Original publication date: November 4th, 2022 • Link to original interview
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Translated by: Kia • Beta'd by no one umm for corrections/concerns DM me or something
"BanG Dream!" is a continuously evolving girls band project, with various media such as anime, games, comics, and real-life concerts performed by the seiyuu. Roselia, its second real-life band, just released their latest single "Swear ~Night & Day ~" on October 26th, 2022.
ORICON NEWS has come to interview the band members in the advent of their latest release. Continuing from vol.1this is part 2 of a 3-part interview. if i ever tl the other two you'll see 'em here, we'll dig deeper into the coupling track Our Carol this time. From discussing the song, to "Christmas planning recs", we'll surely show you tons of exciting chatter!
Shizaki: I thought it to be quite fresh.
Nakashima: I felt like it was my first time listening to a song that seasonal, personally.
Kudō: I thought "this song has a nostalgic kinda vibe to it" myself.
Aiba: Right from the intro you can feel the Christmas spirit in it, and I wanna note that there's a story to the lyrics too. In-game, 2D Roselia2d roselia: characters, 3d roselia: seiyuu spend Christmas together, and my character, Minato Yukina, is spurred to create Our Carol from those moments... and that's how the song came to be.
Sakuragawa: My character, Udagawa Ako, states that she "wants to have a Christmas party with Roselia." And that's when Yukina-san bluntly goes "What's so special about Christmas?"
Kudō: I was super shocked by that, when recording the lines for the event.
Aiba: Yukina hasn't ever really done any festive Christmas-y stuff. That's why she'd say something like "I can't understand what's so special about it."
Nakashima: In my head I was anxiously like, "Yukina, how could you say something like that?" (laughs).
Sakuragawa: After they've all celebrated Christmas together, Ako-chan asks "Yukina-san, what did you think?" and Yukina responds with "...I suppose it was fun." Then, she went ahead and created this song.
Aiba: She expressed her true feelings by pouring them into Our Carol.
Sakuragawa: The phrase "With smiles so tender and mild"line taken from aurorasubs' tl! click the highlight coming up too is in the lyrics.
Aiba: Yes, tender smiles indeed. Personally, my favorite lyrics in it are "(There's no need to speak) Since I understand" for sure, and then...
Sakuragawa: Say it!!
Aiba: That's followed up with "(There's no need to hear)". I just love how it sounds.
(There’s no need to speak) Since I understand
(There’s no need to hear) What you want to say
Our thoughts reach when our freezing fingers intertwine
Sakuragawa: Preach it!!
Nakashima: One has to wonder just how many issues have come about because Yukina didn't properly express her true feelings... (laughs).
Kudō: For sure. Yukina's used to taking everything on, alone.
Aiba: We unconsciously grasp a sense for what feels "normal" in our day-to-day lives, and it's only after doing so that we realize it: it's the happy moments that make up said normalcy.shoutout to this line which was so hard to translate that it singlehandedly delayed this tl for weeks These are the feelings written into the lyrics, and as such I think of it as a deeply warm song. That's why I feel that Our Carol is, in spirit, Roselia's truest love song.
Sakuragawa: Uhh... It kind of sounds like we're talking about events concerning real-life us, so just to clear things up: from the start of the interview up until now, we've been talking specifically about the 2D characters! (laughs)
Kudō: We have our own Christmas gift exchange too, we've been doing it for a long time now.
Nakashima: We're doing it this year too, right?
Sakuragawa: We definitely are! What should our budget be this time?
Kudō: Up until now we've gone with 5,000 yen for the gifts, but wouldn't it be nice to go all out this Christmas and do it for twice that much?
Shizaki: I think that'd be great!
Aiba: And we just released a Christmas song too, we can celebrate that.
Kudō: True, we can pass around presents as we're playing our instruments along to Our Carol.
Sakuragawa: If we were to swap around presents while doing all that, my arms would just collapse (laughs).
Nakashima: What kinda weird present-swapping game are you two coming up with...
Aiba: 'S okay, we can all be in pain together! (laughs)
Sakuragawa: Yes, we'd absolutely love to perform this for the Christmas season.
Nakashima: It'd be perfect for a solo live held towards the end of the year.
They finally performed Our Carol at their solo live Stille Nacht, Rosen Nacht held on December 14th, 2024!
