Disclaimer: The following article is a non-profit fan translation. All .hack title series and products are owned by CyberConnect2 and Bandai Namco Entertainment.
Yuki Kajiura Interview
THE TONE OF THE WORLD OF NOWHERE
from
.hack//LiVE Booklets
A melody from another world
A melody never heard before is unleashed
What is the message contained in the songs that have been sung over the past nine years?
PROFILES
Yuki Kajiura
Yuki Kajiura is a multi-music composer who writes lyrics, composes, and arranges music. She has produced music for a wide range of media, including movies, animation, games, and live stage.
In 2003, she started her solo project [Fiction-Junction]. She performs a variety of activities featuring various vocalists. In August 2003, he released his first solo album, [FICTION].
In 2006, she also released the .hack//Roots, Silly-Go-Round as Fiction-Junction YUUKA. In addition, in 2010, released Toki no Mukou Genso Sora (Phantom Sky Beyond Time).
A group of songs inspired by Ideal Online Games
– The relationship between the .hack series and Mrs. Kajiura can be found at…
Kajiura: It’s like, “It’s finally here.” I feel like “I was so happy to meet you all”, though it makes me nervous and anxious at the same time.
– Songs from the .hack series have become standard favorites at Fiction-Junction and Rip’s under the name Yuki Kajiura.
Kajiura: That’s right. .hack songs are often the main songs in live performances. That’s why I don’t feel like it’s been a long time since I’ve performed at a live concert.
– The first was the TV Anime .hack//SIGN.
Kajiura: Koichi Mashimo, the director of .hack//SIGN, also told me that I should write music for an “exciting world that exists nowhere else.” I wanted to create a sense of another world, in other words, a sound that could be found nowhere else.
– Have you played online games before?
Kajiura: Actually, I’ve never played it. I know I’ll get addicted to it, so I try to stay away from it (laughs). I even say that my dream is to have a cat, a kotatsu, and a taste for online games. Someday, I would like to be able to cast healing magic on passersby in the online game world (laughs). I dream of spending about 17 hours a day in online games in my old age. That’s why I made my dream music for .hack//SIGN. I wanted this kind of music to be played when I played the game.
– The music was mainly “stateless” and “multinational”
Kajiura: That was the order. When the nationality of the music is limited, the direction of the composition is limited, but “stateless” means “free”. Therefore, I think I was allowed to freely do what I wanted to do. Director Mashimo also told me every time I met him, “Do whatever you like” (laughs).– The music hasn’t gotten old either.
Kajiura: Yes, that’s right. .hack//SlGN is an anime set in an online game, so I thought it would be good to have a “song” soundtrack. I also really liked the fantasy-like worldview, and I think I was in a good mood when I was making this piece!- That is why the song has been sung until now.
Kajiura: I think it was a work that was supported by the fans, and some people still like the background music.
– In .hack//SIGN, songs like [Fake Wings], which depict the emotions of the characters, were also impressive.
Kajiura: The characters in “.hack//SlGN” are played by players in the real world, so it was very easy to understand their personalities. It was very easy to create image songs for the characters. For example, “Fake Wings” is a song about a door, but I made it straight from what I could see of Subaru’s true self.’
– Is there a song in .hack//SIGN that made a strong impression on you?
Kajiura: For TV series soundtracks, we create the music for the music theme first, and then have the music selected and edited according to the scene. Sometimes only a part of a song is edited and played, so it is better to have as many variations as possible. The songs [The World] and [Key of the Twilight] were long songs that I wrote with the expectation that the intro and the song would be used in different scenes. However, director Mashimo used the entire song in the first and second episodes of “.hack//SlGN”. The way the song was used left a deep impression on me.
– I hear the director’s music menu phase is “Special”
Kajiura: Usually the music menu phase for a piece is something like [Sadness 1, 2, 3, 4], and we make variations of sad songs. But Director Mashimo’s music menu is like the title of a novel. For example, “all the way to the bottom of hell” (Laugh). The words evoke the image of “Speed” and the sense of “Fear”. I asked the director about it, and he told me that he wanted to have several emotions at once, and that’s why he gave me these instructions. He said drunkenly, “I don’t want a visualized music menu phase” (laugh).
– Do you like that kind of menu for wind instruments?
Kajiura: I love it. It stimulates my imagination. But because I talked about this too much during the interview, Director Mashimo said, “I can’t think of any more unusual menus.”
– “The World” is often played as the first song in Mrs. Kajiura’s live performances.
Kajiura: Yes, that’s right. I think it is appropriate because the image of the song is “Jumping into a new world.”
– “Key of the Twilight” is the song sung by Mrs. Kajiura in her live performance of “Japanese Sealed Live”, isn’t it?
