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INTERVIEW WITH MAYN AT ANIME FESTIVAL ASIA 2012 Once again fellow Macross fans, James Wong and Vanpang managed to catch up with Mayn san, during AFA 2012 on 9th November 2012 at The Changi Village Hotel, Singapore. The interview was conducted together with other media representatives from Hexishe, Ani-Culture,Teenage, Anime Shrine and Seiyunews (Japanese Media). Due to the constraint of time and her busy schedule,all Media present there were given a limited number of questions to be put forward to her. All her answers were conveyed to the Media in English through a translator and as such some content maybe lost in translation. Media : WEIBO, which is a well known social networking site in China, which has been a hot topic, and has attracted fans from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia,and other countries in South East Asia to join the club. Would Mayn san be personally interacting more with fans by reading their comments and leaving them messages? Mayn : Im at the moment still learning Mandarin and English, but I will sometimes leave some messages for my fans. Media : Is there a chance for you to set up a worldwide fan club in the future? Mayn : By setting up one, I can attract lots of fans and I would be really happy and excited.. Hopefully one day I can set up one in the future. Media : While on your R.Y.B. world tour, do you make it a mission to have a food trail in any of the local delicacies in the countries that youve visited? What food that you have had, would you recommed to your fans? (Note : R.Y,B, stands for Rock Your Beats, which is the name of the world tour that ended on its run on 20th October 2012) Mayn : During the tour, Ive been to many countries that Ive never been before and as for the food, I liked them all. If youre in Taiwan, I would recommend Shiao Loong Bao (Shiao Loong Bao Little Dragon Dumpling) Mayn : Ooops! Sorry! I talked about Taiwan, where I joined the event! I meant Shiao Loong Bao from China! (Everyone in the room laughed) Media : How has performing overseas changed you musically and personally? Mayn : My first overseas life performance was in Singapore,five years ago during AFA 2008 and was really amazed to know how close I felt with the audience under one sky, when before this Singapore seem really far away. But by performing, I felt everyone was really close.And as I toured around U.S. and Europe and Asia, everyone becomes so close to me and theres a feeling of unity. That feeling I try to combine into my songs. Media : Do you have any pre concert routines? Mayn : Every time before I perform, I would get my microphone in advance and kinda hold it so that I am comfortable with it and it becomes a part of me. Japanese Media : In your song WE ARE, is the lyrics for your fans? Mayn : Yes, Itry to be there for each of the fans after listening to their worries and stories overtime but through music, I can be close and be there for them. Thats what I would like to be. (Note : WE ARE is one of the tracks from her 2012 album HEAT of the Moment) Media : If there any anime that you are currently watching? Mayn : BTOOOM! Which I watch every week. (Note : Mayn performed the Ending theme song (Ao Sora) for this series.) Media : Looking back at your Rock Your Beats concert tour, perhaps you could share some of your experience and fond memories? Mayn : When I perform Chase The World for the first time for the R.Y.B. tour, every country that I went, everyone knew the song and sang along with me and that was an amazing experience for me and this time in Singapore, I will perform it too and cant wait to do it for my Singapore fans. (Note : Chase The World is the Opening theme song for the anime ACCEL WORLD) Media : Many of your US fans has commented that your command of English has vastly improved since they last saw you. Mayn : Waah! Ganbaremasu! (I will certainly put more effort!) (Everyone in the room laughed) Media : Youve mentioned before In an interview, that there are something that make you feel sad. So, were wondering what would actually make you feel sad? Mayn : Sometimes, when Im doing a Live concert, I have difficulty maintaining my stamina and its hard to face the fans. But thinking of the fans and looking forward to meeting them gives me the energy to move forward and I dont feel sad anymore. Japanese Media : Since you have been in Singapore so many times, could you recommend a place or restaurant and what food? Mayn : I liked Chicken rice but my favourite is Prata bread, which comes in many kinds of flavour. Banana Prata would be my choice. Japanese Media : Whats a Banana Prata? Mayn : It comes with Indian Curry, the bread is like Naan but more flakey and it has banana inside and sweet. You can find it on Sentosa island.Ive been there once and I would like to visit it again. With that, we have ran out of time and the interview with Mayn san concludes. Everyone thanked Mayn san for the opportunity and a photo sessions began. Mayn san will be performing on stage on the 11th November (Sunday) night. Special Thanks goes to Lim Wee Ling, Stephanie Seah, Michelle Tong of Asia PR Werkz Pte Ltd and Shawn Chin of Anime Festival Asia for arranging and assistance for the interview.

