We’ll make sure to keep our activities going, to tell everyone about how Aqours is doing, about where Aqours is from - Inami Anju, Aida Rikako, and Saito Shuka’s unwavering resolve
First years interview: https://aikyan.dyreatic.moe/post/624225195452940288/before-a-new-departurekobayashi-aika-takatsuki
Third years interview: https://ganbaramen.tumblr.com/post/625147563563204608/their-intention-is-always-to-be-by-your-side-the
If I gave up, Chika-chan would stop growing too
Love Live! Sunshine!!’s school idol group, Aqours, has just celebrated its 5th anniversary. The “Aqours 5th Anniversary Jimo Ai! Take Me Higher Project”, which includes the franchise’s first dome tour, has also been announced.
Inami: I expected quite a few big things to happen, since it is our 5th anniversary. But even I was surprised at how huge the entire thing turned out to be.
Saito: There really is quite a lot happening, huh?
Aida: We have Aqours CLUB 2020 too, and…
Saito: There are so many things happening that I can’t wrap my head around them!
Inami: Since the phrase “Jimo Ai” is in the title itself, it’d be nice if I could shout out to everyone that we’ve come all the way from Numazu, loud and clear!
What did you think of “Fantastic Departure”, the theme song of the dome tour, when you first heard it?
Aida: I feel like our songs have gotten more and more mature over the years.
Saito: Yeah, totally! It feels like our songs are growing alongside us.
Aida: Yeah, they’re songs from a genre that Aqours could never touch in the past.
Inami: It does seem like the melody was written to conform to current trends.
Aida: You’re right, it does sound pretty stylish. It also makes you want to dance to the beat.
Inami: As an artist, I feel like we’ve managed to establish exactly what it means to be Aqours. Of course, that includes the lyrics too!
Aida: You can just feel Hata Aki-san in every phrase!
Inami: Yeah, yeah! Especially the “dolphin” and “whale” lines.
Saito: Having words related to the ocean in the lyrics makes it feel really Aqours-like. I think it’s pretty interesting how there’s a gap between the mature-sounding melody and the lyrics.
Inami: It was really tough…!
Aida: If I focus too much on singing in my character voice, my sense of rhythm goes haywire!
Inami: Yeah, that! When I first heard “Fantastic Departure!”, the first thing I worried about was how I’d sing it!
Aida: Our songs started becoming really difficult around “Jump up HIGH!”.
Saito: No matter the song, the first thing I think about is how You-chan would sing it, but you’re right, it was quite difficult at the start.
Inami: So what do you do?
Saito: I just sing the entire thing as You-chan.
Aida: For me, I let my character voice out when I can, and pay more attention to the rhythm when I need to. That leads to the up-and-downs in my voice, I guess?
Inami: For me, I try singing it once with my own voice, paying attention to the syllables I’d stress. This expands my horizons and gives me more ideas. After that, I try to think of even more ideas as Chika-chan, and that makes my singing more expressive, I guess?
Aida: I think it’s amazing how Chika-chan sounds like Chika-chan whenever she sings.
Inami: I’m so glad to hear that! I’m sure all of us feel the same way, but if there was something I couldn’t do and I gave up on it without trying, Chika-chan would stop growing too. Because I feel very strongly about not wanting to stop Chika-chan from growing and developing, I challenge myself and do my best in everything I do.
Everyone in Aqours is the type to just go for it instead of worrying about it
How about the coupling song, “Aqours Pirate Desire”?
Aida: The lyrics certainly are very forceful. Our lyrics used to be things like “Got it!” and “Heave-ho!” after all, so they’ve definitely have gotten a lot more forceful compared to back then. There’s that, and how the pitch has become really low. It’s almost a full octave lower, so I was certainly a little flustered at the start.
Saito: The first thing I thought after hearing it was, “It’s so low!”
Inami: Yeah, I was like, “Dang, this is gonna be a tough one” (laughs).
Saito: I couldn’t help but wonder whether You-chan would be able to do it. That’s why I asked them to let me listen to my own singing over and over again during the recording.
The song’s atmosphere gives off the impression of a rather wild Aqours.
Inami: You’re right. It’s the first time we’ve had “pirates” as the theme of a song, after all.
