Hiroki Nanami (七海ひろき, Nanami Hiroki) is a Japanese actress, singer, voice actress, and former otokoyaku (male role) star of the Takarazuka Revue (2003–2019).
Contents
Troupe History
2003–2015, Cosmos Troupe
2015–2019, Star Troupe
Biography
Unlike many Takarasiennes, Nanami Hiroki’s life pre-Takarazuka was not marked with an abundance of performing arts experience. Rather, with a brother two years older, from a young age she'd roleplay the heroes in stories and do other boys' things. She was class representative every year of elementary school, an honor student in whom the teachers placed great faith.
In her 6th year of elementary school, she happened to catch Takarazuka Moon Troupe's "Gone with the Wind" on television. She fell immediately in love with the star, Amami Yuuki, and began collecting all the shows she appeared in on video and watching them on repeat. A year later, Nanami went to see Amami Yuuki live for the first time in "Me And My Girl," and made the decision that she wanted to enter Takarazuka.
Though she had no previous dance experience, after entering middle school, Nanami enrolled in a ballet class in Tokyo that her father found specifically for those aspiring to enter the Takarazuka Music School. Once a week, she commuted 5 hours round trip from her home in Ibaraki to attend.
She entered a high-level high school and her parents gave her the ultimatum that she couldn't take the exam to enter the Takarazuka music school if her school grades slipped, so she worked hard on her studies and took her lessons simultaneously She passed the Takarazuka exam in her second year of high school on her second try.
Her stage name, "Nanami" takes one character from her real name ("Mi" from "海," "Sea"), combined with "Nana" ("七," "Seven") from the name of a character she liked from the anime "Tico of the Seven Seas." "Hiroki" (which can contain the character for "vast" in Japanese) comes from the vastness of the ocean.
After graduating from the Takarazuka music school, she made her onstage debut in 2003 in Moon troupe’s Takarazuka Floral Diaries/ Senor Don Juan. She was then assigned to Cosmos troupe, where she would stay until 2015. During her time in Cosmos troupe, she was given the opportunity to play many different background roles, and in 2009, she received her first and only shinjinkouen (young performers) lead role, Justin in Raindrops Fall on Roses. In 2011, she was cast in a female role, Natacha Rambova in Valentino- playing the wife to then-Top Star Oozora Yuuhi. In 2013, Nanami had her first true theatrical lead in a Western-themed musical titled The Wild Meets The Wild. Following this, she was cast as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind.
Post-Takarazuka career
Three months after her retirement from the Takarazuka Revue, Nanami announced her signing with Andstir entertainment and the King Records music label.
She made her post-Takarazuka artist debut with the release of her first mini album, 'Galaxy', and an accompanying one-man live show with a four-concert run in Tokyo and Osaka. At the same time, she announced her post-Takarazuka seiyuu debut as Shizuno in Satelight’s Somali and the Forest Spirit.
On November 8, 2019, she was instated as a cultural ambassador for Ibaraki Prefecture.
Her first theatrical performance post-Takarazuka was the titular role of Red, in Red and Bear, an original musical which ran from January 24, 2020, to February 2, 2020, at the Sunshine Theatre in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan.
In addition to her voiceover, theatrical, and musical work, Nanami has hosted weekly radio shows such as 七つの海への大航海, (‘nanatsu no umi e no dai koukai’, A Voyage to the Seven Seas) on Tokyo FM, and a television program on the Takarazuka Revue’s television channel, Takarazuka Skystage. Her self-produced television program, ときめきタカラヅカSTYLE (‘Tokimeki Takarazuka Style’), originally slated for a limited eight-episode run, extended to twelve episodes and ended in September 2020.
In March 2021, Nanami announced her move to King Amusement Creative, a label shared by several well-known voice actors, including Megumi Hayashibara and Nana Mizuki, and a third musical album (FIVESTAR.)
Notable Roles in Takarazuka
Beside the Foggy Elbe / Estrellas, Tobias
Thunderbolt Fantasy / Amazing Star☆Killer Rouge, Shāng Bù Huàn
Another World / Killer Rouge, Kiroku
Om Shanti Om, Mukesh
The Scarlet Pimpernel, Maximilien Robespierre
Strategist Takenaka Hanbei, Takenaka Shigeharu
Guys and Dolls, Benny Southstreet
Catch Me If You Can, Carl Hanratty
Top Hat, Horace Hardwick
The Rose of Versailles, Oscar
Gone with the Wind, Scarlett O'Hara
The Wild Meets the Wild, Benjamin Northbrook
Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Paul von Oberstein, Wolfgang Mittermeyer
Valentino, Natacha Rambova
Gin-chan's Love, Makoto
The Second Life, Mark White
Notable shinjinkouen (young star) roles
Casablanca, Victor Laszlo
Raindrops Fall on Roses, Justin
Phantom, Phantom's Follower
Notable post-Takarazuka works
Stage
Reiwa Senbonzakura ~ Yoshitsune to Benkei / Korokke Monomane, Yoshitsune
Elizabeth 25th Anniversary Gala, Rudolf
Road 59, Hyuuga Shion
Red and Bear, Red
Frankenstein - cry for the moon, Frankenstein/ Mr Barefoot
Gegege no Kitaro, Amanojaku - Rin
Touken Ranbu
Kahakugeki Butai Touken Ranbu/ Tomoshibi - K̶i̶d̶e̶n̶ ̶I̶k̶u̶s̶a̶ ̶Y̶u̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶A̶d̶a̶b̶a̶n̶a̶ - Kaihen Kiden Ikusa Yu no Adabana no Kioku, Hosokawa Gracia
Kiden Ikusa Yu no Adabana, Hosokawa Gracia
Guden Mujun Genji Monogatari, Kasen Kanesada
Live musical performances
Summer Tour 2021
Kingdom Online Summer Live
Adachi House Festival “~You&I Peace&Love~”
One-man LIVE 773 “GALAXY”
Hiroki Nanami ZEPP Live tour "COLORS"
Albums
FIVESTAR
Kingdom
Galaxy
Voice acting
Nobunaga the Fool (2014), Uesugi Kenshin
Somali and the Forest Spirit (2020), Shizuno
Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga (2020), Hideto Mitsu
Uchi Tama!? ~Uchi no Tama Shirimasen ka?~ (2020), Kai (episode 7)
Gibiate (2020), Ayame Hatonami
Pretty Boy Detective Club (2021), Rei
Yasuke (2021), Nikiita
Kageki Shojo!! (2021), Sei Satomi
Night Head 2041 (2021), Naoto Kirihara (young)
Visual Prison (2021), Eve Louise
Shaman King (2021), Hao Asakura
Insect Land (2022), Theo
RWBY: Ice Queendom (2022), Shion Zaiden
Mashle (2023), Abyss Razor
Rokudo's Bad Girls (2023), Aoi Furukawa
Helck (2023), Edil
Good Night World (2023), Sasumata
The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store (2023), Male Peacock
The Apothecary Diaries (2023), Joka
Sengoku Youko (2024), Senya
Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master (2024), Hamayū
TV Shows/Dramas
Tokimeki Takarazuka Style
Mystery Murders Theatre
How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer (2022), Suou
Books/other
N (photobook)
恋って何ですか？ (essay compilation)
Tokyo FM Radio Show: 七つの海への大航海
.773 (photobook)
TS ONE United Radio Show: ～☆でぃあれすと☆〜
Takarazuka Personal Book volume 4- Nanami Hiroki