Incomplete Counterattack (Habu Mizuho x Watanabe Risa BRODY August 2018)

Two members who “experienced” Hirate Yurina’s world and overcame the crisis of “disappearance”

It would be rude if we called everyone “center substitute” since they displayed such high level of performance on the “Anniversary Live”. And among them, there are two members who had prominent presence and experienced “awakening”. These two members, who already reached the new ground, saw a hope from their “incompleteness” that was previously the source of their “insecurity”. And the true quality of Keyakizaka46 is packed there.

Two members who share the same goal “expressing themselves”

- By the way, how was your first impression toward each other?

Habu: “Her face is so small!” (laugh). She’s also quite tall, I felt some similarities between us from the start. When she cut her hair short, I thought “this girl… she’ll be absolutely cute!”. And it turned as I expected (laugh).

- So you already sensed her potential.

Habu: I sensed it from the start (laugh).

Risa: Of course I thought that Habu-chan is very tall. I was already tall since long ago, so I was really in trouble what if I was the tallest girl in Keyaki, however it turned out that everyone is pretty tall, and among them there is Habu-chan who is taller than me, I was relieved (laugh).

- Since both of you have good style that really stand out, Watanabe-san started as exclusive model for “non-no”, and Habu-san for “JJ”.

Habu: Every time I receive opportunity to wear makeup and clothes I don’t normally wear, it feels like “I discover the new myself”. I also met a lot of new people, involved with a wide range of people, it gave a lot of excitement. I did many photoshoots together with Nogizaka46 Higuchi Hina-san, she made the staffs and people around her became cheerful with her smile, I have to learn from her (laugh).

Risa: Receiving opportunity to have hair arrangement that I wouldn’t be able to do it by myself, wearing clothes that hadn’t been on sale yet really made me excited, and whenever I thought the cosmetic used by makeup artist was pretty good, I would go to the shop to check it on the same day. Being able to discover such things made me really happy.

- Then, who is Keyaki fashion leader?

Habu: Kobayashi Yui-chan! I always check the clothes she uploaded on her blog (laugh).

Risa: She wears a wide range of clothes, and because she has a good figure, she looks good in any kind of clothes.

- Watanabe-san also topped “most admired style” ranking on “Keyakitte, Kakenai?”.

Risa: No no no… there are so many members who have good style, it’s not true… (with small voice) but thank you very much…

- No need to say it with such small voice (laugh). By the way, Habu-san topped “best fashion sense” ranking.

Habu: I never thought I would be voted (laugh). I’m always concerned about the clothes I wear everyday, so I’m happy they voted me, I also keep talking about it on my blog, I hope it can reach my fans.

- Even in that sense, both of you are admired by fellow girls.

Risa: As long as I am a model, I want to be someone admired by fellow girls, there are girls who came to the handshake event wearing the same clothes I once wore. It made me really happy, it feels like I can do my best even more.

Habu: Actually, I didn’t think to be that kind of person when I first joined Keyaki. But, I received fan letters that said “I use Habu-chan’s clothes as reference”, I used to copy model outfits before, so I want to be that kind of person too. That’s why I feel that I have to do things only me can do even more.

- So you want to show your uniqueness even more. In the previous interview, you talked about something with nuance like “from now on I have to express myself”, how is that part?

Risa: Habu-chan had changed since she started her own radio (Chokotto Yattemasu!).

Habu: Seriously? (laugh). Receiving opportunity to appear on radio every week makes me become more confident at talking. At first I always thought “It’s not yet, it’s not yet…”, but little by little I can think what I want to say next, I can find parts that need to be improved, I love talking now. Doing radio makes me expressing myself much easier, it’s really big for me.

Risa: Habu-chan really pays attention to people around her, she’s thoughtful, she is girl with  kind heart. But lately, whenever I saw her talking about many things on radio or “Keyakitte, Kakenai?”, (clapping her hands) I thought she’s really amazing (laugh), it made me want to do my best even more.

- Watanabe-san also have a thought “I want to express myself”, right?

Risa: That’s right. I think that I have to express myself, but even on “Keyakitte, Kakenai?”, I haven’t showed my true self yet , there is also that kind of thought, it’s quite difficult conveying my personality, so there are people who came to the handshake event thinking that I am “salt-type” person (laugh).

