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Link! Like! LoveLive! SPECIAL STAFF INTERVIEW

[This interview was published online on the G's Channel website, and is print in the Link! Like! LoveLive! FIRST FAN BOOK, released Dec 27, 2023.]

The Hasunosora Jogakuin School Idol Club is a group of virtual school idols that made their striking debut in April this year. How did their fan engagement app “Link! Like! LoveLive!” come about? Fujimoto Yoshihiro and Sato Kazuki discuss the app’s origin and what they think about the project.

It’s all about enjoying Love Live!—! The untold story behind the birth of the fan engagement app LLLL

—The smartphone app “Link! Like! LoveLive!” (which we’ll refer to as “LLLL”), celebrated its six-month anniversary in November. Let’s look back on the past six months and discuss the birth of LLLL. To start us off, could you two tell us about your roles in developing this app?

Sato: I’m Sato Kazuki from CERTIA, a producer for this app. I’ve worked for game companies as a planner and director, and now I’m a self-directed game producer. From arcade games to consumer software to apps, my path has involved a variety of media. I’ve been following Love Live! as a fan since the µ’s era, and became a producer for Hasunosora’s game after being consulted for a Love Live! app where the members stream.

Fujimoto: I’m Fujimoto Yoshihiro from Bandai Namco Filmworks, and I’m also a producer for LLLL. I started with the desire to make a Love Live! smartphone game.

***

—LLLL’s official start of service was May 20, 2023, but I heard that the road there was quite long. Could you talk about that?

Fujimoto: If we want to start from when development began…. we’ll have to go back to 5 years ago.

Sato: A big part of the appeal of Love Live! comes from these school idols being independent and putting their souls into it as a club activity, so there is a certain kind of enjoyment and emotional payoff from supporting them.

If you insert a “player” who can essentially play god into this, it inevitably feels like a mismatch. Then wouldn’t it be great to turn that idea on its head and instead have an app where you support these independent idols? And streaming would be a great match for that. As we worked out this concept where you cheer on the members as just another fan, this “school idol fan engagement app” took form.

—What led up to integrating motion capture into the app?

Sato: From the very beginning, we had decided that virtual concerts and streams would use 3D models. The development team already had the know-how for streaming with 3D models, so of course we were going to use them.

The key idea is to have the virtual concerts, live streams, and story intimately linked to make the entire experience real-time, so we decided it would be best to have them appear in the same form in both the streams and the activity log (story), which is why the story also uses 3D models. The visuals should be precisely linked so we carefully animated the story with 3D models.

Fujimoto: It is quite rare for the cast to also do motion capture, but it was necessary to realize the vision that Sato-san has described. Yes, it would technically be doable to have the cast only voice the characters and instead have actors do the motion capture, but that would be a lot less palatable.

Sato: It certainly feels a lot more real when the cast is both voicing and moving their characters. The fact that this project is a part of the Love Live! series helped a lot in being able to implement this. The cast loves Love Live!, and it’s because of how much the project staff and cast members put into this that we could make it a reality.

—As an example of this hard work: the cast had intense training on motion and talking, with lessons and rehearsals starting about a year before the app was released.

Sato: In both the live streams and virtual concerts, the cast do the motion capture, in real-time too! Even now, this fact isn’t well-known, or rather, it seems like there are a lot of people who think “No way they go that far!”. Yes, the cast do it themselves!

—So why does doing it in real-time make it good?

Sato: What a pointed question! (laughs)

Fujimoto: What’s important depends on what you value. What we’re aiming for is the feeling of a real concert.

Sato: Putting it concisely, the feeling that it’s live is very important to LLLL. It seems to me that the feeling of being live has recently been highly valued, not just in concerts but in the entertainment industry as a whole. We can look back on works of the past whenever we want through subscription services and the like, so following something now has its own appeal that can evoke a certain zeal. Bearing witness to this moment in history is now viewed as being more significant than it used to be. That’s why we maximize that feeling of being live by having the cast do the motion capture and by streaming in real-time. We felt that those two points are essential.

—So rather than just being parts of the concept, these are essential to the project.

Sato: At one point, we considered doing only the talk and MC in real-time, while having the performance part be recorded. But because we want to get at the heart of the pleasure of having it be real-time, we couldn’t make that compromise.

Actually, the cast do occasionally hit the wrong notes or mess up their dance formations, but these are little things that signal that it’s live—in fact, such happenings can increase how real it feels, which can make the performance feel special if you approach it with the right mindset.

***

—Can I ask about the Fes×LIVE production, like the camerawork, lighting, and outfits? It feels like the production value goes even higher every time.

Fujimoto: I think that’s probably because, just like how the Hasunosora members are growing, the staff is as well, going further each time after saying things like “For the next performance, I want more of this!”.

Sato: Things like flying over the stage or swapping outfits in the instant that the lighting changes—we won’t do those. A core principle is that we aim for a production that matches what school idols would do and constrain ourselves to portray what’s possible in reality.

***

—The story following school idols at a school steeped in tradition—that’s a new challenge, too.

Sato: We had certain reasons for setting this at a school with a long history—so long that this year is the 103rd. There’s this common image of streamers debuting as no-names, and then working their way up to become more popular. But if Hasunosora were like that, the fact that there would be a lot of fans from the beginning would make it very unrealistic. After all, there’s no way your average rookie streamer could be like “This is my first stream!” and yet have 5000 viewers. (laughs)

We thought hard about how to resolve this in a way that makes sense. Then, we figured out that it would work to have a tradition-laden school that was already a “powerhouse”. So in the end, we made it a point to have the school be a powerhouse with a history of having won Love Live! before.

—So the school already had fans following it, with high expectations for the new school idols: Kaho and the other first years.

Sato: Yeah, it’s meant to be like one of those schools that are regular contenders at Koshien, the national high school baseball championship.

—The world-building is done so thoroughly that such an answer could be arrived at pretty quickly.

Sato: We consulted with many people, starting with the writer team, about implementing the concepts that we mentioned before—having the cast do motion capture to maximize the live feeling, and doing the streams in real-time.

In the beginning, there was a lot of resistance to the idea of trying to successfully operate an app while constructing the story and streams such that there would be no contradictions between them. If you do streams in real-time, such contradictions can certainly arise—you have to work out the setting in quite a lot of detail, and even then, things can happen that are impossible to predict.

But my thinking was always that this is doable if we adjust how often we synchronize the story and streams. I think it’s impossible to stream every day and release a new story every day. But on the other side of the spectrum, if we were to write a year’s worth of story ahead of time, and then do however many streams within that year, that would certainly be doable. 

Following that line of thought, in the early stages, we had a lot of discussion about how often we could do streams, searching for the limit of what would be possible to implement. As a compromise, we arrived at the system of fully synchronizing once a month. For each month, we can keep the setting relatively flexible, not setting everything precisely in stone until the month is over. We thought that a monthly frequency should make it possible to both maintain the charm of the story and implement streams.

But right now we’re streaming three times a week, so there end up being a lot of things like “they shouldn’t know this yet” or “this event hasn’t happened yet”. It feels like putting together a complicated puzzle.

Fujimoto: There’s one aspect that we haven’t made clear before—I don’t think there are many people that have realized it. It’s that the talk streams are the furthest along in the timeline, while the story shows what has already happened. It’s not that the story happens on the day that we update it, but rather that the story describes what happened up to that day. People who have realized this have probably read quite closely.

Sato: That’s why it’s called the “activity log”. The With×MEETS serve the important role of synchronization between what happened in the activity log—the world of the story—with reality, so we carefully prepare for them each time.

—That makes sense! One nice thing is that if you keep up with the With×MEETS in real-time, then watch the Fes×LIVE, it feels like keeping up paid off—”Good thing I watched the With×MEETS!”.

Fujimoto: It would be great if our efforts got through to everyone enjoying LLLL.

—If you set things up that carefully, it must be difficult when irregularities happen. In August, several cast members had to take a break to recover from COVID-19, causing many With×MEETS to be canceled. How did you deal with that?

Sato: The silver lining of that period was that it avoided the most critical timing. If that had been off by even a week… it might not have been possible to recover from that. This project always has this feeling of tension, because there is no redoing things.

***

Tackling the Love Live! Local Qualifiers! The culmination of the story put viewers on the edges of their seats!!

—On how people have reacted to LLLL: was there anything that went exactly as planned, and on the other hand, was there anything that defied your expectations?

Fujimoto: To bring up a recent event, the Love Live! Local Qualifiers in October very much stood out. There was tension all around—even I was nervous about how it would go. The feeling that “these girls really are going to take on this challenge, at this very moment”. It was like watching the championship of the World Baseball Classic… Well, maybe that’s an overstatement, but an atmosphere similar to that. I’m really happy that we managed to create such an atmosphere with the cast and everyone who participated as a user.

