Inside Story: The making of the MV for Sekai ni wa Ai Shika nai

Translation of a major article from the September issue of Brody magazine. It describes the ideas of the director and choreographer about how to convey the song visually; reports events during the shooting; and conveys some comments from members of Keykizaka46, as well as the choreographer's impressions of members of the group.
_____________________________________________________


Keyakizaka46 -- Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai

Documenting the making of the MV

Our little magazine previously told the inside story of the making of the Silent Majority MV. When we found out that their second single, Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai, was going to be made on Hokkaido by the same staff, we flew right there. Based mainly on what we saw of the members and what we heard from the staff, we are now once again documenting the Keyaki revolution. We record the footprints of girls and staff as they conquer the pressure and soar over high hurdles.

With total coverage on the scene and interviews with staff, here is the reality of "the second wave of attack"

From Shibuya to Hokkaido
Wide grasslands and a high-speed drone

Despite being newcomers, Keyakizaka46 had a big hit with their first single, Silent Majority, which sold over 300,000 copies. The music video (MV) has gone over 22 million hits on YouTube (as of August 6th). Following the great success of the first, their second single, Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai, was released on August 10th.

The various new aspects of the first MV garnered a strong reaction from the idol world. Expectations for the second single rose irresistibly. There were worries that it might fall below expectations.

Kageyama Yuuka (Hiragana Keyaki) on crutches

Kageyama Yuuka went to the handshake event on Thursday on crutches, and greeted handshake guests sitting down. She says she pulled a muscle in her leg at school last week:

She says the leg is healing, and she feels fine, and apologizes to fans and other members for causing them worry. She delayed telling us about it, but finally felt she had to. She is eager to get back to "lessons and practice" with Hiragana Keyaki.

She was paired up with Ushio Sarina and Higashimura Mei for the handshake event:

A few pics of Hirate in close contact with other members

This fantastic pic of Techi with Mona (from Techi's blog) reminded me of some other fairly intimate pics of her with other members.

From Akanen's Wednesday blog post, Techi "the hamster":

Kyoto Handshake Event: Naako in tug-of-war with staff to keep handshake guests

Nagasawa Nanako loves her fans.

At handshake events, guests usually get only a few seconds with a member of Keyakizaka46. There are staff members known in Japanese as hagashi ("peelers") there to physically make sure that the guest leaves as soon as their allotted time is up.

Reports from Naako's lane at Thursday's Kyoto handshake event say that the peelers there (apparently "pusher" is a more common term in English) were pretty strict, using almost judo moves to hustle guests on.

And Naako was just as assiduous in keeping hold as long as possible.

This apparently led to some amusing tug-of-war scenes between peelers on one side and Naako and her guest on the other.

Naako Naako shiyo!

Naako stops at almost nothing to give her fans what they want. On her blog, she is even happy to provide such subtly provocative photos as the one above, or this one below:

Naa-ko visits a holy site from the anime film Kimi no Na wa

Shinkai Makoto's romantic science fiction anime film, Kimi no Na wa, has been #1 at the box office for three weekends in a row, has earned over $60 million and seems likely to break $100 million.

And Nagasawa Nanako is proving once again that she is truly an otaku by making a visit to a holy place of the film -- which is to say one of the locations used for the film's setting.

Here is her post for Sunday.
___________________________________________

To a holy place

2016.09.18
Nagasawa Nanako

Good eveningnaako (´ｰ`)
I made a pilgrimage to a holy site.

Ta-da!

Kimi no Na wa.  A place that became the film's stage.

Average ages of some idol groups

Average ages of some idol groups. I can't vouch for the accuracy of this list, but it seems reasonable, and I find it pretty interesting,  I'll trust the maker's efforts and translate it:

average age     group

27.3     Denpagumi Inc.でんぱ組.inc (6 members)
27.0     Perfume (3 members)
23.3     Berryz Koubou工房 (7 members)
22.0     ℃-ute (5)
21.6     E-girls (19)
21.0     Idoling アイドリング (21)
21.4     Momoiro Clover ももいろクローバーZ (5)
20.5     Death Rabbitsデスラビッツ (4)
20.5     AKB48 (32)
20.1     Nogizaka乃木坂46 (35)
19.0     Babyraids ベイビーレイズ (5)
18.1     Fairies (7)
17.9     Keyakizaka欅坂46 (20)
17.3     Morning Musume '16 モーニング娘。'16 (12)
17.3     Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku 私立恵比寿中学 (8)
17.3     BABYMETAL (3 members)
12.6     Sakura Gakuen さくら学院 (12 members)


Note that Keyakizaka46 is listed as only 21 members, presumably excluding Neru as a member of Hiragana Keyaki.

Commenters were struck by how young the average age of Babymetal is. If you calculated  by month born rather than just year born, it would be a bit higher (17.7). But that's close enough, and gives me confidence in the maker's method.

Sasaki Kumi (Hiragana Keyaki) -- Risa's her oshi, and now she's Risa's oshi

Sasaki Kumi is Hiragana Keyaki's Ponkotsu Madonna -- and not really so ponkotsu as that. She seems to be an amusing friend and a great support to some other members. She's 20, and a third-year college student. 

And now Watanabe Risa has given her a stamp of approval:
_______________________________________________________

Recently, I've been wanting to grow taller.
My goal is 1.5cm more.
I'm Sasaki Kumi.

Before I had my hair set ~~

Actually, yesterday a totally delightful thing happened to me.

Watanabe Risa-san, who has been my oshi forever,
Said in her blog that
I was her oshi (T ^ T)