#takarazuka fashion

[yaomeis]

GRAPH 2023 January — Flower Troupe Special Photo Selection, scanned by me ♡

#takarazuka #yuzuka rei #flower troupe #Hoshikaze Madoka #hanagumi #takarazuka revue #Hiryuu Tsukasa #seino asuka #towaki sea #hozumi mahiro #minami maito #my stuff #my scans #top hat #franz liszt #Fashionable Empire

[perioddramapolls]

Period dramas dresses tournament: Pink dresses Round 1- Group D: Juliet Capulet, Romeo et Juliette (in the second gif of this gifset) vs Lena hatun, Kurulus Osman (in the 5th & 7th pics of this pic set)

#period drama dresses tournament #tournament poll #tumblr tournament #polls #fashion poll #juliet capulet #romeo et juliette #retj takarazuka #lena hatun #kuruluş osman #kurulus osman #pink r1

[cabb842]

mondstadt knight and her liyue princess ✨✨🎶🎶

#eufei #genshin impact #yanfei #eula #it was inspired by Takarazuka's Haikara-san #please check the play out i'm obsessed #military uniform x period fashion chef kiss

[liminal-roses]

prettiest

#off topic but why Japanese fashion likes all these weird shapes #and cuts #takarazuka og #nanami hiroki #miya rurika

[ladies-and-jennes]

Takarazuka Revue hired the fashion team for Fall Out Boy in 2006 and told them to do their worst on her

#rei makoto #me and non-takarazuka-fan-friend have a Segment where I dig up pre-top star pictures of her and we play Fashion Police #i mean the first one isnt that bad but it goes downnnfill #they know how to treat her RIGHT now but gosh she had to go Through It in the early-mid 2010s

[jmarcenciell]

Abel anf JC - party outfit

(Abel kinda looks like a Zuka actress lol)

#digital art #oc #original character #character design #oc design #design #fashion #sketch #outfit #gala #party #sexy #twisted wonderland #abel #jc #yana toboso #fairy #takarazuka #musical

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

Alright, I took a quick nap and Ive decided that I wanna get the UTM reenactment over with as quickly as possible so Im reading chapter 42 and then I'll reward myself with some pain au chocolats and not thinking about this book for the rest of the day and watching the 2002 takarazuka flower troupe production of elisabeth instead. lets go

Chapter 42

here we fucking go with the illyrian wingspan-dicksize correlation, how would Amren even know that isnt she above sex or something. Honestly, I think Cassian would know wayyyyy more about that. on account of all the gay sex hes having i mean. I thought of that joke and then I realized that you could interpret it to mean that he knows about that because hes illyrian and has a dick, but I want to make it very clear that this is a gay sex joke

how come wings are so sensitive that just barely stroking them makes you moan and shudder but you can still fly with them in harsh winds with no issue. My headcanon is that wings arent actually that sensitive, Rhysand and Cassian are just weirdos with a specific kink

This conversation Feyre and Rhys are having about his wings is so weird, its like dirty and yet uncomfortably clinical

oh Rhysand is quicker than death just fucking kill me, im getting so angry again

Syphons are called 'Trichtersteine' ['funnel stones' or 'funnel gems'] in german which is more accurate to how we're actually told they work imo but it sounds pretty lame

Is it just me or is Rhysand being kinda weirdly paranoid rn. I mean granted, they did just get attacked with ash arrows so maybe hes actually doing a good job for once and Im just biased against him

Okay so we finally get some night court fae wearing white, but of course its not for moon symbolism its so they can blend in with the rock of the mountain because this series does nothing but disappoint me

The Hewn City actually sounds really cool, why couldnt this have been the secret city where we spend most of our time, you couldve made it a whole thing about Feyre healing from her trauma UTM through like, exposure therapy or something idk. That wouldve been neat and dramatic, her healing from her UTM trauma in the place that inspired it with the person that inflicted it. I mean, maybe that would be less healthy and even more controversial than Feysand already is but then you could atleast lean into the dark romance of it

I mightve said this already but you knowwww sjm is NOT a painter and consulted ZERO painters because Ive never heard of anyone think about creating art the way feyre does

and Mor is wearing red AGAIN why would you make this a trigger for Feyre just go back and edit it out its not like it matters

God, the description of her outfit is so deeply discomfortingl like it literally is exactly what she wore while she was being drugged assaulted but atleast they left the bodypaint out this time

"[Keir] looked at my face, then my body. I had thought that he would stare and drool greedily but... there was nothing. No emotion. Just ice cold. Shaking internally, - from anger and revulsion - I followed Mor." Im sorry, is she mad that Keir doesnt find her hot????

