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Enstars: Lis Oeuf vol.1

Lis Oeuf is a derivative of LisAni, a magazine focused on anime songs. Lis Oeuf is mainly catered towards female audience.

Released in June 2016.

An interview with Arte Refact, a creative company who created and produced the first set of Enstars unit albums. They gave commentary on all 16 songs.

Profiles of Arte Refact members can be found towards the end of the post.

What is Arte Refact?

It was formed in 2011 with Satoru Kuwabara (old alias: fandelmale) as its central pillar. Arte means “the world is bestowed with wonderful music,” Re means “us who received it” and Fact means “shall give birth to brand new music.” It envisions to create new music while treasuring every creative work and connection to people. They have large range of specialties, providing music for numerous artists and creating theme songs for anime and games such as Idolm@ster Million Live!. (Arte’s Website)

Q: Could you tell us how Arte Refact (Arte from now on) was born?

Satoru Kuwabara: I have been active in music since long ago and that made me want to make a sound creator team with composers I was good friends with, so I made Arte Refact. At that time, I didn’t know left and right and established the company (laugh). None of us had connections to the entertainment world too.

Tsukasa Kikuchi: No one had experience in the entertainment world, did they.

Kuwabara: It’s a team/company I made since I wanted to do interesting things with music together with talented friends. I’ve wanted to become a producer or director since back then, and even if I had experience as part of a band I had never made a song. So I asked my upperclassman for advice and my song-making career started when I released a compilation album of songs I arranged. I didn’t start making songs two years after I established Arte.

Atsushi Harada: That’s probably how it was. You started with arranging.

Kikuchi: You also asked Atsushi Harada-sensei to take you in as his disciple to teach you music theory (laugh).

Kuwabara: I still use the notes I took from that time, you see.

Q: Yuki Honda-san, Masatomi Waki-san, and SHINTA-LOW-san are new members. What made you think of joining Arte Refact?

Yuki Honda: I was already acquainted with Kuwabara-san and Harada-san. Before joining Arte, I was in a band and affiliated with another creative company, supplying music. When I was deciding my next step, I had a talk with Kuwabara-san and we found that we had common goals. That’s how I got in.

Kuwabara: It’s common for members of creative companies to be quite ‘independent’. But my impression for Arte is that the members want to make songs as a team.

SHINTA-LOW: I was affiliated with another creative company and made songs and background music, but I wanted to do something more creative. That’s when I had the opportunity to meet with Kuwabara-san and consult with him, and as a result I was recruited as a comrade. That was the first time I got to create as a team, and I find it fun to work in an environment where everyone is cooperating with one another.

Masatomi Waki: I wasn’t acquainted with anyone and I applied when I found out they were recruiting. In the first place, I already knew Arte from MilliMas and such. I was attracted by how they were working hard as a team, so I applied which led me here. It’s a company that has a really good atmosphere and peaceful, so I want to do my best here.

Kuwabara: The new members joined after Enstars songs were already made, but they are Arte’s promising new stars.

Q: With that teamwork, you made these Enstars songs. Could you talk to us about them?

Vol.1: UNDEAD

Melody in the Dark (Lyrics: Mel*; comp/arr: Atsushi Harada)

Honey Milk wa Okonomi de / Honey Milk to Taste (Lyrics: Mel*; comp/arr: Satoru Kuwabara, Atsushi Harada)

Mel*: Melody in the Dark really became an interesting song, didn’t it?

Harada: It’s thanks to the lyrics.

Kuwabara: Right! I said I really wanted to include ‘We won’t let you run away, our wanted angel’. I and Mel* wrote a lot of notes for this song (laugh).

Mel*: There’s a paper-thin difference between the literal meaning of that line and sense of corruption, but we ended up using it. And when I heard the audience’s call and response in the event on the other day (Yumenosaki Private Academy Dream Festival in May 2016), I thought that paid off.