Interview with May’n – AFASG 2016 As the year drew to a close, one more prestigious event left: Anime Festival Asia Singapore 2016! This was their 9th year running and growing stronger each year. May’n who was one of their 1st artist, have been returning every year to grace this event since the first AFA in 2008. We managed to catch up with her to find out what she has been doing in 2016. Here is an extract of our interview with the Galaxy Fairy :- Q : Can you tell us the concept for 20 for 7? And your upcoming Asia tour ‘Over & Easy’? May’n : ‘Twenty for Seven’ is a concert to celebrate my 27th birthday, to show that I’m no longer a teenager and becoming an adult and more mature. It incorporated a full orchestra, so that you can enjoy the sound of the music as well as the song. For Over Easy, it’s like when you order an egg, it’s sunny side up and like every part of the concert, I like to go all out – like an explosion of music and hoped that, it’s an event that everyone can enjoy it with me! Q : What can we expect for your concert here at AFASG 2016 tonight? May’n : I’m very grateful to be able to participate in the AFA concerts and last year I was able to include dancers and a band. My motivation is to do one step better than last year and hopefully you can experience it too this year when I perform tonight. Q : In a talk show, you had Minori Suzuki san (Freya Wion – Macross Delta) as your guest. So how do you feel talking to the cast of the next generation of the Macross franchise. May’n : When she came on the show, we talked about it too. Macross Frontier was like eight years ago, and Minori Suzuki san was saying ‘I was still in elementary school!’ and I was thinking that it was like so long ago and could feel that generation/age gap, but was happy that I inspired her to pursue this career. In one episode of Macross Delta, you get to see snipets of Macross Frontier and I felt really happy and honored to be a part of this large franchise. Q : Can you tell us about ‘Hikari Aru Basho e’ – the Ending song for Shuumatsu no Izetta ? May’n : Most of the anime, I do the opening song but for Shuumatsu no Izetta, I’m doing the ending song. It a ballad, so you feel it’s a little slow. The anime is slightly more on the serious side and on a darker note. You can see that it’s a war between two countries, and there are times when you wish that you want to make a change but you feel powerless or helpless, but despite all that, there a glimmer of hope by trusting and believing in yourself and the people who are important to you. I’m hoping you could sense that emotion being portrait in the song. Q : In your album cover for the same song, May’n san seems to be floating. May’n : Ah yes! They were going for an anti-gravity concept. It looked very effortless but behind the scene, it was difficult, as I have to lie backwards and lift my legs up. And I would have to hold that position for like..1….2….3….4….5! while they get that shot. That put quite some stress on my stomach abs and leg muscles and I couldn’t do it for too long . Q : Have you watched Macross Delta? Which character appealed to you and is there any particular song that you liked? May’n : In terms of characters, I particularly liked Mikumo san the most, as she has some similarities with Sherly Nome (Macross Frontier) – she’s mature and sexy in appearance and I’m drawn to her as you can see she enjoys singing with everyone. The song I liked is ‘Giraffe Blues’. There are different versions of it but I like Mikumo’s version, as it was amazing but I also liked Freya version too. Q: Now that you’ve celebrated your 27th Birthday. What do you look forward to in the future? May’n : Sometimes, it can be a sensitive topic, I’m actually excited about my age. When I was in my teens, I was really looking forward to grow up quickly, so that people can see me as an adult and there this word called ‘ARASA’ which means around ‘thirty’ – a Japanese terminology. I am hoping people would see me as an adult. But then I realized that after awhile, I felt that I don’t really have to try to make people think that I’m mature and that’s something that I’m quite happy about. Q : Can you tell us a little about your new song Belief for the OP of Taboo Tattoo? May’n : I really like the song ‘Belief’ as it combines two things that I really liked into one, which defines me as an artiste – having rock music and having a dance number with my dancers. So there’s both of this in the song and I’m very happy about this piece. You can tell that this song has a fast tempo and at the same time it can act cool and see me for who I am – like, jumping around and see the raw side of me. I’m hoping it’s something new for all my fans in Singapore to see and hopefully like – “Wow – this is another side of May’n’ and hope everybody will enjoy it. “ Then the translator whispered – ‘She will perform this song tonight’! Everyone in the room was surprised and