#qlap 201702

[shorilicious]

QLAP! interview with Sato Shori on “HaruChika” (this interview took place in December 2016) Today is Shori-kun’s first QLAP solo interview with a front cover! Thank you for being with us.

No, I should be the one to say thank you. I’m indebted to QLAP-san starting from my debut times. A long time ago while being interviewed I used to say “Clap!” while clapping my hands on each side of my face like this (he demonstrated it), and was playing and joking around (laughing).

You were always saying the name of the magazine with such enthusiasm while having fun with the members (laughing).

Yup (laughing). I wish I could do that kind of pose for the cover!?

Of course, please do so in the future!

I’ll do my best!! (laughing)

Thank you (laughing). Your film “HaruChika” will finally be in cinemas in the beginning of March. It’s about a brass band set in school, Shori-kun will play a timid boy named Haruta who plays the horn. What is your impression of this role?

Haruta and me are complete opposites to each other. I think Haruta’s main features are his wimpy and stubborn sides that aren’t similar to me at all. But rather than building up to become more similar to my role, I think... I tried to be him as naturally as I could.

The director’s objective was to make many scenes spontaneously and such.

Yup. That’s why I was asked to play this role very naturally. I cannot do that if I don’t feel his presence. For example, in a scene where the brass band members had different opinions and were discussing things, Haruta who usually doesn’t show much emotion suddenly raises his voice. I was wondering if a quiet person would suddenly burst out something instead of staying quiet during an important conflict. That’s why I suggested that even though it wasn’t the case in the beginning.

So it was Shori-kun’s idea. Starting the scenes with all the staff members, it seems like there are many fresh youthful elements for this work.

I’ve also seen the completed work and the casual scenes have a really pure vibe to them. Scenes where we’re just walking, just polishing our instruments, they also have their special youthful charm.

Did you have such a youth as well?

I wanted to! But I did not have a casual youth (laughing).

Well then (laughing), what about the admirable but casual mune-kyun scenes?

Like Haruta and Chika (Hashimoto Kanna), I also went together with my childhood friends to school by bus. I think it’s cute how they share earphones too. It would be really nice if I could have small things like that in my everyday life.

How was the atmosphere at film set since almost the whole cast is from the same generation?

It really felt like we were doing a club activity. Everyone got along and after the last scene was finished, everyone was crying. I often had deep conversations with the male cast during shootings as well, for example with (Hiraoka) Takuma and (Shimizu) Hiroya.

Is there anything specific you can say about them?

They are really amazing. They use up their whole energy to think about the shooting and they even think about all the expressions they can make while acting. Working with actors is amazing after all. I also like acting but because I don’t want to play a character half-heartedly, I think I still have to work hard.

That was quite motivating.

For future acting work, I don’t want to just “act out” a character, I want to become an actor who can do it naturally as much as possible. Rather than my acting being called “skilful”, it’s cool if it could be called “natural”.

By the way, your feelings and approaches to that kind of work, is it the same as standing on stage for “Johnny’s All Stars Island”?

I think the essentials are the same. But since it’s a stage play, personally I don’t like having flashy scenes or raising my voice, but no matter the place I think the key is still to be natural. Of course it may be difficult since you’re live on a stage, but I like keeping my movements and my voice as natural as possible.

I see. I’ve seen the costume rehearsal of JAI and I was fascinated by the many performers and also by Shori-kun’s solo song playing the horn, I was overwhelmed by all the content. It’s been three weeks since the opening (the interview took place in December), so what are your feelings now?

It’s enormous! And I’m hungry (laughing). But I’m having fun doing performance after performance.

In the other half of the play there are also emotional scenes based on real stories...

Yes. But there isn’t any strange meaning behind that, I don’t really think about it. Not for the sake of it being a true story but I think I wanted to do that scene because it was fitting the whole play’s story.

Do you see it as a part of the story just like any other scene?

Yes. But since there are going to be many more performances in the future, it’s hard to say that... I didn’t even think about that too much.

However, it’s a long play of two months. It’s important to take care of both your mind and body, so is it relaxing in your dressing room?

I keep hanging out with Prince like usually. I’ve been getting along well with Myuti (Morita Myuto) too and Jesse comes over to play the guitar and sing together with me. We’re all on good terms and everybody is really nice to me.

It seems that the other Sexy Zone members appeared as guests as well.

Yes. I couldn’t meet (Nakajima) Kento-kun backstage but he sent me a rose-scented drink through manager-san... what on earth was that for? (laughing) Ah, but there was also a message that said “it contains citric acid” (laughing).

Ahahahahaha!

Matsushima (Sou) and Marius (Yo) also came to my dressing room. They said things like “We don’t have any makeup tools”, and in the end before the performance these two used mine (laughing). (Kikuchi) Fuma-kun will appear in future performances, too.

