EGOIST are crossing the dimensional borders – just “who” is EGOIST?

21.May.2016 | FEATURES / MUSIC

Do any of you know a music group called “EGOIST”? With Inori Yuzuriha on lead vocals, the group made their major debut in Winter of 2011. Inori Yuzuriha is a persona voiced by singer chelly, who has a relaxing yet stout singing voice. The group have released a total of 6 singles to date, all of which have entered the Top 10. They never fail to gain tremendous support from their listeners. Some of you reading this might feel a little uncomfortable. That’s right. The truth is, EGOIST are a fictional band that were born from a certain title. Let us take a look at the true identity of this girl.

The Existence of “Inori Yuzuriha”, the Heroine
Inori Yuzuriha is the vocalist of the popular internet group EGOIST in the anime series “Guilty Crown” which originally aired on noitaminA. The story tells of protagonist Shu Ouma who encounters the girl singer, and the adventure begins from there.

The person in charge of the sound production was none other than ryo of the famous music group supercell, who has created many popular Vocaloid songs with the Hatsune Miku voicebank, such as “Melt” and “Black★Rock Shooter”.
Additionally, the original illustrations for the anime were provided by popular illustrator Redjuice, who is also a member of supercell. However, the requests for both ryo and Redjuice to participate in the project were very different.

Vocalist chelly was even picked as top in a supercell vocal audition in June 2011. She was only 17 at the time she was chosen, but Inori was fittingly 16-years old, so her age was perfect.

Her refreshing voice was amply demonstrated in their first single “Departures ~Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta~” which also served as the ending theme for the series.

 

chelly’s whispering-like voice that sounds like she is talking develops through the first and second verses of the song as the sound gradually becomes more and more dramatic, and when the chorus drops we are hit with an overwhelming climax as chilly sings at the top of her voice, almost as if had been pent up and is now gushing out. She manages to synchronise perfectly with character Inori Yuzuriha, whose mysterious aura and expressionless face is brought to liberation with through the singing.

The details regarding Inori’s personality and her role in the series are a spoiler so I won’t mention them here, but her persuasive power that comes from her charisma lies in chelly’s vocals.

The Girl from the Scenario: Toward a Unique Artist
Just when people wondered if the her project was really going to end there after Guilty Crown had finished airing, it was announced that they would be providing the ending theme for the anime series “PSYCHO-PASS”, which also aired on noitaminA. But it was not to be chelly performing as an individual artist, but in fact her continuation as part of EGOIST.

It can be said that this example as seen from the music market nowadays is unprecedented with its blurring of both a real world and fantasy artist/idols.

There have been examples of characters in stories that are musicians that have gone on to become very popular in the real world. For example, the talented singer May’n grew popular as a result of providing the singing voice for the “Galactic Fairy” Sheryl Nome from the Sci-fi anime series “Macross Frontier”. There were subsequently many live performances held to celebrate Sheryl, however it wasn’t Sheryl’s name that graced people for each one, but May’n’s.

It is a rare thing for the vocalist in charge to not reveal their face to the point where even after the series has finished airing, the original character’s face is used as the lead member.

Experiencing a Fantastical Live Performance
As new songs continued to be released, the curtain to a new stage was lifted for EGOIST as they began their march to delivering energetic live performances, starting with Anime Festival Asia Singapore back in 2013.

The show was publicised as a fictional artist who was to perform. The performance made use of a screen that displayed the 2D anime character, completely captivating the enchanted audience. However, EGOIST did not stop there.

They used real-time CG synthesis system “LiveAR” and high precision motion capture system “MVN” to link together chelly’s movements with Inori Yuzuriha in real time, which successfully enhanced the realism of Inori on stage.

Talk of EGOIST is constantly growing. They toured live houses around Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka throughout 2014, and held their first one-man live overseas in Hong Kong in 2015.
They have started this year’s tour “EGOIST Greeting Tour 2016” already, beginning on May 4th. It is predicted that they will gain a lot more slaves to their music this time around too.

EGOIST aren’t supported solely for their uniqueness.
ryo creates the music and chelly sings.
And their charming synergy with Inori Yuzuriha and her charisma also gains them countless fans.
Their ability to be so well-received may as a result of all of this may very be what makes them different from regular artists.

EGOIST are certainly a “living” virtual artist. Their new single “KABANERI OF THE IRON FORTRESS” will be hitting shelves on May 25th, so be sure to check it out!

 

EGOIST http://www.egoist-inori.jp/

Original Text: Kakoi (SHUTTER)

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    EGOIST is an imaginary artist produced by ryo (supercell).


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    As a second and third song of the anchor part, they performed a cover song which are “The Bravery” and “Kokuhaku” of supercell lead by the producer of the band ryo. The audience went wild while the songs were performed. “Kokuhaku” is the latter ending theme of the animation“Guilty Crown”which is a message song given from the main character of the animation Shu to the heroin/vocal of the band Cho Inori. The venue was filled with excitement with this surprise and the live ended with “All Alone With You.”

     


    chelly reappeared on the stage in response to the applause of fans and performed the debut single of EGOIST “Departures ~Anatani Okuru Ai no Uta~.” The voice of chelly singing this song gently filled the venue and some of the fans were crying. EGOIST Special gig “ALTER EGO” ended on a high note.

    Keep your eyes focused on EGOIST’s storm of activities in store for this new year.

