Featured Interview with STARMARIE Supported by Filipino J-POP Dance Cover Group, Seishun Kakumei!

| Idol | Posted by Seishun Kakumei (青春革命) on Aug.26.2015

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About STARMARIE Asia Tour ~Fantastic~ in Manila

The girls of Starmarie— made up of Kishita Nozomi (Nonchan), Takamori Shino (Shinohamu), Matsuzaki Hiroka (Hii-chan), Nakane Motoko (Monya), and Watanabe Kaede (Kaechan)— are no strangers to the Philippines. The Japanese fantasy idol group participated in two consecutive Best of Anime conventions in 2013 and 2014, with several guest appearances and mini-concerts in between. This recent visit however, is their first solo live in the country.

On June 7th 2015, The Movie Stars Café at the SM Mall of Asia was packed with excited fans who were treated to spectacular and awe-inspiring performances from their idols. Starmarie’s infectious charm and energy were all on display as they performed their best hits, including “Who Killed Circus”, “The Three-Starred Restaurant –Paul’s invitation—“ , “Andromeda Proposal”, and their latest releases “Net Auction Babies” and “Fantastic!”. The girls also performed not just one, but two encores for their fans.

The event was capped off with a meet-and-greet session where fans got to meet the members of Starmarie. Lucky fans had their Starmarie merchandise signed and even had photos taken with the girls. The girls also received presents and message boards signed by their Filipino fans, which was heartwarming, to say the least.

Tokyo Girls Update’s correspondent “青春革命(Seishun Kakumei)” interviewed with Starmarie.

青春革命‘s members, Kang and Satsuki caught up with Starmarie after the concert to talk about their music, social media, Filipino food, and what their fans can look forward to for the rest of 2015.

—To introduce to people who do not know. What kind of idol group is Starmarie?

Shinohamu: We’re a group who spreads out overseas. A group that does a lot of performances overseas.

—This time, it’s your fourth time coming to the Philippines, however this time, it’s your first solo live, right?

Everyone: Yes. That’s right.

—How do you feel about it right now?

Shinohamu: We’ve always wanted to do a solo live in the Philippines. We’re very happy to be able to.

Everyone: We’re very happy!

—We’re very happy as well!

Nonchan: If we’re able to do it again, we’re going to do our best.

Everyone: We will be doing our best!

—Starmarie is very active in Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. How important are they to you? Reaching out to your fans through social media?

Nonchan: Before, we could only go overseas once or twice. That’s why, for that purpose, our fans overseas would know what we’re doing right now and find out more information about us. That’s why social media is very important to us.

Shinohamu: So that we can convey our gratitude to our fans who cannot come to see us. So we communicate via social media.

—Even our friends said they sometimes tweet, “Kae-chan, please sleep earlier.” Please, sleep earlier.

Kae-chan: I will!

[Laughter]

—You have done lives in the US, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines. If there is a chance, where else would you like to perform? Like expected, Seoul?

[Laughter]

Hiichan: Of course, we would love to perform in Seoul!

Monya: France!

Shinohamu: In France, there’s a big event there, the “Japan Expo.” We want to be able to perform there.

—Anywhere else?

Shinohamu: Elsewhere? In Asia—?

Monya: I want to go to Europe!

Shinohamu: Europe~

—The Eiffel Tower?

Everyone: We want to go!

Monya: And eat snacks!

Hiichan: We want to eat European snacks~

[Laughter]

—Food is important after all. What do you love about your travels to the Philippines?

Shinohamu: If it’s food, we love Adobo~ and~

Nonchan: Mango~

Shinohamu: They’re very sweet~ In Japan, mangoes are very expensive. It’s so expensive. But in the Philippines, they’re very cheap, so compared to mangoes in Japan, they’re very sweet.

Nonchan: Delicious~

—Do you know Sinigang?

Shinohamu: Hm? Sinigang?

Nonchan: What’s that? What’s it like?

—It’s like a soup.

Shinohamu: A soup?

Gummy (Group translator): Oh, you haven’t tasted it yet right?

Everyone: No, not yet!

Shinohamu: What is it like?

Gummy: It’s a sour soup.

Everyone: Sour!?

Nonchan: What kind of meat is in it? Chicken?

Gummy: Fish!

Shinohamu: What else is in it?

Gummy: Vegetables are in it as well.

Everyone: We want to try!

Nonchan: I will eat it.

[Laughter]

—Dessert?

Kaechan: Halo-halo!

—Did you know that ‘Halo-Halo’ is a variant of ‘Kakigoori’?

Nonchan: Eh!?

Shinohamu: Really?

—It only has a lot of ingredients in it.

Shinohamu: Also earlier, there was the banana we were given. It was like fried.

Nonchan: It’s a sweet banana, it’s circular.

Shinohamu: What was it?

Nonchan: It was just given to us, just like that!

[Laughter]

—It’s ‘Maruya’

Shinohamu: Oh~

Nonchan: Maruya?

Shinohamu: It was delicious!

