#site translations

[Source]

Hamano who goes to the gym, Nogami who never does, and Toki who goes naturally

Animals, swords, battleships, robots…recently, it seems like content personifying practically every other thing has been an emerging order of business. In the midst of all this, yet another personification project was born. And that is BBB (Balance Ball Boys). What is being personified here are the balance balls usually seen in mail-order TV shopping channels, for use in diet or training.

Within these contents, women who spend all their money and time on their hobbies first are called “Nengukei Joshi”*; this project aims to promote fitness among young women.

The characters are: Mio, the prince hiding his wicked do-S tendencies, Fumi, the always-exhausted genius, and Daichi, the hot-blooded tsundere. They used to be idol group CCC (Triple Cherry), until they got into a sudden accident and were somehow reincarnated into balance balls. Told by a heavenly deity that “you will be human again after you have turned the attentions of the Nengukei Joshi overpopulating this era back to their health,” they work themselves ragged for the sake of all womankind. This is their story.

Toki Shunichi. Born May 7. Tokyo native. Affiliated to WITH LINE. His roles include Tsuzuki Kei in Idolm@ster SideM, Eto Kouki in TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION, Rurikawa Yuki in A3, Toki Yuito in Anidol Colors, etc. 
Hamano Daiki. Born March 30. Tokyo native. Affiliated to Arts Vision. His roles include Enjouji Michiru in Idolm@ster SideM, Onizuka Go in YuGiOh VRAINS, Dante Mogro in Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Kasuga Hirokuni in ALL OUT!, etc.
Nogami Sho. Born September 4. Oita native. Affiliated to VIMS. His roles include Iseya Shiki in Idolm@ster SideM, Kuga Ichiru in TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION, Alan Redford In THE MARBLE LITTLES, Gail in Magical Circle Guruguru, etc.
Photographer: Wataru Nishida(WATAROCK)

This is an interview with Mio’s Toki Shunichi, Fumi’s Hamano Daiki, and Daichi’s Nogami Sho. Of course we’ll talk about the project itself, but we will also tackle their personal health consciousness and hobbies.

Balance balls personified!?

There hasn’t been a project personifying balance balls before, so this idea was surprising.
Toki: It is, isn’t it. I think balance balls are things everyone isn’t familiar with, so I look forward to seeing if we could make people notice them and have an interest in them. The final setup hasn’t been decided yet, but I’m just pretty sure that whatever it is, it has something to do with balance balls.
Hamano: Right, right. I’m also interested on finding now how people who regularly exercise and use balance balls will take this. As for people who normally don’t exercise, though, if us portraying BBB lets them have some interest in it, I’d be pleased. Personally, I love moving my body, so I look forward to how my exercise routine will change from now on.
Nogami: I’m Hamano-san’s exact opposite - I never exercise. So I guess that might mean I’m the one who understands the feelings of BBB’s target audience the most…that’s something I’m proud of. I wanna warmly say “I understand how much you hate exercise. But let’s do our best together!” and help you.

Mio, Fumi, Daichi

BBB is a project aiming at Nengukei Joshi who pour all their love into their hobbies, so they may do their exercise while enjoying it. Everyone, how much do you normally exercise daily? Hamano-san’s already associated with rugby, though.
Hamano: I do love exercising, but since I started seiyuu work I only ended up exercising a few times across the years…I thought “I don’t like this! Let’s move my body more regularly,” and so I started going to the gym again. Because I make up my own routines, it feels like a hobby, and with that alone my body already feels like it’s getting better.

How frequently do you go to the gym?
Hamano: Around twice or thrice a week, now. Because when summer hits all I’ll do is swim in a pool. I actually wanna go to the gym daily, but there’s no saying if a daily training regimen would be effective.

Each of the three having their own way

How about Nogami-san. Didn’t you say you never exercise.
Nogami: I was in the track club in middle school, but quit due to my injuries. I started being interested in plays at around that time, so ever since then, I stopped exercising.

