LiSA and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: the record-breaking collaboration that established a milestone in the history of Japanese entertainment is back. LiSA’s “Zankoku na yoru ni kagayake” (English title: “Shine in the Cruel Night”) graces the blockbuster animated movie Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle — Part 1: Akaza Returns as one of its two theme songs alongside Aimer’s “A World Where the Sun Never Rises.”

Yuki Kajiura, who composed the soundtrack for the movie with Go Shiina, wrote “Shine in the Cruel Night.” Kajiura is the songwriter responsible for some of LiSA’s biggest Kimetsu collabs that perfectly capture the work’s universe, including “from the edge,” “Homura,” “Akeboshi,” and “Shirogane.” This comeback marks a significant chapter in LiSA’s hits-laden music career.

The songstress saw her singing overlap on screen with the actual movie footage for the first time shortly before this conversation with Daisuke Koyanagi (Interview inc.). Brimming with excitement, she spoke enthusiastically and deeply about the journey that led to her return to the world of the Kimetsu anime.

The movie was amazing, wasn’t it? We just saw it.

LiSA: I thought the animation’s production team was incredible. The way ufotable illuminates the scenes in the movie is just so beautiful. Throughout the entire film, the light in the characters’ eyes, too… the Infinity Castle movie is a work of art that makes abundant use of torchlights and illumination. The skillful craftsmanship of the artists is amazing, and the story is also great.

It really felt like the final battle in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has begun at last.

Yeah. The story makes it clear that no one can be missing from it.

And this is also your first Kimetsu theme song since the Mugen Train story arc.

While we were working on it, Ms. Kajiura and the team at ufotable talked about making a song that would grace the story. Ms. Kajiura and I wanted to make a song with a quiet chorus that would let everyone reflect on the tale so far and feel emotional, a tug at their heartstrings.

It was amazing. Perfectly intertwined with the story. It makes you wonder what kind of roadmap they created and how much they calculated to achieve that level of precision.

Ms. Kajiura puts thought into how a song will become part of the story, and also writes them with a lot of love for the singer. I think she considered how I could sing it as my own song for a long time to come. We discussed it together, exchanging ideas like, “How about something like this?” or “What about this kind of feeling?”

I’m guessing that until now, the situation was more like “LiSA sings songs written by Yuki Kajiura,” but this one was created differently, with you involved in closer proximity.

I was happy about that, too. Ms. Kajiura believed in me and welcomed me into her circle as someone she could talk to about music. At first, my mind was to just entrust her with (writing the song). In the sense that I have complete faith in her. I can tell that she cares deeply about (Kimetsu) and about me, too, so I thought my job was to interpret that and sing the songs. But after seeing the movie just now, it struck me again that everyone involved poured their hearts into every single scene. I felt that no one wanted to compromise on anything. So they probably also wanted to focus on the music and work closely with Ms. Kajiura to pursue it to the utmost.

Right.

The fact that they took my views into consideration helped me interpret the song with greater clarity when I sang it, and I felt like we were fighting together, which strengthened my commitment towards (the movie).

I get what you mean. How did you feel when you first heard that you’d be working with Ms. Kajiura again on a theme song for Kimetsu?

We last “fought” together on the Mugen Train story arc TV series [televised in 2021, a year after the Mugen Train movie opened in theaters], so being able to work with her again for this felt like we were taking it on together, just like in the story.

It’s been about five years since “Homura” (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train theme song) and you’ve gone through various phases in your career. Ms. Kajiura is someone who helped you seize a huge opportunity. Working on Kimetsu again with someone who knows you so well must have been both exciting and stressful, stirring up all kinds of emotions.

To be honest, I didn’t feel much stress about it. After all, anything that comes from working with her on a project like Kimetsu is bound to be good. I was just excited to see what kind of song she would give me to sing and what new perspectives the work itself would open up for me.

What was your impression when you first received the demo from her?

When I first heard it, it was a bit darker. It felt like it was a little more in tune with a darker mood. 

And that changed with each take?

Right. When I received the song, I wanted to talk to her directly, so I visited her studio. I spoke to her of my resolve to fight alongside her as comrades in the same battle, and how I interpreted the song as “a story about us meeting again and going to defeat Muzan, our final enemy” and that I hoped my resolve would be reflected in it. I think that’s why it became more emotional and dramatic during the process. It was the same way with “Homura,” I was the one who wanted to include bright, hopeful phrases, while Ms. Kajiura wrote about sadness as it is. My impression of her first version of that song was also sadness being depicted as sadness.

That’s interesting.

(For “Cruel Night,”) I didn’t convey any wishes to her or anything, just talked about how I felt as we were about to fight alongside each other, like I mentioned. But I did tell her that rather than singing about sadness in a tragic way, I wanted to convey a bit more hope. From Tanjiro (the protagonist of Kimetsu) and the others’ perspectives, they’re having a rough time, but that’s why they don’t want to give up on victory. Then she arranged it into the chorus we have now.

