Megumi Nakajima

is a Japanese voice actress and singer, who is affiliated with Stay Luck. Her involvement in the entertainment industry began in 2003 when she participated in an audition held by the talent agency Stardust Promotion, becoming affiliated with them after passing the audition. Her debut came in 2007 when she passed an audition held by the music company Victor Entertainment; she was then cast as the character Ranka Lee in the 2008 anime series '' Macross Frontier''. Her first solo single "Tenshi ni Naritai" was released in 2009, which was followed by her first solo album ''I Love You'' in 2010.

Apart from Ranka, Nakajima is also known for her roles as Kaede Sakura in ''Kämpfer'', Lyra in '' Fairy Tail'', Lyra and Meloetta in ''Pokémon'', Yuzuki Eba in ''A Town Where You Live'', Megumi Aino/Cure Lovely in ''HappinessCharge PreCure!'', and Turi in '' Ascendance of a Bookworm''. Her songs have been featured in series such as ''Kämpfer'', '' Tamayura'', '' Kotoura-san'', '' Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne'', and ''Ascendance of a Bookworm''. She is also the voice provider of the Vocaloid software Megpoid. In 2013, she announced an indefinite hiatus from singing to focus on her acting career; she returned to singing in 2017 with the single "Watashi no Sekai", the title song being used as the ending theme to the anime series '' Fuuka''.

Early life and childhood

Nakajima was born in Ibaraki Prefecture on June 5, 1989 to a Filipina mother and a Japanese father. She grew up in a family fond of music; her father had been a drummer in a band. These family influences would later be cited as among the reasons she would decide to pursue a career as a singer.

In 2003, Nakajima participated in an audition held by the talent agency Stardust Promotion. She passed it and subsequently signed with the agency. Despite this, she did not make a music debut, instead training while waiting for her opportunity. As she had yet to make her debut, she was starting to "become desperate" to do anything in entertainment, and she even considered ceasing her pursuit of a singing career. While in her third year of high school, she learned of an audition held by the music company Victor Entertainment. The winner would then be cast in the upcoming anime series '' Macross Frontier''. At the time she had not yet decided what type of artist she wanted to be, but because she believed that it was her chance, she went ahead and auditioned. She ended up being the audition's winner, which would lead to her being cast as the speaking and singing voice of the character Ranka Lee.

Music career

Nakajima made her debut performance as a professional artist at the "Macross 25th Anniversary Concert" on April 18, 2007, as she had been cast as the character Ranka Lee. Her first vocal recordings appeared in the compilation album '' Macross Frontier O.S.T.1 Nyan FRO.'' on June 4, 2008. She made her music debut on June 25, 2008, with the single . Her first major live performance was the concert held on July 27, 2008. For her performance of "Seikan Hikō", she won the award for Best Musical Performance in the third Seiyu Awards held on March 7, 2009.

Nakajima's first non-''Macross'' single, was released on January 28, 2009; the single peaked at number 13 on Oricon's weekly charts and charted for five weeks. This was followed by the release of her second single "Nostalgia" on March 11, 2009; the title song was used as the theme song to the drama series ''Daisuki! Itsuitsugo''. She then became the vocal provider of the Vocaloid program Megpoid, which went on sale on June 6, 2009. Her next single was released on December 9, 2009; the title song was used as the first ending theme to the anime series '' Kobato''. She released her first album ''I Love You'' on June 9, 2010. She then appeared at Anime Expo in Los Angeles in July of that year.

Nakajima's next single "Melody" was released on November 24, 2010; the songs included in the single were used in the original video animation '' Tamayura''. She then performed the song "If", which was used as an insert song in the anime series ''Moshidora''. This was followed by the release of the single on October 26, 2011; the title song is used as the ending theme to the anime series ''Tamayura: Hitotose''. Her next single, "Try Unite!/Hello!" was released on February 2, 2012; "Try Unite" was used as the opening theme to the anime series '' Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne.'' Her second album ''Be With You'' went on sale on March 3, 2012.

On August 1, 2012, Nakajima released the single ; "Marble" was used as the opening theme to the second season of '' Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne.'' In 2013, she released two singles: on January 23, and on August 7. "Sonna Koto Ura no Mata Urabanashi Desho?" was used as the opening theme to the anime series '' Kotoura-san'', and "Arigatō" was used as the ending theme to the anime series ''Tamayura: More Aggressive''.

On December 2, 2013, Stardust Promotion announced that Nakajima would go on an indefinite hiatus from her music career after the release of her third album ''Thank You'' on February 26, 2014 and a final concert on March 20, 2014, although she would continue to be active in the voice-acting industry. In a 2019 interview, she was asked the reasons for her decision to go on hiatus. She responded that she felt that had few expectations about herself, and she was worried that she had become so associated with the role of Ranka that she would be unable to establish an identity as "Megumi Nakajima". She initially thought that her involvement in the ''Macross'' franchise would not last long and that she could move on after ''Macross Frontier'' ended, only to learn later that there would be more upcoming releases and activities for the series. Once the films had finished release, she realized that she had already been a voice actor for three years, and yet felt that her roles did not suit her, even feeling that her confidence was low despite being treated kindly by her peers.

On December 1, 2016, Nakajima's management announced that she would return from her hiatus to perform the song "Watashi no Sekai", which is used as the ending theme to the 2017 anime television series '' Fuuka''. Her second post-comeback single "Saturday Night Question" was released on November 6, 2017; the title song is used as the opening theme to the anime series ''Recovery of an MMO Junkie''.