So you don’t ever go to the gym.
Nogami: Never ever!!
Hamano: How reassuring.
Nogami: For example: if someone told me “You HAVE to get thinner!” and I could only choose between going to the gym and starving myself, I would choose to starve. THAT’S how much I hate exercising…

The two of you are on opposite sides of the scale, but how about Toki-san?
Toki: I have a friend who works at a gym so that’s the reason why I went there. As for sports experience, I took swimming and kendo lessons as a kid, and was in the tennis club in high school. Also, my dad’s friend sells books for a certain bookstore and I help out when he supplies textbooks to schools. Since I was in elementary up to when I was in high school, I’d carry blocks of twenty textbooks at a time for hundreds of times, back and forth. That’s how my body happened.
Hamano: A natural body.
Toki: I don’t get to go now, though, so I lost that body. Around half a year ago, a friend of mine invited me to play tennis, but my body was wracked with muscle pain the day after (lol). Somehow it feels like my body begun to not like exercise after not doing it for so long. I prefer just moving my body around rather than training at a gym, so I go to a nearby wall-striking place, or go running at the park. And then I go to my kendo teacher’s place for coaching.

The three of you really have your own ways of going at it, don’t you. Are there any health-conscious things do you aside from exercise?
Nogami: I don’t do anything related to that. My health is bad (lol)
Hamano: Hmm. Due to work I can’t keep steady eating habits, so I make sure to drink supplements. Also, I make sure that at the very least, my lunch has vegetables in it, stuff like that.
Toki: Ah, I try to drink dietary fiber once a day. I also drink chelate lemon daily, because I like the taste of it.
Hamano: I also drank some this morning.
Nogami: I drank that the other day (lol)
Toki: It’s for the times when you want a bit of vitamin in your body.
Nogami: Am I gonna be alright in the future (lol)
Hamano: You might die early.
Nogami: THAT’S what I’m worried about.

Is that how bad your eating habits are? 
Nogami: They’re already wrecked beyond repair. Right now, I don’t give consideration to my health at all. I think the most I do is skincare.
Toki: I’m flexible. My big sis does classical ballet, and for that you have to be flexible. So sometimes even when we’re watching TV we do flexibility exercises.
Hamano: I’m bad at stretching. I normally end up vocalizing in pain.
Toki: Vocalizing out loud isn’t bad, rather, it signifies that you’re working up a sweat.

Individual obsessions

Do you three have hobbies which make you a Nengukei Danshi?
Nogami: I’m a Nengukei Danshi. I just keep aggressively buying clothes.

How much?
Nogami: It’s a bit…my manager is here so I don’t wanna say it…that much…
Toki: You’re always stylish, aren’t you.
Hamano: That’s right. But, how do you maintain that?
Nogami: The first thing I do when I get home is take care of my clothes and shoes. “You worked great today,” I tell myself, while polishing my shoes, ironing my clothes. And after that, I change into my houseclothes and relax.
Toki:Amazing…

Do the two of you have obsessions like that?
Hamano: I guess my watching foreign soccer games would count. No matter what I do I can’t go there to watch it live, so I watch through TV or on my phone. No matter how late it is on our timezone, I’ll go watch it. I don’t have any other hobby like that (lol)
Toki: I don’t really have obssessions myself, but I do go to the same coffee shop every day.
Nogami: Eh, so cool. Trendy!
Hamano: What do you drink?
Toki: Always coffee. My reset point is at that coffee shop, not my bathtub. I drink coffee with my mind blanked out and drifting off into space. On the days when I can’t go there, I drink coffee at home.
Nogami: So it’s not that you drink coffee to think of anything.
Hamano: If for example, one of the near tables is really noisy, what would you do?
Toki: I don’t think you need to bother about it to that extent. This has nothing to do with fitness (lol)
Nogami: What I said had nothing to do with it either! (lol)
Toki: But fashion does seem to have some relation to it. If you have clothes you wanna wear, keeping your silhouette is important isn’t it.
Nogami: Well I guess, that’s the reason why I try to not get fat after all.

The development from here on out?

There’s going to be a lot of developments from here on out, are there any things you would’ve liked to try doing.
Nogami: The fact that an anthropomorphized balance ball project exists is already a base-breaker, so I think we can pretty much do anything. We have characters already, so I’d wanna try doing stuff like character songs or drama CDs.
Hamano: I wanna play kick ball with a balance ball.
Nogami: That’s nice (lol)
Toki: Ahahaha. But, there’s another thing I wanna try, where balance balls, the audience, and us are all there.
Nogami: It’s not a meet-and-greet or a talk event, we’ll all just go exercise (lol)
Toki: We’re in the position to teach them, after all.

―Do you have any experience with balance balls?
Hamano: After I got the role in BBB, when I go to the gym I think “I have to use this somehow,” and just sit on it. I’ve gone and used a flat balance board before, but I have yet to properly use a balance ball.
Nogami: I’ve tried out a balance ball in the house of one of my relatives. I forget how long ago this was, but I tried sitting on it for some kind of skit, and fell right down. And that’s it.