That means you felt it was perfectly natural to talk directly to Ms. Kajiura about such things, and that you felt a sense of responsibility in being involved with the work.

Yes, and also that she lets me do it. She’s left that door open for me, and after working together on four songs, I feel like we’ve built up a relationship of trust, so I figured she’d be OK with it.

And your vocals on this are incredible too. Starting off with a nuance like it’s blended into (the movie), it gradually becomes the theme song, and then ends up as a LiSA number. I imagine the process of making that happen must have been carried out with great precision and attention to detail. How did you approach it?

When I recorded the demo, I was thinking how the chorus shouldn’t sound too bright, but I have a bright voice to begin with, so no matter how hard I try, it ends up sounding like that. I spoke to Ms. Kajiura about it and she told me, “The brightness of your voice is wonderful and that’s what I love about it.” So I decided to trust her to handle that bright quality of my voice. She also said that I didn’t have to lower it on purpose. Since I was going to sing the chorus like that, I figured I’d sing the other parts as someone other than myself… with various personalities, and then just be me in the chorus. I think I was able to sing with various personalities because she said she loved my voice.

You can hear completely different vocalizations in each part.

It was so much fun. For my performance of “Homura” at Nippon Budokan (May 15), too, I was like, “It’ll be ‘LiSA’ no matter how I do it, so I might as well go all out!” [Laughs] I don’t have to try to be LiSA to make her manifest, so I can focus on the emotions. The joy of singing like that is what I’ve gained from Ms. Kajiura’s music.

That’s true, your performance of “Homura” at the Budokan was different from before. Or rather, it felt like your interpretation of the song has become more multi-layered. Does that have something to do with you having recorded this song (“Cruel Night”)?

Yeah, it has a lot to do with it. If “LiSA” is going to manifest without my being like, “This is LiSA!” then I can enjoy using myself more freely and sing songs that fit the music.

Right. If you let “LiSA” out at full blast even for a second, you can make her manifest throughout. At this point in your career, you just have to let that full blast out once, then the rest will become a proper LiSA number even if you create the story that fits the song. Your methodology is changing and becoming more precise. I’m guessing you’ve felt that way for a while. How has it deepened? 

I hope I’m not misunderstood, but one thing is that I’ve gained confidence in expressing “LiSA.” Songs like “Rising Hope,” “Catch the Moment,” and “Gurenge” are examples of this, but the LiSA that manifests through identifying techniques is unbreakable now, no matter what I do. I now have a lot of songs that give me confidence that she’ll never disappear. That’s why I can enjoy other ways of expression and feel the potential. I just finished watching the movie, so I’m really identifying with Tanjiro right now. I think I’ve become really fast with a sword because I’ve trained so much. [Laughs] I’ve grown stronger through training. 

You’ve become stronger through training, and faster, and it’s like you have a clear view of your surroundings even while fighting at incredible speeds. Like a heightened awareness… the way you manifest “LiSA” and her world is unclouded now.

Yeah. Today, while watching the movie, there were many phrases that made me go, “I get it!” I’ve read the original manga so many times, but there were still lots of phrases that I wanted to remember as words to live by. I think they resonated with me because I’m in this phase of my life right now.

What I found particularly impressive about “Shine in the Cruel Night” was how bare and raw the vocal mix sounded. The last chorus in particular sounds so raw like nothing was done to it after recording. It feels so realistic that it’s like you sang it and just left it as is.

Ms. Kajiura said, “That’s great!” on the first take, so I think that’s what they used.

She did? That’s amazing. When someone tells you, “That’s great!” when you sing once is the ultimate sign of trust.

I always practice really hard for recordings, but this time I approached it with the mindset of creating something together with Ms. Kajiura. As we went through multiple takes, there were a few instances where she said, “This is it!” And whenever she said that, I was thinking the same thing while singing it. But I’m greedy, so I think, “If I could do it now, I could sing it even better if I try a bit harder,” and record it again, but usually the first take is better. [Laughs]

So you were like, “Oh, this will be the one,” when you’re singing it.

Yeah, exactly. It’s like you’re in the zone at times like that. It’s more of a sensory experience so it’s not like you’re thinking with your brain, and you’re not controlled by your emotions, either. When you sing from your senses, that’s what comes across, I think. It was the same with “Homura.” That’s why I trust Ms. Kajiura so much.

“Shine in the Cruel Night” is one of the biggest and greatest achievements of what Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Yuki Kajiura, and LiSA have built up over time. The universe that you’ve all created is proof of the wonderful time you’ve spent together.

It really is an all-out battle. Maybe that’s what Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is all about. Everyone strives for that state and pours their love into it. It’s like no one feels anything else.

—This interview by Daisuke Koyanagi first appeared on Billboard Japan