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Liella! 6th Love Live! Tour ~Let's be ONE~ - Special Cross Talk ~Date Sayuri x Misaki Nako x Yuina~

An interview with the childhood friends now in their third year, and Margarete, burning with her rivalry against Liella!! Learn all about the scenes that the cast enjoyed the most in Season 3 of the anime!

Liella! is finally 11! Don’t miss the costumes of the opening theme and the motifs hidden within!

What were your thoughts about Season 3 when it first started airing?

Date: All of us watched Episode 1 together. I remember the two third-gen members were all nervous beside me throughout the entire episode (laughs). But it was also my first time seeing the finished product, so I guess all of us were pretty nervous.

Misaki: Yup, yup.

Yuina: Everyone around me could tell how nervous I was because I was fidgeting so much (laughs). I was just so happy to see Margarete-chan singing and dancing as part of Liella! during the opening theme, and seeing just that filled me with happiness. I also got really excited to see her put on expressions I’ve never seen on her before during the ending theme!

Misaki: TomaKanoTe were sitting together when we watched Episode 1, and the other first-gen and second-gen members were beside them. I was also super curious about how the third-gen members would react, but seeing the characters move around on screen made me so happy that I didn’t even have the time to do that. Even though we were the ones who voiced them, watching the anime makes me feel like they really are living in the present. Every expression and movement of theirs made me emotional, and the episode went by in the blink of an eye.

Tell us more about what you thought about the opening theme.

Misaki: I really like the scene where Ren-chan and Mei-chan dance together!

Yuina: That part where it looks like they’re playing the piano, right? Their fingertips look so delicate!

Date: I really like Kanon’s pose where she holds up her pinky, as if she’s making a promise. Also, at the very end of the song, she seems to grab hold of something before clenching her fist. That’s definitely the part that caught my attention. We actually started learning the song’s choreography before we got the chance to watch it animated. That part was nothing out of the ordinary at first. It was just a pose where I’m clenching my fist. But, when I finally got to watch it, Kanon’s pose was just so powerful! She looked so cool, as if she was grabbing hold of something that she’d never let go of, and I decided I had to do the same. That final pose is amazing! It’s as if that single pose conveys every moment she’d lived through up until that point.

Misaki: This goes for everyone else too, of course, but my favorite has to be Kanon-chan’s upper lip—

Date, Yuina: Upper lip?

Misaki: It’s really, really cute! I’m sure it’s because of the level of detail in their expressions, but when the camera is zoomed in and you see her pursing her lips? That’s super cute! Also, no matter if we’re seeing their faces from the side or at an angle, they all look so lifelike, and that’s also really impressive!

Date: A huge fan of upper lips (laughs).

Yuina: Shiki-chan’s lower lip is really nice too.

Misaki: (Flipping through stills of the opening animation) You’re right… Lips are amazing (laughs).

Yuina: The feather motif incorporated into the costume reminds me of Butterfly Wing. During the chorus, you can see everyone on screen with some butterflies. Even though Margarete-chan was a rival in Season 2, and even though she calls herself “the enemy”, I really hoped that everyone would think Liella! is better with her after the group finally became one. That’s why I was really glad to see some scenes with the entire group together because that meant that they’d accepted her as one of their own. Her singing the “To always be one” line right at the start together with Kanon-chan and Kinako-chan made me so emotional!

Date, Misaki: That’s great! (claps)

The upperclassmen doting on the third-gen members? An ending theme that brings one back to the days of their youth

How about the ending theme?

Yuina: I love it! Especially the part where Chii-chan and Kanon-chan are smiling together in the classroom.

Misaki: The way Chii-chan was smiling made her look so grown-up! When she first looked at the camera with that slightly mischievous smile of hers, I was sure that she was smiling at me.

Date: I’m sure that goes for everyone watching (laughs).

Yuina: I also really like the part where each of them strikes a pose one by one. Even though it lasted for just an instant, you can still see just how detailed each of their poses was if you play the ending theme frame by frame. I also really like how their poses reflect their personalities!

Misaki: I was really impressed by how lifelike their hair looked. You can tell just how much effort was put into every frame with their hair spread out.

Yuina: The part at the end where everyone’s stretching out their hands to the sky is really nice too. I wonder which hands were whose?

Date: There’s someone making a circle. That has to be Chii-chan.

Misaki: Maybe that’s not her! You never know, but the one with the galaxy pose might actually be Keke-chan!

Yuina: You can really feel just how young all of them are!

Misaki: Makes you think that they did a photoshoot together with a tripod. Don’t you want to see the scene that comes right after, where all of them are looking through the footage they got?

Date: I’d love to see a “making of” video! I actually really like the atmosphere of the school building after class is dismissed. You get to mess around without bothering anyone else because everyone’s gone home, and being able to see the school without anyone else there is something only its students get to do, right? That’s why watching the ending makes me feel like I’ve become one of Yuigaoka’s students. I’ve definitely imagined what the girls are like when they’re performing live, as well as how cool and cute they might be on stage, but getting to see them mess around while just living their lives… Of course you’d fall in love with them!

A side to Margarete, never-before-seen? Also, what does Chisato think of TomaKanoTe?

Tell us about some scenes in Season 3 that left a particularly deep impression on you.

