First of all sorry for the long delay! Due to pisspoor time management and pressing matters I haven't been able to update anything even though there was enough material. Still I wouldn't deny laziness is also to blame. Without further ado (I like this idiom, knowing so many people using it) here is my last update for 2012.
To keep this entry simple and straightforward, I made a couple questions which you may ask upon seeing the magazines.
What is it then?
#28-#37
By definition it is actually a newsletter about Nana Mizuki lastest news. Combined with fanletters, interviews, Nana's song chart etc. Anything that can be related to her, is included. And on top of it, it has a lot of pictures of photoshoots. You can get pictures you won't see anywhere. Still I am not really sure if I can name it newsletter or magazine. The cover says 'Nana's magazine' So for efficiency I will call it 7mag. I did first have 7 of them. But since I could find more, I bought three more.
Pick-Up Voice VS Nana's Magazine
This or the seiyuu magazines?
Both have their pluspoints and downsides. 7mags are cheaper and smaller. The paper format is between A4 and A5. The content is full of Nanaliciousim. (Yes this is a word, in my mind) It has exclusive photoshoots and important announcements. However Seiyuu mags like Animedia, Pick-up etc, are more expensive. The price covers high quality of paper, other seiyuus in spotlight and delicious extras like XBOX huge posters. So it all depends on what you want. I would totally recommend the 7mags if you are a Nanatard.
Soo how much did you pay for it?
I was actually surprised by the price. I have paid in the range 300-500 Yen each. It does depend which offer you could find. Manadarake has pretty much a fixed prices for all Nana goods. At proxy shopping you can - if you are lucky- even get 7mags for 200 Yen. Then again it's compromised with loads of costs.
Okay okay I see where you are going. Where to buy it, mister Obvious?
A 7mag is released every four months in a year. It's a part of privilege of being an official fan of the Nana fanclub. Of course receiving this gem isn't the only thing you get as an official fan. However I am not an official fan so I can't elaborate on this. Beside that I heard you will receive a pleasant birthday card on your special day. Back on track, you can buy as aforementioned in online secondhand stores. (Mandarake or proxy shopping) You don't have to worry about out of stock. They are always available. However the earlier issues are more rare to find.
Nana's greeting~
I like you! Now hand over your magazines!
It's not likewise. These treasures have increased emotional value of multiplier of 777 by the time it landed on my hands. Meaning if you want to them from me, you will be paying a hefty pricetag. Happy Christmas to you too. *spraying sarcasm*
Well I think I have talked enough. In case someone needs to know more. You can always leave a comment. If you ask me to scan them, I will consider it. No promises! So I will end the blog with my favourite photoshot from the 7mags I have.
Moshi moshi expression and LEGGSSS <3
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the people who read my blog!!! Cheers~
After 2 months of waiting, I have finally received a valuable item which I have yearned for a long time. The last time I saw it in real was in Hong Kong last year. The price was 780 HKD which is roughy the same as 78 euro. I was shellshocked and gave up my hope. Luckily I have found a new way of webshopping namely proxy shopping. There I have found it for a pretty reasonable price. But I leave it the explanation for another time.
Here it is ... Nana Mizuki Artist Scorebook ~Sing Forever~
Front cover
-I have never paid attention to any photobooks. Meaning I have no idea how I should review it. So I will write what I see then. The whole book is divided into 2 main parts; one is a collection
photoshoots and another is a collection of music sheets of several
songs.-
The printed book is from good quality. The outer cover is made of thick plastic. The great thing of a photobook, all the photos cover the whole page. I haven't checked the specifics on the date. But I assume the photoshoots were made before and after Live Formula (my favourite btw (^-^) y). It is from the year 2007. Noted that Nana was 28 in the photos. Not that you find any different with Nana nowadays.
It first starts off with with an ordinary photoshoot.
So cute ><
zettai ryouki incoming!
Young, cute and sexy lady. This all sums up.
Just my 2 cents, here on the photoshoot Nana really has a look of a genuine cute and young girl. I even dare to say she seems more like a teenager. As a hardcore fan I shall always say Nana is forevahh 17. But I do have look at another point of view too. (I have a feeling many Nanatards sempais will ''shall I slap your shit for this BS!'') However I am not saying Nana is looking ''older'' or anything blasphemy like that. Recently she is beginning to look more like a young cute AND sexy lady. Especially more sex-appeal ... yeah I think that is the word, the appeal is different now. And also more lady~ish in her recent photoshoots.
Okay let's get back on track with Sing Forever. Following are the photos of practice (is this the right term) of the concert. I really like these photoshoot. You can see Nana being hardworking and her casual self.
