is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, voice artist, radio personality, and businessman. He performs under the stage name T.M.Revolution (TMR), which stands for , stemming from the famous '80s pop electronic band

TM Network TM Network is a Japanese rock/new wave/pop musical band, made up by Tetsuya Komuro (keyboardist), Takashi Utsunomiya (vocalist) and Naoto Kine (guitarist). They became popular in Japan as the "futuristic pop songs with synthesizer" after the r ...

. Despite most of his songs being written by

Akio Inoue is a female Japanese lyricist from Kanagawa Prefecture. Inoue writes the majority of songs recorded by T.M.Revolution, Takanori Nishikawa’s solo project, as well as for other artists produced by Daisuke Asakura is a Japanese musician, son ...

and composed/arranged by

Daisuke Asakura is a Japanese musician, songwriter and producer who is known for his compositional work and skill at the keyboards. Early life and career Asakura's childhood consisted of piano and electronic organ lessons, though he was expected to follow the ...

(also TMR's former producer), T.M.Revolution is considered Nishikawa's solo project. Nishikawa is also known for contributions of ending and opening themes to many notable anime and game series. Nishikawa debuted as TMR with the release of his first single in May 1996. Later that year, his third single was used as the third ending song for the

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

series ''

Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan (1878) and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his wor ...

'', further expanding his fan base. He also contributed six songs to the '' Mobile Suit Gundam SEED'' franchise – three for ''Gundam SEED'' and three for ''

Gundam SEED Destiny is an anime television series, a direct sequel to ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED'' by Sunrise and the overall tenth installment in the ''Gundam'' franchise. It retains most of the staff from ''Gundam SEED'', including Director Mitsuo Fukuda. Se ...

''. Nishikawa has guest starred as a minor character in each of those anime series that featured his songs. In 2010, his single "Save the One, Save the All" was used as the ending theme song for the movie '' Bleach: Hell Verse''. Several of Nishikawa's songs, such as "Crosswise" and "Flags", have been used by Capcom's ''

Sengoku Basara is a series of video games developed and published by Capcom, and a bigger media franchise based on it, including four anime shows, an anime movie, a live action show, a magazine series, a trading card game, and numerous drama CDs, light nov ...

'' video game series and media franchise. T.M.Revolution was the first artist to be signed to

Tofu Records was a US record label of Sony Music Entertainment Japan that was launched in 2003 to distribute Japanese Sony artists in the United States, and that closed in 2007. Their first signed artist was T.M.Revolution, and they used the anime fandom ...

, a record label (affiliated with Sony Music Japan) promoting Japanese artists in North America. Tofu released three of his most recent studio albums: ''coordinate'' (2003), ''Seventh Heaven'' (2004), and ''vertical infinity'' (2005). Nishikawa made his North American live debut at Otakon, a large

anime convention An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activ ...

in 2003. He has also performed at

Pacific Media Expo The Pacific Media Expo (PMX) is an annual three day multi-genre convention held during October/November at the Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel in San Gabriel, California. PMX was created in 2003 by Mike Tatsugawa, founder of Anime Expo. Pacific ...

in 2004 and at the

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a ...

in 2008. Nishikawa revisited his 2003 US performance at the Asian culture convention Otakon by performing at Otakon's 20th Anniversary on August 10, 2013.

Biography

Early life

Nishikawa was born to a government worker (father, Yasuhiro) and a dental hygienist (mother, Kazuko) in

Hikone, Shiga 280px, Hikone City Hall is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 111,958 in 49066 households and a population density of 570 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Hikone is ...

and moved to

Yasu, Shiga is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 50,695 in 20695 households and a population density of 630 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Yasu is located in south-central Shig ...

. He attended as a child. Nishikawa was close to his grandfather (a retired policeman), whom he visited every day after school, since his parents were always working. Under the encouragement of his grandfather, Takanori studied kendo until age ten, when his grandfather died due to illness. Nishikawa also attended and . While in junior high, Takanori began to consider a career in music.Jonathan Mays, interview with T.M.Revolution, “Sound Decision,” '' Anime News Network'', June 10, 2004, accessed August 5, 2006 . He dropped out of high school and left Shiga to pursue his dream. Takanori was also married to

Yumi Yoshimura is a Japanese singer, best known as a member of the pop duo PUFFY, along with Ami Onuki. Early life and career She was born in Neyagawa, Osaka, in 1975. She learned that there was a talent search underway in Tokyo. She successfully tried out ...

Puffy AmiYumi is a Japanese pop rock duo formed in Tokyo in 1995, consisting of singers Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura. In the United States, they adopted the name Puffy AmiYumi to avoid legal naming conflicts with Sean Combs, who also performed under the name ...

from 1999 to 2002.