And at the live itself they announced that they'd do an additional RosenNacht performance in Shanghai, on February 15th, 2025.
They did perform Our Carol there as well, despite it being Valentine's Day by then. Which is something they actually addressed like a week later at the Roselia RADIO SHOUT talk event, Spaß. They had this to say about it: "It's still winter, so it should've been fine."
Sakuragawa: There's one thing I'd like to do with everyone at least once.
Nakashima: What kind of thing?
Sakuragawa: The five of us should go... on a limo ride down the block.
Aiba: Oh, like softblocking?
Nakashima: Well, that's an entirely different word (laughs).
Kudō: Yeah, that's like, removing followers and blocking people on SNS (laughs).
Aiba: Ah, so that's what it means? Well... let's limo down the softblock.
Kudō: Just say we're "going on a limo ride"! I'd wanna dress fancy with everyone for it though.
Sakuragawa: A dresscode's a great idea!
Aiba: And, like... we could get champagne (Aiba makes an 80s-style gesture).
Kudō: What's with that outdated kinda gesture... (laughs)
Nakashima: We could go on a ride overlooking the
Rainbow Bridge.
rainbow bridgeee. old indeed, construction began in 1987
Shizaki: Oh, stylish!
Aiba: Isn't the Rainbow Bridge itself "outdated" now!?
Kudō: That's fine if it's the Rainbow Bridge though.
Aiba: Eeehh―!
Sakuragawa: Is there something else you guys want to do?
Kudō: It was a long time ago but, we had a shooting on Christmas. We all baked cookies together, and I wanna do it again. What do y'all think about a cooking showdown?
AuroraSubs has subbed the entirety of Rausch. Go check it out! It's an incredible live!
Shizaki: Eh, a cooking showdown? If we were to have one, I think it'd be a good idea to do it in teams. I'm teaming up with Ako-chan.
Nakashima: Ah, I'm joining Ako's team too (laughs).
Sakuragawa: Actually, I'll be ordering from the sidelines. So you four get to split up into teams!
Nakashima: Is that really okay...? Leaving the kitchen to our mercy...
Aiba: We'll bake cakes. We could team up two versus two, and Meguchii can be the judge!
Sakuragawa: Please do not go ahead with this (laughs).
Kudō: Let's do something brutally difficult (laughs). Like a log cake, and something seasonal like a New Year's theme would be good.
Aiba: I can make stew.nimono (煮物) And I can make konjac rolls
konnyaku wo kurutto (こんにゃくをくるっと) too. In fact, within Roselia, I'm the second best cookthere's just straight up no way this is true..
Shizaki & Sakuragawa: Ehh!?
Kudō: I can cook too.
Nakashima: I can, too.
Shizaki: In that case, I can cook too... I can cook! (laughs)
Kudō: Meguchii's really good at cooking, she's definitely number one herethis is definitely true.. After her it'd be me, then Yukki, Nonchan, and Aiai would end up last.
Sakuragawa: Well... have any of you had any "Wow!" cooking moments to speak of lately?
Kudō: Yeeees! I baked bread recently!
Sakuragawa: That's from when we went to a baking class together...
Aiba: I see. So, that's why you've been so confident about your cooking for a while, right?
Sakuragawa: Kudoharu was really good at kneading dough, to be fair.
Kudō: I was a total pro! But, I am no good with a kitchen knife, so I just cheated it by copying what Meguchii did.
Sakuragawa: Nonchan, what have you been cooking lately?
Shizaki:
Tomato sukiyaki.
トマトすき焼き
Kudō: Woah, awesome.
Shizaki: And I also peeled an apple!
Aiba: I... have never peeled an apple... (laughs).
Shizaki: So, that means I win!
Nakashima: I have peeled apples too! When I was in school, we did it in class!
Sakuragawa: When's the last time you peeled an apple?
Nakashima: Uh... about 6 years ago.
Aiba: That's a real long time ago! (laughs)
Nakashima: But, I cooked
glass noodle salad
chuka harusame (中華春雨)
recently!
Sakuragawa: I've heard about that before, and you just added in the ingredients and let them boil according to the instructions on the package... (laughs).
Nakashima: The ingredients were all actually mixed up within the package beforehand, so I didn't even add in anything myself... (laughs).
Aiba: I cooked
capellini
yeah it's just capellini
too, though? The cold pasta?
