The Music of Revue Starlight Roundtable Discussion - Part 2 (Patreon)

As September 2018 draws to a close, the TV anime Shojo Kageki Revue Starlight has, for the moment, come to an end. Now that everything has come to light, we are able to deliver the second half of the roundtable discussion between the music producers, Teppei Nojima (Pony Canyon) and Kohei Yamada (UPDREAM), and the lyricist, Kanata Nakamura. In it we look back on the revue songs that have accompanied the dramatic developments of the second half of the series, and ask about their overall thoughts as they strove to produce a “musical x anime mixed media” project -- something that has never been done before. 

-- After episode 7 - during which Nana Daiba’s big secret is revealed - we have episode 8’s “RE:CREATE,” sung by Nana and Hikari Kaguya, and episode 9’s “The Bonds of the Stars,” sung by Nana and Karen Aijo.

Nojima: I was the one who suggested that we get Keita Miyoshi to compose “RE:CREATE.” Miyoshi composed a song called “Smilium” for (Suzuko) Mimori’s solo work -- and it’s incredibly  moving, you see. What we wanted was a song that included dramatic shifts in emotion, so I nominated Miyoshi, as his songs tend to be easy to project feelings onto. And we ended up getting something completely Miyoshi-esque. 

Yamada: The song is amazing! It sounds like a pop song - even in its construction - but it’s actually a storm of irregular time signatures. It’s incredible how he managed to make it sound like a pop song. 

Nojima: The technique is amazing, isn’t it? It starts in ⅞ time then…… ah, that’s right. We talked about this during the voice over recording session, but there’s a bit of a coincidence in the time signature. ⅞ is a play on “Nana (7) of episode 8.”

Kanata: We were like “Huh?”

Yamada: When we looked at the sheet music, we went “Oh!”

Nojima: Mimori’s singing is also very powerful, so we wanted to bring out the best in her. Her singing is very expressive, you see.

Nakamura: I even got goosebumps during the voice over session.

Nojima: She really is amazing. After recording, I would play it back to check, and (Moeka) Koizumi, who was with me in the studio, ended up crying each time (laughs). She would say “It’s such a good song……” and cry whenever Mimori sung, so we were all like, “Banana’s such a nice girl” (laughs). Storywise, the shocking revelation happens in episode 7, and the story moves in a large way in episode 8, right? So we wanted to focus on how we could make the song persuasive and powerful. We would end up losing to the animation if the music wasn’t just as impressive, you see. We also had Fumiaki Kota, who works on the Symphogear series, in charge of the storyboards and episode direction. How he depicted the girls singing while fighting was just incredible, and I’m happy it all fit together so well.

Nakamura: As for the lyrics, after the music box comes in, Hikari is “reborn.”. From here I wanted to have Hikari open up with her true feelings. If you recall, during the fight with Junna (Hoshimi) in episode 1, Hikari never really expressed her emotions in the lyrics. This was also the case for the first half of this revue. But when she sings “The dream for the both of us will bloom” and the flower on her weapon blooms, I had to make sure the lyrics were fitting for this event.

Nojima: Director Furukawa gave me instructions/orders like “I want the music to explode here” and “Make it overflow,” and I had this carried over to the lyrics as well. 

Nakamura: My starting point was “The dream for the both of us will bloom” -- I then went on to write the lyrics for the first and second half of the song. And Hikari’s feelings in the second half. “I won’t lose anymore. I won’t give up” -- Mimori’s singing during this part was just so incredible. I thought, “We won! We’re the champions!” (laughs). 

Nojima: It’s here that Hikari is finally able to express her feelings, not through lines of dialogue, but in a song. Mimori’s singing would power up each time we took a recording, and Koizumi would always end up crying (laughs). 

-- But then we move on to episode 9.

Nojima: Banana worked really hard for this one. For the backing vocals, Koizumi said “I’ll do it!”, so they’re all actually sung by Banana. 

Yamada: For the revue songs, we generally don’t add backing vocals or harmonies. This was also to make sure that the main melody stood out.

Nojima: We thought it would be strange if you could hear your own voice as a harmony while fighting [in the revue].

Yamada: But although we kind of put that restriction on ourselves, this song was a special case. This time we thought that it might be interesting if we could pull it off. On the day, we had Koizumi learn it on the spot and we then went ahead with the recording. 

