uhadaisuki - Tumblr blog

uhadaisuki · 7 years ago

Text

Ace of the Visual Members of SKE48, Kitagawa Ryoha, appealing to the world to reconsider the group's image

On June, 6th, the AKB48 10th World Senbatsu General Election (a.k.a AKB48 53rd Single World Senbatsu General Election, Who is the center in World Senbatsu?~~) took place at Nagoya Dome, Aichi. With Matsui Jurina and Suda Akari taking a one-two finish, SKE48 achieved the best result ever with their fans in their hometown.

Besides Matsui and Dasu, 24 other members ranked in the top 100 places, the group is going to welcome it’s 10th anniversary and are gaining momentum. With 30,249 votes, Team S leader, Kitagawa Ryouha achieved her highest rank ever. Modelpress interviewed Kitagawa (being told that she’s the top visual member in the group) a year ago, will once again interview her again today. She was appointed to be the leader of Team S in February, 2017. Now, she’s a member who is leading the group, a member who others can rely on. We talked about things she learnt in the past year, what should SKE48 improve on, and also the 23rd single “Ikinari Punch Line” which will go on sale on July, 4th.

=====================================================

Kitagawa Ryoha “2017 was the year with the most suffering and frustration”

=====================================================

Interviewer: Just about a year ago we did an interview. How has the last year been since the previous AKB48 general election?

Kitagawa: It was a really rough year. I had a lot of worries. It was the year with the most suffering and frustration.

Interviewer: What’s your biggest worry?

Kitagawa: I guess my own position in SKE48 is one of them, and also I really don’t feel that I’ve worked hard enough to earn that position.

Interviewer: You mean you couldn’t keep up with it?

Kitagawa: Yes.

Interviewer: You were appointed as the leader of Team S.

Kitagawa: That’s something big to me too. As I had no confidence in myself, I need to round up the members, and manage the team. I don’t feel like I’m myself when I’m doing my job as a leader. It’s very tough.

Interviewer: So you are not good at rounding up the members to begin with?

Kitagawa: Yes, I’m not good at it, or I should say I’m not leader material to begin with. I never try to pursuit it, and just try to keep up. When I was being told that I became like a leader, I didn’t believe it. Really, I think I’m the type of leader who is best when surrounded by those who support me.

Interviewer: I think there are many different types of leader, what kind of leader do you want to become?

Kitagawa: I don’t have much leadership quality, nor much experience either. I always think of becoming a leader who can envelope the members with kindness. That’s the only thing I can do. I want to become a leader who the members can turn to when they face any troubles.

Interviewer: Have you been troubled by it before you came to this decision?

Kitagawa: Yes. I always worry if I’m being a good leader. I would be lying if I said I’m not worried about it right now. But lately, I finally understand what I need to do. I think I’m starting to enjoy it.

[She’s having to form the Team S pose]

[Is that Team S pose?]

Interviewer: What makes you think of that?

Kitagawa: I think it’s everyone who taught me that. A lot of juniors joined Team S, and they are doing their best. It makes me think that I must do my best too. The juniors are the ones who make me think that “For the sake of the juniors, I must do my best for them”. And I think that play a big part in it.

Interviewer: During lessons, there’s no conflicts among the members?

Kitagawa: Probably not among Team S members. Surprisingly most of them are ditzy, but have hidden talents, and very good potential. I think we should help to nurture them.

Interviewer: Looking at all of AKB48G, SKE48 really has that kind of image of having strong cohesiveness and powerful performance. What’s the primary factor that drives you all?

Kitagawa: I think you are right. I guess we learnt that from our seniors. Seniors taught us a lot about the passion of SKE48, that has been passed down since the beginning. From here on out, even if I graduate, members of SKE48 will continue the tradition. I want them to do so. I want to pass down the things that I inherited from my seniors to the juniors

====================================================

Kitagawa Ryoha, held a concurrent position in AKB48 and things she learned… The member she tried to chase after the most was…?

