Nana Mizuki

Nana Mizuki
Native name 水樹 奈々
Born 近藤 奈々 (Kondō Nana)
January 21, 1980
Niihama, Ehime, Japan
Ethnicity Japanese
Occupation
Years active 1998–present
Agent Sigma Seven

Musical career

Genres
Instruments
Labels King
Website
mizukinana.jp

Nana Mizuki (水樹 奈々 Mizuki Nana, born Nana Kondō (近藤 奈々 Kondō Nana), January 21, 1980) is a Japanese voice actress and singer represented by the agency Sigma Seven.[1] She was born and raised in Niihama, Ehime, Japan. Mizuki was trained as an enka singer, and made her debut as a voice actress in 1998; however, she released her debut single "Omoi", under the King Records label on December 6, 2000. A year later, she released her debut album, Supersonic Girl on December 5, 2001.[2]

In the years that followed, Mizuki enjoyed modest success that concluded with the release of her single "Innocent Starter", which reached the top 10 Oricon singles chart, charting at No. 9.[3] Since then, Mizuki's releases have charted steadily higher in Japan, establishing her as a successful singer in the country. Despite this, she remains a prolific voice actress, with over 130 voice roles in separate media. On June 3, 2009, her album Ultimate Diamond reached #1, her first release to do so;[4] while her single "Phantom Minds", released on January 13, 2010, also charted at #1.[5] Mizuki is the first voice actress to top the weekly Oricon albums chart and the weekly Oricon singles chart since its inception in 1968.[5][6]

Early life

Born in Niihama, Ehime, Japan, she began to train singing enka when she was five years old.[7] In 1993, she released a Compact Cassette single "Tsugazakura" (つがざくら, lit. "Phyllodoce Nipponica") as "Nana Kondou".[8] However, she passed the audition of game Noël: La Neige and became a voice actress.[7]

Career

Mizuki released an image song single titled "Girl's Age" under the name Chisato Kadokura in 1998. When she performed her first concert at the age of 20, she was scouted by the Japanese record label King Records. Her debut single as Nana Mizuki, "Omoi", was released on December 6, 2000. Her 2004 song "Innocent Starter" became her first Top 10 single and her 2005 single "Eternal Blaze" reached No. 2 position on Japanese Oricon weekly single charts.[7]

Mizuki won the "Best Musical Performance" award by her song "Justice to Believe" in the first Seiyu Awards in 2007. Since her seventh album Ultimate Diamond debuted at the No. 1 position on Oricon weekly album charts during the week of June 15, 2009, she became the first voice actress to reach the No. 1 position on the Oricon weekly album or single charts since its creation in 1968.[9] Ultimate Diamond sold over 74,000 copies in the first week.[4] In addition, her 21st single, "Phantom Minds", became the first voice actress single to top the charts, debuting at the No. 1 position on the issue of Oricon weekly single charts dated January 25, 2010.

On November 23, 2009, NHK announced that Mizuki would take part in the 60th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen of New Year's Eve. It was Mizuki's first time appearing on the show. Nana chose her song "Shin'ai" for her performance.[10][11]

She is well known for voicing female characters who are very shy yet kind-hearted and gentle, and many of the characters she has voiced were initially very shy/soft-spoken (however, after interactions with other people, they gradually opened up (e.g. Fate, Lili, Nyamo, Hinata, Wrath, and Tsubomi). She's also well known for voicing females with romantic affection for main male protagonists, as six of her characters have romantic feelings for the main characters (Oboro from Basilisk, Hinata Hyūga from Naruto, Colette Brunel from Tales of Symphonia, Tamao Tamamura from Shaman King and Moka Akashiya from Rosario + Vampire, while Fate Testarossa from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is left ambiguous in this regard), some of her characters craved maternal attention (e.g. Fate Testarossa from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and its sequels A's and StrikerS, Wrath and Maria), and she was also part of the voice actress quartet "Prits", alongside Yumiko Kobayashi, Natsuko Kuwatani and Hisayo Mochizuki (all four voiced characters in the anime Sister Princess). Nana Mizuki voices Microsoft's Japanese Windows 7 unofficial "OS-tan" mascot, Nanami Madobe. The mascot's name uses some wordplay on Mizuki's own name as well as the operating system ("Nana" = "seven").[12][13]

In the middle of February 2010, Mizuki became her hometown (Niihama, Ehime)'s First Tourism Ambassador. The news was broadcast during her Live Academy 2010, held in Kanagawa, Osaka, Aichi, Miyagi, Fukuoka, Ehime Prefecture Niihama Cultural Center's Hall. There were 7 lessons in total.[14] In 2010, Mizuki won the Tomiyama Kei Award in the 4th Seiyu Awards for her news hook in the year 2009. In 2010, she also participated in 61st NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen singing "Phantom Minds", the single which had topped Oricon Charts.

