Interview Corner: Interviewing Ourselves

Two days ago, June 23rd, 2013. Some of JKT48Stuff authors were gathering together in f(X) since RHKilis visited Indo and we were planning to watch the trainees together. Alas, only Red and RHKilis able to enter the theater while we were not fortunate enough that day. Nonetheless, it was a very fun experience being able to talk to the guys again and this time with a special guest, Pitra from Stratego.

That being said, the most fun part for me was being able to interviewed the lots of them and asking simple questions for another Interview Corner as a part of the Jadilah Nekad campaign. Since interviewing members is currently out of our reach, why not interviewing the authors just in case someone might fallen for our love doctor Red, the statistical maniac RHKilis, the Marlboro guy Veranzzo or perhaps the everlasting rain gutter, Pitra . Maybe for future reference of Indonesia’s own OJS48 aka KKK48 (Kakek-Kakek or Grandpas, not that other one)

So without further ado, the Interview ladies and gentlemen.

01. Jessica Veranzzo

Q01. Please tell me more about yourself
A01. I’m just a teenager (Which is a lie, trust me) and I’m also a fanboy with a casual attitude.

Q02. How did you get into the fandom? What is your reason to get involved in the fandom?
A02. Actually last year, a friend of mine invited me to JKT48 Theater which was held at Pasaraya Blok M. I didn’t know much about idoling culture at that time and after the first show I was just amazed. Because their concept is totally different than the others. I was a local KPop influenced fans and it was just about virtually supporting your idols through screens but when I met the JKT48 girls, I was amazed at their “Idols you can meet” concept.

Q03. Can you tell me who is your favorite member?
A02. Well it was obvious, Jessica Veranda.

Q04. What do you think JKT48 got to do to reach broader audiences?
A04. To gain more popularity, I think JKT48 have to do much further promotion to themselves. I noticed the effort they’ve been doing recently like the JKT48 Missions show and various variety shows. Rena is a special case also, she could speak more than one language which could make people curious about the JKT48 girls in general.

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Stella CornelPitra

Q01. Could your please tell me more about what you do?
A01. I actually run a Digital Agency company called Stratego. We do several campaign either offline or online. On my spare time I run a blog that talked about Digital Creativity Campaign which also housed my personal blog.

Q02. The same question as Veranzzo, what is the reason why you get into the fandom?
A02. Actually I was interested to AKB48 first around two years ago. Y’know, the Bikinis and all that. I was interested with how unique their management strategy was. I was very excited when I know that they will come here to Jakarta for a concert together with JKT48 in Balai Kartini. I find it very funny when JKT48 introduces themselves which brought me to their temporary theater shows in Pasaraya Grande, twice since I’ve got their agency and sponsors sent me tickets. That was the time when I got very interested to JKT48 especially to their own unique management style. They can sell something what others can’t.

Q03. Who is your favorite member?
A03. (Blushed) Uh….Stella… I also paid some attention to Yona, Sendy and Ikha.

Q04. What do you think the fanbases could do to promote JKT48 more to overseas audiences?
A04. That’s a difficult question. We have some dedicated sites that aimed themselves for overseas audiences. The most important thing is if you watched their theater shows then you report how it went. If you have even the slightest decent infos about the girls, then share it around the net to generate more buzz for JKT48. I’m not really sure that overseas audiences could understand what JKT48 really is, even my local co-worker couldn’t understand what JKT48 is, so this is a very difficult task. Perhaps the management could invite more video bloggers for a theater performance snippets that could attract more overseas audiences. But truth is, I’m really hoping that there will be a Live on Demand shows just like what AKB48 already have.

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Frieska Anastasia LaksHaddad

Q01. I can already sense some incongruity in Haddad now. Hello Haddad! Please introduce yourself more
A01. You can call me Haddad. The rest is a secret. Not that secret actually~

Q02. How did you get yourself involved in the Fandom?
A02. Actually I’ve known JKT48 since their formation but at that time, I don’t pay much attention to them since I was a Morning Musume fans and actually doesn’t really paying attention to the 48G. I started to paying more attention to JKT48 after the announcement of Haruka and Akicha’s transfer. I kinda curious about how overseas fans’ reaction about JKT48 and the transfer so I started to do my own research in websites such as Stage48, Everyday48 and 2chan using the help of Google Translate since I don’t understand Japanese. I kinda baffled since not many paying attention to JKT48 even after the transfer, so I decided to enter the fandom with my own personal goal : to introduce and promote the girls more to overseas people and spread the love.

Q03. We already know that you have special affinity to Frieska. Why Frieska?
A03. Actually my first favorite member is Kinal. Somehow after she started her job as a captain, I can’t feel any needs to support her anymore since she already got the push she needed and she has grown to be a decent idol. And after that, one day, I just switched over to Frieska that I don’t even understand why. (It must have been love mate..)

Q04. Delusional time! What if one day Frieska called your number and told you she loves you?
A04. Huh? Huh? I’m sorry? Can you repeat the question? Uh..Frieska…if Frieska…uh..

Q04½. Delusional time! What if one day Frieska called your number and told you she loves you?
A04½. Well…I..uh…Lemme think about it first. What should I say…I don’t know. I don’t think I can accept that kind of relationship to be honest. Since I supported her as like I would do to someone who deserves some support.

-Haddad then getting his revenge by interviewing me-

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Shania JunianAngga

Q01. Good evening readers! And this time I’m going to interview Angga. Let’s be straight and asked the man about who he really is
A01. My name is Angga and my age is 15. (Veranzzo : Oy! Don’t lie!) I own a very small IT company, that’s it.