—That makes us happy! We have a lot of desserts that are made out of bananas. Like Turon.

Shinohamu: We tried that! It was really delicious! I love it!

—How about a place you love in the Philippines?

Kaechan: Mall of Asia?

—Oh, here! (The performance venue is in the Mall of Asia grounds)

[Laughter]

Kaechan: I want to go to Cebu!

Shinohamu: We want to go to Cebu!

—How about Boracay? The beach?

Shinohamu: The sea?

Everyone: We want to go too~

Shinohamu: When we come here we’re always busy, so we don’t have much time to go around
and see places. Sometime we would like to go visit and play.

[Laughter]

—We’ve heard a few of your songs. Like, Koisuru Vocaloid, and Net Auction Babies, and others. They’re very different from the usual idol songs, aren’t they? What kind of songs does Starmarie have? What do you call this genre?

Shinohamu: About the genre… we have light and pop songs, we have dark songs, we have rock songs too! We do a lot of different genre, but their characteristics/trait is that, each song has a different story to tell.

—Yes, Net Auction Babies has really dark lyrics.

Nonchan: It’s very sad~

Shinohamu: Yes, there are a lot of very sad songs.

—They’re very unique. There are a lot of different idols, and for us, this genre that Starmarie does is the first time we’ve encountered it.

Everyone: Oh!!

—And when I first heard your songs, my thoughts were. “Wow, these are great.”

Everyone: Oh! Thank you~ we’ll do our best!

—I have a friend who went to Starmarie’s live in Indonesia. He talked to me and said, “Ah, I love Starmarie, now.”

Everyone: Thank you~

—In the latest news, it was announced that you were to sing the ED song for “Card Fight Vanguard G!” To be on sale on 8/19, titled “Mekurumeku Yuuki!” Is this your first anime song?

Contributor Wanted!!

Shinohamu: Yes, it’s our first time!

—What kind of song is it?

Nonchan: It’s a really light and fluffy song.

Shinohamu: Happy!

Kaechan: With the theme of courage!

—but the usual Starmarie is dark.

[Laughter]

Shinohamu: Although our usual is very dark but this time it’s pop and happy!

—Do you watch Vanguard?

Nonchan: All of us watch it.

[Laughter]

—Do you play the card game as well?

Nonchan: Just a little.

Kaechan: We’re still studying it!

—Vanguard is really popular here.

Everyone: That’s amazing!

—Although I’m an anisong fan. I’ve always waited for Starmarie to release an anisong!

Everyone: Thank you!

—I’ll be looking forward to it. I’ll buy the single as well!

Everyone: Wah~! Thank you!

—Before our last question, is this the first time you’ve received an encore and double encore in your live in the Philippines?

Shinohamu: Yes.

—How do you feel about it?

Everyone: We’re very happy!

Shinohamu: We’re very happy, and it’s the first time we had a solo live here. To be able to receive encore calls and even a double encore, it was very moving.

—Us too! We did our best to call for “Encore!” Even if we’re very tired. We’re very happy to be granted the encore as well. It feels up our hearts.

Nonchan: Masaya~

Hiichan/Monya/Kaechan: Masaya~

Shinohamu: Very happy.

—Lastly! Please send a message to your fans.

Hiichan: To be able to perform a solo live in the Philippines and to hear a lot of “Hiichan!” calls, it makes me very happy. When we come in the Philippines again we would do our best and hope that everyone would continue to support us!

—There were a lot of presents too, weren’t there? [Laughs]

Hiichan: I was really glad. [Laughs]

Monya: We hope that more and more people will come to see us in the Philippines. From now on as well, with the release of “Mekurumeku Yuuki!” for Card Fight Vanguard G, we will continue to do our best! We hope that everyone will continue to support us!

Nonchan: I’m so glad to be able to do a live in the Philippines again! I was also able to meet our fans from before, and meet new fans as well it makes me very very happy. We will definitely come back again!

Shinohamu: I’m so glad to be able to do a live, and a solo live in my beloved Philippines. We will surely, definitely come back so once we’re back, I hope that everyone will come to see us!

Kaechan: This time, we were able to do a lot of things, and then we’re able to sing for Vanguard as well. It makes me smile a lot. I hope that in the future we’re going to be able to do a lot more different things and that everyone would still continue to support us!

—Thank you very much!

Everyone: Thank you!

—We will be waiting more for your solo lives and I will be waiting for more of your anisong!

Everyone: Wah~ Thank you!

—Thank you~
Everyone: Salamat~ (Thank you in Filipino)

Interviewed by Kang & Satsuki
Photo by Youko

Related links
Starmarie Official Website : http://starmarie.com/
Starmarie Official Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/starmariejapan
Starmarie Official Twitter : https://twitter.com/Starmarie19

Author

Seishun Kakumei (青春革命)

Seishun Kakumei (青春革命) is a Japanese pop dance cover group based in Manila, Philippines. They specialize in doing dance covers of J-pop idols which they perform in Jpop/Anime conventions and similar events.