Harada: As the one in charge of composition and arrangement, I was also troubled at first (laugh). As far as the musicality goes, I aimed to make it sound cool in every aspect. But specifically for this song, Kuwabara asked me to ‘make this song for UNDEAD’. That’s how I could start seeing UNDEAD’s colors and started working on it. While composing, I imagined how Koga would play the guitar. It’s a passionate song and I like it. But even with all that, I still had trouble with the part where the lyrics engage with the audience (laugh).

Kuwabara: I wanted to include lyrics like that rather than rap, so I came up with the intro and the walla [1]. As for Honey Milk wa Okonomi de, the title is the main point of it. It’s the point of impact.

Mel*: Speaking of impact, as someone who writes the lyrics I was surprised by the actual sound of the bell (laugh).

Harada: From all unit songs, this is the only one where all accompanying instruments were recorded live.

Vol.2: Knights

Voice of Sword (Lyrics: Mel*; comp: Tsukasa Yatoki; arr: Tsukasa Yatoki, Takuya Sakai)

Checkmate Knights (Lyrics: Mel*; comp: Satoru Kuwabara; arr: Takuya Sakai)

Tsukasa Yatoki: Voice of Sword is EDM, so everything was about how to turn the distinctive instruments and phrases into pop style. The part I had the most freedom with was the interlude, so that’s where I applied those elements.

Kikuchi: It’s quite an upbeat song, isn’t it?

Kuwabara: It’s the song where the vocal parts overlap with each other the most.

Mel*: They added another member too. Now I believe that it wouldn’t be Knights without all five of them.

Kuwabara: Leo is hyper, but I think he brings out the sparkly feeling that is characteristic of an idol to the unit. As for the other song, I originally wanted to make a ballad song for Enstars, and if I could have a unit sing the song, I believed it had to be Knights. That’s how Checkmate Knights came about.

Takuya Sakai: I had in my mind to make the best song there is. It’s also the first series, so I felt the pressure that I had to make something of good quality. I didn’t have much experience in arranging J-POP derivatives, so I was worried by how well the song would turn out just by using my own principles.

Kuwabara: Izumi Sena is the first singer, and the moment I listened to his singing I was shaking with excitement like, “This is it!”

Vol.3: fine

Owaranai Symphonia / Endless Symphonia (Lyrics: Mel*; comp: Satoru Kuwabara; arr: Atsushi Harada, Kyohei Yamamoto)

RAINBOW CIRCUS (Lyrics: Mel*; comp: Satoru Kuwabara; arr: Takuya Sakai)

Kuwabara: This unit has two humongous monsters namely Wataru Hibiki and Tori Himemiya (laugh). Yuzuru and Eichi had to suppress Tori and Wataru respectively. Otherwise, it would not have worked. The last to record was Midorikawa-san (Eichi’s voice actor), and I was relieved that the student council president was there…

Kikuchi: Midorikawa-san’s singing really made the framework and created a really good balance among the four. I was pretty much present in all the recording sessions, and I found that the moment the voice actors sang, each and every song became really expressive. I can feel it when a piece of song receives that kind of power, and in this case, it’s thanks to Wataru Hibiki and Tori Himemiya. Thanks to their singing in a rampage, the song ended up becoming really playful.

Mel*: It’s really what fine is. But as for me, I was really troubled with the lyrics. They carry such heavy weight on their shoulders. Their unit name means ‘the end’, so I wanted them to sing something that carries a hidden meaning. It’s like they cast away and wish for something. I felt emotional when I wrote the lyrics.

Kuwabara: The person who performed the drums part for the recording also said that this song gave them a really good feeling.

Kyohei Yamamoto: For this song, I worked together with Harada-san. I created the foundation for the band part, and Harada-san was in charge of the strings and the piano and the sparkly feeling that comes out of them.

Harada: I imagined sounds that makes you feel like you’d grow out wings on your back when you listen to them.

Kuwabara: The image for RAINBOW CIRCUS is something like electro parade. I really like the song.