Nojima: We put so much emotion into episode 8 that, at first, I was struggling with how we would follow that up in episode 9. I asked the director and he mentioned the horror film, Suspiria, so I was like “What’s he on about?” (laughs). Then, I realised that since Nana’s story is that she’s trapped in a time-loop, maybe he wanted to express the sense of dread associated with that. The director also wanted there to be the sense that there was a layered choir in the back. I then thought that it might be more interesting if Nana sung everything. 

-- It’s also Yoshiaki Fujisawa’s first revue song since episode 3.

Nojima: The amazing thing about Fujisawa is that he’ll quickly digest anything you tell him and figure out what you need. I don’t think the revues would have come together if not for Fujisawa.

Yamada: The songs in the most important episodes were all done by Fujisawa.

Nojima: During episode 9, Nana sort of gets purified, or well, Karen provides her with hope and she’s then able to break away from the loop. So the moment that Karen steps forward, the tone of the song becomes softer. I thought this shift was brilliant.

Nakamura: For the lyrics, the focus was on Karen convincing Nana. I express Nana’s obstinance in the first half, and it’s not very lyrical - more like she’s just reciting the words. Nana’s first three lines are like something from the demon lord, and then Karen pulls her back with softer, more human words. I needed some strong words in the opening to get across a sense of unease, so the words I used here were more direct. I also used the same phrase, “Bonds of the stars,” at the end of the revues in episodes 8 and 9, as to link the two together. 

Nojima: As Miyoshi and Fujisawa are part of the same music agency, they were able to collaborate, like on the melody and the sound of their songs.

Yamada: The composers generally all knew each other, so we did our best to make sure that they all were on the same page. The BGM was also in complete harmony with the revue songs, so we wanted the transition… no, we needed the transition to be seamless between the two.

Nojima: Fujisawa and (Tatsuya) Kato both worked on the BGM, but they weren’t working together. Rather, each of them put out their pieces individually. And, as if they were fighting each other in a revue, they inspired each other. The insert song composed by Kato, “Hoshitsumi no Uta,” was only 4 mins 10 secs long, but it needed to cover a scene that lasted 4 minutes 40 seconds (laughs). He quickly composed the rest for us. 

-- Using singles released by Kukugumi as the revue songs for episodes 10 and 11 was a big surprise. Was it planned from the start that you would use “Star Divine” and “Butai Shojo Kokoroe” here?

Nojima: For “Star Divine,” it was only after the first stage performance that the director said to me: “I want to use this song in the anime!” Back at the start of this whole project, I remember giving the director a demo of the song, and because it was created ahead of the anime, he said “Hmm… I’m not getting any clear ideas from this.” I’m incredibly happy that the song was used in the end. 

Yamada: I guess he must have changed his mind after watching the stage play. At some point, he came around and said “I’ve begun to like ‘Star Divine’.”

Nojima: Then he said “I’ll definitely use it!” and now, we’ve put in nearly the entire song -- an arranged version of the original “Star Divine.”

Yamada: We made another arrangement for the strings, didn’t we?

Nojima: In terms of the vocals, it’s also a four-part arrangement. We kept it to the four fighting in the revue, and had new lyrics written for the second verse. We wanted Claudine (Saijo) to sing this part as she didn’t get to have a revue of her own.

Nakamura: The change in lyrics in the second verse was a good betrayal of expectations, wasn’t it? These lyrics were also matched well with the animation, where for example, during “I can neither blink nor turn my eyes away,” it cuts to the characters up in the gallery, watching the four fighting below. 

Nojima: It’s actually because of this gallery scene that the second verse starts with the line, “In each heart.” 

Nakamura: That’s right. The line “The centre of the stage is only for one, but, you’re no longer alone” is actually directed towards Maya (T/N: We decided not to go with the official translation “But, I am no longer lonely” as it contradicts what Nakamura is saying here). The lyrics touch upon Claudine’s more personal side, so I’d be happy if people could think “Is this about Maya?” when listening to this. It really was sad that Claudine didn’t get to have her own revue song, you know? I felt that this really wasn’t fair, but I think she did in some way come off well by having her own solo in “Star Divine” (laughs). 

Nojima: This episode was really about MayaKuro, so I’m pleased that we were able to show viewers what was in their hearts I don’t think anyone expected a revue duet.

Yamada: It’s always been one-on-one after all.

Nojima: We basically flipped the rules upside down (laughs). That must have been a big surprise as well.

Nakamura: The viewers must have felt like they were being led all over the place (by the show).

-- How about “Butai Shojo Kokoroe”?

