苑   -   SONO

Sono really enjoys reading books so here we have a list of books he recommends (along with short reviews he gave on them:

Coinlocker babies by Murakami Ryuu コインロッカー・ベイビーズ　村上龍

‘’In general a book that soars violently. Interesting due to its novel expression and world views. It’s a work that pierces through your brain’’.*

Eien no 0 (zero) by Hyakuta Naoki 永遠の０　百田尚樹

‘’A story about the grandchildren investigating the life of their grandpa who went into war 0. When they investigate it they come to understand the character of their grandfather and the anguish of those who went into war 0. I read it whilst crying the entire time. The song I wrote based on this book was ‘’Akuma no Tsubasa’’.

Hazakura no Kisetsu ni Kimi wo Omou to Iu Koto by Utano Shougo 葉桜の季節に君を想うということ 歌野晶午

‘’When reading novels, this was the first work that astonished me. Although they’re just words you experience the shock up till now becoming reality. Because of this I don’t want to give you any spoilers.’’

Source

Translator's notes:

*One could speculate based on the two songs Tsumi to Batsu and The Gambler from the PANTHEON -part2- album that Sono may have also read the two books Crime and Punishment and The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevski. There are a number of references as well as direct quotes in some lyrics. However, this is simply a speculation and should not be taken as fact.

As with any band there's a lack of clarity on a member's past affiliations with bands prior to the one's they are most known for. I would like to take a minute dispelling some myths on Sono's past bands. Of course, if I find any official information in any interviews or elsewhere from Sono himself confirming his activities in any of the bands below, I will address it.

Marge Litch

There is no reason to believe Sono was in this band despite some websites falsely claiming so. At no point in history was there a member with Sono's name or any of his old aliases active in this band around the time Sono was active in the scene. Instead, this vocalist was singing for Marge Litch during that time.

King Back

King Back had a vocalist going by the name of Sono around 2007. This singer was female. She was the vocalist of Veronica's Violet according to King Back's own website. You can see a cute video of her singing for King Back here. So once again, just for the record, Matenrou Opera's Sono was NOT in King Back.

Renge

It's impossible to find anything about the existence of this band on the web so because we can neither prove nor disprove that Sono was in this band, and we have disproven the previous bands with ease, it might be best to treat it as untrue unless Sono says so. In addition like with the above bands only foreign sources mention this band whereas Japanese sources do not mention any of these three bands. And so I find it questionable information.