Japanese singer-songwriter MIYUNA had a big milestone at Hyper Japan Manchester 2025: her first-ever live performance in the UK. After taking the stage during the convention’s final day, she spoke with the press about anime theme songs, performing overseas, and how her music has changed since she started writing as a teenager.
For anime fans, MIYUNA’s name should ring a bell. She was only 16 when she wrote and performed “Gamushara” and “Tengou Tenge,” used as the fifth opening and sixth ending themes for Black Clover in 2018. That alone is already a wild career start, bro. She later contributed “Boku to Kimi no Lullaby” for Fairy Tail: Final Series and teamed up with AmPm for “Prism” from Fruits Basket Season 2.
That anime connection matters, especially for fans in Malaysia and SEA. A lot of us discover Japanese artists through opening and ending themes first, then only deep dive into their own discography later. MIYUNA is exactly that type of artist: someone who entered many playlists through shonen and romance anime, but clearly has her own identity beyond being “the anime song singer.”
Speaking about her Manchester performance, MIYUNA said she was happy to see both new listeners and existing fans enjoying the show. Some fans even attended her signing session and sang along in Japanese. That kind of reaction shows how far anisong culture travels now. Even when the language is different, the emotional hook still lands — something Malaysian con-goers will understand from any local anime event where the crowd suddenly belts out a Japanese chorus together.
MIYUNA also explained that overseas performances push her to communicate differently. In Japan, she can hype up the audience more directly, but outside Japan, where she is less confident in English and other languages, she becomes more aware of body movement and stage expression. That is honestly a very anisong-coded skill: if the crowd may not catch every lyric, the performance still needs to carry the feeling.
When asked about UK rock influences, she named Sex Pistols and Radiohead, and mentioned practising a George Smith song recently. She also joked that while she does not usually sing in English professionally, she does sing plenty of English songs at karaoke.
Her approach to setlists is interesting too. MIYUNA said she tries to include the songs she has been responsible for, including tracks connected to anime and video games. Instead of picking one favourite live song, she treats each track almost like raising a child, adjusting how she performs depending on the song’s personality. That is a nice way to describe why live versions can feel different from the studio release — not just louder, but more alive.
Creatively, MIYUNA seems to write from emotional pressure. She said frustration can lead to songs, anger can turn into stronger music, and exhaustion can create sadder tracks. She does not describe recording as the fun part. For her, the excitement comes later, when a song is performed repeatedly and starts evolving on stage. Sometimes, new live arrangements end up feeling better than the original, almost like she is competing with her own past version.
She also reflected on “Fuwa Fuwa,” a song she made at 15 and later performed again on the Chinese music TV contest Sing Asia, which she won in July 2025. Because parts of the lyrics refer to alcohol, she said the younger version of herself felt more like she was “reading” the words than fully understanding them. Now at 23, with more life experience and a lower voice than before, she feels the song differently.
Outside anime, MIYUNA’s profile in Asia is clearly growing. Alongside her Sing Asia win, she also appeared at TOKYO GIRLS COLLECTION in VIETNAM 2026 on March 28-29, 2026. For SEA fans, that is the part to watch. If Japanese artists are increasingly making stops in the region, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam could see more chances to catch anisong-linked acts without flying all the way to Japan.
No Malaysia date has been announced here, but MIYUNA’s momentum in Asia makes her one to keep on the radar. If you loved her from Black Clover or Fruits Basket, this is a good time to go beyond the anime themes and check the rest of her catalogue.
Source: Anime Corner