Shida Manaka (Mona) / Keyakizaka46 1st Generation

Kinda late...
Also this is Ken Yokoyama holding Sekai ni wa Ai Shikanai cd, while promoting his new project.

Since I am his biggest fan here, I think this is great interaction.
Well He is the guitarist/vocalist from the legendary punk rock band from Japan Hi-standard

Oh wow, she's listening to Ellegarden too?
Sure, her music taste is great...

Ah by the way, do you have a larger resolution pic? this one is kinda blurry
And someone need to translate that, since it's difficult for me to understand the whole article..

 

Mona, adorably cute, cool, and natural

 

Actually, I think that is exactly the motivation for the store chain to let its managers do this kind of thing. This manager just happens to have good taste and do it well.

@hart123 -- There's a readable version of that pic on keyakizakamatome.tumblr.com

 

two birds with one stone...maybe even three

 

I can try to translate it if you'd like but I have some things I want to get to before that one so it might take a while!

In the meantime, I translated Manaka's (and Risa's) interview with Overture magazine. She's as cool and funny as always.
http://keyakizakamatome.tumblr.com/post/150867782030/english-translation-overture-magazine (the scans to the magazine are linked there as well)



Annnd a picture of Manaka and Risa spotted out together with a friend for proof (if anyone needed it) that they do indeed hang out together on their spare time:

Spoiler: under here

bonus gif:

 

thank you so much for this translation!!

 

A couple of photos just posted to 2channel. A following message gave the poster "20,000 Keyaki points" for the first one (from Hustle Press):


And then there's this gif, from the "loud voice" episode of KeyaKake:

Spoiler: animated gif

Recently, people have pointed out (and I had noticed) that Mona has a pretty blank look on the last couple of KeyaKake eps, where they are talking with Kikuchi Ami. Some anti-Mona posters are repeating their claims that she is not a nice person. They mistake fake smiles for niceness. Others think she is tired. It has previously been mentioned that some members seem a bit down, perhaps from knowing they have been moved back in the formation. I myself wondered if she was just basically mistrustful of the glib Kikuchi-san:

 

I was wondering why Manaka is called Mona. For some reason, I never figured out why

 

Her self-introduction way back in March, at the first big live (Debut Countdown Live), included the phrase: "Manaka, Monaca, Manaka." I think it started from that phrase, which she had probably used even before that time. You can see it at the beginning of this collection of clips:


if the video does not show watch the video here

Also, if you put Mona with Risa, you get the Mona Lisa. That probably helps it keep on.

 

@ukifune Thank you so much! You really are the ultimate Keyaki fan!!

 

The Tachikawa Tower Records manager, who has made Mona the store's oshi, is taking her move to the second row well. He looks forward to the new single and calls the power-packed second row "The Milky Way" ("silver river" in Japanese), and says it is "the core of an iron wall."

 

Hi, I'm a new Manaka fan. First noticed her in the Kataru PV and immediately I thought, there is this special aura to her. Not sure how to describe it but I definitely want to see more of her. Thank you all for having translated her interviews, through that I can relate wither her a lot.

 

I am a fan of 5towers(sugai unit) so I'm glad to see these two...

 

All I can say is I agree. That's a very good way to put it.

 

Za cool they just need to be themselves

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

goddamn, the cool.
they are definitely perfect together.

 

new photos from HustlePress

https://hustlepress.co.jp/keyakizaka46_84/

 

Hustle Press pics are the best! I like black-haired Manaka, it suits her the most imo.

 

Thanks for the heads up!
Was totally bummed that everyone is getting a feature from them but Manaka. Now I can chill

I think she always looks great, I appreciate it when she experiments and shows us the different looks

 

Noticing that the attached interview was about her former Volleyball club activities, I got interested and translated it. Enjoy!
However, please excuse for if there should be some mistakes. There were a few lines where I'm not 100% confident about my translation. I also did a few amendments in '[]' when otherwise the sense could be lost by translating.

Spoiler: Hustlepress 08/11/16 Interview Translation

Alright, let's ask you about past days' 'Memories of when I was shining'. Does something come to your mind?
Eh-? I wonder... ah, Volleyball it is! In the junior high days, I was engaging in volleyball as club activity.

