sumire_no_hana

Eventually I'll take the time and put down my level-headed, non-emotional thoughts into Elisabeth. (This is my beloved troupe and you have to understand that things that upset the natural balance of things are bound to get an initial emotional response out of me)

But.... I'm currently watching the bit on the news this morning and it seems to be that Kacha has a fairly impressive upper range that's ben kept hidden from us O_O Both Asako's Ai to Shi no Rondo and Asako/Kacha's Watashi ga Odoru Toki sound good *_* Kacha still isn't quite the image I had in mind, but she doesn't look bad.

http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/090209/gne0902092045001-n1.htm

I couldn't help it..... I saw Kacha and laughed;_; I feel ashamed of myself. Maybe this is why they had her hiding her face with the fan in the official photos.....

If Ume hadn't already won over your hear, I think you need nothing more than to watch her Brilliant Dreams ~personal~. There's something just AMAZING about seeing her fangirling the exact same way that we do <3 She squeals over bromides in QR. She works in QR to the bemusement of the customers. She visits the Petit Museum and poses with the feathers and fits her hand in the handprints of the retired top stars. Then she heads to the stage studio and dresses up as Death.

"トートになりました！"

Her "serious" face at Der Tod just makes her look...... confused. ^^;

(Afterwards, she dresses up in the white and green Scarlett dress. Then .... then...... then...... the mustache...Mister Hige, she says XD )

She does all of the things we do.... reacts the way we do....


Gyah.... why can't I make clips of this for you all ;_;

The Meme: Elisabeth Version! I LOVE my results... and somehow these things seem to predict that I'm a Tsukigumi fan....

2009年8月1日〜9月1日の期間『エリザベート』−愛と死の輪舞（ロンド）を梅田芸術劇場において上演致します。
この程、以下のメンバーが決定致しましたので、お知らせいたします。
尚、その他の配役につきましては、決定次第お知らせいたします。

トート･･･アマンダ
エリザベート･･･瀬奈じゅん
フランツ･･･初風緑
ルキーニ･･･霧矢大夢
ルドルフ･･･大空祐飛
ルドルフ（少年）･･･月影瞳
ゾフィ･･･未来優希
マダム・ヴォルフ･･･鈴奈沙也
マデレーネ（黒天使）･･･城咲あい
ヴィンディッシュ嬢･･･遠野あすか

First, the less-talked about news:
Takarazuka experienced its 1.5 millionth Elisabeth attendee. Granted, this number goes by ticket sales and thus is rather skewed, but it's impressive nonetheless! The lucky girl who was attendee number 1,500,000 was able to go on stage with the cast of Elisabeth during a special curtain call, have her picture taken, etc. Not only did she get to do THIS, but she also received a Visa gift card, junior suite hotel accomodations for two at Daiichi Hotel Tokyo and two SS seats for the Tokyo shonichi Elisabeth performance....

Lucky Girl!!!

-------------------

The best part about the TCA Video pages for the Elisabeth DVD being put up? The pages list the dates during which the performances were recorded.

Elisabeth DVD Recording Date: 06/08/07

Yes, they actually put up the page BEFORE the day when the DVD is going to be recorded. This is the first time I've actually seen it publicly available when the DVD will be filmed. Which means that if you are lucky enough to have tickets for June 8th, you're going to be seeing the show as immortalized on DVD.

As was done upon the Tsukigumi Elisabeth DVD release, Hankyu is yet again weasling more money out of our greedy little shiny-filled pockets....and here I am ready to hand over my entire paycheck and my proverbial first born.


TCAD-183 and TCAD-184 are the special Elisabeth DVD box sets, much like the ones released after tsuki's performance, but dare I say with even more wonderful goodies?

What goodies do we have?

• The 2-disc 2007 yukigumi performance DVD (TCAD-177). The DVD this time around has rehearsal digest, alternate angle footage, plus all of the Elisabeth we've come to know and love
  
• Two Special DVDs - Hanagumi's Tokyo Performance and senshuuraku messages (which I assume are the senshuuraku speeches), and Tsukigumi's Tokyo senshuuraku performance and messages/speeches. These all have most likely been broadcast on Sky Stage, but for those of us who don't have access to Sky Stage versions, it's a godsend.
  
• A smaller-sized version of the performance program.
  
