 5 times stronger than I expected. 'twas overwhelming. Overwhelming so that you can never compare it to anything else
Overwhelming so that for the first time in my life I could not realize what had happened just a few moments before, a few minutes before, a few hours before... and even a few days before. I was completely sane and calm. I did not jump, shout or anything. I looked as if I had not experienced anything
And nobody knew, until I wrote about this to my friend last week, nobody knew what I thought of during the parade of 'Dance Romanesque'. And what I thought was 'behave yourself. take a tissue. look, nobody else is crying...'
Of course I remembered my friend Sae-san and her mother. 'twas her who asked me why I got interested in Zuka
Now that I recall it, I was wrong in my answer. I told her that the first time I heard about Takarazuka was when I fell in love with Suzukaze-sama and read her biography after watching 'Rurouni Kenshin'. It was much earlier, though
The first time I heard about Zuka was when I was some 13 years old and visiting a disc shop famous for many cheap cds and dvds with anime I bought 'Sakura Taisen' the movie - partly because of a bright picture on the cover, partly because 'twas written there that the movie was created by people who created GitS, a work that everyone knew that time. After watching the movie I was simply fascinated. The song opening the movie, a song for Christmas celebration titled 'Kiseki no Kane' was the first anime song in my life that I wanted to download and listen to, apart from songs from BSSM (hope you understand what BSSM means). However, with me having access to internet for less than a year (which means both poor speed and poor skills in web-surfing) 'twas impossible - and I gave up
The song itself was Takarazuka-styled enough, but the setting was even more reminding of Takarazuka. All the girls were wearing suits and tails, and it did not seem wrong or strange to me even for a moment. When in the end of the movie the girls were performing in a play where a greater part of the characters were male, with Sakura and Rachel being kind of a princess and a warrior (if I am not mistaken) - this kind of transformation did not surprise me at all, either. However, even though I read that the plot was inspired by a really existing theatre I could not imagine that I could ever to know it more closely, so I gave up
Several years after I became a fan of Suzukaze-sama, but her seiyuu career was not a prosperous one. Then I read her biography. Of course her Takarazuka career was mentioned and of course her playing Oscar was mentioned there. Being already aware of what BeruBara is about, I was completely fascinated by the very fact that she played there, but... thinking that such a rare and old performance would never be available in the web... I gave up
A month later I watched 'Sakura Taisen' which was a randomly made decision. This time, being a more experienced searcher I was actble to find the OVAs, the series and the movie with the original voicing, and the whole collection of OST for the world of SW. 'twas the OST that made me fall in love with the style of Zuka music and Zuka performances, though the performances of SW girls were never shown from the beginning to the end, and most of the songs were never used in the anime. However, even the rare and short referrals were enough. The only thing that surprised me was a short video on YouTube where Takano-sama and Yokoyama-sama were performing as Maria and Sakura playing in a performance of the 'Imperial Revue' - there was a moment with their characters kissing and I thought it to be an unusual thing for seiyuu to do such a thing. On the other hand, I felt even more interested in Takarazuka and I wanted both to watch the musicals based on SW universe, and their origin - Takarazuka itself. Still, not believing in my own and the internet power, I gave up
A bit more than a year later, the fact that marked the start of my Takarazuka journey was my second friend, Seiko-san, asking me if I had a particular place I wanted to go to while in Osaka last summer. Never being a shy person, I mentioned Osaka Castle, Umeda Sky Building, and a random theatre. While searching for info about theatres in Osaka I read that Takarazuka is quite close to Osaka city, and 'tis pretty easy to go there. I wrote to Seiko-san - 'I would like to go to a theatre at least once, be it a traditional one - Bunraku or Kabuki or Noh, whatever. I also have a dream of visiting Takarazuka'. However my friend did not have any interest in it and she only answered me that going to Bunraku is really possible. So I went there with her. I was very happy I was able to meet with this kind of art, and realizing that asking Seiko-san to go to Takarazuka would be too much, I gave up
After reading about Takarazuka on the website describing Osaka I visited the official website of the Theatre, but the English version of it. A strange thing, but the photos of Kiriya-sama and Aono-sama seemed to be the most interesting to me. This might seem unreal, but I really got interested in Moon Troupe Top Combi simply judging by the Top photos on the English version of the official website. This fact has a perfect evidence consisting in me discussing the photos with my friend, when I first opened the page. I remember clearly how the conversation developed. My friend wrote to me and asked me what I was doing, I answered that I was searching for a theatre to go to and found Takarazuka, then my friend asked me for the link. We discussed everything there was available on the English page about the Troupes. I remember my friend saying she liked Star and Snow Tops (Yuzuki-sama and Otozuki-sama) the most, while thinking that still, it was Cosmos Top (Oozora-sama) who would make the best otokoyaku. I agreed that Oozora-sama was looking the most manly, but my primary interest was Kiriya-sama - because of her face which seemed to be so warm and also an unusual a face for a Japanese. While discussing Top Musumeyaku-san we thought Ranno-sama to be the cutest one, but while I liked Aono-sama's face a lot, my friend said she had too perfect a beauty. Imagining how great it would be if I could go to Takarazuka, that was the end of the conversation