First of all, why did you join the volleyball club?
When I was an elementary schooler, I was in the brass instrument group, so I was thinking about doing a sports curriculum in junior high. However, since I didn't want to get sunburned, I joined the Volleyball club to do something indoors (laughs). Also, I had an aim to grow my height. I was only 149cm when entering junior high, but in one year, I grew to 160cm.

Over 10cm in one year! Was the training in the volleyball club harsh?
It was very harsh. There were no breaks, and there were days where we trained around twelve hours per day. Moreover, our trainer said things like 'Let's get adapt with receives' and let us do footwork without using a ball. That was very hard (laughs). Still, I liked volleyball and didn't want to do things halfheartedly, so I trained seriously.

Shida-san, you were the volleyball club's ace, weren't you?
Yes. When my elders graduated and I became the one with the most years in school, I received the ace's no. 3 as my player number. However, there was a time when I lost my will to practice and I was dropped as the ace. In my last match, I was not the number 3, however I have a memory of our trainer telling me during the match 'The real ace is you, right'.

That's almost a development like in a sports manga. Did you have any aspirations to become a [professional] volleyball player?
I didn't (laughs). Our volleyball club was weak. So, I didn't care much about winning or losing but instead thought that it's fine as long as I'm having fun doing it.

I see. However, since you were doing volleyball, you're doing things like shouting out 'sha-!!' when it comes to battling situations or frequently show a sports-minded attitude.
Hehehe. In the club, greetings were very strict, so during my active days I was shouting out things like 'thank you very much-!!' with an extremely loud voice. Even now, in the dressing room, I'm shouting out 'sha-!!' together with (Watanabe) Risa or Pe (Watanabe Rika) (laughs). Particularly when our fatigue is reaching its peak, we get in high spirits like 'That all-tired oneself, is amazing!' 'Yay!'.

The youthfulness is exploding, isn't it (laughs). Well, from now on, what is among the Keyakizaka46 activities you would like to pour your heart into?
Eh~... revealing myself, maybe? In times like these, like a photoshooting, even if I have things I'd like to do inside I can't reveal them.

Things you'd like to do, such as?
Like poses or expressions. Even if I feel like 'I'd like to be taken [for the photos] in such a manner', I can't do it. I'm scared of being told 'No, something's off' when I do it.

In what manner would you like to be taken for a photo?
In a stylish way. Since I can't laugh very well, I'm not good at 'cuteness', but a cool and stylish way could be alright, I'm thinking.

In fact, in the MV for 'Kataru Nara Mirai Wo', you look so good that it incites goosebumps.
KataMira's MV was a turning point for me. Before, we were filming the MV for SekAi, but that time I didn't do any progress and cried a lot. Since I really was unable to do anything right, TAKAHIRO was showing me proper examples from behind the cameras or things like that... I was disgusted at myself to even need things like that, and thinking 'just what am I doing here' was so frustrating... so, during the filming for the lip-synching of KataMira, I was thinking intensely about the meaning of the lyrics and moved in my own way.

The filming for those two pieces was just about half a month, however in that short time, there was a change inside you.
That's right. Risa also seemed to be very frustrated in the times of SekAi, however during KataMira she really made a lot of progress. When I saw that, I thought that I need to keep up. Somehow, I'm always referring to Risa. (laughs)

It's because you two have strong bounds, isn't it. That cool Shida-san is good too, but in 'Keyakitte, kakenai?', you're smiling more frequently, and I have a feeling that you can now show your feelings.
Eh~. I'm kinda uncomfortable with being told this (laughs). But, after the hidden camera episode was broadcast, I was frequently told 'your real character is interesting'. Since I'm not good at building up myself, I came up with thinking that it's fine to just display my original ways if it's enjoyable like this. ...Still, if this makes it appear that I've easily came to understand myself, I might actually dislike it (laughs).

In contrast to Risa, Manaka seems to firmly identify with her cool image and surely would like to make more out of it, although this unexpectedly brings out a certain cuteness around her as well. She's growing on me, after I underestimated her quite a bit at the beginning, thinking that she was the 'looks only' type.

The last part even made me a bit 'nostalgic' about the times when the 2nd single was just released and we were anticipating Tokuyama Daigoro and Keyabingo. That was probably the time when most of the members changed the most and the bonds within the group were brought to a new level. If anyone here didn't watch the documentary 'The time of Keyakizaka46' yet, I really recommend it, especially since it's subbed now.