Interview: Ayano Mashiro

Ayano Mashiro is a young singer who has come onto the anisong scene in just the past year. She is best known for doing the first OP to Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, “ideal white,” as well as the OP to Gunslinger Stratos, “Vanilla Sky.”

We interviewed her at Anime Expo 2015. Jeremy Booth conducted the interview except as noted.

How was your trip here to the US?

I took a flight out of Sapporo to Narita [Airport, in Tokyo] to LA, so that was quite a long flight–probably the longest I’ve ever taken. The last flight I took overseas was to Singapore, and it was only an hour’s [time zone] difference…but from Tokyo to LA I believe it’s a 16 hour difference, so I was really scared about the jet lag. But here I am!

What made you decide to become a singer? What was the moment where you decided, “I really want to sing”?

I’ve loved to sing since I was little, but I was taking piano lessons when I was a kid. At my piano recital, I was a weird one–I had my piano teacher play the piano while I sang. This made me kind of think “this is fun!” being on stage, singing lyrics to an audience. It was a mind opening moment.

It’s a good feeling being on stage, isn’t it?

Actually I do get nervous on stage, but I’m more hyped than moved being on stage these days.

Talk to us about your hometown, Sapporo. Is there anything that you really miss and look forward to get back to when you travel, like food or something?

Where I’m from, the seafood is very famous, and I like sashimi…so I miss fish in that way. The second thing is ramen, and I’ve only been to two overseas cities, but I Googled to see if there were any ramen places nearby….I was surprised at the portion sizes and how large they were. I had fish and chips last night and it was humongous.

Who do you think has influenced you most in your music?

Growing up, I listened to a lot of anime songs, and my sempais like Eir Aoi, Maon Kurosaki…I listened to a lot of their music. But I like to listen to a lot of genres to expand my musical palette.

Talk a little bit about any other hobbies or talents that people may not know about or expect. 

I’m a big fan of spicy food, and I like to challenge myself on how far I can push the limits of spiciness!

What do you like about Yowapeda, the bicycle anime? Do you have a crush Onoda Sakamichi?

Yes! When you listen to the lyrics of the show’s song, it fits into Onoda’s character…it’s like he’s working towards his dream, sacrificing anything for what he wants to achieve. That’s what I like about him.

Since you are here in LA, are there any famous actors or celebs you’d like to run into if you had the chance?

I’m a fan of Avril Lavigne so if I met her on the street that would be awesome. I also like Selena Gomez.

If you weren’t a musician, what else could you see yourself doing?

I actually don’t know…I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Tell us a little bit about working with and spending time with LiSA. Any funny stories about her?

I asked LiSA, “do you get stage fright?” She said, “Yes I do,” and that was memorable…so every time I see her on stage, she gives her all, and it makes me feel like I can do it too.

[Michael] Tell us also about your times with Maon Kurosaki too…

Are you a big fan of hers too? (Laughs) She’s actually a very friendly person and really cool, but she’s more girly when off stage So that gap is interesting.

So far, what do you think your greatest achievement is, and what do you want to achieve in the future?

I don’t know if this is an achievement, but when I’ve gotten to play a lot of concerts since I started. And I’d like to play bigger and bigger venues in the future.

Author: Jeremy

Jeremy was first introduced to anime with heavily edited versions of Mazinger Z (aka Tranzor Z in the US), GoLion (aka Voltron) and Macross (aka Robotech) while growing up in the 1980's. Since then his tastes have evolved into a fairly eclectic mix of anime with a soft-spot for underdog shonen stories, psychological/cyber-punk stories and select love comedies. Jeremy was also the head organizer of Anime Souffle anime club in Los Angeles. It was at an Anime Souffle meeting where he met Michael Huang and eventually was invited to join as a guest co-host for Scattered Cells Podcast episode #6 in February of 2007. Afterwards he became an official part of the Anime Diet crew.