E = EX Taishū, Y = Yuzuha, M = Miku

The two girls who you can see literally every day on the shelves of bookstores and conbinis finally met! They had met at handshake events and talked over social media, but this was the first time they had a proper conversation. Talking their respective gravure, the confidence they gained through it, the promise of doing a shoot together (?!) — you better not miss the exchange between this top pairing that carries 48G forward!

Our expressions are opposite, like Yin and Yang?

E: A talk between you two, who are very active in the gravure scene and appear on the covers of all the magazines, even as 48G members, has finally come true!

Y: I am over the moon! When this interview was decided, I boasted about it to my groupmates! Because since corona started, there haven’t really been many chances to meet with members from the other groups.

M: Last time we met, it was at a 48G handshake event, so that’s gotta be like 3 or 4 years ago?

Y: Right. From my side, I had always one-sidedly liked Miku and whenever I saw her at a handshake event, I would be thinking “I really want to talk to her, to take a picture with her,” but I would get nervous…

M: Yeah, I remember that. Yuzu was with other NMB members, surrounding me from afar, murmuring.

Y: I would be nervous every time, taking great pains to approach her. But she would always be very friendly so I started liking her even more!

E: To Hongō-san, Tanaka-san had been someone you had respected.

Y: Right! And that never changed! Sometimes I catch myself unconsciously doing things like looking through Miku’s Instagram or Twitter. Which makes me sound like a stalker (bitter smile).

M: Happy to hear that! I also check out Yuzu’s social media a lot.

Y: Really?!

M: Like you playing guitar; sometimes I even go all the way back to some ancient posts.

Y: So embarrassing!

E: Since you both check out each other’s social media, you inevitably have to follow each other’s activities as well, I suppose.

M: Yeah, Yuzu is truly amazing! As “Mikurin ojisan” I am very thankful haha! I even bought a Young Magazine with Yuzu on cover after all. I have always been a gravure connoisseur, but when I saw Yuzu’s gravure it was a shock! For the first time in a long while I felt like, “woooow!”

Y: Thank you, it was nice to hear that! I also bought the Manga Action with Miku on cover! In conbini’s magazine corner too, my eyes immediately go to the magazines with Miku on the cover and I am thinking, “Which magazine’s cover is she gonna grace next time?”

E: Tanaka-san used the word “shock” when talking about Hongō-san’s gravure. Which part exactly were you charmed by?

M: There is a lot! First of all the wonderful innocent smile! She gives out the feeling of an idol who matches well with summer and sea and I really like her beatific smile that just energizes you. A girl who feels fresh and evokes the feeling of summer this much — you would be hard-pressed to find someone like her! Also her waist is thin yet she has a proper bust, I really admire her curves! She has nice abs too.

Y: It’s so embarrassing to hear such high praise lavished on me!

M: I wanted to express that for so long!

Y: Just as Miku said, my smile is something that probably cannot be missing from my gravure. But it’s not like I would be instructed by the photographer to smile, it’s mostly a fully natural smile, when the photographer catches a moment where I burst out laughing after talking to the accompanying stylist or someone.

E: So to Hongō-san, what are you attracted by in Tanaka-san’s gravure?

Y: Well it’s after all her miraculous chest! When you see her on the magazine cover it’s such an impact that draws your eyes in. Her face is also very pretty and cute. Her smiley face is of course nice, but I personally really like her mature, indifferent expression. Even when I am going through her magazine shoot, sometimes I just stop my hand in the air, gasping, “What is this expression!”　And when Miku’s mature pictures appear on my twitter timeline, I always zoom in and observe it closely haha.

E: “Yuzu ojisan” has appeared haha!

M: Glad to hear that! I am pretty much the complete opposite of Yuzu in that my smile is not my strongest point. So I am truly happy that she said that she likes my smileless pictures. Lately I have become able to smile naturally, but before I used to be very bad at it.

Y: I study Miku’s expressions a lot actually! I am not good at mature expressions, so I am looking at and studying Miku’s pictures, thinking like, “If you open your mouth you look more mature I guess?”

M: You are bad at it? When I see your gravure I do think sometimes your expressions are really mature? But indeed I have been often told by photographers, “Rather than closing your mouth, it’s better to leave it open a bit.” But I would like to ask Yuzu, since she seems to have done shoots at the beach quite a bit, how are you able to just laugh crackingly like that? I always struggle to keep my eyes open under the sun. Does it not blind you?!

Y: Hehehe, I also have to have my eyes closed all the way until the photographer presses the shutter, then they tell me to open my eyes and I do so with a large smile, we do it like that. Though I never really felt dazzled; I feel like I am quite resistant to the sun.

M: Heh, as expected! We are indeed “Yin and Yang”. [Or “light and shade”; Miku probably came up with that as a sort of a pun, she used 陰と陽 and they had just been talking about the sun, 太陽.]

