Nana Mizuki , January 21, 1980 in Niihama, Ehime Prefecture) is a popular Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress.[1] She was born and raised in Niihama, Ehime, Japan, Mizuki was trained as an enka singer. She 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.
Life and career
Born in Niihama, Ehime, Japan, she began to train in enka when she was five years old.[7] In 1993, she released Compact Cassette single "Tsugazakura" (つがざくら?, lit. "Phyllodoce Nipponica") as "Nana Kondo".[8] However, she passed the audition of game Noël: La Neige and became a voice actress.[7]
Mizuki released an image song single titled "Girl's Age" under the name Chisato Kadokura in 1998. When she performed a 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 Seiyū 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]
Many of the characters whom 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, and Wrath), six of her characters have romantic feelings for the main characters (e.g. Oboro from Basilisk, Hinata Hyūga from Naruto, Colette Brunel from Tales of Symphonia, Tamao Tamamura from Shaman King and Moka Akashiya from Rosario + Vampire), 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 broadcasted 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 Seiyuu Awards for her news hook in the year 2009.
On January 21, 2011 which was also her 31st birthday, she released her first autobiography, titled Shin Ai, to commemorate 10th year 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 will have two-day concert at Tokyo Dome between December 3rd - 4th, 2011. She becomes the first voice actress and 8th female solo artists to hold a concert at Japan's largest concert hall.