Theres something uncomfortable about Feyre referring to Rhysand as 'Mor's Lord' especially when we just had a whole paragraph describing her as a proud and empowered queen

"Usually, one Syphon was enough for an Illyrian to to able to steer his urge to kill down the right path." what???

Now shes describing Azriel as dark and beautiful as death and oughhhhhh i knoww im the only who cares about this and its for a pretty stupid reason but I care a lot and it makes me very angry

Feyre referring to a 19 year old Mor as 'barely more than a child' is weirdddddd

of COURSE hes wearing a black tunic for this, I cant believe this is the guy that the fandom has designated the fashion lover when he has two (2) outfits

Feyre describing Rhysand as sooooo powerful and beautiful with a face of nightmares and dreams makes me want to vomit, but more importantly, it makes me yearn to rewatch the 1996 takarazuka star troupe production of Elisabeth with Asaji Saki as Death who unirionically fits all of Feyres descriptors 1000 times better

Not Rhysand using Feyres Cursebreaker title while hes thoroughly humiliating her

Now Feyre is calling him a god, bro youre not gonna be able to have sex if you jack him off this hard hes gonna be all sore

Imagine being a hewn city noble and you all get together because your high lord wants something from you and youre kinda scared because hes the worst, and then you just have to watch him finger some random lady. and you cant leave because then he'll just kill you

I dont like that this is framed as empowering to Feyre, i think its one thing to write a female character who sexualises herself in order to empower herself but the fact that Feyre is doing this at the behest of Rhys automatically renders it non-empowering to me. Like yeah, she obviously consented to this but it wasnt her idea but this was not her idea and this is not something she usually does, the only times shes been sexualized like this is because it was part of some plan that Rhysand came up with

"[Keir] apparently clung to the power. But Rhys was the power." i hate that that sentence made me think of Keir/Rhysand as a ship why am I so goddamn yaoi-brained. And yeah, i know theyre related but according to Rhys himself, he and Mor are only cousins in the most distant sense, so. Man, that would make the IC dynamics so much more fucked up but also so much funnier

Theyre trying so hard to make this hot n sexy but its just so unappealing and dragged out. Granted, sorry if this is TMI, but I did just jerk off so Im all out of horniness for the next little while so maybe I just dont like this because Im not in the mood but idk. theres something so annoying about this, i think its how over-the-top and artificial Rhysands hotness feels, not to mention the fact that he is absolutely not my type

Imagine being Keir rn, just trying to do your job and tell your high lord everything that he needs to know, meanwhile his high lord is sitting in front of him fondling his new sex slave and you just have to keep a straight face. i mean, he sucks ass so i guess he deserves it but man

Presented to you with no further comment: "My breasts became heavy and full, longing, desiring, just like my crotch."

goddamnit, Rhysand just said that he put Feyre on his leash and then Keir made a kinda slutshame-y remark about her clothes and then I thought Rhys was like "maybe I'll put you on a leash too" but it was Feyre who said that. another loss for big gay incest

"He liked this as little as I did" uhhhhh no offense girlie but you actually seem to be having a pretty great time rn

I dont even know what to say about this part where Feyre is like, detaching herself from her thoughts that are calling her a traitor a liar and a whore ?? I think thats whats happening here?? Like, its trying so hard to be sexy but its invoking the imagery of Feyre's (and even Rhysand's) trauma and its just very strange

It took Rhys a fucking eternity to actually touch her pussy

What if Keir developed a voyerism kink because of this. would that be fucked up or what

