Theatre Club

The Theatre Club is one of the main clubs at Kareji.

They are a team of amateur actors, singers and dancers who entertain staff, pupils and visitors alike with their performances.

## History

The Theatre Club was founded in 1986 to cultivate new stars in the performing arts, many of whom go on to become professional actors and pop idols. Its last lineup from 1995 went on to particularly noteworthy acclaim, with the exception of its current president, Daina.

Its first president had been laughed out of the Music Club for having little to no talent in singing. In a jealous frenzy, she founded the Theatre Club, and would only permit membership from people who take it seriously and want to become famous. That attitude has persisted since, and despite its stated goal of nurturing actors & performers from all skill levels, the Theatre Club has a reputation as the strictest, most grueling regime of activities at Kareji.

## Club Fashion

Like other clubs at Kareji, the Theatre Club wear identifying keychains on their belts, depicting silver & gold "Sock & Buskin" masks.

Each member styles their hair in some way to immediately stand out, either with accessories or loud colours.

During club activities, they also wear bright, metallic scarves made of tinsel, in a colour suiting their personalities. These scarves have metallic baubles attached, the number of which denotes their rank in the club's hierarchy.

Each member of the Theatre Club also wears unique nail art, and all of them wear black mascara.

## Activities

Their clubroom is a small hall on the southeast ground-floor corner of the college.

They put on small abridged practice plays (as in Episode 1 where they perform Sleeping Beauty), plus one huge performance at the end of each college semester. Most of the time, musical numbers are cut from their small productions, but left in the large ones.

## Members

### Daina Shigaki *(師雅揆台名 Shigaki Daina)*

A 3rd-year, and president of the Theatre Club in 1996. Daina is known as a beautiful but superficial diva, who demands excellence in club performances, and always reserves the spotlight for herself, ensuring she has the leading role in even the smallest productions. She is known to be subtly catty towards the other members - however, there's only so much her makeup, jewellery and glittery stockings can hide. Daina had once attempted to dye her hair from brown to "strawberry blonde", but chose platinum by accident, yet vehemently insists it's strawberry blonde.

She adorns herself with a golden tinsel scarf, with six baubles denoting her as Rank #6 in the Theatre Club, wears a blue fleur-de-lis hairclip in her ponytail, two golden fleur-de-lis earrings, light lip gloss and eye shadow, four golden rings on her middle fingers & index toes, a pearl necklace, and pink blush on her cheeks. She also wears a pair of metallic rose-gold stockings coated in glitter.

Her nails are a bright cyan, overlaid with red hearts that have fake diamonds in the centre.

Like all club presidents, Daina wears a red armband with the club's logo, and the metal parts of her uniform are gold-coloured instead of steel.

The kanji for Daina's surname are 師雅揆, meaning "Teacher + Elegance + Method" referring to what she aims to pass down to her club members, and the kanji for her first name are 台名, meaning "Stage + Fame", referring to her dreams. However, her name in western order is also a phonetic pun on "dainashigaki" meaning "spoiled brat".

### Kata Yabu *(ヤブカタ Yabu Kata)*

A 2nd-year, and the vice-president of the Theatre Club in 1996. Kata is the most talented actor in the club's history, able to effortlessly blend into any role given to him. He is largely considered an eccentric weirdo who seems to always have a different hobby & mannerism each week. Even though that smug smile never leaves his face, Kata is a decent guy who values the club and cares about his peers. His hair is dyed from black to rusty-red. Despite getting along fine as friends, he finds Kudaki's fans obnoxious as they attempt to "ship" the two.

He adorns himself with a cyan tinsel scarf, with five baubles denoting him as Rank #5 in the Theatre Club, wears four steel hairclips holding his hair to the sides, and leaves his beard hair in a slight stubble, although he has no moustache hair. His nails are decorated with various colours & shapes.

He is also known to have his tongue poking out at most times.

The kana in Kata's name have no meaning, in keeping with his "unknowable", ever-changing habits. However, it could be argued that his name refers to being written with katakana, unlike other characters.