――You never imagined you would take this shape, did you.
Hamano: We became balance balls, didn’t we.
Nogami: Really (lol)
Toki: We used them sometimes during kendo practice. Sensei would sit on the balance ball on his knees and wield his bamboo sword from there. When I thought I could do it too, I fell down so beautifully. I tried again so many times, carefully, but I finally got to do it in the end.
Hamano: You’ve managed to use it that way, so aren’t you a master at it already. First off, you teach us that; then I think we’ll be able to teach everybody.

• my translation index
  
• The term they use to describe their target female audience (and later, themselves) is Nengukei. I have no idea how best to translate this succinctly in English, but nengu refers to some kind of annual tax, and -kei prefix makes it a kind of person, so: someone who spends for their hobbies as diligently as they spend for their taxes is Nengukei Joshi/Danshi???
  
• thanks for reading! please do not redistribute this translation!

The original interview was dated May 9, 2011! Happy birthday!!

[Source]

The start of a new series introducing fresh, promising voice actors’ present, past, and future in a chronological table format!

Our first guest is Kousaka Atsushi. From this private person who we normally hear nothing much from, we will hear valuable moments in his school days, as well as his dreams for the future.

Kousaka Atsushi ● Birthday February 22nd ● Ogipro THE NEXT
His major roles are in the TV Anime Hetalia Axis Powers (Prussia, etc.), Katekyo Hitman Reborn! (Deimon Spade), Jewelpet (Sulfur-sensei), Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s (Hayashi Yoshizou), etc.

“I want to be an actor until I die!”

Atsushi’s PAST

(before 2010)

5 y/o
I noticed voice acting as a profession

My parents watched dubbed versions of foreign movies a lot, so at such a young age I already knew of voice acting as a job. The movies they watched back then were “Twin Dragon”, “Police Story”, “Terminator”, etc. Particularly, the performance of Nozawa Nachi-san, who dubbed Bruce Willis in “Die Hard”, left a strong impression.

13 y/o
I decided to be a voice actor

My childhood friend invited me to their school’s cultural festival, and on our way back home, they opened up to me about setting their sights upon becoming a seiyuu. I’d admired seiyuu for a long time as well, so, finding a kindred spirit in them, I decided to set my sights on that dream alongside them. When I got home, I immediately told my mom, “I’ll be a seiyuu.”

15 y/o
Enrolling after senior high

For the sake of pursuing being a seiyuu, I didn’t join any clubs, and started working part-time at a sushi restaurant. I’d decided I was going to move to Tokyo ever since I was in middle school, so, for the sake of showing my parents just how much I wanted to become a seiyuu, I decided to save up a million yen by working part-time all my three years of senior high. I did this perfectly.

19 y/o
Enrolled into Amusement Media Academy’s seiyuu department

The manager of the sushi restaurant I’d been working part-time in for five years asked me if I could work full-time for them, so he could promote me to his position. But, for the sake of my dreams, I still left for Tokyo…

21 y/o
Moved to Tokyo after graduation and joined the agency LOVE LiVE (currently absorbed into Ogipro THE NEXT)

It was my first time living alone, so after half a year I became homesick. One year after joining the agency, I had no jobs, and it hurt that my life was just part-time jobs and meetings with my manager - that’s when I first felt that I had failed. Then one day, after my second year in the agency. I looked up at the sky, it was a beautiful, endless deep blue. Looking at that, I truly felt the smallness of my existence. And there I thought “Even if you worry about the smallest things, you can’t stop them from happening. Today’s another day, so do your best.”

22 y/o
First job

I was Student A for the anime CODE-E. The recording day was on February 22, my birthday, and I blanked out in panic; I can’t remember how I went through with it. But I do remember how it felt seeing my name on the credits on TV.

24 y/o
The turning point

I got noticed for my work as Greece, Estonia, and Prussia in the anime Hetalia Axis Powers. But honestly, I don’t think I’m satisfied with my current self yet. I actually think that this turn of events came a bit too early.

Atsushi’s FUTURE

(2010 onwards)

25 y/o
Target for the year 2010

This year, I’d like to play the role of someone supporting the protagonist. I’m setting my sights on getting into an audition for someone who is by the protagonist’s side, someone who makes them stronger; I’m working on that now. 

27～28 y/o
Short-range goals

Around 2, 3 years from now, if I’ve become a regular on a show, a main character, I’d like to start providing for my parents. My parents have always helped me, so I’d like to make my filial piety have shape at around that time.

