Interview with the 3rd Gen Members of S/mileage

-- Congratulations on your joinings in S/mileage! Tell me straight how you feel now.

Murota: I just can't wait for what I'm gonna experience from now on. As we're gonna start our activities from January next year, I look forward to H!P concerts of the New Year and start S/mileage of nine including these three. I can't stop feeling excited like wondering "What job will we get?" or "When will the rehearsal start?".


-- Do you talk about your future dreams among the three of you?

Sasaki: On the other day we stayed overnight together at Aikawa-chan's house to get to know each other well, and we decided to quit using honorifics among the 3rd Gen. But Aikawa-chan hasn't yet quit using them to us.

-- Because Aikawa-san has shorter career in Kenshuusei than Sasaki-san has, even though you're older than her. What do you call the other two usually?

Aikawa: I call them "Murota-san" and "Sasaki-san". The night we stayed at my house I asked them to teach me about the rules in Kenshuusei, since I was too fresh in Kenshuusei to know about its tradition well.

Murota: And we also created some mottoes just among us, such as "Introduce yourselves of your own accord since greetings are fundamental" and "Carry on things we did in Kenshuusei" and something.

Sasaki: And "Never get conceited" too.

Murota: That's right. That night the three of us took a pledge never to forget these basic things.

-- I see. Aikawa-san, having a short career, needs to comprehend the rules in Kenshuusei all over again.

Aikawa: Yes, I do.

Sasaki: And then we just had been cooking sweets and eating them almost all the day though.

-- I'd like to ask you about the moment you heard of your joining. It was a surprise announcement during a fake shooting for the four-character-idioms lesson segment in Hello! Project Station. How was it?

Murota: I was totally tricked. Since we thought we're gonna appear in that segment for real, we had been thinking over idioms in dead earnest.

-- It was impressive that Murota-san asked "Am I the only one?" that calmly and firmly.

Murota: At that moment I got pleased and wondered at the same time, like "Eh? Am I the only one? The other two have been picked up really for the four-character-idioms-lesson segment?"

-- Your mind was still being occupied with four-character-idioms. (laughing)

Murota: I was just worring that being the only new member having no contemporaries would be lonely and quite tough to catch up with the senpais.

-- Aikawa-san, I've heard that you had been adoring S/mileage and longing to join it. Is it right?

Aikawa: Yes, it is. Although I had been adoring Morning Musume '14-san as well, I'd definitely been longing to join in S/mileage-san ever since I heard they're gonna add new members. But I hadn't got any call for quite a long while and I didn't know what I could do to be qualified to join since it was not audition this time.

-- Hadn't kenshuuseis got any information about it?

Murota: We had had only rumours. We had been talking about it ever since then though.

Sasaki: We'd been saying all the time "Who will it be? Who will it be?".

Murota: Honestly, ever since Juice=Juice made its debut, we'd get excited every time some kenshuusei got a call to the office, like "Oh, could it be?". Whenever some kenshuuseis got called together, we'd get into a fuss like "OMG! They might have been picked up for a new group!".

-- It must be quite natural, as all the kenshuusei compete with each other for debut.

Murota: But nothing had happened for a long time. And it was when we're getting tired of expecting this and that, the audition for the 12th Gen of Morning Musume '14 and the addition to S/mileage were announced. In fact we also have no source other than the official website to get informations about them from, so we got suspicious like saying "Has anyone got the notification already? Sasaki, Haven't you?" or something. It was just like that.

-- This time it was not by audition to select additional members for S/milegae. How were you picked up?

Aikawa: Probably they've decided by watching us in usual activities?

Sasaki: I suppose they took into account how we'd been behaving usually and acting in rehearsals and something.

Murota: And how we'd been performeing at concerts too. Possibly each concert was audition.

-- Murota-san and Sasaki-san both have won prizes in the last Performing Skill Trial. What do you think has made you qualified, Aikawa-san?

(HPW note: Murota won the Jury's Special Prize for outstanding character and Sasaki won the Jury's Special Prize for dance performance at the Performing Skill Trial 2014.)

Aikawa: I have no idea, although I've been thinking about it ever since then.

Murota: We haven't heard Aikawa-chan singing yet, have we?

Sasaki: I have. I've heard her singing in a lesson.

Aikawa: (making a hush gesture)

-- How was it?

Sasaki: Sorry to be direct, but it was neither excellent nor so poor. It was just mediocre.

Murota: How dare you say such a thing! She's just started. You can't judge her now. (laughing)

-- What impressions did you have about S/mileage when you're kenshuuseis?

Aikawa: I thought they're cool, cute and the perfect group in every aspect. And I've come to like them more and more since Nakanishi-san kindly talked to me at a H!P concert and I happened to go home together with Wada-san. They're so kind and really flawless group.

-- How do you want to change S/mileage with your enrollment? Just keeping up with senpais will be not good enough for taking the three of you into the group, I think.

Murota: After all, I wanna change our fan's mind. I'd be glad if I could make them wanna go to our concerts more often.

Sasaki: I wanna change S/mileage into more energetic group! I wanna make it a group dancing more intensely and moving their heads harder.

Aikawa: Even though I'm the least known one among the three, I want to make not only myself but also each and every member and the whole group widely known. I wanna make S/mileage into the group that everybody knows.

-- I've heard color themes for you haven't yet decided. So, tell me straight what color do you wish for?

Murota: I wish for blue!

-- Wada-san keeps blue for now. Do you mean you want her to give it to you?

Murota: No, not really. I'm just thinking it would be interesting to shuffle all the members' color themes and it'd be great if I got blue. If the original and the 2nd Gen members don't change their color themes … still I'd like to have blue! (laughing)

Sasaki: I'd like to have orange.

-- Is it because you've been adoring Kudo Haruka-san of Morning Musume '14?

Sasaki: It's one of the reasons indeed, and it's also because I want to represent an energetic aspect of S/mileage. Orange represents the sun, glittering and full of energy. That's why I wish for orange.

Aikawa: I wish I would have yellow. But you know, Katsuta-san keeps yellow now. And I know pink is available for now though…

-- Pink and red are regarded as the colors for ace members of idol groups.

Aikawa: That's exactly why I hesitate to take pink. I'm interested in trying the colors which are new to me, but I can't consider myself an ace member. I've been troubled about it.

-- When you're in Kenshuusei, your nickname was "Aiai". Do you want the fans to keep calling it?

Aikawa: I've rarely called by that nickname actually. And I think I could rather respond easier to "Maho-chan".

Sasaki: Aiai~!

Aikawa: Haven't you heard what I said? (laughing)

(HPW note: This is only a part of the latest issue of ENTAME, and you can read whole the article about S/mileage and one about C-ute as well on it.)

ENTAME 2014 December Issue