Its so weird how Feyre thinks about how maybe Rhysand doesnt like sex or being desirable anymore because of amarantha and that certainly sounds like a trauma response he should have but instead it just never matters

"I had been tortured and tormented but my pain was nothing compared to his." YOU DIED

Oh man I cant believe I completely forgot about the absolutely iconic part where Rhysand gets so mad Keir for calling the woman he introduced as a whore a whore that he telepathically breaks his hand about it

what was the point of doing that, Feyre didnt even seem to like it that much

#anti acotar #anti sjm #anti acomaf #anti rhysand #anti feysand #flames and darkness liveblog

[animefeminist]

Boys Run the Riot, Visual Kei, and Gender Euphoria Through Fashion

Content Warning: Discussion of transphobia, dysphoria

Identity exists in a large, tangled mess of intersections that culminates into lived experience. Gender identity, self expression, and ethnicity are so intertwined that it would be hard to discuss one without discussing the others. As a Japanese trans man, all of these things have come into play in relation to my self-expression and identity. One of the things I found solace and euphoria in, as a teenager, was clothing. Clothing allowed me to express and present my identity as I knew myself, and was an early gateway to outer expression as a trans man.

Self-expression through clothing has always been a part of the LGBTQ+ community. The first image that may come to mind is the drag scene in particular, where Drag Queens and Drag Kings come together to express themselves in ways that are otherwise non-conforming to society’s standards. “Drag” or, specifically, crossdressing has existed in Japan since the 1800’s, with kabuki theater being a prominent example. In the 20th century the Takarazuka Revue was formed, which was an all-female theater group created in opposition to kabuki theater.

Read it at Anime Feminist!

#visual kei #x japan #boys run the riot #transgender #trans pride #gender euphoria #pride month #trans creator #lgbtq+ #articles

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

Can you talk a little more about masculinity and femininity in ocelot? Sounds interesting

Hello Anon!

Sure, I can do that. I guess a good way to explain myself first (and hopefully a little better than I did in the takarazuka ask) would be how I personally perceive masculinity and femininity.

The definitions of the concepts, according to Websters dictionary, are defined as such:

Masculinity: The quality or nature of the male sex. Femininity: The quality or nature of the female sex.

As another quick note, I'll add that this isn't going to delve too hard into whether these qualities are 'good' or 'bad' in regards to Ocelot. Some of them are good qualities, but Ocelot often puts them to use in a sinister fashion, being. Well.

Ocelot. In this case 'masculine' qualities would be, say, 'aggressive, physically strong, abrasive, robust' where as 'feminine' qualities would be, 'soft, nurturing, gentle, reserved'.

Obviously, my immediate issue is that these definitions are rooted in biological sex characteristics, with the stickier territory of sex and gender correlating because biology dictates certain personality traits. I'm not going to over-complicate it by going into a deeper 'nature vs nurture' or sex VS gender argument. And, for the sake of ease I'll start by describing what one might consider how these qualities are implied/shown in Ocelot in particular.

Ocelot's personality (or what he tells people his personality is) has characteristics of the following:

Men are often considered to have more 'instinct rooted' natures. They're more often considered less feeling (something we know is very untrue but they're given less space to discuss their feelings properly). They are described as strong, daring. A lot of characteristics that get defined in the ways to which they are physically robust and skilled.

Or, in ways they can be useful based on those traits.

Women, by contrast, get considered more 'delicate' and nature based. What they can provide and offer people is given a critical eye (such as how many are described as nurturing, devoted) how they can provide, and their mental capabilities. Since the flip of the coin is that they are also considered more emotionally rooted, thus, they're described as 'manipulative and scheming' when written in a negative light.

(Also, a long time back, and never on Tumblr, I had the thought that Kaz's own story is written very 'female coded' to me. Being a scorned, jaded lover more known for his hysterical, temperamental personality and emotion being his driving force, robbed of his agency with torture and the like, and how revenge stories can often be common in female lead roles BUT that is a whole different thing so uh anyway carrying on.)

