My dear God.

I don't think I'm ever going to be able to look at our little Watson-kun, aka Harukaze Misato, the same way again.  Ever.  The fact that I was warned doesn't help.

*eyes are still very wide*

Yes, I just watched That Scene in Bara ni Furu Ame.  It's well done and Mii-chan looks very mature, but...wow.

So tonight I sat down and watched Casablanca.  It was AMAZING, and definitely deserves its status as a great American film.   If you haven't seen it, I really do recommend it.  I can feel my willpower and common sense melting, although it's not completely gone yet.

This only makes me more excited about the Takarazuka version.  I suspect it could be a very talk-y show, but it suits the atmosphere.  And I wonder how they'll incorporate "As Time Goes By" and the other songs?  Or maybe they'll have to go with other songs if getting the original copyright is a problem?

Anyway, I decided to write down my casting predictions.  I always like doing these and going back later to see how I did.  (For the record, I'd like to brag that wao_wao  and I predicted long before the summary of Paradise Prince was released that Tomu would be an evil, corporate villain trying to get Tani to sell out and Micchan would play Tani's friend XD)

 

( Here's looking at you, kid. )

 

 

Most of you I think are already on the takarazuka  community, but in case you're aren't, I put up a really big sales post here. 

Any contributions to the Becca Fund are greatly appreciated ;)

Similar to Tani, Asako will also have a dinner show pre-retirement (although this one is happening before rehearsals start).  I guess Hankyu is trying to squeeze everything they can out of her? 

It's great for her fans that she's getting one more before she leaves, but poor Asako must be exhausted.

Also starring are Ai-chan, Otoki Sunao, and Touka Yurino.  I'm a little terrified that this means something.

Honestly, I think it's more likely than not that Ai-chan will retire.  The company as of late has not been kind to older star track musumeyaku.  But nothing can be said for sure around here, so it's probably not worth getting worked up about until I actually hear something.  (Although someone other than Ai-chan becoming the next tsuki musumeyaku top would be a very bad sign). 

Then again, if she played Sophie in Elisabeth, maybe it's a sign that they're moving her towards upperclassmen roles?

...is anyone really surprised?

I have mixed feelings on this one.  I feel like Asako overstayed her time and I hated the fact that the company never gave her a new partner after Mihoko, but there are also performances of hers that I really love (Ernest and Love and Me and My Girl, namely).  Also, I got into fandom in January of 2007.  From the top stars of that time, only Mizu is left o.O

Whew, what a crazy year for retirements.

First there was this (new Tom dinner show)

Then there was this.  (Ban Akira dinner show.  I can't think of a more deserving person)

Okay, so there's one who is at least equally deserving...

(I'll give you a hint.  She's in the icon)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥


My brain hasn't really processed this yet.  When it does, I may explode.

It will be a long time until I get to see it with my own eyes, but I take comfort in the fact that it will eventually be on Sky Stage <3333333

So I had a dream that I was back in Japan, just in time to do demachi for Bara ni Furu Ame raku.  Only for some reason it was really low key.  (Maybe it wasn't raku, maybe it was just near the end of the run).  I was in line with my fellow cultists when I realized that the card I had brought didn't actually have any room for me to write on it.  I suddenly found myself having to run into Quatre Reves and buy a postcard BEFORE Micchan came out.

On my way into QR I ran into Ume-chan, who apparently in the dream universe I was friends with?  She actually decided to go into QR with me, and I was all, "Won't this be weird since you're a Takarasienne yourself?", and her respond was to smile and go "Shhhhh."

So there I was, frantically looking for a Hokushou Kairi postcard with Hizuki Hana o.O  I don't think we were able to find any, and so much time had passed that I was sure Micchan had already left.  I think I decided that I would have to do demachi another day -_-;

Somewhere in here she also invited me to her sayonara party <333333333  I was my flustered self and asked if this was really okay, and I think she gave me a phone number (not sure if it was hers).

Oh, my subconscious...

I'm not particularly a big Asako fan these days, but the third design makes me crack up. 

After the Elisabeth DVD is released I will eagerly be awaiting the video-edited montage in which Asako!Lucheni kills Asako!Elisabeth, who then falls into Asako!Death's arms XD

I'm embarrassed to say that I had my copy of How to Succeed for a little over a year before I actually watched it >.>
 
( Some thoughts under the cut )So in short, you really should try to track down a copy.  But you can't have mine :P *clings*

...*wanders off to scheme about possible casting for a future production*

So I'm attempting to put some photos under a cut, and no matter what I do (whether I play with it in the rich text editor or with the html option), it just doesn't work.  At least one of the photos will sneak out from underneath the cut.  It used to be that if I just highlighted everything I wanted under the cut that would work fine, but as I said, Live Journal hates me.