E: Haha, but surely Tanaka-san is not exactly “Yin”.

Y: By the way, Miku, do you have someone you use as a reference in gravure?

M: I have always liked gravure so fans would be sending me many photobooks. So I cannot really say someone in particular, it was mostly like going through photobooks and thinking something looks good I guess? But since I am quite small, I study photobooks of girls of similar height and contemplate what poses look good.

But for my first photobook, it was modeled on Sashihara Rino’s “Scandal Addiction” in terms of the composition. And the photographer was Hosoi Kōjirō [Though Miku’s PB is not in the Wikipedia list of his works at the time of writing this!] so I studied his previous works.

Y: That’s amazing, studying properly indeed!

We are not rivals, we want to enliven 48G together!

E: Lately, both of you have been gracing the covers of many magazines.

M: It had always been something I longed to do. Seeing members like Miyawaki Sakura being on the cover, I felt I also wanted to do that one day. Also when I was still in primary school and I was cleaning my dad’s room, some manga magazines with cute idols on the covers came up. At that time I was extremely jealous and I remember writing as my future dream that “I want to grace the cover of a magazine!” That I was able to make that dream come true makes me really happy.

E: How does Tanaka-san’s father feel about her current activities?

M: He always says it’s great! But the other day he bought a magazine, and I thanked him, but he said he had not bought it to see me but the manga!

E: Contrary to that, Hongō-san did not originally dream to do gravure.

Y: Yeah, not at all haha. But members had been telling me I had better do it. Then, seeing how girls like Jōnishi Rei and Abe Wakana gained confidence after doing gravure, I thought to myself, “Maybe if I tried it, I could also gain some confidence,” and so I did try.

M: Let me just say something on behalf of all the fans — thank you!

E: For Tanaka-san, did gravure also helped you gain confidence or change your frame of mind?

M: Hm, confidence… Haha. But lately there’s been quite a few HKT members doing gravure. I feel like they contribute to the whole group with that so I am thankful to them.

Y: For me too, there have been many people who told me that they had not known about NMB, but thanks to my gravure they had found out and they had even subscribed to the NMB mobile service. It feels nice that I did my part in helping the group as well.

E: What has been the reaction of your group members?

M: Members have been hyping me up so much. Especially when my photobook was released everyone said how much they wanted to get it.

Y: In NMB too there are a lot of members who enjoy gravure, especially our captain Kojima Karin, who always comments on my expressions, whether they were good or bad, and helps me by giving me some advice.

E: So there is also some criticism?

Y: Oh without question. Just the other day I was told, “You only upload smiling offshots on social media.”

M: In my case there isn’t really criticism, but sometimes members would ask me, horrified, “When did you learn such expression?!” Particularly it comes from my genmates or senpais, who have known me for a long time and they tend to be the most surprised ones.

E: So what both of you have in common is that you find pleasure in being able to contribute to your group with your gravure activities.

M: I feel strongly about enlivening HKT and 48G in general through gravure. I am delighted whenever I can see not only me but also Yuzu on a magazine cover! I absolutely do not consider her a rival, but rather as someone together with whom we can make everything more exciting.

Y: Ah! How nice of you!

M: I hear often from fans as well, that they want us to do some talk or shoot together. So I am sure they are going to be satisfied that this has happened!

Y: Indeed, and I am definitely open to doing a shoot together!

M: It would be great, wouldn’t it! What concept would you like to do?

Y: I like the concept of “youth”, so like wearing sailor suits!

M: Ah I would love to do that! I have seen recently the shoot you did in EX Taishū, where you wore a sailor suit, and I felt like, “youth is good after all”! My image of us would be like “Sun and Moon”, where Yuzu would be the bright one, while I would be the calm one, then how would it turn out when we are both together. Also some peaceful shoot brimming with the feeling of normal, daily life. Yuzu has the image of holding and eating fruits a lot, so doing that together! And cosplay! And a cute shoot with some fluffy surroundings!

Y: Hahaha! By all means!

E: Mikurin ojisan’s imagination is unstoppable haha. Now, let us hear about your future plans.

M: I want to get on many covers and support HKT like that. I am aiming to be the most cover featured girl at the end of the year!

Y: I am 19 now, so my goal is to release a photobook in my teens!

M: You definitely have to accomplish that! Fans likely also want to see the fresh, teen Yuzu. If I was the management, I would release it immediately!

Y: Hahaha. I want to release my first photobook full of smiles in my teens, then in my twenties to release a more mature photobook, that would be the ideal scenario.

M: I want us to grace many magazine covers together and help our respective groups and 48G in general from now on as well! Let’s do our best and I am cheering for you!

Y: Thank you! I myself really enjoy Miku’s gravure, so I wish you to get on many covers as well! And it would be wonderful if we could stir up the gravure world together!

M: Thank you!