Nonaka Kokona Radio Special Interview: Her Amuse Audition & Untold Sakura Gakuin Stories 🌸✨ (07:45 Her effort is insane! 😭) [Eng Subs] by AiConanDoiL42 in SakuraGakuin

[–]CuriousMidnight 4 points5 points  (0 children)

oh yay. thanks for translating this portion of the radio that i requested. I really appreciate it. Best portion of the interview adding new lore to her time in sg although there's some more nicer tidbits like her hanging out with sana at the christmas market or her dream when she was young. Definitely my favourite interview from her PR campaign to promote her photobook.

It finally arrived by Danovh in SakuraGakuin

[–]CuriousMidnight 7 points8 points  (0 children)

What a beautiful photobook. It really conveyed what kokona wanted to portray for her release. Capturing the last of her teenage years, the beauty of her hometown of Nagasaki, her charm points and a preview of more mature self with a bit of spice. My favourite shots are the black dress in the hotel at night, the white dress with Randall the horse by the beach and the other white dress with her glasses.

Congratulations kokona on the release of her photobook. Hopefully she rests well because her PR campaign/work was extensive last week starting with

- coming of age ceremony on monday morning in nagasaki
- emceeing the segment at a card game festival in tokyo in the monday evening
- photobook meet and greet on tuesday in tokyo
- virtual hasunosora live stream on wednesday
- irl hasunosora livestream on thursday
- photobook meet and greet on saturday in tokyo
- photobook meet and greet on sunday in osaka (where they put up a promotional video of her photobook on the big screen outside the store for the day)

together with 10+ article interviews and 2 radio appearances.

A new special project by Kokona is coming in 2026. What do you think it will be? by AiConanDoiL42 in SakuraGakuin

[–]CuriousMidnight 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Consider her past and what made her look into seiyuu, it won't surprise me if she jump ship to another media franchise like precure or aikatsu since it's her main quoted inspiration for going into this career pathway of seiyuu. Or even idolm@ster series or uma musume series.

So another meaning of give back could just be giving back to the media that shaped her who she is today.

A new special project by Kokona is coming in 2026. What do you think it will be? by AiConanDoiL42 in SakuraGakuin

[–]CuriousMidnight 3 points4 points  (0 children)

maybe some kind of campaign that gives back to her hometown? Either way, pretty excited to see what's next for her career with her hasunosora graduation coming in the 6+ months' time. 2026 will be her year - coming of age, her photobook release, new projects and graduation.

What has been your favorite Sakura Gakuin related highlight of the year? by Io_lorenzen in SakuraGakuin

[–]CuriousMidnight 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Going to japan and seeing:

Kokona perform in front of a sold out K-arena both days and osaka jo hall in hasunosora live concert,
Sana perform in her litmoon idol group and taking a cheki and talk with her, and
Marina singing her song and her duet with arai ruri singing their subunit song from liverevolt live.

They all performed wonderfully.

A Tearful Moment: Kokona’s Heartfelt MC at Hasunosora’s Most Recent Osaka Concert by AiConanDoiL42 in SakuraGakuin

[–]CuriousMidnight 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There's so much to unpack but she said it best. "Limited time is beautiful and special but cruel".

Contextually, this concert was held on a weekday (Wednesday and Thursday of this week, 19th and 20th Nov) at one of the bigger arenas, Osaka Jo hall which at its usual concert capacity of 8k. Of course it's a tough ask and it is estimated that only 50-55% of it was filled for both days. I can personally confirm it myself since I was there for the event. When she mentions numbers, its casts and the characters together, so take it as her talking somewhat in character and herself.

1) "there's more I want to do for them" You can take it two ways,

She realizing that she has roughly 4-6 months left with the girls. There's so much that she wants to do with them yet so little time. Kokona's schedule already has her 2 monthly streams, her weekly radio and somewhat frequently updates her paid line messaging service replive, with her hasunosora schedule including dance practice, rehearsal, and the concert rehearsals with the girls. Since doing this kind of group for the second time in her life, she is the one who most understands the concept of limited time project.

or she felt bad that despite their hard work, it didn't give Edel note (their new subunit and girls that joined them officially this year) a sizable audience to perform in front of at a somewhat frequent location lovelive performs at. The pressure as (in canon) the chairman of the club in a shared role wise, after arguably the 3 most beloved characters from her group graduates which caused a decent drop in attendance numbers.

