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Music / Sakurazaka46
aka: Keyakizaka 46

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Early 2021 lineup

"Always lovely yet resolute! Bloom like a cherry blossom! Just Trust Yourself! Bloom! Bloom! Sakurazaka46! Full bloom!"

Sakurazaka46 (櫻坂46) is Nogizaka46's first sister group, established in 2015 as Keyakizaka46 (欅坂46). The members were grouped into two teams, Kanji Keyaki and Hiragana Keyaki, until the latter was renamed Hinatazaka46 in February 2019, leaving Kanji as the sole team. The group's captain is Rina Matsuda, who took over from Yuuka Sugai after she graduated in November 2022.

On July 2020, Keyakizaka46 announced that they would hold their last live show in October 2020, followed by the group's hiatus and the transfer of all members to a new group. On September 20, the new group's name was revealed to be Sakurazaka46. The title song for their first single under the new name, "Nobody's fault", was performed for the first time on said live show.

The group's works outside music are described in the Franchise page.

On this page, Japanese names are written in the Western order (given name followed by surname).

These tropes are nobody's fault:

  • The Ace: Yurina Hirate, until her withdrawal from the group.
  • Alternate Character Reading: Inverted; "Kanji" Keyaki (欅坂46) and "Hiragana" Keyaki (けやき坂46) were different groups with the same name written in different writing systems. Unsurprisingly, this confused many people.
  • Apathetic Citizens: Many of their songs seem to call these people out, such as "Silent Majority" and "Fukyouwaon".
  • Arc Number:
    • The kanji characters for both keyaki and sakura are written in 21 strokes. The founding members were introduced on August 21, 2015. From their second to sixth singles, the full Kanji lineup consisted of 21 members.
    • Sakurazaka46's debut was on October 14, 2020 and all the songs in their first single were performed by 14 members.
    • Averted with the most prominent number 46, which is simply a brand at this point.
  • The Baby of the Bunch: Ten Yamasaki (born in 2005) is the youngest member and the second youngest, Marino Kousaka, is three years older than her. For some time, she was the only member who was still in middle school, and her graduation is celebrated in SokoSaku.
    • Yurina Hirate is the youngest founding member and was also the only one in middle school when they started, but wasn't really the "baby" since she was the permanent center of the group. Aoi Harada, the second youngest, acted more her age and fitted this better.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: "Kaze ni Fukaretemo" costumes are black suits.
    • Ten Yamasaki has revealed in Sokosaku that she wore a black suit for her elementary school graduation, inspired by this song.
  • The Band Minus the Face: Yurina Hirate's withdrawal from the group in January 2020 was followed by the group's total rebranding in October, and the songs in their new single were all centered by different 2nd generation members in order to move away from the "fixed center" image and Hirate's influence in particular.
    • Because of this, Keyakizaka's final single "Dare ga Sono Kane wo Narasu no ka?", released in August 2020, is the only song to have no official center.
  • Big "NO!": The bridge of "Fukyouwaon" ends with a loud and clear "Boku wa iya da!" ("I refuse!" or "I hate it!"). In live performances, that phrase usually comes out as a bone-chilling scream.
  • Black Sheep: "Kuroi Hitsuji" ("Black Sheep") is a variant, which tells about one who doesn't fit in with her classmates.
  • Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Captain Yuuka Sugai is refined and soft-spoken, and Vice Captain Akane "Sergeant" Moriya is outspoken and hyper-competitive.
    • Akanen's successor Rina Matsuda is also the loud type. She has also revealed that she grew up in poverty, while Sugai is a genuine Ojou, further fitting the trope.
