105期
Yesterday was result announcement for TMS.
We have 40 new darlings.
A lot of the press about this years results are going to one girl in particula, 松岡恵 Matsuoka Megumi. She's daughter to a famous tennis player Matsuoka Shuzo. She screams money and connections. Her dad is one of the Kobayashi's grandsons and her grandmother is 千波静 Chinami Shizuka, who was an otokoyaku in hoshigumi, but appears to not have a wiki page. I think some sources are saying this is her second time trying, and her last chance. So there's that.
Have one of the numerous pictures of her floating around:
-gets out my soapbox and steps up-
This also makes her tangentially related to Ranju Tomu since this is the family she married into. Chinami is one of THREE members of the family to have been in Takarazuka, for the record. At least that's all I can find right now having spent 3 minutes on the wiki. I'm sure there is more.
-puts away box and shoved Tomu photos into bag-
Another interesting story this year is about a set of twins. One sister got in last year, and the other didn't. She took the exam this year, and thankfully made it in. Thanks at HANKYU for not making family holidays and get togethers the most awkward thing ever for eternity.
There is also a girl who looks to be a double in the class, but the press haven't been covering it. I think we are becoming old-hat guys, I mean we are getting prolific at this point. Almost every troupe has at least one international member. Although I guess it's worth pointing out that a lot of websites are saying that students from abroad took the exam. Guess we will find out sooner or later.
In terms of numbers here is what they look like according to one website. The numbers are students who passed each round. These numbers also tend to not reflect accurately on where students are coming from. A lot of people will come to Takarazuka to sit the Exam as part of the total experience.
First Exam:
Takarazuka: 243 people
Tokyo: 166 people
Total: 409 people
Second Exam:
Takarauka: 74
Tokyo: 40
Total: 114
Final Exam:
Takarazuka: 22
Tokyo: 18
Total: 40
They will debut in 2019! Congratulations to all of them, and hugs to every girl who didn't make it this year.