=====================================================

Interviewer: You held a concurrent position in AKB48 Team 4 until March this year. What do you think about those 2 and a half years?

Kitagawa: I was very sad about the final stage we did (which held on May, 18th). I was so sad that I almost cried from the first song. But since that was my final stage, I held back my tears, made sure the cameraman shot every second of me and finished the performance. I like AKB48 to begin with, so I’m touched for every opportunity I got to perform on the stage. “This is where the great seniors sing and dance”. I feel happy whenever I think about that. But I’m sad that I won’t be able to perform on that stage anymore.

Interviewer: Was it a good experience for you when you held the concurrent position?

Kitagawa: AKB48 members are very good at expressing themselves. I learned a lot from their facial expressions. Everyone is very charming. They’ve got something that attracts the fans. I learned a lot from them.

Interviewer: Does that mean SKE48 members are still lacking something ?

Kitagawa: Yes. SKE48 gives an impression of powerful dance. Partially because they dance aggressively too. Each of them has their own quality. When I was holding the concurrent position, I learned how to express myself. But when I went back to SKE48, and tried the same thing during the performance, “Are you feeling alright?”, everyone said that to me. I guess it’s hard to balance between the two of them (powerful dance vs power of expression). There was time I couldn’t decide which one I should focus on.

Interviewer: The individuality of AKB48 and SKE48 is different I guess? Which member did you learn the most from?

Kitagawa: The one who caught my attention the most was Kojimako-chan (Kojima Mako). I think she’s very good. I always looked at her. She’s cute, her facial expressions and expressive powers are awesome. I actually paid close attention to her (LOL)

Interviewer: And you didn’t tell her (LOL) ?

Kitagawa: That’s right, I didn’t

Interviewer: So you got closer to the members?

Kitagawa: Actually I was part of the unit, Tentoumuchu, and I’m close to the members who were in that unit too. Everyone always gave me a warm welcome. The member I became closest with is Murayama Yuiri-san. I become very close with Yuiringo-chan (LOL).

======================================================

SKE48 who is riding on the momentum. “The current SKE48 is the most enjoyable one”

=====================================================

Interviewer: Right now I think SKE48 is regaining it’s momentum. Can you feel it?

Kitagawa: Yes. The mood (in the group) is very good. I think members being able to express their thoughts and feel that SKE48 is in top shape plays a big part of it. I think SKE48 is riding on good momentum as everyone is enjoying themselves now and says the current SKE48 is the most enjoyable one and it’s spread to many people. As a member, I’m very happy to see things turned out that way.

Interviewer: Among the groups (AKB48G) , is there any strong point you can promote if you are to appeal to those people who are not SKE48 fans?

Kitagawa: I think the fans can enjoy interact with us like a friend. I think the distance between the fans and SKE48 members is the closest (compared to other groups). There’s a lot of first timers who told us that we are easy to talk to and so friendly. I think we are the easiest to approach to compared to other groups. We always welcome everyone.

Interviewer: There’s isn’t much distance between the members and the fans during handshake event too?

Kitagawa: Yes. Everyone is truly enjoying doing it.

Interviewer: SKE48 is going to welcome it’s 10th anniversary soon. What’s SKE48 target ? I always heard about wanting to have a concert at Nagoya dome.

Kitagawa: Personally speaking, we are based in Sakae, Nagoya, Aichi prefecture, so we want to improve our popularity in Aichi prefecture.

Interviewer: I think SKE48 is quite famous already.

Kitagawa: Not at all, I think SKE48 is not so popular when comes to individual members. Improving our popularity is a must, but we want to become a group who the locals love, and also become the first thing that will come to their mind whenever someone asks them about the good things about Aichi prefecture.

====================================================

Pay attention to the dance of the MV of the latest single, “Ikinari Punch Line” which took some time to sync up.