laughed, including May’n. Q : If I’m travelling to Tokyo in the near future, where can we find good ‘Taiyaki’? May’n : ‘HIIRAGI’ (near Ebisu station, Shibuya) would be the No. 1 recommendation, another place would be ‘YANAGIYA’ in Ningyo Cho, Nihon bashi. This one has a little more tradition & history than the 1st store. So if anyone who wants to experience taiyaki, please check these 2 stores. If you wants to know why taiyaki was made then you must go to Azabu-juban, Minatoku (NANIWAYA SOUHONTEN), over 100 years of history. Q : Recently we heard about a Taiyaki with wings! Where can you find that? May’n : Hane suki (not sure of the spelling) Taiyaki – a Taiyaki with ‘wings’ and you can find it in Kanda Jimbucho, Chiyoda and there’s one near Akihabara. Look up ‘KANDA DARUMA’. We have to stop here, if we were to continue, there’s at least 3 hours’ worth of Taiyaki information (hinted May’n). And there you have it, the best places to get a Taiyaki from the ‘Ambassador of Taiyaki herself! With that, the interview ended with a ‘sweet’ note. Special appearances At 4.00 pm, May’n made an appearance at AKIBA Stage. However no photography or video recording was allowed and as such, the event can only be felt by those who were present at the moment. After a few questions, she proceeded to sing a song for us. She choose ‘Iteza Gogo Kuji – Don’t be late’ Just as the music began to play, something goes wrong. May’n looked surprised and stopped singing but her voice kept going! She smiled and looked at the MC who immediately ran to the sound controller. They played the right song but the wrong track (should be the instrumental/minus one track). Seconds later the right track was played and she sang LIVE. To me, it sounded exactly the same! A tribute to her singing ability. An hour later, she made an appearance at the Animax booth to give away her latest single to 10 lucky winners. We got there a little late and found it difficult to find a place to capture the event as the place was packed with fans. Another fan – Richie Kam helped us out with some photos taken from the front as we could only capture from the side. Concert This year too, she brought her 4 piece band. Just as the lights came on. Kimi Shinitamou Koto Nakare burst on the stage and the concert was well underway. One thing about live bands was the loudness of the instruments can drown out the concert. So when ‘Towards where the Light is – ED for Shuumatsu no Izetta’ and followed by the awesome ‘Diamond Crevasse’. You can clearly hear her and the emotions in her voice. As she was announcing the song ‘Diamond Crevasse’, the fans in the VIP section let out an excited cheer, a second or two later, someone in the back let out a very loud cheer. The fans in the front laughed, as if the reaction from the back were a little off. A short break and May’n called out to her fans. ‘Are you ready to enjoy to the Max?’ In the Front? In the Back? Singapore?!!’ A resounding ‘Yes!’ came the reply. This is the part of the concert that goes light speed! ‘Number 1’ came on and two dancers jumped in to boost the performance. Soon she got everyone jumping up and shouted ‘Goooo fight!’. Before we can catch our breath, ‘Chase the World’ came on and everyone started to move with the song. The mighty ‘Lion’ made a debut and the crowd goes wild! And finally, the last song for the evening – Belief (OP from Taboo Tattoo). When the concert has concluded, she introduced her band and the 2 dancers. Then they came forward to the front of the stage and hold hands. Some of the fans in front made an excited ‘cheer’. May’n smiled and reacted by putting a finger against her lips – a sign of silence. This is the part where she would shout at the top of her voice without the mike – ‘Thank you very much!’ like she has numerous times at the end of her concerts in Japan. The whole hall went silent but before she could do what she wanted, the back part of the hall made another excited cheer! Again she has to do the silence sign. But we guess fans here, have not experienced that (This would be the 2nd time we witnessed it in Singapore). The hall fell silence again and she shouted ‘Arigato Gozaimashita!’ and her crew lifted their hands together into the air! Cheers and applause followed as May’n and her band waved to everyone. Lastly May’n announced ‘Vocal wa – May’n deshita!’ Bye-bye! As usual May’n was the last to leave and the applause continued till she disappeared behind the curtains. With that, AFASG 2016 drew to a satisfying conclusion. Song List 1. Kimi Shinitamou Koto Nakare 2. Scarlet Ballet 3. Towards the Light 4. Diamond Crevasse 5. No. 1 6. Chase the World 7. Lion 8. Belief We would like to thank May’n san for taking time off her busy schedule to speak to us and Wee Ling, with her crew from Asia PR Werkz Pte Ltd and SOZO Pte. Ltd for arranging the interview. Special thanks to Ms. Kyoko Yasuda for her excellent translations during the interview.