  • Catchphrase: "Always lovely yet resolute! Bloom like a cherry blossom! Just Trust Yourself! Bloom! Bloom! Sakurazaka46! Full bloom!" (いつも 可憐に たくましく!櫻のように咲き誇れ!Just Trust Yourself!咲け!咲け!櫻坂46!満開!! Itsumo karen ni takumashiku! Sakura no yō ni sakihokore! Just Trust Yourself! Sake! Sake! Sakurazaka46! Mankai!!). SokoSaku episode 2 discusses this and reveals who came up with each part of the phrase.
    • As Keyakizaka46: "Humility! Kindness! Bond! Shining brightly, Keyakizaka46!" (謙虚!優しさ!絆!キラキラ輝け、欅坂46! "Kenkyo! Yasashi-sa! Kizuna! Kirakira kagayake Keyakizaka46!").
    • Yuuka Sugai's is "Ganbariki!", a combination of ganbare and bariki (馬力, horsepower).
  • Cherry Blossoms: After their rebranding, their logo became white with pink accent.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Akiho Onuma and Kira Masumoto are known for their unpredictable worldviews. Akiho also creates her own weird music with hand-drawn music videos, especially for other members' birthdays.
  • Color Motif: They're named after a street named after the zelkova tree, so naturally theirs was green. When they changed their name, the color motif also changed to that of Cherry Blossoms.
  • Darker and Edgier: Admired for having such an image as an up-and-coming idol group. Even producer Yasushi Akimoto has revealed that since the audition they'd given off a dark aura, throwing Death Glares at the adults around them.
  • Dislikes the New Guy: Many members look uncomfortable when Neru Nagahama is introduced as the group's extra member in Keyakake, since she had earlier withdrawn from the audition; however, they've accepted her to an extent by the time of the second single production. Nanami Yonetani in particular had a hard time accepting her, but they eventually became close friends.
  • Fiery Redhead: Akane Moriya is named after a red flower (Rubia argyi, or madder) and has reddish brown-dyed hair with a Hot-Blooded personality to match.
  • Gratuitous English: Several of their songs have English titles, such as "Silent Majority", "Eccentric", "Ambivalent", and "Nobody's Fault", and even those that don't slip in some English phrases.
    • "Fukyouwaon" ends with a repetition of the title's English translation, "Discord".
      Disko-do, disko-do, yeah, disko-do!
    • Their catchphrase also includes the English phrase "Just trust yourself!".
  • I Can't Do This by Myself: Yurina Hirate, despite all her awesomeness and epicness, said over and over again that she is nothing without the other Keyakizaka members.
  • Let's Duet: "Yuichans", formed by Yui Imaizumi and Yui Kobayashi.
  • Lighter and Softer: Hiragana Keyaki, now Hinatazaka46, has a much brighter image than their counterpart. Their name literally means "sunny slope".
    • Keyakizaka46 itself also became this after rebranding into Sakurazaka46 in late 2020, especially since the group became more oriented to the second generation members to move away from Yurina Hirate's image. Of course, not everyone could accept this, such as former second generation member Riko Matsudaira who has mentioned that she decided to graduate because her mind and body "cannot keep up" with the group's changes.
  • Location Theme Naming: Keyakizaka and Sakurazaka are real sloping streets in Roppongi, Minato Ward, Tokyo, and both also happen to be named after trees.
    • Hinatazaka is the Alternate Character Reading of Hyūgazaka, also a street in Minato Ward.
    • Sakurazaka's variety show title, Soko Magattara, Sakurazaka? ("If you turn there, is it Sakurazaka?"), refers to the fact that there's actually a junction that connects the Keyakizaka and Sakurazaka streets.
  • The Mentor: TAKAHIRO and Fuyuka Saito to Yurina Hirate.
  • No One Gets Left Behind: 21-Kanji member senbatsu. After the 4th senbatsu selection, several members like Miyu Suzumoto showed that they doesn't really care about their position but what they are worried about is whether it is another 21 Kanji senbatsu or not. The girls also cried when it was announced that Neru Nagahama is joining them for the 2nd single.
    • It's rumored that although Hiragana was nominally an understudy group, they had no chance to join the main songs because then some Kanji members would have to be excluded.