========================================================

youtube

Interviewer: The song of this single is kind of mature. What’s the main point of this song?

Kitagawa: It’s a little bit different compared to all the songs in the past, I think everyone gets to see the mature side, the sexy side of the members. I think those who already listened will think “What’s the meaning of Punch Line?” The lyric is easy to remember, I think the red color costume will definitely catch the attention of the viewers. So I think it will be great if everyone can remember the lyrics together.

*Punch line - a terminology to describe the conclusion of a joke, used in hip hop too. Things that left the deepest impression

Interviewer: How’s the MV shooting?

Kitagawa: The dance part is the main. Everyone practised desperately, and I think everyone was in sync with each other. Usually, we learn the dance on the day of the shooting itself, but this time we learned it 3 days before the shooting, so we got a lot of time to sync up with each other’s dance steps, I think the dance (which is the strong point of SKE48) turned out to be great.

Interviewer: Members will take the initiative to sync up the dance steps?

Kitagawa: Before I realized , everyone was doing it already. We expected to only practice for five to six hours but we exceeded that and we still felt we didn’t practice enough and wanted to do it better. I can totally feel the hot passion in each of the members.

Interviewer: There’s a lot of sexy scenes too. Are you good at expressing your sexy side?

Kitagawa: I’m not good at pretending to be very cute. I’m more bias to being energetic, or I should say I can get into the mood easily with cool songs. I’m going to turn 20 this year, I want to improve my sexiness and maturity. I hope I can show that with this song.

====================================================

SKE48 members are not sweet potatoes! Look carefully!

=======================================================

Interviewer: You have been saying releasing your own photobook is your target.

Kitagawa: Yes. I want to make it happen before I graduate. It (my target) was covered in the magazine too. And a lot of people say that they like my photos. So before it’s too late and while I’m still young, I want to make it happen.

Interviewer: In the previous interview, we talked about the popularity of SKE48 among the female fans. What has changed after a year?

Kitagawa: I think we got more female fans now. Quite a lot of them came to meet with us too.

Interviewer: You mean overall? (all members’ fans are slowly increasing, in average speaking, not just 1 or 2 top members)

Kitagawa: I think it’s gradually increasing. I can totally feel it. I will be happy if there’s more female fans from the same generation come to see us.

Interviewer: The readers of modelpress are mostly girls from the same generation as you. For those people, how will you appeal to them as an individual, and also as a group?

Kitagawa: (Having a hard time) SKE48 members are like sweet potatoes, I think a lot of members are adorable. I had the same thought too at the beginning. But once I joined, I realized they are very cute. So I think everyone should LOOK CAREFULLY. I want you all to look at them carefully again.

Interviewer: LOL.

Kitagawa: I think they are cute (LOL)

Interviewer: Yes, they are.

Kitagawa: I want them to get more of the spotlight too.

Interviewer: Thanks for accepting our interview.

121 notes · View notes

uhadaisuki · 8 years ago

Text

What the juniors are lacking is rivalry. I felt that from Team KII and Team E (From Platinum Flash Vol.2)

Kitagawa Ryouha, SKE48’s Young Ace, who everyone has their eye on. Since passing the audition in 2012, majority of the time as a research student, she performed theatre stage performances together with the regular members, and even stood in the center position too. After working on improving her leadership, she matured quickly, and became Team S leader. However, a lot of her teammates chose to graduate. How will the 19-year-old ace, who just celebrated her birthday overcome this situation?

How did you feel about today’s shoot?

It captured my mature side. Oh right, since this is the first shoot after turning 19, it left a deep impression in me.

Did someone mention that you lost weight?

My weight hasn’t change at all. But I lost fat and maybe gained some muscle I guess. I’m doing muscle training. Like lifting up my legs, squatting and etc. Somehow, I at least have to be able to do one of them properly, hence starting training. To be satisfied with my physical appearance, I’m just doing muscle training for now. I was told that I wasn’t using my leg muscles. (She’s demonstrating it) So I’m squatting like this, standing on tiptoe. Yesterday I also searched for videos about getting ripped abs, and tried them out.

