忘れましょう
I feel like I'm in the right mood to do this. (Sorry, still no Phoenix 2 summary, but...)
I think it's about time to give up.
I've been telling myself all month that it's time to let go of the dream.
Alice-chan is never going to be a top star.
Earlier this year, three new top musumeyaku slots were opening up, with one already standing unfilled. Each time that spot was given to someone younger than Alice-chan, and the Tsukigumi slot still remains open.
I let myself keep dreaming for a while. Each time I thought what if, what if, maybe she would be good for so-and-so, maybe maybe maybe. With the Tsukigumi issue, my hopes have risen and fallen and I really need to just stop kidding myself already.
Even if they do grace Kiriyan with a partner eventually, why would they give it to Alice-chan? No matter how I tell myself that Alice-chan can pair with anyone, I doubt she would really "fit" with Kiriyan. And as we all know, the #1 requirement for a top musumeyaku is that she make her top star look good.
Better they give it to Marimo, or Nacchan, who are a little easier for me to imagine with Kiriyan.
Marimo and Nacchan have had less shinko leads, but they're still in their shinko years, after all. And they've both had more Bow leads. Nacchan has had four, in fact. And Marimo is about to do her third lead in Drama City / Seinenkan with Tom.
You could say Alice-chan hasn't gone gotten more leads due to extenuating circumstances (doing an outside lead right around the time of Second Life); you could say getting her dream role opposite a top star (Singin' in the Rain) must count for something... but that never would've happened if Ume-chan hadn't broken her leg. (In an alternate universe one could argue that Alice-chan would've gotten one of the Junjou leads, but we'll never know that reality.)
No, the company just doesn't love her as much as it does other musumeyaku. Or she was never in the right place at the right time.
Alice-chan got to where she is now not by any promotion, but by the depletion of all the other good Soragumi musumeyaku. Sakian with RuiRui, then Tacchin, then Masami with Ume-chan. As much as I love them they were all her competition, and she never rose above them. She just stayed while they all dropped out one by one.
The company doesn't love her enough. I should've seen it, I mean... I must have started worrying over a year ago with the Musumeyaku Switch of 2008. I did, a little; I said to myself, that's great for Nene and Shizuku and Seiko and all, but what about my girl?
And at this point (warning: sarcasm ahead) she's too old. Even if, god forbid, another top musumeyaku spot opens up next year, why would they give it to Alice-chan? Two years out of shinkos? Practically ancient. She's now the fourth most senior musumeyaku in Soragumi, did you know?
Upperclassmen musumeyaku -- who wants them as top stars anymore?
Becca made a good point when she said many of us were spoiled when we first got into the fandom. A time when all the top musumeyaku were mature, who did make top after their shinko years were over. Except for Ayane -- she signaled the return to ridiculously young musumeyaku tops.
And like Cate said, when Ayane was announced as the next Hanagumi top, what must the Asuka fans have thought? The Naru fans?
What about Minami Mari? What about Miwa Asahi, Shirosaki Ai, Yamashina Ai, Akisono Mio, Hanase Mizuka even? What about the great talent we lost in Saijou Mie when Kurara became top?
Where did all their hard work get them? Hanase Mizuka is keeping on, and good for her, but seriously.
Takarazuka, after all, has otokoyaku as their selling point (and not without reason). For every one musumeyaku "star" I see two or three or four otokoyaku being pushed from every year in every troupe.
It's hard to be a fan of musumeyaku when so many people ignore them, underestimate them, take them for granted. My feelings on the continued lack of a Tsukigumi top musumeyaku is a whole other rant, but the company should know that they can't get away with that kind of thing for too long. A top star without a top partner loses some of her shine. A theater company populated with only women in suits would get old pretty quickly.
...I lost my train of thought.
Oh, giving up the dream.
I'm making myself come to terms with the fact that Kochou may have been Alice-chan's best role ever -- and it might always be her best role ever. The six times I saw her onstage in Hakata -- shining, shining so brilliantly in both halves of the performance -- that may be the best thing she ever gets to do in Takarazuka.
Because a nibante musumeyaku role can be even better than the top musumeyaku's, as I saw... but they can also be really thankless (see: Sakura Ichika in "Me and My Girl").
Letting go of the dream, of course, in no way means quitting my support of Alice-chan. When things are looking down for your star -- that's when it's the most important to keep cheering them on. But everything she does from now on, I'll just have to appreciate how hard she keeps working -- and anything the company throws her way, a Bow lead next year or something... those will just be pleasant surprises.
I'm lowering my expectations. I'm not hoping anymore. I've gone through the grieving period, the loss of this dream, and now I'm just daring Hankyuu to prove me wrong.
I think I left out the part of this rant where I was going to say that I think super-young top musumeyaku make their top partners look old... and I'm skipping the "blah blah Sumika it's not fair blah blah blah" part too. If I tried to add those back in, this would be even less cohesive than it already is.
