Introductions

Hi MagicCookie! I'm glad you posted about the Austrian Elisabeth. I was trying to get tickets for it when I went to Austria last year, but my schedule didn't work out. Maybe I would have been disappointed!!

> now i have seen a lot more - specially on youtube - and my favorites are still sumire but also asato and wao on top ... i also like sena, asami and kozuki ... my favorite musumeyaku is mari hanafusa, her voice is so wonderful ...

Definitely agree!

> as i am a member of a german fanclub i began to introduce the takarazuka to my friends and i now would like to post some more information about what is special in each troupe - i already knew that senka was for over 40th, that flower is the eldest one and cosmos the youngest ... but i think there must be more diffences between the troupes - can you probably help me to find more informations about that??

I've put some information on Wiki entry on Takarazuka, you can take reference on that.

Actually, Flower and Moon are the two oldest groups in Taka History (they both is 1921.) Then comes Snow (1924) with the finish of Grand Theater. Later on, Star was found but ceased operation during the war. In 1945, Star was reestablished due to certain Labor Law. Then comes Cosmo.

o.k. second try ;)

first i want to thank you for your informations, because on the official site there are no such infos ....

i agree with you that it may depend on the persons acting actually in the troupe what they are playing, especially the top-otokoyaku seems to be important i think ... i cant for example imagine wao performing and singing very good "the hero of the grassland" from Asian Winds - but osa is wonderful!! i like wao very much as manrico in "kiss to the flames" oder "phantom", there her voice is phantastic ....

as you do, i like very much the musical "elisabeth" - it is my favorite followed bei "phantom", "excalibur" and some others ... which is your favorite version of "elisabeth"?? i like very much the soragumi-version, specially the "yami ga hirogaru", but my very favorite in total is the hanagumi-version and one of my most liked songs there is "saigo no dansu" and the "love and death"-song ...

have you watched the austrian version yet?? i did because i want to understand the scrips - but i found it horrible ... the voices, the dancing, the perfoming and the theater-scene was nothing i want to see or hear again ... the death have nothing special, is just a young man with no special voice oder looking - i missed the magic of the siennes very much ...

omg, i am talking and talking ... but it is so wonderful to share my emotions with people who think similar - in germany nobody knows about the siennes and it is very difficult to talk about because my friends don't like the japanese singing ...

hope you like talking

gaby

> bunretsu:
> Hi, Gaby! Nice to meet you! Don't worry about your English, it's fine!
>
> "Elisabeth" is wonderful, isn't it? It's still my favorite musical, and I catch myself singing "Yami ga Hirogaru" and other songs a lot. Almost everytime I drink milk, "Milk" comes to mind. XD
>
> As for the differences among troupes, it might be good for someone to make a page about the history of the troupes (maybe someone is working on this?). There is some information available on the official Takarazuka site, I think... Flower and Moon are the oldest troupes, founded in 1921, followed by Snow Troupe in 1924 with the opening of the Grand Theater. Star Troupe was added in 1933 so that there could be more performances in Tokyo. In 1998, Cosmos Troupe was created to allow the company to have performances all year long in both theaters.
>
> I think the troupes have different styles, but that depends a lot on the people in them, so it's hard to say how they're all different. If you ask, you'll probably get a lot of different opinions. =)


hi bunretsu,

now have even postet a very long answer to your nice helping post, an the pc didn't like me and killed it ... o.k. i try again ;)

Hi, Gaby! Nice to meet you! Don't worry about your English, it's fine!

"Elisabeth" is wonderful, isn't it? It's still my favorite musical, and I catch myself singing "Yami ga Hirogaru" and other songs a lot. Almost everytime I drink milk, "Milk" comes to mind. XD

As for the differences among troupes, it might be good for someone to make a page about the history of the troupes (maybe someone is working on this?). There is some information available on the official Takarazuka site, I think... Flower and Moon are the oldest troupes, founded in 1921, followed by Snow Troupe in 1924 with the opening of the Grand Theater. Star Troupe was added in 1933 so that there could be more performances in Tokyo. In 1998, Cosmos Troupe was created to allow the company to have performances all year long in both theaters.

I think the troupes have different styles, but that depends a lot on the people in them, so it's hard to say how they're all different. If you ask, you'll probably get a lot of different opinions. =)

hello, i am gaby from northern germany and i cannot write very good english, so i hope you can understand me ;)
i first saw the takarazuka elisabeth about 1 month ago - never been interested in asian music before - and the moment i saw sumire it was wow!!!! i like musicals and wonderful voices ... so i watched it several times and then search for more informations about the theater, the school and the siennes ...
now i have seen a lot more - specially on youtube - and my favorites are still sumire but also asato and wao on top ... i also like sena, asami and kozuki ... my favorite musumeyaku is mari hanafusa, her voice is so wonderful ...
as i am a member of a german fanclub i began to introduce the takarazuka to my friends and i now would like to post some more information about what is special in each troupe - i already knew that senka was for over 40th, that flower is the eldest one and cosmos the youngest ... but i think there must be more diffences between the troupes - can you probably help me to find more informations about that??
i've never been in asia before, but i decided to learn japanese in a school for adults so i can better understand what the siennes sing oder talk ...
learning the songs makes me happy and i like it very much to sing together with sumire the death-part of "yami ga hirogaru" "saigno no dansu" or the love-and-death-song ...

that's it for this time - hope my english is not soooo bad, so you can understand me

MagicCookie

I am ying, from Hong Kong, now studying in the States. I knew takarazuka for sometime but my main focus was only wao yoka. But just couple days ago I search taka video on you tube and now I become really crazy for the whole taka company. I am really new and have much to learn so I will come visit this site very often! =)

I think he's cute, and a good singer when he's not, you know, snarling. :)

Not as cute as Touko of course, but then who is? ;)

-- Gen

> ceteranna:

> The Austrian Der Tod seems to get an almost universal "OMG EWWWW" reaction from people who are used to the Takarazuka version.