You are controlling your food intake too, right?

The more I stopped myself from eating it, the more I wanted to eat it. So, I try not to think about it too much. If I keep thinking about the calories, I’ll just get stressed. I only stop myself from eating late at night, and control the amount I eat, that’s about it. I keep track of my calorie intake mentally.

What’s your ideal body shape?

Team S has a lot of members with slim bodies, and I always admire those with good body line. But I was a little chubby since birth, so I guess it’s impossible for me. When I was in kindergarten, my face was very round, like a volleyball. My parents were very worried at the time. They were worried how I will turn out in the future. I’m big boned with a little fat, so I’m not skinny at all. I will just be myself and live on.

If you were given a magical card that lets you live the life you want, how will you use it?

I want to become a model. I want to become a model who gain support from people in the same age range, appear on “Hirunandesu!”, and have a walk-and-eat.

After that?

I want to get married. Have a few kids. Make an ordinary family. Thou I’m not too sure if I can live that long.

Do you prefer to be a model or an actress?

So far, the jobs that I enjoyed the most was being a model for magazines. But I know there are better models than me. It’s just a dream of mine, since I’m big boned. (LOL)

==========================================================

I got 1st place for a voting event and gained confidence from it

You had your birthday stage in October, right? What did you talk about?

I talked about my frustration towards the AKB48 General Election for the very first time. The thing that left the deepest impression in me when I was 18, or should I say, made me depressed was the General Election. I thought it’d be beneficial for me to talk about it. But around the time I got depressed about General Election, I achieved 1st place for the “Passion For You CM Request” Event. It’s been awhile…wait, since I joined SKE48, this might be the first time I came first I guess? I’m glad that I managed to achieve a remarkable result with my fans.

Did you become slightly optimistic?

I did. Actually, up until now, I wanted to get 1st place for such event, but I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t express that out loud (express her feeling of wanting to get 1st place). But like this time, by directly telling my fans that I want to get 1st place for the event, I finally realized my fans will work hard too. Not just for General Election, but if we do the same for the usual activity, I think it helps to strengthen the bond between the fans naturally too.

If the members don’t say anything to their fans, it’s inevitable that the fans won’t be able to keep up, right?

Since then, I spur on the fans. (LOL)

I’m pretty sure the fans will want the members they support to be frank with them.

I didn’t know that previously. Now, the one who speaks up wins the trophy, or it’s more like I finally understand that I must say it to them. I should have realized this earlier. It’s my fault for not realizing it earlier.

========================================================

These are my thoughts regarding the issues for Team S.

1st gen member, Oya Masana Graduation concert was held in September. Did you finally come to realize that she will leave soon?

Hmm… I guess not yet, we still speak to each other and have joint events together as usual. (LOL)

3rd gen member, Goto Risako made her graduation announcement too.

It’s very sad. Both of them are from Team S. The seniors who always give me advice are dwindling.

This year alone there’s already 5 members leaving.

Although there’s that, we also only had 2 members from Team S selected as “Igai ni Mango” senbatsu members while Team KII got 9. I think Team S needs to be at the top at all times in SKE48. One after another the seniors graduate and Team S is left with the younger members. This will continue for quite some time. And I feel frustrated as others are asking if we are okay or not. But I think now it’s a chance for us. I think we can change ourselves in various ways and we must nurture the juniors too.

Have you watched the “SKE48 Zero Position” Special Episode which was aired in October?

Members who were under 18 had a live debate with the expert. I went to find out about the content of the topic using twitter. And found out what (Matsumoto) Chikako talked about. That programme brought up the topic about “Issues with Team S”. They focused on where Team S strength has dropped due to the graduation of the seniors one by one. As the only member from Team S who appeared on it, Chikako had to face that question alone. She felt so frustrated and cried. If you were there, I wonder how it would have turned out.