35 y/o
I’d like to challenge dubbing for foreign movies

The dubbers of foreign movies are what made me aware of the work of a seiyuu, but because I think it’s something that’s too difficult to conquer without experience, I’ll aim for it ten years from now. I’ll take on what I have right now, and after that, I’d like to dub foreign movies.

45 y/o
Building a house

By this time, I’d like to be married with two children. Also, I like animals, so I’d want to keep a pet. I like the soft, fluffy animals; particularly their kinda damp noses.

The final years
The ideal end of life

I’d like for my life to end when I’ve finished all my work. I want to take responsibility for the characters I play, and I don’t want to do something like die in the middle of portraying a character. Just like the actor Ogata Ken-san, I think I want to continue being an actor until I die.

10 questions to know about Kousaka Atsushi

How would you describe yourself in three words?

Shy (exact word: afraid of strangers), slender, and glasses (lol) The glasses are because I played Super Mario 2: 6 Golden Coins too much on the Gameboy, and ended up getting glasses when I was at around my fourth year of elementary. When I went to vocational school (Amusement Media Academy), I thought of doing various stuff to be trendy, and took on the challenge of wearing contacts, but when I moved to Tokyo, I thought “this is part of who I am as a person!” So after that, I’d always had glasses on.

Please tell us your hobbies, or how you spend your days off!

I’d do stuff like watch movies or play video games at home. Recently, I’ve gone to a coffee shop near my house to read there.

How do you avoid stress?

In my neighborhood there’s a big river, so whenever I’m worrying about something or feel like I’m at my wit’s end, I sit by that river and stare off into space, or go run a marathon across town.

Any interesting movies you’d seen recently?

The action movie Adrenaline (Western title: Crank), starring Jason Statham. The protagonist had been injected with horse poison, so he spends the rest of the story going this way and that as he searches for the antidote for his body that won’t survive if it isn’t always being agitated. From the start I’d always been playing roles that aren’t that energetic, so I thought I would be able to study about the parts of my acting that aren’t good enough. It turned out to be interesting, but practically speaking, it isn’t a good source of acting reference (lol)

What books have you read recently?

Ally of Justice ~I’m a loser~ by Honda Takayoshi. I like stories about youth. I don’t take too well to murder or suspense stories.

Out of all the roles you’ve had so far, which one is the closest to your own personality?

I don’t think that Hayashi Yoshizou from Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s is close to my own personality. But when I was portraying him, the audio director said it’s fine to just act as myself. So I portrayed him just as how I usually act in the times when I get hyper.

On the other hand, out of all the roles you’ve had, which one is the furthest from your own personality?

Prussia from Hetalia Axis Powers. He’s the opposite of myself, so I acted exactly as I won’t normally do by making it up as I went. What I mean is, he’s a character that’s really easy to make up stuff for!

What parts of your job are you weak at?

Right now, I’m bad at doing radio… I wonder if I get to get through that I have fun doing stuff. I don’t know where the conversation is supposed to go, so I’m conscious of how I talk; so when I see people who carry on talking interestingly, who get the conversation, I think they’re somehow amazing. I hope I’ll be able to follow in my senpais’ footsteps in the future.

What was the thing that made you the happiest so far?

I was really happy the first time I saw my name on the credits playing after the show’s episode was finished. Recently, I got to take part in the movie Hetalia Axis Powers Paint it, White, and in the middle of that large screen, 5.1 sound surround, I heard my own voice and thought “I did it.”

What’s your favorite motto?

“People are people, I am myself.” As an actor, I think it isn’t right if you’ve lost your individuality as a person. From here on out, I’d like to establish a way of acting characteristic to myself!

From Kousaka Atsushi:

I guess right now, I’d want to take part in more projects, build up experiences, and become an actor who people will feel “I feel at ease leaving this all up to this person” for! Although there’s a lot of facets to seiyuu work, like being a radio personality and being in events, I think that I am an actor first and foremost, so from here on out, I’d like to have more work focusing on my acting.

