Sena Jun retirement announcement

[matataku_hoshi]

...is anyone really surprised?

I have mixed feelings on this one.  I feel like Asako overstayed her time and I hated the fact that the company never gave her a new partner after Mihoko, but there are also performances of hers that I really love (Ernest and Love and Me and My Girl, namely).  Also, I got into fandom in January of 2007.  From the top stars of that time, only Mizu is left o.O

Whew, what a crazy year for retirements.

Comments

[palais.livejournal.com]

It will be sad to see her go, as she is indeed one of those "first faces of Takarazuka" that define my personal fandom. As is the general consensus, though, it is her time.

Is it essentially a given that Kiriyan will replace her?

[muffin-song.livejournal.com]

Is it essentially a given that Kiriyan will replace her?

You would think so. Kiriyan has been long overdue for a while now to become top.

(That being said, there are no "for sure"s in this fandom. We were all pretty sure that Tomu would become the next top of sora after Tani, although Tomu has not been waiting as long as Kiriyan).

But yeah, I'd be pretty surprised at this point if Kiriyan didn't make top. The real question for me is who will be her partner. My dream is Ai-chan, but my suspicion is that they'll go with someone else, as the company has not been favoring older musumeyaku lately. I just hope that 1) it's someone I like (or can at least tolerate), and 2) Ai-chan gets a good role to go out on, since I suspect that she'll also retire with Last Play.

[kirakira-sora.livejournal.com]

Maybe Alice?


That would be kinda weird....

[muffin-song.livejournal.com]

Alice would be perfectly acceptable as she is one of the few of my favorite musumeyaku who have NOT retired in the last year T_______T

I'm trying to decide if she and Kiriyan could work. Maybe? It's often hard to imagine without actually seeing them together.

*restrains self from commenting on Shizuku*

[kirakira-sora.livejournal.com]

I forgot about Shizuku....

[muffin-song.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to be optimistic by reminding myself that the choices are not always obvious. Mizu and Nacchan were paired together a few times (Kimi wo Aishiteru, Karamazov Brothers), so who would have thought that the company would have picked Mika instead?

I've been trying to ignore this new wave of top musumeyaku that I'm less than pleased with as a whole, but Kiriyan is sacred territory :P

[kirakira-sora.livejournal.com]

But that's not quite fair.. Nacchan is super talented and so is Mika. Shizuku is growing up, but I still find her fairly weak.

Though, frankly they are all far younger than I like.

[muffin-song.livejournal.com]

*decides to match the icon because after all, there is nothing that can't be blamed on Micchan XD*

But that's not quite fair.. Nacchan is super talented and so is Mika. Shizuku is growing up, but I still find her fairly weak.

Honestly, I don't know Mika that well. She seems okay enough. But Tonami was one of my favorite musumeyaku ever, so I'm feeling picky about her replacement.

Really, with all of these new musumeyaku, they're not so bad individually. But I hate how the trend is moving so young and cutesy, especially compared to Tonami and Asuka. Plus Mihoko and Ume-chan were at least out of their shinko years when they started. And if Hankyu was going to pick young musumeyaku, couldn't they have at least picked ones that I liked? :P

But Shizuku...yeah. My frustration is that she's being promoted over people who are more talented IMO :/

[kyttenfae.livejournal.com]

Mika is pretty much as close to Tonami as you can get within current Yukigumi, actually... I personally like Nacchan a little better, but that's a personal response not anything involved with their talent levels. Really though, Mika is amazingly a mini!Tonami, but isn't so much a clone that she doesn't have her own personality.

I 100% do agree though on the fact that I also wish they'd let the musumeyaku mature a little more before promotion... considering that your voice doesn't mature until late 20s/early 30s, the years of beautiful vocal music we're being forced to miss by musumeyaku aging out of the system through promotion or lack-thereof lately just sucks. :(

[palais.livejournal.com]

And if Hankyu was going to pick young musumeyaku, couldn't they have at least picked ones that I liked?

Agreeing that the trend is bothersome, and I'm right with you on this statement. I miss musumeyaku who were young ladies, not little girls.

[palais.livejournal.com]

It's rather depressing that a ken-9 musumeyaku is an "older" musumeyaku. The disparity in ages between otokoyaku and musumeyaku top stars is one I find rather annoying.

I will keep my fingers crossed for Ai-chan. :)

[muffin-song.livejournal.com]

It's rather depressing that a ken-9 musumeyaku is an "older" musumeyaku.

EXTREMELY. (I realize that there is a history of this throughout Takarazuka, but it still doesn't make me happy).

I miss musumeyaku who were young ladies, not little girls.

YES. I tend to like musumeyaku in two categories: 1) Mature (a la Asuka or Tonami), or 2) Spunky (a la Ume, Alice (who doesn't seem to take any nonsense offstage), Ai-chan, etc).

Anyway, I'll stop here, I might write a big post addressing this later.