Nana in her jogging outfit
I am telling you .. she is cute >-<
Next are LIVE FORMULA photos.
LIVE FORMULA!
Obvious rehearsel photo
how high can she jump with those high heels 0_0
Kakoii Nana!
Fluffy tail!!
I hear more photoshoots ... MOAR
Ah so natural smile <3
Time to count up your sins!*
*This could be far fetched but watch Kamen Rider W to understand the joke :3
And all it remains are a few pages of interview and the music sheets.
I do regret a bit why I stopped the music school in my younger days. Not that I have any musical talent.
It was just for fun. All well ... my only hope is to have a girlfriend who likes to play musical instrument. So I can say things like ''Dear, can you play SUPER GENERATION for seventh time for me? I will treat you a nice dinner with an amazing scenery'' Now I sound a bit evil and selfish @3@
Owari, that was all. Might as well share my favourite photo of the whole artist scorebook.
So mesmerizing~
Final thoughts: I really like it. Honestly! Eventhough I already have it in scanned version. I wanted it for my collection and I am not disappointed. As soon as I first opened it, a warm smile of Nana appeared. Nothing can beat that. For any Nanatards out there doubting to buy it... Balls to the wall I say.
As a fitting closure for this blog entry, here is my treasured Nana literature (Nanastar, Nana's autobiography and Sing forever)
Nana-san <3
Small teaser for my next blog post
Yes there are 7
Cheers~
PS: Since I am not writing this as an usual review, therefore no 3 main questions (thoughts, recommended and price) were added. Btw I would still be baised and say everyone needs to buy it. lol
I won't scan this treasure of mine. ... Because you can find it scanned on the internet. ggrks konoyaro
Btw I am very bad at positioning pictures in my blog. m(._.)m
Sooo what's all the fuss about? Which made me post it on here.
First of all a short introduction what kind magazine Eye-Ai is. Their main focus is on Japanese artists and culture. However it differs a lot from the usual Seiyuu magazines I buy. It is lot cheaper (not even 500Yen) and only the cover is colored. AND most important it is in English. Apparantly there is a important artist on every issue front page. It has an in-depth interview with loads photos ... in black and white. (http://www.river-f.com/english/eyeai/) It doesn't really matter because it is Nana Mizuki who is on the cover. Hurray!
Pretty Nana is pretty!
The segment was 9 pages including photos which -I think- it's a lot. It started with a short introduction who Nana Mizuki is. The interview was in April in Tokyo. A funny quote; ''Her cheerful voice announced her presence, and when she entered the room, she was a smaller and cuter woman than we would have expected'' Poor Nana san got commented on her height.
It started off with TIME SPACE EP (Nana Mizuki's 27th and latest single). The following 3 pages were about how Nana got into songwriting and composing. It was interesting to read as a fan how Nana san gets her inspiration for writing songs. Then it got shifted to Live Union. (A concert tour around Japan for 4 months) Afterwards the editor asked about her work as voice actress/seiyuu. About the answers Nana san gave, I thought there was a small paradox. She likes to do voice acting because she can be different persons and live in the said persons imagination and lives. She loves to sing because on stage she can be herself and acts naturally. Nana san sure is full of suprises (just in case ... playing JunPara while writing).
I thought I was reading a newspaper
Now almost reaching the last pages (yadaa!) - however I found this part the most interesting - the interview continued with Nana san perfoming overseas in Anisama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animelo_Summer_Live) in Shanghai 2012. Nana san was asked about the overseas fans. She said there was loads of fan from different countries to her last concert; LIVE CASTLE and would like to visit the different countries too. How exciting ... however how great it sounds, I have to take it with a grain of salt.
So this was pretty much it. Loads of interesting facts, full of pictures of Live Castle and Nana san of course. I am glad I bought it. One last fun fact .... Nana san is studying English now!
My recent new Nana fan sempai gave me the idea to do this post (My Somewhere) I waited till I received her lastest live concerts Blu-Ray. It is easier and much more inspirational to write while watching the concert. Some may know I am a fan of Jpop. Now I can openly announced I am a full fledged Nanatard.(Nana fan + retard, I think). In this post you can read how much I adore and admire her.
Nana = 7
However let me first start with; who is Nana Mizuki?She is a popular Japanese seiyuu (anime voice actor) and songstress. However this much talented girl is far from the generic S/S combination. Through hard work and consistency, she has achieved many awesome records. Like for instance her last concert was in Tokyo Dome (biggest concerthall in Japan), she was the first seiyuu songtress to appear on stage.And her seiyuu list is miles long. She still get roles in today recent anime.