    ◼︎Information

    2017/12/27(Wed.) release
    GREATEST HITS 2011-2017 “ALTER EGO”
    URL:https://egoist.lnk.to/greatesthits2011-2017alterego

    Products
    [Fully included limited edition] ※quantity limited
    CD + Blu-ray + EGOISTAG 2011-2017(original dog tug – 10 set)
    Price: 9,500 yen (tax included)

    [First limited edition A]
    CD + Blu-ray

    Price: 4,500 yen (tax included)

    [First limited edition B]
    CD + DVD

    Price: 4,000 yen (tax included)

    [Normal edition]
    CD Only

    Price: 3,000 yen (tax included)

    LIVE
    EGOIST Special gig “ALTER EGO”
    2017/12/29 (Fri.)
    Tokyo・Zepp DiverCity Tokyo
    17:00 OPEN / 18:00 START

    EGOIST sync*001 / Special gig “ALTER EGO”
    2017/12/29 (Fri.)
    Osaka・Zepp Osaka Bayside
    17:00 OPEN / 18:00 START

    Aichi・Zepp Nagoya
    17:00 OPEN / 18:00 START

  • EGOIST surprise fans with Christmas street concert in 7 cities around Japan

    28.December.2017 | MUSIC

    EGOIST released their greatest hits album GREATEST HITS 2011-2017 “ALTER EGO” this week on December 27th. On Christmas Day, in the run up to the release of the CD, EGOIST also performed a special Christmas street concert simultaneously in seven cities across Japan.

    EGOIST is a pop music duo produced by ryo (supercell) that spawned from the anime series Guilty Crown. Originally, EGOIST existed as a fictional band solely within the Guilty Crown universe, with EGOIST's other half Chelly acting as the vocalist for the character Inori Yuzuriha. However, even after the anime's broadcast the music unit have continued to put out content together and have even brought EGOIST to perform the main theme songs for other anime series.

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    EGOIST are set to perform their EGOIST Special gig “ALTER EGO” show on December 29th, a concert to commemorate the release of their greatest hits album. The concert will be performed simultaneously in Nagoya and Osaka, titled EGOIST sync*001 / Special gig “ALTER EGO”. Full details for this unprecedented show can be found here.

     

    ■Information

    ▶︎Release Information

    GREATEST HITS 2011-2017 “ALTER EGO”

    On sale December 27, 2017

     

    [Limited Pressing Edition] *Limited stock

    CD + Blu-ray + EGOISTAG 2011-2017 (set of 10 original dog tags)

    Price: ¥9,500 (tax incl.)

    VVCL-1148~1150

     

    [First Press Limited Edition A]

    CD + Blu-ray

    Price: ¥4,500 (tax incl.)

    VVCL-1151~1152

     

    [First Press Limited Edition B]

    CD + DVD

    Price: ¥4,000 (tax incl.)

    VVCL-1153~1154

     

    [Regular Edition]

    CD Only

    Price: ¥3,000 (tax incl.)

    VVCL-1155

     

    ▶︎Tour Information

    EGOIST Special Gig – “ALTER EGO”

    Friday December 29, 2017

    Zepp DiverCity Tokyo (Tokyo)

    17:00 OPEN / 18:00 START

    *Tickets on sale from December 2nd

     

    [Planning & Production]

    INCS toenter inc. / Sony Music Labels / LIFE

     

    EGOIST sync*001 / Special Gig – “ALTER EGO”

    (Osaka & Nagoya venues to be synced with EGOIST Special gig “ALTER EGO”)

    ・Friday December 29, 2017

    Zepp Osaka Bayside (Osaka)

    17:00 OPEN / 18:00 START

    Contact: Kyodo Information (0570-200-888)

     

    ・Friday December 29, 2017

    Zepp Nagoya (Nagoya)

    17:00 OPEN / 18:00 START

    Contact: Sunday Folk Promotion (052-320-9100)

     

    [Planning & Production]

    INCS toenter inc. / Sony Music Labels / LIFE

     

    EGOIST Official Homepage: http://www.egoist-inori.jp/

     

  • The best album of EGOIST will be released in advance

    24.December.2017 | MUSIC

    EGOIST will release their first best album “GREATEST HITS 2011-2017 “ALTER EGO”on the 27th of December and in advance of this release, they will release the content of the album from the 22nd of December (Fri.).

     

    They are distributing the content of the album in high-resolution sound. The album won the first place in mora’s high-resolution chart and the animation category of iTunes. The album is gaining much popularity because the songs sound great (all songs included in the album are remastered).

     

    In addition, EGOIST announced that they will hold “christmas exhibition“Present for the *fam”in seven big cities in Japan on the 25th of December right before the release date of their best album (the 27th of December (Wed.)).

     

    Also, they will hold a live commemorating the release of their best album called EGOIST Special gig “ALTER EGO” on the 29th of December (Fri.) in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. Don’t miss this hot live!

     

    Be sure to check out information RE EGOIST’s future work.

     

    ■Information

    ▶︎Release information

    GREATEST HITS 2011-2017 “ALTER EGO”

    2017/12/27(Wed.)

     

    <Full production limited edition> ※quantity limited

    CD + Blu-ray + EGOISTAG 2011-2017 (it comes with 10 original dog tags)

    Price: 9,500 yen (tax included)

     

    <First limited edition A>

    CD + Blu-ray

    Price: 4,500 yen (tax included)

     

    <First limited edition B>

    CD + DVD

    Price: 4,000 yen (tax included)

     

    <Normal edition>

    CD Only

    Price: 3,000 yen (tax included)

     

    ▶︎Live information

    EGOIST Special gig “ALTER EGO”

    2017/12/29 (Fri.)

    Tokyo Zepp Diver City Tokyo

    17:00 open / 18:00 start

    Contact: Disc Garage 050-5533-0888

     

    EGOIST official HP:http://www.egoist-inori.jp/