- So there are fans who came with preparedness to receive cold response (laugh).

Risa: However, my true self often came out during handshake event, many people said “so you’re not salt” (laugh). From now on, I want to show another side of me even more, just like during handshake event. I like fooling around, I’m friendly, I want people to know me better (laugh).

Habu: I also thought Risa-chan was cool at first, but when I found out that she laughs a lot and fools around with Ozeki at dressing room, I think that I get to know her better. The more I know and get involved with her, the more her charms come out. She also can do proper greeting, she can appear on any place without being embarrassed (laugh).

- Showing the “whole group” is not only important thing when it comes to your performance, but also important element of the group structure. That’s why I wonder if there is any hesitation to express your personality because if you show the individuality, it will break the harmony.

Risa: That’s right. I have that kind of feeling.

Habu: However, I think now it’s the time we can’t be like that anymore.

- Does it mean you feel there is a crisis?

Habu: It’s like... if I thought “There is nothing I can do right now (to appeal myself)!”, I would be worried about my future. Since time flies really fast, when I realized “eh, I was already this old!?”.

- Did you ever think “It’s gonna be alright since I’m member of Keyakizaka46”?

Risa: I always feel scared. I never felt reassured, not even once.

Knowing the true meaning when stood as center

- On the “2nd Year Anniversary Live”, Sugai-san also said “I won’t let Keyakizaka46 over” on the MC session, it means she also shared the same sense of crisis.

Risa: That’s right. Since Hirate & Shida didn’t participate on the 2nd Anniversary Live, I really wanted to avoid the performance we showed on the last year national tour on Nagoya. If we didn’t show solid performance on this live, I thought fans would be disappointed, honestly I thought we would be abandoned.

- You thought that far?

Risa: That’s why, I think everyone risked everything on this live. I thought there are a lot of people knew Keyaki from Hirate’s performance, but in the situation where she was absent, it’s natural if I felt anxious whether I could show something that can be understood. However, instead of being nervous, the feeling of “I have to do this!” was bigger, everyone was really fired up, and faced it as one.

- Okay, why did this time you can do something you couldn’t even do on last year national tour?

Habu: While we were feeling full of anxiety, Hiragana Keyaki-chan could accomplish both national tour and Budokan concert. Appearing on Budokan is my dream since long time ago, to be honest I’m really frustrated I couldn’t appear on Budokan. On the “Keyakitte, Kakenai?”, I broke out in cold sweat the moment Tsuchida-san pointed out “Hiragana is more lively, they react better”... (laugh). It made me feel impatient. That’s why, we had to make this live success by any means. If we failed to do so, fans would think “As expected, Hiragana is more capable”. That’s why we had to make it success, we had to properly deliver thing called Kanji Keyaki.

Risa: When Hiragana-chan accomplished so many things, Kanji Keyaki was on the situation when we felt insecure, we really felt the atmosphere that “Hiragana is more capable”, in such situation our impatience was growing stronger. I really thought that it was a bad situation, so in this 2nd anniversary live, we wanted to present Kanji Keyaki, we wanted to show that even us can do it.

- Sugai-san also said that she performed with feeling “We’re different from previous Kanji Keyaki!”.

Risa: Ah, Yuuka also thought that way (laugh). But, if we didn’t do it with that kind of feeling, I thought we would disappear.

Habu: We entrusted it to Yuuka’s leadership before, but in this 2nd anniversary live, I think everyone shared the same direction.

- Is the main factor of that unity caused by “sense of crisis” after all?

Risa: That’s right. Sense of crisis, impatience, we had various kind of feelings toward Hiragana-chan... I think those were the main factor.

- That’s why, the meaning of the existence of two groups Kanji Keyaki and Hiragana Keyaki is to bring you to the good direction. Hiragana Keyaki wanted to catch up Kanji Keyaki, and Kanji Keyaki was in a hurry because of Hiragana Keyaki’s speed, in the end it will boost your sense of unity. Okay, how do you think about people’s reaction toward 2nd anniversary live?

