Interview] "Against." is a dramatic song filled with Natsuori Ishihara's unique style!

Natsuori Ishihara is releasing her fifth single, "Against.", the opening theme for the TV anime "Kimi to Boku no Zero Senjo, or The World Begins Seisen". The song has the dramatic tone she is known for, and the music video shows off her dainty dance moves. Against." is said to be a song that is closer to anime works than ever before. We asked her to talk about its charm!

This song combines the sadness and coolness of "Kimi Senso"!

─ ─ The new song "Against." is the opening theme for "Kimi to boku no saiben, or The Last Battlefield of Kimi to Boku, or The Holy War Where the World Begins" (Kimi-sen). How did you start working on the song?

Ishihara: First of all, the music was chosen through a competition, and I listened to the candidate songs. The story of "Kimi Senso" is about two protagonists, Iska and Alice (Alice Liese), who are enemies and are attracted to each other through battles. The highlights of this work are both the sadness of the situation that does not allow them to love each other and the fierce battles. For the opening theme, I wanted a song with both sadness and coolness, so I listened to many songs to find the right one. Among them, the one that best fit the world view of the work and also felt like Natsuori Ishihara was this song written by Kenta Urashima and H.Shing, and when I came across it, I was immediately struck by it.

─ Once you have decided on the song, the next step is the lyrics.

Ishihara I asked Ms. Seiko Fujibayashi to write the lyrics that would bring to mind the relationship between Iska and Alice and their feelings. I thought the lyrics were very wonderful.

───Why is there a period in the title "Against.

Ishihara: The period has the meaning of putting an end to the conflict, to end the fight in accordance with fate. Since the theme of the work is to end the battle, I added the period accordingly.

─ When I first read the story of this piece, I thought it was like Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet. I don't know if it is correct or not, but when I searched for it, I found many fans who interpreted it in that way.

Ishihara I also felt that way myself. Fujibayashi's lyrics are very romantic, and I think it is similar to "Romeo and Juliet".

───The A-melody, "Meteors of different colors cross in the middle of the night," is both romantic and has a sci-fi flavor, which I thought was cool. How did you feel when you sang it?

Ishihara The lyrics are easy to imagine the story, so I was able to get emotionally involved in many parts and sing the song as if I were acting. I am not sure if it is appropriate to say that it felt good to sing because of the sadness of the story, but it was a lot of fun to sing the song with my emotions shaking.

─ ─ I wondered if the song is in a style that is easy for you to sing.

Ishihara: It is my favorite kind of song, and I am getting used to recording songs as an artist. At first, there were times when I went to the studio wondering if I would be able to do it, but recently I have been able to relax and just try to sing what I thought I wanted to sing. This time, too, I decided to sing the way I wanted to sing, even if it was a little exaggerated.

─ I think this song is suited to a slightly exaggerated way of singing, or a way of singing as if you have escaped reality and entered a story.

Ishihara That's right. It's not exactly Romeo and Juliet, but I tried to sing it as if I were performing on stage. When I tried that, they said, "That's good, just like that. Let's do it with confidence! and I was able to put more feeling into it. I took my usual amount of time to record the song, but because I was so focused, the recording time was very short.

──What did you pay particular attention to?

Ishihara My favorite part is the chorus, "If the meaning of fighting is to protect, then surely," where the emotion really comes forward. I sang it in falsetto, which is something I had never tried before, so I felt a sense of accomplishment when I got it right. I was able to bring out both coolness and sadness just as I had imagined, and it became one of my favorite songs.

─ ─ The part "Shalala" at the beginning of the song was also very nice.

Ishihara I am very happy! I like the beginning of the song, too, and I was particular about recording it. We recorded 3 or 4 patterns, ranging from a cool one to a light one, and from one that was fully both ways to one that was in the middle, and we all chose the one we wanted. In the end, they adopted the way I had prepared at the beginning, which was a good balance of cool and breezy singing.