TOKYO TEFUTEFU – “Nobody needs a second Zenkimi” (February 2025)

In March 2024, after Tokanai Nonno’s departure, TOKYO TEFUTEFU continued their activities as a four-member group. They actively performed, conducting tours such as the TRANCEBULLET MOTOGURUU TOUR, during the finale of which it was announced that on December 29, 2025, the largest solo concert in the group’s history would take place at Zepp Shinjuku (Tokyo). Their latest single, “FLYASDUST,” seems to echo the beating hearts of these girls as they enter their fifth year and take a big step forward, capturing the moment when they energetically surge toward new heights. Their voices, filled with delicate emotions and self-reflection, seem to tear through their bodies and burst out—an intense declaration of their determination to move forward.

In this interview, we spoke with the members about what they feel as they embark on this journey and the emotions they carry while looking toward the future.

— At the start of the year, you embarked on a joint tour with your senior labelmates, Zenbu Kimi no Sei da, called NEO ROMANCE BUTTERFLY. How has it been going?

Yuzuriha Ouhi: I feel like it’s giving us a powerful stimulus. “Zenkimi” has something that we don’t, and we want to absorb everything we can from them and turn it into our strength.

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: “Zenkimi” has been on stage for ten years—that’s twice as long as us—so just participating in a joint tour with them is incredible in itself. And having such an extended tour with them is a rare opportunity.

Chimura Shifumi: And I think that since we’re in this tour together, we can’t afford to be any less cool than “Zenkimi”—otherwise, it would just be rude.

Mary Lust: Absolutely. We’re pushing ourselves to the limit.

— As a group, do you have any specific goals for this tour? How do you approach it?

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: We announced this on December 31 last year, but the finale of this tour will take place at the large venue Shibuya WWW X, and on December 29 this year, we have a solo concert at Zepp Shinjuku. So our main goal is to work hard to make these performances a success.

Chimura Shifumi: First, we want to fill WWW X.

Mary Lust: The finale of our last tour, TRANCEBULLET MOTOGURUU TOUR, was at Shibuya club asia, and even that felt like a big venue for us, so we worked hard to fill it. But after the announcement about WWW X and Zepp Shinjuku was made at that finale, apparently, since we had a clear goal again, “Mirages” started saying more often wherever we went, “Things are different now.” And we can feel that our own determination has strengthened, too.

— What do you think has changed the most?

Chimura Shifumi: Now that we’re in our fifth year, we feel like there’s “nowhere left to run” (laughs).

Yuzuriha Ouhi: Yeah (laughs)!

Chimura Shifumi: I think we’ve developed a mindset of “no matter what happens, we can’t run away.” Up until recently, we were juniors in codomomental, but before we knew it, we had kouhais and had become senpais ourselves. Also, when I first learned about codomomental and started following “Zenkimi,” they were already in their 4th or 5th year. And now, we’re in roughly the same position, which probably contributes to this awareness.

— You’re still far from being satisfied with where you are?

Chimura Shifumi: Definitely far from it (laughs). It’s like, “We can do even more!”

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: Plus, I think it’s important that we clearly expressed this to the “Mirages.” We directly told our fans that we’re aiming for bigger stages, and that, in a way, reinforced our own resolve. Before, we often said that we wanted to perform at Makuhari Messe, but we never actually had a concert scheduled there, so it was more of a dream. But now, we have a concrete goal.

— Yes, now your ambitions are driven by reality.

Chimura Shifumi: After all, talk is cheap. We debuted during the pandemic and couldn’t properly move forward for a long time, so now that something tangible is finally taking shape, the reality of it feels especially vivid.

— In that sense, the joint tour with “Zenkimi” must serve as both stimulus and support for you.

Yuzuriha Ouhi: It’s rare to have the opportunity to observe their performances so closely. So we’re both learning from them and, at the same time, trying new things ourselves.

Chimura Shifumi: Performing at the same venues under the same conditions as them, we get to notice things like, “Oh, that’s another way of presenting yourself!” or “Wow, just a single phrase like that can make the whole audience explode!” We’re absorbing techniques we didn’t have before.

Mary Lust: But we can’t just watch our senpais perform and copy them—we have to refine our own strengths. So each of us is challenging ourselves in different ways.

— What strengths of “Tefutefu” have you noticed during the tour with “Zenkimi,” and what aspects do you want to improve?

