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Hey Riu..

We asked today’s interviewees about what they thought about the passing of the torch of the student council president, the relationship between the Onitsuka sisters, their favorite songs from the season, as well as their thoughts as they head towards their 6th Live Tour!

Liella! begins its third year with two new members! What were the cast’s first impressions of them?

What were your thoughts on the highly-anticipated first episode of Season 3?

Suzuhara: It’s been a while since we last saw Liella! perform and move about in animated form, so it was nice to finally find out for sure what a second-year Kinako-chan was like. I also teared up a little the moment the opening started playing.

Aoyama: I think Ren-chan had changed quite a lot on the inside as the previous seasons progressed, which was why I couldn’t wait to find out what kind of person she’d become once she entered her third year. I was so glad to see her expression of pure kindness in Episode 1! Even though her words and actions gave off an air of maturity, she delivered them with such a gentle expression which made her seem almost childlike. It’s that contrast that makes Ren-chan so cute! (laughs)

Emori: Although it had been two years since Season 2 ended, we had the opportunity to do all kinds of things during those two years, so it felt like time had gone by in a flash, which was unexpected. Even in Episode 1, you can already see Natsumi’s “OniNatsu” mode in full swing, but I was glad that we could get to see another side of her. We got to see a side of her that’s distinct from the OniNatsu mask she puts on all the time through her interactions with her younger sister, Tomari, who’s appearing for the first time this season. Seeing that made me treasure Natsumi all the more.

Sakakura: I was just a fan back when Seasons 1 and 2 were airing, so I remember watching those seasons on TV at home. That’s why seeing Tomari, the character I voice, appear in the anime in Season 3 made me quite emotional. Ever since she was announced as a new member on June 11th, 2023, which was about a year and a half ago, I did my absolute best to convey Tomari’s strengths without the anime, so I was overjoyed to see all of those efforts finally pay off. Since Tomari barely has any lines in Episode 1, I was not only excited to see what was to come, but also to see Tomari finally embrace her love for her sister dearest.

Tell us about some scenes from Season 3 that left a particularly deep impression on you.

Suzuhara: If we’re talking about an episode that showcases a new side of Kinako-chan and how much she’s grown, it’s gotta be Episode 10, where she takes over as the next student council president. Even though she declined the offer initially, I think she decided to give it a try because, one way or another, she wanted to continue spreading the warmth she experienced after meeting the other members of Liella!. I particularly liked the scene where she’s drawing on the chalkboard because it shows just how much she loves the other Liella! members.

Aoyama: If we’re talking about Ren-chan, it’d be Episode 10 as well. She wanted someone she could trust to succeed her as the student council president, but because she knew firsthand how stressful the position could be, she didn’t want to force it upon anyone. Even as she held those conflicting thoughts within her, she still managed to make her request to Kinako-chan in a steady voice, and that shows just how much she has grown. If she hadn’t met Liella!, she might just have made the request in a brasher manner.

Emori: For me, it’d be Episodes 4 and 8. We got to see some of Natsumi’s backstory in Episode 6 of Season 2, but in Season 3, the other members visit her home, we get to see her book of dreams, and we also get to witness her relationship with Tomari-chan being explored in depth. I believe that Tomari-chan enrolling in Yuigaoka allowed Natsumi to face her true emotions head-on, and that’s why I think the relationship between the two sisters is truly something to be treasured.

Sakakura: I totally agree with Aya-chan. Episodes 4 and 8 left the greatest impression on me. Episode 4 showed us what kind of person Tomari is, and seeing her and Natsumi-chan, her sister dearest, cry together like babies after they blurt out their true emotions really touched me. That was the moment that accustomed Tomari to expressing what she truly felt, and I think that was what led to her asking Margarete-chan to create a new Liella! together with her, as well as her asking Kanon-senpai for her ribbon and confessing that she had looked up to her ever since she became a school idol.

Among the many songs adding color to the anime’s storyline, which songs did the cast particularly like?

Are there any insert songs from the anime that you particularly like? Or perhaps any coupling songs from the singles?

Suzuhara: I love all the songs so much that I want to talk about each and every one of them (laughs). But if I had to pick just one, it’d be Episode 10’s insert song, Egao no Promise. That was the song that Kinako-chan wrote, and you can really see her personality shining through in the lyrics. I love seeing her with that huge smile on her face, a smile that seems to say that she has everything she ever wanted and more.

Emori: It really isn’t easy to pick just one song because they’re all amazing, but I particularly like Special Color from Episode 3 and Egao no Promise from Episode 10. I find myself in tears every time I see Shiki-chan and Kinako-chan shining as the center of those two songs because they’re both members of the same generation as I am. There’s also Fighting Call, which is actually the coupling song to the Episode 3 edition of the Bubble Rise / Special Color single. I really like it because the lyrics seem to overlap a lot with what Natsumi felt.

Sakakura: For me, it’s gotta be Bubble Rise from Episode 2. I started tearing up even before the song started playing, when Kanon-chan and Margarete-chan were saying such beautiful words. I remember crying so hard that I could barely see the TV screen (laughs). Oh, I also love Episode 8’s Dazzling Game. It’s the song that represents Tomari and Margarete-chan’s determination, not to mention it also being the song that Tomari performs after opening her heart to her sister dearest. There are just so many amazing moments in that song!

