Interview】Mitsuki no Pantasia releases a new single, both A-side of "101", the OP of the TV anime "Honors Students at Magical High School", and "Yohkoh", the theme song of Mia's first full-length novel!

Sangatsu no Pantasia (Sampassi), a project led by vocalist "Mia", has released a new single!　The powerful double A-side disc features "101," the opening theme song for the TV anime "Honors Students at Magical High School," which started in July, and "Yohkou," the theme song for Mia's first attempt at a full-length novel, "Sayonara no Sora wa Ano Aoi Hana no Shine to Muchikatta.
Written, composed, and arranged by Jin, "101" is the hottest and most aggressive number in Sampassi's history, while "Yomiko," co-written with Stray Tenor's Hollie Atsushi, is a shimmering coming-of-age number. Both songs, Mia says, open up a new world for Sangatsu no Pantasia. In addition to the appeal of the songs, Mia also talked about the response to her first full-length novel!

101" has become a song with heat and aggressiveness typical of "Magical High School.

─ Your new single has two A-sides, "101" and "Yohkoh. 101" was written as the opening theme for the TV anime "Magical High School Honors Students," with lyrics, music, and arrangements by Jin-san.

Mia: The "Magical High School" series is an anime with cool battle scenes using magic, so I told Jin-san that I wanted the song to have the heat and aggressiveness to match that, and he wrote it for me. When I first heard the finished song, I was so impressed that I had created the hottest song in the history of Sanpashi that I immediately sent a message to Jin-san saying, "It's so cool! I immediately sent a message to Jin-san saying, "It's so cool! I think this song gives the audience a feeling of Pantasia in March that they have never had before.

─ ─ The song has a sense of speed, and the rhythm is very detailed and dizzying. I think it fits the battle scene.

Mia: The development changes rapidly, and I think you can enjoy a variety of expressions in one song. The backing track is so difficult and technical that it makes you wonder, "What the hell is going on? I sang desperately not to be swallowed by the wave of sound. The vocals combined with the scenes depicted in the lyrics to create a very poignant song.

─ I thought the opening image matched the song very well.

Mia: It's cool, isn't it? Honors Student at a Magical High School" is a work that depicts the girls' side of the story up until now, and the opening was filled with a sense that the girls were going to battle it out. As a fan of the show, I am looking forward to seeing how the story will unfold in the future.

───Can you tell us about your impression of the work "Honors Students at Magical High School"?

Mia: Actually, "Honors Student" was my first exposure to the "Magical High School" series. So, at first I couldn't grasp why Miyuki was so fascinated with her brother (Tatsuya). But as I got to know the series, I realized that even siblings who have lived apart from each other for a period of time develop different feelings than those who have grown up together for a long time. Moreover, Miyuki had the great experience of having Tatsuya save her life, which made her want to protect her brother and to save him the next time. I could really relate to that feeling, and I came to love Miyuki for her straightforward beliefs. Well, it is true that they are siblings with a special bond, and I think we rarely encounter people like this in our daily lives.


─ ─ Yes, I think everyone feels that way.

Mia: I became a fan of this work because of its unique relationship, which is different from that of ordinary siblings and different from that of lovers.

───I guess you could say that the realism of the relationship is that they are brother and sister, but from the viewer's point of view, it is that relationship that makes you fall in love with them.

Mia: They may not be realistic, but they are very convincing. Tatsuya is a cool guy from any point of view, but he has a conflict in his heart, and I can see why Miyuki is attracted to him.

─ ─ Earlier you mentioned that you wanted a song that would look good in battle scenes, but was there anything you requested from Jin-san based on the relationship between Miyuki and Tatsuya?

Mia: I wanted to express in the song not only Miyuki's unwavering passion to protect and support her brother, but also the frustration of not being able to honestly tell Tatsuya about it, and the innocence of not being able to do so even though she wants to be more sweet to him. The lyrics and melody convey the complexity of Miyuki's heart, and I think it is a song worth listening to.

─ ─ The word "love" appears many times in the lyrics, and I thought the song had a populist feel as well as the "Magical High School" worldview.

Mia: At our first meeting, Jin-san asked me, "I want to use flowers as a motif for this song. Mia: At our first meeting, Jin-san asked me, "I want to use flowers as a motif for this song. I didn't name a specific flower, but answered, "Rather than a showy flower, I have an image of deep snow with a single, dignified bloom, stretching straight up toward the sky. From there, Jin-san wrote the lyrics using the Kentifolia, a flower in the rose family, as a motif. Kentifolia is a flower made up of 100 petals, and she said that she imagined a girl endlessly fortune-telling with it, expressing the frustration of not being able to make a decision and staying one step closer to it. Although the song was written with the image of deep snow, I think the lyrics are not too limited to the work.

─ Did you write the title of the song as well?

Mia: No, when the lyrics were written, he asked me to write the title. I decided to use "101 (one-oh-one)" as the title to express the girl's determination to answer the question with the 101st petal, the next of the 100 petals of Kentifolia.

─ I see, so the song begins with the lyric "Fingertips, fortune-telling. I was wondering what this was about, since fortune-telling suddenly appears.

Mia: When it was decided to write a song for Sampassi for the opening of "Honors Student at Magical High School," Jin-san imagined a scene where the wind blows with a gust of wind, petals fall, and a girl runs through the headwind. It was interesting to me that he imagined the music as a single picture. The petals were also used strikingly in the jacket illustration for the limited first pressing and in the music video (MV).

─ ─ How did you feel about Jin-san's lyrics from the standpoint of a lyricist yourself?

Mia: I was reminded that not only the melody and the sound, but also the lyrics have Jin-san's style. I was surprised to find myself thinking, "Where did he come up with this word? I was also impressed by the unique words coined in "101," such as "May Syndrome" and "Flare Blue. I thought the lyricist's method of spinning out words that make a strong impression with a single word was wonderful.

─ Both Jin and Mia have written novels and used them as the basis for their music. What do you feel are the similarities and differences between your views on novels?

Mia: Well, you weave a series of stories with common characters, and those characters sing the songs. I look at the scenery in front of me and depict a part of the lives of the people there as a novel or a song, and I think that is the difference. I think that in order to work with a character over a long period of time, as you do, it is necessary to approach each character from a variety of angles. I would have liked to hear more about that.


─ How was the recording process?

Mia: Recording this song was the most difficult thing I have ever done (laughs). I wanted to express the passion hidden inside and the strength to make a way in the face of adversity in my vocals, but my voice is characterized by its lightness and ease, so I sang with a different vocal style than usual in mind.

─ ─ Indeed, I think my vocals were different from what I have sung in the past.

Mia: In particular, there is a part in the second verse where I sing in a rap-like style, and it was a new challenge for me to sing in such a way as if I were hurling words at them. Jin-san sang a tentative version of the song for me, and I used it as a reference. I was able to get the nuances of what he wanted me to sing in this part directly from his own singing, which was very helpful.

─ When I listened to the completed song, I felt the world of "Honors Students at Magical High School" and the world of Jin-san, but I also felt the charm that is unique to the music of Sanpashi. I think that Jin-san must have been a part of the world of Sampassi.

Mia: Jin-san is deeply familiar with the novels and songs I wrote, and he told me that he could really relate to the main characters who struggle to find their ideal selves in the midst of adolescence, as Sanpashi always portrays. That is why I believe that the work was expressed in a way that only Jin-san and I could, while staying close to the world of "Honors Students at a Magical High School".