Habu: We didn’t perform with the usual “Hirate is center” system, everyone had their own center role and unit, it was a live where everyone supported each other, and being able to accomplish it made us feel confident, both as individual and group. In that sense, it was a live where everyone could grow. I think that the practice time was quite influential as well. If we didn’t properly do something we had to do, if we didn’t make any effort, we wouldn’t have any confidence, but it turned out we were able to do our best on the rehearsal, I thought that kind of accumulation is important. Even when I do foot massage, if I keep forgetting to do it, my feet will get swollen, so I have to do proper care of my feet, so it won’t be a problem anytime people see my feet, something like that, it’s an analogy though (laugh).

- Habu-san was the center of “Eccentric”, right?

Habu: I’m happy because it’s my favorite song. Staff contacted me in the middle of night, I was half asleep when received the call, when I looked back at the call history in the morning, “Ah, it was not a dream” (laugh). But, since it was really unbelievable thing, honestly I also felt anxious. It’s simply a pressure, I wondered how people around me would think about me becoming center.

- Did you think that you might be compared with Hirate-san?

Habu: That’s right. I watched Hirate-chan’s performance video, but “I can’t copy this…”, so I thought that I didn’t have to do the same thing. That’s why I really thought that I had to perform “Eccentric” in my own way. And when I could accomplish performing as center in one full song, it really gave me confidence.

- Watanabe-san was the center of “Hiraishin”, right?

Risa: When I was notified about it, I was like “Uwaaah…” It was a song that is really identical to Hirate, it also has deep lyrics. That’s why I thought “It looks troublesome…” (laugh). But, it was not a situation which I could say I can’t do it, so I had no choice but to do it with all my strength.

- You entered the world of this song quite deep.

Risa: I entered this song’s world with feeling of loneliness. Instead of dancing the choreography in accordance with the story, it’s kind of song that tells the story through the song itself, I think it became the representation of Hirate. So it’s difficult to make it “my own song”. I don’t know how to make “strong but weak” expression in this song. That’s why I didn’t think to do the same thing as Hirate did. During the practice, I didn’t watch and listen to her performance at all, I only poured my feelings at that time into this song.

Habu: There is choreography which pushing Risa in the mid of the song, right?

Risa: Instead of feeling “everyone is my enemy” in that choreography, I felt that there is nobody but me even though everyone is there. I think it might be something Hirate feels as center, though it might be different from what she truly feels, being able to experience that feeling made me think… “Ah, this is how Hirate feels as center”.

Keyakizaka46 at that day was not “complete”

- I thought 2nd anniversary live changed fans and people’s opinion, I feel that a lot of experiences and feelings experienced by the members themselves will connect to your next work. That’s why I’m really looking forward to Keyaki’s activity this summer.

Risa: I’m looking forward but…

Habu: I don’t really sure (laugh).

Risa: Even us can’t predict it (laugh).

- How do you think about that insecurity feeling? Of course it must be element of your uneasiness, but at the same time I think it’s also part of your extraordinary charm.

Risa: I started to think that it’s one of our characteristics. Before, I only thought that everything must be done perfectly, that’s why I felt anxious when we couldn’t perform with full member. But for now, if many people will think “How will it become?” when we’re not complete, I think it’s probably a good thing. It might be good if such insecurity feeling will be connected to the unexpected part of us. Of course I think delivering good and stable thing is still the right thing to do, but a group that can’t be like that will be considered as “eccentric” (laugh). It might be a good thing.

- When it comes to last year summer, it would be considered as an excuse, but since you displayed such a wonderful performance on 2nd anniversary live, I think that kind of thought is probably not wrong.

Habu: It’s probably a good thing if it can make people look forward, “How will it become tomorrow?” (laugh).

Risa: I want to make it as disposable weapon. If we can display such an impact on this live, it will be cool, right? And because we felt the sense of crisis, we had a feeling “Just look at this!”.

- There is a beauty in that incompleteness, and your strength will be much stronger once you recovered.

Habu: There are people who think “If they aren’t complete, they are nothing for sure”.

Risa: I want to show them we’re capable. However, since Takahiro-sensei made choreographies for 21 members, it will be absolutely beautiful if we can perform with 21 members. That’s why 2nd anniversary live is something incomplete, “Keyaki with 21 members” is absolutely precious.

Habu: There are girls who told me that they want to become like Keyaki, I don’t want to break their dream. I want people to always think that Keyaki is a cool group.

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Raw: toomuchidea
Translation: hunter934
QC: toomuchidea