A Retrospective Lookback on the Rikako Aida Piano Incident 

People are sometimes fucking stupid. I remember when people in the fandom accused Muse of fake crying during their 3th live, even though 8 out of 9 members were crying and you could clearly see that it was real. Especially for Emitsun it was so bad that she had to be held up by two other seiyuu ( don't remember which ones exactly anymore) in the end when they went off stage. There's just no way all of that was acted. Same with this incident, she clearly had a full blown panic attack with her whole body shaking at some parts. There's no way you can fake this so convincingly. Also the look on the other member's face when the music stops and she starts crying immediately tells you it was real.

@@mojabaka during the performance, arisha and aikyan missed the choreography of putting their hands together because they were blinded by their tears and then at the last chorus, ainya blanked out and did wrong choreography (she forgot her own choreography and just copied the choreography of the one in front of her) i've watched the raw version of day 1 and day 2 and i always say that there's a before-day 2 omoi hitotsu aqours and an entirely different after-day 2 omoi hitotsu aqours before that, when they perform, they are very controlled and too careful and due to what happened in day 2, their limiters snapped and they became the aqours they are later known to be... the aqours that let their emotions and true feelings take over when they perform and always throw at least 200% into everything they do

Something similar happened with Kotori's seiyuu just 1 year before this concert. She cried and apologized to the audience because she wasn't able to properly do her CnR. Of course the audience cheered and let her do it again. One year later, Lovelive KNOWS just how effective this whole "seiyuu fails, cries, and gets support" situation so they definitely planned this out without knowing that Aqours will still be loved and supported even without this stupid PR stunt. Rikako crying and saying she can't do it but proceeds to perfectly play the whole dong? Lol how cool, i wish she was a psychiatrist so everyone could stop crying and feel nervous after just 30 seconds. There were 10,000 people on their 1st live, your anxiety and nervousness doesn't go away with one snap of a finger, you're supposed to freeze there or even faint if it wasn't scripted. But oh well

​@@chankoo schizo rant

​@@chankoo bro what--

@@chankoo bro does NOT know what it's like to perform piano live

Yeah, everyone support is the best and the pink lightsticks are really amazing It’s like everyone’s connected!

It's okay, though it was a complete accident and everything is going to be alright if you believe in yourself 😊

You can clarify why anchan was smiling and aina seemed angry in her tone with rikako

@@gohan_gamer1258 I always wondered why ainya sounded like that. I can't tell if she's supposed to sound angry or what but she's just giving that very commanding sound, maybe it's just to try to wrangle her back into it. Sometimes I need that firm voice telling me to get back to it when I fumble and need some help.

