Cleverly Disguised as a Responsible Adult

So yesterday I decided to rewatch A/L.  It had been over a year and it was fun to revisit it, especially since I know soragumi a lot better now than I did back then.  It's one of those silly, campy shows that I love.  And I'm always a sucker for a good secret identity tale.

I came to the conclusion that A/L and Bara ni Furu Ame are basically the same story, only with vastly different directing styles XD After all:

• Tani and Ume knew each other when they were younger but were separated.  They encounter each other again as adults (or in the case of BaraAme, when they're older)
• Tani is poor while Ume is from a wealthy family.
• Tomochin is the evil fiance who is actually after Ume's family's wealth.
• Ume has a bad relationship with her parents, who want her to get married to Tomochin for the wrong reasons.  Tani eventually has to rescue Ume from being forced into marrying Tomochin.

( Cut for vague and not-so-vague spoilers about the endings of A/L and Bara ni Furu Ame respectively )

In other news, the lack of a Casablanca cast list may cause me to pull my hair out, especially with people speculating in ekusudei 's entry that someone Micchan or Miwacchi's age would make a good nibante to Kiriyan.  (Er...not that I don't want Micchan and Kiriyan performing together, but it's complicated and would mess up my travel plans.  Which is an entirely different post.  *points* Go and watch A/L instead!  It's really cute).

So I had a dream that I was back in Japan, just in time to do demachi for Bara ni Furu Ame raku.  Only for some reason it was really low key.  (Maybe it wasn't raku, maybe it was just near the end of the run).  I was in line with my fellow cultists when I realized that the card I had brought didn't actually have any room for me to write on it.  I suddenly found myself having to run into Quatre Reves and buy a postcard BEFORE Micchan came out.

On my way into QR I ran into Ume-chan, who apparently in the dream universe I was friends with?  She actually decided to go into QR with me, and I was all, "Won't this be weird since you're a Takarasienne yourself?", and her respond was to smile and go "Shhhhh."

So there I was, frantically looking for a Hokushou Kairi postcard with Hizuki Hana o.O  I don't think we were able to find any, and so much time had passed that I was sure Micchan had already left.  I think I decided that I would have to do demachi another day -_-;

Somewhere in here she also invited me to her sayonara party <333333333  I was my flustered self and asked if this was really okay, and I think she gave me a phone number (not sure if it was hers).

Oh, my subconscious...

The preview image for Bara ni Furu Ame is up.  Tani and Ume-chan look angsty, but pretty.

I'm curious as to how Micchan (and Tomu) will factor into the poster.  Micchan was on the Valencia poster, but just had a little side picture on the Reimei no Kaze and Paradise Prince posters.  Same with Tomu.

Glancing at a couple of the other recent Daigekijou posters, they almost always include the nibante in at least a side picture, but not necessarily the sanbante.  I wonder which way it'll go for this one...

Of course I wouldn't complain if there was a glorious picture of Tani, Ume-chan, Tomu, and Micchan all together ;)
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Tonight I watched a DVD copy of the role switch for "Valencia no Atsui Hana."  The last time I saw the role switch (or the show at all) was fall of 2007, so it was interesting to go back and watch it again.

( Thoughts under the cut )

 

 

 

 

Coincidentally enough, the role switch was filmed right after Eriko got sick, but before Chigi had time to take over Eriko's role.  So in this performance, the role of Dan Juan Cardeo was played by...Kacha.  I think I'm a little freaked out by that omen.  (But maybe it means that if I work on Luna tonight, Kiriyan will be announced as the next hoshigumi top? XD)

Anyway, she did fine, but she looked a little young next to the honkouen cast...

So Tomu has a Bow Hall, which in of itself is awesome.  The fact that it's based off a video game and that Tomu will be Lawyer!Tomu makes it even better.

Whenever the nibante has a lead, the sanbante just about always stays with the top star in their show.  At this point I would be surprised if Micchan didn't go to BeruBara (unless she gets a dinner show, but you would think that would be announced by now).  That would make her the nibante under Tani, and given that Oscar is most likely the nibante role for this show, this points to Micchan being Oscar.

Julie (among others) is probably laughing at me for doubting any of this (and in fact did earlier today ^^;).  So many signs point to Micchan being Oscar, plus she is IMHO much more the Oscar type than any of the other candidates (I suppose Eriko too maybe?  But she's farther down the pecking order than Micchan).  And yet I'm really scared to get my hopes up.  After all, a lot of people predicted that Sou would be Oscar in the hanagumi version, and it ended up going to Miwacchi.

To be honest I'm not even that big of a BeruBara fan.  I like the manga and I really like how Oscar is one of the strongest characters in Takarazuka canon, but I'm not a fan of Ueda Shinji's directorial style and I find the whole thing too...pink.  And yet, Oscar is one of the most prominent roles in Takarazuka history, and Micchan would be lucky to have an opportunity to play her.  Assuming of course that she's not reeling at the idea of having to play her second female role in less than a year, but I suppose that Oscar doesn't count as your typical female role ;)

Of course Ume-chan could also be Oscar, but I'm doubtful of this since given that Ayane-chan wasn't given Oscar in hanagumi's BeruBara.  I feel like I should be should be campaigning for Musumeyaku Rights and I really like Ume, but...I want Micchan!Oscar.  Given that she's such a Tani fangirl it would be hillarious to see her paired with Tani, and I really just see her being the type for the role.

I have a little hope, but I'm still scared to get my hopes up too much.  Like many other people, I will be reloading and reloading the Hankyu page eagerly until a casting announcement goes up some distant day in the future.

ETA: I'm also intrigued by the soragumi Bow Hall slot in August.  I don't think it would go to Tomu since she just had a lead.  That would make Micchan the next most likely candidate (which is needless to say exciting), but do sanbante get leads that go to both Kansai and Tokyo?  This could just as likely turn out to be a Tom show *shrug*

I went back to Kimi wo Aishiteru/Mirroirs last night.  This isn't really a review, but I have some notes anyway.

In other news, there was a flyer for Singin’ in the Rain (not the final version, obviously).  Ume-chan was still listed as the lead.  I would guess that it was printed post-Ume’s accident, so knock on wood this means that she’s hopefully still going to be the musumeyaku lead.  There was also a picture of Tani in the Don Lockwood coat (looking good ^^) as well as a couple of Tani and Ume.  I’m not sure if the latter were from the hoshigumi production, though.

This was another one that I found on VHS at Takarazuka-an.  I’m afraid I have to confess that I’ve never seen a full version of BeruBara until now.  I’ve seen the Kiriyan digest, which on first viewing I thought was only so-so and rather overdone.  At the time, I thought it just wasn’t Kiriyan’s best role.  In retrospect I think I just wasn’t prepared for exactly what BeruBara is.  

In other news, exactly why did I get so fixed on this idea of going to the Mahoroba senshuraku?  I tried bidding on one ticket and lost, and I have a feeling I’m going to get outbid on another.  I’m not sure if I can get anything for less than 20,000 yen.  With that money I could go see the show almost three times in S-seki on other days.

Is there any chance of getting something through the general sale?  I have a feeling I’m going to start having dreams about the Loppi machine at Lawsons…

A/L review

This was originally posted to takarazukaunder cherrytop, my journal chronicling real life.  As in things that aren't Zuka ^_^