Sakurai　You are both now anison singers; has that changed the way you feel in anyway?
Uesaka　For me, songs were always for listening. When I was a student, performing at the cultural festivals and such was something that never even crossed my mind. So it was hard to make that switch in my early days after I made my artist debut. With voice acting, you’re playing an anime character that isn’t you, but with music you have to actually put yourself out there. I struggled with how to do that at first.
Yun*chi　I was simply overjoyed when I got to start doing songs for anime. On “Your song*,” the poem is my own, so it was the first time for me to take something that someone else has written and incorporate my own feelings based on the feelings and views of the characters in the anime. It was a real learning experience. To me, “Log Horizon” is about the importance of bonds between people and the characters gradually learning that throughout the story. I took that view of the world and expressed it with my own feelings.
Uesaka　I think anisons are all about lyrics and energy. If there’s no substance to the lyrics, people will listen to a song a few times and forget about it. But if the lyrics are full of passion, you can relive the world of that particular work no matter how many times you listen to it. And you don’t have to watch the anime to enjoy the songs either.
As a voice actress, I put everything I have into the characters I play. But in addition to this, there needs to be people who can view the entire work as a whole, and that’s why I don’t think I’m suited to writing anison lyrics. I think people who can view entire works like that are incredible and I think writing lyrics for anison is a really tough job.
Yun*chi　I think voice actors are amazing. The way they give life to their characters is amazing. A slight change in their breathing or the way they use their voice and the character changes entirely. They’re like gods.
How do you take care of your voice?
Uesaka　I think everybody does something different, but for me, I make sure I get plenty of rest. I’m doing voice acting and singing at the same time, so I’m still trying to get used to switching between the two.

Yun*chi　It’s got the right lyrics to bring a crowd together, it has that subcultural vibe to it, and I think it would just be a really good song overall to perform live. I’m just so excited that this is the song that I’ll get to sing with Sumire.

Seeing what kind of chemical reactions occur between the artists and audience when these collaboration performances play out is one of the highlights of Japan Pop Culture Carnival.
As producer I want nothing more than to be able share that instantaneous chemical reaction with the artists on stage and with all of you.

Japan Pop Culture Carnival in Matsudo 2014 Special Website
http://www.morinohall21.com/event/14pop/14pop_c.html
There's also a video message from Sumire Uesaka and Yun*chi.

J Pop Culture Observations - Back Number