Ocelot's main, grounding root is that he is 100% endlessly devoted to Big Boss. It does not matter who suffers because of it, it does not matter how many people die, what matters is that the love of Ocelot's life is given his just due. And Ocelot remains by his side (physically and otherwise, even when BB himself is out of the picture) until his own death.

He's flamboyant. Full of a 'quirky' style of dress, makes a statement whenever he walks into a room. Does loud, bold hand gestures. Makes all kinds of crack statements, and generally draws the audiences attention in these ways. While he's more 'subdued' in MGSV, he still dresses a little 'strange' wears spurs around base, and keeps medium-length, free-flowing hair with long eyelashes and a more even-toned, level head.

Ocelot being a mediator is an extremely funny spot for him to be in, but like any of his performances, he nails it. Mum friend Ocelot, (if the mum friend is hypnotized to hell and of course, secretly antagonistic but again, Ocelot).

On the other hand, he's extremely obsessed with the 'ultra masculine' things; like guns, the American West, hand to hand combat (his CQC is some of the best in the series, I've seen it argued), men-or well, one man in particular. In any case, that's actually a different topic in it's own way, and a different essay.

I'd also note, the guns and such aside, he has a lot of his mother's personality traits, (from what we know of her anyway). The Boss was manipulative, cunning. Physically strong, robust. Driven by emotions, but physically domineering in a way that people knew damned well to take seriously.

Who else got Volgin to tuck tail?

Yet-despite this, her story is one of sacrifice. Her having Ocelot in the first place as well quietly key to her character, written on her chest in a deep scar that reminds the audience, this is a woman. Using the conventional aspects society deems relevant to women, and the ones we've all heard before.

Ocelot's story, ends on the note of reminding the world (the players) that he died for a man. That he loved and adored. His story gets slightly elevated from reminding you that 'this is a man' and more into the territory of 'this is a person with a story' which I find interesting, and a bit sad, on the Boss' part. Because while there's a distinctly 'feminine element' to that, he's not given the hammer home of 'this is a man's story!"

Because men get lots of stories. Men get all kinds of stories. That are not completely rooted in their masculinity (or their femininity, for that matter. Unless the story chooses to be about that). And I feel as if I've gone a touch off topic this way, but I know what I'm trying to say.

Ocelot, (and his mother, and so many) MGS characters are a good mix of masculine and feminine. One could make a post like this for all of the characters, but there is something to be said on the 'this is WOMAN' point getting hammered home a bit harder when it is the female characters.

But, that is another thing entirely. Once again. I feel like I'll never 100% stay fully on topic in an ask eh?

As an aside, is meowing masculine or feminine? We shall never know.

#revolver ocelot #thoughts posts #nate rambles #mgs #nates headcanons #kazuhira miller #well a snippet of kaz cos i went on a mild tangent but anyway #character posts: revolver ocelot #asks #answered asks

[littleeyesofpallas]

Bleach’s Issue with Queer characters (3/3)

So then there’s Giselle (and to a less canon extent Shutara) who I think Kubo erroneously categorizes as similar to both eachother and to the above gay men stereotypes.  And I think understanding Kubo’s approach to Giselle hinges on what he set up (but didn’t follow through on) with Shutara.

I’ve mentioned before, but I’m pretty certain think Shutara Senjumaru is meant to be a kabuki onnagata*.  Not in-world, mind you; I don’t think she is somehow employed as an actor in a literal kabuki theater. (i would hope that was obvious, but one can never be too sure...)  Just like Tier Harribel isn’t literally a light skinned, dark haired person doing gyaru/ganguro fashion, her presumably naturally tan skin and blonde hair is based on the general aesthetic.  Shutara likewise is channeling distinct look and feel that draws from a mix of oiran, geisha, and kabuki aesthetics. (granted all three are closely related in influencing one another’s aesthetics in the first place)

But while the look and even the demeanor tend to play all three ways, I think the particular fixation on clothes, costuming, and the somewhat adjacent theme of “disguise” that Kubo has shown to put emphasis on in this kinds of situations, as well as the fact that he gave her a distinctly masculine name, Senjuumaru, point to her being some form of queer, albeit something Kubo seems to pretty clearly lack the understanding to better articulate himself.  Is she a trans woman?  Gender fluid?  A male identifying transvestite?  There’s not enough real material for us to draw that particular line, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to conclude that she’s not a cis woman.