“HaruChika” being your first film and showing us your horn skills on stage, it feels like you are challenging new things every year. Do you think that is your motive power?

I guess I just have my goals after all. I already mentioned my goals about acting before and I also want to improve my singing and dancing, but it’s fun aiming for those things. If my physical condition doesn’t turn bad, I don’t think my goals are too hard to achieve.

You seem to really like your job.

Somehow I became addicted to it (laughing). It doesn’t feel like I’m working but more like this is my everyday life? Since it’s normal to me, I wouldn’t say that my life is always idol-ish. Because for example when I go out in public I dress how I want. Some people are attracted by a natural appearance and I wonder if people in my surroundings think “That’s an idol” when seeing me, that would be really cool.

During hard and tiresome times, Shori-kun seems like he never talks about his complaints.

Of course I also go through hard times but I think that I don’t have to share that in public. Basically, I’ll find a solution myself.

Don’t you consult it with your seniors?

I feel sorry for troubling my seniors with my worries. But when I went for a meal with Yamashita (Tomohisa)-kun, he was asking “How’s your group doing?”, so I started talking about various things. One day he asked me “Shori, are you okay?” several times, so I felt that he was really concerned about me.

You surely appreciate that.

I really do. But now that I’m thinking about it, I must lead a great life if Yamashita-kun is caring about me. I’m amazing~ (laughing)

(Laughing) Lastly, for 2017 your play will continue, your film will be released and Sexy Zone will be busy every day with their arena tour, what else do you want to achieve that year?

First of all I want to increase the chances of people becoming interested in “HaruChika”, that’s why I want to work hard on promotions! And I thought about doing a big project as a group. I want to deliver an image like “The Sexy Zone” to everyone. For me personally I want to become better at dancing. Even if I can show one little gesture, I hope you would be charmed by it. I’ll surely become popular then, right? (laughing)

Oh! It’s a little unusual to hear “I want to be popular” coming from Shori-kun (laughing)

Even I want to be well liked (laughing). I mean I want to be seen as a cool person. I think that I’ll feel good if I can dance in a cool way and I’ll continue to aim for greater things, so I think I want to put more effort into various things from now on too!

Shori’s music talk♪ Q1. How often do you listen to music every day?

If I include the music I listen to at work, while traveling and taking a bath it would be about 6-7 hours. If I don’t have to work I think I listen to music for about two hours. Recently I use cool black headphones. Headphones are better for me than earphones because I can enjoy the sound quality that I want.

Q2. What are the latest obsessions on your music player?

I listen to music on my smartphone but I think I have about 1000 songs in there and I listen to them on shuffle. I think 70% of them are Western songs and the rest are Japanese rock bands, pop, my senior’s and our own songs. The song I am recently listening to on loop is Coldplay’s “A head full of dreams”.

Q3. What is your favourite sound and what is the sound you like the least?

My favourite sound is the D chord of a guitar. Somehow it gives me a positive vibe and brings out my courage (laughing). The sound I hate is when my buzzer goes “Brr! Brr!” before I go on stage when I’m not in a good condition. Especially when it’s on the table in my dressing room, it makes a strange loud sound (laughing).

Q4. What’s your speciality at karaoke?

It’s KinKi Kids’ “Ai ni tsuite”. It feels really great to sing that song! Even though it’s a difficult song and it’s hard for me to sing a song of two people by myself (laughing). Basically I go to karaoke alone. But recently I didn’t go that often.

Q5. What was the last concert you went to?

I’ve seen Arashi’s concert at dome arena for the first time. The organisation and direction was amazing~ For example, it was amazing to have one full track song on the main stage while not allowing the audience to get bored, I definitely couldn’t avert my eyes from the stage!

Q6. Who do you think has a beautiful voice?

Michael Jackson! If it’s a person who’s alive, then it’s Paul McCartney. Both of them are a number one for me. I don’t think that anyone has surpassed them. Incidentally I started liking my own voice little by little recently too. I want to extend my vocal range though.

Q7. If anyone could write a solo song for you, who would it be?

TOKIO’s Nagase (Tomoya)-kun. The lyrics and sound Nagase-kun is working with, to me they always have a cool and unique vibe. I also have the wish to do band music, so one day I would be happy to be able to do a session with him~ I think we could write interesting lyrics if we collaborated.

Keep in mind I am not a native speaker therefore there might be mistakes in my translations. Also I’m not exactly translating word for word. Feel free to correct me in my ask box any time you want, I’d appreciate it! I apologize if someone already translated something before me and I didn’t notice, I hope you don’t mind.

Sorry for bad-quality scans, I don’t have a scanner at home orz