On 27th November 2015, three Macross fans, Vanpang, VF25-F and Rafe went to the Anime Festival Asia 2015 (AFA 2015). The event was the biggest ACG event in South East Asia and was held on the 27th to the 29th November at Suntec Convention Center, Singapore. This time the I Love Anisong theme is ‘REBOOT’. Meaning, the folks at AFA decided to revamp their artist line up with those that have never performed at AFASG before. Among those are BACK-ON, bless 4, nano, Lia, P’s Live!, ZAQ and Mika Kobayashi. The only ones that remained were GARNiDELia who debut in AFASG last year and the Galactic Fairy herself, May’n. May’n, having a busy schedule flew into Singapore only on the 28th. The next morning, we can hear her doing her performance rehearsal (Chase the World) before the main stage opened to the public on the 29th. Soon afterwards she would appear at the autograph booth to hand out signed posters to lucky winners of those that had bought the VIP concert tickets. Soon after that May’n is rushed off to the Interview and Animax promotion session. Next up is the "I Love Anisong" line up for the concert that evening. After the introduction of the respective artistes ended, it’s time for her to appear at the NHK World booth to interact with her fans and engage them in a game of ‘Rock, Paper & Scissors’. Of which everyone will go against May’n, the last 3 that remained standing will get an autograph from her, as well as a pix with everyone while she wore a ‘DOMO’ (NHK’s brown colored mascot) t-shirt. Video link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRWH0DX5Y08 I Love Anisong Concert At 6.30pm, I Love Anisong concert started. As usual, May’n segment was the last act of the evening. Immediately we noticed something different. There’s 2 dancers – normal. Then….there’s a band! A 3 piece band (lead and base guitarists and a drummer) Looks like she wants to make this AFA a special one for us! May’n started with “Chase the World”, next is a “Giant Step!” She then debut for us “Dawn of Logos”( the 2nd OP song for the anime ‘Aquarion Logos’). Then the song that made May’n who she is today, the popular song from Macross Frontier, “Diamond Crevasse!” A short break and then it’s “Yamadere Darling”, followed by “Kohaku” and “Dare Ga Tame Ni” (insert song for M3). All 3 songs – a first at AFA. Then it’s something familiar – "Vivid!" And the crowd goes wild! As each song begin, Macross member, VF25-F, would keep track of the sequence of the songs and type on his mobile phone the title and we noticed something unusual. We were quite sure it has already past 6 songs and she’s still going. Then came the song that was not sang at Budokan – “Lion”! The song was befitting as this is Singapore, the Lion City! Somehow the crowd also felt that it’s the last song and so they went all out cheering and waving their lights sticks! With that being the last song (9 songs with the usual being 6 songs), she introduced her team, there is a 6th member – probably a manipulator, because we can hear instruments that are not played by the band. She then does what she does in Budokan, held hands with members of her band. At this point, the crowd got excited and she put her finger on her lips to quiet down the crowd. May’n then shouted at the top of her voice ‘ARIGATO!’ and bowed. The crowd responded with a loud cheer! She waved good bye as she went off stage and with that, AFASG 2015 ends. Interview session with May’n, 29th November AFASG2015 The interview was conducted in a group session and translated to English through a translator, as such some details may be lost in translation. Q : Could you tell us a little about your 10th Anniversary Concert, your personal feelings performing for your fans who are there to celebrate it with you. May’n : In 2015 I’ve welcomed my 10th Anniversary, and in 2014 to 2015 I have done a bit of World Tour, Singapore was one of the stops for it. And I’m really happy that I got a chance to meet many, many more fans and to get a chance to do a solo that I really liked to do. The Budokan concert was something to celebrate my 10th year in showbiz and a grand completion of my works up to now and like to present to my fans from now on as a way to express what’s my goals and my aim for a career as a musician after my 10th Anniversary. Q : When u first started as an artist, who and what inspired you? May’n : Amuro Namia inspired me. When I was young, I would think - how nice if I could dance and sing like her. That encouraged me to be a singer. Q : As your 12th single is coming out, could you tell us a little about it? May’n : In the song, Dawn of LOGOS, it is really an expressive song, I put in a lot of feelings when I delivered it. It also feel like I’m singing about the life of the characters – the song really relate with my daily life experiences as well. It is now my 10th Anniversary and will