Nakajima released her fourth album ''Curiosity'' on February 26, 2018. She then released the single "Bitter Sweet Harmony/Shiranai Kimochi" on August 1, 2018; the song "Bitter Sweet Harmony" was used as the opening theme to the anime series ''Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou''. A planned solo concert in Shanghai, China in June 2018 was cancelled due to "various circumstances". In August 2018, she performed at C3 AFA Indonesia in Jakarta, the last to be held in the country prior to the event's discontinuation. The following month, she performed at Cosplay Mania in the Philippines, the first time she held a performance in the country.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of her career, Nakajima released a cover album titled on January 28, 2019; the album consists of covers of various love songs from the 1970s to the 1990s. She released a compilation album titled ''30 Pieces of Love'' on her 30th birthday, June 5, 2019; the limited edition includes a Blu-ray disc featuring a video shot in the Philippines, and a cover of the Filipino song "Kailan".

Acting career

Nakajima's first non-''Macross'' role was Miku in the anime series '' Akikan!''. After that, she was cast as the character Citron in the series '' Basquash!''; she along with Haruka Tomatsu and Saori Hayami performed the series' theme songs under the name Eclipse. She then played the role of Kaede Sakura in ''Kämpfer'', and the roles of Chiho and Chise Mihara in '' Kobato''. At the end of 2009, she voiced Ranka in the first movie of the ''Macross Frontier'' series, ''Macross Frontier the Movie: The False Songstress''. In 2010, she played Lyra, a celestial spirit that belongs to Lucy Heartfilia, in the '' Fairy Tail'' series, and the character Lyra in ''Pokémon Diamond and Pearl''. In February 2011, she voiced Ranka in the second ''Macross Frontier'' movie, ''Macross Frontier the Movie: The Wings of Goodbye''. In 2012, she played the role of Meloetta in the anime theatrical short '' Meloetta's Moonlight Serenade'', later reprising the role in the '' Pokémon: Black & White'' television series. She then voiced Yuzuki Eba in the original video animation ''A Town Where You Live'', reprising the role the following year for the anime television series. In 2013, she played the role of Yō Kasukabe in '' Problem Children Are Coming from Another World, Aren't They?''.

During Nakajima's musical hiatus, she continued playing roles in anime series and other franchises, most notably Cure Lovely in ''HappinessCharge PreCure!'' and multiple characters in the multimedia franchise '' Kantai Collection''. Following her return to music, she would then play the roles of Charlotte Abelfreyja Drossel in '' Violet Evergarden'', Maiko Osonoi in ''Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou'', and Dolphin Mii in '' Saint Seiya: Saintia Shō''. She was originally scheduled to portray the role of Rona Chevalier in the anime series '' New Life+: Young Again in Another World'', but she resigned from the role in the wake of a controversy involving the original light novel's writer; the anime was canceled shortly after.

Musical style and influences

Nakajima cites growing up in a family that appreciated music as one of the factors that made her decide to pursue a singing career. In particular, she remembers being influenced by her father's listening of artists such as Toto, Airplay, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Chaka Khan, as well as her listening to Japanese idols such as Sayuri Iwai. In an interview with the music streaming service ANiUTa, she mentions that she mainly listens to both Japanese and Western music from the 1980s and 1990s.

In a 2008 interview with ''Famitsu'', Nakajima related the circumstances that led to her being cast as Ranka in the ''Macross'' franchise. She noted that she initially had a complex with her voice and felt that it was "lacking in personality", which made her reluctant to talk too much. She felt that because she only knew how to use her natural voice, she wondered how she would be able to make the most out of it. When she was informed of Ranka's character, she felt that she could relate to her as she thought that Ranka's personality overlapped with hers. She remembers that when she was informed of her getting the role, she didn't react as it coming out of nowhere, but rather that "she got through".

In interviews with Natalie and ''LisAni'', Nakajima discussed the production of her first post-comeback album ''Curiosity''. She noted that she wanted to do a pop album, and that in contrast to her previous albums, which had the word "You" in their titles, she wanted to go in a different direction because of a "curiosity to try new things". The title and theme of the album came from experiences during her hiatus, which would include watching musicals and desires to learn about other people and other kinds of music. She noted the collaborations she made with various writers for the song's albums: for example, for the song "Life's The Party Time!!", she co-wrote it with composer Kenichi Maeyamada, and compared the experience to "writing diary-like lyrics and answering to them". She also mentions how the song sounds like an anime song despite not being used in an anime series.

Filmography

Anime

Film

Video games

Other dubs

Discography

* ''I Love You'' (2010)
* ''Be With You'' (2012)
* ''Thank You'' (2014)
* ''Curiosity'' (2018)
* ''Lovely Time Travel'' (2019)
* ''30 Pieces of Love'' (2019)
* Green diary (2021)

DVDs and Blu-ray

* (July 15, 2009)
* with Yoko Kanno and May'n (October 30, 2009 VD November 27, 2009 lu-ray

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakajima, Megumi
1989 births
Living people
People from Mito, Ibaraki
Japanese women pop singers
Japanese video game actresses
Japanese voice actresses
Japanese people of Filipino descent
Voice actresses from Ibaraki Prefecture
Musicians from Ibaraki Prefecture
Victor Entertainment artists
Anime singers
21st-century Japanese actresses
21st-century Japanese singers
21st-century Japanese women singers