EIKI

Sano Eiki (佐野瑛宜 born December 6, 2001 in Aichi, Japan), known professionally as EIKI (エイキ), is a Japanese singer and dancer under Japanese management company BMSG as a member of boy group MAZZEL, formed through documentary program MISSIONx2. He made his debut with the group with "Vivid" in May 2023.

Biography

Main article: EIKI/Biography

Early Life

As a child, EIKI really loved sports. He started swimming at the age of 2^[1] and continued until sixth grade of elementary school, despite really hating it. In second grade, he started baseball^[2].

During his secondary school years, EIKI focused on baseball and it was all he thought about. His schedule was absolutely packed: he would get on the train at 6am, get to school and practice before class, then attend class in the morning and club activities in the afternoon until late at night. He was a regular player since the fall of his first year of high school, and was named the vice-captain of his high school's baseball team and led them to the prefectural semifinals during his last year^[3][2].

During his free time from baseball, EIKI really enjoyed singing with his family and going to karaoke. His friends would often praise him, and he eventually gathered the courage to sing "Niji" by Ninomiya Kazunari at his school's festival, when he realized how good it felt to sing and be on stage. Thus, his dream of being an artist was born^[2].

Once he retired from club activities in the fall of his third year of high school (2019), he started learning how to play the piano (inspired by a video of Ninomiya he saw on TikTok) and took singing lessons at EXPG Nagoya. He intented on taking dance lessons too, and attended the first class, but he was made fun of for his buzzcut and he felt so embarrassed that he quit^[2].

2021-2022

Starting from 2021, EIKI auditioned for many different agencies, knowing that because of his age he didn't really have the privilege of choosing. He auditioned for all the famous ones, but failed all of them^[2].

From December 2021 to January 2022, EIKI partipated in the second round of the Hori Pro Next Bishoujo Zukan audition ^[4], but he failed to continue to the third round.

Around February 2022, EIKI came across a video of BE:FIRST singing "Brave Generation" at THE FIRST FINAL, which made a big impression on him, especially the fact that they weren't dancing, just singing while moving around on stage. He was particularly impressed by SHUNTO, who was conveying his feelings clearly, and found him very cool. Once he looked him up and found out about his age (18 at the time), he thought he wouldn't be able to debut in BMSG and gave up. However, around a month later, he saw a clip of THE FIRST (BMSG's first audition) on TikTok and was very moved by SKY-HI's warmth and kindness and the way he actually saw "the person" inside each of the auditionees instead of just their careers, and thought "I want to meet him". He looked up the agency's website, saw that they were recruiting and that he met the age requirement, and applied^[2].

In July 2022, he auditioned for the BMSG AUDITION 2022. He passed the second round with "LOSER" by Yonezu Kenshi (vocal performance) and DOG -freestyle- by Novel Core (dance performance).
In the third round, he was placed in Team Green with Suzuki Hayato, Inui Ryo, Yumoto Kanon, Namekawa Kosuke and Kamimura Akira, and performed "Be Free".
In the 4th round he was placed in Team B with NAOYA, SEITO, YU and KOHEI and performed "Fantasy".
In the 5th round, he was placed in Team D with TAKUTO, KAIRYU, RYUKI, NAOYA and YU and performed "Get Down". However, around halfway through this round, EIKI got COVID-19 and the training camp had to be stopped. He spent a week isolated in a hotel room, where he wrote a song called "Eiyuu" (英雄; hero), about how everyone around him looked like heroes, and showed it to SKY-HI. That song would later lead to "Love Letter"^[2].

2023

On February 10, EIKI was revealed to be a member of MAZZEL.
On March 31, MAZZEL released their pre-debut single MISSION.
On May 17, MAZZEL released their debut single Vivid.

In August, right before the MAZZEL 1st Fan Meeting -Play at the MUZEUM- tour, EIKI really lost confidence in himself because he was inexperienced compared to his fellow members, who had been training for many years, and even considered leaving the group. He was really worried, as the atmosphere in the group was "we have to get results", "we need to take over the world and Japan". He had a crisis of faith, wondering what all of that meant and what his role in the group was, and thought that he would not be needed if that was the final goal, as he couldn't really relate to it. He eventually got over it through thinking of the love fans have for him, and decided that if he was worried about his skills, he should just practice^[2].

2024

He co-wrote lyrics with SKY-HI for Love Letter, a song from MAZZEL's first album Parade.

Artistry

EIKI was very confident in that he would be able to make it as an artist, and he chalks it up to being from Aichi and not seeing many people following this path around him. Once he got to Tokyo and realized how many talented people there were, he was taken aback^[2].