Date: The scene in the second half of Episode 1, where Margarete-chan was giving out flyers for the new school idol club and nobody gave her a second glance. Recording that scene put me on the brink of tears. Even though she’s usually so strong, she couldn’t find a single person who’d join her. I feel like that was the first time we saw Margarete-chan’s weak side, or rather, the first time we saw her stumble because she was all alone. It hit me so hard because we’ve only seen her cool side up until that point, where she’s shining on stage precisely because she’s the only one performing. I’m sure when Kanon saw the same scene, she couldn’t possibly have stopped herself from helping her.

Yuina: That scene really shows her bravery, doesn’t it? After Season 2 of the anime ended, I spent a lot of time with Liella!, and Margarete-chan had already interacted with everyone else during radio shows and the such, so I’ve been voicing Margarete-chan from a timeline where she’s already part of the group. That’s why I wondered how everyone would take the first episode, but Episode 1 was full of her unique personality traits, and that made me breathe a sigh of relief! Even by just watching the first episode, you could already tell that she doesn’t actually hate Liella!, but just wants to beat Liella! because of how dedicated she is to singing. She continued singing with her head held high, without shedding a tear, even though she was on stage all alone and with few people paying attention to her. Seeing that made me hope that one day, everyone would come to accept that strength of hers.

Misaki: The scene where she argues with Ren-chan is really good too.

Yuina: She’s always been direct, and it’s precisely because she wants to face everyone head-on that she never minces her words. What she said then might have hurt the feelings of some of the Liella! members, but I believe that the clash strengthened their future bonds.

Misaki: Chii-chan is just such an amazing girl. We got to reunite with the members for the first time in a while when Season 3 started airing, but Chii-chan is still the dependable club president that I know and love! On the other hand, I think you can really see how much she’s grown from the fact that she can now express what she truly felt to Kanon-chan.

Yuina: Their relationship isn’t one that you’d find between just anyone, so I’m actually a little envious.

Misaki: But you chose Margarete-chan instead… Right, Kanon-chan?

Date: Y-Yeah (sweats).

Yuina: (Laughs). Another thing to look out for would be seeing Tomari-chan animated for the first time. Saku had been saying “I can’t wait to see her animated!” for the longest time, so I was also really happy to see that finally happen.

Date: And you get to see her perform live right in Episode 2.

Yuina: Speaking of Episode 2, I’ve always been curious about Margarete-chan’s practice attire… It’s pretty much an exact copy of Kanon-chan’s. It’s like she’s her little sister or something.

Date: Because she’s been performing alone all this time, I guess she wasn’t quite sure what she should be wearing for practice. Maybe she decided to copy Kanon because she had no idea how to fit in with everyone else.

Misaki: You’re living under the same roof too, right?!

Date: Th-That’s… (sweats)

Yuina: She didn’t know! Kanon-chan didn’t know! (sweats). Oh yeah, what did you think of TomaKanoTe?!

Misaki: Let me give my humble opinion on behalf of Chii-chan then. As usual, Chii-chan was silently watching over the trio (laughs). Somehow, that scene reminded me of when KeKa first performed. But, unlike back then when she looked at the performance with envy, the fact that she was now looking on with a look of composure really struck me. Oh, and both TomaKanoTe’s costumes and their performance were amazing! I really liked how they had gemstones in the other members’ colors on their foreheads. It’s a song that really speaks to your heart, so even the wistful expressions they have on their faces feel very precious. I watched the performance feeling nothing but kindness in my heart, just like Chii-chan did.

Date, Yuina: That’s great! (claps)

Date: I’m sure Kanon was overjoyed to hear Margarete-chan say that she had fun singing for the first time in a long while. Kanon loves singing too, but it has also been a traumatic experience for her in the past. I’m sure hearing Margarete-chan say that, who’s in a similar position, made her so happy that it almost drove her to tears.

Before we end today’s interview, let’s hear a few words about your upcoming live tour!

Date: I’m excited because it’s been a while since we’ve put on a performance based on the anime. This time, we’re going to be performing after seeing the conclusion of the girls’ stories, so I think I’ll be able to resonate even more with Kanon’s emotions. We’ll be performing on stage as one chapter of their stories comes to a close, so I hope to perform with nothing but gratitude in my heart for the girls who changed our lives. Thank you so much for your continued support as well!

Yuina: Thank you very much for your continued support! During the 3rd Live Tour, Margarete-chan had this aura of mystery about her, and my imagination was the only thing I could rely on to try and figure out what she was like. But, now that I have the model answer in front of me, I can’t wait to dig even deeper into what kind of person she is! I’ll be sure to never forget her unwavering strength, and try my best to put on the kinds of expressions she’d naturally put on while performing as the two of us work together. Do look forward to it!

Misaki: I can’t wait to enjoy this live tour together with everyone while telling the story of the anime. Even though we don’t get to see the characters singing and dancing to them, I believe that all the songs, including the coupling songs to the anime inserts, tell a complete story, so I hope you enjoy every aspect of our performance. I’m sure time will just fly by once the tour starts, so I’ll be sure to enjoy every single moment, even those when I’m feeling a little uneasy, and head towards the finish line with everyone by my side. Do rewatch the anime and listen to the songs before coming!

Buy live streaming tickets for the Aichi leg of Liella!'s 6th Love Live! Tour ~Let's be ONE~, happening on March 22 and 23 at PIA or eplus! You'll be able to watch the performance live, and have access to an archive for a week! Refer to the official site for more details.

Buy the pamphlet featuring this interview and cast photos here (shipping within Japan only, or use a proxy forwarder like Tenso, TensoJapan, or Blackship, etc.)

Translator: xIceArcher

Quality Check: PokéFanOne, @yujachachacha

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