Saito: They told us to go all out with the coolness during the recording!
Aida: It is a rather cool song, after all.
Inami: Maybe it’d be nice for Aqours to appear on stage while showing off our cool side. Up until now, we’ve always had a refreshing, cheerful, or straightforward look, so I think it’d be pretty fun to show off Aqours’ unyielding and firm side too.
Aida: The atmosphere Aqours gives off has changed quite a bit too, huh?
Inami: Yeah. Personally, I want to show off even more different sides of Aqours!
Tell us about your favorite parts of each song.
Aida: I like how the lyrics of “Fantastic Departure!” tells a story of us not knowing what’s in store for us in the future. But after seeing many, many things on our way here, we still want to continue discovering what’s ahead of us, and that there are still places for us to go. That made me really happy, and they’re all phrases I really love.
Inami: I’m really glad that the lyrics strongly convey how Aqours will keep pushing forward while also giving off the feeling that this is a new start for us. For “Aqours Pirates Desire”, I like the phrases like “Snatch it for ourselves!”, phrases that Aqours has never really had before. What about you, You-chan (Saito-san)?
Saito: I guess I like the lyrics in the chorus of “Aqours Pirates Desire”. I feel like it really gives off the feeling that Aqours will do anything, that we want to be given the opportunity to do anything and everything.
Inami: All nine of us are the type of people to just go for it rather than worrying about it, and maybe that personality of ours got through to Hata-san as well. For “Aqours Pirates Desire”, I find the part where we say we’ll “sail the seven seas” and “go beyond even that” interesting. We don’t usually end our sentences so forcefully too, and the word “crossbones” really packs a punch… The song is just packed with the new Aqours.
Saito: Though Riko-chan’s a part of Guilty Kiss, so I guess she’s already used to the “crossbones” part.
Aida: I wonder… Though you have to admit that there’s something about how all nine of us can now perform a song like “Aqours Pirate Desire” together, and not just as our subunits.
Inami: Yeah. Most of the Aqours members already like cool songs, and that’s being put to good use here. Maybe we’ll be able to go even further with this concept now that we’ve sung this song, and that gets me really excited.
Aida: It’s quite interesting how although the song is quite stylish, it still feels undoubtedly like a “Love Live!” song when the nine of us sing it.
The entire arena dyed in orange: “Memories never fade”
This January, you performed at Love Live! Fest together with μ’s and the Nijigasaki School Idol Club, breaking the walls between the franchise’s groups. What left the deepest impression on you at Love Live! Fest?
Aida: Can I talk about something that happened when we were off-stage? It’s got to be μ’s “Snow halation”.
Inami & Saito: That really was something!
Inami: We were waiting on the ship for our turn to perform, and because we just enjoy ourselves fully once we’re on stage, the wait before we go on stage leaves the strongest impression on us.
Saito: Yeah, that. The peak of our emotions happened when we were waiting. At that moment, I just felt really glad that I was part of Aqours.
Aida: Seeing the arena glow orange during μ’s “Snow halation” made me realize that memories truly never fade. It’d be nice if we could make the people watching one of our lives feel the same way one day.
Inami: Maybe this dome tour is our first step to achieving that. I’m also really glad that we’ve become capable of considering “sometime in the future”.
Any memories of your own performance during Love Live! Fest?
Inami: When we appeared on stage on our ship, I was really thankful that we were here as Aqours. When I first heard that we’d be appearing on the ship, we talked it out and agreed that we wanted to dance. We acutely felt the meaning behind us having to live up to the animation, as well as the power the nine of us have together, so we wanted to put that in our dance on stage.
After our performance, what we saw from the ship felt really special, and that made me really glad that we performed on the ship. Realizing that made me emotional once again.
How about you, Aida-san, Saito-san?
Aida: We were the opening act for both days, kicking the performance off with “Mitaiken Horizon”. That left a very deep impression.
Saito: Love Live! Fest was our first time performing “Mitaiken Horizon”. Also, it had been quite some time since our last concert, so I was really nervous.
Inami: I knew that I’d be frustrated if we didn’t manage to capture the attention of the people in the audience who were seeing us for the first time. I really gave it my all to make sure that we fulfilled the role of being the opening act and passing the baton on to the next performers.