1. When did you become a fan of Mizuki Nana and how?
- About when Impact Exciter was released. As the name suggested, it surerly gave me an impact that got me exicted. At first I only knew she was a seiyuu. Never really paid attention to her concerts or singings. However I did had some of her famous anisongs. Back to Impact Exciter, it was probably the very first album I bought I haven't skipped any tracks. Every song sounds very unique and different. And the whole DVD acadamy lessons contain high level of cuteness. That was the floodgate. My interest for Nana boomed in just a matter of days. The more I knew about her, the more I got interested. Not even one Youtube video escaped my eyes. A month later she became my favorite singer of all time. Before I knew it, I became a Nanatard. Best course of action ever, haven't regretted for a moment.
2. First song you heard
- Innocent Starter, from Nanoha. It was very nice hear and meaningful song. Till today I like it very much.
3. First PV you saw - Discotheque.I didnt know that PV of jpop isn't that very common. At least that is what I think. Amercian music videos come and goes around. However each Nana's PV is great to watch. The first one for me was Discotheque. I couldnt get enough of it, especially the wink at the last scene. It is cute and very catchy PV. It makes you want to dance.
4. Favorite anime role
- Pretty much related to the second question; Feito chaannn!! Sorry I mean Fate Testarossa from Magical Girl Lyrica Nanoha. She had a very soft and modest voice. In the end the character got more heart warming you could really hear it from her voice.
5. Favorite album track from supersonic girl
- Very tough one between; Looking on the moon and Look Away - together version -(Just going on fast track here otherwise it will be too long)
6. Favorite album track from MAGIC ATTRACTION - freestyle
7. Favorite album track from DREAM SKIPPER
- Again very tough between; Koishiteru... (恋してる．．．) and Takaramono
8. Favorite album track from ALIVE＆KICKING - Tear's Night
9. Favorite album track from HYBRID UNIVERSE
- Might aswell change the title to favorite album trackS. I just keep it to one.; BRAVE PHOENIX
10. Favorite album track from GREAT ACTIVITY - Heart-Shaped Chant
11. Favorite album track from ULTIMATE DIAMOND
- Dancing in the velvet moon (actually all of them)
12. Favorite album track from IMPACT EXCITER
- Albireo(again all of them, but albireo just stands out more. DAT strong voice)
13. Your favorite single - Of all time I would say You have a dream. However it is changed to POP MASTER now. Singing genki songs is really one of Nana forte. Beside that the song actually gets me into high spirits in times when I am feeling down. I have to jump up and yell ''Yes I am okay''. The lyrics are great too. It is even better when I found out that POP MASTER was written by none other then Nana herself. It is almost like Nana understood your personal hard life and
daily pressure. As she sings, she tries to transfer the courage and
energy to you.
14. Favorite PV
- Etsuraku Camellia, the PV comes off very strong and sexy. I like it very much. A very unique PV for a very unique song. DAT shoulder scene!!
15. Best b-side of a single
- STAY GOLD. Most of the b-side singles are on par with their a-side counterparts. All of them are great. Haven't got any I don't like to listen. STAY GOLD is very special. I didn't expect the style of rythm and melody. Nana's voice blends very nicely in. It is fast paced yet it comes off well arranged.
16. Your favorite live performance - From Live Formula, Heat shaped chant. This performance describes the best what I like about Nana Mizuki. She had a classy and fluffy tail blue long dress. Mika is there for the harp guiding song.It shows how strong and passionate Nana is performing with her voice.Although Nana is quite small in figure, she has a voice of awesome heights. The dress is fluffling (quite using this word a lot :p) around, was a very cute sight. It fitted perfectly with Nana posture.
17. Favorite concert DVD
After watching Live Castle Queen, I have a hard time thinking which one is better; Live Formula (my all time favorite) or Live Castle Queen or Live Grace? Live Formula (LF) and Live Castle Queen (LCq) are really close for my top favorite. LF suprised me a lot; such as tsundere moe Nana, harmonica playing and DAT heart shaped chant performance. LCq has my eyes fixated on the screen from the start till the end. It has great visual (blame the Blu-Ray advantage) with 40.000 penlights waving around. Nana's performance was just marvelous. I felt that she was more static on the stage before in her early concerts. But since Live Grace, she has put more and more body language and expressions making the concert more passionate to watch. As I said in one of my tweets;
Watching Live Castle (King or Queen) feels very special to me, It is like I can join in the joy of a new milestone in Nana legend! Eventhough I wasn't there in person.
Live Grace was beautiful, but it didnt have a special attachement to it. It has all the right ingredients. Nonetheless it is right on the second place.