Q02. Can you tell me why you created JKT48Stuff? What makes you taking the decision to create the website?
A02. I think this group have the opportunity and ability to be known internationally as the Indonesia’s representative in the showbiz world. So uh.. I decided to support them. At first it was just by myself, explaining and promoting the groups to my overseas friends. And then I started to join Stage48 and met a lot of wonderful people there. And then I started to think that it might be better to create a website where people could contribute their opinions, their articles and also translations. So I decided to open JKT48Stuff and a lot of wonderful people started to join the team such as WasshoiJ, Veranzzo, KageTora, Red, Haddad, RHKilis, Serg, Japarta, Tokyo Pop and many many other great and wonderful people such as Pitra who gaves us a lot of buzz in the recent week.

(I already said this so many times, but I never regarded JKT48Stuff as my own website. This is a website built by the contribution of others, our website)

Q03. And now, my revenge. If you are actually around the same age as Shania, What would you do to attract her attention?
A03. If I was around the same age as Shan…..this question really makes me questioning myself you know. I would uh…sing her a song every single morning. I will also make her some sandwich and a cup of coffee every morning and also I will uh… Is this a trap question? (Those demonic guys were laughing and rolling on the floor as I answered this question…)

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Beby ChaeRichard Anadila

Q01. Could you please tell us more about yourself?
A01. So I have lived in the US for more than 13 years although I grew up in Jakarta. Now I’m working back in South East Asia.

Q02. Your reason for joining the fandom?
A02. Part of it, I really got interested in them after their formation but I don’t really pay attention to it. I’m still pretty much an anime fan and I watched AKB0048 and I got interested in AKB48 and started to watch some of their performances in early 2013. And from there I’m starting to looking up what JKT been up to and since I was coming back to South East Asia, I would have the opportunity to kinda check out what the theater is like and attend their theater performance for the first time.

Q03. Any particular reason why you supported Beby?
A03. I identify with her in terms of she’s a very strong worker, a very hardworking person but she has a side that uh.. a little bit shy ‘because she’s not sure how to express herself very well. Seeing her just be able kinda give her best performances despite being a shy person outwardly, I think that is very impressive for me because it shows that she is really fighting her best to be noticed by others.

Q04. Do you think there’s should be a special strategy for the members, not JKT48 as a group, but for the members to be noticed more by overseas audiences?
A04. I think it’s kinda hard because Indonesia culture. There’s a lot of very rich cultural things that uh.. you can only expressed I guess in Indonesian. Even just by reading their Twitter timelines, members will often joke with each others but sometimes the jokes is lost to overseas fans since they don’t really know what the Indonesian cultures like or the slang the members used. I think just being able to introduce themselves in a more formal or casual settings but not too much using the vernacular language would be good for overseas fans.

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Redtu Viny Fitrilya

Q01. Red, tell us more about yourself.
A01. Hello, just call me Red. I’m a law student in Universitas Indonesia. I’m not really a lolicon nor shotacon and I really love seeing girls dancing on stage.

Q02. Who is your favorite member and the reason why you chose her
A02. My oshimen is Ratu Viny Fitrilya. Trainee member in JKT48. I don’t know the reason why maybe because she’s so awesome performing my favorite unit song, Temo Demo no Namida. I see her efforts to become a senbatsu member. I see her as an ambitious girl. Someone who will try anything to get to the top. So I think..I love her because she’s ambitious (We all laugh here). Support! not Love, support! please censored that part.

Q03. Let’s say, in a parallel world, Viny calls up to you in one of the shows and announced that she will graduate from JKT48 to be together with you while asking you to be her boyfriend. (Red pump his fist up in the air)
A03. Thank God that this is an audio recording and not a video one. First of all I think there’s a difference between an idol and someone who you would want to be a girlfriend. Because as we all know, idols are fake. But we support them because…uh….uh..

-And something epic then happened…without any command, we all sung the same song for Red-

 
I will be astonished but that perhaps will never be happened in any parallel dimension or world.

Q04. What if, it really happened? What is your reaction?
A04. Well, I’m happy, why not?

Q05. So will you say “Yes”?
A05. Maybe but.. (Haddad : Aw..come on man, just say “Yes”). No no no, her career is more important than me.

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-Actually at this part, the interview was already over. But apparently, Red wanted to have some revenge by asking me several questions..-

ShaniAngga Junianatha

Q01. Why do you choose Shania as your one and only Oshimen?
A01. So…we’re gonna talk about Shan.. Shan is a very interesting uh…woman. (Red : Dude, she’s 14 years old..she’s not even LEGAL). The reason I like her is that Shan has this special quality about her smile, about the way she tried to overcome her disappointment after that -thing- and those idiots who think of her as an object of sex. So, she’s very strong, even stronger than me. She is the first one ever that able to make me lost my logic in thinking and makes me do thing that I thought I will never do in my whole entire life. And yeah, I love Shan. Thank you!

Q02. So you love Shania??
A01. Yes, I mean no, I mean yes, No, I mean no.

Q03. What is your reaction if Shania walk together with you along the shore of Tidung beach where they did the OGB Photobook while holding your hands?
A03. Uh..this is quite delusional. I think I’m going to be the most happiest person on earth. (Red : Chouzetsu Kawaii, ANGGA!)

The interview then abruptly ends with me unable to talk normally anymore.

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That’s it! Please do remember that the interview contents is just for fun and hopefully could attract more overseas to join us one day (at least for the sake of having fun together) in the Jadilah Nekad campaign