Meeting and interviewing May'n, the Galactic Fairy during AFA 2014

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May’n, the Galactic Fairy at AFA Singapore 2014

Macross fans Vincent Pang, James Wong, Peggy Woo and Chelcy Wong went down to Singapore for the Anime Festival Asia 2014 (AFA 2014) and managed to get an interview with the Galactic Fairy- May’n at AFA 2014 on the 7^th December.

We present here below our review of May'n concert and an extract of her interview on 7 December 2014.

Review on May’n’s concert on 7 December 2014

Once again, it’s time for Asia’s premier anime event of the year held in December 5^th to 7^th at Suntec Convention & Exhibition Center, Singapore. The management has done it again, by bringing us more exciting and different things to see and participate during the next 3 days. As we entered, we immediately notice the difference. AFAkun – the official mascot of AFA is joined by ‘Seika’ a female mascot. Inside, we see mini stages where we used to see mid size ones in the previous year. Soon we discovered why. There is a big stage sponsored by Canon to showcase all the events by the exhibitors such as HoriPro, Lantis and Starchild. Nico Nico Douga has put on a huge stage and exhibition area of their own, known as ‘nico nico Kunikaigi’ including a ‘Attack on Titans’ try out area, for visitors to see if they can qualify to join the Survey Corps (3D gear)

This is the 7^th year May’n has been performing at AFA, and the number of her fans keeps increasing. Many. whom are Japanese, travelled all the way here. Over the course of three days, she made a number of appearances on AFA ‘Future Entertainment Stage’ and Main Stage.

This year May’n performed 2 songs (Northern Cross and Diamond Crevasse) on both days on the AFA ‘Future Entertainment Stage’ before greeting and signing autographs for fans in a ‘Meet and Greet’ event. Earlier at the HoriPro booth, May’n appeared with Hayato Kakizawa to promote ‘Death Note – The Musical’. On the last day, at the Main stage, May’n performed another song (Universal Bunny) as part of the HoriPro artist line up event. Then toward the end of the event, a surprise for everyone, May’n together with Tomomi Kasai, Ayaka Ohashi and Azuza Tadokoro performed Misa’s song from ‘Death Note’ anime. Unfortunately, no cameras or recording devices were allowed at the Main stage and therefore only those that were fortunate to be there could savory this memory.

Performing today with May’n on the ‘I Love Anisong Concert’ are FLOW, Eir Aoi, Ganidelia and Root Five. May’n part of the concert started quite late. But as soon as the stage darkened the crowd got excited. We could see 4 persons – we immediately knew they were her dancers. An upbeat tempo music began to play and the dancers show off their dance moves, much to the delight of the audience. Then the music changed into something her fans would immediately recognized ‘‘Welcome to my fan’s club night (May’n ver.)’ Straight after that it was the upbeat ‘Brain Diver’ and followed by ‘Run Real Run’.

Then it was time for May’n to connect with her eager fans. Being the 7^th year, she thanked everyone for supporting her and bringing her back to perform in Singapore. She then informed that there are more Hippos (her favorite animal) in Singapore than in Japan. Apparently, she went Hippo shopping. Time for food, and she informed us that her favorite food in Singapore is still “Roti Pratha”. And this cannot be found in Japan. So May’n exclaimed ‘How can!’ ‘I will bring Roti Pratha back to Japan!’ Much to the delight of her fans who shared her enthusiasm.

The mood of the concert changed as she invites us to listen to a Ballard – Re : Remember (OP for the anime M3) It was truly moving as May’n could bring out the emotions in each line of the lyrics. Next she brings us back to something light hearted by presenting – ‘Love, colored today’ (OP of Inari Konkon Koi Iroha). Then the tune picks up with ‘Hidan no Aria’ (OP for Aria the Scarlet Bullet’) with each change of the song genre, the audience moved along with her seamlessly.

Then May’n decided to up the tempo. “Singapore! Are you ready to party?’ Her fans replied with a definite ‘YES!’ The evergreen ‘Lion’ came on and the crowd went crazy. And for the last song ‘Chase the World’ (OP from Accel World), the concert comes to a close. May’n says her goodbyes and thanked everyone.

Almost immediately, the announcement came informing everyone that the concert is over for real, as in the previous years, May’n fans would linger back after she had left the stage and shouted to the top of their voice for an Encore! or ‘Mo Ikai’.

Later in her blog. May’n wrote that she felt a little worried as her section of the concert started around 10pm and she wondered if there will be anyone left to watch her perform. But to her delight and relief, her fans stayed despite having to face difficulty getting home and partied with her till the end of the concert.

Interview with May’n at Anime Festival Asia 2014, Singapore

Macross fans Vincent Pang, James Wong, Peggy Woo and Chelcy Wong managed to get an interview with the Galactic Fairy- May’n at AFA 2014 on the 7^th December, which also the last day of the festival and also her concert night. Due to time constraint, all the media that had applied to interview her were merged together. May’n answers were translated by a translator and as such some details may have been lost in translation.

Q : Recently you had a concert call Re : May'n Act. Can you tell us something about it?

May’n : That is my first live concert in collaboration with Macross character Nekki Basara voiced by Yoshiki Fukuyama from JAM project. It’s a replay of my first concert. Next year, there will be a release of this in the form of a ‘LIVE CD’. So please look forward to it. (release date : 18^th Feb 2015)

Q : Could you please introduce us to ‘Hippo’N

May’n : This is a character I’ve created called HIPPO’N, which stands for Hippopotamus and May’n – an apostrophe ‘n’. There will be collaboration with Tatsunoko Productions to make an anime of this character. Also please look forward to it.

Q : For sometime now, we have seen photos of you with 2 bottles of liquid, one clear yellow and the other milky white. What are they?

May : Ah! One is a liquidfied form of vitamin C and the other is a protein prime. During a LIVE concert, it is very taxing and I used up a lot of energy. I need to revitalize my muscle mass and energy.

Q : We've just completed watching M3 and I have to say it was filled with emotions and the way you presented the OP song Re : Remember, really matches the feel of the story. As for the other 2 more songs in the album, can you tell us something about it?

May’n : Thank you. With ‘Katasumuri’(Snail) .It is a Jay Chou song – he is a popular star in Asia, so I think the Asian fans will appreciate it if I sing something which is in Mandarin. As for the song, I like the lyrics. it’s reflects what am I doing with my life as a singer for this 10 years

As for ‘Dare Ga Dame Ni’- Is a song that can be used as an insert, opening or the ending. It reflects the feeling of the main character – like ‘Why do I have to suffer like this!’ or ‘Why do I have to be the one to fight!’

With that the Interview ends and we thanked May’n for her time as the organizers also had some other events planned for her including an ad for Animax Singapore and some photo shoot.

We would like to thank 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 Sophia Lau of Asia PR Werkz Pte Ltd for their kind assistance and arrangement for the interview..