Vol.4: Akatsuki

Hyakka Ryouran, Akatsukiyo / Wild Blooming Flowers, Crimson Colored Moon’s Night (Lyrics: Mel*; comp: Atsushi Harada; arr: Kyohei Yamamoto)

Hanatou no Koibumi / Love Letter of the Brilliance of Cherry Blossoms (Lyrics: Mel*; comp/arr: Atsushi Harada)

Harada: For Hyakka Ryouran, Akatsukiyo, I was asked to make it a traditional Japanese rock song for Akatsuki. It ended up leaning more towards Japanese style.

Yamamoto: It’s fast-paced and cool, and it’s in Japanese style. They’re idols, but I also wanted to bring out the feel that they are artists, and I ended up making the song to tend more towards the artist’s side rather than idol’s.

Harada: I really wanted the traditional Japanese instruments to be the unique trait in Akatsuki. Thanks to Yamamoto-kun, it was brought out really well.

Mel*: They’re not UNDEAD, but I also wanted to include call and response in this song and make the audience go ‘Waaah!’. I’m glad I got to watch that event. Hanatou no Koibumi is a love song, so conversely it brings to the foreground the fact that Akatsuki is this kind of unit.

Harada: To tell you the truth, Hanatou no Koibumi was made first, so personally this song is the more dominant image I have in regards to Akatsuki. But both songs are very characteristic of the unit, and I like them.

Vol.5: Ryuseitai

Yumenosaki Ryuseitai-ka / Yumenosaki Ryuseitai Song (Lyrics: Mel*; comp: Atsushi Harada; arr: Kyohei Yamamoto)

Tenka Muteki☆Meteoranger / The Unrivaled☆Meteoranger (Lyrics: Mel*; comp: Atsushi Harada; arr: Takuya Sakai, Kyohei Yamamoto)

Kuwabara: Tenka Muteki☆Meteoranger was a peculiar one, even during its recording session for the vocal parts. The song has a melody, but it’s not melodic and it’s spoken lyrics.

Yamamoto: It was, wasn’t it (laugh).

Harada: The lyrics are overflowing with uniqueness and there’s no doubt that that uniqueness really helped the process. I could work effectively and felt strong sense of completeness in the end.

Mel*: As for Yumenosaki Ryuseitai-ka, it was really easy for me to come up with an image, and the lyrics came to me easily. But during Tenka Muteki☆Meteoranger, I remember what I consulted the most with Kuwabara-san was how to improve it. This is a song that could not have been made if it’s not the five of them, and there was a lot of tumult in figuring out the lines, ‘If this character says this, then that character becomes like that…’ In the end, the voice actors splendidly sang it, so I thought the hard work paid off.

Kuwabara: The theme of Yumenosaki Ryuseitai-ka is that it’s a song that is passed down from one generation to the next, so it doesn’t exactly portray the personality of each character. Conversely, it’s precisely because Meteoranger can’t be sung by members other than these five that we were stuck with the lyrics to the last of the very last moment.

Yamamoto: Tenka Muteki☆Meteoranger ended up being an interesting song, didn’t it? When it was passed down to me from Harada-san, I already felt that it was interesting, and when I arranged it, the lyrics written by Mel*-san reached me and I could really feel it was going to be an amazing song. Ultimately, when it was combined with Sakai-san’s parts, the result was an interesting chemical reaction. It left a strong impression in me.

Vol.6: 2wink

Sugar Spice Koushiki / Sugar Spice Equation (Lyrics: Mel*; comp: Satoru Kuwabara; arr: Takuya Sakai)

Kangei☆2wink Zatsugidan / Greetings☆2wink Performers (Lyrics: Mel*; comp/arr: Tsukasa Yatoki)

Kuwabara: The request for Sugar Spice Koushiki was that, ‘While we’d like it to be addictive, if the song is too easy to sing it doesn’t fit the image. We’d like it to be flashy.’ In other words, a song that is hard to sing but addictive. We don’t get this kind of order very often.

Mel*: I remember we went through quite the ordeal after we had that meeting, before we finally had something in mind.

Kuwabara: The two’s personalities clash, and while they acknowledge each other, they keep getting into conflict. It’s a kind of world of view that could not have existed unless they’re twins, and I think it’s portrayed well in the song and especially the lyrics. I really think the lyrics was taking shape extraordinarily well.

