masahi

I now own all eight of Kacha's postcards :D SQUEE! Plus many, many pretty photographs! I am a happy fangirl :)

I've just realised that I have woefully neglected this particular journal of mine. I keep getting distracted by Life, which is always a tricky thing to negotiate with.

However, today I have cause to squee. The new postcards are up and Kacha is up to eight! On top of this, she is one of 5 Soragumi Otokoyaku who get cards, and given that two of them will shortly be leaving Soragumi, I can't help squee happily for my girl :)

I also was lucky enough to get a reijou last week, and on the whole, am on cloud nine on a fangirl front. Now, I just need to find a contact in J-land who is willing/able to grab the cards I don't have for me :)

The big news of the day is that Kiriya Hiromu, topstar of Tsukigumi, is retiring. It feels strange, knowing this is the first time I can clearly remember the retirements of two successive top stars. I joined fandom just as Komu was departing, and I saw Mizu going as well, but I didn't really remember Komu's departure so well.

This time, it's Kiriyan. Kiriyan who has been the face of Tsukigumi for me for years, as so many people came and went. Kiriyan, who took every role and made it her own. Kiriyan, who made me laugh and cry and simply be awed. Kiriyan, who has Finch-kun.

I'm not sad, persay. I'm happy to see a Topstar who has polished her troupe until it shone. Asako was wonderful, but Tsuki's glitter was fading when she left. Kiriyan took her troupe and made it shine again, so brightly. I was fortunate enough to see their bitter, melancholy Elisabeth with Asako and then the sheer, exuberant madness that was The Gypsy Baron in Tokyo.

Kiriyan renewed Tsukigumi and she's leaving while it's still blazing like a firework. She's leaving while she's healthy and happy and the troupe are at their best. She's taken the troupe she loves and polished it until it shines, and now, she's ready to let it go.

And to be honest, I can not wait to see what she's going to do next :)

A little package arrived for me a few days ago. For the first time, I own something that was not for sale in Quatre Reves or Taka-an! I have some beautiful photos of my girl in the Emperor Norton show :D The preciouses, they are pretty :) Also, Kacha should try imitating Chauvelin more often. She looks all Grr and Feisty, especially while fondling a sword :) I like. One day, I hope the show makes it to DVD, and failing that, would be quite happy with SkyStage.

I'm a few days late, but Mariko's website was updated and she's doing shows this autumn! Hoshina Yuri! MY COMBI!!! :D (Oh, and Ootori Ran, Tani, Midori Hatsukaze...)

So a CD has been released, featuring songs performed by various otokoyaku. Including my girl :D :D

Seriously, this on top of being the face of Ponds for Soragumi and getting postcards. She really is getting pimped all over the shop :)

Anyone who has been in Takarazuka fandom for a while now won't have missed the scandal surrounding the 96th class. I have been staying away from it, because while I have my views, I try to remain neutral online, but I have to say something. Not all the details are known, but there was a trial and girls who are now Takarasiennes were called as witnesses and/or culprits.

One of these girls was Yumeka Ami, who has - in the last few days - been signed off sick for an indefinite period. This is very shortly after Soranami Kou, another of the girls who was called to trial, also withdrew from all performances for the time-being on 'health grounds'.

Siennes do not get time off for health reasons unless it is very serious, and while there is speculation that Hankyu are trying to shuffle Ami-chan discreetly to the sidelines, if she has been driven off-stage due to undisclosed health reasons, there's good reason to be concerned. Similarly, Chiko-chan's absence is equally disconcerting. Normally, if a Sienne is sick, there is an update as to why. Simply being 'off sick' does not happen.

I'm posting this now, because I wrote it in response to a fellow LJ-ers query about why people felt the need to support Ami-chan and Chiko-chan too. I think I can say without contradiction that we do not condone bullying, and while we acknowledge the bullying was bad, what is being done to these girls is worse.

Japanese culture is all about bullying people into fitting in. The thing that is exceptional in this case is that someone actually stood up and said they weren't going to take it. Ami-chan may have been the scapegoat, but she was simply doing what her culture had indoctrinated her to do. The ring-leader was alledgedly expelled anyway, so Ami-chan and Chiko-chan, as two who were pulled into the trial, have become the public faces of the whole affair.

As head of the class, their social setup would be that whoever is in charge has to break those junior to her into submission. Ami-chan was very high up in ranks, so it was expected that she would make others toe the line. It's a huge part of Japanese culture which Westerners tend to overlook. A friend of mine over there has been marginalised and pushed aside all her life, even by her family, for simply choosing to do what made her happy, rather than the traditional thing.

The girl who was bullied is not the first TMS student or even Sienne to have acknowledged bullying within TMS and the company itself. Rika infamously mentioned it when she was interviewed. It's been around for a long time. It's part of not only the social structure, but also games of hierarchy. I'm sure that most Siennes are nice, but you can't seriously believe in a company of 400 women, some of them aren't complete controlling bitches. I'm a girl and I know how nasty we can be, even the nicest of us.

But, the reason why many people are defending Yumeka Ami now especially is this simple fact: no child deserves to be driven to a nervous breakdown for something she already no doubt feels ashamed about. She has been brought to bear for her actions, and she definitely was not the only one involved. Yes, she was a bully, but that in turn does not excuse the fact that angry fans are doing exactly to her what she did to the unnamed girl.

Hankyu are very much not helping by shoving her into the spotlight and making sure no one forgets her. They could have let her linger in the background until the furore over the trial died down, but they are pushing her, and pushing her hard. She would not be the first young Sienne to crack under the pressure.

The health issue thing is especially uncomfortable. The last time someone suspended performances on unspecified health grounds, it was Mizuse Chiaki. She had a nervous breakdown due to the internal pressure of the company and from the looks of it, was manipulated into pornography to make ends meet. I saw clips of her interviewed regarding her adult video, and the poor girl looked like she was drugged out of her mind and a shell of herself.

I do not want to see another girl, who was following the social norms in Japan, as bad as they are, to end up going down the same route because she has become the scapegoat for generations of bullying in Takarazuka. Yes, what they did was bad, but they have been forced to admit and acknowledge that. Breaking them is just as bad.

Thanks to m'dear Beth, I now have my grubby hands on Je Chante, and this show is really raising a banner that Kacha could and may be a great Top Star of the future. I've only started watching bits due to wooze and head-spinning, but in the bits I've seen so far, she reminded me of young Komu with a side of Yuu-kun's comic timing but ery much inspired by the ladies who have led her troupe since her debut. I especially like 'Boum' :) Can't wait to sit down and watch the rest.

Summary:
A rock-opera adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet.

( Hamlet!! - Moon Troupe 2010 )

I've been writing to Kacha going on two years. She has just ensured that she has an utterly loyal fan in me for the next goodness knows how many :D Whee! (Not that she would have lost me, but whee! :D)