Sato: Not just in sports, but also in the world of anime or fiction, there is definitely a certain excitement that arises when you “witness” something. Bearing witness to the moment that “drama” is born produces an impulse, something that hits deep. This is not something that can be produced in an instant. Rather, such an overwhelming concentration of passion can come about only because so much has happened up to that point.

That’s why, aiming for “that moment”, we first have people experience the Hasunosora members’ existence and reality day after day. After having connected with the members and viscerally felt the sense of being in sync with their “now”, something new will be born…

The closest we’ve gotten to an atmosphere of tension that’s as close as possible to the real thing is what Fujimoto-san just mentioned, the Love Live! Local Qualifiers. I think part of why that was such an “incredible” event was the weight of everything that happened in the Love Live! series up to that point.

—Is there anything else from the fans’ reactions and the like that was unexpected?

Fujimoto: For the talk streams, we have a system where everyone can write comments in real-time. Some users go all in on the setting and act as if they’re in that world.

Sato: The characters are not aware that their everyday lives can be observed in the story, so these users adhere to the rule of not talking about anything that’s only depicted in the story, commenting as if they don’t know what happened there. And if you do that, your comment might get read. So you really can be a participant in the performance. We were surprised at just how many people were earnestly participating like that.

—It’s like making a fan work in real-time, or rather, it’s like playing a session of a tabletop RPG.

Sato: I think what we’re doing here is very much like a game. It’s the “role-playing” of a tabletop RPG taken to an extreme, a pillar of a certain kind of “game”, or maybe more like a participatory form of entertainment.

—Oh, I see! It’s as if we’ve returned to the classic reader participation projects of Dengeki G’s magazine, which is kind of touching.

[Translator’s note: Love Live! originated from Sunrise collaborating with the Dengeki G’s magazine editorial department, bringing Lantis in for music.]

Sato: Yes, indeed. In the era of magazine participatory projects, the back-and-forth would have several months in between. In comparison, a real-time system makes it easier to participate, which I think is a significant and useful advancement. For now, in the first year, it feels like we’ve been grasping in the dark while trying to do the best with what we have. But we’re thinking about how best to adjust the frequency and volume of activities from here on.

Fujimoto: Also, the users have largely figured out all the hints we cooked in!

Sato: They’ve been looking in quite some detail. (laughs) Our cooking has paid off.

***

—Is there any challenge that LLLL is taking on anew?

Sato: Going back to what I said at the beginning, I was a huge fan of µ’s, so I started by trying to analyze and put into words just what made me so attracted to, so crazy about them. 

A big part of the charm was that it involved youth and a club activity, so by following their story and cheering them on, you could vicariously re-live the passion of those three years in high school. So I wanted to make it so that you could re-live that experience of youth in depth.

My goal is to have it feel so overwhelmingly real—through LLLL’s real-time nature—that you can unwittingly delude yourself into the sense that you’re re-living your high school years.

Fujimoto: If we’re talking about a new challenge, maybe it’d be good to touch on how frequent the interactions are.

For example, let’s consider a one-cour anime. No matter how much you’d like to keep watching it, it ends after three months. Even if it turns out there’s a continuation, you’ll have to wait before you can watch that.

In contrast, if we turn to virtual content, people are streaming three times a week on YouTube. In that vein, what we’re aiming for with this project is this: you can follow this group you like throughout that limited time between matriculation and graduation, and during that time they’ll always be there for you to meet.

***

—Some people are expecting an anime as one of the future mixed-media developments. To put it bluntly, what do you think about that?

Sato: What we are doing right now with Hasunosora would not work outside the structure of an app. As mentioned before, it’s not quite a tabletop RPG but rather a participatory form of entertainment, and it’s that structure that allows fans to experience the true spirit of the Hasunosora Jogakuin School Idol Club.

—So for now, we should experience it through the streams in the app! Is that what you’re saying?

Fujimoto: Exactly. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that LLLL is a project to make you fall for these girls throughout their streams—that’s how much effort we’re putting into it.

Sato: Starting LLLL by going through the story and then participating in the With×MEETS streams might be more common, but you can also start enjoying it in a novel way by just jumping into the latest With×MEETS stream. The members’ engagement with the comments has been especially noticeable in the most recent streams—it feels like a symbiotic relationship.

***

—Finally, a word for those who are looking forward to the project’s future.

Sato: I can confidently say that LLLL is a new experience made possible because of the times we live in. Because of that, it is very high-context, so it’s hard to explain how it will make you feel or what kind of game it is—you must play it to understand. We are very aware of how much of a hurdle this is, and how it might be difficult to get a grasp on if you start later.

But if you’re willing to take that first step into the world of LLLL, we promise to bring you content that is worth following. So to those reading this interview: please do consider trying it out once, even if it’s with a window-shopping mindset.

Fujimoto: Hasunosora’s story can only happen because of everyone watching. We hope you’ll keep supporting us!

Sato: We’ve prepared plenty of tricks up our sleeves for the end of the school year in March, so please look forward to it!

Credits

Translation: ramen Translation check: xIceArcher Various suggestions: Yahallo, Yujacha, zura

[yujachachacha]

Liella! Cross Talk 03 - Date Sayuri, Aoyama Nagisa, Suzuhara Nozomi

Check out the original interview in the LoveLive! Days Liella Special, available for purchase on Amazon JP here.

An interview with the voices of Shibuya Kanon, Hazuki Ren, and Sakurakoji Kinako. We asked them about how they feel now after starting from the open auditions and overcoming the same hurdles together.

Interview by Okada Moeka

I feel like Kanon-chan grew so much throughout the second season that I’m being left further and further behind

It’s been half a year since Liella! became nine. Has the group’s atmosphere changed since then?

Aoyama: I think we’ve settled down a little compared to when we first started out as nine. Now that we know what everyone else is like and what kind of people they are on the inside, we’ve managed to figure out the appropriate distance between us.

Date: We really were trying too hard back then, weren’t we? (laughs) Feels like we’ve settled down and are now much more comfortable with one another.

Suzuhara: Like, the first-generation members have always just been a group of people on the other side of a screen, so… Now that we’ve gone for meals together, I find that I can be quite frank when talking to them.

Date: I’m actually quite shy, so I’m not very good at initiating conversations. I decided that I might as well just be myself from the very start if putting up an act wasn’t going to work anyway, so I just treated everyone like I would have when we only had five members.

Aoyama: I’m also not very good at starting conversations, so I kinda get that (laughs).

When was the first time that it truly hit you that Liella! now has nine members?

Aoyama: When I watched the archive for our release event.

Date: !! (Nods with eyes wide open)

Aoyama: What’s with that reaction? (laughs) Now that we have more members, it’s not so easy to grasp what everyone’s facial expressions are like during dance rehearsals, unlike before. Of course, we do have recordings of the rehearsals, but you can’t really see everyone’s expressions clearly from that alone. So, when I first watched the recording of the event… That was when I felt like we could reach even greater heights together as nine.

Date: Yeah! I felt the same way right after the event. During the rehearsals, I usually focus only on what I was doing, not to mention the fact that we were wearing masks. So hearing our fans’ comments and watching the archive after the event was when it first hit me. It was also the first time I felt truly grateful that we had become nine.

Suzuhara: I watched Liella! perform as five for quite some time, so for me, a Liella! with nine members just didn’t feel right, probably even more so than the first-generation members. Watching the archive of our release event finally made me think, “Maybe I can call myself a part of Liella! after all…” more often. 

It sounds like you’re still in the process of discovering what it means for you to be part of Liella!.

Suzuhara: I spent a lot of time thinking about that, but there’s a part of me that’s still chasing after the five-member Liella!. A Liella! with nine-members is still Liella!, of course, but there are times when I think that they’re just not the same. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, though, so I’ll continue chasing after them!

This question is for the two first-generation members: is there anything that’s different about performing on stage with nine members instead of five?

Aoyama: It’s amazing just how much more reassuring it is to perform when there are more of us on stage. When performing as five, sometimes it shows on my face that I’m thinking about what my next line is, but now I feel like I can put on a more natural expression when performing.

Date: She’s right. You’re also really close to the person next to you! Our second release event was held in the same venue as our first event, Hajimari wa Minna no Sora, but the stage felt much smaller than before. Of course, part of it was because the seats were now filled with all our fans, but it felt like the stage had become more colorful than before. It really has gotten livelier, hasn’t it?

Suzuhara: We’ve all been strung along by Ookuma Wakana’s passion.

