From Janken Guidebook, translated article on 1st round match up between Mayuyu and Yukirin. Both members talk about their feeling.
There is drama only by the numbers of janken
The number-one showdown that surpasses the legendary famous ones “Minegishi Minami vs. Hirajima Natsumi”, or “Kojima Haruna vs. Takahashi Minami”! Best friends who have been walking hand in hand for 6 and a half years. Finally it’s time to let go of that hand!?
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Yuki): I have the feelings of wanting to stand at the center.
(Mayu): I’ve lost 3 times continuously in the past, so honestly, I don’t think I could win (laugh)
I knew that Mayu would come
Kashiwagi: 85 people cast their lots, but I didn’t think we would face each other at the first round….right?
Watanabe: Yeah! You thought it was a fake, right?
Kashiwagi: I didn’t!! I’m saying that I was surprised! What’s with that “Yeah” of yours (laugh).
Watanabe: It was so shocking that I would think like that, you know.
Kashiwagi: I cast my lots first, everyone was getting their opponents decided, but the place next to mine was still empty all the time.
Watanabe: Then near the end I drew my lot, and when I turned around to see the tournament chart, there was “Kashiwagi Yuki” written right next to mine and so I thought “Eehh~!!” and screamed unintentionally.
Kashiwagi: I, on the contrary, had a feeling that “Maybe Mayu would come” when the drawing had gone halfway. And then Mayu came for real, so I was surprised about that.
Watanabe: Wow, you predicted it. You’re a genius!
Kashiwagi: You make me shy… But well, it was my intuition?
Watanabe: In other words, it was thanks to Yukirin’s skill.
Kashiwagi: I’ve told you it’s not! (Laugh) By the way, who will be the center this time?
Watanabe: It’s like a festival once a year, so I think it’d be interesting if an unexpected girl became the center.
Kashiwagi: The topic “Who will win the championship and become the center?” is being talked a lot even among the members.
Watanabe: How about Yukirin?
Kashiwagi: The feelings of wanting to be it, I have. I have many chances to be chosen for the senbatsu of the singles, luckily, but I’m inexperienced with the center position, so… Mariko-sama has said it before. “Being the Janken Center will become commemorative for me”. It’s very awesome to receive a representative song of our own in AKB48.
Watanabe: To have a song of myself…huh.
Kashiwagi: She was very happy with that.
By the way, there are 3 patterns for a member to become the center in AKB48. That is to be chosen by the managers, by the fans through the general election, and by her own luck in Janken. But there is still no member who has overcome all and won the Triple Crown.
Kashiwagi: Yeah, there’s really none…
Watanabe: The closest to that would be (Oshima) Yuko-chan.
Kashiwagi: If she won the Janken, she would be the first one to win the Triple Crown!?
Watanabe: That would be cool!
Kashiwagi: If it’s Yuko-chan then it could happen.
Watanabe: If so, she’d be invincible already (laugh).
Kashiwagi: Yeah, we would be no match for her (laugh).
Watanabe: And for me, I don’t think I could make it even to the senbatsu in Janken Tournament. I’ve lost 3 times in the past, and inside me it is set that I will always lose.
Kashiwagi: You got seed a lot last year, right?
Watanabe: I could be the senbatsu just by 1 win, and yet I lost. Instant kill (laugh).
Fir-st, second, we are the 3rd generation members☆―!
Kashiwagi: I just remembered that this will be the showdown of members from the same generation, but I would want all the 3rd generation members to gather and go out to eat after a long time.
Watanabe: Yeah! I want to go! I love 3rd generation members.
Kashiwagi: I heard that Mayu cried on Ayarin (Kikuchi Ayaka)’s seitansai the other day. When the letter from Harugon (Nakagawa Haruka – JKT48) to Ayarin was read.
Watanabe: I cried even before Ayarin. When it’s about a member from the same generation, I’d cry.
Kashiwagi: I miss this Harugon and Ayarin pair… They were always together.
Watanabe: The contents of the letter was so firm that you wouldn’t think Harugon had written it, and when I thought that Harugon had become an adult, I was moved.
Kashiwagi: And you cried.
Watanabe: I was sobbing (laugh). Not to mention that she said a very good thing at the last part. “I’ve felt that people grow up by supporting each other and being supported”, like that.
Kashiwagi: That Harugon said something that good!?
Watanabe: Yes. That Harugon!