How were the performances by the members of the Nijigasaki School Idol Club? They even put on some solo performances, right?
Inami: It’s really amazing how they performed on stage alone!
Aida: Fest was right after their 1st Live (Love Live! Nijigasaki School Idol Club First Live “with You”) too. Adding on to that, they even performed on the same stage as μ’s did. So that’s quite something.
Saito: If that were me back when I first debuted, I’d probably be terrified.
Aida: Yeah. Just having the courage to perform solo on that stage is already really amazing.
Inami: Amidst an audience that’s focused on them, and only them, I could tell that they really wanted to dye the entire venue in each and every one of their colors. That was just really emotional.
“We’ve started communicating with just our eyes”: The second years are the balancers
After five years, do you feel like you’ve grown?
Saito: I guess I now know how to look better in photos?
Inami: That’s really important!
Saito: I used to look terrible in photos! But now, I realize that I'm at the point where if I spot the camera cranes during a concert, I'll be like “C'MON LOOK OVER HERE" (laughs).
Inami: I used to be bad with photos too… I really wish I could change my artist photo I took way back then.
Saito: Yeah! Seeing that photo being used for some TV performance just makes me want to scream: “Just change it already!”
Inami: Exactly. Also, I used to be a very negative person, but I’ve definitely become overwhelmingly more positive over the years. Chika-chan is cheerful no matter what, and nothing can break her. She has so many ideas that it’s almost funny, and she still influences me to this day!
Chika-chan is so positive that sometimes I wonder whether she even knows the meaning of the phrase “giving up”. She’s been pulling me along, in a good way. Even now, I still have a lot to learn from her actions.
Aida: For me, it’s definitely my stamina. I really had no stamina at the start. I think I was the worst among everyone in Aqours. Especially during our 1st Live (Love Live! Sunshine!! Aqours First LoveLive! ~Step! ZERO to ONE~), I’d lose my breath halfway through a song, and just singing my solo part was pure suffering.
But I could feel myself slowly becoming more fit, day by day. There are still times when I feel like it’s too much, but it doesn’t show on my face anymore, so I guess I’ve grown in that regard.
Inami: Yeah, I get you! I’m really glad that I can now perform “Kimi no Kokoro wa Kagayaiteru kai?” with a smile on my face the entire time (laughs).
Saito: “KimiKoko” is still pretty tough, even now…
Aida: Other than that, I feel like I’ve changed in lots of ways, so many that I can’t even begin to count.
Inami: During these five years as Aqours, every one of us has managed to take on and overcome different challenges, so I think about how much we’ve grown almost every day.
What do you think about the bond between the second years?
Aida: If we’re talking about the anime, the bond between the second years really solidified around “Aye-aye, My Friend” (episode 11 of the first season of the anime). I feel like after that, we took on the role of watching over the other year groups, with You-chan and Riko-chan supporting Chika-chan together.
Inami: And Chika-chan just throws her everything at anything she’s doing.
If I were to talk about myself, I’ve become much better at grasping Chika-chan’s emotions during our concerts. I’ve become able to find joy and perform songs alongside both of them with a smile on my face, even though they used to be songs where just singing and dancing took all my effort and concentration. I guess that’s when I feel the bond between us.
Aida: For me, because I know that their dances will definitely be perfect, I feel like I have no choice but to keep up with them.
Saito: Our songs as the second years are really energetic, so that shows how close we are.
What’s something that you’d never lose at versus the other year groups?
Inami: How we can be both playful and serious at the same time! That’s something I love about us too.
Saito: When push comes to shove, we’ll definitely get things done, but when we joke around, we go all out too.
Inami: Yup. We’ll mostly be fine, no matter what happens. We’re able to follow up on absolutely anything.
Aida: That’s also because of how much we trust each other.
Saito: We’ve started communicating by our gazes alone a lot more recently, right?
Inami: We can tell what the others are thinking just by looking at their eyes.
Aida: Working together as a year group feels really reassuring, in a different way from when we’re together as nine or in our subunits.
Inami: Even without talking it out, we’ll end up saying, “OK, we’ll give it a try, we’re fine!”. That’s why it’s really easy to be with this group.
