[Interview] Nostalgic and New OxT "Golden After School. I want to return the favor to "A of Diamonds!

The new single by OxT, a unit consisting of Oishi Masayoshi and Tom-H@ck, is "Golden After School," the ending theme song for the new TV show "Dia no A act II. The song is full of tenderness and is based on the irreplaceable time after school during the school days. During the interview, Tom-H@ck told a story about the title of the song that surprised Oishi. We will leave you with the usual enjoyable talk between the two!

This is the first "A of Diamonds" song I've written from an adult's point of view.

───Since the new series started three years after the previous "A of Diamonds -SECOND SEASON-" finished airing, did OxT feel like coming back to "A of Diamonds" for the first time in a long time?

Oishi: I don't feel like I've come back to "A of Diamonds" because the work has never stopped, with events being held continuously. Rather, I felt like it had finally begun.

Tom-H@ck I had heard that "act II" was going to start a long time ago. There was an event called "A of Diamonds All-Star Game III" at Jingu Stadium on November 25 last year, and it was around that time that OxT received an official offer for the ending theme.

─ ─ "Golden After School" lyrics and music were written by Oishi, what kind of song did you decide to write?

Oishi: "A of Diamonds act II" is a continuation of the previous work, but the environment of the Aodo High School baseball club has changed drastically since the third-year students graduated and the new first-year students came in, so I first thought about what I could express as the ending theme. We wanted the song to evoke the presence of those who have made history and who must not be forgotten at the beginning of a new era, namely, the third-year students who have graduated. I wrote the melody and lyrics by overlaying a motif that anyone can relate to: the after-school days of youth.

Tom-H@ck Can I tell you a trivial story?　Golden After School" is the same as "Cagay," the first opening theme of "K-ON! GIRLS", the first opening theme of "K-ON!

Oishi Wow, that's the first time I've heard that (laughs). It wasn't something that mattered!

Tom-H@ck So when I saw the title of this one, I thought, "Wow" (laughs).

Oishi: "Golden After School" is certainly like "K-ON! is the same. I think after school is such a universal motif. I wrote this song with a sense of J-Pop from the end of the 80s to the beginning of the 90s, when it was at its brightest.


─ ─ That was also the time when J-POP artists started to enter the ani-song market, wasn't it?

Tom-H@ck There are many great songs. When I hear the title of a song, the chorus immediately comes to mind.

Oishi Many of the songs are still around today. During the production process, I often talked with the staff about how anime songs of the time could have lyrics that were completely different from the content of the anime, but still functioned as theme songs. I think the fact that they still functioned as theme songs was due in part to the fact that they were left up to the user's ability to interpret them. For this song, I was conscious of the J-POP style of that time, and aimed for a song that did not overly resemble ani-songs.

─ ─ I felt the J-Pop of yesteryear in both the lyrics and the melody. However, "Golden After School" is a song that is firmly attached to the work, isn't it?

Oishi: I wanted to brush up on the anime song atmosphere that J-POP artists were singing back then, but not to create a modern version of it. A big hint for the song came from a speech given by Yuji Terashima, the original author of "A of Diamonds," at the launch of the show. The first part of "A of Diamonds" was a 47-volume story about a year in high school, and the series ran for almost 10 years. When I heard that, I had a flash of inspiration. When I heard that, I had an "aha" moment. I thought, "Those days were so bright and shiny, if I were to use a color analogy, I would say they were gold. I thought I would try to capture that feeling in my music.

─ In other words, the song is about looking back on your high school days from an adult's point of view, isn't it?

Oishi: That's right. All of the "A of Diamonds" songs we have written up until now have been in the present, and we have tried to create songs that would make us feel as if we were the characters' ages, but this time we aimed to create melodies and lyrics that would make us look back on our student days and think, "Those days were good. This was also related to the airing time of "A of Diamonds act II".

─ ─ What do you mean?

Oishi: The TV Tokyo series airs before 6 pm. I thought that people of all ages, from baseball boys to "A of Diamonds" fans and their parents, would watch the show, so for the first time for a "A of Diamonds" song, I tried a song that would make me nostalgic for my youth as an adult.

Tom-H@ck When I received the song from Mr. Oishi, I thought this is his specialty.

Oishi Ah, you may be right.

I see.... On the contrary, I felt that the atmosphere of Oishi's vocals was different from his usual vocals. Especially in the A melody, you sing in a low voice, almost like your usual speaking voice, don't you?

Oishi: Yes, I do. The melody led me to sing naturally, but if I dare to put my vocal intention into words, I think I wanted to create a mature and calm atmosphere. I wanted to give the song a mature and relaxed atmosphere. I hoped the vocal atmosphere would give the song a feeling of looking back on my school days.

Tom-H@ck Oishi's singing voice is completely different between his days in South Kei (Sound Schedule) and now. I think it is one of the manifestations of the fact that your skills as a vocalist have improved and your way of expression has changed since you started working with anime songs. However, this is not the first time I've heard you sing this way, and I thought this Oishi-san was also good. In fact, I think he doesn't have to sing the high songs anymore.

Oishi: Ha-ha-ha-ha (laughs).

Tom-H@ck Your low voice is really good! It makes me sound more mature and persuasive. When I heard "Golden After School," I thought that I should sing more and more songs in this range.

Oishi: As an ani-song song, it might be newer. Everyone feels that if the notes go up and down violently or if the singer sings at the very high end of his/her range, it gives the song an anime song feel, but I have been thinking lately that we may already be entering a new phase.

Tom-H@ck When I listen to the high range of songs, I wonder if it is a little bit earlier era.

Oishi Yes, I feel that there is a different way of expression now.

─ ─ In other words, are you saying that we are now in a turning point for anime songs?

Tom-H@ck Yes, I think so. It is the same in any industry that when it becomes saturated to a certain degree, it has to change.

Oishi I am a person who usually thinks about a lot of things, but once I start writing a song, I am single-mindedly devoted to the song, so I never calculated that "Golden After School" would change the flow of anime songs, but perhaps it ended up being something new.

Tom-H@ck Maybe my body was asking for it, and now it's this.

Oishi It was a skin sensation (laughs). That may be.