Kashiwagi: Sorry, my eyes are wet now…
Watanabe: See? (laugh)
Kashiwagi: 1st generation members who were the very first members, 2nd generation members whose team increased first, both of course would have a lot of stories and so their bonds are strong. But I think the bond between us 3rd generation members is also strong, maybe stronger than how the fans think it is.
Watanabe: I love the bond of 3rd generation members!
Kashiwagi: Other than us, the other ones who are also from the same generation with us and will participate in Janken Tournament are Ayarin (Kikuchi Ayaka), Haachan (Katayama Haruka) and Tanamin (Tanabe Miku), huh. They’re all in the opposite block with us.
Watanabe: Ooh! I’d be happy if they’d come up to the top of their block.
Kashiwagi: It looks like they won’t have to face each other until they make it to the Best 16, so there’s a possibility that all 3 of them will be in the senbatsu together.
Watanabe: Us two will have to clash suddenly, though (laugh).
Kashiwagi: …I want Haachan to be in the senbatsu.
Watanabe: Yeah. Me too.
Kashiwagi: Because within all the 3rd generation members, Haachan has never once entered senbatsu…
Watanabe: Haachan should be the center! And the single will be a popular Shouwa retro song. That’d be interesting!!
Kashiwagi: It’d be good if it came true.
Watanabe: She’s good both at dancing and singing, so I think it should be good!
Kashiwagi: The problem is, Haachan is very weak at Janken. She lost 3 times continuously at her first round (laugh).
Watanabe: 3rd-gen members, do you best~~~☆
Yukirin-kaasan decides to let go of her child!?
Kashiwagi: We’ve talked until now, but it sure has been a long time for a conversation between us two, right?
Watanabe: Now you’ve mentioned it, it’s been a long time (laugh).
Kashiwagi: The other day, I talked a bit with my mother about the time when I just entered AKB48. And then the topic changed to how I kept saying with my mother “That girl is cute, isn’t she?” when I first saw Mayu at the audition. And then my mother and Mayu’s mother greeted each other.
Watanabe: It seems so. I heard about that from my mother later. But still, it’s now… 6 and a half years before!? I was 12 back then.
Kashiwagi: I was in ninth grade, so I was 15?
Watanabe: I still remember it, my first impression about Yukirin. I don’t know if it was when we were at the audition, but I think it was at our first lesson. I thought “Her waist is so slim!! Will she be okay with such a slim waist?”. Also I thought that “She’s so cute!”.
Kashiwagi: Eh, you liar (laugh).
Watanabe: It’s the truth. ‘cause I also imagined things. I even imagined the scene where I would be a male high school student, and if a girl like this happened to sit next to me because of the seat change…
Kashiwagi: Ufufu. By the way, you’d always called me “Kashiwagi Yuki-chan” by full name like that at first, right?
Watanabe: It was my booming time at the time. I always did things that I didn’t quite understand. But the time where I became close to Yukirin was way after that.
Kashiwagi: Members from our generations were separated at once from team B because of the 1st reshuffle. Only I and Mayu were left. From that time, right?
Watanabe: And after that you became “Yukirin-kaasan”.
Kashiwagi: Mayu always does things properly, but I always worry about her, and I felt like I’ve had a daughter (laugh).
Watanabe: And we were always together until the 2nd reshuffle at Tokyo Dome last year… At that time I didn’t think that I’d be separated from Yukirin. While I was looking freely, without any hesitation I was told “Watanabe Mayu – Team A. The end.”, and I was like “EHH―!!”. I was stunned.
Kashiwagi: You cried at the backstage, right?
Watanabe: I feel like I can cry anytime I remember about that.
Kashiwagi: But Takamina told me recently. That she thinks Mayu has grown up after coming to team A, and there’s a strong feeling that Mayu is the center of team A.
Watanabe: Wow, I’m happy. That retracts my tears.
Kashiwagi: Ahahaha. Now I can look at Mayu without having to worry. So it’s not only Harugon that has become an adult… It’s also time for me to “let go” of Mayu, I think…
Watanabe: Well then, I’ll become independent now. Bye bye~☆
Kashiwagi: Eh…!? That easily? (laugh)
Watanabe: But now that it’s not a “Parent-to-child showdown” anymore, we can battle with all our might in Janken.
Kashiwagi: I see. Without any reserve!
Watanabe: This year, it won’t just end with an instant kill, you know! (laugh)
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(thanks to the original translator clubhappy at stage48)
It would certainly make the fans who are annoyed by the existence of any member outside of the senbatsu happy.
Actually, she should go with a pattern this time
