One hour later...
I lied. *hollow laugh* I did read other people's LJs. Not as much outrage as I expected. I guess we're not at critical mass yet because some people in America are just barely waking up.
So.
I've had a post lying in wait for when the announcement came, but now I've had to rework some of it and don't like the flow as much.
Oh well, you get it anyway.
~
The concept of top musumeyaku has basically been ruined for me.
It should be easy for everyone to guess why. Because my girl didn't make it, and so many others didn't make it -- but let's start with Alice-chan.
All I ever wanted for her was the proverbial "gold star". The glory and honor; the prestige; the "win"; the shiny badge denoting that "Takarazuka thinks you are something extra special."
And what, after all, is wrong with wanting a gold star? Isn't that what the company teaches us to prize? Doesn't everyone wish for the success of the people they care about?
On the one hand I appreciate very much that people kept encouraging me to have hope even when I was past the point of consolation. I appreciate that people care about my emotional well-being and tell me to try to look on the bright side, think positively, remember the good times, etc.
On the other hand, in the end I am in control of my feelings and opinions. I'm nowhere near a ~My Life is Ruined~ sort of angst level. But there are certain things that I choose not to forgive. There's a degree to which I think I should be "allowed" to feel this way. If I continue to harbor grudges, then they are mine to deal with.
What I mean to say is, I feel I am justified in my disappointment at not getting the "gold star".
It's not like Alice-chan has "OMG so many opportunities" outside of Takarazuka. That is to say, she does, but they may be on stages even smaller than Bow Hall. They may be opportunities that won't result in lead roles, ever again.
Let's not kid ourselves, there really is no place like Takarazuka. When you leave it, you jump from an isolated circle where you're always guaranteed a part to the big scary world where there are no guarantees at all.
Is this what Takarazuka is becoming? A world with no guarantees, where the ranking system has become obsolete? How completely unfair is it to give multiple opportunities to musumeyaku in one troupe, but not anywhere else?
What are we meant to think when ken-5 musumeyaku are tops and ken-4s are nibante, and ken-1s are given leads in shinkos as well as honkouen?
Honestly one of the things that makes me the most sad is that with all of these shinko-aged top musumeyaku... Who do the girls actually in shinkos have to look up to? When the shinko lead is only a year younger, or the same year (or god forbid, older) than the top... How much are they really "learning" from the honyaku?
Plus it depresses me to think of the only musumeyaku club in a troupe being that of the top's. Because everyone else has left, and the ones they're promoting are too young / unknown to have clubs.
It didn't used to be this way. A little over a year ago we had Miwa Asahi, Shirosaki Ai, Koto Marie, Amase Izuru, Ootsuki Sayu, Hazakura Shizuku... They all had clubs, didn't they? Now I think of the ones still around maybe Sakura Ichika and Hanano Juria have clubs, but we all know they're not rising. (In the same category, Hisaki Seara? Possibly?)
Of The Three in Yukigumi, does even Mimi (the most promoted one) have the support of a proper club?
As of the 2010 Revue Mook our musumeyaku stars are Amasaki Chihana, Ayahoshi Rion, Manaka Ayu, Maihane Mimi, Shirahana Remi, Hanakage Arisu, Junya Chitose and Aihana Chisaki. Alice-chan is leaving, Seiko and Tara-chan are so NOT going to be tops, and I'm pretty doubtful about Remi and Ricchi as well.
Why do they even bother putting them in the book, the cynical part of me asks?
What is it all worth, to bring up talented musumeyaku and keep them long enough that they perfect their art... And then to snub them and make them leave because you chose a ken-4 to be top instead? Or didn't choose a top at all? What is the point of the whole system, if that is the result?
It makes me sick at heart that we've gotten used to this situation so quickly. It frightens me to think that people have already forgotten the many wonderful ladies we've lost. It makes me boggle, how young the promoted musumeyaku are now.
That, you see, is why top musumeyaku have been ruined for me. Individually there are girls I want to support, but collectively the concept of every top musumeyaku being younger than Alice-chan kind of makes me dislike all of them.
And the situation in Yukigumi, well, that's just horribly unfair.
It wouldn't have been this way if the company had treated certain people better. They ruined their own future by letting all the good ones go, which then left them scrambling. Ran-chan's sudden transfer, the lack of a Yuki top musumeyaku... It just screams "ack we didn't know what else to do".
You may or may not have expected me to end this rant with AND SO I'M LEAVING FANDOM HUMPH. I'm not -- yet -- but... gotta say I feel kind of broken right now. I keep thinking about my answer to the 100 Questions Meme...
98. What would cause you to stop being a Takarazuka fan?
If the company's decisions disgust and upset me enough that it hurts less to leave than to keep trying to love Takarazuka.
