Aida Rikako Birthday Event Report

This event was held on 2019-08-08 in Zepp Tokyo. I attended only the first (starting at 15:00) session of two.

Matsuzawa Chiaki was the MC for the event—she was engaging and did a great job.

The first segment: a talk session about the solo debut and finding her own direction. She's still not certain, but that's OK.

One of Rikako's dreams: holding a solo concert and maybe even a tour—she's gotten correspondence from fans from all over, and it'd be great if she could meet people outside of Tokyo. Though it does make her scared to think about preparing a concert—the responsibility is heavy.

Rikako hinted at the setlist, telling us what colors she felt fit certain songs: white for Ordinary Love, blue for Azurite Blue, and yellow for Future Line. That being said, she encouraged everyone to use whatever color they feel like using. (Except for Azurite Blue, of course.)

A lyric Rikako really likes from Future Line: ここから叶えたい夢を/数えながら踏み出そう (very roughly, "as we count the dreams we want to fulfill, let's move forward").

Rikako thinks it's important to not limit yourself to one dream—she herself is taking on many challenges.

Following the sit-down discussion, the next segment was a series of "first experiences", where Rikako thought of things she hasn't done before but wants to try, and the staff gives her the chance to do them.

1. Throwing darts. She actually hit a pretty good spot.
2. A quiz show. Rikako slammed the buzzer on just "[person] from Iwate Prefecture..." and got it right!
3. Pulling a tablecloth from under something. But... this table didn't have anything on the tablecloth. We collectively used our imaginations to make it dramatic.

After the "first experience" segment, they took a break, and we got to watch a video of Rikako and bread.

In the first part of the video, she tried to make bread and got as far as making the dough into the shape of bread. (...but due to difficulties, she never finished?!) In the second part, Rikako sampled bread from various shops. She compared one to a sponge... a really tasty sponge... 🤔

She baited us by saying that she might reconsider her side in the rice vs bread war... and then saying in the end that she's still on the rice side after all.

After the video, Rikako and another seiyuu from KenPro, Kitahara Sayaka, did a dramatic reading "Electronic Prelude", playing two girls who graduate from high school, go to separate universities, and stay in touch online. Except... one of them isn't who the other thinks she is.

Sayaka and Rikako are really good friends—MC Matsuzawa said that she could tell immediately once they regrouped after the reading. Their interactions are pretty entertaining, and Sayaka was really happy to celebrate Rikako's birthday with her. Very wholesome.

After the reading, they showed a behind-the-scenes video for the Principal EP. I think it's the same one as on the DVD version of the EP? The ending music for the video continued way past the end of the video... it felt like an eternity before the next part started.

Once the words "First Premium Live" flashed on the screen, everyone... stayed seated? It stayed that way throughout the live. Most people used penlights, though.

The setlist (as hinted at earlier):

1. ORDINARY LOVE
2. Azurite Blue
3. FUTURE LINE

Rikako's singing has definitely improved since the early Aqours days. She mentioned being really nervous, even though she had already sung Ordinary Love at release events. A lot of people said they liked Azurite Blue, which is why she decided to include it.

After Future Line, Rikako spoke a bit and then waved goodbye, walking to different parts of the stage.

Once she was off stage, a short announcement video played for her 1st single, out 11/13, which will be the opening song for Val x Love.

(This was originally posted on Twitter.)