• The most adorable thing ever - Paper Dolls! A special set of paper dolls and diorama backgrounds of the main cast (Der Tod, Elisabeth, Franz Joseph, Lucheni and Rudolf) from all 6 Elisabeth productions. That's 30 paper dolls full ove love and shiny! I fear to think what a certain roommate of mine would do with Komu!Rudolf and Tom!Luigi
  
• Finally, a lovely touch - a deluxe letter set with paper, envelopes, a quill pen, ink and wax seals.
  

(obviously, TCAD 183, the ¥65 000 version, is the one that has all 6 troupe DVDs in it, not just the Yukigumi '07 version)

Well the DVD list of DOOM is finished and up to date! <3 (with the exception of all of the region coding)

It should be so much easier to take care of now that it is set up. (of course the current page is getting a bit long and should probably be broken into a new one soon. I've been doing 4 groups of 15 titles per page, but it can probably take a little bit more than that without breaking)

But I came across an interesting little find in putting up the newest titles. It really makes me wonder what Hankyu is up to...

TCAD-171 is Sakura / Secret Hunter
the next DVD with a published item number and page is Twelfth Night TCAD-180

So we skipped 8 item numbers there.....
Assuming that 4 of the missing numbers are Never Sleep, El Viento, Lavender Monologue, and Primary Colors, with a 5th possibly being Elisabeth...Things still don't add up.

What do you have planned Hankyu, that you haven't told us yet? Hmmm....

Bow Hall DVD's perhaps? *hopes madly*

*wants to know what the missing show announcements are*

This is a rather interesting find....

From what I understand if I'm reading this correctly, essentially, with the new Elisabeth production and all, they're putting out a second Elisabeth book I believe like this one (that I unfortunately didn't get before it was sold out -- oh well, there's always Y!J I suppose).

But the more interesting part is that they're looking for fan participation for (and I could be mistaken in reading these):

A: Questions for Koike Shuuichirou, Director of all of the main Elisabeth performances.

B: I'm not sure on this one but it looks like they're looking for people who are...like... insane fans? Freaks? Maniacs? I keep getting flashes of "Trekkies" in my head while reading it.

c: Your Elisabeth experiences - where you saw it, what you saw , who you saw, your story of seeing it from perspective of the audience.

This is kinda what spawned the .... comment insanity.... last night.

After discovering a few weeks ago that we lived so close to each other, these plans are what subsequently enused. Behold, our cosplay group for Otakon this coming July.

( Franz, Elisabeth and Death will not be raping your friends list tonight )

You don't know how much joy it brings me that Hamako is officially Sophie! I'm sure we all knew it was coming, but it's good to officially know. How absolutely amazing is it that she's reprising a role that she played in a shinjin kouen 11 years ago?

The cast list brings me so much joy. Ayana Oto as Elmer <3 Daigo Seshiru is a Black Angel <3 I haven't seen any of Saeki Chihaya before, but it's a bit of a surprise that she's playing Young Rudolf as only a ken-2.

Only 2 people I can see who I wish had named roles are Maisaki Rin and Sahana Mako - but I can see as the number of musumeyaku named roles is fewer. Both are "Court Ladies." Refresh my memory, but are they the maids? Some of whom also double as Madame Wolf's prostitutes? *tries to remember the exact name of those roles*

Gah! I can't wait! I want more cast details!

Kimu as Lucheni!!!! <3
Yumiko as Franz (But who didn't really see that coming)

And Mizu's wig is the smex. I really like it, surprisingly, seeing as I liked more of the solid white wigs, with a slight highlight (like Zunko's oh-so-subtle lavender).

I really want the rest of the cast list.

Hmmm... what part will they give Hamako (seeing as she's not really on the star track anymore)? It would be interesting to see her reprise her shinjinkouen role from 10 years ago as Sophie. Don't know that that would actually happen, but it would be interesting nonetheless!

YouTube is really just the little treasure trove tonight. It appears that the file list hadn't updated when searching for "takarazuka" the last few days, but they're definately all there in force today!

Yukigumi Shinjin kouen rehearsal
(Touko! Kashi! HamakoInAskirtAsSophie! Hacchan!)

There's a lot more things I've never seen before that popped up, such as the Excalibur shinjin kouen...with Yumeki Noa <3 and Hoshi Elisabeth shinjin kouen rehersal (I love Saeko so much more without that annoying vibrato.. And hey, isn't that Suzuna Saya?!)

God I love shinkos.....I only wish that more were actually released to be purchased!

