Yoko Takahashi’s “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” is legendary. As the opening theme song to Neon Genesis Evangelion, the single is imprinted on anime culture and even continues to be the most-sung song at karaoke across booths in Japan, but Takahashi doesn’t want to leave the song behind.

The singer revealed to Sports Hochi over the weekend that she listens to the original 1995 recording of “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” every single day to make sure she can still perform to the best of her ability – and according to Takahashi, that ability grows stronger with each practice session.

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Takahashi proudly explained to Sports Hochi, “I practice for at least two hours every day and I’m improving day by day. My range is wider than it used to be.” Takahashi said that because of how the song is arranged, she’s still nervous to sing it as it goes straight into the lyrics but even so she thinks that “able to sing this song is truly a gift from heaven.”

Source: Sports Hochi

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Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.