be my 11th year soon, and so I am thinking how I shall move to further heights through my music. Q : You been a regular Anisong singer since 2008, in which AFA concert did you find it the most fun and interesting & why? May’n : It’s really difficult to choose a single year, because each year it’s a different presentation, last year the crowd was cheering my name when I came on stage, the cheering touched me very much and hope that I can give you all better performances. Q : What challenges that you faced as a singer? May’n : Not so much of difficulties but in spring this year I was hospitalized by a throat infection but I managed to get back on my feet and do my 10th Anniversary concert in Budokan & Singapore but regretted that I did not take good care of myself. This however made me think how should I want to move on to my 11th year and present myself to my fans. Q :. How do you think your style of music has changed over the years? May’n : For the May’n that you see now is as real to the real me as well as off stage. When I first started off, I was the singing voice of Sheryl Nome of Macross Frontier. That character is like very sexy and feminine, so I thought - ‘How can I bring out that character through my singing, how to fill in the gap between myself and the character, but now after meeting many other singers, I can feel comfortable singing as myself and present my true self to the fans out there. Q : What is the motivation that drive you to sing more anime songs? May’n : The No.1 reason that I get to meet many singers and overseas fans was through the Anisong concert, so now I want to work harder and present better songs to my overseas fans. The first time I got to perform overseas was 2008 and that was my 1st time away from Japan in my private life as well. I’ve also heard that the Japanese anime culture was really popular both in and outside of Japan and is getting more popular with each passing year and also because how the overseas fans have embraced the anime culture. Q : This year you have performed in many universities, are there any memorable moments May’n : Because it’s a school festival, even if people who have not heard of me before would be able to become excited because my performance will be up on stage next and that rise in excitement that actually leads me to be more confident to deliver my performance. The staff who was helping me are actually students of the campuses as well and on the sideline, they are listening to me practicing, I am happy that they can enjoy while they’re working. Q : Do you have a favorite character? May’n : For the Anime that I likes, it will definitely from all my own productions and I do watch them all in real time – Macross Frontier and Aquarion Logos. For me, personally, I like Idol Master – Cinderella Girls. The May’n that you all are seeing now was thanks to the chance I’ve got involve in so many productions in Anime as well as in social life and I want to like Anime even more and hoped that many more people would like Animes too. Q : . What do you like about Idol Master? May’n : In the Idol master – Cinderella girls, I felt that their life story was close to how my life felt and reflected the difficulties of a singer - like when I stand on stage, I felt really happy when fans supported me and that really touches me. Many times I get really excited when I stand on stage and there are times also when I shed some tears when I get troubled over how my performances turned out – so that's why I like the anime Idol Master - Cinderella girls. Q : What was the most memorable song you sung and when was it? May’n : My answer would probably not change from now on and will forever remained was "Diamond Crevasse" because at this point in time I’ve just changed my name to May’n and felt a lot of insecurities but it also means that I would have a new start. I had many opportunities to go on a world tour and participate in many events then like the AFA 2008. At the point where my fans sang together in Japanese with me was really touching and felt the love for the Anime as well as for my songs. This was something I would like to keep close to my heart and in my performances from now on. Q : For your birthday, your staff did something special for you, can you tell us a bit about it? May’n : It’s was more of a private affair with friends, when my friends finished their work and I went over to their house, they’ve made a taiyaki stand in the house. They knew that I loved taiyaki, and named the stand ‘Nakabayashi Taiyaki’. We had a lot of fun and I snapped photos and posted it online. That was all the time we have for this interview and we would like to thank May’n san for taking time to talk to us. Special Thanks goes to Lim Wee Ling, Joanne Tham of Asia PR Werkz Pte Ltd and Shawn Chin of Anime Festival Asia for arranging and assistance for the interview.