Mel*: For this song, I really think I can safely conclude that it’s because of how amazing Souma Saito-san is.

Kuwabara: No objection there.

Kikuchi: But really. During recording, he had a really good grasp in how he’d differentiate between parts of the characters. I only had to give advice on how to further pronounce that difference.

Yatoki: As for Kangei☆2wink Zatsugidan, during the song-making process there hadn’t been any talk about Kung Fu event, but when I thought of including a quirk on top of it being a techno-pop song, Chinese-like element was the popular choice. After that, there was a talk about Kung Fu and since they overlapped, the song became the way it is.

Mel*: There was an acrobats scouting [2] during fine’s Circus event. In that event, fine’s Circus was the main thing, and it feels like 2wink was only going to start to develop from that time on. This also becomes an important aspect of the song.

Vol.7: Ra*bits

JoyfulxBox* (Lyrics: Mel*; comp/arr: Takuya Sakai)

Nousagi March♪ / Wild Rabbit’s March♪ (Lyrics: Mel*; comp/arr: Tsukasa Yatori)

Mel*: JoyfulxBox* has a fun instrumental part.

Sakai: When I had a look at the character setting, I felt that they’re not just cute, but they can also bite you or something. It’s like there’s something else besides their appearance at first glance. At first I intended to make a cute piece, but in the process I realized that these boys are not just cute, so I changed direction keeping in mind to make something less mainstream.

Kikuchi: Personally, the impression I had on the song was that it had the most freedom in terms of instrumental technicality.

Kuwabara: Since it’s a newbie group, cuteness could be born from their singing. It’s like those young and sparkling idols who are accompanied by veteran bands. But conversely that’s also what gives off the idol feel.

Yatoki: And the opposite of that is Nousagi March♪. I kept in mind to make it simple and fluffy. The instrumental played nothing flashy, and whatever gentle became the main. I imagined a scene of students playing school instruments, marching and singing.

Mel*: As for the lyrics, I kept in mind to bring out their idol side. While writing, I imagined that JoyfulxBox* would be sung in chapter 39 [3] of the main story, and it made me cry. It’s a song that is also heartrending, isn’t it? I’d like you to listen to the song while imagining that scene. Nousagi March♪ is a song post-chapter 39, and I’d like you to enjoy it as a piece where the boys are marching forward towards the future.

Vol.8: Trickstar

Rebellion Star (Lyrics: Mel*; comp: Satoru Kuwabara; arr: Takuya Sakai)

CHERRY HAPPY STREAM (Lyrics: Mel*; comp/arr: Tsukasa Yatori)

Kuwabara: Please give a listen to Rebellion Star. I don’t know what else to say about it. I’d like you to listen to it… I think it’s a song that packs a lot, that is, the main story of Ensemble Stars. The four overcame hardships and strengthened their bonds, getting help from the protagonist and each other, having disagreements… At any rate, I dedicated my feelings to Trickstar. The only feeling I had during the song-making was ‘I’m happy for you, Trickstar,’ so I’m out of words. I remember that I felt really glad I got to work on this song.

Sakai: We didn’t deliver the song until the very last minute. I felt sense of completion. My personal favorite part of the song is how the piano expresses the touching story through the flow of the song.

Mel*: I have a lot to say about phrases in the lyrics and how the parts are divided, but I just hope that the listeners will like it. These four boys are warped, and while there were ups and downs, they overcame their own hurdles and became what they were at the end, who could sing such a song. I believe they would have had a different state of mind at that time—I can just imagine it. A lot happened to them, and on top of carrying all the weight, they would think positively and intend to move forward. I hope I could express that in the lyrics and give strength to the song.

Kuwabara: That was the first time I cried listening to something I worked on after it was finished.

Mel*: It was a touching moment, wasn’t it? Rebellion Star is the song of the protagonist unit, and in a way it describes Enstars as a whole. And the song-making process was memorable for me, so I’d recall it whenever I listen to it. I’d also recall the many times I and Kuwabara-san clashed. That’s just how much we concentrated our effort into the song, so when the voice actors’ singing was included and the song was finished, I remember I was moved as well.

