Interview: Choucho

On the final day of the Lantis Festival event at Tokyo's Shiokaze Park, singer ChouCho, known for her contributions to such anime as Heaven's Memo Pad and more recently GLASSLIP, performed onstage. ChouCho took time late after the concert ended to talk with ANN about her experiences and aspirations.

My name is ChouCho. I debuted in 2011, and have provided the opening theme songs in works like Hyōka and Girls und Panzer, among others. It's very nice to meet you.

You're an artist who got her start on Niconico. What do you think is the biggest difference between working through Niconico and working as a professional artist with a major label?

Niconico is... let's see... Free. It's very free. I think the best thing about Niconico is the speediness: I can sing whatever songs I want, and upload them right away. In the case of a major label, the majority of the songs I am in charge of are for anime. I think it's very nice that since my songs and the anime are linked, my own world gets broader.

Do you have any experience overseas?

Oh, I studied abroad in Canada for half a year.

I see. Have any interesting stories?

Well, the store clerks in Japan are very courteous. There was a time in Canada when a bus driver got off the bus to go buy coffee at a cafe, and since that kind of thing almost never happens in Japan, I was really surprised. I thought, "Wow, they really do whatever they want."

Since it's Lantis' 15th annivesary, do you have any thoughts on the label that you'd like to share? What is the existence of Lantis to you?

Lantis really is an important existence to me. Since I was small, my dream was always to become a singer. When that dream wasn't coming true and I was about to give up on it, Lantis reached out to me, and I was able to make my dream come true. I've been really happy to be one of the artists at Lantis in its 15th year, which is a big turning point for it.

I'd like to ask you the title of one of your favorite anime. It doesn't have to be your number one favorite, but even something you liked when you were a child, or a work you have interest in.

Let's see... I really like feeling emotionally touched and crying during anime, and the anime that made me cry the most up until now has to be anohana... Ano Hi Mita Hana... Boku-tachi... I can't say the name, but it was very touching and I cried a lot. I love it.

You're talking about the final episode, right?

Yeah. The tears just wouldn't stop!

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you so much!