Luis-Mary

Nishikawa joined the

visual kei is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock. Some ...

rock band

Luis-Mary Luis-Mary was a Japanese visual kei post-punk band that was formed in 1989 and broke up in 1993. There were four members. Members *Yoshitsugu "Zyeno" Yamashita (山下善次) - Guitar *Takehisa "Shien" Maruyama (丸山武久) - Bass * Takanori "H ...

in 1990 as the vocalist. His band nickname and his appearance at the time would eventually become the inspiration for Nishikawa's character in ''Gundam SEED Destiny'' ( Heine Westenfluss). Luis-Mary released three singles; "Rainy Blue", "Whisper(In Your Eyes)" and "Drive Me Mad". The band broke up in 1993.

T.M.Revolution

In 1995,

signed on with Nishikawa under the FunHouse label, now owned by

BMG Japan Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music co ...

. They released one single, ''Black or White?'', under the name Daisuke Asakura expd. Takanori Nishikawa. This song was rerecorded in 1997 and also rearranged in 2000 as TMR's twelfth single (''Black or White? version 3''). The original “Black or White?” song also appears as the third track on TMR's first album ''Makes Revolution'' (1996). Nishikawa participated in a mini three-band event in November 1995. His fan club, turbo, was established shortly afterwards, in December 1995. In early 1996, Nishikawa made several radio appearances announcing the debut of his solo project. On March 22, 1996, the project was given the name T.M.Revolution, with Asakura named as TMR's producer.“Biography of Takanori's Music Works,” ''100% Takanori Nishikawa Site'', accessed August 7, 2006 <>. ''Dokusai -monopolize-'' was released on May 13, 1996 under the Antinos Records label. It reached #28 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in ...

charts. Nishikawa's performance on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

's music variety show ''Pop Jam'' (which he would, later in his career, cohost for eleven months) helped boost sales, eventually selling out all first press copies of the single. His second single, was released two months later, followed by the release of TMR's first album ''Makes Revolution'' another month later. ''Heart of Sword: Yoake Mae'' was released in November 1996 and was used as the third ending song for ''Rurouni Kenshin''. It later replaced " The Fourth Avenue Cafe" (by rock band

L'Arc-en-Ciel L'Arc-en-Ciel ( French: 'The Rainbow', stylized as L'Arc~en~Ciel), also known as Laruku, is a Japanese rock band, formed in Osaka in 1991 by bassist tetsuya and vocalist hyde. Following the departure of original members hiro and pero, guitaris ...

) as the fourth ending song, due to drug charges laid against a now former member of that band. "Heart of Sword: Yoake Mae" became a fan favourite that sold 360,000 copies and reached #16 on the

charts. Nishikawa's second album, ''restoration LEVEL➝3'' ometimes called was released in February 1997, which reached #5 on the Oricon charts. Nishikawa released three singles, ''Level 4'', ''High Pressure'', and ''White Breath'', in 1997. ''High Pressure'' became TMR's breakthrough single, selling 800,000 copies. ''White Breath'' sold over one million copies and became the first TMR single to reach #1 on the Oricon charts. Nishikawa performed ''White Breath'' on the 48th edition of ''

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

'', an annual music show televised by NHK. Less than a month later, his third album ''triple joker'' was released and went on to sell two million copies. , the first track from ''triple joker'', was recut as a single in February 1998 and it was used in a

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

JOG commercial. Nishikawa's three albums were also released in other parts of Asia, and he visited

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

in April 1998 to promote ''triple joker''. ''Hot Limit'', released in June 1998, sold 900,000 copies and became Nishikawa's second #1 single. Nishikawa also performed at the 49th edition of ''Kōhaku Uta Gassen''. His fourth album, ''the force'', was released in March 1999 and featured album mixes of the four singles (''Hot Limit'', ''Thunderbird'', ''Burnin' X'mas'', ''Wild Rush'') that followed ''Aoi Hekireki''. Shortly after ''the force'' was released, Nishikawa performed two concerts at

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...

to a total audience of 100,000. In 1999, Nishikawa announced the end of T.M.Revolution. He and Daisuke Asakura went on to form The End of Genesis T.M.R. evolution Turbo Type D (or TMR-e, for short). The name implied it was an "evolution" of TMR. Asakura also appeared in their music videos and performed alongside Nishikawa. Three singles were released under that name, all in 1999: , , and . Their only album, ''Suite Season'', was released in February 2000. Nishikawa and Asakura started becoming more distant from each other, and Nishikawa reverted to his original stage name in April 2000. ''BLACK OR WHITE? version 3'', a self-cover, was released in April 2000. It was used as a professional baseball theme song on Nippon Television. Two other singles 'HEAT CAPACITY'' and a

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson ('' Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 200 ...

