The lyrics of the opening theme of the TV anime "Steins;Gate Zero" are full of foreshadowing! Interview with Kanako Ito, who will appear on the May 10 broadcast of "Ani☆Ste!

Singer Kanako Ito will appear in the studio LIVE on the May 10 episode of "Ani☆Ste," a ranking music program specializing in ani-songs that airs every Thursday at 10 p.m. on TOKYO MX1.

Ms. Ito sings "Fatima," the opening theme song for the TV anime "Steins;Gate Zero," which is currently airing by popular demand, and her soulful voice has shaken the souls of many anime fans.

We interviewed Mr. Ito immediately after the studio LIVE recording! We asked her about her impressions of the recording and the music.

─ ─ Thank you very much for your hard work on today's recording of "Ani☆Ste," which will be broadcast on May 10. You sang "Fatima," the opening theme song for the TV anime "Steins;Gate Zero," which is currently airing.

Ito Kanako (Ito): Today's recording was the first thing in the morning and I was the first batter, so I wondered if my voice would come out. I wondered if my voice would come out, but it did and I was able to sing along in a groove. Also, the studio was all white, so I am sure I looked pale (laughs).

─ Have you become familiar with the new song "Fatima"?

Ito: I've sung it at AnimeJapan 2018 and at my own TwiCas, so I've sung it a few times (in front of people), so I'm not sure if I'm getting used to it. But "Fatima" was written by Chiyomaru Shikura, the creator of the original Science Adventure series, so it's the same as usual.

─ ─ The two of you have become an indispensable tag team in the Science Adventure series. Now, please tell us about the song "Fatima" again.

Ito: Following the opening theme "Amadeus" of the original game "STEINS;GATE 0," this is the opening song of "Steins;Gate Zero" sung by me.

Not only "Steins;gate zero," but the opening themes of the Science Adventure series have a sense of unity. First of all, the tempo is fast and the melody line is like a roller coaster. And then, there is the serious content. Furthermore, as Chiyomaru Shikura says, the song contains keywords or foreshadowing of the work.

The lyrics may seem to be a list of scientific terms that you don't understand, but as you get to know the work, you will later realize, "I see, so this is what the song is talking about! and I can understand it later.

Moreover, "Fatima" goes even further and is said to be a foreshadowing of "ANONYMOUS;CODE" (the next work in the Science Adventure series)!　As for me, when I talk about the music, I think, "That's hard to explain! (laughs).

But "Fatima" is the name of a holy place where the Virgin is said to have alighted. So, the world line of "Steins;Gate" itself could be considered a "holy place. In that sense, the song "Fatima" may have been written for that purpose. ...... This is just my imagination. In this way, Chiyomaru's songs are full of meanings.

───It is difficult to understand what he is singing about when looking at the lyrics alone, but if you look at his works, you gradually come to understand.

ITOH: It's not easy to say "infinity point" or "paradox" (in the lyrics), is it? Oh, but "niryuhyohyoran," meaning "paradox," is also found in the lyrics of other ani-songs! When I learned that, I thought, "Chiyomaru-san is not the only one who uses such words! I thought, "Chiyomaru wasn't the only one who used such words!

─ ─ (laughs). Since the original game "Steins;Gate" was released in 2009, it has become a popular work that continues to gain support. How do you feel about this popularity?

ITOH: It's amazing, isn't it? One of my neighbors who is not an "anime lover" happened to see the anime and told me, "I'm hooked!　It's so interesting. Also, the other day, at a family gathering, my cousin's child, a junior high school student, whom I had never met before, knew about "Steins;Gate". That kid said, "Mom, Kanako Ito is amazing!" (laughs).

(Laughs.) That's how much her work has spread. (Laughs.) So, around the time "Steins;Gate Zero" was released, I began to feel that people were listening to my songs as well.

─ It seems that in addition to fans from "Steins;Gate," there are many new fans of the series through "Steins;Gate Zero.

ITOH: I heard from the producer of the game version, Mr. Matsubara (Tatsuya), that "Steins;Gate Zero" will finally recover the 1% of foreshadowing that was not recovered in "Steins;Gate". So, he said that "Steins;Gate" and "Steins;Gate Zero" will be complete, 100%.

─ So you are saying that both existing fans and new fans should watch both.

ITOH: "Steins;Gate Zero" is a story about events in a painful world line that were not depicted in the previous work. That's why the music is also painful, and the tone of the music suggests that something terrible is going to happen. The tension is high, but dark.

─ By the way, did you read the scenario of the game before recording the music?

Ito: I sang "Fatima" after reading the entire game scenario.

When I make a new song as a coupling for a single, I try to make an image song. I also wrote "Ignis," a coupling song for the previous album "Amadeus," as the world of the game "STEINS;GATE 0" as I thought it would be, with the image of the new character, Shiina Kagari-chan. I thought it would be great if it was used in her ending. So I read the whole scenario of the game (in order to sing the song).

However, Chiyomaru-san has stated publicly that the anime and the game are not necessarily the same, so I am going to check the anime story on TV too. Perhaps something might have changed, so I'm looking forward to it. Hmmm.

─ ─ It seems that you will be singing "Fatima" for a long time to come. Do you have any thoughts on how you would like to "develop this song more like this" in the future?

Ito: To sing "Skyclad Observer," "AR," "Hacking to the Gate," "Space Engineer," "Nonlinear Geniac," "This Time You Chose," "Amadeus," and "Fatima," all the opening songs of the "STEINS;GATE" series at once, I would have to run about 10 km a day. I think I would have to run about 10km a day (physically). The music is like a roller coaster.

So I hope Kanako Ito will evolve and be able to sing all the songs at once by the time she becomes a grandmother. I would love to sing all the songs live and make everyone dance!　It's a lot of work for the band members to play them, though (laughs).

─ ─ What are your ambitions as an artist in the future?

ITOH: I have been consistently releasing albums in the form of single bests, but this time I really want to make an original album. I've been talking about this with everyone at ZIZZ STUDIO, who I work with. I think it would be great if we could make an album with not only theme songs of our works, but also a collection of songs that come from us.

Before I met Chiyomaru, I liked ballads, and I wanted to make the audience sit up and listen to them and "make them cry. However, when I played the upper-class songs that Chiyomaru wrote for me, the audience was excited, and I came to enjoy that as well. In this way, we have been able to influence each other in a positive way.

I have made a really wide range of songs, but as I collected the gems from among them, I gradually began to find "Ito Kanako's direction. Now, I sometimes do one-man live shows with a theme focused on one of the various directions. I hope that by consistently performing concerts along with my works in this way, I will eventually be able to express my originality as "Ito Kanako is the kind of person who creates this kind of work.

─ ─ I look forward to your future activities as well. Thank you very much for your time today!

(Interviewer and photographer: Michi Sugahara)

Program Information

Ani☆STE

Broadcast time: TOKYO MX1 every Thursday from 19:58, Sapporo TV every Saturday from 26:30, J:COM TV every Thursday from 22:00 / every Sunday from 23:30

MC：Daimao Kosaka, Ryoga