Idol Profile: NA-NA

Since my Aither article was fairly popular with some of you, I’ve decided to write a series of Japanese idol group profiles for idols that aren’t very well known or new.  I was originally going to profile another group first, but I discovered some sad news about one of my favorite indie idol groups a few hours ago.

NA-NA is a junior idol group formed by ESSE Academy in 2011.  Originally performing cover songs, NA-NA progressed to performing an original song titled “Candy ☆ Machine ni Notte” (“Riding On The Candy ☆ Machine”).  At the time the lineup of NA-NA consisted of Hara Mizuki, Takimoto Yuzuki (alternately spelled Yuduki), Kimura Karin, Taniguchi Sayane and Yuna.  (I don’t have any info for Yuna other than her given name.) This lineup stayed together until sometime in 2013 when Yuna left.  Honda Touko eventually joined NA-NA giving the group five members again.   In June 2013 they were signed to T-Palette Records along with their “older sister” group Caramel ☆ Ribbon.  NA-NA played at TOKYO IDOL FESTIVAL 2013 and also other ESSE Academy events throughout the year.  On December 2, 2013 leader Mizuki announced on the ESSE Academy blog that Yuzuki was leaving to concentrate on her studies.

NA-NA (March 2012)

The real sad thing about Yuzuki leaving is that she was one of the main vocalists in the group and contributed to NA-NA’s appeal.  NA-NA still haven’t released a single, although a studio version of “Candy ☆ Machine ni Notte” is available as a mp3 download from Amazon Japan. Thankfully we have both fan videos of NA-NA along with some official uploads from ESSE (mostly promoting events like TIF 2013) on YouTube to watch (and some of them have Yuna in them!).  I guess it’s not too surprising that Yuzuki left since there have been blog photos of NA-NA without her and even a video on YouTube without Yuzuki participating.

         NA-NA (December 2013)

Here is a fan video from August 24, 2013 of NA-NA performing “Fu Fu”.  

Members:
Hara Mizuki a.k.a. Mimi (Born on February 22, 1999)
Kimura Karin (Born on July 31, 1999)
Taniguchi Sayane (Born on September 8, 2001)
Honda Touko (Born on May 24, 2001)

Former Members:
Yuna
Takimoto Yuzuki (Born on September 5, 1999)

NA-NA ESSE Profile