Yeah. It's approaching that.
So.
I've had a post lying in wait for when the announcement came, but now I've had to rework some of it and don't like the flow as much.
Oh well, you get it anyway.
~
The concept of top musumeyaku has basically been ruined for me.
It should be easy for everyone to guess why. Because my girl didn't make it, and so many others didn't make it -- but let's start with Alice-chan.
All I ever wanted for her was the proverbial "gold star". The glory and honor; the prestige; the "win"; the shiny badge denoting that "Takarazuka thinks you are something extra special."
And what, after all, is wrong with wanting a gold star? Isn't that what the company teaches us to prize? Doesn't everyone wish for the success of the people they care about?
On the one hand I appreciate very much that people kept encouraging me to have hope even when I was past the point of consolation. I appreciate that people care about my emotional well-being and tell me to try to look on the bright side, think positively, remember the good times, etc.
On the other hand, in the end I am in control of my feelings and opinions. I'm nowhere near a ~My Life is Ruined~ sort of angst level. But there are certain things that I choose not to forgive. There's a degree to which I think I should be "allowed" to feel this way. If I continue to harbor grudges, then they are mine to deal with.
What I mean to say is, I feel I am justified in my disappointment at not getting the "gold star".
It's not like Alice-chan has "OMG so many opportunities" outside of Takarazuka. That is to say, she does, but they may be on stages even smaller than Bow Hall. They may be opportunities that won't result in lead roles, ever again.
Let's not kid ourselves, there really is no place like Takarazuka. When you leave it, you jump from an isolated circle where you're always guaranteed a part to the big scary world where there are no guarantees at all.
Is this what Takarazuka is becoming? A world with no guarantees, where the ranking system has become obsolete? How completely unfair is it to give multiple opportunities to musumeyaku in one troupe, but not anywhere else?
What are we meant to think when ken-5 musumeyaku are tops and ken-4s are nibante, and ken-1s are given leads in shinkos as well as honkouen?
Honestly one of the things that makes me the most sad is that with all of these shinko-aged top musumeyaku... Who do the girls actually in shinkos have to look up to? When the shinko lead is only a year younger, or the same year (or god forbid, older) than the top... How much are they really "learning" from the honyaku?
Plus it depresses me to think of the only musumeyaku club in a troupe being that of the top's. Because everyone else has left, and the ones they're promoting are too young / unknown to have clubs.
It didn't used to be this way. A little over a year ago we had Miwa Asahi, Shirosaki Ai, Koto Marie, Amase Izuru, Ootsuki Sayu, Hazakura Shizuku... They all had clubs, didn't they? Now I think of the ones still around maybe Sakura Ichika and Hanano Juria have clubs, but we all know they're not rising. (In the same category, Hisaki Seara? Possibly?)
Of The Three in Yukigumi, does even Mimi (the most promoted one) have the support of a proper club?
As of the 2010 Revue Mook our musumeyaku stars are Amasaki Chihana, Ayahoshi Rion, Manaka Ayu, Maihane Mimi, Shirahana Remi, Hanakage Arisu, Junya Chitose and Aihana Chisaki. Alice-chan is leaving, Seiko and Tara-chan are so NOT going to be tops, and I'm pretty doubtful about Remi and Ricchi as well.
Why do they even bother putting them in the book, the cynical part of me asks?
What is it all worth, to bring up talented musumeyaku and keep them long enough that they perfect their art... And then to snub them and make them leave because you chose a ken-4 to be top instead? Or didn't choose a top at all? What is the point of the whole system, if that is the result?
It makes me sick at heart that we've gotten used to this situation so quickly. It frightens me to think that people have already forgotten the many wonderful ladies we've lost. It makes me boggle, how young the promoted musumeyaku are now.
That, you see, is why top musumeyaku have been ruined for me. Individually there are girls I want to support, but collectively the concept of every top musumeyaku being younger than Alice-chan kind of makes me dislike all of them.
And the situation in Yukigumi, well, that's just horribly unfair.
It wouldn't have been this way if the company had treated certain people better. They ruined their own future by letting all the good ones go, which then left them scrambling. Ran-chan's sudden transfer, the lack of a Yuki top musumeyaku... It just screams "ack we didn't know what else to do".
You may or may not have expected me to end this rant with AND SO I'M LEAVING FANDOM HUMPH. I'm not -- yet -- but... gotta say I feel kind of broken right now. I keep thinking about my answer to the 100 Questions Meme...
98. What would cause you to stop being a Takarazuka fan?
If the company's decisions disgust and upset me enough that it hurts less to leave than to keep trying to love Takarazuka.
Yeah. It's approaching that.