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AKHILLEUS MURDERS TROILOS ON TEMPLE STEPS

while a statue of apollo watches, and the god plans revenge

Sophocles: Selected Fragmentary Plays, A.H Sommerstein, D. Fitzpatrick, T. Talboy [Sophocles: Troilus]

society6 | ko-fi | redbubble | twitter | deviantart

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宙組公演 『シャーロック・ホームズ－The Game Is Afoot!－』 ギャラリー

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宙組公演 『シャーロック・ホームズ－The Game Is Afoot!－』 ギャラリー

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OMG!! Daimon and Kiichan, they confessed love to each other at the last day!!

🎼 April 11, 2021

🎼 fff -Fortississimo- / Silk Road ~A Bandit and a Jewel~ / Tokyo Senshuraku

/me/ try not to swoon 💕

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This is my meguai 3rd fan comics before the news came out

So completely headcanon mousou

and my english translation awful sorry

ROUGH SUMMARY⬇️

Luce’s girlfriend, Angelique, suddenly notices that she herself resembles Luce’s older sister Silvia too much. So she starts to doubting about Luce’s love, and tries to get out of the shadow of Silvia.  

Meanwhile, Luce is planning a perfect marriage proposal. Luce, who is very dissatisfied with the fact that Angelique is only seeing himself cute, plans to doing a play by imitating characteristics of his brother-in-law, Dorante, to let Angelique know how great ‘otoko’ he is. And he tries to make her fall in love with him once again.

The ending I had in mind was Luce and Angelique finally find out that they will never be able to become their perfect “stars”, Dorante and Silvia. Instead, they realize that they are special in their own way and each of them is one unique etoile to each other😋💦

[akaiai]

This is my meguai 3rd fan comics before the news came out

So completely headcanon mousou

and my english translation awful sorry

ROUGH SUMMARY⬇️

Luce’s girlfriend, Angelique, suddenly notices that she herself resembles Luce’s older sister Silvia too much. So she starts to doubting about Luce’s love, and tries to get out of the shadow of Silvia.  

Meanwhile, Luce is planning a perfect marriage proposal. Luce, who is very dissatisfied with the fact that Angelique is only seeing himself cute, plans to doing a play by imitating characteristics of his brother-in-law, Dorante, to let Angelique know how great ‘otoko’ he is. And he tries to make her fall in love with him once again.

The ending I had in mind was Luce and Angelique finally find out that they will never be able to become their perfect “stars”, Dorante and Silvia. Instead, they realize that they are special in their own way and each of them is one unique etoile to each other😋💦

[akaiai]

the kiss of death

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So, is there any academic piece in English about Takarazuka that you recommend ? I know there's a book in English all zuka fans dislike for some reason (im new in the fandom and never read it). Also is Takarazuka theme of academic pieces in Japan too (frequently)?

I've never read an academic text on Takarazuka actually, so I'll throw this out there for everyone else's recommendations!

I know a Japanese student who wrote her thesis on Takarazuka, but I don't know how popular that is overall.

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A lovely bunch of vintage Takarazuka postcards I was lucky enough to get several months ago. Most are from a 1918 performance, including actresses from the first several classes of Takarazuka actresses. One from a 1927 Snow Troupe show, and one from “Turandot”, performed by a couple of troupes in 1934 with the same main cast. Check the image captions for more info.

“The Tale of Enoshima” (1918): Shinohara Asaji, Kumoi Namiko, and Ogura Miyuki

“Tanabata Dance” (1918): Ooe Fumiko as the Weaver and Takasago Matsuko as Suusei

“Cleopatra” (1918): Shinohara Asaji as Cleopatra, Ogura Miyuki as Charmian, and Takigawa Sueko as Iris

“The Battle Between Monkey and Crab” (1918): Okino Ishiko as Chestnut, Takahama Kikuko as Egg, Ogawa Natsuko as Elephant, Arima Ineko as Monkey, and Takigawa Sueko as Mortar

“Cherry Blossoms on the Way West” (1927 - Snow Troupe): Mikaki Etsuko as a Lady in Waiting

“Turandot” (1934): Sayo Fukuko as Prince Calaf and Kusabue Yoshiko as Princess Turandot

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hello! do you know of online stores where i can get pre-loved photos/postcards of takarazuka actresses? :) so far ive checked mercari/surugaya/rakuma and they have a few on sale, but there's not a wide variety of it, especially for some actresses....

I think watching Japanese Mercari is a good bet. Takarazuka-an has a TON, but I don’t think they list them online. They are SUPER nice though, and you can probably send them an email with the actresses you’re interested in and ask them what they have!

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i have a merch question! do you know if it's possible to buy old bromides/stage photos via takarazuka-an's website? (or... anywhere really?) i've fallen down the slippery slope of collecting them, but i can't find any listed on their online store.

They don’t list the old ones because the inventory is so variable, but you can email them and ask what they have! They’re very nice. You can also check Mercari Japan.

