Link to "I Say, You Say, Heisei"'s article: https://isayyousayheisei.home.blog/2021/04/16/berubara-tag-boom-takarazuka-revue/

So I've been reading I Say, You Say, Heisei's blog these days, and whilst I appreciate their work in explaining the BeruBara boom and how its effects explain the boom of the Beauty Pair and the Crush Gals, I do notice a massive glaring issue in their argument: how on earth you explain the Crush Gals boom with a 1974 mainstream wave with La Rose de Versailles?

And to simply answer it, it doesn't, and here's why

1. THE SITUATION OF THE TAKARAZUKA REVUE BY THE 1980S

Ok so...whilst we can explain the Beauty Pair boom in 1975-1979 by seeing the Takarazuka Revue...by 1981-1983, the boom had already, massively burnt out, and many websites in Japanese (1, 2) do say that the Takarazuka Revue has lost its teenager fanbase, and wouldn't regain it until 1989, which at the time, deeply shocked the Japanese society. And if we look deeper into the Crush Gals boom, we notice stuff that contradict the Revue and the Beauty Pair boom

https://preview.redd.it/3akk8hezqkmh1.png?width=319&format=png&auto=webp&s=f7d6639f4dfacc45d20aeaa8c2d9833afa5f9b75

Many fans in retrospective say that although the blueprint was the same...the two bands were completely different in nature (3). And even Maki Ueda noticed a difference (4): whilst Maki Ueda was more than willing to let her partner Jackie Sato take the limelight during the boom in 1975-1979, Chigusa and Asuka has the same drive to hunt for the spotlight, causing quite the friction on-screen during the 1984-1989 period. But a major factor as well was how they presented:

During the Takarazuka boom, it's clearly seen that the Beauty Pair was highly coded after it: Jackie Sato was more androgynous-beautiful, whilst Maki Ueda was more traditional-beautiful, but both inside and outside the ring, they had that classy vibe you see in the Revue theaters in the 70s. With the Crush Gals however, Asuka and Chigusa were the exact opposites

https://preview.redd.it/b5qocbesskmh1.png?width=479&format=png&auto=webp&s=5089580e3828be034856c765f499f435cf51d117

The term used by Japanese websites to call the Crush Gals is "revolutionary" (5), and when we look at it, it does explain by itself: they weren't coded by the Takarazuka Revue: they were grittier, much more challenged by evil forces (Dump Matsumoto and her clan), and didn't hesitate to look vulnerable and attacked to gain sympathy, and the matches were much more brutal, visceral and violent (I mean, we had a scissor incident for love's sake), which is not was the Takarazuka code is. It's still very classy, very refined, very high-class. And this glaring issue shows in IS, YS, Heisei's argument

https://preview.redd.it/b6xjvqlmqkmh1.png?width=607&format=png&auto=webp&s=7e5fa0f72fa4ca88d8a2ba381b7db6a2e22a5570

This paragraph completely miscalculates and ignores the real-life context of 1980s Japan. What does "creation of J-Pop" in the 1990s mean???? It was existing since the 1970s. And to say it honestly: no, it's not a basic formula, because society is not rigid: it moves with time...and once we actually look deeper into what made the Crush Gals so popular...we can see two major factors in it, and both are linked to...J-Pop

#1: THE J&A VACUUM BETWEEN 1984 AND 1987

https://preview.redd.it/lhx5h45rtkmh1.png?width=691&format=png&auto=webp&s=34fb4df35cc1ec15cc96c22fc2a86cb2bf746562

To understand the boom, we must first understand the fanbase that caused the boom: teenage girls. And like we said before, by 1981, the girls were virtually absent in the Takarazuka Theaters...so where we they? Well, if we look at Japan in a broad scale, we see that there's a massive monoculture around it: Idol bands, specifically J*hnny bands

And whilst it's unfortunate to mention the filthy name of he who shall never be named, it's inevitable to understand he had a massive grasp on the Japanese culture, from medias to music, and inevitably, we have to talk about the bands of the early 80s: the Tanokin Trio and the Good-Bye.