Kudō: So you boiled it and cooled it and that's it.
Sakuragawa: Wow... looks like Kudoharu and Nonchan are our winners (laughs).
Aiba: I wish we had more of a "romantic" kind of story to tell here... (laughs).
Kudō: Limousine, champagne, and a dresscode.
Aiba: Let's leave it at that.
Sakuragawa: Yup.
And it has been subbed in its entirety by a super dedicated collective of fans. An absolutely insane feat. PLEASE go watch it.
Aiba: This truly is... the concert I've wished for the most of them all. At the very beginning for "Bandori!", we also held a live that included every single band (January 2018's
"Garupa Live"
garupa live ♥ ♥ worth noting this live was held
during the days of ogselia w/ yurishii and akeshan!
). As time has gone by, so many things have just completely changed since then. There are so many more songs, and all the characters have grown up too. The stars have finally aligned for all of us to perform together again and I couldn't be more excited about it. Also, we have song collabs between the bands now, and a song performed by every band at once, so I'm super thrilled about the kind of ruckus that'll bring about on stage.
Aiai's referring to CiRCLE THANKS MUSiC♪ here!
It has an official english translation, included in its linked wiki page up there. It was indeed performed at Special Live 2022 too!
Sakuragawa: We've had a couple joint lives before where two bands collab for it at once, but this time, the entirety of "Bandori!" will partake in a "festival party extravaganza". And to tell the truth, we may even have an idea of what each band's setlist will be like... this is a concert that you just absolutely cannot miss out on!
Aiba: What can we expect for Roselia's setlist?
Nakashima: I must simply describe it as "insane". That's the exact thing we were going for, and we're preparing for it with all we've got, so we'd be super happy if you could all look forward to it!
Aiba: In 2D Roselia's story, the goal they're shooting for is to perform in the music festival "FUTURE WORLD FES", so it was an important goal of ours to perform in a music festival as well. We were actually invited to perform 2 years ago, but the COVID-19 crisis led to the event's suspension... It was the first time we were invited to such an event, so we did wonder if we'd ever have a chance like that one again. As it turned out, we were also invited this year, and we couldn't be happier about it. I was quite shocked when I saw Roselia's name among such incredible performing acts.
Sakuragawa: That's... way too much to ask for!
Aiba: There will be tons of people who'll see us perform for the very first time, so to them I want to cry out: "This is Roseliaaaa!"
Nakashima: Wasn't Aiai like, super pumped-up just now!?
Aiba: "This is Roseliaaaaa!" just like that (laughs). I wanna do my best to perform, and show that Roselia's music is the kind to render you speechless.
Kudō: Also, in February we'll perform along with Morfonica for "BanG Dream! 11th☆LIVE". Up until now, we've only had joint concerts with RAISE A SUILEN and Poppin'Party, so we're stoked to finally perform with Morfonica as well. Hasn't Meguchii been thinking about this a lot, in particular?
Sakuragawa: Mika-san, who plays Morfonica's Futaba Tsukushi, has been my drum teacher throughout all these years, and I can confidently call her a master of her craft. Getting to stand together with my teacher, on the very same stage,
here they are at 11th live! they had a drumming duet
showcase of sorts it was incredible
is an incredible privilege I'm deeply grateful for.
Aiba: In the joint lives held thus far, we've had the chance to collab all together on-stage, so we're already looking forward to what we'll get up to this time around. Morfonica doesn't have a keyboard player, and Roselia likewise does not have a violinist. There's this sort of curiosity over the kind of collab it'll turn out to be that we're super excited about.
Sakuragawa: In our September live"Sonnenschein", held September 22, 2022. It was Roselia's performance for "BanG Dream! 10th☆LIVE" we mentioned that "it'd be nice to hold a 'school festival' type of live someday". Thus, I personally wish to see the year in which we follow through on our words and turn them into reality. In today's interview, for example, we talked about the possibility of "holding a live on Christmas"bringing up "Stille Nacht, Rosen Nacht" again bc it really is that good. please watch ittt and such. Ideas of this sort usually pop up during our yakiniku outings. When we get together for yakiniku, there's one of us in charge of writing down notes for this kind of stuff, making sure not to leave anything out.
to whoever's reading this rn i was sooo close to doing these apa style for the bit. also rachael if ur reading this hiiiii