Takarazuka Revue - Tumblr Posts
Takarazuka’s Elisabeth is like if somebody took 1984 and made it all about how Winston and Julia fell in love like it was all a fairytale.
Takarazuka’s theme song for Rose of Versailles is so cheap and cheesy, it overshadows the subtle poetics of Ikeda Riyoko’s words. (Also the ending of RoV’s anime slaps harder than any song the Revue can write)
The only good Takarazuka show I’ve seen so far is El Halcon because Aoike Yasuko is such a good action writer that even when her material is heavily watered down and compressed, it’s still, at the very least, fun to watch. Heard Haikara-san ga Tooru is good too but haven’t tried.
ive gotten into takarazuka when i found out they did elisabeth! do you have a fav takarazuka tod perhaps? i think ayaki nao was a quite seductive tod (though takarazuka ofc have their own interpretation of tod!)
I’m going to be brutally honest here - I do not care for the Takarazuka productions of Elisabeth. Part of it is getting to know some of the fan culture surrounding the Takarazuka productions in general, and their fetishistic nature towards the actors, but most of it is that I just do not vibe with the direction it takes. I don’t like how it romanticizes the story, I don’t like how Elisabeth’s role is reduced, I don’t like how spineless they make her. I absolutely know that this is how Takarazuka does this and that many fans enjoy it, and that’s fine! There’s room for lots of interpretations of the story, and I am fine with this one’s existence (plus it releases lots of proshots and has gorgeous costumes). But it is really not my thing.
All of which is a really long way of saying that I do not have a favorite Takarazuka Tod, because I do not watch it enough to have one, and when I do, I focus almost entirely on Elisabeth. Because if they are going to reduce Elisabeth to a secondary role in her own musical, then I, spiteful contrarian that I am, will focus on her and her alone, just to show them. So there.
(Though I guess I did like Asumi Rio as Tod, but I think that’s less a sign of her quality and more because I watch the 2014 cast the most, because I find Ranno Hanna to be a cutie patoot.)
Anybody interested in a 1-hour-long video essay dissecting the consequences of Rondo of Love and Death in Elisabeth das Musical?
AS PROMISED!! My video on Elisabeth and Rondo of Love and Death has dropped. This took forever lmaooo
@adridoesstuff @thatnerdashley @fitzrove
have you watched toho elisabeth?
I have not watched the Toho version in full for several reasons.
1. Elisabeth in Japanese to me doesn’t sound as good as Elisabeth in German. Due to the differences in diction, I find the original German much more expressive and intense. Japanese can be expressive and intense too but it doesn’t do so in the context of Elisabeth.
2. Toho, as I have read, is like a compromise between the Takarazuka version and the Viennese version. And that, to me, does not work. As I have said, the Viennese version is laid out so intricately, the smallest detail can throw the whole show out the window. They, of course, keep Rondo of Love and Death because the Japanese audience has spent almost 20 years prior to Toho associating Elisabeth with Rondo. Even when the Viennese Revival cast toured Japan around 2006-2007, they had to add Rondo (which was a stupid request).
Anyway, due to those reasons, I haven’t watched Toho. I might later but for now, if I want to watch a masterpiece I would watch Pre-2012 Viennese version, and if I want to hate-watch, I have a dozen Takarazuka versions to choose from.