NotCliche

Yui’s mini-performance during the stage-event!

At the recently concluded event of EOY 2009, or End-Of-Year 2009, I was given the privilege of having a 15 minutes interview with the VIP guest of the event, Makino Yui!

Starting from early 2009, she had traveled around the world, such as USA and France to do several performance. And for EOY, she will be coming down to Singapore for the very first time! She has also recently released her latest single, “Tanpopo Suisha“, and her upcoming single called “Fuwa Fuwa ♪” will be released sometime in March next year.

This is indeed a great honour for me and NotCliche, as this is the first time NotCliche has ever done an interview with any celebrity. Having Makino Yui coming down to Singapore is indeed great news, but having an interview with her is probably the second best thing next to the concert for the event itself.

A total of 8 questions were asked during the course of the interview, and a translator was there to overcome the language barrier (i’m not exactly proficient in Japanese yet). Flanked by her manager(s), I can’t help but to feel a little nervous at that time.

Either way, onto the questions!

Welcome to Singapore! What is your impressions of Singapore as of now?

I’m very cold right now (referring to the room we’re in), but outside is very warm and very different from Japan’s climate; it’s winter there and it’s summer here even though it’s Christmas with all the lights and everything. It’s a new experience for me and I’ve never experienced such a warm Christmas.

You’ve got three different professions (seiyuu, singer, pianist), so how do you cope these three professions?

If you put everything together, it is quite a bit tough sometimes but I love all of them and when you separate them out together, it’s a very fun job.

So, out of the three of them, which one do you like best?

None of them is the best. (stating that she likes them all equally)

You’ve starred as a seiyuu for many characters, so which character do you like best?

Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicles!

From what I understand, you do J-Pop and Classic. Which musical genre do you like the best?

The music that I’m doing right now… I really like them very much. (she mentioned something about heavy metal too, although that was lost somewhere during the bunch of noise that the recorder made…)

About your latest single, “Tanpopo Suisha”; What had inspired you to sing this song again after 2 years?

Even though it was a few years ago, it was actually a 3-person song and I really like it, but back then I didn’t really have the confidence to do the song by myself. Finally, after 3 years, I’ve got the courage and confidence to do the song, so I released the single right now.

For this particular song, “Undine” from ARIA the Animation… It’s perhaps one of your most well-known song amongst the fans of ARIA. What kind of image comes to your mind when you’re singing the song?

ARIA is about a world full of water, and whenever I sing the song, it’s very calm and peaceful and I think this song can somewhat be related to everybody.

You’ve sung for many themes songs for many animes, but which is one that you like the best?

ARIA. However, I try my best for every single song I do, so it’s very hard for me to choose something that I like  so much where I always look forward to doing my best for it. And to look back to say “this is the one I like the most”, it is very hard for me because I try my best at everything I do.

One last question, which is not really related to the previous few questions: What can we expect during the concert tonight?

More than what the audience can expect! My first time in Singapore, so I’m hoping for a good response from the people, the fans that are coming to see me and I’m very excited!

And that concludes the interview with Yui! While it was a short 10-15 minutes long interview, the time with her had been as delightful as I was nervous and I couldn’t really have asked for more.

Truth be told, it was really the first time I’ve ever interviewed anyone, and it’s really a great opportunity for me to learn something. However, during the course of the interview, I’ve made some big blunders (such as phrasing the question in a way that I didn’t meant to) here and there, and after listening to the interview, I can’t help but to feel a little disappointed with myself for making these mistakes. But nonetheless, it’s a learning process, and it’s definitely a great experience to have the chance of talking to such a sweet and nice person like Yui herself!

Thanks to the EOY team for making this interview possible! Through this interview, I’ve come to learned a few things from the mistakes I’ve made during the interview, but overall, it was a fun experience with Yui as well as the staffers, and I would certainly hope for her to revisit Singapore sometime soon!

Posts about the day in EOY, as well as the extremely epic concert to come up very soon!

You might be interested in...

1. EOY 2009: Makino Yui’s Mini-Concert
2. EOY 2009: Makino Yui’s Concert Experience
3. EOY 2009: Featuring Makino Yui & Many More!
4. Makino Yui’s Message To EOY2009!
5. Makino Yui Arriving In EOY2009!