Saito: The three of us as a group are pretty balanced, huh?
Inami: Yeah. Because the three of us often have to keep the conversation going during MCs and such, we have quite a lot in common. When my mind is completely occupied with reading the script in front of me, the two of them will follow up or respond to what I say with something appropriate. That’s something I can really count on, so I get to enjoy myself during livestreams and such with them around!
That, and our sense of time is pretty similar. Just when I start thinking that our MC segment during a concert has gotten a bit too long, and that now’s a good time to wrap things up, Riko-chan (Aida-san) will wrap up the conversation, and so on...
Aida: That’s something I tend to do… I’m the type to want to move on to the next thing right away. That, and to stop the first years from going on any longer (laughs).
Inami: It’s clear-cut, easy to understand, and interesting. I really like that part of you (laughs). You-chan is really good at following up when I pass the baton to her, so I can throw a topic at her without worrying too much. That’s why I feel like we’re balanced as a group. No matter what happens, our energy levels are just right, and I think that’s one of the second years’ strong points.
Be proud of the fact that you made our dome tour possible!
There’s still some time before we get the full details, but is there anything in particular that you’d like to do for your dome tour?
Aida: We’ve ridden on a ship and a steam locomotive, so I wonder what’s next.
Inami: If we’re going with the lyrics, it’s going to be a whale next. How about whales in our member colors?
Saito: I feel like people will just wonder what we’re riding on (laughs).
Aida: I guess I want to try all kinds of things without being constrained by what we’ve done up until now. Since being able to do a dome tour isn’t a given, I’d like to reflect on the fact that we’ve been given the chance to do this and leave no regrets behind.
Inami: Aside from our numbered lives, we’ve also been given the opportunity to perform an Asia tour and fan meetings. And now we have a country-wide dome tour; I think that’s really amazing. That’s why I’d like this tour to be one where we enchant everyone with Aqours’ radiance.
Saito: I wanna mess around during a concert…
Inami: Yeah, I do want to play around with some of the songs. Of course, there are songs with the choreography set in stone, so we’ll show that off when we can, and mess around when we can.
Aida: It’d be nice if the concert were something like a festival.
Inami: Yeah! I want the tour to be one that’d get everyone’s heart pumping, one that’ll make everyone in the audience realize their love for Aqours and the songs we perform!
Is there anything you’d like to be able to do by the time the dome tour starts?
Inami: There are quite a few songs that we haven’t performed yet, right?
Aida: I think there’s more than ten of them. Like “Bouken Type A, B, C!!”, “KOKORO Magic ‘A to Z’”, and “Dance with Minotaurus”.
Saito: Yeah! I can’t wait for “Dance with Minotaurus”.
Aida: That, and some more new songs, right?
Saito: The Aqours CLUB song too.
Inami: …Wow (laughs). They’re all songs with different styles and genres too, right?
Saito: Yeah. Especially the tour’s theme song.
Aida: The bridge seems pretty tough too.
Inami: Err… As soon as we can perform our new songs, I hope we can have fun while performing them! (laughs)
I’m sure your fans are looking forward to the 5th anniversary project too.
Saito: I was actually pretty surprised myself. We definitely only managed to make a dome tour happen thanks to everyone supporting us.
I’m really excited that we’ll be able to perform at huge venues, but I’ll make sure to not forget my roots too. To do that, I’m already thinking about re-watching the first and second seasons of the anime, as well as the movie before the tour kicks off. So, I hope everyone reading does the same too! Also, do watch over Aqours, who’ve surely leveled up since our 5th anniversary!
Aida: I never expected to be able to put on such a large-scale concert for our 5th anniversary. It's definitely thanks to all the fans who have been supporting us all this time that we're being given the opportunity to do this.
I think all of our fans should be proud of themselves because they’re the ones who brought Aqours all the way here to our dome tour. I hope to make this tour one where I get to express my gratitude to everyone, and I look forward to your support!
Inami: I hope even more people get to know about “Love Live! Sunshine!!” and Aqours through this interview, and I’d be glad if we left an impression on you. Aqours is in the process of challenging ourselves in all kinds of directions, and I think there are still many words and songs we can bring to everyone.