I think it's about time to give up.
I've been telling myself all month that it's time to let go of the dream.
Alice-chan is never going to be a top star.
Earlier this year, three new top musumeyaku slots were opening up, with one already standing unfilled. Each time that spot was given to someone younger than Alice-chan, and the Tsukigumi slot still remains open.
I let myself keep dreaming for a while. Each time I thought what if, what if, maybe she would be good for so-and-so, maybe maybe maybe. With the Tsukigumi issue, my hopes have risen and fallen and I really need to just stop kidding myself already.
Even if they do grace Kiriyan with a partner eventually, why would they give it to Alice-chan? No matter how I tell myself that Alice-chan can pair with anyone, I doubt she would really "fit" with Kiriyan. And as we all know, the #1 requirement for a top musumeyaku is that she make her top star look good.
Better they give it to Marimo, or Nacchan, who are a little easier for me to imagine with Kiriyan.
Marimo and Nacchan have had less shinko leads, but they're still in their shinko years, after all. And they've both had more Bow leads. Nacchan has had four, in fact. And Marimo is about to do her third lead in Drama City / Seinenkan with Tom.
You could say Alice-chan hasn't gone gotten more leads due to extenuating circumstances (doing an outside lead right around the time of Second Life); you could say getting her dream role opposite a top star (Singin' in the Rain) must count for something... but that never would've happened if Ume-chan hadn't broken her leg. (In an alternate universe one could argue that Alice-chan would've gotten one of the Junjou leads, but we'll never know that reality.)
No, the company just doesn't love her as much as it does other musumeyaku. Or she was never in the right place at the right time.
Alice-chan got to where she is now not by any promotion, but by the depletion of all the other good Soragumi musumeyaku. Sakian with RuiRui, then Tacchin, then Masami with Ume-chan. As much as I love them they were all her competition, and she never rose above them. She just stayed while they all dropped out one by one.
The company doesn't love her enough. I should've seen it, I mean... I must have started worrying over a year ago with the Musumeyaku Switch of 2008. I did, a little; I said to myself, that's great for Nene and Shizuku and Seiko and all, but what about my girl?
And at this point (warning: sarcasm ahead) she's too old. Even if, god forbid, another top musumeyaku spot opens up next year, why would they give it to Alice-chan? Two years out of shinkos? Practically ancient. She's now the fourth most senior musumeyaku in Soragumi, did you know?
Upperclassmen musumeyaku -- who wants them as top stars anymore?
Becca made a good point when she said many of us were spoiled when we first got into the fandom. A time when all the top musumeyaku were mature, who did make top after their shinko years were over. Except for Ayane -- she signaled the return to ridiculously young musumeyaku tops.
And like Cate said, when Ayane was announced as the next Hanagumi top, what must the Asuka fans have thought? The Naru fans?
What about Minami Mari? What about Miwa Asahi, Shirosaki Ai, Yamashina Ai, Akisono Mio, Hanase Mizuka even? What about the great talent we lost in Saijou Mie when Kurara became top?
Where did all their hard work get them? Hanase Mizuka is keeping on, and good for her, but seriously.
Takarazuka, after all, has otokoyaku as their selling point (and not without reason). For every one musumeyaku "star" I see two or three or four otokoyaku being pushed from every year in every troupe.
It's hard to be a fan of musumeyaku when so many people ignore them, underestimate them, take them for granted. My feelings on the continued lack of a Tsukigumi top musumeyaku is a whole other rant, but the company should know that they can't get away with that kind of thing for too long. A top star without a top partner loses some of her shine. A theater company populated with only women in suits would get old pretty quickly.
...I lost my train of thought.
Oh, giving up the dream.
I'm making myself come to terms with the fact that Kochou may have been Alice-chan's best role ever -- and it might always be her best role ever. The six times I saw her onstage in Hakata -- shining, shining so brilliantly in both halves of the performance -- that may be the best thing she ever gets to do in Takarazuka.
Because a nibante musumeyaku role can be even better than the top musumeyaku's, as I saw... but they can also be really thankless (see: Sakura Ichika in "Me and My Girl").
Letting go of the dream, of course, in no way means quitting my support of Alice-chan. When things are looking down for your star -- that's when it's the most important to keep cheering them on. But everything she does from now on, I'll just have to appreciate how hard she keeps working -- and anything the company throws her way, a Bow lead next year or something... those will just be pleasant surprises.
I'm lowering my expectations. I'm not hoping anymore. I've gone through the grieving period, the loss of this dream, and now I'm just daring Hankyuu to prove me wrong.
I think I left out the part of this rant where I was going to say that I think super-young top musumeyaku make their top partners look old... and I'm skipping the "blah blah Sumika it's not fair blah blah blah" part too. If I tried to add those back in, this would be even less cohesive than it already is.