18. The song you relate the most to
- Last scene. The lyrics are very touching. It makes me want to cry everytime whenever Nana sings it live. Sometimes love isn't that always pretty and rose-coloured.
Never did paid attention to lyrics, even if the lyrics were English or Dutch. However whenever I listen to my favorite Nana tracks, I want to know the lyrics. Just about every song she wrote, is very meaningful. Quite contradicting, because last scene lyrcis were written by someone else. But you get the idea.
19. Your favorite lyric
- From undercover, the part where she sing these lyrics. It comes off very powerful. Nana sings it with great intonation (especially in Live Grace). It makes you feel how it is to be in undercover of yourself.
取り乱し想いをぶつけて すべてを壊したい 二度と元に戻れぬほど 愚かに失なってみたい
Translated:
Tackle those distracted thoughts Wanting to destroy everything Unable to ever return to normal Foolishly, I want to try to lose everything
- Hitotsu Dake Chikaeru Nara. I want a tear jerking MV for this one (hope I dont sound like a sadist here). The song is so sad and the lyrics are touching too. In the song context It gives the courage of both partners to go on with their life.
21. One song that you’ll never get tired of
- undercover. DAT violin! I want to listen more to understand why I like it. It never works out. I always end up enjoying to listen to it.
22. Favorite animelo collaboration
- Gimmick game, Nana Mizuki and motsu of MOVE. As a MOVE fan, this was a collaboration to be dreamed of. It gives the upbeat feel like Eurobeat. With motsu backing up Nana, I couldn't even sit still for a second. Awesome it was!
23. Favorite TV appearance
- MUSIG, this was pretty much a must watch for all Nana fans out there. It got;
Nana had short pants you could see her delicious thighs
Nana doing weird poses thanks to Shokotan
24. Share a moment when you were extra proud of being her fan
- As a regular visitor to a certain anonymous message board, there happens to have a seiyuu thread in some time. Mostly the anonymous talk about their favorite seiyuu and their attributes. However in 80% of the time, it always end in a Nana appreciation thread. I suspect a Nanatard is lurking in the thread and post random pictures. Surprisingly many of them are quite knowledgeable about her.
Their point of view are; ''Nana is one of only decent seiyuu who can do voicecasting AND singing.'' and ''She is in a whole different league.'' Nana pictures being post here and there and the only things you could read, are just praises. As a Nanatard I could only giggle like a little girl. I realize there are many people out there who appreciate Nana's hard work.
regular posted picture
25. Tell us what you believe is her charm point
- her personality, Nana has (in my mind) a perfect image of an idol. She is hard working and consistent in her professional singing and voicing career. Yet behind the scenes, she is just a very girly lady who likes cute things, just like any other girls out there. She doens't show arrogance of her sold records or achievements. She remains humble and reserved with people of greater status.
She also likes anime and loves to play video games. As a fan how much more can I ask for?
A perfect example what I meant with consistency. A video with 9 different concerts of the same song, she didnt missed a single note or beat.
The main difference between her and the American female popstars (which I grew up with) is that she didn't fall for the slump of improving her image by singing suggestive/mature songs or even acting slutty in the MVs. Nana let her voice do the work to reach her fans heart. We all like Nana who she is.
To be honest I hated concerts because some people think they could fool their fans by playbacking (Yes, I am looking at you, miss Spears) And live performance is very different from CD. I remember I was horrified hearing a singer in live while I liked the CD version. (Yes you Kate Perry) I loathe the live versions even more, didnt even consider buying a DVD of it. However it has changed drastically. Nana's concerts are full with energy and joy. I can say I am a proud owner of many Nana Live concerts DVDs/Blu-Rays.
Important remark: I am not biased. This is the conclusion I get from watching countless of the making of Live concerts and exclusive videos about her working life (seven pieces), reading summary of her book etc.
26. Have you been to any of her concerts?
- No, I have regret A LOT I haven't being persistent going to Live Castle. There was a great blog post on Danie'shopping log (another Nanatard sempai) about it. The blogger explained how to go and where to stay. Till today I regret it. So next time (which I pray very hard) if there is another opportunituy, I will do my best to go to Japan for her concert.
27. Do you own any goods? (picture not necessary)
- In my sempai's eyes perhaps not massively much. Got the recent singles and live concerts BDs and most important also her autobiography (only in Japanse though). lately I have been very obsessed with the Seiyuu magazines (as long as Nana is on the cover). I will get it. As a foreign Nanatard it is quite difficult to become member the fanclub orz. I have to go with this way.
Just finished watching Live Castle Queen! It was superb!