There are different types of panic attacks, not every person is the same. Also she's not crying without tears (which is not even a thing, because crying by its definition is the releasing of tears, to quote from Wikipedia: "Crying is the dropping of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state or pain.") . You can also clearly see the tears in her eyes when the camera that's mounted on the piano shows her face close up from the front and she wipes away her tears with a towel. Anyways, "stress induced breakdown" is really just a euphemism for "panic attack", just like "PTSD" is a euphemism for "shellshock" and "comfort women" is a euphemism for "sex slavery" so I don't understand what exactly you're trying to say. I think you're misunderstanding a panic attack for a full blown panic disorder. Panic attacks can be brief and stress induced, like in this case, while panic disorders generally take several minutes or even hours to resolve and often include more symptoms, like cardiovascular ones, loss of orientation, etc. As to if hugging helps or not, again, depends on the person. Rikako has said several times that the quick response of Anchan, Suwawa and Ainya helped her calm down quickly, therefore I definitely think they did the right thing. About muting the microphone, I also think that would have been the respectful thing to do, but my guess it that the staff was confused about what was happening too and by the time they realized what was happening they probably thought that her apologizing to the audience was a very emotional moment and decided to not mute her microphone due to that (that's just my guess, there is no official explanation from staff). I'm also confused about people saying that Ainya sounds angry. She sounds very comforting to me, she say's like "daijoubu" which translates to "it's ok", or "it's going to be ok" like 10 times in a row. She also says "we will just try again" and in the end she puts her hands down onto Rikako's hands in order to make them stop shaking. I think you're confusing her to be angry because she speaks louder than Anchan and Suwawa, but to me it's clear that she only wants to support Rikako and she honestly just naturally has a louder voice/personality than those two. As for why Anchan is smiling, I can't look into her brain and say what she was thinking at that time, but people actually sometimes do smile during uncomfortable situations. It's a weird reflex of the brain/body. Being caught by surprise by something uncomfortable also makes a lot of people smile. In my opinion it's probably a mix of that and Anchan trying to cheer Rikako up. Sorry if my comment comes of as rude, I'm really not trying to be that, I'm just trying to convey my view of this situation because I have analyzed it a lot of times. Funnily enough I was asked in an NHK interview about this scene, which surprised me because I didn't expect them to ask about something so "controversial". Before the interview they sent me a bunch of sample questions which they were going to ask and they did ask those, but they also asked like 5 questions which were not among the sample questions and one of them was about this incident. The interview took 50 minutes in total, but they just aired 30 seconds of me and all those 30 seconds where me talking about this incident lol. I talked about it for like 5 minutes if I remember correctly, but they had to cut my answer down to 30 seconds unfortunately. Anyways, Rikako was one of the guests in the studio when my interview was played so I'm glad she managed to receive my support. Unfortunately I don't know if she saw the full video of me talking about the incident, or just the 30 seconds that were aired, since it wasn't a live show, I would really like to ask her that one day. If someone wants to know what show I'm talking about, it's "Songs of Tokyo, Episode 20". You can find it on billibilli if you Google "love live songs of tokyo". My part starts at around 12:55, but I would recommend to watch the whole program. Anyways, my part is cringe because I'm ugly and hate my voice and they cut out a lot of my answer, so it sounds even more stupid, but I want people to know about it, because I can tell by Rikako's reaction that our support means a lot to her and that due to that she managed to completely move on from this incident. It still breaks my heart every time I see it, but I'm glad it happened, because it showed how special Aqours is. Yeah sorry for the too long text, nobody is going to read anyway lol.

@@mojabaka Hi! Thanks for the intelligent reply, those things are hard to come by on youtube. Actually, I meant a nervous-breakdown, which is typically a prolonged sense of stress that builds up and feels like a consistent heightened form of anxiety. Stress crying is very much a thing, I can speak both anecdotally and also you can see examples (i.e. Laura Lee's apology where she's clearly distressed but also looks dry). Honestly, though, my comment is pretty uncalled for in the grand scheme of things since the point of Rikako here is that she's having some sort of bad moment and that's all that matters, lol.

