Super late start today, gang, and sorry about that; it seems that ol’ Maniac got a little ill during the holiday-inspired good times last night, and it’s been a struggle just to stay awake.

Nonetheless, the show must go on! Our series of translated Zenkimi interviews continues with the white enigma, victor of the Mashiro Wars … Mashiro. (I’m so sorry.) You can see the Yotsu and Megumi entries from earlier in the week, too.

You can go read the whole original thing, or take the jump to the translation. As always, mega thanks to our kindly benefactor.

On the 5th installment of the ZenKimi interview series, we talk to the white representative, Mashiro. The person in charge of the singing ability, how does she feel like she has developed in the little over a year the group has been in existence?

Mashiro — The reason why I sing here.

I really love figurines. Coming to Akihabara really pumps me up! I really got into figurines before I joined Zenkimi. During the time when I was just at home and watched late night anime, I’d really fall in love with the cute female characters and then realized that i could collect figures of them. My most favorite series is called “aikatsu”. Watching the anime characters work hard towards their idol dream really makes you cheer for them.

But being cheered on by someone wasn’t the reason I ended up joining Zenkimi. There are so many different emotions involved with me singing songs as a member of Zenkimi.

I wasn’t a shut-in for that long. When there was nothing else but music and everything else that i wanted to do disappeared and I started disliking the world, I just shut my self in in my room. During that time, i encountered the world of anime. That was my refuge, a place to escape reality.

I always loved to sing, so I tried my hand in many different types of music. Before joining Zenkimi, I tried to make music with different people but it suddenly went awry. The only thing that I really could do well was to sing. I really like to sing. I like to convey things through my singing.

When we move forward from the anime-lover in me, we get to the time when I joined Zenkimi. Since I always liked to get on stage and sing, I really felt like stand on top of the ground with my two feet and sing. When compared to one year ago, I’ve become more optimistic about my feelings towards other people.

When I first joined the group, I didn’t really express myself at all. (laughs). I could do my stuff without emitting any signals, I just didn’t give a thought about what I did. It was a situation where I really didn’t want to bother myself. That’s why the me 1 year ago really acted distant from other people.

As gigs started lining up, I realized that I couldn’t continue acting this way. If I don’t think and decide by myself, our performances wouldn’t become any interesting.

I can’t continue like this. I have to change. Even when I thought like this, the other members were there. I was always saved by the other members. The one who brought always fun feelings, Aza. Always considerate of other members, Gomochi. Always thinking about how to express herself, Yotsu. Sometimes not understanding, but still always looking after everyone, Megumi. Everyone had different thoughts, but the zenkimi that mixes all that is really interesting.

I really love the Zenkimi that expresses their feelings on the stage. I originally didn’t like idols and wasn’t really into dancing, I actually disliked idols a bit. But joining Zenkimi made me love the members and the music. Of course there are things that I still don’t like, but I want continue singing like this.

I really should think about my future. I should sing as best as I can so it would reach out to more people. I’d like to become a bit more mature and be able to sing more refinedly. It would be nice if all of the members would mature a bit while maintaining the current balance.
If I wouldn’t be here, I think i would’ve become even more selfish girl (laugh). Before I used to give up easily, but now I think i want to continue like this from the bottom of my heart. I guess that’s a bit selfish, too (laugh). I came to this point by my own choice alone.