Mizuki Nana – How I Became A Fan

It’s Mizuki Nana’s birthday and I figured there’s probably no better time to post this. And yes, I recognize that it’s still January 20th on this side of the world, but it’s already the 21st in Japan. I’ve been trying to write this for many, many years and considering it is a milestone birthday for Nana, I promised myself to write and post something on her birthday (which I am doing now).

2020 will mark the year of Mizuki Nana’s 20th anniversary since debut. With the many YouTube videos on 水樹奈々 YouTube Official Channel along with the release of CANNONBALL RUNNING (my favourite album in years – and yes, I have been keeping up with her albums despite not being active in the fandom at all), I thought that it’s probably a good time to write down how I became a Mizuki Nana fan. It’s a tribute of sorts. This is also largely spurred on by seeing her Brave Phoenix performance at Live Park 2016 (uploaded to her official YouTube channel), because every time I rewatch that video, I am reminded of why I respect her as much as I do.

In looking back, there was a large time gap between me knowing about the existence of a seiyuu named Mizuki Nana to becoming someone who developed a strong interest and admiration towards her.

What I’m about to write depicts how I became a fan. It doesn’t go too deeply into why I stayed a fan but it tells of a gap that I never truly thought about until putting it into words.

 

eternal eternity

I admit to be one of those people who raised an eyebrow when the name of the song was first released. “eternal eternity”… What does that even mean? Eternal x 2 = eternal. And it’s not even properly put into upper case! Lol.

But like many things since Season 3 of SMC was announced, I said I’d hold my opinion until I actually saw and heard it. I’m happy to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Thoughts on voice, visual and parts of the lyrics below.

11 years of blogging

I was staring at the date today and couldn’t shake the feeling that March 21st meant something to me. After a while, I realized it was the day I signed up for LJ 11 years ago.

Looking back, I’m a bit amazed at myself. There are a few posts where I thought to myself, “Did I really write this?” or “Wow, I certainly had a lot of patience back then to make this ridiculously long post”.

A lot of the posts were, of course, Mizuki Nana-related (especially starting from 2008 – I imported the majority of it onto WP here). Interspersed here and there were Nanoha-related posts (which arguably is also Mizuki Nana-related XD).

2013 was when things started getting busy for me, with 2014 and 2015 being the two years when I was barely active (busy RL played a part, but it largely ended up being a drop in interest) — so yes, I can’t say I’ve been blogging for the past 11 years (as the pauses in between would make it less than that), but nonetheless, there’s about 11 years of memories I’ve left online and it’s kind of amazing looking back on all of it now.

2016 so far has given me a bit more reason and time to be active online due to video games and anime series celebrating anniversaries (such as Pokémon) and others where anniversary celebrations are lasting across years (these would include Digimon and Sailor Moon).

Speaking of Sailor Moon — I got back my SeraMyu -Un Nouveau Voyage- last week (on the 16th)! I’ve watched the interview with the 4 outer senshi at least 7 times now, and I find myself grinning like an idiot each time. They have this interesting group dynamic going on. 😀

Review of the musical will be posted later this week. 😉

Michiru’s Bday & Crystal Season 3 trailer

It’s Kaioh Michiru’s birthday and there was a lot of activity going on under #海王みちる生誕祭 on twitter. A lot of tributes and fan arts to our favourite Sailor Neptune that I thoroughly enjoyed browsing through. It’s all the reasons in visual form why Michiru has become my favourite character in Sailor Moon over the past 2 years (it used to be Haruka, who is still very much high up there even now, and before her, Rei).

Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3

It’s interesting when I try to analyze my own behaviour. Despite having a very low impression of the Sailor Moon Crystal (thanks to season 1 & 2 where I could NOT bring myself to watch past episode 3), I found myself caring very much about who was going to be casted as Tenoh Haruka/Sailor Uranus and Kaioh Michiru/Sailor Neptune for this upcoming series.

I don’t believe I’ve ever checked my phone at an interval of 15 seconds to see if they’ve announced the new cast yet (and becoming increasingly amused as I read through Fujioka Sayaka, Takahashi Karin, and Koyama Momoyo’s Sailor Moon-related tweets on my twitter feed while waiting).

Happy Birthday to Mizuki Nana

I’ve been consistently posting a ‘Happy Birthday Mizuki Nana’ post for the past years, so I figured I shouldn’t skip this year, even though I have nothing else to post aside from that one line.

Although every year at this time I am reminded that I never wrote that “why I became a Mizuki Nana” post.

And I find it ironic that my favourite song from Nana-san on her latest album is called ‘Never Let Go’. It also happens to be playing in the background as I write this post. XD

Last day of 2015

Mainly a ‘I-felt-like-writing-so-I-wrote-something’ type of blog post. It’s a random mess of thoughts, so be warned.

I’m not entirely sure what drove me to log in and attempt to make a post in the first place.

One year since last post…

It actually surprised me quite a bit when I saw the last published post on this blog. I know it’s been a while, but I hadn’t expected it to be a year since I wrote something here.

January 21st.

Happy Birthday, Nana-san!
(Even though I’m sure she will never read this…lol)

I read a few of my more recent posts and it looks like I had planned to do a lot. As always, days turn into weeks into months… and before I knew it, a full year has passed and none of what I said I’d do has been accomplished. A lot of factors played into this but I don’t want this post to go dark so…

For now, I shall just blame it on my re-acquaintance with the HaruMichi fandom. It’s swept away my attention for the better half a year now. XD

Happy Birthday to Mizuki Nana!!!

For the past few years on this day, the plan has been to post my essay of how I came to know and became a fan of Mizuki Nana.

And of course, for the past few years on this day, I fail to do so. |||OTL

Similarly, I then promise to have it ready for her next birthday… ^^;; Well, I’m going to set the goal a little closer this year (to see if it makes a difference) and say I’ll write and have it ready by her next milestone date.

Um, aside from that, nothing particularly worthwhile to post. I promise to have the upcoming Smile-Gang and last week’s Smile-Gang coverage up as the last one celebrated Misato’s birthday and the next one will be the public recording at NanaFes. 😉

Actually, there may be something worthwhile to post after all…
For those who haven’t already heard… Fans of Mizuki Nana, ready your wallets! Her next album (which will be her 10th album) is coming out on April 16th!!

Smile-Gang 613 – NON-punishment special

Happy New Year, Everyone!!! Let’s have a happy 2014! 😀

水樹奈々 スマイルギャング 第613回

For a last broadcast of the year (2013), Smile-Gang has thrown a surprise in our way. No, it was not the usual punishment special where it leaves listeners on the floor heaving with laughter… Instead, we have a super calm episode that is almost unbefitting of a year-end broadcast.

Almost being the keyword.

As Misato pointed out, the entire thing was so calm that it has left her restless instead.

I’m willing to bet this is the calm before the storm. 😛

But of course, there is a reason why there is no punishment game special for 2013. That is because both Nana and Misato sit at 0 points each. Their points were neutralized at some point a while back.

Don’t forget this is Smile-Gang though. Anything can happen. Not to mention… Nana has one punishment point under her belt already due to Kouhaku. ^^;;

We shall see what happens in the first Smile-Gang of 2014. ;D