EIKI brings a lot from his baseball experience into his artistry, since he thinks that it helped him hone his human skills. For example, he keeps his team's policy close to heart: "we don't practice to avoid failure, but we assume that we will fail and prepare for anything that happens", following which he tried to prepare contingency plans for anything that could happen on stage, like his in-ear monitors not working. He also believes love, respect, and support are key factors to good teamwork^[2].

As a writer, EIKI puts a lot of value on words and SKY-HI has praised him for his lyricism. He was particularly influenced by Noda Yojiro (RADWIMPS), whom his mother and brother really liked and listened to all the time. As he got older, he started paying attention to his lyrics more carefully, and eventually he started looking for phrases and expressions he liked in the lyrics of all the music he listened to^[2].

Within MAZZEL, EIKI wants to be "transparent". He wants his voice, his appearance, dancing and behavior to be beautiful, and to guarantee "transparent beauty, elegance, and straightforwardness". He wishes to contribute through his strength in the use of words. ^[2].

As an artist, his ultimate goal is "world peace". He's not interested in fighting or winning over others, and he thinks that the bigger MAZZEL gets, the more power he has through his words. He thinks the entertainment industry has the power to achieve world peace, and that it would be possible if everyone cooperated^[2].
For MAZZEL, EIKI hopes that they can always stay humble and to become a group where everyone can shine individually but shine even brighter when they come together. For himself, he wants to write songs, write a novel^[2], act in a stage play and appear on a variety of TV shows, such as morning news shows^[5].

Personal Life

Name Meaning
EIKI's given name, "瑛宜" means "sparkle, crystal" (瑛) and "good" (宜).

Nicknames

• Eiki (エイキ): most common nickname used by MAZZEL members
• Ei-chan (エイちゃん): used by SEITO and RYUKI

Friendships

• JUNON: he's friends with BE:FIRST member JUNON and they often hang out together
• MANATO: he's gotten closer with BE:FIRST member MANATO after being on BMSG WEST together
• NAOYA: he is close with fellow MAZZEL member NAOYA.

Family
He has an older brother, older by three years. They always followed the same path, doing the same things (swimming, baseball, school, part-time jobs) until EIKI decided to go into music. While he does admire his brother, it was mostly their parents making EIKI follow him^[2].

EIKI only told his closest friends about his dream of being an artist, and not his entire friend circle because he was afraid they would laugh at him^[2].

Education
In March 2017, he graduated from Ryuuhoku Middle School^[6].
In March 2020, he graduated from Shigakukan High School^[3].
In April 2020, he started attending university to become a physical education teacher, considering it a safety net in case the entertainment industry didn't work out. However, he took a leave of absence during his second year (2021-2022), thinking that if he didn't pursue his dream seriously, it would never come true. When the moment to renew it came a year later, he decided not to, and effectively dropped out^[2].

Due to EIKI's incredibly packed schedule, he started hating baseball club practice. He disliked it so much that he had a lot of fun during normal classes, where he could talk to his friends. He got staight As in all of his classes and really enjoyed studying, since he considered it a game^[2].

Profile

Discography

Main article: EIKI/Discography

Other Works

Publications

Main article: EIKI/Publications

See also: MAZZEL/Publications

Trivia

When EIKI was doing swimming, he specialized in breastroke[12] His baseball position was infielder (shortstop and second baseman)[6] and his jersey number was #6[13]. During his middle school years, he played for the Chiryu Boys baseball team[6] He's a fan of THE RAMPAGE He is voted by MAZZEL as the most serious-minded member[14] He was never a big fan of sweets, but has started eating chocolate lately[15] He wanted to become an artist after watching the audition show for the Korean boy group, TREASURE, TREASURE BOX [16] KAIRYU considers him a hard worker and his favorite visual of the group [17] He has been tasked with waking up NAOYA, RYUKI, HAYATO recently so that they won't be late for work[1] He has started making his own meals (and bento) since moving to Tokyo and living on his own[1] He wasn't a big reader until being part of MAZZEL, where they have many opportunities to appear in magazines. He will buy the magazines that MAZZEL appears in and read them. He has also gotten interested in books. [18] In MAZZEL, him, HAYATO, SEITO, and RAN have started playing the Harry Potter mobile game, he is sorted into Gryffindor [19] He's the only member in MAZZEL who cooks [20] He wants to hold a sports tournament with MAZZEL members[5] He considers himself to be the sweetest member of MAZZEL, and that's the kind of man he aspires to be[10] KAIRYU also considers him to be the sweetest member. What he says to the other members and MUZEs during concerts is very sweet[10].

References