MIU

The most important aspect of Miu’s character is how she has distanced herself from all feelings that she deems troublesome, such as love in particular and the passionate emotions of anger and sadness. As a little girl, she saw what the loss of her father did to her mother and she vowed never to put herself in the same vulnerable position. As a result, rather than growing bitter and resentful, Miu has nurtured all the positive emotions, growing into an optimistic and bright-spirited person with an understated sense of humour and plenty of enterprise. She nurses an easy-going attitude which betrays that she used to lack ambition on her own behalf, although she approached and still approaches every role she is given with great care and earnestness. Her drive changed along with the rest of her personality, though, when she met Tomomi again, the other girl inspiring her to strive for perfection and allow herself to be touched by all those underlying feelings that she’d rejected since she was a child. Feelings which made her a more compelling actress on stage and a more wholesome person backstage. When Tomomi died, only Miu’s professional determination remained, her relation to her own feelings declining back into its former state rapidly, until she was left with an even greater reluctance to deal with emotions of affection and passion. As she had most feared as a child, she was now in her mother’s shoes, having lost her significant other. Left only to delve into her work, her dancing, fully and wholly. Putting on a smiling face to match her happy feet.

Tomomi was a talented ballet dancer who, at a young age, received a scholarship and later became first soloist with the Tokyo Ballet. Tranquilly balanced and mature, she functioned as Miu's counterweight personality-wise and was always gently supportive of Miu’s ideas and initiatives. Miu was her ‘first love’, although it was unrequited at the time – implying that she knew she was a lesbian from she was around fourteen years old. She lived and breathed ballet and was given several notable parts in the Tokyo Ballet's productions, her biggest role Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. A role she was given the chance to reprise before her death. Being generally a very calm person, ballet was the one area of Tomomin’s life where she openly showed wild, passionate abandon. A passion and fire which multiplied visibly once Miu entered her life again. Tomomi never revealed to anyone, least of all her parents, that she was in a relationship with another woman – knowing that in her and Miu’s position, it could mean trouble. However, being an only child like Miu, she had a strong bond to her mother and talked openly to her of how much time she spent with her new ‘friend’, to a degree where her mother, at the time of Tomomi’s death, suspected that Miu was her girlfriend. Yet she didn’t invite her to Tomomi’s funeral and Miu hasn’t been in contact with Tomomi’s family since that night at the hospital. A situation Miu has contented herself with.

Dai-chan was one of the first, along with Ayako, to welcome Miu to the company where she herself had danced for the past three years and the two became fast friends, bonding over their shared history in Takarazuka - a bond Miu ensured to strengthen by dragging Dai-chan with her to all the Hanagumi performances she herself attended, to watch Chiho's progression into nibante musumeyaku in Miu's stead. A sensible, serious person, Dai-chan tries never to pass judgement on others and focuses on her own performance first and foremost. She isn't without humour, but she rarely laughs out loud, no matter how silly Miu acts to try and make her. She left Takarazuka to marry her boyfriend at the time, Kaku, and had a child not long after. The relationship, however, didn’t work out and she got divorced with full custody of her five-year-old daughter, Aoi-chan. Her divorce left her wary of everything Takarazuka for a long time, since she associated it with her former husband. Now, having met Miu, she is slowly returning to the happy memories of having been in the Revue and is opening up more, becoming less reserved. Currently, she’s planning her wedding with her boyfriend of the past two years, Itsuki.

Although Shinobu grew up in Takarazuka, she later moved to Sapporo, Hokkaido, when she married her late husband, Masaji. She still lives there, in the home where Miu also grew up. She's a businesswoman who runs her husband's family import company in the position of its director. After her husband died of cancer, she singlehandedly brought up Miu who was only three years old at the time. Fully dedicated to her job, she and Miu never spent much time together, something that Shinobu made up for by having paid and continuing to pay most of Miu’s expenses in regards to her life as a performer, first in Takarazuka, later with BELLS. Although Miu feels they are estranged from each other, she respects her mother very much without any traces of resentment or bitterness. Shinobu didn't attend even a single of her daughter's performances until Miu received the Bow Hall lead of Odette in 'By the Lakeside', but always received a thick envelope after each show containing still photos, the official program and Miu’s personal photos with attached notes. Envelopes that she carefully studied and kept in a drawer in her home office. Shinobu loves Miu very much, but doesn't know her very well and is aware of this fact, respecting and accepting the distance that has come between them.

