Bleed in Blue

Day 8 - Tokyo: Tokyo Takarazuka Theater (Last Day)

( Read more... )

Day 9: Tokyo -> Washington DC

( Read more... )

~Lyn

The Lost Glory/Passionate Takarazuka! - Takarazuka Tokyo Theater - 9/15/14 & 9/17/14

( Read more... )

~Lyn

S.mile - Tokyo Galaxy Theatre - 9/13/14 & 9/14/14

( Read more... )

~Lyn

Day 3: Takarazuka & Sanctuary

( Read more... )

~Lyn

This has been the part of my report I've debated the longest over how to go about writing it up. Mainly in part because I know I have both friends who are well versed in zuka-dom reading this but also friends who know absolutely nothing who will read this so thus I'll probably be putting in explanations of things I normally wouldn't, etc. Same goes with my show reports. Also warning that I may get a bit emotional and cheesy for this part. This was my very first time seeing Takarazuka and so it was a pretty special experience for me.

Day 2: Takarazuka & Elisabeth

( Read more... )

~Lyn

Almost forgot to do this report. XD Figured I should do it before the next con(s)...

( Katsucon 2014 )

Rest of my photos here on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lyn.hargreaves/media_set?set=a.10152159901327954.1073741866.578667953&type=3

~Lyn

2012 overall was a rather tough year for me and I'm very glad its almost over. I'm optimistic about 2013 though. Mainly because I feel like it can only get better from this point on. Not immediately but over time, I think.

I actually accomplished my New Year's resolution for the year, which I think is a first. I got my driver's license. Granted I did cut it close, as I didn't manage to actually get it shortly before Christmas. I had intended to get it a lot earlier but I kept having scheduling issues. The first time I meant to schedule it, I realized my permit was going to expire before the test date so I had to renew my permit first. Went to do that and failed the eye test for the first time ever which resulted in me getting my very first pair of glasses (haven't worn them since though but being the geek I am, totally intend to use them for future cosplay purposes). Scheduled the test again only to have my car not past inspection. And each time it was at least a month's wait before I could get a date in. So yeah. But despite all my freaking out about it...I passed on the very first try of the actual test. Like I did so good I was in denial for quite a bit at the end. I got even the parallel parking down absolutely perfect...better than I had done in any of my practices. Though makes me wonder if the actual test spot may have been bigger than what I was practicing with. But anyways, getting my license is such a huge accomplishment for me so I'm truly proud of myself for it.

I however did not accomplish my "cosplay resolution" which was to make several of my dream costumes. I did at least START Hades but that's about it. Instead I got barely any cosplay done this year and several of them were below par of my usual standards due to time restraints. Ah well.

But anyways, onto the points of this year...

Real Life:

+ Got promoted to supervisor at work.
- Lost two managers in one year, resulting in a rather difficult and chaotic time at work, which still isn't over right now. But hopefully things will finally get better soon and I've learned a lot from this experience and earned quite a bit of respect from my district manager due to me stepping up to take over a number of things at work that had been slacking.
+ Gay marriage was legalized in Maryland. Twice. They tried to take it away from us but we held on and were able to keep it through this most recent election. I've never been more proud of my state.
+ Re-connected with one of my childhood best friends that I hadn't talked to in many years and was delighted to find out that she is a major supporter of gay rights, which really touched me even though I still haven't been able to find the right words to tell her this.
- Had some major bouts of depression. I didn't tell many people about it but I got. Really. Bad. I don't want to get too much into it but for the first time in my life, I actually did have borderline suicidal thoughts. Don't worry though, it wasn't enough for me to ever actually consider it and it scared myself that I even had these thoughts, even if it was briefly. But there was quite a long period of this year where I really just didn't want to exist anymore. There is still some of this that lingers but I'm definitely getting better.
- My Dad had heart surgery which was unexpected and resulted in a very stressful time for my family but the outcome was all good. It was preventive surgery so that Dad won't have a heart attack any time soon since they discovered that he was at high risk. So it was a very good thing to have the surgery even if it did make things very difficult. Dad's recovering and hopefully will be able to go back to work in the next few weeks. But it was very scary seeing him so weak as Dad really is the backbone of our family and we all rely perhaps a bit too heavily on him. Even my brothers who are all moved out and married, still rely on him for a lot of things. My oldest brother almost passed out at the sight of Dad post-surgery and took it the hardest of my family. Oddly enough I found that I was able to deal with it better than the rest and made sure to crack jokes and keep everyone's spirits up as that seems to be my role as the little geeky sister these days.

