Takarazuka monthly wallpapers ~ damned exams and graduation thesis, I have missed April and May wallpapers

well, here they are, the wallpapers for April and May. for some reason I like them a lot haha =)

though I still wonder if I really have to do this every month, since I have already posted the way to get them without a password...

April

and May

thinking about Zuka and post-Zuka again

since I have to defend my graduation thesis on May 28th having a trip just before that important day seems somewhat impossible to me now - even if by some chance I managed to persuade my friend to come to Tokyo for my sake

at least she promised to send me a poster with 'My Fair Lady'

giving prophecies on what is going to happen is Zuka is not my job but Mirio and Sakihi in the lead of Flower on the Big Sports Festival seems a variant to me. and since by any means I will be there in 2014, if not at the Festival, than at something else, I imagine how 'twould look. well this is only an assumption, huh

the fact is that no matter how much I try to make myself understand that the current trio of Flower is Ranju, Ranno and Asumi... I just cannot. どう見ても Mirio does not belong

and Ranno looks like a different person from her Moon period. me, who has never even watched a single performance with her, certainly dares to say it. however, I can say for sure no chemistry was born between Mirio and Hana only because they were in one troupe for some time

I wonder if I am wrong in thinking that the period of 'strong' otokoyaku has gone? they become cuter and cuter, more and more elegant, beautiful and... sophisticated... no, I cannot choose the right words. I mean, where is that 'good old' sense of reliability, dependability, soundness... and where is their charisma? 

cuteness is great but I cannot persuade myself any longer that 'I am a flower, I feed on sunlight and water', like my friend Kate used to say

Mirio transfering to Flower... so what?

one would be blind not to notice that Mirio has been trained and prepared. Demi-Top is not a position same as nibante to wait for the Top to graduate and become the new one after that. having a fresh Top in Cosmos and a Top-to-come in Snow, there are only 2 Troups able to provide Mirio with some future. 'tis easy to guess which one is more realistic, isn't it. if you ask me, even Mirio's face looks Flower-ish, and girls who are to come to Moon are as cute as Miya which establishes, apparently, the new 'face' of Moon

well, that was really predictable. not that I care anymore
I have to admit there is less and less attractive in Takarazuka now

my humble opinion on TCA 2010 'Forever Takarazuka'

the prologue is titled 'Over Sea'. actually, there's a reason to it, as the song lyrics list the oversea performances of Takarazuka since the time of its establishment

as usual, the Tops participating in the concert reminisce of the coming to its end year

after Oozora-sama says she explored a new character - a weather reporter man with a funny posture - Matobu-sama and Todoroki-sama made me die because of laughing... 'but the usual image of Yuuhi is like... nihil... and like - 'okaeriii', and like 'abayo!', and like 'kampai'...'

and once again, Matobu-sama shows a great sense of humour. 'was it this year? last year? or this? oh, that was a show named 'EXCITER', so that's last year... may_I_speak_of_the_last_year? it will take approximately 30 minutes, is it ok?'

then calling Todoroki-sama as 'Ishi-san' and 'anii'... >___<

then 'oh yeah, and... what was I speaking of?'

and then 'but the cool scene only lasted for 3 minutes...'

and then Todoroki-sama addresses to Otozuki-sama as 'Kimuchi' ^.^ so cute

and then Todoroki-sama shares her impressions of the year - she thought that Matobu was a mood maker, she thought that Oozora was a shy person who suddenly transforms when an MC in the TCA, and she thought that Otozuki was... oh, she didn't think of her

Oozora-sama protests - 'but speak not of me, but of yourself' and Todoroki-sama - 'I was surprised! [by Oozora-sama transforming] there are 365 days in the year, but yesterday and today were the most important!'

then Todoroki-sama speaks about Kobayashi-sensei - 'we believe that he watches over all the actresses with a smile from a theatre somewhere'

Hanagumi corner presents a parody on 'Gubijin' and 'Exciter'. when Matobu-sama started singing and speaking in a high-pitched kawaii voice I could hardly prevent myself from LOLing so that my parents wouldn't wake up
as for the 'Exciter' theme song - I was astonished by Matobu-sama's vocal, the Troupe's vocal and the music itself. such an energy... *___* mitemitaaaai~
Yukigumi was showing 'Roge' and 'Solferino' and 'Rock on' numbers, but the concept was not really funny for me. Otozuki-sama was running with a chair attached by handcuffs... but that was not laughable really
Soragumi started with ''R''ising song, but... erm... why so poor singing??? ^^` unlike that, acting was superb. and Oozora-sama as Gin-chan throwing her shovel...? at the orchestra director Sasada-sensei and saying 'you may try conducting with it...'
'Funky Sunshine' theme 'sorapower' was not too impressive, to tell the truth

the second act full of nice average Zuka songs. I am not saying they are bad, they are just average, pleasant to listen but not too special
there was only one scene where some covers... no, not covers really, only elements of famous songs were performed such as 'Go Go Go Ale Ale Ale' and 'Besame Mucho'
and BTW, I don't want to sound rude but Soragumi really sing bad. I see them again on stage and all of them are pretty unimpressive, including Nono-sama. and Snow was not much better >___<
the second 'talk break' was marked by 'kawaikochan' entering the stage to give the Tops cool water and handkerchiefs
mess on the stage. everybody joking and laughing. Todoroki-sama - 'we're not backstage, so will you please calm down!'

