Tomu Ranju


Tomu Ranju is a Japanese actress/singer most widely recognized as Takarazuka Revue Flower Troupe's otokoyaku top star from 2011 to 2014. Ranju is considered one of the best singers the revue has had in the recent years, and was selected to record songs for many of Takazuka's albums, both while she was with the revue and after she "graduated" from Takarazuka Revue.
After her "graduation", Ranju began to actively pursue a career on stage, focusing mainly on musicals; but she can also been seen on television, playing supporting roles and as co-host of the monthly TV show "Takarazuka Dream Tours".

Early life

Tomu Ranju was born Mayu Sakamoto in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, a city in the same prefecture as the city where the Takarazuka Revue is based and got its name from.
Sakamoto started to take ballet classes at the invitation of her friends while she was in elementary school, and has been dancing ever since. In eighth grade she heard about the revue for the first time and became interested. On her off days she would take morning trains to Takarazuka to line up for same-day tickets for shows. She was particularly fascinated by Mizuki Oura's performances - who was famous for her dance skills, and also a Flower Troupe otokoyaku top star.
Sakamoto continue to go to Takarazuka performances, but it wasn't until she was in high school that she decided to try out for the extremely competitive entrance exam of the Takarazuka Music School, known for low acceptance percentage.
In 1994, a year for record low acceptance percentage of only 2%, Sakamoto was admitted to the Takarazuka Music School with the highest score. Throughout her 2 years at the music school, she maintained the status as No. 1 pupil.

Takarazuka Revue Career

In 1996 Sakamoto graduated as top of her class, and successfully joined the revue. By tradition, pupil would have already decided on her stage name, and switch to be addressed by it now. Sakamoto began to be billed as Tomu Ranju. The stage name was suggested by her teacher and family. The first name "tomu" was going to be written in kanji as "人夢", which means giving people dreams; but the kanji was considered too complicated, so it was changed to Hiragana form "とむ". The last name "蘭寿" is the kanji form of "l'ange", French for "angel". Following Takarazuka customs, she also has couple of nicknames : Tomu, Mayu, Rantomu.
Ranju debuted in Can-Can, after that she was assigned to Flower Troupe. In addition to minor roles in regular revue productions, she was also cast for minor roles in novice productions and dinner shows.
In 2001 she began to be cast for lead roles in novice productions. In 2002, she won her first lead role in the revue's Bow Hall production of Tsuki no Hokage, sharing the lead role of Jiroukichi with Ayabuki Mao. In the same year, Ranju won the Newcomer of the Year award.
In 2005 Ranju won the Best Effort of the Year award. In 2006, she had her own first dinner show Sensation!, further fortifying her rising popularity and singing skills. In the same year, she was reassigned to Cosmos Troupe as third lead otokoyaku. In 2007, as Yūga Yamato was promoted to Cosmos top star, Ranju was promoted to second lead.
In February 2009, Ranju was cast in the lead role for another Bow Hall production Phoenix Wright, based on the Capcom legal thriller video game Ace Attorney. The production was so well-received that the revue presented a sequel, Phoenix Wright 2 just six months later. These 2 productions greatly boosted and attested to Ranju's popularity and her talent, leading to her first Takarazuka concert "R"ising!! in 2010.
In 2011, as :ja:真飛聖|Sei Matobu retired, Ranju was re-assigned back to Flower Troupe as the next otokoyaku top star. She debuted as top star in the Takarazuka production of Phantom.
During her 3 years as top star, it was considered that Ranju did well to carry on the tradition of Flower Troupe as "otokoyaku treasure" and "Flower Troupe of Dance". Retired top star :ja:壮一帆|Kazuho So was second lead under Ranju before being re-assigned to Snow Troupe as top star, and retired Cosmos top star :ja:朝夏まなと|Manato Asaka was third/fourth lead under Ranju before her re-assignment to Cosmos as second lead.
On October 8, 2013, Ranju announced in a press conference that she will retire in 2014. Her farewell production was The Love of the Last Tycoon / Takarazuka Dazzling Dreams, a musical/show based on The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald. On May 11, 2014, after the last performance of The Love of the Last Tycoon / Takarazuka Dazzling Dreams, Tomu Ranju officially retired and became an "OG".

