Because they are weak, they scream violently!　Aimi Numakura makes her solo debut with "Shout", a song about the hearts of magical girls.

Voice actress Aimi Numakura makes her debut as an artist, releasing her first single "Shout" on November 2, 2016, the opening theme song for the TV anime "Magical Girl Raising Plan", an up-tempo rock number about the tough battles of magical girls. The artist photo is also more mature, giving the song a new appeal and potential!

Ripple has a Yankee constitution and is a hot person at heart!

─ ─ What was your first impression of "Magical Girl Raising Project" (Mahoiku)?

Numakura: I didn't know the original work when I auditioned, so I kind of imagined it from the character settings and dialogues, but the pictures were really cute and they were just like magical girls. But I thought that each magical girl had a lot of variation. On the other hand, the dialogues are littered with disturbing words (laughs). My first impression was that this was not just a sparkling, cute work.

─ ─ So your first impression was right on target.

Numakura That's right. When I read the original work after I was cast as Ripple, I found it to be quite a dark work (laughs). (Laughs.) Each of the magical girls is cute, but you can see their real human nature. In addition, since they are a group of girls, there is a darkness that is unique to girls. There were moments when I was horrified, but there were also moments when I could understand how they felt.

─ ─ What did you think about during the recording?

Numakura: I was determined to keep my spirits up. I felt that I had to put my heart and soul into this work in order to convey the message.

─ ─ What do you think about Ripple?

Numakura I thought she was a fighter, or rather, a person who doesn't show it on her face but is passionate on the inside. She became a magical girl not because she wanted to, but because it just happened. Rather than a sense of justice, she is angry at everything that surrounds her, and that is what motivates her. That's why there are so many scenes where she licks her tongue. Every time someone speaks to me, I say, "Damn. It varies depending on the scene, such as an exasperated "tsk," or an irritated "tsk," so I practiced many different tongue-lashings. This role gave me a new skill to learn.

─ You say that playing Ripple has made you better at tongue-lashing (laughs). You are not very active at the moment, are you?

Numakura: I think he dares to avoid getting involved with other people. His family environment is complicated, and I wonder if he is afraid of being betrayed again by people he trusted. For now, I think she is still hiding her anger and sadness and watching the situation unfold. However, I expect that there will come a time when she will be able to express her feelings in her lines.

The opening theme, "Shout!" is a weak person's song!

─ Mr. Numakura sings the opening theme "Shout! While Ripple is a restrained performance, this one has a tune and lyrics that express passion. You wrote the lyrics yourself, didn't you?

Numakura: I wrote the lyrics after reading the original story and the anime scenario. The first thing I decided was to make it a song about a weak person.

─ What kind of image do you have of a weak person?

Numakura: The image of magical girls as a whole. They all have magic, but I felt that they are not strong as people. The song I was given had a very intense tone, but I thought that if they were really strong, they wouldn't show their passion like this. I wrote the lyrics to show that it is because we are weak that we scream, protect ourselves, and sometimes hurt others.

───How was the recording process?

Numakura: This was my first recording as a soloist, so I was a bit nervous and wondered how it would turn out. However, I did a trial recording of the TV size first, and then recorded the full size version, so I knew how it was going to go, and I think I was able to do it without being nervous during the actual recording. However, since the song has a lot of words and requires a lot of energy, we took our time to record it.

─ What was the most memorable instruction from the director?

Numakura: Since it is a dramatic song, we were told to make the vocals crisp and clear. I was conscious of the gap between the strong start and the stomping fall in the A melody.

───The title "Shout" is simple yet powerful.

Numakura: The words used in the lyrics are strong, so I thought about mellowing out the title. But after discussing it with the staff, we decided to keep the impression of the lyrics. I am glad we chose the title "Shout!