Kinumi Cati is one of the special guests at OtakuCon 2015 and because it is her second time to visit a Dutch convention, it was reason for AVO to ask her some questions about what she is doing at the moment, what she will do at OtakuCon and more.
AVO Blog: Kinumi Cati, great that AVO Blog can do an interview with you. You are known as a gamer with 3 Gaming Guinness World Records on your name, you sing and you are a model. A feature of you is your pink hair. You communicate with your fans troughout social media and videos and you are regularly a guest at conventions. After getting the Guinnes World Records, how did that change your life?
Kinumi Cati: It was a really huge change that happened from one day to another. Since my first record on Final Fantasy I started to get a lot of e-mails from people I didn’t even know to just tell me that they like what I do and from tv and newspapers that wanted to have an interview with me. I just do what I love the most like playing videogames and singing, to see that people like you for being yourself even if they have never met you in real life is awesome, so my life changed but I am really happy with it.
AVO Blog: On December 27th 2015 you are invited to the new convention OtakuCon, it is the second time that you are a guest at a Dutch convention. How do you feel about that? And is there a difference between Dutch and Spanish conventions?
Kinumi Cati: It is really nice to be able to be at another Dutch convention, I am really happy about that. Last time I had a lot of fun and made many new friends. I am sure I’ll meet many of them again at OtakuCon. I really don’t see a difference between conventions in Spain and here in The Netherlands, but maybe becayse I’ve only been to one Dutch convention so far, perhaps after OtakuCon I can tell better.
AVO Blog: You already have seen some of the Netherlands, what do you like the most about the Netherlands?
Kinumi Cati: My boyfriend; because he is the best that’s ever happened in my life and the reason for leaving everything behind and move here to be with him.
AVO Blog: You are going to make an attempt to break a World Record during OtakuCon. Can you tell us more about this?
Kinumi Cati: I’d like to keep the main details secret until OtakuCon, but I want to make a call to everybody reading this to come and discover it at the convention.
AVO Blog: How do you prepare yourself for such World Record attempts?
Kinumi Cati: I don’t really do anything special, just gaming as usual for fun but I don’t have anything like a training, I decided to start doing Gaming World Records because I wanted to help promote my music but by doing something I like doing, so I was like “the two things I like the most are music and gaming” so why not breaking a Gaming Guinness World Record. The day of the record though is really different from any other gaming day, there are lots of rules to follow and they are very strict so I don’t have to forget any because that would mean that the Guinness World Records would reject it.
AVO Blog: You love Japan, how did you get in contact with Japan?
Kinumi Cati: Thanks to my mom I’ve been surrounded by Asian culture since I was a kid, but Japan got more into me because there are so many things I enjoy from it, like the language, the food, the fashion, anime, manga…
AVO Blog: What do you like the most about Japan?
Kinumi Cati: That is a difficult question. Probably fashion, food and music are my favorite ones, but it is really difficult to name just one. Even if I had to choose one fashion style, food type or music style I would be saying way more than just one, for instance, in fashion I like anything from oshare-kei to kote kote kei, and those are already two really different styles.
AVO Blog: If I’m right, you haven’t – just like me – had the chance to visit Japan. If you could go to Japan in 2016, what would you want to see first?
Kinumi Cati: My mom went to Japan early this year and I was dying to go with her but because of school and exams I couldn’t go, but if I could have the chance to go next year the first thing I would do would be meet with my Japanese friends and probably go to Harajuku.
AVO Blog: Besides gaming, you are busy with singing. Visitors of Fan Base Project have seen you performing and you will perform at OtakuCon again. How did you start singing? And which song would you like to cover?
Kinumi Cati: I’ve been into music all my life, my dad taught me that music is culture so I was surrounded by music ever since I was a baby. I started singing and playing my dad’s piano, I loved it, and I’ve always wanted to become a musician. Some people give up on what they love because they think the chance of becoming this or that is low, but if you don’t even try then instead of low the chance is zero. I know what I want to do and I put all myself in it.
About new songs to cover, I have to update my YouTube channel (KinumiCati) with two new song covers, one from Metallica and one from Stone Sour.
AVO Blog: You are not only singing covers, but you are also currently working on a new song. Can you say something about it?
Kinumi Cati: I was lucky enough to be contacted by Miguel Costas (Siniestro Total/ Aerolineas Federales) who is a legend in Spanish music and has shared stage with Madonna, Scorpions and many other artists. He got to know about me thanks to my Guinness World Records and when he listened to my music he really liked it so we started working together with him as my new producer. About my new single, we wanted to make something different, so the song is inspired by Asian music, specially Japanese pop and rock. I am in process of recording it and it will be out in different languages including English, Dutch and Japanese.
AVO Blog: Where do you want to be in 10 years? What would you like have achieved by then?
Kinumi Cati: I would like to have recorded some albums by then, to go on an European tour, become once more one of the representatives of the Guinness World Records Gamers Edition like I am this year, but always with my boyfriend by my side.
AVO Blog: We are at the end of the interview. Do you have a message to the readers of AVO Blog?
Kinumi Cati: Thank you everybody for taking your time to read this interview and to AVO Blog to make it possible, if you wan to know more about me feel free to check my website or social media. Hope to meet you all at OtakuCon!!
I want to thank Kinumi Cati for her time to answer the questions, OtakuCon for making this possible and the AVO crew for helping out. You can follow Kinumi Cati on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube! Also check out herofficial website!