A childhood friend of Shinobu's from when she grew up in Takarazuka City, where Natsuko still lives as a married but childless homemaker, not far from Miu’s old apartment. After Miu moved from Sapporo to Takarazuka, Natsuko took her in and has served as her substitute mother throughout her life away from Hokkaido. Knowing that Miu can’t cook, she always ensured that her fridge was full of homemade food, easy to reheat and often invited Miu over for dinner or tea whenever Miu found herself in Takarazuka. Natsuko is also good friends with Fuji Eru, one of Miu's classmates, who entered Hoshigumi - the troupe that has Natsuko's support. As a show of appreciation for all her help, Miu always bought Natsuko first-row tickets for the Takarazuka run's shinjin kouen performance of Hoshigumi's shows, so that she could see Eru perform. Natsuko also attended all the Hanagumi shows in which Miu had more prominent roles. After Miu left Takarazuka and moved to Tokyo to join BELLS, Natsuko comes to visit her at least once a month and still brings homemade food with her to fill Miu's fridge and freezer.

Miu and Eru were classmates during their Takarazuka Music School days and remained close friends. In contrast to Miu, Eru had every ambition of becoming top star one day, graduating third in their class and having been heavily promoted since she entered Hoshigumi. Singing is her greatest talent and her strong, naturally deep voice has gained her quite the following, something of which she is acutely aware. Her confidence can be grating and, in terms of humility, she still has a lot to learn, but her talents and her drive have been rewarded with one nibante role in the most recent Hoshigumi shinko and the promise of a shinko lead in the upcoming production of "Da Capo, My Love". After they entered different troupes, they have not been able to see each other as much as either of them would have liked, but they text each other regularly and hang out on their days off, mostly at Natsuko’s place. After Miu left Takarazuka, Eru has had her first sanbante role in a national tour and is slowly moving into position of becoming top star in the future.

Miu came to know Chiho during her second year in Music School, since Chiho carried out her cleaning duties under Miu’s supervision. Learning that they both originated from Hokkaido, although from different cities - Miu being from Sapporo and Chiho from Tomakomai, Miu immediately adopted the shy and soft-spoken Chiho. After her graduation, Chiho was also sorted into Hanagumi and their friendship quickly deepened, especially seeing how their respective strength proved to be the other girl’s weakness; Chiho a remarkable actress, but a less than stellar dancer. Miu’s knack for talking often landed Chiho in problems, although she – as a person – was much more reserved and respectful. This nature of hers made her a popular and valued member of the troupe, a person everybody liked. Likewise, the fans also began noticing her, since she played several 'little sister' parts with great conviction. Chiho is the only one who knows about Tomomi and Miu's relationship to her, a secret she keeps with much earnestness while beginning to take over for Miu as nibante musumeyaku, following Miu's retirement.

Ueno Takeru & Hazuki Otoha

Ueno Takeru & Hazuki Otoha

Horiguchi Isao

Fujihara Haruki

Matsuura Kaori

Asumi Chihiro

O-SHIGERI

Miyaki Ren

Sekimoto Sakura, Uchino Nozomi, Yamaguchi Suzue, Yokomine Yuka & Akiyama Ichiko

Ito Ayako & Ifukube Ai

Junpei Rumiko, Endo Momoka, Kinoshita Shiori, Shinohara Yui, Shizuki Umeko & Chiba Kaede

Daiho Ayato, Fujiwara Juri, Fukuda Fusako, Higashide Manami, Miyahira Yoshino, Nomura Ai & Sekimoto Hinata

Kotori Miu

Horiguchi Eiko & Horiguchi Etsuko

Miyaki Ren & Hayami Rie

Hazuki Otoha

All dancers

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