Interview with May'n, the Galaxy Fairy during AFATH 2015

[vanpang]

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, 30^th April to 3^rd 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 2^nd 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 10^th 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 1^st 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 (2^nd 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.

Edited May 29, 2015 by vanpang