Although we already have an anime and a movie, personally, I want to start writing a new story with the nine of us in Aqours! With that desire in my heart, in order to tell everyone about how Aqours is doing, and about where Aqours lives, I’ll make sure to keep our activities going. I’d be grateful if you’d come along to witness Aqours’ world for yourself, and I’ll do my best to gain your support from now on as well!
What are the charm points of each of the second years?
Inami Anju -> Aida Rikako
Aqours is a group of voice actresses, actresses, singers, and many more, so all of us had different levels of experience when we first started out. Riko-chan (Aida-san) was never constrained by any of those roles, and she has a very clear idea of what she wants to do as “Aida Rikako”. I thought she seemed rather mature.
What’s more, Riko-chan really loves acting, and I myself love acting too. As we attended more recordings together, we gained the ability to throw all kinds of different lines at each other.
Throughout these five years, I think the person I’ve always talked with the most about “what I should do for Aqours” is Riko-chan. No matter what I talk to her about, she’ll definitely reply with a message or some idea that’s uniquely hers. What she says is very encouraging. We’ve been pouring out our love for acting and our characters together this entire time, so I think she’s the person I can open my heart to most easily.
Inami Anju -> Saito Shuka
You-chan (Saito-san) is very friendly, and since she’s the closest to me in age, from the very start our relationship was somewhat similar to that of childhood friends—just like our characters. Although she’s friendly, she knows where to draw the line, and she’s the type to take the feelings of the people around her into consideration without realizing it.
She never lets it show, but she’s really responsible. She’s really serious, and I believe she was given the leapfrog (in “Kimi no Kokoro wa Kagayaiteru kai?”) and the center position for the 2nd single, “Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM”, because she always challenges herself to do her best.
All three of us second years are serious, and we’re all balancers, so we just grew closer naturally without needing to work ourselves up over it too much. In the end, I usually have the responsibility of wrapping the conversation up. But both of them always watch over me by my side, to share in that burden of mine. There are things that I’d only share with the two of them, and all three of us have worries that only the other two understand. But, even if we don’t put them explicitly into words, we somehow can understand each other, and our emotions resonate with one another. So, I really appreciate and trust both of them.
Aida Rikako -> Inami Anju
When Aqours was first formed, Anchan was still a teenager, but she was the perfect leader from the very start. She really has her life together, and she has no weaknesses whatsoever. I was actually quite worried for her at the start… To me, it looked as if she constantly had a huge weight on her shoulders. But, at some point, it looked like the weight was lifted off her shoulders, and she became better at depending on the people around her. So, I think she managed to strike a good balance.
That, and she cares the most about the other Aqours members. She’ll be the first to come to our rescue no matter what happens, and she’ll be the first to notice and follow up if someone is feeling down. She’s really mature and dependable, despite being three years younger than me (laughs). When we’re performing together, I feel like I can leave everything to her, and our performances only manage to happen because of her.
Aida Rikako -> Saito Shuka
She’s so capable that you wouldn’t think that she’s the youngest. She’s been hard-working ever since our 1st Live, and the professional attitude of the other two second years is something I really need to push myself to keep up with.
Shuka will never let her exhaustion show on her face; she’s always smiling. She’s usually the mood maker, the energetic one in the group, but she actually pays a lot of attention to her surroundings. She’s also a kind girl who’s capable of noticing the subtle changes in the facial expressions of the people around her.
Saito Shuka -> Inami Anju
Even among the nine of us, she pays a lot of attention to crafting her role. Since Anju’s the leader, I’m sure she felt a lot more pressure than the rest of us when we just started off. But, she managed to overcome that together with Chika-chan, and she’s now our dependable leader. Aqours would be nothing without Anju as our leader, and we can rest assured because she’s our leader.
Saito Shuka -> Aida Rikako
How she pays attention to her surroundings, and how she always has her life together. That, and I really like how she’s a little out of it (laughs). Because she’s serious, there are times when my jokes don’t get through to her, but that’s because she really values the franchise as a whole, and because she has a very strong will. I like the ups and downs in her personality.
Q&A with Inami Anju, the voice of Takami Chika
Q1) Tell us something you love about Takami Chika-chan!