• my translation index
• we’re going back to the very start, aren’t we
• ok, the context to this none of you ever need to know: i started getting into seiyuu when i was a graduating high school student, and it was singlehandedly his fault. this was supposed to be the first interview i ever translated, but during the time of this interview, i was a sixteen year old terrified of getting stuff wrong
• the first draft of this interview stayed in a notebook which i never had the courage to pick up again. i tried so hard, fam, i tried so hard
• i’ve been back to seiyuu fandom for the past few years, but it took me this long to pick this up again. he’s long since grown since this - take a look at his current interview to see how he thinks now - some of his dreams happened, most didn’t, and he’s changed as a person and all that, i guess (he eats better now. thank god, i was worried back there) but all the important parts are still the same, and i guess that’s what i admire most about him
• so i guess, it was only right to have that last push of courage, so here it is and here i am
• anyway, pls nvm that i’m just talking out loud
• thanks for reading!!!!
  

This is a translation of Animate Times’ event report of the October reading event by 8P (Eight Piece), a seiyuu project by  Hatanaka Tasuku, Nogami Sho, Yashiro Taku, Enoki Junya, Lounsbery Arthur, Kousaka Atsushi, Masuyama Takeaki, and Chiba Shouya. Full translation can be seen under the cut!

Hatanaka Tasuku, Nogami Sho, et al’s “8P (Eight Piece)” holds a reading event! This is a report of their reading drama and talk parts!

Last October 14, 2017, the young male seiyuu project 8P(Eight Piece) had its reading event in Tokyo Yomiuri Hall.

8P(Eight Piece) is a project comprised of Hatanaka Tasuku, Nogami Sho, Yashiro Taku, Enoki Junya, Lounsbery Arthur, Kousaka Atsushi, Masuyama Takeaki, and Chiba Shouya. In this event, the continuations of the four reading dramas that had been broadcast on Animate Channel as part of 8P Channel 2 - whose theme songs had been released, one pair at a time, starting June 7, 2017 - had been performed.

In the afternoon session, they had Hatanaka and Chiba’s Lament Song to the Moon and Enoki and Masuyama’s Hachigaku! On the other hand, this report is about the night session, which had Lounsbery and Kousaka’s The Rose Garden and Nogami and Yashiro’s Starlight Stage!

Lounsbery and Kousaka play the main characters in The Rose Garden - Meiji Chapter.

The curtain opens on the reading drama The Rose Garden - Meiji Chapter. At its very center are Kousaka’s young man Reese and Lounsbery’s vampire Ewan; the story spins a tale out of the painful bonds of Reese, who passes over from the Meiji era to the current age, and Ewan, who yearns for Reese’s blood. Kousaka was able to portray the fear and distress of someone being struck by a vampire through his gestures and expression. Lounsbery uses a dainty, fragile expression as he portrays Ewan, who had been rejected by Reese, who struggles with his own immortality. Playing the characters surrounding Reese and Ewan are the other six members, bringing the story to its climax.

As the story comes to its end, Lounsbery and Kousaka move to the front of the stage, their cloaks trailing behind them. Sweetly, heartrendingly, and from the bottom of their hearts, they sung the theme song of their drama, the duet fate ～A Forbidden Scent～. Illuminated by penlights in their associated colors blue and sky blue, the hall had a magical ambiance to it. With their singing voices and choreography, Kousaka and Lounsbery were able to portray the frustratingly close and yet way too far mutual distance between Reese and Ewan, once more bringing their audience to tears.

Illuminated by penlights in their associated colors blue and sky blue, the hall had a magical ambiance to it.

Sweetly, heartrendingly, and from the bottom of their hearts, Lounsbery and Kousaka sung their duet song fate ～A Forbidden Scent～

Replacing the two of them, Masuyama and Enoki step on the stage, as the MCs. They call the six other members back to the stage for the talk part! As everyone, wearing black suits and a necktie with their assigned color, greets the audience again, Chiba, in his black suit and white necktie, quips “I just came from a wedding,” leading the other members to jealously blurt out “That’s unfair!” as their laughter rolls off the stage. And then Lounsbery, when asked about the song he just finished singing, says “It’s because it’s a pop song, it’s not like the the usual ‘go! go!’ music we usually do…” pretending he didn’t use that kind of word before on 8P, only to burst into laughter as soon as he’d said it.

The night session’s MC were Masuyama and Enoki.

Everyone steps onto the stage in their matching black suits! In a complete 180° from the reading drama which brought the audience to tears, the eight of them made everyone laugh during the talk part.

Once more, the talk part works off of the theme decided upon. The theme shared with the afternoon session was “lines which left an impression,” leaving Kousaka and Lounsbery to both ask “what were you saying back there again!?” to each other. Also, they talked about “things we don’t wanna stop doing no matter what,” and the inside stories behind the production process of their event goods.