Kajiura: I wrote one song that bears the world view of .hack//SIGN. It’s a royal and simple song. It is not so technically difficult to write a memorable song with a twist. But it’s hard to write a good song without twisting it. To be honest, I think this song –“is a good song (laughs).” It’s not easy to make them. I didn’t spend much time on this song, I just made it up as I went along. It was a song that I made because I felt comfortable with it. In this case, it’s a song that I’m happy to have created myself. When I released my solo album [FICTION], I did a poll on my blog, and the song was popular there too, and I received feedback from people overseas.
– The opening track [Obsession] from .hack//SIGN has English Lyrics. Why is that?
Kajiura: Director Mashimo told me that he wanted a digital song. He said, “Alright, can it be in English?”. Thinking about it now, it seems a bit drastic, but at the time I didn’t think about that and just thought, “If this song has a highly digitized sound and an easy-to-understand melody, why not in English?” I just thought about it. I wanted to write a song about the good feeling you get before you start playing a game. I wanted to create a feeling of swaying to the beat. It was a combination of a simple melody with an uncomfortable voice and chorus.
Live Music is a new attraction that comes from the battle of the vocalists.
– Two .hack//SIGN soundtracks were released.
Kajiura: In addition, I recorded an orchestral version of “Obsession” on a project CD called [EXTRA SOUNDTRACKS], and I also worked on the soundtrack for [.hack//Liminality]. Initially, I thought that the soundtrack was ‘over’ once the work was done. However, I think that the fact that the songs are still being sung is largely because the “.hack” series is continuing. I’m very happy that there are still people saying that they like it.
– What was the theme of the soundtrack for [.hack//Liminality]?
Kajiura: [.hack//Liminality] is a story outside the game. The theme song was inspired by the inside of the game, but the soundtrack itself is simple everyday music.- The theme song [Liminality] from [.hack//Liminality] is also a popular song at your live performance, Mrs. Kajiura.
Kajiura: The original song for [Liminality] was sung by a See-Saw singer, but at my live shows, it’s often sung by a different singer than the original. I think I’ve been able to bring out a new charm.
– You also provided the theme song [Silly-Go-Round] for .hack//ROOTS as Fiction-Junction YUUKA.
Kajiura: I feel the same way about this as I did about [Obsession] in [.hack//SIGN]. It’s a song that jumps into the game world. I always think of the theme song as an entrance into the world of work. In the case of this song, I mixed the ‘excitement’ of going to another world with a little ‘sense of danger’.’– What does the “Silly-Go-Round” mean?
Kajiura: It means a fool going around in circles. This is the word coined for ‘Merry-Go-Round’. I chose this title because it is close to the concept of this work. It is like we are going around in a circle. Perhaps centrifugal force or the pull of gravity will give us the momentum we need to get out. I’d rather have a fool who flounders than a smart person who doesn’t flounder. When I read the plot of .hack//Roots, I got that impression, which led to this title.- You’ll be performing live as Fiction-Junction and Fiction-Junction YUUKA at the [.hack//LiVE Stage], and I can’t wait to see how your music has evolved over the nine years you’ve been singing [.hack] songs.
Kajiura: The singers in Fiction-Junction were members who had participated in various recordings before, so they sang very difficult songs, so we were surprised. I even asked them how they could sing such songs (laughs). Recently, they even sang a song that I thought was impossible to sing from a musical point of view.- Haha. So when you compose, Mrs. Kajiura, you include phrases that are impossible.
Kajiura: My songs often have easy melodies but difficult ones in the chorus. If I force myself to sing a phrase in the main melody, the listener will not feel comfortable. Therefore, I try to put in phrases that the singer can feel comfortable singing by slurring his or her own words. On the other hand, in the chorus, I tend to include phrases that are a bit more difficult to sing. Sometimes it is a difficult phrase when I create the right harmony for it.
– Isn’t “Liminality” a difficult song to sing in the chorus?
Kajiura: The “behind-the-scenes helpers” worked very hard on the chorus. The main melody is suddenly replaced by the chorus, or the chorus singer suddenly sings the main melody, and so on. I think that every diva on stage is a solo singer, so I sometimes say to them, “Sing as if you are in a battle on stage” (laughs).
– You are releasing a live album on May 12, which includes many songs from .hack, right?
Kajiura: Both [The World] and [Key of the Twilight] are included as live recordings, and the second one is a live performance held in January of this year, which is sealed off in Japanese. I think you will be able to experience the raw tension that can only be felt at a live performance. The second album includes a song called “Voyagers”, which was recorded for the first time.
– Please tell us your thoughts on this live performance.
Kajiura: I feel very honored that the .hack series is still going strong and that I will be performing live. In the live performance, the singers are more bloodthirsty and the arrangements have changed. I hope you will enjoy the changes.
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