Takanori Nishikawa: A Look into the Revolution

At first glance, Takanori Nishikawa looks like a short pretty boy. Don’t judge his talent by his looks! Takanori’s music career started in 1990 where he was the lead singer for the band, Luis-Mary. At the time, his stage name was Haine but little did he know, he would eventually be the famous Japanese music artist known as T.M.Revolution.

With New York Anime Festival coming up, why would someone introduce a singer? Isn’t this supposed to be about anime? Well, for the past twelve years, Takanori Nishikawa has brought more than just music. Whether it’s anime, music, or acting, Takanori has brought a revolution.

As T.M.Revolution, Takanori had made a large contribution into today’s anime starting all the way in 1996 with his instant hit, “HEART OF SWORD ~Yoake Mae~” or also known as the 3rd ending to the anime series, Rurouni Kenshin. This was only the beginning to his anime breakthrough. In 2002, T.M.Revolution would release “Invoke,” the first opening for the anime Gundam SEED. It had reached #2 on the Oricon charts. Takanori, being a huge Gundam fan ever since childhood, would later lend his voice for the character Miguel Aiman in Gundam SEED and later Heine Westenfluss in Gundam SEED Destiny (which he also recorded the theme song, “Ignited” for). Both of these characters had traits relating to Takanori himself. For example, Heine Westenfluss was based after Takanori himself. At the time he had blond hair, the have the same birthday (September 19) and his name was made to be similar to Takanori’s former stage name, Haine. Also, Miguel Aiman’s GINN (a mobile suit named Defrock) was colored to Takanori’s favorite color, orange. It also is named after Takanori’s former clothing line, Defrock and was also featured in his music video Zips. Since then, Takanori has had a number of insert songs for the Gundam series such as “Vestige,” “Meteor,” “Thunderbird” and more.

As a result of his success, Takanori began doing an array of songs for other types of entertainment such as video games and movies. He’s even acted in a couple productions himself! Takanori’s song “Crosswise” had been used for the video game Sengoku BASARA (or Devil Kings in America). In July 2004, Takanori went to release the song “Web of Night” which, was used for the Japanese theatrical release of Spider-Man 2. Takanori’s acting career has also expanded since. Takanori started his acting career when he starred as Seymour Krelborn in the Japanese production of “Little Shop of Horrors.” In 2000, Takanori had taken the role of Satoru Kawamura, a hairstylist, in the drama “Beautiful Life” where he became the rival of the main character in the, Shuji Okishima (played by Takuya Kimura of SMAP). In 2007, Takanori came back to stage acting when he appeared in the Japanese production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” Recently, Takanori has starred with Waka Inoue in Corazon de Melon, a story of two lovers and how far they will go for each other in the name of love.

>In the past three years, Takanori has been together with his band, abingdon boys school. At first, many people were scared as to if Takanori were retiring his stage name T.M.Revolution. Luckily for his fans he said it was only temporary and that he was experimenting with the different styles as a band and as a soloist. But abingdon boys school isn’t just some band! When Takanori’s there, you can’t go wrong. abingdon boys school’s first single, “Innocent Sorrow,” was released in 2006 as the theme song to the new anime at the time, D.Gray-man. Also, the b-side to the single, “Freak Show,” was used in the Death Note: The Last Name Tribute album, and album made for the second Death Note movie. abingdon boys school didn’t stop there! In May 2007, they released another single, “Howling,” which was used as the theme song for the anime, Darker than Black. Since then, abingdon boys school has released two more singles and an album to their name.

Nowadays, Takanori has reverted back to T.M.Revolution (for now), coming back after three years with the opening to the new anime, Soul Eater, with the single “Resonance.” In April of 2008, Takanori came to New York Comic Con as the musical guest. I was one of the people to come and see him perform and I was definitely amazed. Takanori has done so much more than I have described here. I thought watching his music videos were incredible enough but as Takanori sung live, I was in total awe. For such a small man, he has an incredible voice that seemed to echo in my head for hours after the concert.

In honor of the upcoming New York Anime Festival, I present to you all Takanori Nishikawa, the man who really did make a revolution. He may not be at New York Anime Festival this time but there is going to be a booth, a panel, and a screening on his upcoming events. Please stay tuned!