Fandom/Hobbies:
+ Saw more movies in the theater in one year than I have in any single year EVER. I usually only see like 2-3 movies a year. This year I saw The Avengers (twice), Dark Shadows, Brave, The Amazing Spiderman, The Dark Knight Rises, Wreck It Ralph, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Rise of the Guardians, and Les Miserables. In other words, there were a lot more movies that meant something to me this year than there's been in a long time, including a movie based on one of my favorite books and one based on my favorite musical. For the most part I loved all of these movies and also find myself wanting to buy most of them, which is another thing as I rarely buy movies.
+ Got very obsessed with The Avengers, which I did not expect to happen. I got fully consumed by the fandom and I still am. It even led me to actually reading some of the Marvel comics, when I usually am not a fan of American comics.
+ Bought two BJDs in one year. I try to keep to only one BJD a year, if any and I totally broke that this year. ^^;; And both were new sizes for me. Got my first tiny, an Angelheim Jin named Jasper. And got a Junior Delf Terra named Uriel.
- Experienced the longest wait I've ever gone through for a doll. The company Angelheim went under after I placed my order and I did not hear any contact at all for over a month. I didn't even know if I'd ever get the doll. Another company took over and offered us all a choice of a refund or to wait for our orders and I decided to wait and I'm glad I did as I love the doll dearly but it was a very stressful issue considering this was a very expensive Tiny. Uriel also ended up being a longer than expected wait but nowhere as bad.
+ Watched 40 some Takarazuka shows in just one year. XD Bringing myself up to 70-some shows. Plus a few OG shows. Really finally feel like a better fan as I managed to learn a lot more siennes. My collection also got A LOT bigger. I also bought two brand new DVDs, which was a first for me as I've only ever bought things 2nd-hand before. Also found myself becoming a Hoshigumi fan, which surprised me as in the past they were the troupe I was never very interested in and I've always been devoted to Hanagumi but I really don't know the current Hana at all while I've come to truly love the current Hoshi.
- Experienced 3 top star retirements in one year, which was a bit painful. Seeing Kiriyan and Yuuhi go felt like the end of an era. And I only just got to barely know Kimu and then she retired as well. And also saw two of my favorite members of Hoshigumi leave at the same time, Toyoko and Remi. I still can't get over the fact they're gone. I thought they both had a good shot of being top stars.
+ Did my first real cosplay at a midnight premiere for The Hobbit. Felt very dorky. XD But glad I did it.
+ Made 6 costumes for myself + 14 commissions for a total of 20 costumes. Also did several alterations.
- ...which is actually really low for me. ^^;; That's 13 less than last year. But this is because several of these commissions were VERY big projects that really took a lot out of me. Captain America and Princess Peach were the two most difficult commissions I've ever taken on. Lollipop Chainsaw also was a big challenge. And Link took a lot more time than I thought it would. That and work got chaotic and made it a lot more difficult to get things done. I didn't enter any contests because I had no costumes of my own worth entering as everything I made for me this year was something kinda small and several of them were not up to par with my usual skills, sadly.
+ Princess Peach was the biggest costume I've made EVER and I'm really proud of it, eve if it wasn't a costume for me.
+ Saw Mix Speaker's Inc live and they revived my interest in J-Rock and brought back memories of PLC.

So what's my resolution for 2013? Well I'm going to really try hard to save money and plan out my hopeful trip to Japan in 2014 so I can see Takarazuka live for their 100th anniversary. I'm a bit nervous as I've never planned a trip on my own so I'm going to have to do a hell of a lot of research. But I do plan to ask the fandom rather soon about how best to go about what I'm planning to do...and to see if its even possible. lol I also plan to work to get myself more comfortable with driving so I can get my butt in gear and look for other jobs that will give me more of a future than retail. And I know I'm most likely going to have to drive myself to work wherever it ends up, so I need to work at getting used to it and battling my fears.

Annnnd I'm going to finish Hades dammit! XD And hopefully at least start Der Tod. I just don't know how much I'll be able to make anymore with work and commissions. I'm going to aim to be smarter with the commissions at least as I think now I have a better idea of how long it takes me and so I can schedule things better so I'm not overwhelmed or stuck with small time restraints, which happened a lot this year.

~Lyn

Day 8 – Best Photobook/Mook that was ever printed

Ehhh, I don't own any photobooks either and don't know enough about them to give an answer there. I do like the Elisabeth Mooks though. XD Those are like the only ones I'm familiar with. I own the Hanagumi one and Carrie has the 2007 Yukigumi one.