If I appeared on it, I’d have probably cry too. There’s nothing we can do about the graduation of our seniors. Among the topics, even if we’ve been told that our team has the least members selected for Senbatsu, there’s nothing we can do about it alone. It’s a complicated situation. If I got center position for “Igai ni Mango”, I might have been able to liven up the team. I blamed myself for it. Despite I’m the leader of the team, I’m sorry about that.

As a leader, what do you aim to achieve?

Goals that I want to achieve huh…

I’m not a full-fledged leader yet, I want to be able to convey myself well. Although I pay attention to everyone, I’m not able to wrap things up nicely. Although I know what kind of leader I want to become, an ideal leader which can be only achieved by myself, if I don’t achieve something remarkable, what I say will carry no weight at all. I’m constantly thinking that whatever I say to them is meaningless.

You are not a leader kind of person to begin with, are you?

I guess so. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I was entrusted with the leader position since February. Frankly speaking, I was perplexed by it.

Half a year has passed since you became leader. Are there any changes between now and then?

I manage to convey myself well on the stage now. Although others tell me “You finally managed to get a hold of yourself.”, but it felt like I was faking it. In the first place, I’m not that kind of person and felt like I was losing myself. I must know where I stand, not just in my team, but in SKE48 as well. My head was in a swirl.

Becoming leader means you have to become a totally different person, right?

I was told that directly.

Do you scold your juniors?

I won’t say what’s on my mind out loud, but will choose my words carefully and tell them “Please do it properly next time, alright?” as I also hate others who put it very blunt to me. I constantly think about how I would feel when others say that to me. But in my mind, I do want to tell them “Stop messing around!!!”

Have you been angry before?

No, I guess not. Although there are things I want to get angry with. Team S lacks a sense of crisis. Right now, anyone can *easily stand at the frontier position*. This is something impossible for Team KII and Team E who have the most members selected for Senbatsu. With the current Team S, I can easily perform at 3rd position. I have been told that a lot. I’m sure you don’t want to be told about that too, right? We are being looked down by them, and that’s the current situation of Team S. If we hate being looked down by others, I think we have to put some thought in to it and do something about it, including me too.

*It means the quality of Team S has dropped, any members can easily stand at the frontier position or replace them, regardless of their performance quality.

Specifically speaking, after looking at the juniors, what do you think they are lacking?

Rivalry I guess. The members don’t treat each other as their rival. For example, some members think that it’s fine to stand at the back. They never thought of standing at the front.

Looking from a different perspective, it’s worth the time to nurture them.

I guess so. Sometimes I go to see Team KII and Team E theatre stage performance. They are racing against each other and improve themselves. I can totally feel it. They are enjoying it. Anyway, I guess we (Team S) have to sit down and discuss about it.

You guys don’t get to the main point during the reflection session after the performance?

I was thinking if I should raise it (core issue) up or not. Seniors are there too. But I think it’s time for me to raise it up.

Now’s the chance for the team, and also for you personally to grow.

I think so too. 3 research students were promoted to Team S in October. Now’s the chance for us. With this, I’m sure it will hit some sense into the members and become aware of the crisis.

When it comes to the duty as a leader, who do you discuss it with?

Recently, I discussed it with Team E leader, Suda Akari-san. I did discuss with other seniors too. Everyone is worried about me.

You have a lot of good seniors surrounding you.

Yes, I felt that too when I was given the opportunity to perform at Kizaki Yuria-san’s graduation theatre stage performance. Yuria-san is also AKB48 Team B captain, and she’s willing to discuss with me too. Even for Yuria-san, she had to voice up in the team despite having seniors around. After listening to Yuria-san I felt like I had nothing to worry about. That totally cleared my mind up.

Interviewer: How will Team S turn out down the road? Please allow us to watch over you all in secret. (LOL)

51 notes · View notes