In the second half of the event, the story of hot-blooded young man Reo and cool Kai unfolds, as they become closer to their dream of being top idols. Yashiro portrays earnest, cheerful Reo with a strong confident voice. On the other hand, Nogami, who plays Kai - who had taken up idol work to settle the discord within his family - is generally cool, sometimes passionate. Aside from Reo and Kai, there are two other characters who gradually cause trouble for them. The other six play their stubborn rival (CV. Lounsbery) and Kai’s younger brother Shougo (CV. Chiba), as well as the other characters supporting Reo and Kai, headed by Masuyama, on the stage, further adding color to the drama.

And then, Nogami, in his pink cloak, and Yashiro, in his yellow cloak, jump into singing their duet song “Double Starlight”. As they fill the halls to full capacity with their pink and yellow penlights, you can feel being wrapped up in the fans’ enthusiasm. With the way they held eye contact and their flawless dance steps, just like the idols they portrayed, they were able to charm the audience.

The two, passionately, confidently singing the theme song to their reading drama, “Double Starlight”.

Once more the eight of them head to the stage, to talk about their thoughts about the reading drama and duet song. Yashiro says, “The yellow and pink lights were beautiful. I always wanted to see them, but…when I’m dancing with this cloak in the way, sometimes I see it, sometimes I don’t…”

Coming from the theme “I’m really curious about this thing!”, the talk came to be about the “senmu” (lit. ‘senior managing director’) character played by Kousaka. From the start, “Senmu” had been a pet name 8P has been using as they got closer to Kousaka, leading to the audience murmuring amongst themselves and giggling when it was also the name of the role he was playing. During the time they were taping the first part of (the drama) for broadcast, the members also talked about the shock they had when they found out “Senmu (Kousaka) is gonna play a ‘senmu’!?” Also, they said that, on the script, the parts said by the managing director were erroneously marked with “Kousaka”, leading then to imagine “So could it be the character is actually him?”

During the talk theme of “a goal you’ve accomplished recently,” to Hatanaka’s goal this year, “I don’t want to forget anything,” Enoki confessed, “To be honest, I forgot to wear my belt today…”, and the 8P members then talked about stuff they easily forget! After that, Masuyama sums it all up by saying “This is the goal of all 8P members, I guess.”

They say their final words to the audience one by one. Hatanaka spoke fervently: “It’s a reading stage, so we had lots of thoughts that we wouldn’t be able to fill up a small theatre. But to see this many people assemble and seriously watch (our show), makes me very happy, as an actor.”

Nogami: “I had fun playing roles we don’t normally play, singing together, and getting to challenge various things. And I think that it’s all thanks to all the members altogether, and to everyone who came to see us.” Kousaka expresses his utmost gratitude: “For this 8P event, we just have a serious drama, so I wondered if it’ll be okay since all we ever did up to this point was stupid things, so I became uneasy… And because of that, when it’s about 8P I always feel a feeling of accomplishment that’s a little bit different from what I usually feel as a seiyuu or as an actor, and I’m really grateful for it.”

Lounsbery: “There’s solos we haven’t done yet, like for example (the in-show project) "Road to the Circus” (lol) If it’s for 8P, I’d like to see it.“ Masuyama: "Today we’ve been bonded by the confidence we have as part of 8P, and I think we’ve found our own challenges. We don’t know what’s in store for us yet, but from here on out we’ll keep on challenging ourselves, so everyone, please wait for us with excitement." 

At the very end, the eight of them sung "FULL VOLUME!!”, and, in the middle of all the multicolored lights, it felt like they were united. As they jumped and linked arms with each other, the eight of them singing with their smiles conveyed feelings that were worth more than words.

Animate Channel airs 8P Channel every second and fourth Friday of the month. It is currently airing its third season. The first halves of the reading dramas included in this event had been included in the DVDs for 8P Channel 2, which had been released sequentially starting from Wednesday, July 26, 2017. On Saturday, December 2, 2017, an event commemorating the release of the DVDs will be held at Animate for those who bought all 3 volumes of the 8P Channel 2 DVDs, so for those who have never gone to any of their events, this is your chance to see the charm of 8P up close!

Coverage/Words/Photographs by Ozawa Megumi

• wordpress link!
• my translation index
  
• note to self: the paragraph for double starlight still needs my rechecking: taku is 玲央, nogamin is 櫂, chiba plays 祥吾…but are these really how these names are supposed to be read…
  
• please do not redistribute this translation! thanks for reading.