MGazette vol. 21, Mana

 

I’d like to start with the reason for making Le Ciel a single.

M: Well, simply stated, we’d decided to make it a single from the time we started our activity with “Merveilles”. That’s it. Oh, and! Other people are talking about Le Ciel, so it might be better to do something else!

That’s what everyone says (lol). And as for how you’re expressing a girl’s cries with your guitar?

M: Hm, for that, I’m expressing the worries, doubt, sadness, and suffering she keeps to herself. If you listen to the musical interlude you’ll understand, but the cries, are because she’s sobbing.

So would you say that in your way, it’s indispensible?

M: No, for the girl it is. It’s not my inner shoujo, but the one from Le Ciel that I am expressing. Well, the ambience of the song…(lol)

You’re trying to bring everything together prettily.

M: Exactly (lol). I’m expressing it through the guitar.

What do you do to connect to songs that other people have written? Like this time do you try to give it a Gackt flavor?

M: Nah, I do as I please.

Thought so (lol). So the girl’s cries too…?

M: That’s not arbitrary! That’s to bring out the song’s image to the maximum. Well, as to who does what, it’s still Malice Mizer.

And about this time’s tour, is there something that left an impression on you?

M: In the tour? (thinking it over) Huh……..Hokkaidou, those kind of places, we don’t really go there, so I think there were a lot of first timers...so the reaction was really different…….(lol)

Um, my head’s spinning…(lol)

M: (lol) They had a new reaction I had never seen until now. It’s not really a strange way of getting into the concert…most people know that we do Le Ciel last so they won’t call out for an encore. Of course we should know that the newcomers would shout on for an encore but to do it repeatedly…it had a bit of freshness to it.

Were you happy?

M: Hmmm. Well, yes, you could say I was.

Even though you were happy! (lol) And how about food, as you’re usually a stickler for it?

M: Right~somehow or other I had people bring me around…well, it was good…but I like simply food, personally.

Rice and miso soup.

M: Yes, I was brought to places where they used only natural things, that kind of washoku. I really like that kind of stuff…

There aren’t any of those kinds of stores in the city are there?

M: Probably not. In Hiroshima I ate at my parent’s house. Dinner (lol). The visit, a mere 5 hours!

You like your mother’s cooking that much?

M: When I go home there are things I absolutely have to eat. Thin, floppy steak. That’s soo good! The best!

What kind of meat?

M: Oh I dunno.

Something only mommy can make? (lol)

M: Since I was a kind it’s always been like that! I’ve got to go home to eat only that. Then there’s a nearby okonomiyaki store I’ve been eating at since I was a child, and I had to go there to eat, but as luck would have it they were closed down. I have no interest in the okonomiyaki in the city. It was like “but I ate there last year!” and was shocked.

Let’s look forward to the next (lol). By the way, isn’t the rehearsal time allocation from the solo corner strict?

M: The live itself is extensive, and we can’t do everything in terms of time. So the extras barely have a rehearsal. There are no means so I personally coach them in the hallway and that’s it. (lol)

So you just cut your own time and suck it up? (lol) Now the tour has ended, and you’re coming up on your 3 year musical revival, but…?

M: hm…something still might happen. But at the end of the year something will probably happen. From what I can see.

Really? Like nabe with you?

M: I do beach nabe (lol) Have you heard of it? You have a nabe on the beach. It’s manly cooking. You boldly chop up fish…

And you put it in miso and boil it?

M: Yes. Manly cooking.

Now that you are busy and cannot do your cooking hobby, has that lead to any other hobbies?

M: Hobbies…? Jogging. I run the river bed in the morning~(trilled) I look forward to running around the neighborhood. There.

Can’t you see that as more of a health thing though?

M: Reeeally? It is healthy! And I only drink veggie juice too.

Speaking of, it’s hard to keep beautiful without love!

M: My every day is lonely~~~nothing is good anymore~~~ah~~~when I think about what I should do and for what purpose~~~ah~. I’m thinking of going into asceticism. Sooner or later.

Now now, let’s not go that far. What kind of girl did you like again? Asuka?

M: ? Asuka Ryou? Ah Eva…I forgot about that. No, not like that. The docile, doll like type.

The kind who will sink down to the lowest level for you?

M: She doesn’t have to sink down to anywhere. Isn’t it good enough to just stay by me?

You say nice things, don’t you (tear). Find one of those for me too~~~(more tears)

M : Ah…I’m too young in love.

Huh?

M: I’m a green around the ears shonen. Actually, I’m the youngest in Malice Mizer. At first glance, I’m the leader so I have to put on an act, and because of that it seems like I’m the oldest. Didn’t you know?

Ah, so you yourself are the incarnation of Lolita?

M: I wonder.

Are your white costumes based on that too?

M: Rather, the decision for white costumes was made from the time we started Merveilles. Even if the clothing design was not there, the basic image had been decided.

But Le Ciel is feathered costumes and white cosutmess, and aren’t there two?

M: You will understand this puzzle if you look at the costumes closely.

Lightness and darkness? Because they are antithetic?

M: That’s not it now is it. It’s pretty difficult, isn’t it. I will say though, that the answer will come out in due course.

But with Le Ciel coming out, doesn’t it feel like the curtain to Merveilles is closing nicely?

M: Yeah, from an overarching view. I can’t say it’s a complete ending, but it’s the ending of the form.

And then again, the next door will open?

M: Hm, as to whether it will open or not, I can’t saying anything, but this does not mean that it has completely finished. It wasn’t cut off. Our concept will not change as long as we are still active after all.

Wait a minute. By “concept” here, do you mean “Merveilles”? Or do you mean, “what is human”?

M: Akui to Higeki.

So not “what is human?”, but a return to your roots?

M: There are a lot of different things. “What is human?” is a rather overtly done posission, and in there, further on lies an organization.

And the foundation of akui to higeki is winding everything above it?

M: If you go at it from that angle, you’ll understand why we’re going about doing what we do as a band. It’s a daunting thing…