Date: Passion? (laughs)

Suzuhara: She can make very big movements with her head. I’ve always wondered how she manages to do that, and I even asked her that very question today during practice. Looking at her makes you realize how much fun it is to perform on stage, and seeing that in turn has made me want to make even bigger movements when I’m dancing, to use as much of the stage as possible and to make everyone enjoy themselves as much as possible. I’m sure Wakana’s dancing has infected the rest of the group, and Liella!’s dance moves now have much larger movements thanks to her… (voice getting softer with time)

Date/Aoyama: What’s wrong?! (laughs)

Aoyama: I totally get you! (laughs) Actually, I think it’s precisely because Kumachan dances so dynamically as Shiki-chan that her dancing shows off something different from just Shiki-chan’s dancing. She made me start thinking more about how I can incorporate her strengths and look even more like Ren-chan when I’m performing on stage.

Date: Kanon-chan doesn’t really have that much of a link to dancing story-wise, I guess. Now that we’ve become nine, I’ve spent more time thinking about how Kanon-chan would dance, more than I used to for our 1st Live Tour and 2nd Live. That’s one of the things I’m chasing after at the moment. Up until now, I’ve pushed through by just trying my best to have as much fun as possible, but now that she’s in her second year and trying to win Love Live!, I’m sure she has thought about how she should perform to achieve that goal, so I’m trying to figure that part out by re-watching parts of the anime.

How was your first time performing on stage, Suzuhara-san?

Suzuhara: I had loads of fun! I couldn’t picture in my head what it’d be like to actually perform on stage during the rehearsals. I did appear on stage for the fan meetings, but that experience wasn’t linked to actually performing live. I now know that performing live is really, really fun! I found myself naturally smiling when dancing, and I’m so overjoyed at being able to stand on stage as Kinako-chan that I find myself fully enjoying myself. I’ve always loved singing and dancing, so finally being able to do that, finally being able to show everyone that made me really happy as well.

That was when I felt like we could reach even greater heights together as nine

This may be a sudden question, but is there anything about the others here in the interview today that you particularly admire or would like to be able to do too?

Suzuhara: I’ll go first! I really admire Sayuchan’s loud voice—

Date: Loud voice?!

Suzuhara: I’ll talk about some other things later! (panicking) When we’re in a circle, or when push comes to shove, the way her voice resonates through the room is just so cool, which is something I really look up to. That, and her communication skills are top notch! Though I’m pretty sure she’d argue otherwise.

Date: That’s the thing I’m the worst at!

Suzuhara: She’s really easy to talk to, and talking to her is always so enjoyable, so I really like that about her. Her singing and dancing is amazing too, so I really look up to that part of her as well! As for Nagichan, she can do anything.

Aoyama: No way.

Suzuhara: I wanna do a segment where we try to find out just what it is she can’t do.

Date: I wanna join in too!

Aoyama: No, please~

Suzuhara: Oh, and she’s also really good at sports, which I really envy. I’m terrible at sports, so… She really can do anything. In fact, what is it that you can’t do?

Aoyama: There’s a whole lot I can’t do! I can’t speak Chinese or Spanish, for example.

Suzuhara: And that just makes you even more amazing! …That’s all.

Date: (Laughs) Guess I’ll go next. I feel like Nagichan knows herself really well. I’ve learned so many things from just talking to her. She speaks from her own experiences and gives really good advice on what I should do in every situation, and that has helped me out countless times. The other day, she recommended that I eat some meat—

Meat? You mean protein?

Date: Yeah! She says it a lot, things like, “You gotta make sure you get enough protein!” I’ve started incorporating more protein into my diet thanks to her, and I feel a little more cheerful than I used to be. So I have her to thank for that.

Aoyama: That’s such an interesting thing to talk about! (laughs)

Date: And, as for Nonchan—

Suzuhara: You don’t need to force yourself, just skip me… (softly)

Date: Now that we have nine members, our group definitely has more prominent personalities than before. When I first started out, I used to compare myself a lot to the others around me. Things like wondering why I couldn’t do something even though someone else could do it without any trouble. But Nonchan is different. She has a very strong sense of self, and seems to work towards improving herself step by step without ever comparing herself to someone else. Am I making any sense?

Aoyama: Totally get you!

Date: Oh, and because she doesn’t really say much about what she’s thinking, she has this cool, mysterious aura about her. Being able to use what she observes in others and converting it into something of her own is quite an amazing quality, and something I’d like to be able to do as well.

Suzuhara: (While slowly shaking her head, in a soft voice) Thank you……

Aoyama: I guess I’m up last. For Sayurin, it’s gotta be her smile. I’m sure her fans already know what I mean. She’s just so cute when she has this huge smile on her face! Her very presence brightens up the atmosphere in the room, so she’s definitely a natural idol. Every word she says to her fellow members is also filled with kindness, and she can always find just the right words to say. She’s a kind soul that brings with her a soothing atmosphere no matter where she goes.

Date: I’m gonna cry…… Thank you so much!

Aoyama: That really is something that’s unique to Sayurin. Nonchan, on the other hand, is a really strong person on the inside, though she doesn’t show it often. At first, I had no idea what she was thinking. But, now that I’ve spent more time with her, I’ve realized that she has a really strong sense of self. Now that we’re close enough to be frank with each other, I’m really glad that she speaks her mind to me. She’s even more diligent than everyone thinks, so I do hope she can relax just a little. Don’t push yourself too hard!

Suzuhara: Really~? But am I really pushing myself too hard? I find myself tensing up quite often, so I want to learn to relax like Nagichan does.

Going back to the original topic, did anything in particular stand out about the release event?

Aoyama: Our previous release events didn’t have an audience, so being able to perform directly in front of an audience made me really happy. We performed Watashi no Symphony in the audience seats during our first release event, so when the second-generation members were performing the first verse, I had flashbacks to when I sang the same lines standing to the right of the audience seats.

Date: We all performed Watashi no Symphony together, but I’m sure it resonated so strongly this time precisely because the second-generation members were performing it. It made me realize just how much the mood of a song is affected by the people singing it. I’m really glad we got to hear a version of it with the second-generation members.

Suzuhara: I was watching as a member of the audience when the first-generation members performed the song during their first release event, so that came to mind. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect myself to be standing on stage singing the same phrase I saw Sayuchan sing from where I was sitting in one of the audience seats in a corner. I’ve always thought, “If that was me performing, there’s no way I’d be able to sing that phrase,” so I was really surprised when I found out that I was assigned those starting lines. I practiced that part again and again, but I was still very nervous… How are you even supposed to sing those lines?

Date: Huh? But the release event is already over! (laughs)

Aoyama: You did great!

Suzuhara: Even though I spent so much time practicing, I felt like my mind would be completely blank when I actually got on stage. But being able to sing those lines was, to me, a really big accomplishment and my success story for this release event.

Date: There wasn’t an audience when I sang it, so you’re really amazing, Nonchan!

Suzuhara: It’s a precious song for the first-generation members, and also a very emotional song for the second-generation members and all the fans, so I was really, really nervous…!

The theme printed on the teaser visual for the anime’s second season was “Chasing after them, surpassing them.” How did you interpret this theme?

Date: In the teaser illustration, the second-generation members were chasing after the first-generation members, so that’s how I interpreted it. The second season of the anime really gave off the feeling of “Liella! is nine,” so I’m now convinced that it also has something to do with striving to become a better version of yourself, as well as the relationship between the cast members.

Suzuhara: The second-generation members took on this challenge with a similar mindset (laughs). But, hearing Sing! Shine! Smile! made me wonder if it’s the entire school that’s chasing after and surpassing something together, as a whole.

Aoyama: I too interpreted it as being broader than just referring to the second-generation members. I think the second season is a story of Liella! achieving something together as a whole. I guess you could even extend that to the entirety of Yuigaoka moving forward together.

I’m so overjoyed at being able to stand on stage as Kinako-chan that I find myself fully enjoying myself

I believe you’re all now in the midst of rehearsing for your 3rd Live Tour. Suzuhara-san, is there one goal or target in particular that you’d like to achieve during this tour?

Suzuhara: There are too many to count. I really love singing and dancing, but on the technical side of things, I still have a long way to go. I want to improve as much as I can given the time we have to prepare. We’ll be performing quite a few songs with pretty difficult choreographies for our 3rd Live Tour, not to mention Go!! Restart, in which only Kinako-chan performs with all the first-generation members… I’ll do my best during practice so I can get through it with a smile on my face!

We actually asked the first-generation members this same question in the Liella! special.

Date: I mentioned how I couldn’t do the Starlight Prologue twirl, didn’t I? (laughs) I didn’t manage to do it in the end either, but I think the most important thing was not panicking. I performed that twirl with all kinds of negative thoughts in my head, like how I’m wasting everyone’s time, or why I couldn’t do something as simple as this… But I realized that just enjoying myself and not thinking about anything negative while performing usually went better.