*Kabuki is traditionally an all-male theater form, and “onnagata” refers to actors who specialize in playing women roles.  Generally all actors train in the delineated masculine and feminine styles, but an actor’s career sticks to just one or the other...

...There is a whole big thing about how cultural institutions like kabuki and takarazuka theaters’ creation of socially acceptable and even celebrated, public and professional genderqueer spaces creates a myriad of gender dynamics that just don’t exist in the West, and it’s something that has made the attempt to adopt a globalized understanding of queer identity a little trickier in Japan:

In the West the gender binary was rigidly enforced such that to explore alternatives was basically uncharted territory (that’s an oversimplification, but you know what I mean; There’s a lack of contiguity with those who came before) but with japan there were already nonbinary spaces in place, and the lines around those don’t neatly line up with the ethnocentric western ideas some people try to pigeonhole those into.  In general, it gets dangerously close to just flat up colonizer rhetoric.

(forgive the outdated reference image, but honestly I don’t know what even counts as a recognizable example of a “““trap”” character these days.  And I use that term with GREAT reluctance, but I want to differentiate the exploitative cliche usage of a trans caricature from any actual representational trans character.)

Anyway...  That all just leaves Giselle.  And let’s be real, there’s no excuse for this one.  Maybe that seems like a weird anticlimactic place to take this series of posts... like, after all this, maybe it feels like I should’ve had some equally obtuse logic to explain this one away as a matter of escalation or as a Rule of Threes.  But no, not really.  I just think it’s a little unreasonable to treat the massive screwup that was Giselle’s portrayal as part of some sort of bigger ongoing trend, when it’s really more of an unrelated outlier in a bigger umbrella subject.

She is in fact a bad case of the long standing anime/manga fetishization of transwomen as a concept, as a spectacle to be gawked at and made the butt of jokes or to be included specifically as an anomaly.  And in Giselle’s case her specific depiction as a depraved, physically/sexually abusive villain on top of that is an explicitly toxic combination.

In spite of that, I still don’t think Kubo actually meant for it to reflect poorly (not that that matters or diminishes its harmfulness) I think he genuinely just has no real grasp of what that kind of characterization means.  I say that largely because of the way he treats a lot of her role in the plot.  Not that she’s integral to moving it forward, but that she occupies space and survives in the plot as long as she does, even when she could've been conveniently (and frankly more neatly) written out;

He seems to like drawing her and gives her a range of expressions and gestures (something he doesn't afford all his characters, even some of his major ones)

He likes to expand on her powers and gimmicks beyond what was necessary if he'd been aiming for minimum effort

He even paired her off against his personal favorite character, Mayuri.

Point being, Kubo seems to personally like Giselle as a character, but he took a horrible insensitive and ignorant path in writing her character.

But an undeniable fact is, she’s not alone as this kind of villain, she’s just the only one that happens to be trans.*  Mayuri himself, Aaroniero, Szayelaporro, Zomarri (just a little bit), Tousen (at the very end), Tsukishima, As Nodt, Gremmy (a little), and Askin all to some degree dip into this shtick Kubo does where his villains aren’t just sadistic but ecstatically so, to the point of intoxicated, gleeful derangement.  Yet in spite of that, those characters are all usually meant to be “cool,” not detestable.

Remember, Mayuri was initially written as, hands down, the most despicable characters in Bleach —he was abusive and sadistic, misogynistic, actually physically grotesque, predatory, dishonorable sneaky & underhanded, complicit in a genocide, just in general a clearly communicated mad scientist villain, and he was all of this in direct and deliberate contrast to Uryuu’s chivalrous personality type(already established in his defending Orihime from Jiroubou) as well as Nemu’s noble stoic subservient victimhood— and yet he’s also Kubo’s favorite character in the series.  Kubo doesn’t actually write Giselle any particularly worse than the others, BUT he also doesn’t disassociate her being trans from her being villainous, and again, even incidentally, that manages to perpetuate a harmful narrative in the overall.