Nojima: This isn’t really a revue song -- it’s more like an insert song. It’s arranged in a ballade style… and it really brings a tear to the eye. It was Kato who did it, wasn’t it? The arrangement.

Yamada: That’s right.

Nojima: Karen goes to save Hikari from confinement, and as she makes her way down, the girls come out and sing their parts in turn. Mahiru’s solo came just in time for the first chorus, so it was a must-see for Mahiru fans (laughs). The lyrics weren’t changed at all, were they?

Nakamura: No, they weren’t

Nojima: “Butai Shojo Kokoroe” and “Star Divine” were both part of the 1st Kukugumi single. The CD itself was called Prologue -Star Divine-. [For the anime], the songs are titled respectively “-Star Divine- Finale” and “Butai Shojo Kokoroe Interlude.” We tried quite a few different ideas and tricks in the anime, and step by step, we wanted to do the same with the music as well.

-- Then we move onto the final revue song……

Nojima: We are, in fact, right in the middle of producing episode 12’s revue song.

Yamada: No one has a full picture of what it’s going to be like yet (laughs)

Nojima: We’ have decided that the revue will be around 9 minutes long, and that the song will be arranged from a BGM piece. We fit BGM pieces to the scenes that they are used for, so it’s often the case that the more climatic second half of a particular composition isn’t something you’ll hear in the show itself. But Kato and Fujisawa gave each piece a climax to rise to, so that they could all be standalone works. The director picked out a song he liked, and Kato and Fujisawa are now working on its arrangement. 

Nakamura: There’s a lot of pressure for the lyrics as well……

Nojima: They’ll have to be written in 3 hours.

Nakamura: Well it seems I’ve gained an extra hour (laughs). You were saying 2 before!

Nojima: It’s all been very “last minute,” but I think we’ve managed to make something really good, right until the last moment. Music production doesn’t often go on this late in the anime production process. 

-- Whether it’s the BGM or insert songs, it’s more common for these to be made ahead of the animation.

Nojima: The music is sent in quite some time before the animation is finished, so I often find myself thinking “Oh so that’s how it’s been used.” This time, I made sure to attend the sound mixing and video editing sessions, and I managed to gain a lot from these. I had Yamada attend them as well. It really felt like I was running to the finish line alongside everyone else. 

-- It sounds like it was an incredibly challenging project for everyone involved. Now that you have reached the finish line, what would you say you’ve gained from the experience?

Yamada: I feel like I’ve found one pathway towards a solution for something that’s been on my mind. My company makes music for various anime and voice actors, but honestly it feels like our current way of doing things has become stale. For example, with character songs, we are restricted by the character’s voice, so we’re quite constrained in terms of what we can do musically. Just as I was thinking about how I could break through this wall, I became involved in this project. Since it was based on a musical, we were able to make music that brought the best out of each performer’s singing ability, rather than music that was constrained by a character’s voice. Because of this, I think we were able to make something of a very high quality. It may be a clue that will help me break through the challenge I mentioned. 

Nakamura: I’ve also been involved in this project from very early on/right from the start. It’s rare to be able to see how a piece of work is produced from start to finish. So to have this opportunity and be a member of the team carrying it out…it really was an incredible experience. I kind of want to loop back in time (laughs). I want to do it again. 

Nojima: As for me, a lot of the music staff this time around were from my generation. Fujisawa, Kato, the composers and the engineer, all these people were from my generation. And even the director as well. Because of this, I think we were able to communicate and work well together. I think it was thanks to everyone involved that we were able to move this huge ship forward -- us 30-year-olds driving the project, and the folks like Sound Director (Yo) Yamada who watched over us. The work was genuinely fun -- no stress at all. It was tough, but I was working with the same feeling that a child might have when playing a new game. 

Nakamura: …...Would you like to loop back in time with me? (laughs)

Nojima: So, Kanata’s going to go and win the revue for us then (laughs). Other than that, I would like to say to  the cast members who helped me a lot in certain areas, and the director who oversaw the whole project, “It was fantastic to work with you. Thank you so very much” -- please put it down like this (laughs)

This interview is part 2 of 2 covering the first insert song album. Translated by @why1758 and checked by @karice67. Commissioned by myself (@JackUTS). Co-funded by @NaChiKyoTsuki97, @SubtitledAnime, @PedanticRomantc, @_Zeria_, @blautoothdmand, and @GlassReflection.

You can read Part 1 here:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/music-of-revue-1-28054607