Cleverly Disguised as a Responsible Adult

Ignore this if you don't know anything about Takarazuka ^^;

( No, really, I wasn't kidding ^^; )

So the Trafalgar poster is up on the Hankyu website.  Needless to say I'm thrilled that Micchan made it onto this one, given that the last time she was on a Daigekijou poster was Paradise Prince.  More than that, everyone looks very good and I'm pleased with the poster design.

We already know that Yuuhi will be playing Nelson and Sumika will be playing Emma.  What I'm not sure about is Tomu and Micchan.  Tomu is behind the French flag, so does that mean that she's supposed to be Napoleon?  And given that William Hamilton (Emma's husband) is a British diplomat and Micchan isn't in military costume, will Micchan be playing Hamilton?

I'm hoping this is the case.  Napoleon would be a change for pace for Tomu, who seems to be getting a lot of jilted husband/lover/etc. roles lately.  And according to the summary Hamilton quickly grows jealous of Nelson and starts sending him into dangerous battle after dangerous battle.  If this means I'll finally get my villainous Micchan, I'm be very pleased <3

Casablanca Talk Deluxe (February 2010 Graph)

Translated by muffin_song and wao_wao

My eternal thanks to Julie for letting me rope her into working on this <3  It was a lot of fun, and a really good learning experience for me <333

Please do not re-post or retranslate without permission.

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  ( Oozora Yuuhi, Ranju Tomu, and Hokushou Kairi discuss the Takarazuka production of Casablanca and the new Soragumi. )

 

The Shangri La poster looks even more like Final Fantasy X a video game XD  (The photoshopping only makes it moreso ^^;) But in all seriousness if this is any indication, I'm seriously excited for the costuming possibilities.

For the record, I think I'm predicting Tomu as the Dragon King and Micchan as part of the troupe of traveling entertainers.  (Unless it's Tomochin as the Dragon King, Tomu as the friend with the traveling entertainers, and Micchan in another role?)  Nah, I think I'm sticking to what I first said.  And then Tomochin can be Tomu's co-bad guy and Masako can also be wit te entertainers.

Oh, and I think Yuuhi used to be evil before she lost her memories XD  *scratches head* Maybe she's the Dragon King?

I'm scared of jinxing myself, but I'm really looking forward to this show <3

In other news, Yumiko's dinner show will be entitled "Thank you."  How sweet is that????  The fact that Nacchan is in there doesn't surprise me, and hopefully they'll do some Silver Rose Chronicle stuff..  Having Koma as well is an extra bonus <3

Since I've gotten home, I haven't managed to get any work done on my grad school admissions essays. And yet I seem to have found the time to finish my Casablanca review AND write a Christmas card to Micchan >.> For the record, I went into this show thinking of it as "Takarazuka Does Casablanca." I don't think anyone could be Humphrey Bogart, etc. so I tried to think of this "Casablanca" as a completely different animal.

 

( The Bad )

 

 

( The Good )

 

 

( Cast Rundown )

 

So in conclusion…no, it’s not an absolutely perfect show. But I really, really love it anyway, and I really recommend that everyone see it

Okay, so Micchan will be in the buyoukai again this year.    That makes for her fourth year in a row!  I'm afraid that like fine wine, the art of buyou escapes me.  It's something that I know has a lot of value, but I just don't know how to judge and appreciate everything that goes into it.  But if this is Micchan's fourth year in a row, I wonder if the company thinks that she's good at it?  (The first year was with tsukigumi, and the other three were/will be with soragumi).  Tomu is also in the cast, which will be her third year in a row o.O

Also in the cast are:

Senka: Matsumoto Yuri, Todoroki Yu, Kyou Misa, Kou Akemi, Ichihara Kei, Itsumine Aki, and Miho Keiko
Hoshigumi: Yuzuki Reon, Yumesaki Nene, Suzumi Shio, Tsurumi Mayuu, Shirotae Natsu, Kai Hayato, Asato Mao, Miharu Ayaka, Hishiro Yua, Makaze Suzuho, Seki Yutio, Kizaki Reo, Wakanatsu Ayame, Honjou Kureha
Soragumi: Oozora Yuuhi, Nono Sumika, Ranju Tomu, Hokushou Kairi

...It occurs to me that I may be in Japan for this.  I'm still waiting on an ochakai date, which will determine everything.

I worry about Micchan because this will be yet another extra thing she'll have to rehearse for.  (Then again, who knows, maybe she enjoys it.  I know she said that the 2006 buyoukai was one of her favorite performing experiences) But in between her dinner show, probably being in the 2009 TCA special, and now the buyoukai, I worry T_________T

Also, the speculation in this thread made me worried that Micchan or even Tomu would be pulled out of soragumi to be Kiriyan's nibante, maybe even before Casablanca.  I was starting to wonder if the lack of a Casablanca cast list was because Hankyu was waiting on some sort of transfer annoucnement (and they still might be.  I have a theory that I don't dare say out loud for fear of it not happening).  But if both Micchan and Tomu are announced to be in the buyoukai (which is in the middle of Casablanca's mura run) and they're doing so as soragumi members, then neither of them could be transferred out before mura senshuraku.

...as someone who is trying to make travel plans, this is very good news :D  Obviously I have opinions about what goes on after this, but I'm selfishly relieved that two of my favorite siennes will be in Casablanca.  After all, it's going to be much harder to get tickets to Last Play ;)

Oh dear, how did it become 1:30 in the morning? ^^;

So tonight I sat down and watched Casablanca.  It was AMAZING, and definitely deserves its status as a great American film.   If you haven't seen it, I really do recommend it.  I can feel my willpower and common sense melting, although it's not completely gone yet.

This only makes me more excited about the Takarazuka version.  I suspect it could be a very talk-y show, but it suits the atmosphere.  And I wonder how they'll incorporate "As Time Goes By" and the other songs?  Or maybe they'll have to go with other songs if getting the original copyright is a problem?

Anyway, I decided to write down my casting predictions.  I always like doing these and going back later to see how I did.  (For the record, I'd like to brag that wao_wao  and I predicted long before the summary of Paradise Prince was released that Tomu would be an evil, corporate villain trying to get Tani to sell out and Micchan would play Tani's friend XD)

 

( Here's looking at you, kid. )

 

I started rewatching bits of "Scout" tonight.  It's *such* a good show.  But...

( I talk about the ending of Scout in very general terms, but I'm putting this under a spoiler cut just in case )

------

I've decided that I'm torn on Masatsuka-sensei's shows in general.  On one hand, he's written a lot of really good, smart shows (Magician no Yuutsu, Scout, Bourbon Street Blues, Practical Joke, Futari Dake ga Waru, etc). 

However, as someone whose Japanese is passable at best, his shows tend to be VERY dialogue heavy (I prefer shows that have more songs).  And depending on the show, the vocabulary can be difficult to understand.  For example, I don't think I ever would have been able to follow Futari Dake if it weren't for ekusudei 's translation.  I'm a bit worried about Bara ni Furu Ame in this regard, *especially* since it's supposed to have a lot to do with business.

But even if there are business terms that I wouldn't even understand in English flying everywhere, I suppose chances are that it will at least be intelligent, and I'm always a fan of that.  Besides, I won't be seeing this one in the theaters, so even if it is extremely dialogue heavy it's not like I'm going to have to sit through it 5+ times.

I can't believe Zorro has already finished its Daigekijou run, Bara ni Furu Ame is about to start, and Touko and Asuka are about to retire.  I don't think I'm used to this new one-month schedule yet!

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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