There’s too many, so this is going to be hard… Among the many things, I really love how she’ll never break, and how she can continue chasing her own radiance for her entire life.
Q2) Is there something you want, or something you want to do right now?
That, and I really want to get a scuba-diving license someday. When I first experienced it through one of the interviews for “Love Live! Sunshine!!”, I was told that I had a knack for it. Seeing a sunfish in Numazu’s oceans is one of my dreams!
Q3) Is there a book or a game that you’ve been hooked on recently?
Because I’ve been casted in “Boku no Hero Academia” (as Toga Himiko in the stage play), I’ve been reading it recently. If it’s a game, it’s gotta be “Pokémon”.
Q4) What did you want to be when you were a child?
This is really embarrassing (laughs), but a pâtissier. Oh, that, and becoming a mermaid. That was a serious dream of mine.
Q5) What do you normally do on your days off?
Sleep, play games, work out, and go for chiropractic sessions. There are some days where I just spend the day taking care of my body.
Q&A with Aida Rikako, the voice of Sakurauchi Riko
Q1) Tell us what you like about Sakurauchi Riko-chan!
How she really cares for Chika-chan. She’s always the first to notice if Chika-chan’s feeling down. Of course, she loves everyone in Aqours, and she’s always caring for everyone. I like how she’s usually the support for all of the Aqours members.
Q2) Is there something you want, or something you want to do right now?
It’s not easy to do this at this point in time, but I want to go on a solo trip someday.
I’ve always wanted to visit France. I love “The Rose of Versailles”, and I really want to visit the Palace of Versailles. Also, visiting some hot springs would be nice.
Q3) Is there a book or a game that you’ve been hooked on recently?
“The Promised Neverland”. I’ve always liked the comics in “Young Jump”. I also have the complete set of “GIGANT”.
Q4) What did you want to be when you were a child?
That was my first dream, though along the way I became open to more than just singing.
Q5) What do you normally do on your days off?
I don’t set an alarm and sleep in until midday. Then, I watch TV, and just laze around mostly. I usually don’t go anywhere except for places around my house, so if I had the entire day free, I’d like to visit a shopping mall or something a little further from where I live.
Q&A with Saito Shuka, the voice of Watanabe You
Q1) Tell us what you like about Watanabe You-chan!
Can I talk about something physical…? (laughs) Since she’s in the swimming club and the school idol club at the same time, I really admire her discipline, and I also really like how strongly she feels about wanting to do something together with Chika-chan, and how she really cares for her friends.
Recently, I’ve really taken a liking to her curves.
She’s not too fat but not too thin; her body is the epitome of a healthy high school girl, and that’s really great!
In episode eleven of the first season of the anime, “Aye-aye, My Friend”, there’s a scene where the camera focuses on her thighs; the thought that went through my mind was, “That’s perfect!”. Her face also looks really pretty from the side. I like how she’s so beautiful that I don’t even have the words to describe it (laughs).
Q2) Is there something you want, or something you want to do right now?
I wanna go to a grilled meat place for some beef tongue! If the beef tongue is sliced thinly, I could eat that forever. But, I’ve started asking for a larger portion of rice with my meals, like a high school boy, so I think it’s about time for me to start cutting down.
Q3) Is there a book or a game that you’ve been hooked on recently?
I’ve liked this for the longest time, but “Bokura ga Ita (We Were There)”. I really love the character Yano Motoharu from “Bokura ga Ita”, and I seriously wonder whether he’d appear in real life. My brain is infected with shoujo manga, so I really want the heart-throbbing scenes in shoujo mangas to happen to me too.
Q4) What did you want to be when you were a child?
I really wanted to say “an idol”, but that was embarrassing, so I said I wanted to become a preschool teacher. But, ever since I was a child, I was dancing in the center for the dances we did in preschool performances, and I often thought that someday I’d become someone who’d be performing on stage.
Q5) What do you normally do on your days off?
I guess I go shopping by myself most of the time. Recently, I’ve started using my days off to go for massages or to visit a beautician, to keep my body in top shape. Most of the time I end up shopping somewhere on the way back.
QC: Cornsplosion, Yujacha