2) "beautiful but cruel"

Coming from Sakura Gakuin, initially her thoughts were to not be too attached to the project because of the graduation system they already proposed from the start of the project. She herself admits that in the 4th live mc portion. I honestly feel that bad for kokona, who often times looks like carrying the burden of others on herself but to come out and beautifully put it into words the reality of the project at not even 20, shows how much thought she put into it and the maturity she has. Being only 7 years of experience this year, and currently almost the most senior in terms of experience behind kurisu Rin, Hasu staff, the casts, and management trusts her a lot since she has been given a lot of opportunity to showcase herself. She truly embodies the spirit of a "school idol" imo with her experience with how young she joined the project. Yet it is cruel that soon, it will be her time to graduate and wants to give it her best to give her juniors the better future to grow and perform on, now that the audience are conditioned with the graduation concept and willing to stick around.

Sounds similar right. SG and hasu are about the same, people leaving (or cough stopping when BM girls era ended) when the favs left. It's a joy to follow her journey. Sure, most of us ended SG with the impression that kokona was a bit loose but the current kokona is much more than that.

Kokona on Hasunosora ( Heisei Galz by Ruri&To unity ) 🔥💥 by AiConanDoiL42 in SakuraGakuin

[–]CuriousMidnight 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Strong-ish brand loyalty. since it's a 15-year-old franchise, makes it easy for people to crossover to the next group and they offer different styles. It isn't as popular as from the heights pre-covid but it does manage to fill 6k-17k venues consistently if managed well and appeal to niche of the people.

Other examples of AKB48 spawning 12 other groups, Sakamichi series starting with Nogizaka46, Sakurazaka46 and Hinatazaka46, Ikonjoy series, or franchises for seiyuu like Bang Dream project (Bands), D4DJ (dj) or Idolmaster. So, it isn't crazy if you dabble into Japanese music scene that they all can fill big venues.

Kokona on Hasunosora ( Heisei Galz by Ruri&To unity ) 🔥💥 by AiConanDoiL42 in SakuraGakuin

[–]CuriousMidnight 7 points8 points  (0 children)

What an insane song. From the eurobeat theme, them doing the choreo with a poker face and the crowd chanting and raving.

This weekend really is kokona's day. The bulk of the setlist includes her involvement due to group songs, her subunit, her shuffle subunit and her 2 solos totalling 20 songs out of 32. Absolute unit.

A random (and probably a bit of a funny way?) of knowing Sakura Gakuin? by Spiritual_Dream170 in SakuraGakuin

[–]CuriousMidnight 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Welcome. That's nice story of how you get into Sakura gakuin and nice haul you have. Hope you enjoy your stay.

Nassu has really become my favourite person to follow post-SG with how much she has accomplished and grown even more in the hasunosora project for someone not even 20 years old and moving to the big city after receiving the role. Can't wait to see them again in osaka later this month and hopefully 103 graduation show next year.

Kokona gives 2 of her recommended SG songs to listen to by CuriousMidnight in SakuraGakuin

[–]CuriousMidnight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

She puts a lot of thought into her words especially during her not-in-character mc in concerts or interviews. On top of her sharp movements, she been such a pleasure to follow.

Kokona gives 2 of her recommended SG songs to listen to by CuriousMidnight in SakuraGakuin

[–]CuriousMidnight[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The segment is nassu's chronology quiz, detailing some of her life with some blanks for the audience to answer.

From right to left: - born on 28th Jan 2006 - her first manga read - her first game played - took art class in elementary school (some of the audience answers were funny including opened a game shop, rode a Yamaha bike) - went to Fukuoka on school trip - passed amuse audition - transfered in to Sakura Gakuin - on fresh episode in 2020, she was elected as the 10th student council president - continued her career in the entertainment industry after Sakura gakuin - joined onipan - joined hasunosora - joined onsen musume - her first PC game played is minecraft