*(Actually, I’ve kinda touched on it before but I sort of suspect Mayuri could be trans, in which case; OOPS, that makes two, and that doesn’t make it better....)

[1][2][3]

#bleach #bleach meta #KUBO TITE #senjumaru shutara #giselle gewelle #geez this thing is so old that bridget wasn't even reintroduced to guilty gear yet #in fact strIVe wasn't even a thing on the horizon this far back #also weird that preupdate drafts still adhere to outdated formatting #because typing these tags now and editing these drafts #is working on weird janky tumblr formats that i kind of forgot existed #anyway like i already said in the tags of part 2 #im kind of super not satisfied with the wording on a lot of this #feels muddled #and i think i sort of lost track of the root of things #where someone was calling kubo ''obviously'' transphobic #and i think that's not entirely accurate #even if the bottom line almost doesnt make any difference #but there's a difference between ignorance and insensitive #and just outright malice #but the former is very much fixable and even reclaimable #the latter is absolutely not #again tho i get why to a lot of people that doesn't really make a difference #even this far out i dunno how i thought i was gonna end this #or how id do it any differently if i tried now

[kuruk]

If I'm going to face reality I need to accept that I probably won't end up marrying an elegant gothic vampire girl prince bifauxnen (makeupless) takarazuka otokoyaku type of masc lesbian at all.. my future female husband will probaybly actually be completely opposite to me in aesthetics and sense of fashion like always and thqts okay as long as they have all my favorite things wrong with them but I can't say here or people will get mad qt me

#my type isnt even thqt narrow actually it's just cool masc lesbians in general 😑

[ball-jointed-bi]

intro to my blog?? is that what we’re calling these things?? idk, my friend told me to get tumblr so..

🕯️💙🦢🦋☁️ My name is Aisha, Shishi, The Creature ™️, Duck, or just Aish. I’m 19, INFP 4w5, and a Virgo, if you’re into that stuff (￢‿￢ )

i’m also biromantic and asexual (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

My interests aaaree;

Classical Music / Ballet

Visual Kei (Malice Mizer, Lareine, Shazna, Moi Dix Mois, Buck-Tick, Versailles, Ali Project etc..)

Rozen Maiden

Princess Tutu

Black Butler

Elegant Gothic Lolita

Interview with the Vampire

Dracula

Castlevania

Revolutionary Girl Utena

What We Do in the Shadows

BBC Ghosts

Rose of Versailles

Pokémon

Ball Jointed / Porcellain Dolls

Little Nightmares

Gothic Art forms (literature, architecture etc)

Historical Fashion and Art

Birds

Dungeons and Dragons

Character Design

Takarazuka

Please interact if you want to be friends !

＼(￣▽￣)／

#rococo #ali project #princess tutu #vampire #takarazuka #shazna #rozen maiden #rose of versailles #visual kei #ball jointed doll #pokemon #gothic lolita #Spotify

[tsunflowers]

dumb and disrespectful bc shugods clearly have minds of their own so no one should control them

only if ishabanan fashion is takarazuka fashion

this seems fine

VALID NO QUESTIONS ASKED

#king bugs

[mostly-mundane-atla]

Reading Berserk is an interesting experience as an Avatar fan because it does the same aesthetic mishmashing of European cultures that Avatar does with Asian cultures. I'm usually quite unimpressed with the portrayal of European historical fashions in Japanese media because from my experience unless it's like a Takarazuka Rose of Verseille production, it tends to be very stereotypical and not very well researched. Berserk, on the other hand, is a fantasy but the clothing styles are very grounded in history, with some anachronistic acessories. The actual eras being drawn from varies, sometimes even for the same character, but with a generous handful of exceptions the clothes worn by the characters look like actual garments worn by actual folks some hundreds of years ago. (Also the fashionable clothes mostly look early 17th century which is waaaaaay later than the alleged Dark Ages setting but i'm not arguing about that on my avatar blog)

And with Avatar, almost every time i think a character's clothing design was entirely based in fantasy, it turns out to be a reference to theatrical traditions or an ethnic minority that isn't talked about as much

#other interests #berserk

[yuzukahibiscus]

That’s TAKARAZUKA 2023 Flower Troupe

LOOK BACK on 2022 – You can feel their resilience and strength after overcoming the tribulations.