Aoyama: I think I talked about not being sure whether my facial expressions looked natural. But, seeing with my own eyes how everyone was supporting us naturally put a smile on my face, so I can now stand on stage without worrying about that. Now, my goal is to perform in such a way that even if all of us were performing with the exact same hairstyles and costumes, anyone watching would be able to tell at a glance that I’m Ren-chan. Of course, dancing dynamically or very energetically is bound to attract attention, but I don’t think that’s how Ren-chan would dance.

Suzuhara: When watching our dance recordings, it’s always so easy to pick out Ren-chan! So you are paying particular attention to that! 

Aoyama: Thank you!

Suzuhara: I actually think I’m too similar to Kinako-chan… When I first saw the script for the anime’s second season, her actions and words made me think, “...are they writing about me?” There are times when I can’t tell where the border between the two of us lies. Which emotions actually belong to me, and which are Kinako-chan’s?

Date: The two of you really are alike.

Aoyama: That’s amazing. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing?

Date: Whether or not I look like Kanon-chan… That’s something I’m working on too, actually. I feel like Kanon-chan grew so much throughout the second season that I’m being left further and further behind. Up until now, just having fun took every ounce of my effort, so I too am trying to find out how I should be moving to look more like Kanon-chan, and how to get closer to that.

Last but not least, a message for the fans!

Suzuhara: Our 3rd Live Tour will be the second-generation members’ first live tour, not to mention our first live tour after we became nine. Right now, I’m more nervous than anything else, but I’ll do my best to enjoy myself so much that I forget all about my nerves! I hope I can show how much I’ve grown since the release event, and put on a performance that stays in everyone’s minds as an amazing one even after it ends. I hope to see you there!

Aoyama: It’s our first time going on a live tour with all nine of us, so I hope to be able to say wholeheartedly that I really enjoyed myself. We’ll push each other to even greater heights and I’ll do my best to put on a performance even better than our release event!

Date: After our 1st Live Tour, the way I think about things changed completely. I’m sure our 3rd Live Tour will also become the starting point for some sort of change, so I’m looking forward to it. As the nine of us go around the country, I’m sure we’ll experience both fun and painful things, but I hope to not let the negative emotions overwhelm us and complete the tour while keeping the importance of having fun ourselves at the forefront of our minds. Yuina-san is coming along with us as well, so let’s get through this together!

Translator: xIceArcher Quality Check: Yujacha (@yujachachacha)

[yujachachacha]

I play “迷宮賛歌 (Meikyu Sanka)” on the piano!

The sound of the piano fits this song very well!

[yujachachacha]

Aoyama Nagisa's Life Until She Became a Voice Actress for Love Live! Superstar!!

Header image provided by Young Jump Weekly. Photography: Sato Yuichi

In her first ever essay, Aoyama Nagisa, a voice actress from the Love Live! Superstar!! franchise, details the path she has taken to get to where she currently is from the very beginning.

A photo from a ballet recital during early elementary school. Taking a closer look, you can see that my front teeth are missing since I was in the midst of growing adult teeth.

Aoyama Nagisa, known for her role as Hazuki Ren in Love Live! Superstar!!, is a voice actress with many young fans. Besides working as a voice actress, her work ranges from serving as the “Imadoki Girl” on the TV program Mesazhi Television to appearing in magazine gravure photoshoots with the tagline “Voice Actress Most Wanted as a Girlfriend”.

Even as she devoted most of her early years to ballet, she joined a band in middle school in blatant defiance of her teacher’s wishes. Today, we bring you an autobiographical essay detailing her unexpected route to becoming a voice actress for the Love Live! franchise.

A mother sends her daughter to ballet class upon seeing her dance to Love Machine

When people meet me for the first time, there’s a high probability that they’ll compliment me for my good posture. I spent thirteen years learning classical ballet, so it actually feels more natural for me to be sitting perfectly upright. In fact, it’s to the point where people constantly tell me to relax, that I don’t have to be so tense when talking to them.

Now that I think about it, I remember my teachers saying something like “There’s no need to be so nervous” almost every single time I attended a parent-teacher meeting. I wasn’t actually nervous at all, so I got accustomed to responding with, “This is just how I naturally sit”. It’s been eight years since I quit ballet in my first year of high school, so I’m really glad that I’m still being complimented for my posture.

I started ballet because of my mother. When I was two, she saw me singing and dancing to the rhythm of Love Machine by Morning Musume on the living room table. Apparently, that’s when it struck her that I might have a talent for dancing.

Apparently, she played music from all kinds of different genres to find out whether I had a good sense of rhythm and a natural affinity for dancing. When I learned about this incident, I could not help myself from thinking that parents can be quite scary… By the way, I have an older brother, but he’s terrible at dancing, so he didn’t pass my mother’s dance audition.

My mother also started dancing from a young age, though it was something other than ballet. But, she thought nothing could beat the expressiveness of an experienced ballet dancer, so she decided she’d make her daughter learn ballet if she gave birth to one.

Thankfully, I was the kind of girl to break out into song and dance every time I heard music playing, so I attended ballet school according to my mother’s wishes. The expressiveness I developed from my years of ballet still helps me in my work to this day, so I have nothing but gratitude towards her for introducing me to ballet.

In both elementary and middle school, I had to attend ballet classes right after class. The ballet school I attended was very strict, and some girls broke into tears while practicing. Obviously, we barely ever got praised for our performance there. Because of that, even now, I’m still not accustomed to receiving praise or hearing words that make me happy, so I tend to react rather unnaturally when it does happen.

A photo from my school's cultural festival during my third year of high school, in my club outfit together with my friends.

A transition from ballet to volleyball, which she hated

Because I grew up thinking that being in a tough environment was a given, I joined the girls volleyball club in high school, which was famous for being the toughest club there.

I knew several upperclassmen who ended up at the same high school, and when I told them that I’d be joining the volleyball club, every single one of them told me to reconsider. Not a single one of them told me it was a good idea, and that actually made me all the more curious to find out what kind of club it was.

I wanted to join the volleyball club precisely because I hated the sport! Receiving made my arms hurt and would sometimes even give me scabs, and volleyball was the one sport that I felt like I was bad at during gym classes, so I wanted to overcome that. I myself have no idea what I was thinking. Not even now.

That incomprehensible line of reasoning gave me the idea of joining the volleyball club, but there was actually another incident that cemented my decision.

On the day of my high school entrance exams, just as I was nervously walking towards the examination venue, a current student called out to me and asked, “Are you okay? Just nervous? Don’t worry, you’ll be fine!” It was as if a kind goddess had just spoken to me, which immediately filled my heart with warmth.

It turned out she was an upperclassman from the girls volleyball club, and she had been tasked with guiding candidates to their examination venues. The way she handled the situation was so incredible that it made me decide to join the volleyball club so I could become just like her.

Besides just playing volleyball, the girls volleyball club at my school was a club that expected its members to not fall behind on their studies while also proactively taking part in the school’s activities, such as organizing tours for potential students and patrolling the school during our cultural festivals. That was precisely why all of my upperclassmen told me without hesitation to quit the volleyball club if I wanted to enjoy my life in high school.

As I expected, it was really tough and there were indeed people who quit, but I felt like a tough environment like that actually suited me better.

Having loved singing from a young age, I went for karaoke sessions with my family.

Joining a band to spite her middle school teacher?!

This happened a little earlier, but during the new year break in my first year of middle school, I heard the song Kimishidai Ressha by ONE OK ROCK for the first time. That song got me completely hooked on rock music, and I joined my school’s rock band club as a guitarist and sub-vocalist.

I was still doing classical ballet at that time. Just imagine it. A middle-school girl in her school uniform, a guitar case on her back, and her hair up in a bun for ballet. Quite the sight, isn’t it?

I was also right in the midst of my rebellious phase back then. I was trying to recall what made me decide to join a band, and I happened to hear something interesting from one of my relatives. Apparently, I had even written about it in my graduation essay.

The middle school I went to was rather strict and strongly emphasized traditional values. I had a teacher there who didn’t have a good impression of band activities.

At that time, I was also the class president, so this teacher of mine constantly mentioned their high hopes for me and praised me for being an upstanding student. I started wondering why I was the only one being told that despite everyone else also doing their best. That incident made me feel very strongly about how my teachers really ought to treat every student fairly.

Of course, I was glad that they had high hopes for me, but as someone who has had a strong sense of justice ever since I was a child, I could never ignore what I perceived as injustice.

The very teacher who had high hopes for me mentioned something about how they thought a rock band wasn’t appropriate for the school’s image, which made me decide to join the band just to spite them. I decided that it was my duty to change their impression of the club, to show them that there was nothing wrong with it.