Mary Lust: We’ve always had a lot of dancing, and I think our distinctive feature is that in our performances we also express something beautiful and delicate. At one point, we thought we needed to be more like “Zenkimi,” but the more time we spent together, the more we realized that the strengths of “Tefutefu” lie elsewhere.

Yuzuriha Ouhi: The expressiveness of “Tefutefu” is deeply intertwined with a distinct sense of fragility.

Chimura Shifumi: A fragility that we convey through our movements.

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: When we see how forcefully our senpais perform, it’s so cool that we can’t help but want to emulate them. But we decided to focus on other aspects that are more inherent to us. Though, sometimes, that intensity still slips out (laughs).

Yuzuriha Ouhi: Yeah, it slips out (laughs). After all, deep down, we’re also just bursting forward with emotion.

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: We try to keep it under control.

— It feels like this tour is packed with growth and constant evolution. And in the midst of it, your long-awaited new single, “FLYASDUST,” will be released. Are you already performing it at shows?

Yuzuriha Ouhi: We are!

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: The lyrics of this song are directed toward the “Mirages,” so we put a lot of emotion into it.

— “FLYASDUST” is a song where you once again declare your determination towards the future, isn’t it?

Mary Lust: It’s uplifting.

Chimura Shifumi: In 2022, when we entered our second year as a group, we released the single “ash.” At that time, we had also just lost a member, and that song was a kind of declaration of our resolve. “ash.” really saved me back then, and thanks to it, I was able to strengthen my mindset. Now, “FLYASDUST” gives me similar feelings—like it’s reinforcing my inner core. Not in the sense that it’s supporting me, but rather that it’s lifting my spirit.

Mary Lust: Even though we haven’t performed it that many times yet, the amount of emotion we pour into it makes it incredibly powerful.

Chimura Shifumi: The audience makes such incredible faces—you can tell they’re really listening. Their eyes practically shine.

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: Even though the song hasn’t been released yet and the lyrics haven’t been published anywhere, you can tell from their expressions that they’re feeling the emotions we’re conveying.

— How did you react when you first received the song?

Chimura Shifumi: When I first got the lyrics, I just read them and cried. Then I received the demo, and as I reread the lyrics, I cried again. I cried so much that I even worried whether I’d be able to sing it at all—it moved me that deeply. I felt like it captured our entire journey up to this point, exactly as it was. And I wanted to convey that to the “Mirages,” including those we haven’t met yet. My emotions overflowed so much that I couldn’t stop crying (laughs). Even during the recording, I cried.

Yuzuriha Ouhi: Especially the climax right before the finale—Chimu’s performance in that part is just incredible. And the final chorus that we all sing after that is also so moving.

— Yes, you can feel the drama and the intensifying emotional explosion.

Mary Lust: Personally, I used to feel that our songs were leading us into the future. They often made me think, “Ah, so this is the future that awaits us.” But this time, the song reflects our way of life as it is—the path we’ve walked, our relationship with the “Mirages”… The song is overflowing with all of that. It feels like it’s precisely because of these bonds that we can envision our future, and I really love that.

— How did the recording go? Were there any specific vocal directions or parts where you focused particularly on expression?

Mary Lust: I have some trouble keeping rhythm, and I’m not that great at singing, but during the recording, everything was explained to me in detail. I was also really happy that I was entrusted with an important part before the chorus. However, even though I, of course, practiced, by the time we started recording, I still hadn’t achieved a result I was completely satisfied with. So I thought that maybe if I got some advice right there on the spot, I’d be able to sing it better. And when we got to the line “dokomademo toberu you ni” (“To soar above any heights”), they told me, “Sing as if you’re soaring even higher!”

Chimura Shifumi: And? Did it work?

Mary Lust: I think it turned out okay (laughs).

Chimura Shifumi: When I first heard Lust-chan sing that line in the final version, she radiated an inner strength I had never heard in her singing before—in a really good way, I was surprised and thought, “She’s improved so much.”

Mary Lust: Yay! So I soared high enough?

Chimura Shifumi: You did. And the next line, “issho ni ochiteyukou” (“Then let’s fall together”), just pulls you in—it has such charm.

Yuzuriha Ouhi: A companion you can truly rely on. When I heard that part, I felt really happy.

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: Like, even if we fall, it’ll be okay (laughs).

— And what about you, Kagari-san?