@@longforari Well thanks for the reply, I completely agree that stress crying is a thing, there's no doubt about that, but crying without tears is not a thing, which is the point I was trying to make. I understand what you mean when you say that there are some people who look like they're crying, but don't produce tears, happened to me plenty of times for example, but it's just not called "crying" then. I don't know if there's a scientific or medical term for such a state (probably yes, but I'm not a doctor and too uneducated about that topic, even though I experienced such a state myself multiple times). I don't think your comment is uncalled for, I was just a bit confused reading it, because a panic attack is just the result of a stress related event, so I don't see them as mutually exclusive, but your comment made it sound like those two are completely different things. In the grand scheme of things, you are correct that her breakdown was caused by stress, but I would still call it a classic panic attack, because she expresses all the symptoms of one. There's also her blogpost that goes even deeper into it and although she doesn't use the term "panic attack" herself, she describes even more symptoms, like not remembering anything before being surrounded by the other member, etc. I will post the relevant part of her blogpost, because it's really touching: "There was a lot of love enveloping us, and it really, really became a marvelous live!!!!!! However, I have something I must apologize to everyone for. I would like to apologize for the worries that I felt. After discussing with the rest of the team, I decided to perform on the piano. I never wanted to back down, so I requested to be given the chance to do it. And so, I really give my apologies to the rest of the team who believed in me until the end; I betrayed them. It was exactly because of that that we did not discuss the possibility of failure. Also, having made the other members feel worry in that moment, as well as all the people who had paid money to watch a professional fail, all these emotions mixed together in my head and I panicked. Somehow, I was able to complete it on Day 1, so I calmed down and decided to play with more of a smile like Riko’s on Day 2. To be honest, I cannot remember that moment very well. But the members rushed over to me during the dance, and I also heard the voices of everyone there, so I was able to stop crying and bring back out the “Sakurauchi Riko” within Aida Rikako once again. Without that, my heart would’ve surely broken, and I would’ve regretted it for the rest of my life. Thank you very much for giving me another chance. And then the lyrics of Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare also resonated in my chest and supported me. I was once again able to realize how great the power of music was, and that it was able to give me so much courage. “It was really the greatest performance by everyone! I was moved!” was what I heard from a lot of people, but a failure is a failure. I am no longer qualified to be a professional standing on stage. I really reflected on it. And after that I had to perform with a smile. Because I was no longer qualified to cry. But I was able to continue until the very end thanks to the warmth of all the fans. Thank you, thank you very much for supporting me. Also, I will never forget the members who rushed over so that I wouldn’t be alone, and held me and my hands in that unbelievable location, all the time from before the beginning until after the very end, as well as the fun after the live as they greeted me with smiles and laughed it off. Those 8 people who were there definitely felt the same way as everyone. I was glad that it was 9 people once again. Thank so so much for saving me. And also, I am very grateful to the piano teacher who seriously taught the amateur me who could not even read musical notes for 3 months. It was really difficult; my fingers did not move as I expected, but I was able to slowly get better and better at playing, and I was able to think, “Playing the piano is fun!” And that was definitely thanks to the people who told me so. I started the piano from this age, so I was worried about whether it was truly okay, but I was told many times that it was important to challenge that thought. It’s getting quite long, but I wanted to tell everyone as soon as possible. Now, the second season of the TV anime, as well as 2nd live tour and many others were announced! Aqours is advancing from here onto the next Step once again. In order to make all of you know more and more about Aqours, I will put out my heart and try even harder than my best that I have done until now as a member of Aqours!!! So please cheer me on as a member of Aqours and as Sakurauchi Riko from now on as well. I will forever treasure everyone who supported me. Let’s go and see more marvelous sights together! The voice of Sakurauchi Riko 🌸 Aida Rikako" It breaks my heart when she writes about how she thinks she betrayed her members and all the fans who paid money to see her perform. But like I already said, I'm glad she managed to move on.

and on the subject of mistakes, if rikyako's interview represents the story of Aqours's "courage and resilience", suwawa's is the story that best represented Aqours "growing and overcoming obstacles"

on the subject of suwawa, she is the only one of the 9 to actually know how to play the piano before aqours... so probably a reason why the staff+VIPs giving orders on the earpiece let suwawa go to rikyako (despite suwawa and rikyako not being as close as they are with each other compared to with other members) that day while instructing the other 5 to continue stand-by... that and also how suwawa has been said to have a sort of calming aura (she's known to be able to calm babies, animals, even hyperactive shuka and ainya the instant she hugs them) in a very early radio (way before 1st live and even before their anime), she and arisha actually talked about what if rikyako would have to play the piano in the future... arisha asked suwawa to help rikyako if that time ever comes (arisha meant for suwawa to help give rikyako pointers about how to get better at playing the piano)... suwawa misinterpreted that "help" and was all for being the one secretly playing the piano for rikyako backstage without credit while rikyako mimes it in a worst case scenario... she's always so stoic and poker face, but deep down she cares about her family just as much as the rest and is willing to do all the behind the scenes thankless stuff for her mates at the drop of a hat without question

Hm, that is more than I expected when it came to this topic. My whole idea was just to lookback to when it happened snd the events that happened after it. Unfortunately I cannot read JP so some of the stuff you mentioned are things I have 0 access to, but that is pretty interesting.

