The Hankyu-Hanshin Holding Group regularly publishes reports for its shareholders. In these reports, there is also information on the Revue's part in the group. ( Cut for length. )

The report for the last year should be interesting, but isn't out yet.

Hm... maybe Hiromi is specializing in nihonmono...?




Jas is back from Japan and her reports on Hanagumi and Adieu aren't too positive... :-/ She says she thinks she loves Silver Rose Chronicle more than Adieu. (Jas is a rabid Osa fangirl.) What she says about Yukigumi makes me smile, though. Apparently Yumiko and Mizu get along really well. Very much yay. :D Jas told me that in a recent Graph Yumiko says when Mizu calls her Yumikooo~~! it sounds like she's calling her pet and in response Yumiko puts up her hands like a begging puppy. :D <3


Yukigumi (past & present) is growing on me more and more...

Title: Koitengu (Love Goblin)
Year: 2003
Troupe: Moon
Genre: Nihonmono, Comedy, Bowhall Workshop
TakaWiki: Spring Again / Love Goblin
Warning: Massive, massive spoilers.

Trivia: 2003 was the Bowhall's 25th anniversary and in celebration of that there were bowhall workshops.
Hana, tsuki, yuki and hoshi each had 2 short plays, one of which was always Koitengu, so that there are 4 versions of Koitengu out there. From 2003. Because tsukigumi had done Koitengu before in 1966.
The four 2003 goblins were: Hanagata Hikaru (hana), Ayana Oto (tsuki), Saou Kurama (yuki), Mahiro Shun (hoshi). (Sora also had 2 plays, but not Koitengu.)

( The Plot. Or What I think it is. )

( Thoughts. )

ETA2:
Each of the 4 version from 2003 has a slightly different cast and a different director, so the story may be a little bit different in each of them.

( 1001 Screencaps of Hiromi. (Plus one or two of Micchan and Morie.) )

Oh, oh, ooohhh...

I just purchased a legal copy of "Time To Love" for 150 Yen, with no Japanese address or Japanese iTunes card required. \o/ All it took was to register an account/email address and a regular, simple credit card (mine is a Master Card).

From MUSICO.

They also have a pretty promo pic up that I have been looking for. Yay.

Wednesday the song ranked 7th on MUSICO's sales-based hitlist, but yesterday they weren't in the top ten anymore...


Important Note: What you get is a DRM protected wma file (unlimited playbacks, limited number of burns, 1 license reissue). However, there are [legal and somewhat-legal] ways to get rid of the protection, like burning the file on CD and ripping it in whatever format you want or using FairUse4WM, which I can confirm works with this file. Or you use GoldWave (or any other wav-recording software) to record the wave output and save it as mp3 (or whatever you like/need).
_

ETA: D'oh. Musico is officially listed on the tca pictures website as one of the online music stores where you can get takarazuka music. I thought with everyone just talking about iTunes, this was the only option for us to purchase zuka music online. Since I keep anything Apple far, FAAAAR away from my PC, I wasn't really interested in this option. But Musico obvioulsy works, too, and for everyone who doesn't have a Japanese address it's even easier than the iTunes option.
__

ETA2: [Link Dump] A picture of shiny, happy OSASA people.

Rika was crying on Mami's last day. Like, sob, snuffle & tears crying. <3

There were tears on Dan's face, too. Mami bravely fought the tears until the end. She had to pause several times, but there were no tears. BIG BOYS DON'T CRY.

I must wonder, though, one article says there have been 100,000 fans when Mami left the theater, and then in the radio program babylonclo translated, they say an unprecedented 10,000 have waited for Wao...

Me thinks 100,000 is a bit much, indeed. But the streets *do* look very crowded...

There are clips on youtube of the Aqua5 performance at the IAAF 2007 opening ceremony. As to be expected a rather crappy quality and only short.

clip 1     clip 2

I'm hoping eventually a longer video, maybe even in better quality, will surface somewhere.

Apparantly a CD release of "Time to Love" is planned. Yay.


ETA: Plus, a nice picture of our 5 "boys" (click on the small picture for a bigger version).

Saeko's box set may be sold out, but it still has its own page at TCA pictures, WITH 4 CLIPS. (4 pictures at the top of the page).

http://www.tca-pictures.net/shop/press/050425sae.html

(More Sae with glasses in the 3rd video, Jenn!)

ETA: Ok, for the APPLE-challenged: all four clips in a zip file.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBp5O9AywTY

Oh silly associations...

(Jas clearly corrupted my mind. lol.)

Well, for all those who have missed it:

Hiromi is in a boyband. YESS! English summary here.

This opening will be on *international* TV. Right? RIGHT?

<sigh>I can barely wait for my Hiromi shinies to arrive. NOIMNOTINLOVE.


Next. Update on the Kiss incident.

( Mami, Rika, Ai no Sonata, hot kissing )

While obsessively thoroughly combing YJA, I came across this. There's no way around this, is there? No? Didn't think so, either.

I felt silly today. Poor Mami.

( Ah wells. )