I even wrote about the incident in my graduation essay. Reading it now, it was so edgy that it’s actually quite funny. I’m really surprised that it got approved.

Although I do think it’s a good trait, every once in a while, my strong sense of justice would bring me into conflict with the people around me. For example, I never tolerated bullying, no matter the reason.

When I was in middle school, I became the target of a group of bullies after defending a friend from their bullying. Because of that, there was a period of time when I was so frustrated with the situation that I just curled up in bed crying, not wanting to go to school. But, because I knew full well that breaking into tears at school or in turn saying bad things about them was precisely what the bullies wanted me to do, I pretended to be fine no matter what they said to me.

Me when I was a child, feeling happy after eating ramen.

An unforgettable phrase from a friend that quit school because of bullying

Perhaps because my bullies got bored of me not reacting at all no matter what they said, they eventually stopped. Most of my classmates just pretended not to notice the situation, for fear of becoming their next target.

I can put up with it when people are giving me a hard time, but the one thing I cannot stay quiet about is when someone else is being given a hard time. When I see someone in need of help, I would confront the group of bullies alone, telling them to knock it off.

Around that time, a friend of mine, who always said “I’m fine” with a smile no matter how much she got bullied and how many unreasonable things happened to her at school, decided to quit suddenly. She told everyone around her that she was quitting because of something that was completely unrelated, but every once in a while, the sadness at not being able to do anything for her still gnaws at me.

What was on her mind when she said “thank you” to me, when I last met her? I will never forget the times when she forced a smile onto her face as she talked to me.

To write this essay, I asked my mother for stories from when I was younger. Apparently, a similar thing also happened in elementary school. I had a friend with a disability, which got them into conflict with my classmates quite often. Let’s just say that my other classmates did not take very kindly to them.

I don’t remember what I did back then, but apparently, my homeroom teacher told my mother something like “I’m very grateful to Nagisa-chan, who’s always on their side.”

Besides that, when I saw my grandfather blow up at my brother for not finishing his homework quickly enough, I went up to my grandfather and started hitting him, saying, “Don’t bully my older brother!” I was three at that time. By the way, I was the only person in the family ever to hit my grandfather like that. At that time, my grandfather was what you would call the supreme head of the family, so even all my relatives were speechless. They were like, “What on earth is this kid doing?”

Apparently, seeing what I did also emboldened my mother. “If even a three-year-old kid thought the situation didn’t make sense, I have to do something too. I need to get it together.”

Because of my personality, I’ve definitely had to spend a lot more effort than necessary to maintain my interpersonal relationships. But, because of my personality, I also naturally became surrounded only by people with kind hearts. I will forever pray for nothing but happiness for the people who truly care for me.

Image provided by Young Jump Weekly. Photography: Kuriyama Shusaku

Header image provided by Young Jump Weekly. Photography: Sato Yuichi

This is an essay penned by Aoyama Nagisa, best known for voicing Hazuki Ren from Love Live! Superstar!!. In the first half of her essay, she talked about spending most of her childhood learning ballet, and how she fought against bullying when she was a student. In this second half, she talks about the setback she faced after enrolling at a university with the goal of resolving problems in conflict zones, her beauty pageant days, and how she became a voice actress for the Love Live! franchise.

A selfie from when I was in university.

A privileged child’s encounter with reports of war

I was given the opportunity to attend classes for the things I liked from a young age, and was brought to visit any place I wanted to visit, so I am well aware that I grew up in a privileged environment.

Due to my father’s influence, I developed a habit of watching the news on NHK almost every day, ever since I was in elementary school. News about conflicts would particularly hurt me. I constantly thought about the people who were born into war, people who knew nothing but war. How would they live after the war eventually ended?

Watching news stories and documentaries about children who lost their parents and, because they are left without anyone to support them, fall into a life of crime made me wonder whether there was anything I could do for them. In middle school, I started thinking about working in a job that would help protect the human rights of the people in active conflict zones.

I then found out that the place to learn about the field was the Faculty of Policy Studies at Chuo University, so, in my third year of middle school, I decided that I’d work towards enrolling in Chuo University.

When I was in high school, I had the chance to read the book Disarmament is My Job by Seya Rumiko, which left a strong impact on me. The book made me realize that peace wasn’t a natural consequence of the end of the conflict and that the sadness and hatred of the people involuntarily involved in the conflict do not just vanish without a trace once the conflict ends. Collecting weapons from the populace to prevent a conflict from happening again, giving vocational training to former soldiers who knew only how to fight, and teaching them how to live, was a process known as “disarmament”.

I became convinced that this was what I wanted to do in life, so I started to research what I needed to learn in university to achieve my goal.

I found out about a political scientist, Prof. Mekata Motoko, who conducted lectures on international cooperation at the Faculty of Policy Studies at Chuo University. I came to the conclusion that if I managed to enter Chuo University, I’d definitely take her classes because it would lead me towards my goal. Before enrolling at Chuo University, I attended trial seminars conducted by Prof. Mekata, and the thought of joining her research group after enrolling and spreading my wings overseas filled my heart with anticipation.

After I managed to successfully enroll in the Department of Cross-Cultural Studies at the Faculty of Policy Studies, I immediately started searching for an upperclassman in Prof. Mekata’s research group to find out what I should do to join her research group. I went to see my upperclassman, eyes sparkling with anticipation for taking the first step towards my new life, with a face full of hope and a spring in my step. But, that was when I was told the shocking truth.

“Oh, apparently Prof. is going overseas next year, so her classes won’t be offered.”

What…? Indeed, that was the bell signaling the end of my life.

Me performing The Last Night of the World in the musical Miss Saigon during a university festival.

What kind of expression does one have on their face upon realizing that their hopes and dreams have shattered into pieces?

Students could join Prof. Mekata’s research group starting from their second year in university. But, just when I was supposed to start my second year, she’d be going overseas.

I was devastated. My future was pitch black. I enrolled at Chuo University because I wanted to join Prof. Mekata’s research group, but she wouldn’t be here?! You might wonder if something like that could really happen to a person, but it really happened to me. I had prepared myself to study hard in university and immediately head overseas to contribute to the field of vocational training after graduating, but my dreams were shattered the moment I stepped foot into university.

Now, what was I to do?

Though I wasn’t completely sure, I had heard that she’d only be away for a year. Some of my coursemates already mentioned that if Prof. Mekata would be returning after a year, they’d take a leave of absence for a year just so they could join her research group. What should I do? Taking a leave of absence… That would work… Right? But that’d trouble my parents. I decided to give up thinking about the research group. The moment my dreams vanished before my eyes was not one of sadness or disappointment, but one of determination.

Because of that single event, the direction of my life changed completely. I wanted to find something that I could completely immerse myself in during my days at university, so I decided to join the musical and acapella clubs without too much thought. I got into musicals after performing in The Sound of Music at the cultural festival during my last year in high school. That got me completely hooked, and during university, I’d sometimes watch a musical every week.

Also, when I was in high school, I frequently looked forward to singing, harmonizing, and playing the guitar together with my friends on the school roof. That made me think that the acapella club would be a good fit for me, and I decided to join.

I found that I enjoyed myself and derived a greater sense of satisfaction the more I improved in both activities. So, I practiced almost every day. I soon got accustomed to that pace of life and started wanting to aim even higher. However, in every club, there’s usually quite a distinct split between those who took club activities seriously and those who prioritized having fun. I was in the former group.

I knew that I couldn’t force anyone to come along with me given that it wasn’t their job to participate in club activities. So, to make it to the environment I desired to be in, I knew I had to take myself to an even higher level. That was when I decided to aim to become a professional.

Me wearing a wedding dress for the prize-giving ceremony of the beauty pageant I took part in.

Throwing the envelope containing job fair pamphlets her mother prepared at the door

When I was still learning ballet, I made it through the auditions for the well-known Tanimomoko Ballet Company and had the chance to perform at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan.

It was my first time in such a large venue, with lights so bright that I could barely keep my eyes open, music performed by a live orchestra, and cheers and applause louder than I could ever imagine. That moment left such a strong impression on me that I still remember it vividly, even now. I could never forget how amazing the view from the stage looked, and I’m sure some part deep within me longed to return to the grandeur of the stage.

With my future path set, I decided to challenge myself to take part in a beauty pageant near the end of my second year of university. There’s a stereotype that beauty pageant participants all want to become news announcers, but I constantly emphasized my desire to become someone who sang and danced on stage for a living instead.

During the beauty pageant, I conducted livestreams at seven in the morning every single day of the week and put all my effort into maintaining my social media presence. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that I spent all twenty-four hours of my days on it. In the end, I was crowned the runner-up. I didn’t manage to win the beauty pageant, but I was sure that the experience I gained there would definitely be useful for my future activities.