Career After Takarazuka Revue

Like most graduated Takaruzuka actresses, Ranju chose to continue on with her career using her Takarazuka stage name.
Ranju's post-Takarazuka activities are focused on musical, dinner shows and concerts, but there are also television drama supporting roles and variety show appearances. Her relationship with Takarazuka Revue remains close, and was chosen to participate in 2 of its centennial celebration events: recording Reijin, an album with other otokoyaku OGs; and singing in the celebration concert of the post-mortem 90th birthday of :ja:越路吹雪|Fubuki Koshiji, a Takarazuka OG from the 1940s with legendary stature in Japanese entertainment history.

Theater

Ranju's first non-Takarazuka appearance is the musical "ifi", a show focuses on showcasing various dance styles. She had a busy 2015 - 2016, balancing 2 stage productions while participating in various Takarazuka 100th anniversary special performances, leading roles in "The Love Bugs" and "Sister Act".

TV

As one of the "Sentinel Tops", Ranju made numerous TV talk show and variety show appearances. She also did some narrating jobs for Sky Stage programs.

Ranju's first TV drama appearance was a supporting role in Netflix's first Japanese production Atelier, playing an influential Vouge-ish magazine editor. She will next be seen in :ja:私 結婚できないんじゃなくて、しないんです, a TV drama about the "lost dogs", attempting to understand why successful and beautiful women prefer to stay single. Ranju plays one of the female lead character's friends, a successful financial adviser who's over 40, happily single, and has a younger boyfriend.
In March 2016, Ranju co-hosted pilot for "Takarazuka Dream Tours" with veteran entertainment show host :ja:笠井信輔#.E7.8F.BE.E5.9C.A8.E3.81.AE.E6.8B.85.E5.BD.93.E7.95.AA.E7.B5.84|Shinsuke Kasai. The pilot was picked up by Fuji Television, and in June it became a monthly show. The show is shot 100% on location, interviewing the special guest while she's doing an activity she's always wanted to do but haven't had the chance. All special guests are Takarazuka OGs, many top star OGs have appeared in the show, including Ranju's top musumeyaku :ja:蘭乃はな|Ranno Hana, Jun Sena, :ja:真飛聖|Sei Matobu,, Natsuki Mizu.
After she got married in 2016, Ranju announced that she will be taking a break from acting. Her last public appearance was attending the premier of Ocean's Eight in Japan, as she played Danny Ocean in Takarazuka's musical version of Ocean's 11.

Personal life

During her Takarazuka years, following the "Sumire Code", only generic "revue-approved" information about Ranju was officially available. Ranju is one of the OGs who likes her privacy, and continued to adopt this attitude towards sharing information about her private life after she graduated. Her blog on Ameba is the only official social media that the public is aware of, and it's maintained by herself.
On September 28, 2016, Ranju posted a blog announcing that she has just gotten married.
Initially no information was available on her husband. But in 2017, with the announcement that Shuzo Matsuoka's eldest daughter was accepted to enter Takarazuka Music School, it was revealed that Ranju's husband is a cousin-by-marriage to Shuzo Matsuoka - making her a member of the Kobayashi family that founded Takarazuka Revue

Takarazuka Revue

Flower Troupe 1996 - 2006
Cosmos Troupe 2006 - 2011
Flower Troupe 2011 - 2014 as top star
Drama2015: Atelier as Chiga Nagai
2016: :ja:私 結婚できないんじゃなくて、しないんです|私 結婚できないんじゃなくて、しないんです, as Bokai Yamamoto
Other Programs
2015: SMAP×SMAP All Star Sports Competition
2016:

Albums