    • Downplayed in Sakurazaka, as there are only eight members who appear in all songs in the singles, although the rest get to perform at least one song as the "Backs". The back-rows are not without fans either, as they get their own Backs Live concerts, similar to Nogizaka46's Under Lives.
  • The Notable Numeral: The Sakura Eight, members who appear in all the songs of their singles as Sakurazaka46. Also 21-Kanji senbatsu, although it simply meant the full team at the time.
  • The Oner: The MV for "Kuroi Hitsuji" is shot in one take.
  • One-Steve Limit: There are Risa and Rika Watanabe (plus Miho in the former Hiragana); Yuuka Sugai and Hiragana's Kageyama; Rika Ozeki and Watanabe; Rina Uemura, Inoue, and Matsuda; Yui Kobayashi and Takemoto (plus former member Imaizumi); Rina and Hiragana's Konoka Matsuda; and Akane and Rena Moriya. None of them are related.
  • Putting on the Reich: During a Halloween event, the members wore costumes that looked extremely similar to the SS uniforms worn by the Nazi Party. An apology was promptly issued.
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Each of 21 Kanji members have different set of personality, from the loud and cheerful Fuyuka Saito, quiet and reserved Yui Kobayashi, to the natural airhead Rika Watanabe. 11 Hiragana are a whole different set too, as they are more extrovert and active than Kanji members. All of Hiraganas are said to be 'weird' at school. Despite all the clashing personalities, that may have caused some argument and small fight inside the group from time to time, Keyakizaka members are bonded to the point where "best friend and comrade is not enough to describe it".
  • Retraux: The "Samidare yo" MV was filmed on 16 mm stock and utilized fully practical effects. Producer Hiroto Hashimoto has revealed that they used up all the film stock available in Japan for the 5 minutes, 39 seconds music video.
  • Shout-Out: Hikaru Morita likes Fairy Tail and the choreography for several songs which she centers includes moves inspired by the techniques of that series' Gray. There's even a dance routine named "Ice Shell", also named after that character's special technique.
  • Silly Love Song: Such as "Sekai ni wa Ai Shikanai" (There is Only Love in the World), "Futari Saison" (Season for Two) and "Blue Moon Kiss".
    "Ah... We kissed."
  • Slumming It: For their 6th single Selfie TV bonus content, in which members produced individual short videos about whatever they want, Yuuka Sugai decided to do something she has never done before in her 22 years of living... have lunch in a ramen joint. Alone. She enjoyed the experience and mentioned that she would try eating alone at other kinds of establishment as well.
  • Speech Impediment: Despite being the group's captain and spokeswoman, Yuuka Sugai has difficulty pronouncing some syllables like ke and du.
  • Spin-Off: Hiragana Keyakizaka was spun off into Hinatazaka46 in February 2019, leaving Kanji as the only Keyakizaka.
  • Spoken Word in Music: "Sekai ni wa Ai Shikanai" and "Kado wo Magaru" have several spoken parts.
  • The Unpronounceable: The title Keyakitte, Kakenai? ("Can't you write 'Keyaki'?") lampshades the complexity of the kanji for keyaki (欅), which requires 21 strokes to write (plant and animal names are usually simply written in katakana in daily life).
    • Instead of the common kanji for "sakura" (桜), Sakurazaka uses the uncommon kanji (櫻), which has the same number of strokes and therefore believed to bring good fortune.
  • We Cannot Go On Without You: Kanji Keyaki was unable to perform at Budokan in February 2018 due to Hirate injuring her arm. As a result, all three concerts were performed by Hiragana Keyaki.
    • After Hirate withdrew from the group, it was decided that they'd totally rebrand.
  • Young and in Charge: All of Keyakizaka46's main singles were centered by Yurina Hirate, the youngest founding member who was 14 when they started in 2015.
    • In Nobody's fault, the debut single after their rebranding in 2020, one of the three songs was centered by Ten Yamasaki, who was the youngest at the time at 15 years old (the centers of the other two songs were born the same year as Hirate in 2001).

Alternative Title(s): Keyakizaka 46

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