> Elisabeth has been my favorite musical so far, like many people here it seems. I really want to see the whole thing. I am also curious about the Austrian version since I speak a bit of German and spent some time in Austria, but I'm afraid seeing *men* playing the male roles is going to creep me out so I haven't looked at it yet *laughs*
>

The Austrian Der Tod seems to get an almost universal "OMG EWWWW" reaction from people who are used to the Takarazuka version. Forget the elegant, androgynous, ageless, romantic, flowingly-caped and slightly sinister Death — the Austrian version gives you a twenty-something stubbly blond man-boy who can neither sing nor dance (he sort of stalks around and hisses a lot) and who never for one second makes you believe he's lived forever and seen it all and is nevertheless still in love with a human woman. Personally I was eerily reminded of the times I've been crudely hit on by bleached-out surfer dudes. It's about as different from the Takarazuka interpretation as you can get.

The Luigi is pretty awesome, though.

And thus endeth the slightly off-topic interjection. *scuttles away*

(Hi, by the way! I'm the editor who never posts ... and who seldom edits. =P)

> princesslucia:
> econn,
>
> The links you need are all on the Takarazuka Links page.

Awesome, thanks.

econn,

The links you need are all on the Takarazuka Links page.

> yukimura_wao:
> > econn:
>
> > So obviously I'm not the only one who got addicted to Takarazuka after watching Yami ga Hirogaru. That makes me feel marginally less weird. I've been refreshing Youtube a few times daily to see if new stuff has been uploaded XD I should buy some DVDs at some point when I have the spare cash to import things.
> >
>
> You should! They are pretty good quality!
>

So, uh, how do I go about doing that?

> econn:

> So obviously I'm not the only one who got addicted to Takarazuka after watching Yami ga Hirogaru. That makes me feel marginally less weird. I've been refreshing Youtube a few times daily to see if new stuff has been uploaded XD I should buy some DVDs at some point when I have the spare cash to import things.
>

You should! They are pretty good quality!

Argh, I think my session timed out when I tried to post a reply. Sorry if this ends up double-posting.


So obviously I'm not the only one who got addicted to Takarazuka after watching Yami ga Hirogaru. That makes me feel marginally less weird. I've been refreshing Youtube a few times daily to see if new stuff has been uploaded XD I should buy some DVDs at some point when I have the spare cash to import things.

Elisabeth has been my favorite musical so far, like many people here it seems. I really want to see the whole thing. I am also curious about the Austrian version since I speak a bit of German and spent some time in Austria, but I'm afraid seeing *men* playing the male roles is going to creep me out so I haven't looked at it yet *laughs*

And I haven't introduced myself yet. My mother raised me better than that! I'm econn, and it's been a pleasure poking around this site for the past few days, and I look forward to getting to know all of you!

I heart Zunko. :-D

{swoon}

> Anyway, this site has made me a very happy girl. I think I'll go celebrate by watching "Yami Ga Hirogaru" another thirty times or so. ~_^

It seems this particular clip (no matter which version you prefer) is the one that gets a lot of people smitten with Takarazuka :D

> loon. So if anyone else in here is from southern New York, let me know so I'll feel better.

Upstate, not southern, but close enough, eh? I begin to think us New Englanders / East Coasters need to get together sometime.

> Anyway, this site has made me a very happy girl. I think I'll go celebrate by watching "Yami Ga Hirogaru" another thirty times or so. ~_^

• g* Sounds good to me!

Greetings and salutations!

If my parents had been Japanophiles or just really cool, I might be Aiko for real, but as it stands I have to keep the Aiko thing to the Internet. {sigh}

I just recently became a Takarazuka addict. I have yet to see an entire show- I've been leaning on YouTube to get my fix. And trying to addict as many other people I know as possible, 'cause it gets kinda lonely when everyone around you thinks you're a complete loon. So if anyone else in here is from southern New York, let me know so I'll feel better.

Anyway, this site has made me a very happy girl. I think I'll go celebrate by watching "Yami Ga Hirogaru" another thirty times or so. ~_^

Hey, Brighid here. I know I'm not the only Australian fan, but there don't seem to be too many people near me who have even heard of Takarazuka.
I've only been into it for a few weeks now, I was doing a presentation in class for something related to Japanese culture and decided Takarazuka would be nice and differant. And then I got hooked. I started out by watching clips on YouTube and promptly fell in love with Haruno Sumire after watching Yami ga Hirugami one too many times.
Anyhow, nice to meet you.

Hi!
My name is Viola (here, as well as on the Zuka ML, saikai85 according to the show I first fell for Todo-chan...). I am not sure when I first heard about Takarazuka, but when they came to Berlin in 2000 and I saw my first live performance, I got completely hooked. I just returned from my 9th trip to Japan (spending nearly all my money and all my holidays over there), still satisfied with the shows I 've seen.
Unfortunately I am usually very busy, so I won't be able to contribute much here, but I will do my best!
That's for now,

Viola