A HISTORY OF THE TAKARAZUKA REVUE SINCE 1914 -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Notes on Technical Methods and Descriptions -- List of figures -- Introduction -- CHAPTER 1: THE FORMATIVE YEARS OF TAKARAZUKA -- The birth of Takarazuka -- Kobayashi Ichizō and the foundation of the Hankyū enterprise -- Takarazuka: spa, pool and theatre -- Department stores and Hankyū -- New theatre for the new age -- Takarazuka in the current of theatre reformation -- Big Theatre-ism -- Acting as a new profession for women -- In the light and shade of development -- The onset of war -- Performing for the war: revues that captured the people's heart -- Takarazuka's first tours abroad -- Under the national policy -- CHAPTER 2: THE MECHANISMS OF TAKARAZUKA -- The school for girls -- Takarazuka Music School (T.M.S.) -- Education methods and principles: purity, integrity, grace -- Takarasiennes: student life -- From T.M.S. to the Takarazuka Revue Company -- Youthful spirit till retirement -- The institutional management -- Stage creators and preservation of records -- PR methods and the corporate performance of Hankyū and its partners -- Image branding of the Dream Factory -- CHAPTER 3: THE STAGE ART OF TAKARAZUKA 'FANTASY ADVENTURE' -- The formulation of the Takarazuka hybrid style -- Domesticising foreign inspirations -- Succeeding Kabuki and other traditions, then inventing a new tradition -- The West + the East = hyper exotic utopia? -- The allure of sexual ambiguity -- Male and female impersonators -- Artistic detachment of the stagecraft -- The dramaturgical ethos -- Visual and literary symbolism and metaphor -- The universality of human drama and love -- Mannerism: 'intertextural' collage -- CHAPTER 4 : THE TAISHŌ 'MODERN' IN THE FEMALE DOMAIN OF GIRLS' CULTURE -- Takarasiennes and Moga ("Modern Girls") -- From New Women to Modern Girls.

Unconventional looks and habits -- Discovery of personality and search for identity -- Floating girls: otome as an idealised shōjo -- Ren'ai: the imported concept of love -- Culture of girlfriends: a heritage of girl bonding called 's-kankei' -- The audience at the 'Fantasy Adventure' -- Grasping the heart of female audiences -- Takarazuka's fandom: fidelity, nurturing, and sisterhood -- Mirror images of the desired 'self' and the fantasised 'other' -- CHAPTER 5: TAKARAZUKA IN THE MODERN HERITAGE OF GIRLS' CULTURE AND BEYOND -- Interaction with shōjo manga -- Tezuka Osamu and Takarazuka -- Transforming manga to stage and vice versa -- Cherishing dreams, love and self-development -- Utopia or dystopia of popular culture? Subversive interpretations of shōjo and Takarazuka -- Kawaii: different kinds of cute and where they fit in Takarazuka -- Metamorphoses of kawaii, otaku, yaoi and beyond -- Diverse receptions and changing representations -- Tactile recreation of magical dreams -- CONCLUSION -- APPENDICES -- Appendix I Analysis of Revue by Nakamura Akiichi, 1935 -- Appendix II List of magazines for girls and women -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- Japanese publications -- English publications -- Index.