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: For me, the most important part was in the final chorus, where after the lines we all sing together, I sing: “sono me, sono koe, sono te, sono netsu, kimi no subete, ‘zenbu’ boku ni choudai” (“Your eyes, your voice, your hands, your passion, every last part of you—give me everything“). I put a special kind of strength into that part. I didn’t want my singing to be weaker than the lines we sang together, so I put all my effort into reaching the listeners. Also, this time, as always, my parts had a lot of technically difficult moments.

Yuzuriha Ouhi: A lot, yeah.

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: I made a ton of notes on the lyrics while preparing for the recording. But at the same time, I didn’t want the listeners to get distracted by little details and miss out on truly feeling the song, so it was challenging.

Yuzuriha Ouhi: Because you want to deliver everything—100 percent.

“I want to bare my entire self —including all of my weaknesses”

— Ouhi-san, what about you?

Yuzuriha Ouhi: At the beginning of the song, there’s a line, “kazoekirenai kizu wo tomo ni suru” (“We share countless wounds”), and I rarely sang these kinds of softer, more restrained parts before. So I think this time, I had a lot of challenges. When performing that moment, I wanted to express fragility, but at the same time, inner strength.

Chimura Shifumi: Same in the second verse. This time, you had a lot of these softer parts.

Yuzuriha Ouhi: Before this, I mostly sang powerful parts, and I felt like I lacked expressiveness for these kinds of emotions. But I wanted to use this song to reveal a new side of my charm.

Chimura Shifumi: And that contrast with your usual powerful side makes it so impactful. You actually have a delicate side too—like when you cry in the dressing room (laughs).

Yuzuriha Ouhi: Yeah, yeah (laughs).

Chimura Shifumi: I think you should show that side of yourself more.

— Every part has a reason why it’s sung by a specific person, right?

Chimura Shifumi: When we receive the part distribution, we often immediately think, “Oh, this line is definitely for her!” But this time, I think there were quite a few surprises.

Mary Lust: I didn’t expect to be singing the chorus, so for me, it was a real challenge. Like, I really have to do my best!

— The second chorus starts with you, Mary-san, doesn’t it?

Mary Lust: Yes, I bear that responsibility!

— It’s likely that as you perform this song at concerts, it will evolve. It will surely become a song that evokes a completely different storm of emotions each time it is performed.

Yuzuriha Ouhi: I think so, too. Right now, we’re still desperately trying to convey our feelings to everyone, but I can sense that there are other ways we can express it. I’m sure that as we continue performing, it will change in some way. We’ll be singing it a lot during this tour, so I’m already looking forward to that.

Mary Lust: I think the more time we spend with the “Mirages,” the more the song will transform.

Chimura Shifumi: I want to be able to bare my entire self when performing this song—including all of my weaknesses.

— You previously mentioned that “Tefutefu” is strongly associated with dance, so what can you tell us about the choreography for this song?

Mary Lust: We dance a lot in this one. Until now, we thought we had to be like “Zenkimi,” so in the second-to-last and last tours, we sometimes performed without choreography, just stepping forward to hype up the crowd. But we can’t just do that—”Tefutefu’s” strengths aren’t limited to that, and nobody needs a second “Zenkimi.” Once we realized this, we understood that “Tefutefu’s” true strength lies in beautifully expressing the worlds of our songs. That’s why we decided that for this song, we would dance. We even dance in the chorus.

— Mary Lust-san, did you come up with the choreography?

Chimura Shifumi: She created almost all of it. I only helped with a few moments where she couldn’t decide. Last year, Nonno left, and before that, she was the one primarily responsible for choreography. Her choreography became something like “Tefutefu’s” signature style. After she left last year, we didn’t have any new songs, so while we worked on adapting older ones, we hadn’t yet created any new choreography. But when it came time to release a new song, we didn’t want people to think that without Nonno, we were incapable of anything. If we didn’t continue developing our style, then everything we had achieved would have been for nothing. I also felt that Lust-chan didn’t want to fall short of Nonno’s choreography, so as we discussed it together, we thought about how to make it even better.

Mary Lust: There are definitely people who love seeing “Tefutefu” dance, and we don’t want to lose something we’ve built up over such a long time. I also think that by continuing to dance at the same level, we show respect for the feelings of those who loved Nonno.

Chimura Shifumi: We can’t just forget about it, and we don’t want to.

— You’re definitely improving as a group. What do you consider to be the key moments in the choreography of this song?

Chimura Shifumi: Probably the chorus?