I knew that the path leading towards my goal would be full of challenges, but I continued doing my best even after the beauty pageant ended. Because I was treading on an uncertain path while all my friends were in the midst of job-hunting, my parents constantly fretted about my future.

One day, I found an envelope containing information about a job fair on the living room table when I got home. I thought that was of no use to me, so I threw it out without even taking a look. A few days later, my mother once again tried to offer me brochures for a different job fair, but I told her I didn’t need them, not even bothering to read them.

A few days after that, I found another similar envelope on my desk. When I saw that, I threw it at my door, saying, “I don’t need this!”. Why aren’t you supporting me, even though I’m taking this so seriously? Aren’t you supposed to be the ones who know that the best?

I was so frustrated that I broke into tears. I knew full well that my parents were just concerned and completely understood that they were suggesting that I take a different path because they didn’t want me to lead a difficult life. Even so, I didn’t want to give up and continued with my singing and dancing lessons with the determination to take hold of my dreams.

Messages I received from my relatives during the last day of Liella!'s first live tour. Next to me is my cousin, who is a huge Love Live! fan.

The first-ever Love Live! open auditions

Around that time, I received a message from my cousin that read, “Love Live! is having an open audition! Wanna go for it?”. My cousin is a big Love Live! fan, and thanks to her telling me things like, “Go watch the anime!”, “This song is super good so go listen!”, and “Yazawa-senpai is the best!!” I too became a Love Live! fan. A role in the Love Live! series would have everything I wanted to do: singing, dancing, and acting.

When I found out that Love Live! was holding its first-ever open audition, I immediately decided to apply. After making it through the many rounds, which included singing, dancing, acting, and self-introduction rounds, I somehow managed to make it through!

As the judges for the audition evaluated everything that I’d been through up till that point in time, I was almost crushed by uneasiness. But, I also found myself thankful that I managed to give everything I had. That was also the first time I fully acknowledged myself and the effort I put in. I was also relieved that I had finally managed to soothe the worries my parents had over my future career.

I debuted as the voice of Hazuki Ren in Love Live! Superstar!!, and have been given many opportunities to perform live as a member of the school idol group Liella!. Since starting my career as an artist and voice actress, I’ve also been offered new opportunities such as being involved in activities related to sweet potatoes, which I love, as well as recitation plays. It may not be much, but I believe that I’ve managed to achieve something worthy of note.

Perhaps because I finally managed to give them peace of mind, my parents now fully support my activities. When I get home, they watch the television shows I’ve appeared in over and over again, and listen to my new songs until late at night. Their actions make me realize just how much I’m loved, which really reassures me.

I’ll do my best to challenge myself to do all kinds of things so that my parents, who have always been there for me, can stay happy forever.

Image provided by Young Jump Weekly. Photography: Kuriyama Shusaku

Author: Aoyama Nagisa Editor: Nishinaka Kenji All photos were provided by the author herself

Aoyama Nagisa was born on May 16, 1998 in Tokyo Prefecture. She is 155 cm tall and graduated from Chuo University. Her hobbies include watching musicals and playing with little birds. Her specialty is classical ballet, and loves sweet potatoes. Currently, she voices Hazuki Ren in Love Live! Superstar!!. She's also currently serving as the “Imadoki Girl” on the TV program Mesazhi Television airing on Fuji TV, and holds regular livestreams on her Niconico Channel "Aoyama Nagisa no Katte ni IMO Kyoukai".

Nishinaka Kenji, a free writer, editor, and commentator, was born in 1978. Besides working as a news reporter and penning interviews, he is also in charge of editing gravure shots for weekly comic compilation magazines. His non-fiction book Hinatazaka46's Story, which follows the path taken by the idol group Hinatazaka46, is a hit that has sold more than 100,000 copies. He is also a contributor to the independent review magazine ARAZARU.

Translator: xIceArcher Quality Check: Yujacha (@yujachachacha)

[yujachachacha]

Interview with Liella!’s Second Generation Members - Suzuhara Nozomi

Suzuhara Nozomi-san joined Liella! after qualifying through the public auditions. After hiding what she truly loved for most of her life, this interview tells the story of the path she took to become a part of the “Love Live!” series she loves so much.

I remember feeling really glad that I attended the audition on that day, and thinking that my experience there would definitely help me later in life.

I hid what I truly loved to keep myself from getting hurt and getting made fun of

First up, could you tell us a little about what you liked and what your dreams were as a kid?

I’ve always loved idols since around when I was in third grade, and I’d sing and dance to myself in front of the mirror. I definitely looked up to them, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that I could become one, so I wrote about something more realistic in my elementary school graduation essay. Because of that, I almost forgot that I wanted to become an idol at some point. But I do remember scribbling “I want to be an idol!” in the margins of the notes I took. I once had the chance to participate in something like a debate in elementary school, and the topic was about idols we liked. I ended up crying after hearing my classmates belittle the idol I liked so much. After that experience, I concluded that I should avoid talking about the things I liked, and that was exactly what I did. I really hated getting hurt and having what I loved be dismissed by others whenever I talked about it, and I didn’t want others to make fun of me.

I see. That sounds like a painful experience. How did you come to know about the “Love Live!” series from there?

My older sister and mother were in Tokyo to take a look at the venue for her entrance exams, and I was alone at home with my father. I turned on the TV because I had nothing to do, and a rebroadcast of the fifth episode of the first season of the “Love Live!” series was airing. I immediately got hooked on the story and how cute Nico-chan was. That was when I started watching the anime. I started wanting to attend a live performance, so I looked it up, but that just so happened to be the day after µ’s’ Final Live… That was a huge shock. I had heard about the “Love Live!” series quite some time ago, but I had my middle school entrance exams to worry about at that time. I knew that I’d get hooked if I started watching, so I didn’t pay much attention to the anime then. I was down in the dumps for a while after that, thinking to myself that I should’ve started watching earlier and wondering what I did to deserve this. That was why I wanted to follow Aqours from the very start. I attended a live viewing for their First Live and even attended one of their fan meetings. I managed to catch quite a few of their activities.

Knowing I had to change, I gathered my resolve to apply for the auditions

What was your first reaction to the public auditions?

I was actually at the venue on the second day of Love Live! Fest [1], and I got to see the new project’s announcement with my very own eyes. I learned about the public auditions a little while after, but I didn’t expect myself to even apply at that time. I thought they would only accept one applicant, so I remember thinking that the person they picked would definitely be someone really amazing. After a while, I saw the teaser illustration for “Love Live! Superstar!!” on Twitter. Up until that point, I was just a fan wondering who would end up getting picked but seeing the illustration sparked something within me. That happened to be when I was in my final year of high school, and even though I had to decide my future path, I was uneasy about it. That was the moment when I realized that my love for the “Love Live!” series was second to none, and this was the only path forward for me. I was also really happy that I managed to find a dream for myself, given that I never had anything that I really wanted to do up till that point. My mother is also a huge fan of the “Love Live!” series, so much so that she even attended some of the live performances with me. Knowing that I was feeling uneasy about the future, she was the one who gave me a push on my back.

Was there anything that stood out to you during the audition?

During the final audition round, I was told that in this industry, the nail that sticks out doesn’t get hammered down, so I should give it my all. Since I had always hid what I truly loved, that phrase really resonated with me. I remember feeling really glad that I attended the audition on that day, and thinking that my experience there would definitely help me later in life. I wanted to give it my all so that I wouldn’t leave any regrets, but everyone else at the audition was just shining so bright… When I arrived at the venue, I almost lost myself in the atmosphere. I was really afraid. As I was taking my seat, I noticed a girl who was sitting all alone. I felt a connection with her since I thought we were pretty similar, so I struck up a conversation with her and we got to know each other. We became partners for the acting part of the final audition round, so we got through it by motivating each other to do our best. We became such good friends that I still keep in contact with her now. I remember Date-san talking about a girl that she met during the auditions who wrote her a letter in her first interview. That was her.

I heard that you met Date-san during the final audition round.

We passed by each other at the venue, and my friend introduced her to me as Sayuri-chan. Even though it was right before the audition, she waved at me with a huge smile on her face. That smile left a really strong impression on me, and I thought it was amazing that she was able to smile even in a situation like that. I was in tears after the audition ended… But that was the first time I had makeup put on me and I didn’t want to ruin it, so I left the venue while looking at the sky. I contacted my mother saying that I failed, with 99.9% certainty, before heading home. Where did the 0.1% come from, I wonder? (laughs) Maybe I just wanted to leave a glimmer of hope, no matter how small it was.