@@ErisDeepSeaCocoon unfortunate that the interviews are rather heavy stuff, so it is really hard to translate without risking skewing the seiyuu's words and feelings... because the seiyuu shared some pretty private inner feelings and thoughts about the biggest happenings they experienced while as aqours and i'm going to apologise in advance for the wall of text again (just ignore if you aren't interested)... between 4th live and when the interview took place, it has been 4 years (half of aqours's total run) after all, so a tonne of things happened including the pandemic lockdown when the seiyuu finally had downtime to process their journey, so they went for some soul searching and thought of their future seriously... as a result, many of them changed their mindset and attitudes on a lot of things especially their mindset about lives in almost all the interviews, they spoke of how they used to take aqours lives for granted because their schedule used to be so packed and all the events went smoothly, so there's always a next time... but since experiencing all the cancellations, it gave them a wake up call... now they treat every live as if it is their final live, that there is no next time, so they want to do it in a way that they won't have any regrets i suspect that rikyako still harbors a sort of regret for not being able to perform well on the piano and wants to challenge that again so that when the time comes for aqours to disband (may it be long from now), she can do it without regret

Appreciation to you both for providing a bit more context to the whole situation, it is a terrifying if not beautiful moment. They really do all look out for each other.

Appreciate it bro

Oh wow, I actually remember watching that when it was aired. I don't remember if I skipped that portion or toughed it out, but I do remember that segment. I can only imagine how you felt when you saw it happen, as well as witnessing Rikako herself watch it fully. On another note, how did you send in the interview? Was that a private affair, because as far as I know, no such thing was ever announced.

@@ErisDeepSeaCocoon A representative of NHK made a post on the Love Live subreddit that they're doing an interview with international fans. He put up a link where you had to answer some basic questions like "What does Love Live mean to you?" and others (I don't remember anymore, sorry.). But I basically wrote a whole essay about how I discovered Love Live back in 2015, how it inspired me to pursue a degree in Japanology and become a translator for Japanese (I'm already a licensed translator for English, German and Croatian), how I went to Japan for Aqours 5th live and Love Live fest, etc. I think that answer made them invite me to the interview. But yeah, unfortunately it's just a 25 minute show and they performed 4 songs (if I remember correctly), plus seiyuu interviews, so our interviews got cut down to only a few seconds. They allowed me to send a message to Aqours and Liella, I remember telling Aqours how much they mean to me and I told Liella and Liyuu (because they asked who my favorite Liella member was and I told them Keke) something along the lines "I hope you will be able to chase your dreams the same way your senpais do/did". Anyways, unfortunately I have no idea if they ever showed that part to them and I will never know unless I somehow get to talk to the seiyuu, and even then, it's likely they don't remember me, since they do a lot of TV shows and get a lot of fan feedback. Unfortunately, soon after that interview my life became a living hell, as I became chronically ill and I was unable to work and continue university for the past 3 years. I can't write what caused my condition, because my comment will automatically get removed by RU-vid if I spell it out, but you can probably guess. Let's just say it was a certain medical product that shall not be named. Anyways, due to that I'm even less likely to meet and talk to the seiyuu, since I can't go to Japan for their fanmeetings, where you usually get a chance to talk to them for a few seconds. But yeah, currently I'm a bit better and I'm slowly trying to go back to work and start university in October, but my conditions flares up at times, so I don't know if it will be possible. I just hope that one day I'll be able to finish my Japanese degree and become a translator and finally move to Japan in order to be closer to Love Live in general. But it's been hard watching all my friends and the seiyuu move on in life, while I'm stuck in this fucking body for the past 3 years. Anyways, sorry for the off topic rant, but that interview is like the final positive thing in my life I remember before becoming disabled. I was extremely lucky to be picked for that interview, but it seems like life immediately had to punish me for that :(

Also the episode aired on my birthday, March 22nd and the Japanese interviewer said something like "I guess it's fate" to me lol.

Omoi yo Hitotsu wasn't performed at the 3rd live

¡ON!