On July 1st, Kalafina held a special Q&A panel to interact directly with their fans at Anime Expo 2011!

The line extended down the hallway, as fans waited for their badges to be scanned and enter the large room where the panel was being held. Once inside, the room was packed with cosplayers, press, and fans, all eager to get a closeup look at the group.

When Kalafina finally entered, the entire room broke into thunderous applause. A passionate "Daisuki!" (I love you!) even rang out as soon as the cheers quieted down a little, putting smiles on all three of the members' faces.

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Although Kalafina have been to the United States before - their first visit at Anime Boston in 2009 - this year's Anime Expo marks the first time that the trio has visited Los Angeles. When asked what things they'd like to do while visiting the bustling city, member Keiko cheerfully responded, "I've heard that the Santa Monica Beach is really pretty. I'd also like to go to Disneyland."

A lot of attention was focused on Kalafina's music style, a mix of pop and neo-classical, which was produced by the prolific songwriter, Kajiura Yuki. "Kalafina's music is all made by our producer Kajiura Yuki. It has a really big impact on us, so that's our inspiration," they said when asked what influenced their music. "We'd like to be true to that image."

The girls also shared a few behind-the-scenes stories from recording and shooting. One fan asked for their favorite song from "Kara no Kyokai" -� a series of movies which each featured a Kalafina song as its theme - to which Keiko replied, "Every one of them is special to us. But when we were recording 'ARIA', I was so nervous about it that I was shaking." She smiled as she held out her hands to demonstrate, earning a few chuckles from the crowd.

When asked which PV they enjoyed shooting the most, Wakana replied, "(I liked) all of the shoots for our songs' PVs, but my favorite is our debut song. We were dressed in all white, and it felt so pure. I feel like white's my color, so the PV was very 'me'." Keiko also pitched in, "I really like 'Magia'. In the PV, we have a really strong, 'hard' woman image, a very different image for Kalafina. I think 'hard' is good!", a comment which threw the audience into a long fit of laughter.

Another fan asked Kalafina if they had any goals as a group, to which Keiko jokingly replied that she had no goals (resulting in giggles all around). The other members of Kalafina specified that they'd like to travel around the world to perform lives for their other international fans, and would like to visit the different countries and continents.

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Before leaving, the girls of Kalafina surprised fans with a special contest: by answering trivia questions about the group, a few lucky fans would win tickets to one of their two autograph sessions. Another "raffle" was held at the very end of the event to hand out more tickets, giving fans the chance to personally greet each member as they signed their item of choice.

"There were so many people who came here to see the three of us, so we're really happy," said Kalafina at the end of their panel. "Please, come see us at our first live in L.A., which is at Club Nokia! We hope to see you again there!"

The group didn't get to leave just yet, however, as the MC announced a special message to the crowd. Since member Hikaru would be turning twenty-four the day after their panel, the audience produced a movingly loud round of "happy birthday" in celebration.



Photography by: Kevin Chang