Motochika Kasane – “If it weren’t for Zenkimi, I probably wouldn’t be able to think so sincerely about others” (July 2021)
The fifth in our series of solo interviews is Motochika Kasane. As soon as she joined the group, she demonstrated high singing and performing skills, and this girl, so confident on stage, in her own words, not that she wanted to sing and dance – she wanted to join Zenbu Kimi no Sei da above all. Her feelings for the group were that strong. So what did Kasane gain by joining “Zenkimi,” and why did she want to be a part of them so badly? Touching on her life before the group, as well as her family relationships, this girl who used to do everything on her own, told us thoroughly what she wanted to convey to the listeners as part of the new “Zenkimi.”
I felt a kind of emptiness inside all the time
– It’s been almost a year since you became a member of Zenbu Kimi no Sei da on September 30, 2020. Tell us how you feel about it.
Motochika Kasane (hereinafter referred to as Kasane): As soon as I joined the group, a tour of 47 prefectures began immediately, so at first I was just trying desperately. But since then I’ve been able to relax a bit and I feel like I’m learning something new every day.
– And when do you think you started to show your individuality?
Kasane: I think since Mei-Kote (Mei Yui Mei and Kotetsu) joined us. Everything changed: two members joined the group who had incomparably more experience and more performances, so it had a big effect on my mood. Because I was supposed to perform on the same stage with Mei-Kote, and I didn’t want to lose to them.
– So you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like to lose?
Kasane: It’s more like I don’t want people to see me as confused. Amanechi is very hardworking by nature and she exudes this unwillingness to lose, but I’m the kind of person who seriously thinks things through in my head, so I do a lot of work when no one is looking… I’m more the kind of person who wants to dive into myself alone. For example, I’ll rehearse with everyone else, and I’ll come home and think, “Well, now I’m going to rehearse for real!” (laughs). But if we’re talking about whether I hate losing or not, I guess you could say I hate it.
– But why did you want to join “Zenkimi” in the first place?
Kasane: It all started when I saw the live video of the song “Cult Scream” on YouTube. I thought, “What the hell is this?” I’ve never been into idols or female groups, so it was even more of a shock to me. Like, this isn’t how I thought female groups would be (laughs). I never really liked bright and popular songs, and I liked the tension of those powerful melodies of “Zenkimi.” That drew me in. They sang a lot about loneliness, and I think the fact that they didn’t try to be popular with everyone, but those who got into them were really into them, was something that really resonated with me.
– And when did you first notice this tendency towards loneliness in yourself?
Kasane: First of all, I’m an only child in my family, and if you think about it now, I’ve always been alone since I was a kid. Even in kindergarten, I don’t remember running around with everyone, and in school I seemed to be doing everything I wanted to do, but I guess I felt lonely sometimes. I felt dissatisfied, I didn’t have any goals or things that I had done long enough, and so I always felt kind of empty inside. I felt like if I had something that I was really passionate about, my whole everyday life would probably be a lot more vibrant.
– So you were always doing something, but looking back, you didn’t have any real hobbies or accomplishments?
Kasane: Yeah, I didn’t have any at all. But I had a good life and I wasn’t unhappy. I think if I really didn’t like it I would have tried to change things, so I guess I just accepted who I was. As I got older I became more and more disconnected from the world, I became uncomfortable being in large groups and I withdrew from other people.
– And what would be at least partly your favorite thing to do at that time?
Kasane: Hmm… Probably walk around and listen to music.
– Alone again (laughs).
Kasane: Yeah, alone (laughs). I had a lot of free time, so when I was bored, I went out a lot and I always had music with me.
– What did you listen to?
Kasane: Some dark songs, English rap with a lot of bass. Rap has very strong lyrics – I mean it’s music that expresses different views on life in a hard way. Even if I didn’t understand what it was about, I just liked the feeling of that music becoming a part of me.
I want to bring my whole family to the Budokan
– So after you discovered “Zenkimi” through Cult Scream, you wanted to audition right away?
Kasane: Yeah. It just so happened that just a few months after I found out about the group, they opened an audition. And I’m simple by nature, so I thought, “I like this, so I want to be there!” That’s how I felt at that time.
– So you made a decision right away. After listening to “Zenkimi” songs, what was the impression of the group members that helped you make that decision?
Kasane: I thought they were people who wanted to convey something to everyone. I think a lot of artists try to convey something with their songs, but in “Zenkimi” it felt like they were trying to convey something with their poses, their screams, all their actions. And when I saw the video, I saw the fans embracing it and bursting and rushing forward, and I’ve just never seen anything like that, it was a shock.
– And what did you want to convey to the listeners when you became part of the group?
