During their appearance at the French convention Japan Expo Paris, we had the opportunity to interview the rock band Cö shu Nie. In fact, the day before, we witnessed the group’s unique sound as one of the headliners at Anisong Festa, the convention’s main musical show.
Cö shu Nie is known in the anime community for its single “asphyxia,” the opening theme of Tokyo Ghoul: re. The band also performed themes for anime such as Jujutsu Kaisen, The Promised Neverland, Psycho-Pass, and Black Butler. Outside the anime world, they recently released their latest album “SATURATED (in monochrome),” already available on digital platforms. Anisong Festa attendees got the chance to experience live “Hollow,” one of the album tracks.
In this interview, we talked with members Miku Nakamura and Shunsuke Matsumoto about their inspirations, the history behind many of their famous anisongs, and their creative process.
Portions of this interview have been edited for length and clarity. This interview was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter.
Q: If you could write a manga, what would it be about? Would it follow a dark style?
Nakamura-san: If I could write a manga, it would definitely have a dark story. A lot of things I’m inspired by are from my life. But at the same time, I tend to draw cute characters in a Sanrio style. It would be a dark story with cute characters.
Matsumoto-san: In my case, it would definitely feature katanas. I love battle manga with different specialties. The story and the art would be distorted, similar to the Cö shu Nie style.
Q: Your last song “Hollow” has a focus on existentialism [which they performed the day before at Anisong Festa]. Did you read anything in particular to get inspiration for this particular song, or do you prefer to get inspired by everyday life?
Nakamura-san: The inspiration came mainly from life experiences. I never had a sense of belonging at home or school. My music and lyrics are my way of finding that sense of belonging. There are a lot of people like that in the world. By expressing this, I want everyone to be able to find a sense of belonging.
Q: Ishida-sensei was involved in the music selection for the Tokyo Ghoul:re anime. Did he tell you why he approached you?
Nakamura-san: When we first met, he told us he discovered us through independent music videos that barely had any views. He saw that and thought “why isn’t this band more famous? This band needs more recognition.” He also wanted a talented young artist.
Q: In the song, you use the German word “schadenfreude”, which defines the emotion of joy or satisfaction produced by the suffering of another person. Where did you get the idea to include this word? Have you considered using other foreign languages outside English and German?
Nakamura-san: This is very interesting because there is a Japanese saying that means “other people’s misery tastes like honey.” Only one word, “schadenfreude,” conveyed the meaning of the full phrase, so I decided to use that.
Words come from culture and how people live in that culture. I also want to understand more about other cultures and ways of living and use other languages. Right now, Cö shu Nie is traveling around the world and meeting fans eye to eye, which gives me inspiration to use these words in my music. There will be more languages coming. Maybe Spanish will be next! [the interviewer commented earlier that he lives in Spain].
Q: What elements of the essence of Cö shu Nie can be found in “asphyxia”? Do you remember any anecdotes from the production process?
Nakamura-san: One of the most distinct characteristics of Cö shu Nie’s music is the odd time signatures. A lot of music is based on the standard 4/4 rhythm count. But Cö shu Nie has a lot of weird time signatures. It’s very difficult to count our songs; “asphyxia” is not a standard 4/4 song; it switches between 6/8, 5/8, and 6/8. It’s very hectic.
[Nakamura-san starts marking “asphyxia” rhythm and humming the song]
Many people don’t notice it, but when you count Cö shu Nie’s music, you can find progressive elements that aren’t common in the anime world. A lot of anime songs are fairly easy to understand. Since this was going to be a special song for us, we didn’t want to write a regular song. Cö shu Nie was all about odd-metered songs, with time signatures changing every bar. Those are the main aspects of Cö shu Nie present in “asphyxia.”
Ishida-sensei asked me not to think of the lyrics as if they were written for Tokyo Ghoul, but rather as written for myself. I was very connected with this process and struggled a lot with it. Behind the scenes, when I was writing the lyrics, I felt so connected to it through my own life that it became difficult to continue with the writing.
At some point, I decided to change my thought process. Instead of writing it as my “own song,” I made a new character who was suffering in the world of the lyrics. I was looking at myself in a third-person view.
Q: The first time I listened to “give it back” [the second ending theme of Jujutsu Kaisen] I had the urge to cry, even without knowing future developments of the anime or the full meaning of the lyrics. Was this planned from the start?
Nakamura-san: First, the anime’s staff contacted us requesting a ballad. Due to my experience with Tokyo Ghoul, for “give it back” I decided to do the same and wrote lyrics and composed music based on my life experiences. As an artist, it was important for me that my experiences were connected with the original manga or anime.
In this case, the first verse of the song goes “I woke up with a warm tear down my cheek.” That was a real experience I had: one day I woke up crying. It wasn’t a sad feeling but more of a nostalgic cry mixed with a sense of longing for the happy dream that was gone.
So to answer your question, yes, the nostalgic, melancholic feeling was definitely planned while at the same time the anime requested a ballad. I also think it resonated with everybody because it was connected with these real-life experiences. You felt it even if you didn’t understand the lyrics.
Q: One of your recent anime songs is “MAISIE,” [the opening theme of Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc] in which you collaborated with HYDE. Could you share how this collaboration came to be?
Nakamura-san: Honestly, we don’t really know how it happened [laughs]. We can tell you we had this call one day, I think somebody on HYDE’s team or the anime’s staff wanted to do the collaboration. But everyone who was involved was happy with how it turned out.
We would like to thank Cö shu Nie and Japan Expo Paris for the opportunity to have a deep dive into how they created such compelling music for anime fans. We are sure to see them return for future European events.
Don’t miss the chance to listen to “SATURATED (in monochrome)” and watch the official music video for the album’s fifth track, “ANAAKI ANANKE.”
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