finale was supposed to represent images of the cities where oversea performances were held. to tell the truth, I wasn't impressed much again... in my mind, the choice of singers for each song was wrong. for example, 'yesterday' didn't sound good in Oozora-sama's rather abrupt version, and vice versa 'New York New York' would be better by Oozora-sama instead of Matobu-sama

soooo this is a very good TCA, but the more I watch something like this the more I wonder how people who don't understand Japanese watch TCAs...

my humble opinion on TCA 2011 ~ ROFL!

well, I should thank our vk.com Takarazuka group for providing the videos, though not in a very nice quality

and the performance presents...

a ghost named Rantom of Umeda Arts Theatre in Flower corner

a beast from Algiers in Moon corner

a priest and a nun dancing a tango in Star corner

and warm words towards the Japanese citizens who experienced the earthquake in March

a must see

my humble opinion: Adieu Marseille by Flower Troupe (2007)

I decided not to write some experimental names of my further posts. it does have no meaning.

what I loved about the performance
and what seemeth to be a feature of the Flower Troupe in general, is the 'straightness' of it all. how shall I explain this term...

meseems, even the funny moments which are destined to introduce some comedy into the show are not the ones which you hear/see and laugh out loud until your stomach acheth, like the ones frequently used by my favourite Moonies, but the ones which make you slightly smile, because they are the 'calm' ones, the 'nice' ones, if you let me call them this way.

Sumire-sama herself seemeth to radiate some kind of confidence and calmness, too. the very first time I watched some short parts of her performances I felt how 'dependable' she is, though actually I can use the same word to describe all of the siennas, but the 'dependableness' of hers is quite different from that of my adorable Moon siennas, it is much more 'solid' and 'firm', and it seemeth to belong to a LSE which I prefer to call Stirlitz (or ESTj in Myers-Briggs terms), if someone is aware of what I dare to speak about.

 

what I dislike about the show about the plot in particular, is its ending. call me a childish person or whatever you want, I love the happy-ending scenarios, or the ones which have a sad ending justified by some circumstances, but not the ones where people spoil their life with their own decisions. it is silly, in my opinion, for a lonely man to leave a woman who is saying she wanteth to share his life and go with him, as it is an unnecessary sacrifice based on delusions. I can see no reason why Marianne could not go to the USA or Gerard could not come back to Marseille, if not the same moment when the case was solved, but at least some months or years later. that they parted forever is clear from the words by Gerard: 'thou movest towards your future, and I move towards mine'. it is obvious they had no intention to meet again, though they decided to stay in touch. it is great if people can be happy with their work or something like this, but it does seem impossible for me to be happy without a person whom you love by your side.

that is why I prefer Edward VIII, who stated that he could not carry the responsibilities of a king without the support of his beloved. that is why I prefer the Moon Troupe, as for now.

at the same moment I was very happy for Simon and Jeanne, who seem to be such great people and such a good couple, if only I can consider them a couple. as far as I remember it was never officially stated, but I hope I am wright in my impression. at first, Jeanne seemed a little arrogant, but then she proved to be very supporting, inventive and caring, so I actually liked her even more than the main female character. the fact that she was portrayed by an otokoyaku also adds some charm to her. though, their parts did not show me much of their artistic skills, so I am still unsure about how I like or dislike their style of performing.

I tried very hard to find anything good in Sou-san
but I could not. she seemed quite average to me and no line of hers made me notice anything special about her. I can not be sure my opinion would not change, but I still think it would be a waste if she by any chance becometh the next Moon Top.

I feel I should say a couple of words about something apart from the plot itself
but what can I say? the singing and dancing is perfect, as ever. by the way, I heard Sumika-chan's voice for the first time and I should say I did not like it. the more I listen to different kinds of voices, the more I like the Yuki-chan's type, though it seemed to be a little strange in the beginning. still, it is much more attarctive for me, as it is not too tragic and not exessively cheerful, not too sweet and not too impassive.

how shall I name this feeling?

it was really shocking... I caught my hand while it was almost clicking the button which changeth the speed of playing the video. that meaneth, I was already going to skip a scene.

it would be all right if not for one circumstance: it was 'Adieu Marseille' what I was watching. and it was Haruno-sama who was singing.

never ever I was feeling bored while watching so much that I could skip a scene.

what is the reason of that boredom if I deliberately chose the performance I have already seen a scene from, and where Haruno-sama is playing, who seems to be interesting to me, and I was completely aware that I was going to watch the Flower Troupe in order to widen my 'Zuka horizons'

I was quite conscious of what I do. and still...