NKDS

The Eternal Diva, now younger!

Happy birthday to Nana-chan, the light and love of our lives! Now that she has turned 17 years old, she has joined the exclusive clique of eternally 17 year old ladies, a sacred sisterhood which includes luminaries such as Kikuko Inoue and Yukari Tamura. Though one can argue Yukarin is eternally 7 years old rather than 17…

Nana is now of the same age as Alexander the Great when he conquered pretty damn near the entirety of the known world in his days. Similarly, Nana has achieved all that she could conceivably achieve in Japan; she has performed in the Dome to an audience of more than 30 thousand, she has performed in Kohaku, and she has achieved Oricon #1 in singles, albums, music DVDs and Music Blurays. Anison-wise, there is really not much else that she can achieve in Japan, except for the expansion of her legions of fans. However, any artiste will have an upper limit in the number of fans she can draw in her home country, which is an unpleasant fact that her and her management must face. So what is the solution?

Alexander tried to solve his problem by expanding the boundaries of the known world, literally entering the unknown in order to conquer it. Therein lies the solution… Nana and King Records need to recognize that there is a ready market for her outside of Japan, and people WILL pay good money to attend her concerts if she performs overseas.  Long story short, like Alexander, Nana needs to take the plunge into the unknown, to go forth and try her hand in other countries. Besides, what’s the risk? The support of cities like Shanghai, and countries like Taiwan and Hong Kong are practically confirmed. Hold a concert in Singapore and it is guaranteed that fans from all around Asia will flock here like bees to honey, thanks to the ease of travelling to Singapore. Not to mention Singapore is building an excellent track record of hosting anison artistes, as proven in the past two years of AFA and last year’s EOY. Plus we have the infrastructure and logistics in place to hold a truly memorable concert for Nana, something that May’N, Yoshiki Fukuyama, Shoko-tan and Ichirou Mizuki can readily attest to.

If Singapore can achieve this much for anison in a space of two years, it goes without saying that Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong will be much better equipped for Nana. After all, they had a decade ahead of us, literally. JAM Project regularly holds concert tours in these countries, and I believe that fact speaks for itself.

Nana can retire now and already be considered an anison legend in her home country, but I am certain that is not what she wants. She would not reach such heights without ambition, drive and sheer capability. If only Nana and her management would turn that ambition overseas… she may be the biggest seiyuu-singer in Japan right now, but she has the potential to make anison history in an entire continent. After that.. well, lets cross that bridge when we reach it.   

So once again, Happy 17th Birthday, Nana-chan. Have a good one, and may your star shine ever brighter.

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off.