On January 21, 2011, which was also her 31st birthday, she released her first autobiography, titled Shin Ai, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of her singing career. Mizuki won Top Pop Artists award in Billboard Japan Music Awards 2010 on February 6, 2011, together with 4 other artists: AKB48, Nishino Kana, SID and Exile.[15]

Mizuki has participated in the 60th (2009), 61st (2010), 62nd (2011), 63rd (2012), 64th (2013) and the 65th (2014) edition of the Kōhaku Uta Gassen produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. On December 3–4, 2011 she had a two-day concert at Tokyo Dome. She became the first voice actress and 8th Japanese female solo artists to hold a concert at Japan's largest concert hall. On March 3, 2012, Mizuki won Animation Artist of the Year 2011 award in Billboard Japan Music Awards 2011.[16]

On November 10, 2013, Mizuki performed Preserved Roses, Kakumei Dualism and Heart of Sword -Yoakemae- in her first overseas performance as a guest performer for T.M.Revolution at Anime Festival Asia, Singapore, Valvrave night.[17] On November 23–24, 2013, Mizuki held her first solo concert outside of Japan, in Taiwan.

In 2014, at the 64th Annual MEXT Art Encouragement Prizes Nana Mizuki was recognized as Rookie of the Year in the Popular Entertainment division.[18]

She held her second overseas solo concert in Singapore (27 September 2014) and Taiwan (4–5 October 2014) entitled "Nana Mizuki Live Flight 2014+".[19]

Voice acting roles

Anime TV series

1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

OVA

2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2009
2010
2011
2012
2014

Anime films

2002
2004
2005
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

Dubbing roles

2001
2004
2005
2006
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

Tokusatsu

2010
2013

Video games

1998
1999
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

Drama CD

2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2014

Discography

Studio albums
Compilation albums

Concerts

Personal concerts

Other concerts

Relatives

See also

References

  1. ↑ Doi, Hitoshi. "Mizuki Nana". Seiyuu Database. July 12, 2010. Archived 12 July 2010 at WebCite
  2. ↑ "Supersonic Girl" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Innocent Starter" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Oricon Weekly Album Charts for the third week of June 2009" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 紅白初出場の水樹奈々、デビュー10年目で声優史上初のシングル首位｢感謝の気持ちでいっぱい｣ (in Japanese). Oricon. 2010-01-19. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
  6. ↑ "Nana Mizuki is 1st Seiyū with #1 Album in Weekly Charts". Anime News Network. June 8, 2009. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 才色兼備の声優シンガーはオリコン2位!アニメ界を牽引する水樹奈々を直撃! (in Japanese). Nikkei Business Publications. 2008-12-10. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
  8. ↑ "Tsugazakura" (in Japanese). Ichimiya Group. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
  9. ↑ デビュー9年目の水樹奈々、声優史上初の首位獲得に｢夢のような出来事｣ (in Japanese). Oricon. 2009-06-09. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  10. ↑ (Japanese) "嵐・木村カエラ・水樹奈々らが初出場　紅白歌合戦". Asahi Shimbun. 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  11. ↑ "第60回NHK紅白歌合戦：出場歌手" (in Japanese). NHK. December 31, 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-01-16. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  12. ↑ The OS war is won! Windows 7 gets officially endorsed OS-tan. Japanator.com
  13. ↑ Mizuki Nana Voices Nanami Madobe The Banzai! Effect
  14. ↑ "水樹奈々が出身地・愛媛県新居浜市のふるさと観光大使に！" (Japanese). newAkiba.com. February 16, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
  15. ↑ “Artist Awards” winners announced for “Billboard JAPAN MUSIC AWARD 2010″!. tokyohive
  16. ↑ . Billboard JAPAN Music Awards 2011
  17. ↑ http://www.animefestival.asia/afa13/experience_zones.html#tmr_nanamizuki
  18. ↑ "Japanese Government Honors Ghibli's Suzuki, Voice Actress Nana Mizuki". Anime News Network. 14 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  19. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/NanaMizukiLivePlus
  20. ↑ Taniguchi, Hiroshi. "The Official Art of Canvas2 ~Nijiiro no Sketch~". Newtype USA. 5(11) pp. 101–107. November 2006. ISSN 1541-4817.
  21. ↑ "Hakushaku to Yōsei Promotional Video Streamed". Anime News Network. August 30, 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Dog Days - Staff/Cast". Retrieved 2014-09-28.
  23. ↑ "Dog Days‍ '​ - Staff/Cast". Retrieved 2014-09-28.
  24. ↑ "Dog Days‍ '​‍ '​ - Cast". Retrieved 2014-09-28.
  25. ↑ "Lyrical Nanoha ViVid Anime's Staff Announced". Anime News Network. September 29, 2014. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Super Heroine Chronicle's 1st Promo Video Shows New Cast". Anime News Network. October 31, 2013. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  27. ↑ "Mizuki Nana". Generasia. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  28. ↑ "DaisyxDaisy". Generasia. Retrieved May 2, 2013.

External links