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Hello, I’m trying to buy tickets to a show from overseas but the English language site seems to no longer be selling tickets? The tickets page just has a message saying all tickets are sold through TicketPia, which requires a Japanese phone number to use. Where are overseas fans getting tickets these days?😵‍💫

We haven’t been getting tickets these days 💀

Ok real talk though, a lot has changed since Japan was last open to tourists, including deprecating the foreign language ticket sites (RIP, hope they’ll be back since Kishida wants us to spend 5 trillion yen there or whatever), and seriously cracking down on secondhand ticket sales.

Here are the methods I know for sure work right now:

You CAN get a Takarazuka ID that gives you access to the normal Pia ticketing system. I did it with a Skype number which costs about $23 USD a year. VOIP numbers typically don’t accept SMS for verification codes, but in Takarazuka’s case, they allow you to choose between a text and an automated call, the latter of which does work! The recording is in Japanese, so you need to know enough to be able to copy the numbers down. Once you’re in, it seems to be kind of a crapshoot whether your foreign credit card will work or not. They DO accept foreign cards, but some seem not to play nicely for whatever reason. Between my two credit and two debit cards I’ve always gotten one to work. Then once you have all that settled, your reward is you get to join the general sale bloodbath with the rest of the plebeians.

Have a friend in a fan club. Risky because you don’t always know before your departure if you’ll get the ticket, but there have been so many excess lately it’s probably safer than it used to be, at least for now.

Okepi.net is the sanctioned resale service because prices are limited to face value or less. However, it’s less of a resale service and more of a message board where fans can connect with each other to sell and trade tickets, and each fan can set their own requirements (which sometimes include things like "you'll only be considered if you also buy X number of tickets to this other rando non-tkz show no one cares about"). I really only recommend navigating it if your Japanese is really good. Also it’s easiest to use if you’re physically there. I typically use it for any extra unplanned tickets I want after I arrive, because you either need to meet the person to get the ticket, or have a local address to receive it.

I’ve never personally done this because I’ve always been able to navigate the methods above, but the other thing you can consider is going through a travel agency that specializes in Japan.

Good luck to everyone in this terrible new world!

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I recently saw my first takarazuka show, Baddy, and it was wonderful - do you have any recommendations for other shows with a similar vibe?

Oh wow, welcome!! And sorry for taking a thousand years to answer this. Baddy is awesome, and unfortunately you picked possibly the only show with pretty unmatched vibes (it was Ueda Kumiko's first and only revue, and she's since left the company).

I can do my best to break Baddy down into pieces and recommend based on that!

Revues with a plot:

Nova Bossa Nova (done many times, most recently by Yuzuki Reon's Hoshigumi)

Nishiki-e of the Wind (Yuki '08) - to be honest I haven't watched this in like ten years but I remember it having a plot and being pretty silly

Things that are just fun and a lil crazy:

You might enjoy the majority of Kurenai Yuzuru's top run (Hoshigumi 2017-19), particularly...

Om Shanti Om

Another World / Killer Rouge

God of Stars

You could also venture into like pretty much any 90s-era revue for solid sparkle and crack, particularly Hoshigumi. There is also

Takarazuka's Dream Kingdom (Yuki '04) which is one of my personal favorite insane but also very high quality revues

Action (Hoshi '95) which is not a revue but is a collection of really stupid skits

Other Ueda Kumiko shows:

They are not revues and nothing like Baddy (most are actually quite tragic)... but they might have some bit of je ne sais quoi that will appeal to you. Check out the full list here.

Other TamaChapi shows:

If you were a fan of the Tamaki Ryou - Manaki Reika - Miya Rurika top trio, check out the Tamaki top shows from King Arthur ('16) thru Elisabeth (19).

Also going to call for people to comment with more recs!

[akaiai]

Hi Ms M, between mars retrograde and mercury in pre retrograde shadow, I’m getting nervous about the new year! I have my goals/resolutions always thought out, but when do you think would be the best time to actually get to work on them? Mercury will be in my 11th house and Mars in my 3rd 😳

Thanks for the ask!

“I get by with a little help from my friends” - with Mercury in your 11th, that’s the goal. You may be thinking about longer term goals, and about who can help you reach them.

Mars in the 3rd is really busy, lots of errands - you may want to devote some energy to looking critically at your daily commute, how you get the information you need, etc.

It’s easy to understand the wheel of the year if we look at it from the perspective of a gardener or a farmer. Right now, in the Northern Hemisphere, nobody is planting anything! Too damned cold! This is the time of year when you get the seed catalogs in the mail, and you start planning. IMO this is why so many “new year’s resolutions” fail - people expect to reach their goal in a couple of weeks at the most.

(Anybody who wants to chip in with their Southern hemisphere perspective, please do - I don’t want to make any assumptions about something I’ve never experienced.)

Where do you want to be on January 1, 2024 - ie next year? And keep thinking of that goal in terms of a year-long project of getting you there. Be very canny and scheming and Capricorn about it.

Around Imbolc (or on these Northern premises the Aquarius Cross-Quarter Day) you start gathering the resources you’re going to need. And then at the Aries equinox, then we initiate the action.

I hope any of that helps - tldr is, just make and refine plans for now, looking at March/April to actually start work. Blessings, ❤️❤️❤️

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Simon is an aggressive kisser :3

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Simon got a kitty.

He purs👁〰👁