BLT VG Shukashuu

No matter if it’s a backwards somersault or anything else, if You-chan did it, so will I!

The girl whose hobby is weight training, whose talent is high diving, even being able to do a 3.5-round somersault, who is very active and has unparalleled physical flexibility; her name is Watanabe You-chan. When I first saw the member information, my impression was, “Ah, what an active girl”. I myself had also started learning to dance ever since 4th grade, and after I started junior high, I joined the Badminton club; we were both active people, so I resonated with her a lot. Even though I hadn’t reached You-chan’s level (laughs). She had the dream of wanting to become the captain of a ship, while also participating as a school idol, and I felt that the You-chan who was able to carry on with these two goals in her mind is really awesome.

Love Live! Sunshine!! is my debut work, and also turned out to become a major goal for me. Add in the fact that I used to dance before this, as well as wanting to try singing professionally. So when I was at my part-time workplace and received a call saying that I had succeeded in the audition, I burst into tears. After that, the me who had no prior experience took part in the TV Anime after-recording, and it was my first time doing that kind of work, so it was the most difficult part for me. I didn’t just have to maintain my vocal role, but also had to sync it with the animation, which was my first time facing this problem. “This is something that a clumsy person surely wouldn’t be able to do well, am I one of them?” I thought to myself many times (laughs). Even though I had done the drama CDs before this after-recording, but because I only had to read off a script without any animation for those, I had more freedom. So I was not used to having to sync up with the animation, and rushed as soon as it started. I am mostly used to it now, but there are still a lot of times that I find it difficult.

Other than that, “to be like You-chan” is also something that I tried to do while being unsure repeatedly of what to do. Anyway, in addition to the energetic and bright image, suddenly saluting when responding to someone else, or even using the sailing term “Yousoro!” to mean phrases such as “Understood” or “No questions”, these all allow people to feel her “dedication to becoming a captain”. And so, after I thought over all the sides of You-chan and understood them all, I also performed all those body actions during the after-recording, and performed it all with lots of excitement; whenever You-chan saluted, I would also salute while recording. As long as I could get closer to the You-chan that I had in my mind, it was good, and it helped me to try harder. Now, if there was a scene where You-chan was weight training alone, what should I do… I’m worrying about that right now (laughs).

Until now, I’ve already had a lot of chances to take part in events as a member of Aqours, but I have never let the first event with all 9 of us in early January this year out of my mind. Even with the IEMs, we were able to hear all of the audience’s cheers clearly. The moment I realized it, I got goosebumps; the memories of that are really this clear. Before this, I had also danced in front of people, but I have never received the calls from the audience like this. And I also understood the difficulties of singing and dancing together as a group. If it had been just dancing, I would’ve been able to use the cumulated 9 years of experience dancing, but I also had to think about singing as well; if I had sung the wrong lyrics, then how? If I had done the wrong move, then how? I had to think about all of this while performing. But on stage I had to maintain a smile always, which took 120% of my energy; this is truly what being a school idol is about. So I just didn’t think about all these, and just focused on the circumstances in front of me, so I could enjoy the performance from the bottom of my heart.

There are a lot more events in the future, but the problem right now isn’t about Saitou Shuka’s identity, but about Watanabe You’s identity on stage. I hope that all of me can change to become more like Watanabe You, so the audience sees me not as Saitou Shuka, but as Watanabe You, which would be the best situation. Additionally, because the dance moves are the same as the PV’s, if You-chan’s acrobatic skills were added into the dance moves, I wonder how I should proceed. Or should I do my best to learn acrobatics? I have already decided to face any challenges like these, no matter if it’s a backwards somersault or anything else, if You-chan did it, so will I! But, please give me three months to practice (laughs).

Chinese Source:
图源：微博@抖M_gyoreen_咻咔蜜柑
翻译：微博@水坂沼
原地址：http://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404005118654714972