Aoyama: There were quite a few surprises in Season 3’s song lineup, such as Wish Song being included as a coupling song in the Episode 10 edition of the single, as well as Hajimari wa Kimi no Sora being performed in Episode 12. I remember getting goosebumps the first time I read the script! Being able to sing a song that Liella! first performed as five once again as eleven made me really emotional. I’m so glad we got to do that!

How about the opening and ending animations? Were there any scenes you particularly liked?

Aoyama: Just like in previous seasons, you’re guaranteed to see just how cute the characters are no matter at which frame you pause the video. All eleven of us watched Episode 1 together, and we were all surprised at how high-quality the animation was. Like, there was so much detail in how individual strands of their hair were swaying. I remember us wondering whether what we were watching was really animated!

Emori: In the opening, after Mei-chan sings the line that goes “The radiance of someone out there”, Natsumi grabs hold of the radiance she lets out and brings it towards herself before singing the line “Will one day transform into courage”. I really liked that entire sequence.

Aoyama: Oh, that’s right before Ren-chan’s line where she goes “We’ll hold that thought close to heart as we set off”!

Emori: Yeah! It’s as if their choreography forms a complete sequence, starting with Mei-chan, then Natsumi, and then Ren-chan. Linking up my choreography with someone else’s like that is something I’ve never had the chance to do before, so it was a breath of fresh air to be able to experience that.

Suzuhara: I also really like the line distributions in the opening, especially in the second verse. Of course, everyone has their own interpretation of the song, but I interpreted the part where the third-gen members sing the first line, followed by the second-gen then the first-gen to mean that even though the five first-gen members are graduating, Liella! would be together forever. It’s a tinge of wistfulness that you don’t really expect from an opening theme, so I hope you listen to the full song!

Sakakura: As for the ending, I really like the scene where Tomari is doing the peek-a-boo at the camera together with her sister dearest in the stairwell. At the start of Season 3, Tomari’s expressions were always really stiff, so that scene made me look forward to when we’d finally see her smiling as wide as she did in there.

Suzuhara: I like the part in the ending where everyone takes turns to strike a pose. Their individual personalities really shine through in the poses they chose, and that’s really cute!

This will be their first live performance after the Season 3 finale! What are the cast’s thoughts about their upcoming performance?

Before we end today’s interview, let’s hear a few words about Love Live! Superstar!! Liella! 6th LoveLive! Tour ~Let’s be ONE~, your upcoming live tour!

Sakakura: It’s the first time I’m performing in a live tour based on the anime, so I’m nervous and can already feel the pressure on me in a way that’s different from previous performances. There are going to be audience members who have been fans of Tomari from before she appeared in the anime, so I’ll do my best together with Tomari to deliver a performance that expresses my gratitude for everyone who’s supported me all this while.

Suzuhara: I’ll do my best to make everyone who came to watch us feel that they just watched Kinako-chan, that they just watched Liella! perform. Before this live tour, Liella! split into three subunits and spurred each other to achieve even greater heights before eventually rejoining as one. That’s actually quite similar to Season 3’s plotline, so I hope to show off a culmination of everything we’ve achieved up to this point during our 6th Live.

Emori: During this live tour, I’ll be portraying a Natsumi that has grown both physically and mentally through Season 3, so even though I still have a long way to go before I catch up to her, I’ll do my absolute best to do so. I’ll make sure to never forget the happiness I felt from being able to put on a live tour based on Season 3 with all eleven of us, as well as my gratitude to everyone who’s supported us along the way, and I'll do my best in each of the ten performances in five different cities across the country.

Aoyama: Season 3 depicts Liella! splitting into two groups and pursuing their goals separately, as well as the graduation of the third-years, and there was a lot going on. This live tour will be based on all of that, so I hope that we’ll be able to put on a performance that’s a little different from the ones we’ve put on before. After watching Season 3 of the anime and watching us perform at our 6th Live Tour, I hope that you’ll get the urge to rewatch the entire anime right from the beginning once again, and I’ll do my best to make that happen.

Buy live streaming tickets for the Fukuoka leg of Liella!’s 6th Love Live! Tour ~Let’s be ONE~, happening on May 3 and 4 at PIA or eplus! You’ll be able to watch the performance live, and have access to an archive for a week! Refer to the official site for more details.

Buy the pamphlet featuring this interview and cast photos here (shipping within Japan only, or use a proxy forwarder like Tenso, TensoJapan, or Blackship, etc.)

Translator: xIceArcher

Liella! 2nd Gen Interviews - Emori Aya

Then, when I saw the visuals for the 2nd gen members, I was somehow drawn toward Natsumi-chan. I remember thinking, “She’s the only one suitable for me.”

She’s Emori Aya, the voice of Onitsuka Natsumi. She’s also the youngest in Liella!, but that doesn’t stop her from being a total boss when she’s supporting the other members or hyping them up. Now, let’s hear some words from her about her audition experience behind the scenes!