Kaori Oda, who has many activities, releases a new single.

Kaori Oda, who has participated in projects by popular creators such as Yuki Kajiura's "FictionJunction" and Revo's "Sound Horizon," will release her new single "Zero Tokay. As a solo singer, Kaori has sung many theme songs for so-called "Otome games," or love simulation games for women. Zero Tokay," the ending theme song for the TV anime "Norn+Nonette," which is based on an Otome game, is a field in which she is very good at.

I met Ms. Kajiura and Mr. Revo when my head and body were still flexible.

───First of all, I would like to start with your amazing career, Mr. Oda.

Oda: Mr. Kajiura's manager was also my manager, and when Mr. Kajiura was looking for a singer to sing an insert song for the TV animation "Tsubasa Chronicle," he selected me.

─ That was how you sang "tsubasa" under the name FictionJunction KAORI. After that, you became one of the indispensable singers for FictionJunction's CDs and live performances.

Oda: I sang FictionJunction songs in parallel with high school and college, so that song remains in my memory like what grade I was in.

─ Around the same time, you also participated in Revo's Sound Horizon, didn't you?

Oda: Sound Horizon was exciting because it required me to be like a stage actress, not only singing but also dancing and acting. I think it was significant for me to meet and be involved with Mr. Kajiura and Mr. Revo early on. I was in a really good environment.

─ What kind of influences did you receive from them?

Oda: Both FictionJunction and Sound Horizon are about singing with someone else, so it was important for me to be in tune with my co-stars, but both Mr. Kajiura and Mr. Revo respected each person's individuality. In such a situation, I think I was able to get a sense of how to be a singer by singing while thinking about various things on my own.

─ ─ Each of us has our own differences, don't we?

Oda: Mr. Kajiura is a person who says many things that he notices after listening to a song. On the other hand, when I was involved with Revo, he seemed to have a strong desire to have the performers experience the story that he himself created.

Oda──That is interesting.

Oda: Because of this experience, I ask the lyricist for his/her interpretation of the lyrics, and I use my own interpretation when I sing, hoping that the audience will feel free to do so.

Oda: During that period, you were already working as a solo artist, and the first song you sang, "Brilliant World," was released in 2007.

Oda: I thought there was no one else to harmonize with (laughs). (Laughs.) At that time, I didn't start in earnest as a solo artist, but when I released my first album "PLACE" in 2013, I became aware of the fact that I was going to do it as a solo artist. I titled the album "PLACE" with the idea of creating a place for myself.

─ ─ From then to the present, I feel that you have been working as a solo artist with your feet firmly planted on the ground.

Oda: As a solo artist, I mainly sing theme songs for Otome games. I have sung many different types of songs, but most of them are warm songs with happy endings, since they are played at the end of Otome games.