（The performance is Genroku. The Mizu Sumitomo Visa Card Theatre Musical “Genroku Baroque Rock” is full of glamorous costumes.)

From January, Yuzuka-san and Hoshikaze Madoka-san became the new Top Combi and started Flower Troupe’s 2022, going through a turbulent year. The year began with the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre performance – a story of Chūshingura added with time traveling elements “Genroku Baroque Rock” and the show celebrating Flower Troupe’s 100th anniversary “The Fascination! – Flower Troupe’s 100th Anniversary To The Future and Beyond–”. But it was forced to stop right after it started and even though it reopened later, it was ultimately a performance period of 12 days. 

(Yuzuka-san was what people discussed a lot, as she not only played the beautiful pianist Liszt in “Years of Pilgrimage” but also for actually performing the piano live.)

In the next Grand Theatre performance, it is the musical portraying the life of the piano magician Liszt “Years of Pilgrimage~The Wandering Soul of Liszt Ferenc” and the stylish show “Fashionable Empire”. In the Tokyo performances also, the first day opened a few days later but it was announced that there were suspensions again and the performance reopened only on the last day (Senshuuraku). But the Senshuuraku performance was the thing to believe that it’s not just about feeling negative – I believe that was what the Flower Troupe members were thinking on the day. That it was a stage that’s not too forceful, but sincere and passionate; that it’s enriching with precision rather than leaving a blank. Especially the thing that caught my eye was how powerful the group dances were. That’s how strong the resilience of the troupe is, with Top Star Yuzuka-san in the centre. We are looking forward to Flower Troupe in 2023 as they accumulate and become a level stronger in resilience.

Q: What kind of troupe is Flower Troupe?

From Yuzuka-san:

Everyone is cheerful and bright and are wonderful kids that are moving forward enthusiastically. I’m thankful for them. Their energy in rehearsals are amazing, and I’m happy they can perform on stage with such liveliness and vividness. From now on, I’d be thankful that everyone could always be professional and aspire to improve, being a troupe that is honing and improving.

From Minami-san:

They’re very bright and I feel that everyone including the underclassmen have their own objectives and are progressing towards then. They have a passion for the performing arts. The underclassmen are always learning from the upperclassmen. The upperclassmen would also be the first in position ready to teach them, and when I see that every time, I’d think this is a good troupe.

From Towaki-san:

We’re a troupe that’s often growing and expanding to be better. That otokoyaku and musumeyaku are all enjoying to focus on the key points of being otokoyaku and musumeyaku and I feel that we respect each other.

Q: What kind of person is Hoshikaze Madoka-san? 

From Yuzuka-san:

I’ve been thinking of this ever since we’re a combi, but she’s quick at understanding what I want to do. I am truly grateful for her being straightforward, playful and ambitious and she enjoys the process of transforming with me. It's been about a year and a half since we started working together, but I feel like we'll be together even longer.

NEXT STAGE – This is the Takarazuka CLASSIC. A classical performance portrayed in Reiwa (year). 

Flower Troupe is starting January in the Takarazuka Grand Theatre with the two-set show of “MAYERLING” and “ENCHANTEMENT–A Luxurious Perfume–”. “MAYERLING” portrays the historical story of the misfortunate Austria Crown Prince Rudolf as the protagonist, a masterpiece performed again ever since the premiere in 1983. The one who wrote the script, Shibata Yukihiro-san was a longtime playwright and director of Takarazuka Revue ever since the ‘60s. Yuzuka-san led Flower Troupe to perform “Sorrowful Cordoba” in 2021, “Love Burns in Firenze” in 2022 for the national tour performances. The Shibata works have a classical depth to it and when they were performed by Yuzuka-san who’s modern and stylish, she adds smartness and reality to the melodrama. Yuzuka-san played Rudolf once in “Elisabeth – The Rondo of Love and Death”, and she enjoys it very much to pursue the portrayal of the ultimate love. At the same time “ENCHANTEMENT” is a show with perfume as a theme. From the title, it is a word meaning “magical” and “rapture”. It’s a performance that is sometimes sweet, sometimes spicy and exotic, one that is gorgeously charming.