Having no intentions of visiting the theatre I lived on spending money carelessly and freely. Until one day we went to Kyoto with Sae-san. 'twas a nice short trip for one day which could have ended in nothing, if the Hankyu Corp. was not completely aware of the power of advertisement. The posters of the upcoming 'The man from Algiers' were already on every column and every wall inside the Hankyu railway station in Kyoto. Moving through the station at 6 in the evening is always a difficult thing, everybody is coming home from work, daily business, etc. Sometimes I ended up moving in an awkward way. This time the mob made us go straight ahead, towards the column with Zuka posters. Seeing the poster I could not understand what was going on inside me. I hesitated a bit if what I thought of deserved being put into words, but, unaware of what I do, I automatically uttered 'oh, those are Takarazuka posters, aren't they?' and Sae-san's answer changed my world. She told me that those were, and that she knows about Takarazuka a lot, and that she is a fan, and that her mother had been working there for some time. We discussed how great it would be if Sae-san could take me to Takarazuka once, but realizing I still had a week to spend in Japan, I was completely sure I have no money to spare so that I could go to the Theatre. Therefore, I gave up
When I came back to the hostel, I phoned my mom as I did every evening and told her everything simply to share my feelings. My mom's answer was the second half of what changed my fate completely. She told me - no more presents, no more buying unnecessary cute things. Save money and go to the Theatre - that is what she told me. I was still hesitating. Saving 5000 yen was not an easy thing to do, and the current performance was still 'Phantom', while I remembered I did not like the movie a lot. I checked the schedule. The performance was about to end. The next one was a completely unknown to me 'The man from Algiers'. A strict prohibition on buying anything apart from the necessary foodstuff and railway tickets could really make it possible to go. This was the last straw
I mailed Sae-san asking her if it would be possible for her to take a day-off and go to the Theatre. She agreed. Soon she mailed me again saying she bought good tickets because 'twas Thursday and the performance was not a very popular thing (like BeruBara, for example). I was happy
While going to Takarazuka by train I asked Sae-san which troupe was to perform. She told me 'twas Moon but I did not match the word 'Moon' with the info I read on the website. 'twas not until the curtain rose when I realized I see the ones I wanted to see the most - Kiriya-sama, Aono-sama, and the rest of the Moon Troupe, the one I felt something special about. My happiness knew no limits. However, I could not save much more than 'twas necessary to buy the tickets, so I did not buy even the programme
Just yesterday I read someone saying that going to Takarazuka knowing nothing about it is wrong. Going to the Theatre should be a fulfillment of a dream cherished for a long time. Oh, is it so?
OK, I went there knowing nothing apart from the fact that there are Tops in each Troupe, which seemed to be a natural thing for me (someone should play the lead, why not it be people assigned to this position?)
What did I lose by doing so? Oh, pretty nothing. Did I fail to experience that special feeling of longing to be there? Was I not eager? Was I not worried? Did I miss the doubts about what it would be like? Nope. Perhaps I was even much more looking forward to it, because I wasn't expecting anything in particular, only a great day in my life
What did I gain? I went there completely unaware of the plot - so I was able to judge the story by myself. I went there unaware of what ni-san-...-bante is - so I was able to note Masao's and Mirio's acting as outstanding and I praised them inwardly being completely unbiased. I knew nothing about revues - therefore my shock caused by the revue's beauty, sparkling, energy and mood was much stronger compared to what I could feel if I had already watched some videos. In general, I knew nothing about the theatre - so I was feeling the atmosphere keenly, acutely, almost painfully. I had no warming up, probably this means I was not a true fan - but I was not going to fall in love with it so madly, so desperately. I was not going to visit it frequently. I was not going to come back there ever. Of course, I was not going to buy the goods, watch more, read about it more. In other words, this proves that I was not simply fascinated by some performances based on a story I like (f. e. BeruBara), or that I felt interested in a particular performance/sienna/... and went to see it/her on stage. My love towards Takarazuka developed as a pure thing, being caused by Takarazuka itself, and the previous times when I heard about it were only a prologue, not the primary reason
Again, I was not expecting anything, and I gained everything. Just imagine it as a simple equation. If you expect a good performance and you see a good performance - your impression is just the same as you predicted. If you expect a poor performance and see a great performance - your impression is much stronger than you could imagine. If we take, for instance, 5 for 'excellent' and 1 for 'bad' then we can compare the first case as expecting 5 and gaining 5, and the second case as expecting 1 and gaining 5. My case was different. I was expecting 0. This does not mean I was expecting a completely bad performance, no. I was expecting nothing. And if you remember, you cannot divide by 0. My impression was not equal to what I expected, nor 'twas 5 times stronger than I expected. 'twas overwhelming. Overwhelming so that you can never compare it to anything else
Overwhelming so that for the first time in my life I could not realize what had happened just a few moments before, a few minutes before, a few hours before... and even a few days before. I was completely sane and calm. I did not jump, shout or anything. I looked as if I had not experienced anything
And nobody knew, until I wrote about this to my friend last week, nobody knew what I thought of during the parade of 'Dance Romanesque'. And what I thought was 'behave yourself. take a tissue. look, nobody else is crying...'
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