Seo Yuria’s 95th classmate interview series was published in GRAPH through 2016. Her talk with Asami Jun was published in the October issue.
(Yes, she does use that many exclamation points in the original)
SEWATCH!! #10 – Asami Jun
Hello, everyone!!!! It’s still so hot, isn’t it 😁💦 This month, we’re turning the SEWATCH on the mysterious Aasa, aka Asami Jun, of Moon Troupe ✨ ✨ Like you’d expect from her name, she’s beautiful even early in the morning1 💖
~About their dress-up theme~
Seo: I asked ‘so what do you wanna do?’
Asami: We thought about things we had in common…
Seo: Strong features!!!!!!
Asami: So we settled on Thermae Romae2, and on the day of the photoshoot we tried on the costumes and took a test photo, but…??????
Seo: Our features didn’t stand out at all!!!!!! (laughs)
Asami: It was a sudden state of emergency 💦 It was the middle of a Moon Troupe production run, so we dashed into the dressing room (laughs)
Seo: Right, we were frantically contouring at Aasa’s dressing table.
Asami: Had to get more definition! (laughs)
Seo: And how was your costume~!?
Asami: It was really nice on my skin and just felt great! I was like, maybe this is what I was in a past life~ (laughs)
Seo: That’s definitely it! Have you worn that sort of costume before?
Asami: Nope, first time! It was also fun to do a photoshoot with so many different props ✨
~Takarazuka Music School~
Seo: When did we meet, actually~!?
Asami: It must have been at the examination hall, when we were taking the entrance exam!!
Seo: Oh~! We were in the same waiting room!!!!
Asami: Right! You and I and Zun-chan (Sakuragi) talked together a bit, but… (laughs)
Seo: All three of us were painfully shy (laughs)
Asami: We were united as ‘independent entrants’3!
Seo: We felt so embarrassed and overwhelmed by the aura of the other candidates… Considering the situation we were in, we really did well! (laughs)
Asami: We’ve been acquainted ever since then.
Seo: Aasa passed with the highest marks, and ended up pulling all of the 95th class in your wake! 😭
Asami: Nonono, I didn’t do any of that 💦
Seo: You did!!! It’s because of Aasa that the 95th class are all such good friends!!!
Asami: (laughs) You’re praising me so much!!!
Seo: Because I’m gonna make you treat me to something afterwards!
Asami: (bursts out laughing)
Seo: But seriously, you gave us all this feeling, ‘Aasa’s waiting up ahead, so let’s all help each other out!!’ – that spread through the whole class. We spontaneously started assisting each other, so we’re honestly so grateful to Aasa 😭
Asami: That’s too much!! 💦 But there really were a lot of quiet kids in hour class, so we didn’t fight or anything. Instead, since none of us knew anything at the start we all taught each other and so we all grew mutually.
Seo: I’m feeling kinda nostalgic now~ 😭 Also, we were together in Voice Training Class, so classtime was really fun ✨
Asami: Yeah ✨ My very first impression of Seocchi was as a really cool beauty, a really calm girl, so…
Seo: (bursts out laughing)
Asami: That notion was shattered instantly! I was like ‘what’s with this girl!?!?’ (laughs)
Seo: Thanks!! I’m an ex-cool beauty, I guess (laughs) Seeing Aasa, I thought ‘she’s really cool and reliable!!!’
Asami: No~, even though I was in a situation where I had to act mature, I didn’t at all~ 😭
Seo: Since Aasa didn’t have it all together, the rest of us… (laughs) Well, anyway, our yokasei year went like that, and as honkasei we had neighboring dorm rooms ✨
Asami: Yeah, and Zun-chan was my roommate – she’s so good at cooking cold-weather food!
Seo: We’d often eat nabe or risotto, that kind of thing, in your room ✨ It was so good~!!
Asami: Everyone came to hang out in our room a lot! (laughs) Although it seemed like in your room the two of you were just hibernating (laughs)
Seo: Yeah, ours was the laid-back room. Renju Kouki, who used to be in Star Troupe, was apparently the last to turn up to class and the first to leave (laughs)
Asami: Yeah! Everyone was like ‘they’re always in their room, aren’t they?’ (laughs) Oh! You remember, how in the bunkasei there were switch roles, so we played the same character!!!!
Seo: Oh~~!! Right ✨ Ah, it’s so nostalgic ✨
~After entering the company~
Asami: During the rehearsals for our debut, we would sit in a corner of the anteroom and try to destress during breaks by reading manga, remember?
Seo: …We did (laughs) We’d all pass them around!!
Asami: We spent so much time waiting around, didn’t we 💦
Seo: It ended up letting us get pretty refreshed! (laughs) After the debut performance, we ended up in different troupes. We often go to see each other perform – what do you think?
Asami: To tell the truth, I really love Seo-san’s acting.
Seo: Huh! What!? Huh?
Asami: Mayupon (Kizuki Yuuma) and I went to see the dress rehearsal for the shinjin kouen of Napoleon: The Man who Does Not Sleep, and we cried watching you!
Seo: Eh~~~!!
Asami: You know, the first time you went on the Silver Bridge to sing, you ended up grinning!
Seo: (laughs)
Asami: You were like ‘Look, even though I’m such a goofball I’m acting so seriously!!!’ (laughs) But the next moment you started singing with such amazing, subtle emotions, and somehow I just started crying.
Seo: Thank you! I actually went to see the dress rehearsal of Aasa’s last shinjin kouen, MANON.
Asami: Huh! Really!?
Seo: Yeah, I sneaked in to watch!
Asami: It seems like everyone sneaked in to watch! Zun-chan did too!!
Seo: Yeah, I thought it would be beter not to make you nervous. But you were really amazing.
Asami: I wasn’t! I was totally desperate the whole time!
Seo: Here’s my favorite thing about Aasa!! It’s her ‘elegance’! And within that, the overflowing sexiness~ Scandalous~ (laughs)
Asami: (bursts out laughing) It’s so fun to go and see each other’s shows!! Especially in Star Troupe, all of the class members are so liberal with the fanservice (laughs) so it’s so fun.
Seo: I’m so glad ✨ How have you been since graduating from shinjin kouens?
Asami: Ah~ I feel like I have so much more freedom!
Seo: Even though it comes with heavier responsibilities.
Asami: That’s right. Therefore I’m grateful that I’m able to apply more concentration!! We’re already ken-8, after all~ ✨
Seo: It went by so fast! From now on we both have to polish up! We have to motivate each other and keep going all out! (laughs)
Asami: It’d be great if we could perform together one day ✨
Seo: If we could act together that would be the best! We could play ancient Romans! (laughs)
Asami: That’d be so fun!! I hope it becomes reality! (laughs)
Seo: Yeah!! My dream is to someday, somehow, perform together with you ✨ ✨ Let’s do our best~ 🎵
1 – Asami’s stage name uses the characters for ‘morning’ (朝/asa) and ‘beauty’ (美/mi).
2 – Thermae Romae is a popular manga series about Roman baths and time-travel.
3 – This means, while they may have studied music and dance, they did not have specific TMS entry training such as the prep schools run by many OGs.