"I'm So Glad We Came This Far"
The Light Beyond the Hardship, and the Song at the Root of It All, Pushing Her Forward
Liella!, the group born from Love Live! Superstar!!, marked the 5th anniversary of their debut this April. Starting out in 2021 with five first-generation members, Liella! welcomed four second-generation members in 2022 and two third-generation members in 2023, growing into the eleven-member group they are today. The cast side of their activities is thriving too: their numbered concert series has reached its 7th installment this year, they have appeared at festivals and plenty of other music events, and their own variety show, Liella! no Chu-toriera!! / TUTOLiella!! (Nippon TV), has now run for two seasons. So how do they see this thing called Liella! today? Through this relay interview series, Real Sound unpacks what all eleven of them are feeling.
For the sixth installment, we welcome Aoyama Nagisa (voice of Hazuki Ren), first-generation member and one of the members who founded the group. At the end of the interview, the relay segment continues, with a question she wants to ask the next member and something she respects about them. Don't miss it.
"I'm So Glad We Came This Far."
-- The Emotion of That First Wave of Cheers
──This year marks five years since Liella!'s debut. How do you honestly feel right now?
Aoyama Nagisa (below, Aoyama): These five years went by in such a blink that all I can think is, "That was way too fast!" We first-generation members debuted right in the middle of the pandemic, and honestly, we just couldn't do the activities we'd hoped to. Even our very first debut single release event (Hajimari wa Kimi no Sora, held May 6, 2021)... we truly wanted our first performance to be in front of everyone who supports us, but about a week before the day, it was decided there would be no audience. So we started out from somewhere close to, well, despair.
Aoyama: Now, five years later, when I think about how we can hear the voices of the people supporting us directly, it makes me truly happy. It does feel like it flew by, but precisely because we debuted without knowing something as ordinary as "having an audience right in front of you," I think we feel how precious that is all the more now.
──You joined Liella! after passing the open public audition, so compared with people who were already in this industry, were there moments around your debut when your feelings just couldn't keep up?
Aoyama: There really were. At Hajimari wa Kimi no Sora especially, it was my first time in my life standing on a stage wearing in-ear monitors, and then on top of that it became a no-audience show, so I was stuck thinking, "What do I even do here...?" Worries I'd never had before came pouring out all at once: "Where do the senpai look when they perform at times like this?" "How do you make a natural smile in a venue where the people cheering for you aren't in front of you?" I was completely lost.
Aoyama: Still, even in the middle of all that, our 1st live tour (Love Live! Superstar!! Liella! First LoveLive! Tour 〜Starlines〜) got underway: 20 shows across 10 cities, plus additional performances. As I got used to the sound and the lighting, I feel like my mental strength got seriously trained up too. My awareness that "I absolutely cannot let my health break down" grew much stronger as well.
──So then, what left the deepest impression on you across these five years?
Aoyama: There's a lot to choose from, but the single best moment for me was the final show of the 3rd live tour (Love Live! Superstar!! Liella! 3rd LoveLive! Tour ～WE WILL!!～), at Belluna Dome. That was the first time the ban on cheering was lifted, and the first time we got to feel the voices of the people supporting us wash over us. From the very first call and response, everyone cheered so, so loudly, and the moment I heard it, I felt it with everything I had: "I'm so glad we came this far." All the more because we had been through the no-audience days.
──Did your performances change too?
Aoyama: They did! When I rewatch footage from the 1st live tour or the 2nd live (Love Live! Superstar!! Liella! 2nd LoveLive! ～What a Wonderful Dream!!～) now, my smile looks stiff, or maybe I'm just imagining it. That's how different it felt. When everyone delivers their "This is so fun!" feelings with their voices, the reassurance is on a completely different level. The tension unravels in an instant, and I can switch into wanting to enjoy the live myself. The power of everyone's support really is enormous.