May’n at Bangkok ComicCon X AFATH 2015 Anime Festival Asia Thailand (AFATH), the most prestigious Anime event in Asia has finally come to the ‘Land of Smiles’ – Thailand on 30 April 2015. As an added bonus, AFATH was held together with another prestigious event, the Bangkok Comic Con, held at Bangkok International Convention Center (BITEC) During the 4 days event, 30th April to 3rd May 2015, Macross fans vanpang, VF25-F and Rafe had a fantastic time going around the exhibitions booths that include ‘The Hungers Games’, HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’, Star Wars, the upcoming movies San Andreas and Fantastic Four. While on the AFA side, there’s the Giant head from ‘Attack on Titans’ anime, the bow of the pirate ship from ‘One Piece’ and Canon brought their 360 degree camera setup – for a small fee, you can take a 360 movie clip just like those in the MATRIX! Thanks to SOZO, the organizer of the event we managed to catch up to May’n, the ‘Galactic Fairy’ and secured an interview with her. The following is an extract of the interview with May’n on 2nd May 2015. The interview was done in collaboration with our friends from “Anime Culture”. The interview was done through a translator, and therefore certain contents may be lost in translations. Q : During your ‘Dots n Lines’ World Tour, what are your most memorable moments? May’n : Actually it’s hard to answer as there are way too many such moments. But I guess, the most impressive one is when I did the final venue (in Zepp Tokyo). We had the flag in the background which travelled with me wherever I went and it’s filled with messages written from my fans all around the world. . Q : There is a special video entitled ‘Complete version of ‘Behind of Dots and Lines’. Can you tell us a little about it? May’n : For the video that was publish on youtube, it’s is like a few minutes. In the “Complete Version”, the video would be longer and would have more behind the scenes featured – like showing me eating, doing some art work and practicing before the concert. Q : For the OP song of ‘Cross Legion’, you travelled all the way to London to record it. How do feel doing a recording in a foreign country. You have also did an English version of the song ‘Lethe’. May’n : London is the center of Entertainment around the world. Artistes who go there to do their recordings there have a feel of wanting to spread their music around the world, and this made me feel that I want to spread my songs around the world too. English is an important language, and this has made me want to study more, so that one day I too can spread my songs around the world. Q : For your upcoming Special Concert at Budokan ‘Powers of voice’, please tell us the concept for this concert and if I’m not wrong, there is also a new album launch prior to the concert. Please tell us about it. May’n : As part of the celebrations of my ‘Road to 10 years’ it would be an album that will be part of the special concert. It will be a compilations of all the song for the past 10 years, as for the title of the album, it’s still a work in progress. As for the concept for the concert, 10 years have passed so fast, and I’ve lasted this long is because of the support of my fans and I would like to give my thanks to all my fans that have supported me all this years. Q : As you are celebrating your 10th year in show business, what are your thoughts and feelings you have accumulated all these years. May’n : I am very happy to know that I have a lot of fans in many countries and not just in Japan, I would like to do the performances so that all the people in other countries can share the experience and get closer together. Q : You are also doing the opening for the new Aquarion anime – ‘Aquarion Logos’ How do you feel working with Shoji Kawamori san again? May’n : I am very honoured to work together with Shoji Kawamori san again and I have been working for 10 years now and it is also the 10th year for the Aquarion franchise, so we decided to collaborate and celebrate together. There will be more news later, please look forward to it. Note: Not long after this interview was done, we saw another surprise news – Yoko Kanno has signed up to write and compose the Opening Song! Q : You have sang in Japanese, English and Mandarin, what are the challenges you faced when singing in order to bring out the feelings in the songs. May’n : Actually when I did the first live in Singapore, I couldn’t communicate with the fans but I felt impressed that the fans can come together because they like anime and even send me messages in Japanese. So this becomes an inspiration and driving force to study other languages and try to communicate though it is hard but if I can do it, I can feel the power and confidence. Q : This is your 2nd visit to Thailand, what is your impression of the country and if there is any food that you would like to introduce to your fans. May’n : The people