Yatori: The other song, CHERRY HAPPY STREAM, is a song that matches an in-game event, so I used cherry blossom as a motif and aimed to make a bright song full of cherry blossoms. As a result, I set it up as a cheerful band number. During recording, I also asked the instrumental performers to make ‘cherry blossom sounds’.

Mel*: If Rebellion Star is a song that describes Enstars as a whole, this is a number that depicts everyone’s everyday life. I hope you can take it easy and have fun listening to it.

Kuwabara: It was a song that prioritizes liveliness and fun, and a type of song fitting for an encore.

What Arte thinks regarding the future of Enstars

Q: It’s a piece of work that is currently regarded as the Warring period of 2D idols, and you were assigned to work on its idol songs. What kind of things did you keep in your mind during the song-making process?

Harada: There are several voice actors who are singing in the same song. I believe that there are melody lines that would be easy for everyone to sing, so I made sure to keep the singing range reasonable. Other than that, I also marked the breaths such that it’s easy to sing.

Kuwabara: We did retakes for pretty much all of the melodies, didn’t we.

Yatoki: There was always something that made us do retakes.

Kikuchi: But there were no retakes for songs made by Kuwabara-san himself, right?

Kuwabara: Aah. Right!

(Everyone laughed)

Sakai: But you commented your own songs and do the retakes yourself, right?

Kuwabara: Exactly. Anyway, just like Harada, I also paid attention to the singing range. Other than that, I asked the group to be able to distinguish between the idols. It’s because I don’t want the song to be something that can be sung just by having one of the members present.

Mel*: This may sound improper, but you are saying that you don’t want it to be songs that can be sung by just anyone, right?

Kuwabara: I intend it to be songs that can only be meaningful when sung by the current members, so the lyrics would relate closely to that particular character. The melodies too, it’s precisely because that particular character sings that melody line, the song becomes alive. That’s why the melodies became intricate. I don’t think this applies to other idol titles, so it was a deliberate action on my side.

Q: I see. So that’s why the parts became really complicated.

Kuwabara: That’s right. So that’s why you can’t sing the songs alone at karaoke. For example, it’s best to have five people to sing Ryuseitai songs. I want Enstars songs to be a medium to convey the fun of singing together.

Yatori: Other than that, it’s to make a set of songs that don’t lean towards anisong or game songs. We aimed to make the unit songs to have as many idol characteristics as possible.

Q: What about the lyrics?

Mel*: I want people to further experience the fact that the characters are actually singing. So my thinking process was, ‘Let’s have this character sing this kind of line.’ To provide a concrete example, I would think about how a character thinks in the game, and I would suppose he’d sing lines like such and such. I also wanted to leave a room for people to imagine if the characters were the ones who wrote the lyrics.

Q: What kind of idols do you want these Enstars characters to be in the future?

Kuwabara: I think Enstars is the only piece of work that has several units with traits as distinctive as this, and I think that’s their strongest weapon. I’d like it to be able to become ‘the only one’, and I’d like to be able to say that it is ‘the only one’.

Mel*: I think it’s a creative work that can move people without having romance elements in it. Sometimes you get surprised by lines that can become potential guidepost to your real life situation. In that aspect, I think it would be ‘the only one’, and I’m looking forward to its progress hereafter.

(t/n I use first-name last-name format for the romaji names)

Satoru Kuwabara/桑原聖 (Representative and Creator. In charge of production, composition, arrangement, bass.)

He received impact from the music he listened to when he was fifteen, and took up the guitar. Not long after, he also started learning how to play the bass. After that, he joined an active band as bassist. During this time, he found charm in how music links to creative works, and gathered his music friends and formed Arte Refact in 2011. He worked under the alias fandelmale before he decided to use his real name in 2014. He is currently actively making music, and his slogan is ‘music is drama, and a melody tells a story.’

Tsukasa Yatoki/矢鴇つかさ (Creator. In charge of composition and arrangement.)