Getting picked as a second-generation member! A year of doing my best in my own way

The 0.1% became a reality and you were selected to join the “Love Live! Superstar!!” project as a second-generation member. How did you react when you received the audition results?

I received a call quite some time after the final audition happened. My mother was the one who answered the call, and she got all excited for some reason (laughs). After taking over the call, I was asked whether I’d be willing to participate as a second-generation member. I honestly had no idea what they meant by “second-generation” and couldn’t digest all the information on the spot, so I hung up after saying “Give me some time to think about it.” After hanging up, I realized that they might have been giving me an offer to become one of the cast, which made me call them back immediately since I felt I needed to answer “Yes!” right away. The conversation after that went something like “You don’t sound too happy, is something the matter?”, to which I replied, “No, I’m really really happy!”. But, to be completely honest, I didn’t really know what was going on… (laughs) I’m pretty sure they gave me more details about how things would work during that call, but my mind was just floating off somewhere.

After getting selected to be part of the “Love Live! Superstar!!” project, were there any changes to your lifestyle or your feelings?

It pains me to say this, but I really had no stamina… I’ve always been terrible at sports, to the point that I’d catch every single ball that came in my direction with my face, so I realized I had to do something about that. I started jogging around the perimeter of a park nearby to build up some stamina, but I couldn’t even complete a single lap at the start because my feet would start hurting almost immediately. I was worried whether I could really perform as a cast member because of that, but nowadays I can get through a rather long dance lesson without feeling exhausted, so I suppose I did manage to build up some stamina along the way. At my peak, I also went to the gym about four times per week. My enunciation was also rather poor, so I practiced every day in the bath. I prepared a lot while watching the activities of the first-generation members, so it didn’t really feel like I was just waiting for the second season to happen. But I’m definitely a long way off from the first-generation members, especially in aspects like my stamina, so I’ll continue doing my best.

Could you let us know how you felt when the “Love Live! Superstar!!” project began in earnest? How did you feel when the cast members for the first-generation members were announced?

When the cast for the first-generation members was announced, I remember thinking about how I’d one day perform on the same stage as them. When I saw Date-san, I thought “Oh, so that girl did end up making it!”. But I was also shocked to hear that two people were accepted through the public auditions. Everyone was already really good at talking, not to mention they looked perfect for the part, so I knew I had to improve various aspects of myself to fit into the group, and that really motivated me. I wanted to do my best to prepare for the second season, so I didn’t have many negative thoughts. I watched Liella!’s first live stream in real-time as well! When I saw Date-san crying on stream, I knew she must have worked really hard under the immense pressure she had to have been facing precisely because, like her, I too was accepted through the public auditions. What really impressed me was that she managed to make it all the way to the end, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. Every time I saw her, it made me feel that I had to work harder, that there must be something more than I could do.

I heard that you watched Liella!’s debut single release event, “Hajimari wa Minna no Sora” at the venue itself.

Yup, and I was floored. Even though there were only five of them, their presence was no less felt than any of the other groups. The fact that I’d become a part of the group in the future was already weighing on my mind back then, and watching that performance made me wonder what I needed to do to eventually be able to proclaim that I’m part of Liella! with my head held high. Seeing Date-san nail the difficult entrance to Watashi no Symphony made me wonder whether I’d be able to do that if I were in her position. We were going to join the group after the first-generation members, so I wondered whether that meant we could never catch up to them. That gave me the motivation to work even harder, and I started practicing the moment I got home. A while after that, I was sent the illustrations and background information of the second-generation members. Kinako-chan was the first character who caught my eye, and I thought she was just like me… Out of the four members, I liked her appearance the most, and I knew I had to become her voice. The second-generation members had a final audition round to decide who’d get to play which character. So strong was my desire that I prayed every single day that I’d get to voice Kinako-chan…

You prayed for it every single day?

I even started trying to do at least one good deed per day to become a better person. Now that I think about it, I was totally panicking back then. Oh, I also felt like my personality was too gloomy to become Kinako-chan, so I decided to become a more cheerful person and smile more. I’ve been told by the other second-generation members that I’ve become more cheerful compared to the final audition, and I do hope they’re right… The first season of the anime aired during that period as well, and I’d watch every single episode while on call with my family. But with every episode I watched, I would get more worried. I’d usually just bury myself in the story of the “Love Live!” series that I love so much, but because everyone was just so good, I sometimes even ended up crying wondering whether I’d be able to be like them.

How did the final audition for the second-generation members go?

Even now I’m still hearing about how gloomy I was during that audition, so I think I might have gone overboard and started treating everyone else as an enemy… (laughs) That was also my first time at an official recording, so I had no idea what to do. I think that made me give off a negative aura. After a while, I got the news that I was chosen to play Kinako-chan, and I’ve been happy ever since (laughs).

In November 2021, you and the other second-generation members met the first-generation members for the first time, am I right?

We didn’t talk much the first time the second-generation members met, but I managed to talk to everyone during the dance lessons that happened afterward, and I slowly got to know everyone better. One day, Aya said something like “Let’s drop the honorifics!”. I’m terrible at referring to people directly by their name, so that really was a tall order for me. But she was so insistent that I decided to try my hardest to do it. Looking back on it, doing that really did bring us closer together. We had the chance to meet the first-generation members a while later. All the second-generation members were waiting outside a room where the first-generation members were, and even from the corridor, we could hear something like “I can’t wait to meet them!” coming from inside the room. That calmed me down a lot, and the atmosphere there was really welcoming and pleasant. That was also the first time I talked about being accepted through the public auditions, and because I didn’t even tell the other second-generation members, they turned out to be even more surprised than the first-generation members were. That made the mood pretty weird… Though Aya jumping up in surprise right beside me was pretty funny (laughs).

Apparently, you watched the First Live Tour together with the second-generation members?

I had watched every single live stream that had happened before, but that was my first time being on-site with fans in the audience as well. Being able to see the first-generation members perform with my very own eyes made me realize just how big their movements were and how loud their voices were, which is something that the live streams definitely couldn’t get across. That was when I knew that all the practice I had been doing up till then was far from enough. I was never really good at singing or dancing, and I was wondering just what I had to do to become part of the group. It really made me feel the gap between me and them. When the four of us are together, the atmosphere is usually rather cheerful, but the mood after that live performance was rather gloomy. For us second-generation members, the first-generation members really do seem like a wall that we have to surmount. But being too fixated on that didn’t seem right to me either. Of course we respect them, but now that we’re members of the same group, I wanted to be treated as an equal, which made me want to do my best to catch up to them, or even surpass them.

How did you feel about the recordings when they started?

Kinako-chan actually has pretty exaggerated reactions to things! She’s really expressive and frequently screams, and I struggled a lot with letting my voice out like that… I’ve spent a lot of time discussing with the members of the staff, but I still feel like I’ve yet to catch up to Kinako-chan. Although we’re really similar, our energy levels are actually complete opposites, so I think that’s something I’ll have to face head-on in the future.

The second-generation members were announced as the recordings were taking place. How did you feel upon seeing how the fans reacted?

All of us second-generation members came together to see how the fans reacted, both when the new characters and new cast members were announced. I forgot to turn off my Twitter notifications when the cast members were announced, and I panicked after receiving a ton of notifications all at once. I was terrified at the beginning and couldn’t bring myself to read any of the comments, but when I mustered the courage to look at the comments section about three days later, it was filled with comments like “You’re already part of Liella! from this moment onwards!” and “I’m sure it won’t be easy, but we’ll be supporting you. We’ve got your back,” which really surprised me. I was expecting to see some negative comments, so I was surprised that we were accepted so readily. I remember being really relieved that the fans had such kind words for us.

The first time I managed to say “Liella!” properly was the first step I took to becoming one of the group

You’ve been through the character and cast announcements, and now you’ve even stood in front of the fans at the Live & Fan Meeting events.

Honestly, it hasn’t really hit me that I’m one of Liella!’s members. But, the other day at the Tokyo Leg of our Live & Fan Meeting, I felt like that was the first time I said the “And that was Liella!” line properly. It’s as if I finally got accustomed to saying that, or that seeing everyone waving their lights finally clicked with the fact that I was standing on stage. It felt like I’d finally become part of the group. I hope I’ll be able to gain more experience and perform on stage with my head held high, as a member of Liella!.

I’m sure your life has changed a lot in the past two years. If you could say something to yourself back when you were just signing up for the auditions, what would you say?