Q: Please tell us about your favourite scents. 

From Yuzuka-san:

I love citrus smells when I’m in underclassmen times…recently I like something that’s a little stronger and deeper…compared to flower aromas, I like scents that are sweet like vanilla more. Also, when I clean the room, I open the window for a refresh of air, I love to light some aroma scented (candles) in the room.

From Minami-san:

I like the citrus and fresh kind of scents. I'm actually very sensitive to smell, so if it’s car refresher or car perfumes, I don’t like those with strong synthetic smell. I think scents I like can affect those around me, so I’ve been using perfumes a lot these years. Recently I like the laundry smell the most.

From Towaki-san:

Even though I like almost all kinds of good scents, recently among those scents, I like those with smoky aroma. That’s why instead of aroma candles, I’m the kind that likes the charcoal or incense smell. Recently, my favourite is using a spicy or smoky kind of spray type to fill the room with fragrance.

(Admin’s note: This is the last of the ANAN Translation series! 💙）

#yuzuka rei #hoshikaze madoka #minami maito #towaki sea #flower troupe #takarazuka #takarazuka revue #hibiscustranslation #柚香光 #水美舞斗 #永久輝せあ

[avaantares]

@the-old-fashioned-girl:

Since you mentioned some of the sequels are better than the original, which ones do you recommend?? (I've only read the og novel)

(in reference to this post)

There are several great titles in the series, but I'll limit myself (or else we'll be here all week, LOL).

Eldorado is the sequel most SP fans are familiar with, as it provided the expanded plot for several adaptations, including the 1982 miniseries starring Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour and Ian McKellen, as well as the Takarazuka version of the Frank Wildhorn stage musical (this story differs substantially from the Broadway version). In this book, the Scarlet Pimpernel embarks on a mission to rescue the imprisoned Dauphin, but faces betrayal from within the League. It features high stakes, Marguerite in an active role, and even some rare moments of hurt/comfort for the whump fans. IMO, this is the best of the sequels from a story standpoint.

Sir Percy Hits Back is another one I have a fondness for, as it's the book that delves into Chauvelin's private life (he actually has one!). Like several of the books, it spends more time focusing on the victims who need rescuing than it does on the Scarlet Pimpernel himself, but it does feature a few priceless moments of trademark Percy sass. The story isn't quite as strong here, but I enjoy the payoff, and it's nice to see the villain stop twirling his metaphorical moustache and be humanized for a bit.

If you're here for the adventure more than the romance, the short story collections (League of and Adventures of) also have a lot to offer; they tend to focus on individual rescue operations, so there are more disguises and League shenanigans than swooning and pining.

For easy reference, I've listed all the books in the series below in publication order. Note that this is not chronological order in terms of the story content, as the definitive "final" book in the series was followed in publication by other titles that take place before that story's events. (I won't spoil anything by saying which one it is, though!)

Boldface denotes novels; non-bolded text denotes short story collections, etc.

Asterisk (*) denotes a story that is related tangentially to the series, but does not feature the main cast (usually about SP's ancestors/descendants)

Pound (#) denotes "nonfiction" material (obviously still fiction, but presented as essays or biographical information rather than a story)

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905) I Will Repay (1906) The Elusive Pimpernel (1908) Eldorado (1913) The Laughing Cavalier * (1914) Lord Tony's Wife (1917) The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1919) The First Sir Percy * (1920) The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1922) Pimpernel and Rosemary * (1924) Sir Percy Hits Back (1927) The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1929) The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1933) Child of the Revolution * (1933) The Scarlet Pimpernel Looks at the World # (1933) A Gay Adventurer, or The Life and Exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel # (1935) Sir Percy Leads the Band (1936) Mam'zelle Guillotine (1940)

#the scarlet pimpernel #baroness orczy #book recs