Exclusive interview with Mandy Sekiguchi: From performer to the next stage

What Mandy sees in his new beginning as he transforms from a performer to a multi-talented figure

The day before this photoshoot, on May 1st, there was a press conference announcing your graduation from LDH. Please tell us frankly how you feel right now.

Sekiguchi Mandy (hereinafter, Mandy): After the press conference, I received a lot of messages of support, just like it was a New Year's Day, and I felt proud and motivated, knowing that I was carrying the hopes and support of so many people.

I got up early this morning and went for a walk outside, and it was a very refreshing morning, like a new wind was blowing.

A turning point in life: Meeting with dance

Please tell us what prompted you to start dancing.

Mandy: I ​​started dancing in my first year of university, but before that I played baseball. At the time, I thought it would be great if I could go to university as a baseball player.

In reality, it was difficult in terms of my ability, so I gave up on the sports recommendation and entered Nippon Sport Science University through the general entrance exam.

I was planning to study to become a physical education teacher, but I had heard that university students have a lot of free time, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to start something new, so I kept my ears open.

At that time I also tried to find a way to become popular easily, so I found a place where other popular people were hanging out, and what caught my eye was a double dutch club, which is a sport that uses jump rope, and a dance club.

I'm a bit simple-minded, so I thought that if I could do acrobatics, I'd be popular.

Looking back, there were a lot of people at Nippon Sport Science University who could do Back handspring and backflips (laughs).

One time, a senior from a dance club came up to me to recruit new freshmen and said, "You should do dance if you're half Japanese." I told him, "I want to do acrobatics because I want to be popular at the university. Sorry." He said, "You can do acrobatics even if you're dancing," and performed a backflip on the spot. That was what got me started dancing. After that, he showed me music videos of overseas artists like Michael Jackson, Usher, and Chris Brown, and I wanted to be able to dance like that, so I got into it.

You joined GENERATIONS in 2012 and EXILE in 2014. I'm sure there were many hardships behind your brilliant achievements. Are there any stories from hardships that have inspired your current activities?