Mary Lust: First of all, we’ve had a lot of songs where we didn’t dance in the chorus. So that alone makes this one quite unique. In “FLYASDUST,” the chorus begins with a single person, so I thought we could all dance together.

Yuzuriha Ouhi: Also, in the final chorus, there’s a part where we all sing together, but we intentionally don’t look at each other. “Aishite hoshikute umaku aisenai to nageita” (“Longing so deeply for love, I lamented that I couldn’t love properly”)—this is a moment that we direct toward ourselves. I really love that feeling of not meeting each other’s eyes yet desperately trying to convey those emotions.

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: Yes, so much emotion comes through. And the transition to the line “Tsumuidekita no wa tashika na…” (“And yet, what we’ve built is real…”) is just magnificent.

Chimura Shifumi: That single phrase holds our entire history.

Mary Lust: Also, during the interlude before the final chorus, we dance together energetically, but after that, when the piano comes in, three of us, with gentle movements, surround Chimu, who is singing, while she struggles within that circle. This reflects the conflicting emotions that lie at the heart of “Tefutefu.”

Chimura Shifumi: From the outside, it may look beautiful, but inside, there’s such turmoil and struggle—that’s very much the essence of “Tefutefu.” I think this is the human side we aim to express through “Tefutefu.”

— This time, it feels like you’re baring your emotions and inner selves more than before. Up until now, “Tefutefu” seemed rather skillful and dexterous, capable of handling anything with ease.

Mary Lust: I think that’s true.

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: Yeah, we love to show off (laughs).

Chimura Shifumi: We really had this habit of trying to make everything look beautiful. Even emotions like frustration or sadness, which are usually seen as negative, we could express through our performances without a problem. But even then, we still tried to show: “We’re not sad at all,” “We’re not frustrated at all, we can make everything look flawless”—it was that kind of act. Even though so much happened just last year alone, we still kept acting like everything was fine. And the fact that we couldn’t express what we truly felt back then became a big lesson for us. Now, we want to show more than just the things we can do well and beautifully.

— Why do you think this habit of trying to look cool became so ingrained in you?

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: At the very beginning, there were seven of us, and we tried to handle everything on our own. We created our own choreography and so on, barely relying on the adults—like, “There are seven of us, let’s just do everything ourselves.” We didn’t even realize that we could rely on the adults more, and before we knew it, we had created monsters (laughs).

Mary Lust: (Laughs) Also, since we had this tendency to act strong, we thought that showing people our frustrations was unappealing. Deep down, we wanted more people to notice “Tefutefu,” but we kept pretending to be strong, like, “No, no, it’s fine.” I think that’s why. And before we knew it, that had become our habit.

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: Yeah, it was literally in everything, even the smallest details of our daily lives.

Yuzuriha Ouhi: After all, if we don’t open up ourselves, the “Mirages” won’t open their hearts to us either. Realizing that allowed us to sing a song that reflects who we truly are, and I think we’ve become better at conveying our feelings to everyone.

— Were there any specific concerts or events that made you realize this?

Chimura Shifumi: Last year, Ouhi-san injured her leg and had to perform sitting in a chair for a while. And obviously, everyone, including Ouhi-san herself, felt frustrated—like, “If only we could perform at our best.” But even then, we kept acting as if, “Even if Ouhi-san is sitting, we can still put on a great show!”—and we didn’t even realize we were doing it.

Mary Lust: Yeah, we didn’t notice it until halfway through the tour.

Chimura Shifumi: We didn’t even realize that we were once again trying to keep up appearances. It wasn’t until near the end of the tour that we finally understood that it was okay to openly show our frustration and sadness.

Mary Lust: Like, “Oh no, we’re doing it again!” (laughs).

Kagari Kohaku Sekai: So maybe it wasn’t just one big moment, but more like a gradual realization—like, “Oh, this!” and “Ah, this too!”

Chimura Shifumi: Honestly, we could have just burst into tears together, because that’s what we were really feeling inside. But instead, we tried to keep up appearances. And just becoming aware of that was already a huge step for us. Like, thank goodness we noticed it!

— Surely, this will make your concerts even more engaging.

Chimura Shifumi: After all, honestly revealing your emotions makes concerts even more exciting. When each individual performance has its own story, and the audience wonders, “What will happen today? What will they express?”—it’s definitely more interesting than concerts that feel exactly the same every time. I want to learn how to stop hiding anything and to act based on what I truly feel in the moment.

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