### Narako Mishutaka *(見習高倣小 Mishutaka Narako)*

A 1st-year, and Daina's #1 fangirl - Narako always tries her hardest to emulate her idol. Despite her tsundere-esque personality, her admiration is not romantic; She is simply insecure, and constantly craves praise for her acting & dancing talents. However, when she does receive that praise, she doesn't know how to handle it, responding with dismissal and even aggression. In an attempt to emulate Daina without directly copying her, Narako dyed her hair from black to "strawberry pink", but was unable to pull off the styling, so settled for an asymmetrical parting instead.

Narako adorns herself with a rose-gold tinsel scarf, with four baubles denoting her as Rank #4 in the Theatre Club, a white hairband, two steel hoop earrings, and a black choker with a rose-gold heart. She also wears a pair of rose-gold stockings, but unlike Daina's, they are not metallic or glittery. In a poor imitation of Daina's nails, Narako's nails are painted cyan, with red V-shapes and white dots in the centre.

Her hoop earrings resemble the crescent moon badges of Kareji's 2nd-year pupils, suggesting Narako is trying to act more mature than she really is.

The kanji in Narako's surname are 見習高, meaning "look + practice + high-grade" referring to her being Daina's top apprentice, and the kanji for her first name are 倣小, meaning "little imitation", referring to her desire to emulate Daina.

### Itami Nagawa *(哭川伊美 Nagawa Itami)*

An extremely pale 2nd-year who is a shy, half-Italian orphan. Itami is always typecast as a damsel or for dramatic roles, due to her ability to turn on the waterworks on reflex. She almost entirely keeps to herself, appears to have no friends, keeps her nose buried in a book most of the time, and it seems like the Theatre Club is the only thing she has to look forward to every day. Itami is extremely fragile, and should be handled with caution.

Itami adorns herself with a black tinsel scarf, with three baubles denoting her as Rank #3 in the Theatre Club, a hyacinth hairpin, and what appears to be a black silk choker. She appears to have constant shadows & bags around her sunken eyes. Her nails are painted black, with grey & white circles in the middle giving the image of "a small light in the dark." She also wears black stockings with four red streaks on each leg.

The kanji in Itami's surname are 哭川, meaning "cry + river" as in "cry [me] a river", and the kanji in her first name are 伊美, meaning "Italian beauty" referring to her heritage.

### Kudaki Murasaki *(紫果木 Murasaki Kudaki)*

A 1st-year, and one of the most popular pupils at Kareji, with an army of fujoshi chasing him. Ironically, they are the only ones aware that he's the only openly gay male pupil at the college. Kudaki is so sweet & kind that even the Goths refuse to pick on him - Daina, however, begrudgingly tolerates sharing the spotlight with him, and only approved his application to the club for the sake of her own image, knowing she'd attract grief from his fans. This is also the reason Kudaki was promoted above Sagishi, despite having joined after her.

Kudaki adorns himself with a purple tinsel scarf, with two baubles denoting him as Rank #2 in the Goths.

The kanji in his surname is 紫, simply meaning "purple", and the kanji in his first name are 果木, meaning "fruit tree", both referring to his generosity, and likely also a joke about his sexuality.

### Sagishi Hebi *(経火幸岐四 Hebi Sagishi)*

Main Article: Sagishi Hebi

Sagishi is a 2nd-year, and the lowest-ranking member of the Theatre Club. She is regarded as a space-filler who puts in the bare minimum effort past showing up. She didn't even care when Kudaki - the newest member - was promoted to Rank #2 above her. Daina would gladly replace her in a heartbeat if the position became available and they had any prospects waiting.

Sagishi (like most female characters in Heartbreaker) wears simple green polish on her nails, the same colour as her hair & eyes. She does have a tinsel scarf like the others, but hates it and refuses to wear it. Her scarf, however, is green, and has a single bauble denoting her as Rank #1 in the Theatre Club.

## Trivia

* Kata is the only character in Heartbreaker whose name is written in katakana.

## Notes

* As with many parts of *Heartbreaker*, several "Japanese" names in this project were chosen using not only literal or phonetic puns, but also a variety & mixture of *-on,* *-yomi,* *nanori* etc. readings for kanji that would not be typically used for names in reality, a common technique in Japanese fiction; It is important to remember that *Heartbreaker* takes place in an alternate timeline that - while closely mirroring our own - contains several differences in its fictional history. Good-faith attempts have been made to create semi-believable names (with some artistic licence for fiction & entertainment's sake), but any suggestions for better names and / or kana & kanji should be sent to: AbyzouDev@gmail.com