Awesome City Club member PORIN’s solo project Pii is performing the opening theme song for the TV anime “My Little Monster,” which is currently airing on 24 stations nationwide on the ABC TV and TV Asahi network in the “ANiMAZiNG!!!” slot. The project had a discussion with noho, the original author of the anime.
This is a valuable recording of the two, who met for the first time, talking about each other’s production rules and their impressions of each other’s work.
–This is your first meeting. You were already having a lively conversation before the interview, but what was your impression when you actually met?
Pii-san: It was just as I imagined! It’s exactly like the image in the illustration on your icon.
Noho: I hear that a lot (laughs). I’ve been watching Pii’s YouTube videos. I thought he was a very kind person. He was just as I imagined him to be, so I’m relieved that we’ll be able to have a fun conversation.
–What are some things that you two value or have rules for when creating manga and music?
Noho: I feel like I’ve developed a kind of rule since I started drawing manga in earnest. I want to actively absorb things that interest me, things that pique my interest, and things that I feel I need to know right now. I try to talk to a lot of different people, and observe the people I pass in my daily life. I’ve started to try to do things like that consciously, and hope to make it a habit. I try to absorb information not only from people, but also from works of art. I’ve also started watching more anime recently.
Pii, I’d like to know your favorite works!
Noho: Every spring, I never miss watching a Doraemon movie (laughs).
Pii: I also express what I feel through interacting with people. I value interacting with a variety of people and try to treat them without prejudice. In my solo projects, I especially value my roots. For example, my parents run a landscaping company, so I’ve seen flowers change with the seasons. I think that’s why I naturally have a lot of songs with flower motifs. It may not be a rule, but when I’m creating, I tend to retreat to the mountains to concentrate (laughs).
–You both seem to have in common the desire to meet people and talk to them as much as possible, but are you both good at talking to people you meet for the first time?
Noho: I’m quite shy, so I’m trying my best (laughs). I try to switch on and off.
Pii: I’m the same. I’m originally very shy. But I’ve trained myself and now I can do it (laughs).
–Please tell us what you thought when you heard the theme song.
Noho: When I listened to the demo, I felt a sense of nostalgia. Pii’s soft and warm singing voice already shaped the world of “My Little Monster”. I was so happy that it matched the worldview so well. I remember being excited and wanting to hear it play in the anime.
Thank you Pii! I’m really happy to hear your thoughts directly. This was my first time writing a theme song for an anime, but I really liked the worldview of “Tonari no Yokai-san” so I was able to write the song very smoothly. Personally, I love the original scenery of rural towns, so a world where you can coexist with youkai and gods was a very ideal world for me, and I’ve even thought about what it would be like if my pet could transform into a youkai and communicate with them, so I was very grateful to be able to write a theme song for a work that is full of my dreams.
–I heard that you actually went to Shizuoka to write the theme song. Are there any places that made an impression on you or that you have fond memories of?
Pii: I researched various places that were mentioned in the afterword of the first volume and went to Morimachi in Enshu. I also visited Oguni Shrine. The air was clear and it was very clean and refreshing. I even put my feet in the river at the shrine. I feel like it was the turning point that allowed me to enter the world of “My Little Monster.” It was a place where the taxi driver looked like a monster (lol). I think everyone who has read the manga and watched the anime will want to go there.
Noho: I’m very happy. It’s a place I’m familiar with in my hometown, so it was inevitable that I would include it in the manga, but it makes me happy that people read the manga and think, “I want to go there.” It makes me feel like I’ve contributed to my hometown. I didn’t intend for that to happen when I was drawing it, but in the end, people who read the manga want to make a pilgrimage there, and there are people who actually do it like Pii-san, so it makes me feel like I’ve done something good (laughs).
Pii: My mother ordered some sweets from Mataichian after watching the first episode of the anime!
Noho: I wonder if I was able to contribute to sales.
Pii, you’re doing it reliably.
-Was there anything you kept in mind while recording?
Pii: I wanted to create a gentle worldview, so I sang without being too forceful, while being conscious of the great maternal love inside me. I also used a sitar (a stringed instrument originating in North India. A folk instrument) in the orchestra to create some monster-like sounds. I felt that the song, which I created by expanding on the imagery of the manga, expanded greatly when it was combined with the moving images in the world of the anime. I really like it.
Noho: When I listened to the song, I had the impression that the wind was blowing. The wind blowing that I felt when listening to the song was also expressed in the animation, and I remember feeling like the ultimate fusion when the animation and music merged. I love it because it’s such a wonderful opening that it makes me feel excited that the anime is about to start.
–Are there any points to consider when choosing locations to feature in your manga?
Noho: I choose places that the characters are likely to go to. I think of places that everyone is likely to go to in the area that the setting is based on. For example, if we were all going to go together, a kushikatsu restaurant would be good, so I searched for what kind of kushikatsu restaurant would be good (the interview was conducted at Kushikatsu Kumata, which appears in Volume 3 of the comics and Episode 7 of the anime). I also thought of “Roadside Station Shiomizaka” (which appears in Volume 3 of the comics and Episode 7 of the anime) when I wanted to get the feeling of driving somewhere I’ve been before. You can see the ocean, you can take a foot bath, and it’s a very beautiful place on a sunny day, so I recommend it.
–It seems like this is a work with a world view that you like. What are your favorite characters and scenes?