Err… I’d say “You did great!”. You definitely did great. I’d compliment myself for being able to muster up the courage to do something that I’d have just given up on in the past. I’m sure to a lot of people, I still have a long way to go. But to me, the small things I did have accumulated, leading to even bigger changes. I believe that I’ve grown quite a bit, so I’d like to compliment myself on accomplishing that. I’ll try my best to move from 100 points to somewhere around 180 points. Even though I’m standing in front of an audience during our Live & Fan Meeting events, when I get back home, I become myself again. Even now, I sometimes wonder whether this is all a dream. But, the people who make me realize that I’m now a part of the “Love Live!” series that I love so much are none other than all the fans supporting me. I’ll do my best to make everyone happy and to eventually reach a point where even I myself am satisfied with my work.

Last but not least, let us know what we should look out for in the second season of the anime!

I hope you get to know the charms of the freshmen, who all have really interesting personalities! Now that the first-generation members are upperclassmen, I believe seeing them interact with their underclassmen will be quite fresh too. I personally love the rowdiness that happens when everyone in the group gets together, which is unique to the “Love Live!” series, so I hope you look out for that as well! Do look forward to it!

[1] Love Live! Series 9th Anniversary Love Live! Fest, which happened at Saitama Super Arena on January 18th and 19th, 2020. The announcement for a new project by the “Love Live!” series happened at the event on the second day.

Suzuhara Nozomi was born in Miyazaki Prefecture and read every single book in the library when she was a student. She loves girls in twintails and thought it was fate when she first saw Kinako’s visuals. She enjoys analog games like board and card games. The fact that Liella!’s bungee jump location shoot has yet to happen is something that constantly weighs on her mind.

TL: xIceArcher

TLC/QC: Yujacha (@yujachachacha), Yahallo

[yujachachacha]

Happy Birthday Keke Tang!!!

I played “水色のSunday(Mizuiro no Sunday)” on piano and recorder!

[yujachachacha]

Rest Assured by Dorimi (@__dorimi)

I was just asking Karin-chan if she's been able to wake up on her own lately.

Note: Read from left to right. (This is translated from Korean!)

TL note: The original title is 안심 or 安心, which means "relief". I was just going to straightforwardly translate Emma and Ai's use of this word on page 2 as something like "what a relief!", but then the artist had to go an make a pun in the Japanese version of the comic. I felt I had to live up to that somehow. 🙃

...the pun I'm trying to make here being "rest assured", even though Karin's "rest" (sleep) is no longer "assured". Sorry not sorry for the bad pun.

The pun in the Japanese version of the comic is a play on Karin's surname being "Asaka" and the phrase "in the mornings" being "asa kara" in Japanese. Therefore: "Karin's going jogging in the mornings (asa kara)? Get it, since she's Asaka?"

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Please make sure to give the original artist a like/retweet/follow—the comic title and artist name above are hyperlinked!

Translation & typeset: [Yujacha].

Having trouble reading the comic on Twitter? You can also view the full-sized images on [Dynasty Reader] and [Imgur]!

※ [Translated with artist's approval]. Please do not edit or repost without permission from the original artist.

[yujachachacha]

I play “Eutopia” on the piano from Love Live! Nijigasaki.

soooo cooool song!!!!!

[yujachachacha]

If Riko's Tokyo friends took selfies in front of the straightjacket Riko ad by Mu (@mumuir0315)

Who's this~~ 😳🌸

Note: Read from left to right. (This is translated from Korean!)

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Please make sure to give the original artist a like/retweet/follow—the comic title and artist name above are hyperlinked!

Translation & typeset: [Yujacha].

Having trouble reading it on Twitter? You can also view the full-sized image on [Imgur]!

※ [Translated with artist's approval]. Please do not edit or repost without permission from the original artist.

[yujachachacha]

Your Warmth by Sosa (@yl_piment)

Your embrace is as warm as always, Shioriko-san...

Note: Read from left to right. (This is translated from Korean!) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Please make sure to give the original artist a like/retweet/follow—the comic title and artist name above are hyperlinked! Translation & typeset: [Yujacha]. Having trouble reading the comic on Twitter? You can also view the full-sized images on [Dynasty Reader] and [Imgur]! ※ [Translated with artist's approval]. Please do not edit or repost without permission from the original artist.

[yujachachacha]

Soft by Dorimi (@__dorimi)

Ah...I think I get it now.

Note: Read from left to right. (This is translated from Korean!)

TL note: The person/serpent line in page 1 is my attempt at preserving some of the wordplay in Korean by using similar-sounding English words. Originally, it was 인물 (inmul) versus 사물 (samul). The artist specified that "samul" is specifically 巳物, with 巳 meaning "snake"!

We had a brief conversation about this via DM to clear this up...gotta love artists who are invested in seeing a good translation. 👍

Another note: The artist swapped their "dorimi" (their Love Live art account) and "dureumi" (their Revue Starlight art account) handles on Twitter for April Fools' Day 2022, which is why the preview above might seem a bit off. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Please make sure to give the original artist a like/retweet/follow—the comic title and artist name above are hyperlinked!

Translation & typeset: [Yujacha].

Having trouble reading the comic on Twitter? You can also view the full-sized images on [Dynasty Reader] and [Imgur]!

※ [Translated with artist's approval]. Please do not edit or repost without permission from the original artist.

[yujachachacha]

No Sweet Eyes Allowed by Sanya (@hwanmul)

Here's Kasumin's photographic evidence from yesterday!

Note: Read from left to right. (This is translated from Korean!) The artist's original caption was literally "No Mellow eyes Allowed" since Koreans love to steal English words and use them in nonstandard ways. I ended up with the current title because I wanted to make a "Sweet Eyes" song reference. Rejected titles: No Tender Looks, Forbidden Gayze.

Also, I actually "translated" this for a friend over a year ago lol...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Please make sure to give the original artist a like/retweet/follow—the comic title and artist name above are hyperlinked! Translation & typeset: [Yujacha]. Having trouble reading the comic on Twitter? You can also view the full-sized images on [Dynasty Reader] and [Imgur]! ※ [Translated with artist's approval]. Please do not edit or repost without permission from the original artist.

[yujachachacha]

Cats are cute, too. by Sosa (@yl_piment)

Shizuku, you prefer dogs over cats, right?

Note: Read from left to right. (This is translated from Korean!)

The original prompt was "ShizuKarin backhug" but it ended up as a side hug. Still quality rarepair content!

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Please make sure to give the original artist a like/retweet/follow—the comic title and artist name above are hyperlinked!

Translation & typeset: [Yujacha].

Having trouble reading the comic on Twitter? You can also view the full-sized images on [Dynasty Reader] and [Imgur]!

※ [Translated with artist's approval]. Please do not edit or repost without permission from the original artist.

[yujachachacha]

ShizuKasu by Dorimi (@__dorimi)

This is all your fault, Kasumi-san.

Note: Read from left to right. (This is translated from Korean!) The artist insisted on keeping the title as "ShizuKasu" (the original caption) after I asked them if they wanted me to put something else, so...*shrug*

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Please make sure to give the original artist a like/retweet/follow—the comic title and artist name above are hyperlinked!

Translation & typeset: [Yujacha].

Having trouble reading the comic on Twitter? You can also view the full-sized images on [Dynasty Reader] and [Imgur]!

※ [Translated with artist's approval]. Please do not edit or repost without permission from the original artist.

[yujachachacha]

Angsty AyuSetsu 2 by Sanya (@hwanmul)

I put poison in your tea.

Note: Read from left to right. (This is translated from Korean!)

Sequel to Angsty AyuSetsu. If you don't understand the reference, search for something like "revolutionary girl utena poison scene" and you'll find plenty of Tumblr blogs explaining it.

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Please make sure to give the original artist a like/retweet/follow—the comic title and artist name above are hyperlinked! Translation & typeset: [Yujacha]. Having trouble reading the comic on Twitter? You can also view the full-sized images on [Dynasty Reader] and [Imgur]! ※ [Translated with artist's approval]. Please do not edit or repost without permission from the original artist.

[yujachachacha]

(SetsuRina) Pajama Party! by Bie (@rolling12321)

I know I brought them though?

Note: Read from left to right. (This is translated from Korean!) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Please make sure to give the original artist a like/retweet/follow—the comic title and artist name above are hyperlinked!

Translation & typeset: [Yujacha].

Having trouble reading the comic on Twitter? You can also view the full-sized images on [Dynasty Reader] and [Imgur]!

※ [Translated with artist's approval]. Please do not edit or repost without permission from the original artist.

[yujachachacha]

Pants > Skirts by Sosa (@yl_piment)

What's with the gym clothes?

Note: Read from left-to-right. (This is translated from Korean!)

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Please make sure to give the original artist a like/retweet/follow—the comic title and artist name above are hyperlinked! Translation & typeset: [Yujacha]. Having trouble reading the comic on Twitter? You can also view the full-sized images on [Dynasty Reader] and [Imgur]! ※ [Translated with artist's approval]. Please do not edit or repost without permission from the original artist.