Sakura Gakuin's activities coach Tomoyo Kishioka, explains concept and sub-units

Sakura Gakuin was featured in November's issue of CD & DL Data Magazine with a special article about their concept and club activities including BABYMETAL. Their activities coach Tomoyo Kishioka explains what is Sakura Gakuin, their concept and a description of each sub-unit. Read the translation below! 

 

Sakura Gakuin itself is for them a familiar and life-sized place, and for this reason I'd like to take out some color from the club activities. These girls were already working for this company from the start, and till they reach the 3rd year of middle school they are trained and their abilities discovered, and when they graduate from middle school, they again decide their future career. This is how this group works.

 

How should we develop their potential till they become high school students? That is what my position is about. We made this three members unit to support food education events. (Minipati) After one song was made, they sang at events and the like, and there their recognition rose rapidly. From that experience, Sakura Gakuin was born. They do their best, with a sense of responsibility that comes from the fact of being chosen as members. With this consciousness, there was a desire to grow.

 

They are students of elementary and middle school, so there's many of these girls who live this kind of experience for the first time, and we didn't want a place that was so different from their ordinary life. So we chose a 'school' theme that was the closest to what was familiar to them. And also we wanted them to challenge several things, and by doing club activities they could do anything. In order to do even unusual things - but not just to show their strangeness to get attention - we explored ways that were easy to understand, and the result is what the group is now. Sakura Gakuin itself is for them a familiar and life-sized place, and for this reason I'd like to take out some color from the club activities.

 

For BABYMETAL it's metal, for Minipati the cuteness, in Sakura Gakuin I want to do impossible things. To begin with, the musicality and the direction of the lyrics, the costumes and the general concept are decided. All the staff contributes with several ideas. Actually, the staff has the most fun, maybe (laughs)

 

When they finish middle school they must graduate, but watching it from aside, since they have this goal they give their best with all their strength. What will they achieve till they become high school students? We also invite experts in several fields to make lectures, and these events are the "open classes". Lastly, when they graduate, I wish each of them will have the pride to say "I'm glad I was in Sakura Gakuin".

 

 

SAKURA GAKUIN CLUB ACTIVITIES (SUB-UNITS): 

"Science Club - Science investigation organization - Logica?"

It's the first science club. We talked about forming a unit related to science, and that was an occasion to form this club. We gathered members with a lot of unknown fields.

 

"Going-home club - Sleepiece"

We thought it would be nice for the audience to enjoy at the live shows covers of songs everyone knew, and so we made this unit. It's the going home club, so their costume is a pajamas.

 

"Heavy Music Club - BABYMETAL"

Their origin is due to one of the staff members being a metal lover. We reached the conclusion that if we made their costume in gothic lolita fashion it would be kawaii, and this is their actual shape.

 

"Tennis Club"

We made it simply thinking about the idea of kawaii. The melodies are in the style of Shibuya-kei. The harmonies are also different from Sakura Gakuin. They have an image which makes their heart twinge, a more girlish kind of image that makes them look up to the senpai.

 

"Cooking Club - Minipati"

This unit was made to get children of the same age interested in "food education". Talking about the members' substitution, when the first generation members are grown, they couldn't wear that costume anymore, for "Business Reasons" (laughs)

 

 

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Interview by: CD & DL Data Magazine, November 2012

Translation by: Gakushabaka

Read: Kobametal expains the reason why BABYMETAL was created and their concept, read here.

Check: Sakura Gakuin Biography section, click here