The "Outer Walkway" at Yoko-Ari: Where the Distance With Fans Shrank All at Once
*TL note: Yoko-Ari = fan shorthand for Yokohama Arena. The "outer loop" (外周, gaishū) = the walkway looping the arena floor, right alongside the audience.
──Tell us what you keep in mind in your live performances.
Aoyama: In the beginning, what I wanted most was to completely "channel" Ren-chan, demure, refined, the perfect honor student. I focused on expressing her flawlessly, so that people would feel, "Ren-chan is standing on that stage!" But once audiences could cheer again partway through, I came around to thinking, "If I'm enjoying myself too, surely that's what lets people feel that Ren-chan is enjoying herself." Since then, while still holding on to everything that makes Ren-chan who she is, I've tried to enjoy each moment together with the audience.
──Is there anything you do to slip into character, by the way?
Aoyama: I make a point of looking at Ren-chan's smiling face. When I do, my mind switches over on its own: straighten your back, carry yourself a bit more gracefully, slow your walking pace, let your ponytail sway beautifully. So before a show, I always look at pictures of Ren-chan before I head out on stage. Thankfully, the TV anime has dance scenes too, so I check her expressions there and match myself to the mood of each song. And not just before the live, either, even mid-show, whenever I'm not on, I'll go back and look at them again. I go on stage having done everything I can, right up to the very last moment.
──We'd also like to hear about the lives that stayed with you most. Would that be the 3rd live tour you mentioned earlier?
Aoyama: The turning point that changed my mindset and the way I face performing was the 3rd live tour, no question. But recently, the 7th live (Love Live! Superstar!! Liella! 7th LoveLive! ～Fly! MUSIC WORLD♪～) left a deep impression too. When we performed at Yokohama Arena, I experienced the "outer walkway" for the first time. They let me walk it, and it was unbelievably fun! People supporting us were about one meter away, and truly feeling "we're communicating right now" made me so happy.
──Is it different from being on the cart?
Aoyama: Completely different. A cart carries you along whether you want it to or not, so your mindset becomes, "If my eyes happen to meet someone's for a second, that alone will make me happy." On the outer walkway, though, there are comparatively more moments where you stay put and perform in one spot, so you can keep looking in the same direction for a good while. At Yoko-Ari, I watched a whole little moment play out, my eyes met someone's, they lit up, and the friend next to them leaned in close like, "Good for you!" That's a kind of joy a cart can't give you.
Love Live!, Liella!, and Ren:
"Something I Can't Do Without"
──Among Liella!'s songs, which one is special to you?
Aoyama: "Watashi no Symphony." I loved school idols, but I couldn't see any road to actually becoming one. Right when I was wondering, "How does anyone get to that world?", the audition announcement appeared. I'm here now because, in that moment, I braced myself, said "Let's try it," and reached out my hand. The lyrics overlap with exactly where we stood back then, so the whole song just pierces right through me.
Aoyama: And it's a song that doesn't just stay positive, it sits with your anxious feelings too, so I listen to it a lot when I want something to push me forward. I think it's the song that carries the feelings of the five of us at that time more than any other, so among all the versions out there, the five-member version is the one that has stayed with me most.
Watashi no Symphony
──On July 8, the mini-album Hyper Glowing! was released. The title track has a taste unlike anything you've done before.
Aoyama: The first time I heard it, I was honestly going, "Wait, which part is the A-melo, and where's the chorus?" (*TL note: A-melo = the opening verse section in Japanese song-structure terms.) The unusual structure took me by surprise, and I found it fascinating. It's exactly the type of song Liella! hasn't really had until now, so it feels like we've reached new ground. And the lyrics are so positive. Up to now, a lot of our songs were the strong-willed "We're going for the win!" type, but this one has a softness to it: "let's all have fun," "let's make our dreams come true together." I think it's an expression we could only arrive at because we carried the TV anime all the way through its third season.
──We'd also like to ask what the Love Live! Series, Liella!, and Ren have come to mean to you.