Kasane: I still don’t quite understand it, but while expressing feelings of loneliness, I also want to convey various emotions to the audience as they are. For example, in “Solo Untitled” or “MudaiGasshou,” we all really cry, but in real life, it’s very rare to show yourself sobbing or disheveled in front of many people, right? But at a concert, we show that too, and then all of a sudden we switch to an upbeat song and we’re like, “Well, rock on!”, so I want to convey both weakness and strength, the fact that we’re not going to let our fans go… I want to honestly convey different things to everyone.
– So, after realizing that you should show the sides of yourself in “Zenkimi” that you didn’t want to show to people before, was there something you discovered in yourself for the first time?
Kasane: Yeah, there were a lot of things like that. We work together on a daily basis, and before I didn’t think I was capable of that. I didn’t even want to try it, but once I tried it, surprisingly I turned out to be pretty good at it. Even with our busy schedules, when we have to run from one thing to another, I somehow manage to do it, and in those moments I feel satisfaction and confidence, so there are discoveries everywhere I look.
Imamura Nobuhide (codomomental director): Her father talked about it a lot, too. To make it possible for Kasane to join “Zenkimi,” we talked a lot with her parents. Well, we even had a little fight with her father (laughs). He said, “Kasane has been a real loner all this time, so she’s bound to cause problems for others,” but I didn’t think so at all. And that’s how it turned out: both before and now, she continues to handle everything cheerfully.
Kasane: Not only was I an only child, but I lived with my grandparents, so I had a lot of attention from my family, but I still did everything I wanted to do, so it’s not surprising that they were overly concerned about me. “Is it okay that you’re missing so much school?”, “Are you going to get a job?”, and so on. So when I suddenly declared: “I’m going to join a group and move to Tokyo,” not surprisingly, their reaction was, “What?”
– I see.
Kasane: I bothered them a lot – my family, of course, was very much against it. But it was something I really wanted to do, so I tried to convince them in every way I could before I went to Tokyo. It wasn’t like before, I was so enthusiastic that I was even willing to take responsibility for the whole family, so it was important to convince them by all means, and I ended up moving to Tokyo a month later than I had planned. But now we get along so well that we text or call each other every day. Just because I left home and lived on my own, they’re pretty impressed (laughs). I think they were worried that after moving to Tokyo I would lose my confidence again, but in the end I’m only looking forward and they’re happy about that, and I feel like the only thing that makes me able to keep doing “Zenkimi” activities is my family and the people around me. When I was living with my parents, when I gave up something, I don’t think it made anyone uncomfortable, but now I have our fans. I get a full sense of how important I can be in someone’s life.
– It’s great, there’s a reverence for parents.
Kasane: Really (laughs). When I lived with my family, I was very disrespectful to them. In middle school and high school, I used to bring the family to tears, and my dad used to yell at me all the time… So I’m very surprised about our relationship now. My parents didn’t understand Twitter at all, but now they check it every day for information about me, and they come to concerts as a family (laughs). My grandmother is always waving her hands so much and my grandfather is so happy that he tells everyone about it.
– Ha ha ha. That’s a very encouraging story.
Kasane: I’m very happy. I want to bring my whole family to the Budokan. But if it weren’t for “Zenkimi,” if it weren’t for codomomental, I probably wouldn’t be able to think so sincerely about others.
Meeting Kisaragi Megumi awakened me
– What exactly do you like about codomomental?
Kasane: I think the fact that they don’t just say pretty things. Even during the audition, I don’t remember the director saying anything positive to me, more like, “These are absolutely terrible times for the music industry and women’s groups.” But in the end, there was some candy from the store lying around, and he picked it up and gave it to me (laughs). I think there are probably adults who only say pretty things, but they don’t do that in codomomental – first they’re going to be honest about all the difficulties along the way, and then they’re going to point us in the right direction. In that sense, I think it’s really like a family.
Imamura: But I think what’s more important is that Kasane loves Megumi. After all, everyone has their own limits to how hard they can work – I say this because I worked as a technical school teacher myself, and teaching children is similar to sports training – it’s important to understand the limits of what a person takes for granted from the very beginning. After all, those who were spoiled as children are still spoiled as adults. But for Kasane, what Megumi does is the order of things, and she accepts it without question. And as a result, the very level of the “order of things” changes. For example, a huge difference appears between members of different groups who debuted at the same time.
– Kasane-san, do you think your admiration for Megumi-san has changed you?
Kasane: Of course I have changed to a certain extent, but rather I think she has awakened me. After all, you can’t change your character that easily. I obviously had a lot of things I wanted to discover before, and things I really wanted to do but didn’t, but having all of us here, with different upbringings and ages, it’s great to be able to discover things like that. And Megumi is at the forefront of all this – she’s an amazing person who you instinctively want to follow.
