Change of Heart (Oda Nana, ExTaishu June 2018)

Group’s No 1 Popular Woman

Oda Nana that fascinates not only fans, but also members. That girl has recently changed. What is the reason of that change? And how did she see the current situation and the future of Keyakizaka46?

Why did Oda started to hang out with members?

Interviewer: Thank you for writing that you “must buy” the April edition in your blog, even though Oda herself is not featured in it…

Oda: It’s okay (laughs). It’s because Yuipon (Kobayashi Yui) was on the cover.

Interviewer: What I want to ask this time, is that in the inside, Oda has changed quite a lot this year.

Oda: That’s true (laughs).

Interviewer: Until then, even if invited by members it’s not easy to get you to hang out together, wasn’t it?

Oda: That’s right. I’ll be troublesome to them, and when I go they’ll just think that I’m boring.

Interviewer: Although you talked with everyone in the dressing room?

Oda: It’s fun to be open with everyone, but when I hang out with somebody else I thought that I’m just giving them trouble.

Interviewer: Don’t you think that refusing all the invitations is a bad thing to do?

Oda: Ah~ I had declined all of them, so I thought “That’s not good”. But I think that saying it is better than going and regretting it (laughs).

Interviewer: So that’s why you go straight home after work.

Oda: Yes, definitely (laughs). But there are also times when I stopped by a café and read a book alone.

Interviewer: That it self sounds cool (laughs). But it seems that that stance has recently changed. What triggered it?

Oda: I wonder what? I, who think too much, has thought that this is becoming a good relationship. I also become able to act spoiled... I think that I began to think that I want to spend more time with everyone.

Interviewer: Did you worry about people thinking that you are boring?

Oda: I think I’ll be okay because everyone in Keyakizaka has already know me. When I first went out with (Koike) Minami, there is no awkward air between us so I thought “Well then, let’s have fun” (laughs).

Interviewer: Are you the kind of person who took time to become close to people even before you entered Keyakizaka?

Oda: Ah~ That’s right. I think there’s a big hurdle to pass until I think that “our distance has shrunk”. Because I’m shy and bad at communicating, I think I only had 2 or 3 people I was close with back in high school. I did not start a conversation, I slept on my desk during break time, or reading a book. In Keyakizaka too, if members didn’t speak to me, I would keep quiet.

Interviewer: Oda-san who are now able to go and hang out with Ozeki (Rika) and (Watanabe) Risa wrote in your blog that “I feel like I won’t ever be able to hang out with Yuipon”, to which Kobayashi-san reacted with her blog title.

Oda: I was excited that it was like “Ask me out!” (laughs). I also reacted with my blog title, and immediately contacted Yuipon. There was also the anxiety that she might turn me down, it made me really happy that she quickly replied with an “Okay” (earnestly speaking).

Interviewer: It seems like you went from café to café with Kobayashi-san, but was there a shop that Oda-san wanted to go to?

Oda: Yes, I thought of going where Yuipon wanted to go, but Yuipon said “Oda Nana can decide”. I soaked in the sense of superiority of “So this is what it felt like to go on a date with Yuipon”. We wanted to go to a bubble tea (tapioca) store that was not in our plan so we extended the date.

Interviewer: “Extended” you said (laughs). Did you suppress the feeling of “Wow she’s cute” to Kobayashi-san?

Oda: Yes, I did. Because I thought that if I let it out, I would scare her away.

Interviewer: Recently, Kobayashi-san has also changed, didn’t she? Like, she becomes brighter.

Oda: Yuipon has said that she was a loner back at middle school and high school. At first I wondered if she likes being alone, and that despite being bad at communicating she is in a girl group and I thought that she must be having a hard time. But, during the rehearsal for 2nd Anniversary Live, I saw Yuipon talking with members more than before, and I thought that her smile from that time was “lovely”.

Interviewer: Oda-san likes being alone too, right?

Oda: Thinking about it now I think I have grown stronger (laughs). I started to prefer wanting to be with someone else.

Through the Anniversary Live, we become one

Interviewer: Oda-san sometimes wrote your thoughts on the current situation of the group on your blog, right?

Oda: I usually don’t write much, but that time I have a strong feeling. There are people who think that “They won’t do without Techi (Hirate Yurina)” in a live where Techi will be absent from. There are also people who hoped that “Even without Techi, Keyakizaka are still great”, I also feel different thinking from members. I was worried if it’ll be okay if we go as it is.

In Music Station with Yuichanzu (Imaizumi Yui & Kobayashi Yui) as W-Center, I feel like there was a different awareness between them and us. Yuichanzu has the feeling of “We have to pull this out!”, but there are also members whose anxiety must be even greater. However, through the 2nd Anniversary Live, the feeling that “Even when Techi and (Shida) Manaka are absent, I still want to make a good live” and “I want to continue Keyakizaka” becomes stronger, and gradually all 19 members become one.

When Techi and Manaka returns, I think that we can show an even better performance.

Interviewer: In 2nd Anniversary Live, how was the Kaze ni Fukaretemo centered by Kobayashi-san?

Oda: It was the best. It was a performance comparable to Techi’s, everyone also said that it was a great performance. I think that the song and Yuipon matched.

Interviewer: Personally speaking, Oda-san’s voice in “Kekkyoku jaa ne shika ienai” was good.

Oda: Thank you very much. I like singing, and I was told that I have a powerful voice, so I put effort there. I sang with my heart so that I may be able to reach the heart of the audience.

Interviewer: Was it a satisfying live?

Oda: Until now, there were many people who came to Keyakizaka live to see Techi, and they thought that it’s because of Techi that we are able to make a good live. There must be people who think “There’s no meaning in a live without Techi”.

But, by overcoming the live this time, I think that each member’s consciousness that “We have to work hard” in a situation without Techi has become stronger. However, rather than “being reliant on Techi”, there’s also a part of us that worked hard because we want to be as outstanding as she is. That’s why there is a sense of confusion in her absence.

Interviewer: I see. Two and a half years have passed since Keyakizaka  started, and the real unity was born.

Oda: Back in our first year I also thought that “Keyakizaka is amazing”, but looking back to that time I began to feel “Ah, we are still green that time”. I think that the present time is the best, I have the most fun when I’m with everyone.

Interviewer: Oda-san is relied on by members, but recently in “Keyaki tte Kakenai?” you are being featured as an ikemen, right?

Oda: I’m really grateful for the feature, it’s making me blush (laughs). It really feels like “No way~”.

Interviewer: It seems like members are caught by your heart that is full of kindness (laughs).

Oda: Rather than my kindness it’s more like what Tsuchida-san said, it seems like I’m lacking a screw compared to other people. Like, maybe I have no emotion (laughs).

Interviewer: There is no such thing like that (laughs)

Oda: But, there is no mistake in what members like. I wonder if it is so.

Interviewer: And at the last, in the song with Oda-san as a theme, it ended with everyone crying.

Oda: We did, but I was only crying because I got carried away by Manaka. However in the lyric of “Crying alone in the bathtub”, I said “What the heck…” and got emotional.

Interviewer: But the truth is, did you really cry in the shadows?

Oda: Sometimes such things happened. But, I think that there is a lot of members who cried alone.

Interviewer: Whether you are performing a live, or in a show, or at private times, it seems that your bonds with members are deepening.

Oda: Yes. I’m very happy right now.

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Raw: garakuta

Translation: toomuchidea

QC: garakuta, hunter934kun