Interview] 25 years of constant evolution. Chihiro Yonekura releases "25 YEARS AFTER ~All Time Best~", a best-of album containing 60 songs.

Chihiro Yonekura, who made her debut in 1996 with "Arashi no Naka Naka Shine", the opening theme song for the OVA "Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08MS Platoon", released a 4-disc best album "25 YEARS AFTER ~All Time Best~" containing 60 songs in total to celebrate her 25th anniversary.
She has also released a wide variety of anime and animation works, including "Sengaiden: Seishin Engi," "FAIRY TAIL," "Kaleidostar," and "Yonde desu, Azazel-san." This album, which includes theme songs from a wide variety of anime and game productions, is a record of the singer's expanding possibilities as a singer, and provides a panoramic view of the changes in anime and game music over the past 25 years.

The world of anime songs is a wonderful world where we can always look forward!

─ ─ Congratulations on the 25th anniversary of your debut. 25 YEARS AFTER - All Time Best" is a 4-disc set with a total of 60 songs, which is a great volume.

Yonekura Thank you very much, we released "BEST OF CHIHIROX" in 2004 and "BEST OF CHIHIROX II" in 2015, and we had planned to make the third one after the 25th anniversary. But the Corona Disaster extended the timing of the release, which gave us more time to prepare, and the staff had more time to develop various ideas. We came up with the idea that it would be better to make an all-time best album that summarized everything that had been done up to this point, as it was our 25th anniversary, and this is the form that we came up with.

─ ─ It is great for fans to have the entire 25-year history of the band included in the album.

Yonekura: I think it is not easy to celebrate the 25th anniversary as an active member. I have the feeling that we have come this far, and I am indebted to the staff and fans who have supported us. On the other hand, there are many energetic senior members in the world of ani-song, and they are my high goals, and I still feel that I must continue to do my best. I think it is really a wonderful environment to be able to always look forward, no matter how many years I have been singing.

─ How did you choose the songs to be included in the album?

Yonekura First, we decided to include all the title songs from our singles, and then we added songs that were distributed singles and had not yet been released on CD. Then, for the 25th anniversary online live concert held in January of this year, we held a "general election for all songs," in which fans voted for their favorites. We performed the top 20 songs at the live concert, and we used them as reference in selecting the songs to be included in this best-of album.


─ What did you think about the ranking by fans?

Yonekura: It was important for us to know the fans' preferences, and there were many parts that were surprising. For example, I thought that our debut song "Arashi no Naka Shine" (opening theme of OVA "Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Platoon") would come in first place, but "WILL" (opening theme of TV animation "Senkai Den: Seishin Engi") and I had a close battle for the number of votes. In the end, "WILL" came in first place with only a few votes. I was also happy to see the opening theme for my recent work, the PC game series "9-nine-" ranked high. It was a great discovery to know that there are people who are interested in and support me not only with songs from the past, but also with newer songs from the late 2010s. Some of my younger fans, who knew me from "9-nine," were surprised to hear that Yonekura-san also sang Gundam songs. Seeing such fresh reactions made me feel a little nervous (laughs).

─ ─ I feel that 25 years is a long time.

Yonekura Of course, the path I have taken and the songs I have sung are important, but I am very happy to have new fans. I feel as if my cells split and I am reborn anew, and I want to move on to the next stage. Ever since my debut, I have been thinking about how I can renew my songs, so I am the newest me, and I am the most grown up.

─ ─ "25 YEARS AFTER - All Time Best" includes a new song at the end, which allows us to hear the latest Yonekura's song. We will talk about this song later, but first I would like to talk about Yonekura's 25 years of progress.