I can only guess that I'm not the only one who is impatient for a cast list for the newest incarnation of "Elisabeth." Sure, the announcements are probably quite a bit away, but I try to put together the cast in my poor mind.

midoriseppen is the apartment yukigumi lover. If it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't know nearly as much yukigumi as I do. She linked me to This youtube clip.

I already liked Hamako and was reasonably impressed with her in "Albatross, Minami e," (Along with Kimu) but hearing her sing Death's part in "Watashi ga Odoru Toki" really sealed my love for her. I would love to see her as Lucheni, which I suppose isn't really TOO farfetched >_> .

*EDITS*

If anyone happens to know where this clip came from, please comment and say! caithion and I would much appreciate it!

Why am I so amused that Tatsu Tsukasa's nickname is "Kotatsu?" It IS the most ingenius Japanese appliance/piece of furniture ever, truly. Why do I find it so adorable that both she and her sister Kotobuki Tsukasa share the same "given" name? That they were both Black Angels in Soragumi's Elisabeth?

Family relationships in Takarazuka always interest me - Particularly those between siblings. Take, for example, Ayaki Nao and Ayano Oto. There's always something simultaneously strange and amusing about Death singing to Young Rudolf when Death and Young Rudolf are sisters.

Well, back to linking up Mugen Houjushou. Eventually I'll do the scene descriptions as well...

And this post really tells me I need to make myself a generic Soragumi icon...

Back posted from zephyrsky




midoriseppen and I are having our own little Saturday night Takarazuka marathon.

Awesome Pizza from the place around the corner? Check (South Philly, how I love you and your pizza)
Our first two DVDs of the night? Check
Our respective favorite Takaraziennes? Check (Zunko for me, Komu for her)
Our respective troupes? Check (I'm Sora, she's Yuki)
Glasses that match our respective troupes? Check (I'm the purple one, she's the green one)
"Beverages" to fill said glasses? Check

Our drinks of choice this evening are appropriately named "Passion and Pain." One half Wild Passion Alize. One half Champagne. One completely apropos title for a Takarazuka marathon.

And as if "Madame Wolf's Collection" wasn't already dirty enough a song....

Back posted from zephyrsky

If I were more ambitious, I would consider making a seperate LJ just for my Takarazuka ramblings so as to preserve the sanity of my friends list. However, as it is, I'm rather sporadic in updating this LJ, so how well would I be able to keep up with a personal journal AND a Takarazuka journal?

I suppose that I'll continue subjecting my poor innocent non-'zuka friends to my obscure and obsessive hobby.

I still have a pair of Hanagumi Elisabeth videos to upload to YouTube. One of the clips I want to splice down some of the extra bits from the beginning and the end. I could just post up the other, but being obsessive, I tend to put as much info in the video description as I can - So I guess I'll put it off until tomorrow... again.

I'm getting a bit braver in editing entries on the Takarazuka Wikipedia. I always seem to have this bizarre complex that I'm not knowledgeable enough, or that I'm going to screw things up, or that what I'm posting isn't good enough.

I was finally spurred to edit the Hanagumi Elisabeth page simply because it seemed so.... bare.. without half the cast listed. For a version that so many people love and appreciate, it seemed to be missing so many important cast members. I just wanted to give the 'ziennes their due - and fans an easy reference. Plus some lesser-known 'ziennes (mostly the black angels) now have the performance on their pages.

Maybe I'll get around to muddling through the names of some other older shows and adding new pages to the taka wiki, once I figure out how to make new pages. That'll take another step of courage. I don't know how princesslucia is able to be the taka wiki goddess that she is. *edits* How could I forget wao_wao as well!

On another 'zuka note, we keep seeing commercials for Best Buy. Their tagline this season is "Wrap up the Wow." Of course, in mine and midoriseppen's twisted minds, we automatically turn that into "Wrap up the Wao." I'll just leave it at that... Oh how I love having a roommate to suck into my obsessions.

Back Posted from zephyrsky

My evening well spent

Well, there's the main cast. I'll go through and add more tomorrow probably. Plus I need to go through and add the Elisabeth roles to a number of the individual actress pages. I suppose I haven't done THAT bad for having a very rudimentary grasp of Japanese and far from expert knowledge of Takarazuka theater. I wish I had midoriseppen's mad Japanese skills. I am getting faster at reading, however! And am recognizing a few more kanji!

Was a lot more fulfilling than the Eagles game, by far.

I'm also slooooowly uploading a pair of clips to YouTube. I'm too tired to finish the info for their entries tonight...