are very warm and like Japan. Thai people are quite shy and so are Japanese. So I feel comfortable here. As for the food, I liked the spicy ones but before a show I have to becareful not to eat too much. When I’m not performing, I ate all the spicy food! But my favorite food is ‘Khao Neeo Mamuang’ – mango in sticky coconut rice. During my 1st trip, I stayed in Thailand for 3 days and I ate it everyday! (Everyone had a good laugh!) With that, the interview ended and we thanked May’n for taking time off to speak to us. As the last performer for the AFA concerts (performing on the last day were FripSide, DJ Kazu and Eir Aoi) expectations are high and May’n delivers a dazzling performance! First up is none other than her well known song from Macross Frontier - ‘Iteza Gogo 9pm – Don’t Be Late’, which the crowd immediately recognized and jumped to the beat. Before the crowd had a chance to take a breath, another fast pace song came on – ‘Vivid’ ( OP from ‘Blood Lad’). Then May’n took some time off to greet her new fans from Thailand. Everyone warmed up to her as she took the effort to converse in Thai and talked to them about food! There was one funny moment when she forgot how to say a certain word in Thai and took some time to recall it. In the end she managed to remember the Thai word and the fans appreciated it! Next, the mood changed as she delivered the ballard ‘Aozora’ (ED from BTOOOM). Followed by another soulful piece – ‘Diamond Crevasse’ (considered the song that made her famous – from Macross Frontier). The deep emotions from her voice made many shed a tear as they sang along with her. The mood immediately changed again as LION (2nd OP from Macross Frontier) came on and the crowd is immediately filled with ‘charged’ emotions and sang along with her. Next up was another fast pace song to keep the emotions flowing – ‘Brain Diver’ (OP from Phi Brain – Puzzle of God). Then it’s the last song for the night, ‘Chase the World’ (OP for Accel World). May’n bid everyone farewell and promises to return soon. We would like to thank Mr Shawn Chin, Mr Taksapol Sriwachirawat, Mr Tuea Chun Kah and the management team of SOZO in the assistance in arranging for the interview with May’n for us.

May’n, The Galactic Fairy at AFA 2013, Singapore. Once again May’n is part of the line- up of artistes from Japan that performed at the Premier anime event in the region – Anime Festival Asia 2013 at Suntec Convention Hall, in Singapore beginning on the 8th till 10th of November. The three of us, vanpang, VF25-F and Ming were there for the event. EVENT AT HORIPRO BOOTH - 8th November 2013 Just like the previous year 2012, HoriPro has set up a booth at AFA. As we walked towards it, we saw May’n has left a message for her fans who have come to Singapore. Her promotional video was playing and fans have already crowded around the stage area of the booth. A short time later May’n san came out and introduced herself. After talking to her fans, she presented us with a song – ‘Chase The World’ (OP from Accel World), much to the delight of everyone at the booth. Over the next 2 days, various artistes from HoriPro, also took to the stage to meet their fans. We managed to secure an interview with May’n on the first day of the event on 8 November 2013. Below is an extract from the interview. The interview was through a translator and therefore certain replies may be lost in translation. THE INTERVIEW : Us : Hi, May’n san. Nice to see you again. This makes the 4th time we see you this year! May’n : Wow! Nice to see you again! Q : The Big news is of course your 9th towards the 10th Anniversary celebrations and the upcoming World Tour. What is the concept for your new tour “Dots and Lines”. May’n : It has been my fervent wish to perform in every prefecture in Japan. And with my upcoming tour. I will be able to achieve my dream. The Dots refers to a trail like footprints left by a person moving from one place to another and the “Lines” represents the borders of each prefecture and later for the World Tour, it will be borders of each country. NOTE : The tour starts in February 2014 and ends in August 2014 – 47 in total) Q : When we heard of Nendroid version of May’n san, many fans are excited about it. Have you had a chance to look at it? May’n : Yes. I’ve seen it (smile). Q : I’ve asked some fans what they would like as accessories for the Nendroid to come with :- 1. a Mike, 2. a Taiyaki (a waffle shaped like a fish with Red Bean fillings), or 3. a Hippo (May’n’s favorite animal). May’n : (Laughs surprisingly at the requests) Hmmmm…..there will be a surprise accessory. Q : With reference to your visit to Vietnam, what impressed you the most in Hanoi? May’n : I was thinking who would know me in Vietnam? And I was pleasantly surprised when there were fans there! Us : Yes! There was a video showing your performance and there were fans in the background shouting ‘May’n!’ and ‘Bucho!’ just before you started singing. May’n : Yes! I was so surprised. NOTE : May’n attended the ABU TV song festival as a special guest, representing Japan and performed ‘Vivid’ – the opening song for the anime ‘Blood Lad’ Q : In your blog about the food in Vietnam, there was a picture of some fried marinated insects. Did you try it? May’n : Yes! I ate it! (laughingly) Q : What kind of insect was it? May’n : I have no idea! Whenever I go and visit other countries, I always like to try food that cannot be found in Japan. Q : What else did you try and perhaps describe what are they? May’n : A Vietnamese’ okonomiyaki’ (pancake – stuff with vegetable and meat) After that we had a short discussion about ‘ The Future of Entertainment’ and something called ‘Future Viewing’ That rounds up our interview with May’n san EVENT AT HORIPRO BOOTH AND MAIN STAGE (9TH & 10TH NOVEMBER 2013) There was also an introduction of HoriPro’s artistes at the Main AFA stage on 9th November. (Valerie, Ayaka Ohashi, Asusa Tadokoro and ‘Senpai’ May’n) Each performed a song for the audience and when May’n performed ‘Vivid’, what was just an Introduction, erupted into a concert as fans took out their light sticks and joined in. For the next two days, May’n had a ‘Meet and Greet’ event at the HoriPro booth , which anyone who buys any of her merchandize can go up to the stage and May’n herself will autograph it and have a chance to shake hands with her. As expected for an artiste of her caliber, the line was so long that it almost circled the booth almost twice! On the second day, the line was equally long as many of the fans decided once was not enough, and they’re not going to miss this chance to see her up close and personal. Many fans came from Japan and other countries. CONCERT NIGHT (9TH November 2013) Performing together that night were Lisa, Milky Holmes, then Eiru Aoi and finally May’n. Her performance starts off with 4 dancers entering the darkened stage. The crowd immediate responded with excitement as their wait for their favorite artiste has ended. Immediately after the cheering died down, May’n opened the concert with ‘Forbidden Elixir’ (from Macross Frontier 2nd movie – Sayonara Tsubasa), followed by ‘Chase the World’ (Opening song for Accel World), a brief intro and ‘ Outsider’ from the online game ‘Oni Musha Soul’ from Capcom. A break and May’n works the crowd, asking ‘Are you ready AFA?’ And to that, the fans replied as loud as they could ‘YEEEES!’ May’n responded ‘Okay, Singapore! READY! GO! – which is the opening song for ‘Okami san and her 7 companions’, Next was an old favorite -‘Thou shalt not die!’ (Opening from the anime ‘Shangri-la’). Another old favorite – Universal Bunny! Next is the new crowd favourite – Vivid (Opening for the anime ‘Blood Lad’) Just then she informed us that it this is the last song. My fellow fan standing next to me was like ‘What? So fast!’. He was not the only person who felt that as I can hear many said ‘Nooooo!’ and even ‘Encore!’ This phenomenon has been happening every year at AFA, maybe her act is the last on the list or her songs has the ability to fast forward us into the future cause it really felt like 10 or 15 minutes only! (every artiste had 8 songs to perform (except for Milky Holmes) and one song is about 5 minutes – 40 minutes in total) But what happens next made it a most memorable evening indeed. May’n, speaking in English! – This is my 6th time performing in AFA, Singapore is my first overseas performance. I was so nervous as I asked myself – who would know me outside of Japan? (Back in 2008, during the first AFA, she was the only singer for the whole evening! You can only imagine the pressure on her as she alone carried the entire show and the expectations that comes with it as that was also the closing night for AFA). ‘ But when I performed for all of you for the first time, I was so happy and surprised that all of you know me and my songs. AFA, made me what I am today. Thank you all! It certainly moved me (and many fans too), enough for me to include this together with the interview. What comes next (also the last song for the evening) is the sweetest ‘Diamond Crevasse’ I’ve heard in years, as what she said made it somehow meaningful and the fans joined in singing. When it was over, you can clearly see May’n trying to hold back her emotions as the crowd cheered. And with that she said goodbye to everyone, promising to be back and left the stage. As usual, the crowd screamed for ‘Encore!’ but that hasn’t happened since 2009 and the organizers have to announce the concert has ended to get the crowd out of the concert hall. Personally, we do miss it, hopefully one day it will return, till then everyone remained optimistic. Thank you to May’n san, the organizers of HoriPro booth, the ever helpful folks of AFA, Shawn Chin, Aiko and Chun Kah of Sozo Pte. Ltd as well Lim Wee Ling, Joanne Tham and Stephanie Chin of Asia PR Werkz Pte Ltd.