He learned the piano since he was young, and was fascinated by game music and started using DTM in high school. After entering college, he composed and released indie music. While working at an IT company, he made contribution to game music. At that time, he was invited by Kuwabara to form Arte Refact. He specializes in music that is ethereal and speedy.

Atsushi Harada/原田篤 (Creator. In charge of composition, arrangement, guitar.)

He was part of a band based in the city center when he was called out by Kuwabara who invited him to do music together. His experience in tone generators and live concerts takes Arte Refact one step further from its initial formation. His motto is beautiful melody and pop feel. He is able to handle a wide range of genres starting from rock and jazz. He also gave numerous contributions as a performer (guitarist and pianist) in songs. Not only songs, he is also actively involved in production of accompaniment and background music.

Takuya Sakai/酒井拓也 (Creator. In charge of composition, arrangement, manipulation.)

When he was young, he found his electone lessons to be restricting, which he hated. Before he realized, he played his big brother’s guitar of his own accord. Through his big brother’s influence, he came to adore rhythm games. He encountered DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) in middle school and began creating music. He has preference in pop music with elements of dance. He is dedicated in creating songs filled with vigor and intensity by combining refined and bold electric sounds with passionate and rough rock sounds.

Kyohei Yamamoto/山本恭平 (Creator. In charge of composition, arrangement, guitar.)

He took up the guitar through influence of his friend, yet for some reason he ended up immersing himself in collecting machine parts and maintenance of musical instruments during his middle school period. In high school, he encountered DAW while getting involved in creating demo songs for bands, which prompted him to start creating songs of his own. After that, he joined Arte Refact officially after his assistant period ended. He is determined to always be proactive in song-making, and he specializes in energetic and speedy rock sounds.

Yuki Honda/本田友紀 (Creator. In charge of composition, arrangement, guitar.)

In middle school, he was influenced by what was around him and started to learn the guitar. He went to a music college in Tokyo aiming to be a guitarist, however discovered the joy in composing and changed his direction. He is strongly influenced by music he listened to during his teens, a sensitive period, such as Vocaloid and new music that is detached from the definition of conventional J-POP. He is convicted to make music that has catchy melody and sense of Japanese identity.

Mel* (Creator. In charge of lyrics and draft scenario.)

Lyricist who loves honey. While they keep their individual originality as their pivot, they also believe that there are charms in pieces of work that would not have been born without a team. In practice, they would often communicate with other members. Not only writing lyrics, they are also involved in other aspects of creating stories in general, such as drafting a script and designing creative content.

Tsukasa Kikuchi/菊池司 (Creator and Engineer. In charge of audio engineering, composition, arrangement.)

He spent his time playing with hands-me-down laptop and began producing music in the process. He is influenced by film music. He would create his own works while also focusing his activities in contributing pieces to films and stage plays. In Arte Refact, his main role is an audio engineer, although he is also in charge of game background music and producing accompaniment music.

Masatomi Waki/脇眞冨 (Assistant Creator. In charge of composition, arrangement, guitar.)

He wishes to introduce his music to wider audience not as a part of a band and joined Arte Refact in 2016. He specializes in arranging diverse build-up of phrases that make the best use of a guitar. He is also working actively as the lead guitarist of an instrumental rock band. His favorite technique is tapping.

SHINTA-LOW (Assistant Creator. In charge of composition and arrangement.)

They started learning the piano at a young age and became part of a band in college. Whilst continuing their band activities, they took interest in the synthesizer and began creating music with DTM. Their work can be characterized by the coexisting originality and catchiness in the melody. Their hobbies are watching soccer games and comedy appreciation.

(t/n)

1. Rather than walla = murmur it’s more like crowd shouting parts like ‘Dance! Live! Shout! UNDEAD!’

2. I’m not really sure why Mel* mentioned scouting here since 2wink was part of the event not scouting… And the scouting during Circus event was Sweets which didn’t have any acrobatics or anything…

3. Akatsuki vs Ra*bits. Translated by Rii and co. (Dreamwidth). It’s chapter 4 of manga (Facebook).

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