Aoyama: They're something I can't do without. What first led me to the Love Live! Series was watching μ's-san perform on the NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen.* And I only happened to catch it by chance, so when I think about how, if I hadn't watched Kouhaku that night, I would never have met the thing that became this precious to me... it truly was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter. It makes me feel that an ordinary, nothing-special day really can end up connected to your future.
*TL note: NHK's big New Year's Eve song festival; μ's appeared in the 2015 edition.)
──And among them, what has Ren herself become to you?
Aoyama: Now that the TV anime has finished its third season, she's settled into this image of a kind, calm, dependable girl, but back when we recorded season 1, she was quite prickly, a girl with real thorns to her. So more than anything, I felt this anxiety of "How is she ever going to become a girl people love from here?" There's a scene in the show where she gets told, "I hate you, Ren-chan," and that frustrated me to no end. With this feeling of "What can I do to save this girl?", I kept talking up Ren-chan's good points during our live MCs, over and over. But as the members increased, new sides of her kept coming into view. These days, she's even got a bit of a hopeless, clumsy side to her.
──Ren does have a surprising number of sides that make you go, "Wait, really?"
Aoyama: Of all eleven, I'd say she's probably the member people have gotten to know from the most different angles. And that's exactly why, from the bottom of my heart, I'm glad the anime kept going through season 3.
──Your burning, passionate feelings for Ren really came through. Now, to finish, let us ask the relay interview question. We have one for you from Suzuhara Nozomi-san (voice of Sakurakoji Kinako): "Honestly, what do you think of potatoes?" (*Suzuhara is Team Potato; Aoyama is Team Sweet Potato.)
Aoyama: Wait, is that even a real question (laughs)? Potatoes... I respect them, and I treat them as the enemy. Fries at the burger place, you name it, the one that's woven into everyday life is almost always the potato. As a sweet potato lover, that stings a little. Sweet potatoes always seem to end up as dessert, so I want them to have far more places to shine.
──You can definitely feel the potential in them.
Aoyama: Sweet potatoes are good for your gut, and they're low in calories and low on the GI (glycemic index) too, so on the health front, they're strong. I honestly don't think they lose to potatoes... wait, why am I talking about this so passionately (laughs)?
──Thank you (laughs). By the way, Suzuhara-san named "how strict you are with yourself" as the point she respects about you.
Aoyama: Oh my, that makes me happy.
──Is it something you're conscious of yourself?
Aoyama: I don't think I'm strict with myself at all. I spend a good amount of time just zoning out (laughs). Though, maybe because I did classical ballet, my posture is good, and I think that makes people read me as the serious type. In elementary school, at the three-way conferences with my parents and teacher, I got told every single year, "You always sit up perfectly straight and listen so seriously in class, but you know it's okay to relax a little?" In reality, I wasn't listening at all... So I suppose that's carried straight through, and even now I just "look strict with myself." Inside, I'm not thinking about anything (laughs).
──Then, what do you respect about Payton Naomi-san (voice of Heanna Sumire), who appears in the next interview?
Aoyama: What I respect is how put-together she is. She's quite a bit younger than me, but she's like the very peak of diligence. I think Pay-chan has her own interview coming up today too, and I ran into her outside earlier. She told me, "I ended up getting here a whole hour early."
──That is early! She really is diligent.
Aoyama: I thought, "That's Pay-chan for you!"... but it turns out today she'd simply mixed up the time (laughs). That's another cute thing about her, she's so diligent that an absent-minded side slips out now and then. Also, she's been in this industry a long time, so her greetings and the way she carries herself are impeccable. Around our debut, I learned so much from Pay-chan.
──And please give us your question for Payton-san.
Aoyama: Pay-chan has made all kinds of things explode in the microwave (laughs), so my image of her is that she's not much of a cook. And it's been that way ever since we debuted, so... I want to ask, "Have you gotten any better yet?" Her performing and singing keep growing and growing, so: "And by the way, how is the cooking going?" (laughs).
Text and interview = Matsumoto Mayuge
Photos = Horiuchi Ayaka
