Nana Mizuki

Nana Mizuki (水樹 奈々), born Nana Kondō (近藤 奈々), is a popular Japanese singer–songwriter and voice actress. 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.

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. Since then, Mizuki's releases have charted steadily higher in Japan, establishing her as one of the more popular singers in the country. Despite this, she remains a prolific seiyū, with over 130 voice roles in separate media. On June 3, 2009, her album Ultimate Diamond peaked at No. 1; while her single "Phantom Minds", released on January 13, 2010, also charted at No. 1, further confirming her status as one of the highest-charting artists in Japan. Mizuki is the first seiyū 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 enka when she was five years old. In 1993, she released Compact Cassette single "Tsugazakura" (つがざくら) as "Nana Kondo". However, she passed the audition of game Noël: La Neige and became a seiyū.

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.

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 seiyū to reach the No. 1 position on the Oricon weekly album or single charts since its creation in 1968. Ultimate Diamond sold over 74,000 copies in the first week, outselling the popular hip-hop band, the Black Eyed Peas' album, The E.N.D., by over 20,000 copies in Japan. In addition, her 21st single, "Phantom Minds", became the first seiyū 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.

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 seiyu 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 official "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").

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.

In 2010, Mizuki won the Tomiyama Kei Award in the 4th Seiyuu Awards for her news hook in the year 2009.

Voice acting roles
Leading roles in bold.

Studio albums

 * 2001: Supersonic Girl
 * 2002: Magic Attraction
 * 2003: Dream Skipper
 * 2004: Alive & Kicking
 * 2006: Hybrid Universe
 * 2007: Great Activity
 * 2009: Ultimate Diamond
 * 2010: Impact Exciter

Compilation albums

 * 2007: ''The Museum

Personal concerts

 * 2000: Nana Mizuki 20th Birthday Anniversary Live
 * 2001: Nana Mizuki 21 Anniversary Concert "Happy"
 * 2001: Nana Mizuki X'mas Live "Supersonic Girl"
 * 2003: Nana Mizuki Live Attraction
 * 2003: Nana Mizuki Live Sensation Zepp Side/Hall Side
 * 2003-2004: Nana Mizuki Live Skipper Countdown
 * 2004: Nana Mizuki Live Spark
 * 2004-2005: Nana Mizuki Live Rainbow
 * 2005: Nana Mizuki Live Rocket
 * 2006: Nana Mizuki Livedom -Birth-
 * 2006: Nana Mizuki Live Universe
 * 2007: Nana Mizuki Live Museum 2007
 * 2007: Nana Summer Festa 2007
 * 2007-2008: Nana Mizuki Live Formula 2007-2008
 * 2008: Nana Mizuki Live Fighter 2008 Blue Side/Red Side
 * 2009: Nana Mizuki Live Fever 2009
 * 2009: Nana Mizuki Live Diamond 2009
 * 2010: Nana Mizuki Live Academy 2010
 * 2010: ''Nana Mizuki Live Games 2010 (July 24 *Red* 25 *blue*)

Other concerts

 * 2001: Happy Lesson Concert
 * 2001: Memories Off 1st Concert
 * 2003: Memories Off 2nd Concert
 * 2005: Animelo Summer Live 2005
 * 2006: Animelo Summer Live 2006
 * 2007: Animelo Summer Live 2007
 * 2008: Animelo Summer Live 2008
 * 2009: Animelo Summer Live 2009
 * 2010: Animelo Summer Live 2010 (Not celebrated yet)