i☆Ris’s We are i☆Ris!!!
Interview & text by Hajime Kitano

With a thousand emotions, i☆Ris delivers you this first album after three years from forming the group! 

This sextet started their activities in 2012 with two pivots, as voice-actors and an idol group, and has experienced big stages such as Animelo Summer Live and Tokyo Idol Festival. While they gradually gathered their fame with all the members playing primary roles as voice actors in the animation PriPara, they are now introducing themselves with this first full album We are i☆Ris!!! in which their charm is condensed.

i☆Ris We are i☆Ris!!! DIVEIIentertainment(2015)


“This time, members’ suggestions were adopted from the early stage of production, so we were able to discuss which tunes we’d include in which order. We named the album by ourselves, but this title was the only choice we had since the beginning (laughs.)” (Yu Serizawa)

11 rich and colorful pieces are listed in this work: Innocent and earnest vocals in “Color,” their debut track, excite our hearts, while a British rock-ish taste is fully expressed in “§Rainbow” by Rui Nagai, the composer and arranger who is known for many famous idol/anime songs he made, and of course i☆Ris’ masterpiece “Make it!” which is known as the theme song of [PriPara], also shows its name on the album. Highlights, in particular, are the duet songs in which the members split into three duos, displaying each member’s character in each song. Firstly, “Believe in” sang by Saki Yamakita, the leader, and Azuki Shibuya is a speedy rock tune composed and arranged by R・O・N, who has made many songs including those for anime and video-game.


“It’s a hard-core rock tune which we’d never tried before, so I’m so happy that we can show our different and cool side.” (Yamakita)

Both Himika Akaneya and Yuki Wakai are good at singing ballads. They confirmed their friendship in “Ryusei (meaning Shooting-Star)”, which is expressed as if they are holding out their hands gently.

“The lyrics are as if we are talking to each other, so I sang as if I was answering to Yuki-chan, feeling the presence of her.” (Akaneya)


Meanwhile, Serizawa and Miyu Kubota show their adorable charm from top to bottom in “Love Magic.”

“The other duos kinda push themselves to the limit and tried to act like adults, so we dared to act like kids (laughs). We wanted to maximize our cuteness in the song, so we tried to sing like anime characters.” (Kubota)

Concluding this piece, in which each of the six members show their own different color, is“ayatsunagi,” a slow tune that portrays the bonds between fellows who walk hand in hand toward their dream. The chorus, supported by outstanding vocal strength, is breathtakingly beautiful which even might make you cry.

“When I listened to the demo while reading the lyrics for the first time, I literally couldn’t help crying. Memories of our two years welled up one after another. I even cried when I recorded this song too. I put so much emotion in it.” (Wakai)

The members are scheduled to perform at Zepp Tokyo, the largest venue for them ever, to finish their tour for this album. The lyrics in “Color” say, ‘If we could fly, we would reach the sky.’ Let’s see how high they’ll fly.

“We have only taken the first step yet, thanks to [PriPara], but now we’re looking so much forward to i☆Ris’ future. We feel that the future will be way better than we’ve expected. We will never look back, - just keep looking forward.” (Shibuya)