While the predominantly male owners and showrunners of the Takarazuka Revue as well as the men running the manga publishing industry may seek to downplay, bury, or even deny lesbian relationships, girls’ love, and any notion of gender being challenged, it is both our right and our duty as fans – if not of yuri, then of anime and manga in general – to expose these histories and lift them up.
I really wanted to see a Takarazuka show when I visited Japan many years ago, but I had no luck with the scheduling…
I wound up watching a Bunraku performance instead, so it wasn’t a total loss…