Even when I manually try to change the location of the tags using the post in html option, it just ignores whatever changes I make.

What am I doing wrong???  Or does Live Journal just hate me?

(For the record, I tried this at home using Firefox, and now I'm trying it on my work computer, which is Internet Explorer 6.0.  No luck with either :/)

So a while back I bought this really pretty card with a real pressed flower on the front.  Am I allowed to send this internationally through the mail to Japan?  (I feel like transporting fruits or plants or something like internationally is illegal?)

(Okay, okay, the chances of a customs official noticing the inside of my card in the first place AND choosing to do anything about it is small, but it takes me a while to write letters and I'd rather not see mine thrown out).

You can tell that Hokushou Kairi has permanently warped my mind when I start becoming excited about a Heian era nihonmono >.>  But we got Watanabe no Tsuna!!!!  (Okay, so this is what I had been expecting from the beginning, but I was afraid to get my hopes up after the disappointment of BeruBara: Alain Hen.

(  From my limited internet research, this is what I've figured out about some of the other roles:  )( Cut for speculation )

So Micchan's Tokyo ochakai was last night.  According to a message board I frequent, along with Micchan, there was also surprise special guest...

♥ ☆ ♬ ♥ KAZUNE MIOU ♥ ♬ ☆ ♥

They sang three duets together:

1. 星空の下で (from The Second Life)
2. A Whole New World
3. Utakata no Koi

You know, I usually do okay with not being in Japan for these sorts of things, but the sheer level of jealousy...well, I think I'll just have to handle it by grinning like an idiot XD

I put on "Guys and Dolls" the other day after having not watched it in a good year or so.  
( Over-analyzing the ending and why I'm disatisfied with it )

When I first saw this show a good year and a half ago, I think it had been hyped up *so* much that I couldn't completely enjoy it.  (Er, not that Guys and Dolls isn't a worthy show, but rather sometimes your expectations become so high that there is no humanly possible way for them to be fulfilled).  But even at the time, the "I've Never Been in Love Before" scene was so tender and sweet I nearly cired.  Kurara isn't one of my favorite musumeyaku, but she makes an excellent partner to Rika.

And Kiriyan's Adelaide?  (This is what I'm talking about in regards to things being overly hyped).  Finally I was able to enjoy it, and she does such an amazing job of both hamming it up AND being sexy.  Also, I can't help but be proud of Micchan for getting such a big role at such a young age <333333

The ending may never felt right to me, but the songs are catchy, the characters are memorable, and the entire cast looks like they're having so much fun.  You can't help but like it ;)

YES PLEASE.

CASABLANCA.  SORAGUMI.  FEDORAS.

...okay, fine, I haven't seen the movie.

But I'm going to rent it!

And after I rent it, I will sell off all of my possessions to make this work *knocks on wood*  (ETA: Okay, okay, obviously still not running into anything, as I'm trying really hard to be a Mature Responsible Adult.  But this is certainly a point in favor of going this November.  The only thing that could compete with this would be if Micchan got a lead in the spring...but who knows at this point, really)

*looks around* And no transfers, 'kay thanks.

Okay, the first time BeruBara: Andre Hen was performed, it was quite possibly the worst allotment of nibante stage time I had ever seen.  (Seriously, Micchan didn't show up on stage for an hour.  That's simply not how you treat the nibante role) . But I figured that while you could get away doing that to a sanbante who had been bumped up to a nibante for a non-Dakigejou show while the real nibante was otherwise occupied, there was no way this could fly in the Daigekijou version.

...so why is Sou cast as Alain????

I feel bad for everyone involved, most of all the hanagumi fans.  Wasn't it enough that they had to go through this drivel once already?

I might start to buy this whole curse of the 82nds thing.  I pray for Sou's sake (and for the sake of her fans) that she gets more than the entire four scenes Micchan got.

I had a dream last night that I was seeing The Brothers Karamazov live, only it was some sort of strange performance where there wasn't a stage.  Instead there was a series of rooms, and you had to rotate through the rooms (often standing only a few feet away from the actors).  In fact, there were a couple of times I had to move out of the way of the actors XD

I haven't actually seen Brothers Karamazov, but somehow I was aware that this was why Kimu and Kaname weren't in the show.  I think Hiromi was playing a revolutionary, again.  However, the only real sienne I recognized was Tonami.

My dreams tend to be more in generalities than details, but I know she sang an absolutely amazing opening song.  And then some time during the second act (and I'm blushing as I'm typing this), she slow danced with someone in the audience (who were only a few feet away).  Um...that person may have been me? ^^;;

I like dreams.  I'm certainly not going to slow dance with Shirahane Yuri in real life!!!!