Three friends start singing the same song in different languages. One in Catalan, another in Spanish and the third in Galician. When they hear them, the people around them turn and smile at them. The scene is curious to say the least. Anyone could say that they are students of a language school, but, in reality, they are attending a concert by Yoko Ishida, the singer of the popular anime Sailor Moon, at the Manga Barcelona hall, which opens its doors until this Sunday at the Fira Gran Via, in l’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
A fourth young woman, who doesn’t know them at all, joins them halfway through the song and sings in Japanese. Part of the audience stops recording the stage for a moment and focuses their cameras on them. “I learned Japanese thanks to Yoko,” she confesses shortly after to La Vanguardia. The singer smiles when she is told this anecdote. She never imagined that her music would go so far or that anyone would learn a new language thanks to her. She didn’t even think they would pay much attention to her in her native Japan. “Actually, what she wanted was to travel to Australia.” And that’s why she entered an anime music contest, the prize of which was a plane ticket to Oceania.
“I couldn’t imagine I was going to win it. My only experience was karaoke with my friends after class. My mother encouraged me and, in the end, it was she who ended up traveling. Maybe she already imagined it from the beginning,” she laughs. “But, even if I had wanted to, I couldn’t have accompanied her. In addition to the ticket, the prize included a musical career and everything that entails. It is said soon, since these opportunities are difficult to see today. I had not considered until then if that was what I wanted, but I liked music so much that I held on tight to that train, and here I am still. I can not really see myself doing something else.”.
He was only sixteen years old, so the organizers of the contest respected his parents’ decision to wait until he finished his basic studies to undertake the project in a big way. When she finally did, they asked her to write a song for the new season of an anime that had recently premiered: Sailor Moon. “At that time I was not known, so I read the mangas that were available by Naoko Takeuchi to have all the possible information and see the aesthetics and style of the series.” Thus was born her first song, Otome no Policy, which soon became a success.
“It was the ending, the song that accompanied the end credits and the audience learned it.” She has been singing it since 1993 and yesterday she did it again in the living room. “Although I have sung more songs, it doesn’t bother me that they identify me as the Sailor Moon girl. At the end of the day, it is what has allowed me to be known, travel the world all these years and be here today.”
The Manga Barcelona salon is aware of the importance that anime songs have for fans. Therefore, for some time now, the organizers have invited some of the best-known vocalists. A total of five anime singers have come to this edition, in addition to DJ Turbo, a Finnish producer who has revolutionized the genre with his mixes of popular and anime songs. “It is the year that we have the most singers on the bill. Everything that revolves around Japan is a great attraction at this festival and, without a doubt, anime music has an important weight,” acknowledges Meritxell Puig, general director of Ficomic, who last year brought along with her team Yoko Takahashi, the artist in charge of the melody of the animated series Evangelion.
One of the highlights this year is the Tokyo Ayumi Miyazaki. Since she began her journey on the music scene in 1991, she has composed songs for Japan’s top artists. Some of them have sold more than a million copies between albums and downloads. But if he is known for something outside of her country, it is for his role as a singer, since she is the vocalist of the Digimon series, which has been broadcast around the world since the late 90s. Days before its arrival, many anime fans commented on social networks about the great opportunity that it was to be able to see it live and, judging by the comments and how worn out the hundreds of applauders that were distributed before the show ended up, expectations were met. . Also, the prediction that several of his followers would be encouraged to sing in Japanese.
“The craze for series openings and endings has always existed in the otaku world, but in recent years interest has increased, to the point of reaching a general audience. Furthermore, Japan has encouraged songs to no longer be translated, as happened in the 90s, when we adapted the songs to Catalan, Spanish or any other language. Japanese artists know that anime is a global phenomenon and that, far from being seen as something geeky, singing anime can help them become well-known in different countries. Hence, it is increasingly common for them to sign clauses in their contracts requesting that their lyrics not be translated,” explains Oriol Estrada, content advisor at the Manga Barcelona salon.
Two other well-known anime singers who will perform on the stage at l’Hospitalet de Llobregat are Anly and Vicke Blanka. The first is behind the header of Naruto, a very popular manga that made the leap to television in 2002 and whose protagonist is an orphaned teenage ninja who aspires to be recognized as someone important in his village. The song has more than 30 million views on Spotify. The numbers are even higher with Blanka, who has almost 189 million views with his opening for Black Cover, the drawings that revolve around the young Asta, born without magical power, something unknown in the world in which he lives, where humans They are born to be magicians. The first chords of the song are enough for the public to unleash the fury of it, as it is demonstrating these days while passing through Barcelona. The artist focuses the microphone on them so they can sing with it.
“The warmth of the people is incredible. My work is giving me the opportunity to travel more than ever and I realize that each country and city has its particularities. Europe has very good things that I am surprised Japan does not have, and vice versa. These differences motivate me to write new songs, so surely in the near future I will end up having a new song about Barcelona. Definitely, I would love it,” says Blanka, who does not rule out continuing to collaborate with new anime soundtracks in the future. “I never imagined that I would end up writing songs for some of my favorite series. But I love the experience and I don’t feel like I’m pigeonholed. On the contrary. “It is giving me wings to see the world and fly even higher,” she concludes.