Day 9 – Favorite Theme Song from a Show

God why are these all so hard?! XD I love too many theme songs. But the one that comes to mind first is...

Les Rois Du Monde from Romeo et Juliette (not quite sure what the Japanese name for the song is). And well...pretty much all the "themes" from this show. I'm not sure which is considered the actual theme song. I guess probably Aimer, which I love too but I love this one more. XD And I know I could be proper and upload the song from my own soundtrack instead of linking to this random upload I found...but I'm lazy. lol

The other one that comes to mind is "Into The Fire" from Scarlet Pimpernel but alas I can't seem to find a clip or upload of that. Even though I guess "A Piece of Courage" is technically the theme for the Zuka show, I feel like "Into The Fire" best sums the show up though. But here, have some "The Riddle" instead. XD Which even though its not a theme song, its still amazing and the only clip I could find from the show...

(...and somehow Chie ended up being in both of these links. XD hahaha, can't help it, I love her voice)

...and yeah, I know both songs I selected here are actually from Western shows. I tried to think of themes that are Takarazuka originals but these are my favorites so it was tough. XD;

Day 10 – Most horrible Outfit ever (on- or off-stage)

Ok so I was going through revues I've seen ('cause lets face it, the worst outfits all come from revues) to select the worse and I got to Le Bolero Rouge and well...this isn't so much a case of "horrible outfit" as it is "horrible wig"...


Rika should really never be put in a blonde wig. Ever.

And then I totally forgot about this, which happens in the same scene only a few minutes later...

...which I think gets my answer as the wig is even worse and well...I unfortunately couldn't get a screenshot that shows the full monstrosity of this but I think you get the idea.

And well, Mami didn't get off scotch free in this scene either...


~Lyn

Day 5 – Favorite Scene from Elisabeth

Mayerling Waltz.



Video is from Yuki 2007 just 'cause its the only video I could find of the scene. XD But not necessarily my favorite version of this scene. Though I've enjoyed all of them for this part. But anyways, I fell in love with this scene even before I saw Elisabeth. I remember seeing a group of cosplayers reenact this scene in photos...and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

It is a bit awkward to be so in love with a suicide scene though. ^^;; But its just the way they do it that I really love. Especially the fact that Death hands him the gun and all. ...which just happens to be the same gun Elmer (I think it was Elmer?) tried to kill himself with earlier in the show until Der Tod took the gun from him. I just love little connecting details like that in shows in general. That and the whole dance here really shows Rudolf's complete anguish so well. Its a beautiful way of showing a real tragic scene.

And that kiss. Just saying. >>

~Lyn

Day 3 – Favorite Revue



Takarazuka Dancing Dreams - Hana 2004

I tend to prefer the revue shows that have at least some type of connecting theme throughout the show. And I especially love the ones that kinda have a sorta "story" going on. Which is why I also really enjoy Nova Bossa Nova, even though I have such a hard time calling that one a "revue" at all. XD Most of the regular revues, I'll find myself really loving one particular routine that stands out but the rest of the show may be kinda "meh". It depends. But there aren't that many revues were I really can say I loved the entire thing. Might just because I haven't watched enough since I do tend to watch more of the big shows. But anyways, Dancing Dreams, as old and cheesy as it is (lets not even start on the wigs), is one of the few where I can truly say I loved the entire revue.

The show is centered on Greek mythology, something I've always loved since I was wee little. And it has some of my favorite siennes in it. Though every time I watch it, I still can't help but be like "...Mizu? Kiriyan? What are doing in my Hanagumi?" XD As this show is during the short period of time where both of them were in the troupe but I'm so used to Mizu in Yuki and Kiriyan in Tsuki, it just seems kinda...wrong. But I enjoy the chance of seeing them interact anyways. Also the fact that the artwork for the program was done by Amano and Yoshiki did some of the music for the show...how can you not love this show? It has so many levels of awesome to it. Its really hard for me to pick a favorite scene in the show but I do love the whole part where Zeus gets accidentally shot by one of Eros' arrows and goes after like every woman in sight...plus Ganymede. XD I love the shocked gasps of all the girls when he kisses the boy. Haha! That and the Narcissus bit is really well done.

I think its a show that even if you know nothing about Takarazuka, you can still enjoy because you don't need to know any Japanese to follow. As long as you know at least basic stuff about Greek mythology, you'll get it. XD

~Lyn