[Q] What influences or factors led you to record English songs throughout your career? To be specific, did you start performing English songs as a way a challenge to yourself, or did other people encourage you to sing in English?

[M] I listen to lot of English songs on a personal basis. When I started working with Yoko Kanno on my first album, we were talking about how we could make that album different from everyone else’s and have its own originality. One of the suggestions was to include an English song in the album and that way there’s the originality of the having the English song, yet also it's different from the other songs on the album. So that’s something I started to do then.

[Q] Traditionally, successful seiyuu have been known to concentrate on voice-acting & singing but have always marketed to anime fans. On the other hand, you have performed on live stage and also in non-anime films. Can you explain your efforts to branch out your career in this manner?

[M] When I was 8, I was very interested in acting. I was in a child theatrical group and did a lot of acting there. I never really thought about it in terms of different categories as voice acting, films, etc. It was just something I really wanted to do, and enjoyed. Voice acting was something that just came up, it was chance encounter. I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of different people who give me a lot of different opportunities.

[Q] Would you prefer to be known as a singer or an actress? Or you do consider yourself [somewhere] in between?

[M] (spoken in English) Both singer and actor.

[Q] And has that view changed throughout your career?

[M] I’ve always been doing both, always doing everything at once. There are times when I’m recording an album and of course I’m writing lyrics and doing a lot more work as a singer. When I’m doing a stage performance, there’s the rehearsals and I’ll be acting. My work as an actress then takes the majority of my time. There is always going to be a balancing act.

[Q] You have the part of Lunamaria Hawke in Gundam SEED Destiny. However, you did not perform any of the theme songs. Are there any specific reasons for this?

[M] There's no particular reason, Gundam SEED Destiny is just a project that I participated as an actress.

[Q] Do you perform any of the SEED Destiny insert songs?

[M] No, I'm only a voice actress in the show.

[Q] Before Loop, there a long time of about 2 years during which you did not release any singles. Was there any particular reason for this?

[M] There's no particular reason. During those two years, I'm been busy with the musical [Les Miserables] and other work. Ever since my music debut, there have been these blanks every so often. It's not something that I purposely decided, "oh I'm going to take a 2 year break." By the time I realized, it had already been 2 years.

[Q] In the past, you have collaborated a lot with Yoko Kanno. Are you working with her on your new album?

[M] I'm not working with her on the next album. That's not to say that I won't work with her in the future. For this next album, I'm working with different people. If the opportunity arises, then I'll probably work with Kanno again.

[Q] You seemed very surprised at your concert yesterday that you have so many fans in the US. Do you have any interest in coming back to Anime Expo in the future? Do you have any interest in releasing more albums in the US?

[M] There are no plans to release more of my albums in the US at this time. But if fans want it and there's a demand, then I'd definitely love to bring more albums to the US. If I'm invited again to Anime Expo or any other event, I'd definitely love to come back again, time permitting, and do another event like this.

[Q] In an interview with Newtype magazine, you mentioned that the planetarium was one of your places you enjoyed visiting as a child. What fascinates you so much with space?

[M] Tokyo is a very bright town at night and one can't see a lot of stars. When I was at the planetarium for the first time as a child, I was amazed at the number of stars that are supposedly in the sky. I liked to go there to see something that I couldn't normally see in real life. It made me appreciate how big the universe is and how small we all are.