In the early 80s, the girls were obsessed with the Tanokin Trio, because well, monoculture, and because they broke the mold of an idol: they didn't just sing, they acted, they were loud, brash, flashing a brooding bad boy image, yet they were vulnerable and relatable, and because of it, they revived the male idol scene and made it highly marketable...but by 1983-1984, the shelf life of the Trio was over because well...idol scene. Worse, it was actively falling apart, with the band Good-Bye

When Yoshio Nomura left the Trio in 1983 to found the new band, it left two big egos to clash together: Toshihiko Tahara and Masahiko Kondo. And when you have two unchecked egos...it's gonna cause a massive rift between the two, actively destroying the Trio for good by 1984. And after that, well...J&A didn't find a massive band like the Trio were: Good-Bye was to be expected, smaller-scale, and Shonentai didn't perform as expected. It took until late 1987 with Hikaru Genji to see the male idol scene finally storm back in full form

So as we see, there's a glaring hole between 1984 and 1987 where J&A didn't have a grasp on the teenage girl fanbase that once was the backbone of the agency, and who was the band who took these teenage girls and made them shriek, scream and fangirl over them in that specific time period? The Crush Gals.

And whilst it was partly caused by the existence of a blueprint called the Beauty Pair, Fuji TV (as everyone, including IS, YS, Heisei says) brilliant saw the lightning, and caught it in a bottle by marketing Nagayo and Asuka exactly like a boys band: they were high-energy, gritty, rough, they sang before fighting...and look at the hairstyle of Asuka, you don't see it in a girl idol, you see it in a boy idol. The structure of the Crush Gals is basically a proof of concept mix of the success of the Beauty Pair and the Tanokin Trio...but that, only explains half of the story

#2: AKINA NAKAMORI

https://preview.redd.it/x2dcz43fxkmh1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=d1356f642e0721758bb3b293e82fa81da44b4f76

We can't talk about 80s Japan without mentioning of course Seiko Matsuda and Akina Nakamori, because one forged a trend, the other shattered it and became a force of nature. First, let's explain the Seiko blueprint of an idol: Seiko became a massive figure between 1981 and 1983 because she was the absolute student of the old idol game: they had to be pure, pristine, always smiling, bubbly...it was an absolute dominant trend by 1982. Then, came Akina Nakamori

When Akina Nakamori stormed the Japanese scene in 1982-1983, Warner Pioneer did a clever marketing stunt: 1 old school idol song, 1 rebellious song (Slowmotion, Shoujo A, Second Love, 1/2 no Shinwa...), and we alternate. And this stunt did wonders to Akina, because it was the exact opposite concept of the old school model: she wasn't pristine, she was vulnerable, melancholic, gritty, rebellious (tsuppari), and obviously, cool. And the magic was that by 1984, Akina was given full leverage to execute her own artistic avant-garde viewpoint, shattering the idol shelf with Jukkai, Fin, Meu Amore, Desire (Jounetsu) and Nanpasen in the 80s. It gave a message to women: you don't have to be submissive to succeed, you can be cool, gritty, rebellious, and still succeed in life. And its impact on the industry is still seen to this day, whether directly or indirectly

And when we look at Akina Nakamori and the Crush Gals (especially Chigusa Nagayo), we see a very similar proof-of-concept: both were vulnerable, both were emotional, both were rebellious/tsuppari, both were gritty and hardworking, both fought to be at the top...and both were seen as very cool and emancipating for women, especially teenage girls, because both were a breath of fresh air for such fanbase, expected to be silent, submissive and subordinated. And when we look at the timeline, we do notice that it's very probable the Crush Gals were heavily inspired of Akina Nakamori (Akina debuted and became insanely mainstream in 1982-1983, the Crush Gals in 1983-1984). The Crush Gals borrowed the artistic and emotional soul from Akina Nakamori herself, because there was no one else who ran what the Crush Gals ran except for Akina Nakamori herself.

And for Fuji TV, it paid dividends, because it didn't rely on what the Beauty Pair succeeded...but also what already succeeded in the mainstream between 1981 and 1983 and would in the 80s become a force of nature. Thus why Fuji TV marketed them so heavily, not because of the Takarazuka blueprint...but because of what the Tanokin Trio left as a mark, and the Tsuppari energy that worked so well with Akina Nakamori.

TL;DR

Whilst the Beauty Pair/Takarazuka blueprint was inevitably undeniable to understand a part of the Crush Gals boom, it does not fully explain what made the Crush Gals so mainstream in 1984-1989, because society shifts with time, and once the Takarazuka boom burnt out by the late 70s and was left empty till 1989, the teenage girls moved into the Tanokin Trio and Akina Nakamori between 1980 and 1983, and both gave the blueprint to the success of the Crush Gals: one gave the structure of success and the vacuum opportunity that would make Nagayo and Asuka mainstream, and the other gave the emotional and artistic soul to the group as it fended off Dump Matsumoto and her goons, thus giving the teenage hysteria that the Crush Gals had.