– The members of “Zenkimi” often say that Megumi-san is a master at expressing any emotion.
Kasane: Yes, she is. When you look at Megumi, you’re clearly convinced that the stage is her life. But I wouldn’t say she’s a master at expressing any emotion – rather, she exudes it all naturally. While pulling the group forward, she remembers: “It was fun back then,” or: “We lost a member back then, it was painful” – she has experienced it all, so it comes out on stage all by itself. I also want to experience different things so that I can show them on stage naturally.
– And what would you say about the members who joined the group at the same time as you?
Kasane: Amanechi, of course, has something that I don’t have, but as you can see, she is very focused and hardworking – it often happens that only thanks to Amanechi things go smoothly, and she is someone who really understands people’s pain. If she sees someone in pain, she will go and comfort them immediately, and if she sees someone rejoicing, she will rejoice with them.
– What about Fufu-san?
Kasane: Fufu probably gives the impression of a friend. Megumi says that when we talk, we act a lot like middle school boys (laughs), but the more I get to know her, the more I’m convinced that she’s a very strong girl at heart. She hardly ever thinks about bad things, and in the song “TadaKimiTo” she also has these lines, “Shura destiny Yoyuu de Kurau” (“Whatever carnage, whatever destiny, I’m ready, I’ll get through”), and yeah, I think no matter what happens, but in the end Fufu will probably get through on her own.
I’m happy to be loved along with my lousy sides
– In her interview, An-san said, “Kasane is someone who really observes her surroundings. If you think about it now, she’s the best at maintaining balance,” and that “Kasane is someone who can feel the mood and always stay neutral.” What do you have to say about that?
Kasane: It’s not that I can always stay neutral, I just like it when everyone is peaceful. My parents used to fight a lot, but I always thought, “Well, we can obviously live more peacefully, can’t we?” After all, it’s better when everyone is laughing than when everyone is fighting. And if I can intervene to soften the mood, I want to do it. I guess it’s not like I’m consciously trying to be neutral… But if Amanechi thinks so, I guess it works for me (laughs).
– What character trait do you think allows you to create that atmosphere?
Kasane: Probably the fact that I can rely on people right away. I can easily show my weaknesses and shortcomings. For example, if something happens, I’ll say, “Explain, I don’t understand,” or “I’m really hungry, can we eat?” (laughs). I show my feelings and emotions openly, and recently I realized that’s probably why other people open up to me.
– “Even though I’m cool, I’m three years old” is a line from the song “TadaKimiTo.” What would you say about this unexpected side of you?
Kasane: I think I’m just immature as a person in a lot of ways. But the director and others said it’s because I’m “three years old,” and I’m glad to be loved along with my lousy sides. I think it’s wonderful that I can be “Motochika Kasane” without any pretense, remaining completely myself.
– Apart from that, is there anyone among the members that you’ve secretly admired lately?
Kasane: Probably Tetsuko (Kotetsu). I mean, she’s had a lot of experience being in different groups. She radiates such a soft atmosphere, but I think Tetsuko is the one who really keeps an eye on her surroundings. We see each other’s eyes all the time on stage, and yet in those moments you can often see her strong will. She’s cute, she’s cool, she’s charming – she can express so many different things, and I respect her a lot for that. And even in casual conversation, if someone accidentally lets something slip, she always pays attention. Even if someone is just thinking out loud. And even in the car when we’re on the road, Tetsuko is often awake, so I think she really pays attention to the people around her.
– There are quite unexpected sides to each of you, aren’t there?
Kasane: I think if I’m good at always showing my weaknesses, then Tetsuko’s strength is that she can smile all the time, but at the same time be very attentive to everyone.
– During several interviews, I got the impression that your strength is that when others don’t know what to say and start thinking, you always call out to answer.
Kasane: Thank you very much. I’m shy, but in general I really like talking to people. And when it comes to interviews, they ask us a lot of questions because they want to know about us, don’t they? So I like to answer them.
– And finally, could you tell us about your goals and what you’d like to do in the future?
Kasane: I keep thinking about becoming the core of “Zenkimi” performances. In the future we should have many more songs and many more places to perform, so I want to keep learning and be someone for “Zenkimi” to say “Kasane makes performances so cool.” The fact that we toured all 47 prefectures as part of the “re:voke tour for 47” was a big boost for me, my confidence has already skyrocketed. It makes you think, “We’re the only ones who can do this, it’s so cool!” And I think when you’re in “Zenkimi,” that kind of thing is obviously going to happen from time to time. And also, a very big goal for me is to continue to stay honest. I want to absorb different things, confidently make them my own strength and continue to grow.