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Nana Mizuki to Sing in New Year's Kōhaku Uta Gassen (Updated)

Voice actress and singer Nana Mizuki will be performing for the first time in Kōhaku Uta Gassen (Red and White Song Battle), the New Year's Eve singing contest that is Japan's most viewed music television program. This year's lineup also includes flumpool, the performers of the "Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~" theme song for the live-action drama version of Ryō Ryūmon and Kōji Megumi's Bloody Monday manga.

Earlier this month, Mizuki's "Mugen" CD became her 10th top-10 single on Oricon's weekly ranking charts. Mizuki also became the first seiyū (character voice) with a #1 album on Oricon's weekly album chart in Japan with the June release of her Ultimate Diamond CD. In January, her Nana Mizuki Live Fighter Blue X Red Side release became the first Blu-ray Disc by a musical artist to sell over 10,000 copies.

The first ever Kingrun Anime Songs Kōhaku event is scheduled at the same time as NHK's Kōhaku Uta Gassen program this year. Unlike NHK's Kōhaku Uta Gassen, Kingrun Anime Songs Kōhaku's entire lineup consists of singers and voice actors from anime and live-action special-effects series such as MIQ, Ichiro Mizuki, Rica Matsumoto, Tomokazu Seki, and Emiri Katou.

During last year's Kōhaku Uta Gassen, Studio Ghibli's frequent collaborator Joe Hisaishi personally conducted a full orchestra on selected excerpts from Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and other films he scored. The Fujimaki Fujioka duo and Nozomi Ōhashi sang the "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" theme song as part of the actual competition. Other anime- and manga-related performers on last year's program included Tokio (Yasuko to Kenji's "Amagasa"), Ayaka (Absolute Boyfriend's "Okaeri"), Angela Aki ("Tegami ~Haikei Jūgo no Kimi e~"), and Aiko (Hana Yori Dango Final's "KissHug").

In 2007, AKB48, Leah Dixon and Shoko Nakagawa made a much publicized joint performance at the beginning of Kōhaku Uta Gassen.

Source: Sankei Sports

Update: NHK posted the full list of this year's performing artists online, and a translated list is available at Tokyograph's forums. The artists include Ayaka, Angela Aki, AKB48, Ai Otsuka, Miyuki Kawanaka, Kumi Koda, Sachiko Kobayashi, DREAMS COME TRUE, Mika Nakashima, Ayumi Hamasaki, Ayaka Hirahara, Akiko Wada, Arashi, EXILE, Saburo Kitajima, Kobukuro, JERO, SMAP, TOKIO, Hideaki Tokunaga, Akira Fuse, Porno Graffiti, Kenichi Mikawa, Shinichi Mori, Yusuke Kamiji, and YUZU.