(''DISCORdanza: Try My Remix ~Single Collections~''), and studio album (''progress''; TMR's fifth) were also released in 2000. ''Boarding'' was released in February 2001. The title track of the single was used as a theme song to a drama called . Nishikawa started self-producing, with the release of his sixteenth single (''Out of Orbit ~Triple ZERO~'') one year later. (Asakura continued to compose music for TMR.) His compilation album ''B☆E☆S☆T'' was released the next month. Epic Records Japan purchased Antinos Records that year, and all albums on the Antinos catalogue were re-released under the Epic label on July 1, 2002. "Thunderbird" inspired anime director Mitsuo Fukuda to ask Nishikawa to perform the first opening song for ''Gundam SEED'' ("Invoke"). ''Invoke'', released in September 2002, sold 250,000 copies and reached #2 on the Oricon charts. Nishikawa also voice acted as Miguel Aiman early in that series and narrated a recap episode of ''Gundam SEED''. ''Coordinate'', his sixth original album, was released in March 2003. The cover was a closeup of the customized orange GINN that Nishikawa's ''Gundam SEED'' character piloted. (Orange is Nishikawa's favourite colour.) , an album track from ''coordinate'', was used as an insert song to ''Gundam SEED''. The album mix of "THUNDERBIRD", originally from ''the force'', was also included on this album. Later that year, Nishikawa became the first artist to be signed under Tofu Records, and ''coordinate'' was the first album released by Tofu. The Tofu release of ''coordinate'' also included "HEART OF SWORD ~''Yoake Mae''~" as a

bonus track An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

. Nishikawa made his debut North American performance at Otakon in August 2003, to a massive audience who filled both the ballroom and overflow room (an exhibition hall) of the

Baltimore Convention Center The Baltimore Convention Center is a convention and exhibition hall located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. The center is a municipal building owned and operated by the City of Baltimore. The facility was constructed in two separate phases: th ...

to their entirety. Nishikawa released his eighteenth single, , in February 2004. (

Albireo Albireo is a double star designated Beta Cygni (β Cygni, abbreviated Beta Cyg, β Cyg). The International Astronomical Union uses the name "Albireo" specifically for the brightest star in the system. Although designated ' beta', ...

is a bright star from the constellation Cygnus.) "Albireo" was used in a music variety show on Nippon Television called ''AX MUSIC-TV'', where it was #49 on the show's "power play" list."SEVENTH HEAVEN", track list, ''Sony Music Online Japan'', 2004, accessed October 13, 2006 . ''SEVENTH HEAVEN'', his aptly named seventh album, was released in March 2004. Tofu Records released ''SEVENTH HEAVEN'' a few weeks later and Nishikawa performed at Pacific Media Expo in May 2004. “Zips”, a track from ''SEVENTH HEAVEN'', was used as an insert song for the first '' Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Special Edition'' movie. "Wheel of Fortune" was used as a

Formula Nippon The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series. It is considered as being the top level of single-seater racing in Japan and regional motorsports in Asia. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and ...

theme song on

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

. Nishikawa was asked to sing the ending theme song of the Japanese theatrical release of ''

Spider-Man 2 ''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, it is the ...

'' ("Web of Night"), because of his performance at PMX 2004 and his relations at Sony Music Japan. ''Web of Night'', released in late July 2004, also included a rearrangement of "Tears Macerate Reason" (originally from ''Seventh Heaven'') and an English version of the song (translated by Lynne Hobday). Nishikawa shot the "Web of Night" PV in both languages. He also attended the world premiere of ''Spider-Man 2'' wearing a traditional Japanese

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...

. was used as the first opening song of ''Gundam SEED Destiny'', which premiered in October 2004. The release of the ''ignited'' single was the first TMR single to reach #1 on the Oricon charts since 1998, becoming the 900th #1 single in the Oricon chart. It was #53 on the

2004 Oricon Top 100 Singles 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

chart, having sold 161,324 copies. Nishikawa also voice acted as Heine Westenfluss for several episodes of ''Gundam SEED Destiny''. His character was directly modelled after Nishikawa himself, as opposed to Miguel Aiman of ''SEED''. Heine's hairstyle resembled Nishikawa's

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Biography

Early life

Luis-Mary

T.M.Revolution

Abingdon Boys School era

''Cloud Nine'' era

Preserved Roses / Kakumei Dualism era

''Ten (天)'' era

''Committed RED / Inherit the Force'' and ''2020 -T.M.Revolution All Time Best-'' era

Takanori Nishikawa - BIRI x BIRI, Bright Burning Shout, Singularity, REALxEYEZ, 天秤-Libra-

Other activities

International market

Ambassador for Shiga Prefecture

Record label Defröck Records

Takanori Nishikawa's All Night Nippon

Diesel Corporation

Defröck

Babel Fish

abingdon boys school

Live Revolution '08–'09

Discography

Studio albums

As T.M.Revolution

As Takanori Nishikawa

Filmography

Anime

Puppetry

Video games

Drama

Film

Theatre

Other media appearances

TV

Radio

Podcasts

Products

Photobooks

Hello Kitty keychains

See also

References

External links