Pii: In the first episode of the anime, there’s a scene where Jiro and Mutsumi make onigiri. I really like the scene where the two onigiri offered become one. The part about how God is always watching. My mom and I had a great time chatting about it on LINE. My favorite character is Betobetosan. He says some really great things. When Buchio is worried, he tells him that he has to find his true nature, and when he talks about imaginary numbers at dusk, I think he’s really insightful. I watch it thinking how big a man he is, even though his body is so small.
–Pii said that he visited the locations featured in the manga to write the song, but do you two regularly make pilgrimages to these locations?
Noho: I’d like to go, but I haven’t done it yet. I’d like to take photos with the same angle as the scenes that appear in the work. Like, “I went there!” (laughs). I want to experience the atmosphere of the work. For me, delicious food comes first, so I’d like to visit works that feature delicious food.
Pii: Actually, this was my first time on a pilgrimage to the sacred land. I wanted to join the group of the yokai and enter the world of the work. I wanted to live in the same world as them, I wanted to get closer, but I never really went, but this time the feeling was so strong that before I knew it, I had gone. That’s how much I was attracted to the work.
–What does spiritual home mean to you two?
Pii: Nara. I’ve been hooked for the past two years and go there about twice a year. The original scenery remains unchanged, and it’s a place I love. When I go there, I feel a sense of security, as if I’ve known it for a long time. It’s a place I go to for healing.
Noho: In the story, Yuri talks about her hometown, Tono City, Iwate Prefecture, and I feel the same way. For example, when I come back to my hometown from Tokyo, I feel like I don’t feel at home. It’s the same Japan, but the atmosphere is different. The way the wind blows is different because of the buildings, and the feeling of calm has become familiar to me. I feel like I want to continue living in my hometown, where I feel at ease.
–You ran a posting campaign on X called “Look at me, Yokai-san.” What do you two mean by yokai?
Noho: This might disappoint you, but I’m not the type of person who believes in monsters or ghosts.
Pii-san: Huh? That’s surprising!
Noho: But when I was drawing the story, I learned that there are many stories about Tengu that are passed down in this area. When the series started, I went to Kasui-sai in Fukuroi to pray, asking them to “watch over me.” I feel like I learned a lot of things while drawing “My Neighbor is a Yokai-san.”
Pii: I used to work part-time at a tailoring shop where there was an old man with a 90-degree bend in the back, but he was really good at mending jackets. He looked like someone who would appear in “My Neighbor is a Monster.” I love shrines and temples, so I often visit them. When I’m feeling tired, I try to go through the torii gate of a shrine. I feel like my mind is purified, so I used to visit my favorite shrine in the neighborhood on the first day of every month.
Noho: It’s refreshing, isn’t it? For me, the best way to refresh is to eat delicious food. I’ve been into cooking lately. Thinking about what to cook helps me switch gears and is a good way to change my mood.
–What’s the most delicious thing you’ve made recently?
Noho: This is boiled bamboo shoots. There is a mountain near my relatives’ house, and they grow bamboo shoots there. This year, they seem to be particularly good, and I was given some really big bamboo shoots. They were so big they looked like logs, which surprised me (lol). My mother did the prep work, so I just boiled them, but they were really delicious.
Pii Picking bamboo shoots is great!
Noho: When I was little, I often went to pick shiitake mushrooms with my grandmother.
Pii: Sounds fun! I’d love to go pick some things together, cook them, and eat them while chatting. I’d ask your mother to do all the prep work (laughs).
Noho-san, that’s great.
TV anime “My Little Monster”
It will be broadcast on ABC TV and 24 TV Asahi affiliated stations nationwide from 26:00 on Saturday, April 6th in the “ANiMAZiNG!!!” time slot!
Official site:https://tonari-no-yokai-san.com/
Formula X:https://x.com/TonarinoYokai3(One Way 1)
●PORIN (Awesome City Club, Pii)
He made his major debut in 2015 as a member of Awesome City Club.
In 2021, she appeared as herself in the movie “Hanataba Mitai na Koi wo Shita” and released the movie’s inspired song “Wasurenai,” which continued to rank highly on various distribution sites and has been viewed over 1.1 billion times including related videos. At the end of the same year, she won the “Excellent Work Award” at the 63rd Japan Record Awards. She made her first appearance at the 72nd NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen and has continued to work energetically since then.
Starting in spring 2021, he will start a solo project under the name Pii.
In stark contrast to the urban Awesome City Club, Pii evokes his rural hometown, yet
Expressing irreplaceable time. A sound that somehow feels nostalgic, with a mixture of the desire to move forward positively and unspeakable resentment. She sings pop songs that remind us of our own comfort zones, important memories that we had almost forgotten, the image of Japan, and our spiritual homeland, and become a talisman-like anchor to our hearts. On April 24, 2024, her sixth single, “Obake Himawari,” the opening theme song for the TV anime “Tonari no Yokai-san,” will be released on the “ANiMAZiNG!!!” slot on 24 ABC TV and TV Asahi affiliated stations nationwide.
As a personal project, in 2018 he launched the apparel brand “yarden”, of which he serves as director, and has since released two collections a year.
They continue to change with the times, and with music at their core, they will continue to expand the scope of their activities both as bands and individuals.
release information
Pii “Ghost Sunflower” now available
ABC TV and TV Asahi affiliated 24 stations nationwide ANiMAZiNG!!! anime
The opening theme song for “My Neighbor is a Monster”
URL:https://Pii.lnk.to/ObakeHimawari
“Ghost Sunflower” Music Video
Pii
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvK0ie8WLwNqtqHQUQGbimQ
X(formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/ppiipiipp
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ppiipiipp
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ppiipiipp
PORIN
X(formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/pppppporinp
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ppporin
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pppporin
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