was a Japanese musician, singer and songwriter. After winning the Grand Prix in 2012, she left school and started her music career. In 2015, she released her debut single "Mikazuki", the ending theme of Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace, and she later sang theme songs for the anime series Erased, Scum's Wish, Fate/Extra Last Encore, Golden Kamuy, My Hero Academia, Sing "Yesterday" for Me, Edens Zero, and Lycoris Recoil.
Biography 1996–2015: Early life, Music Revolution, "Mikazuki" Sayuri, a native of Shika Island in Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, was born on June 7, 1996. Inspired by the idol boy band Kanjani Eight, Sayuri took up guitar as a hobby and began composing music during her second year of middle school. Afterwards, she performed in the band Muu (as guitarist and vocalist) and the acoustic duo Longtal (under the name Asuka), and she did street performances and live house appearances in places like Hiroshima, Osaka, and Nagoya.
In 2012, Sayuri won the Grand Prix at the 5th finals, where she was their youngest contestant. She left school and moved to Tokyo the next year; despite dropping out of high school, she later tweeted in January 2015 that she took the exam for the Certificate for Students Achieving the Proficiency Level of Upper Secondary School Graduates. Despite performing at live houses, she preferred performing on the more-open streets for a more diverse range of people; she said in an interview with that these street performances were originally intended for training. In March 2015, Sayuri held her first solo concert, "Yoake no Shitaku", at Tsutaya O-East in Tokyo. On August 26, 2015, she released her first single "Mikazuki", making her major debut at 19; the song was also the ending theme for the anime series Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace.
2016–2017: "Sore wa Chiisana Hikari no Youna", "Parallel Line", Mikazuki no Koukai She sang "Sore wa Chiisana Hikari no Youna", the ending theme of the Erased anime; composed and written by Yuki Kajiura, it was released as her second single on February 24, 2016. On April 23, 2016, she held a solo concert "Mikazuki no Koukai" at the Shibuya WWW; tickets were sold out only seconds after they went on sale. On June 3, 2016, she re-released her Music Revolution song "Ru-Rararu-Ra-Rurararu-Ra" as her digital-only third single; the song was later included in a four-track EP of the same name, released on June 24. On December 7, 2016, she and Yojiro Noda of Radwimps collaborated for her fourth single "Furaregai Girl". On March 1, 2017, Sayuri released her fifth single "Parallel Line," which was featured as the ending song to both the anime and live-action adaptations of Scum's Wish, becoming her first Japanese television drama ending song.
On March 23, 2017, it was announced that she would release her first album Mikazuki no Koukai on May 17. The day after her album was released, it reached first on Oricon's Daily Album Chart, and it later ranked third on the weekly Oricon Albums Chart. On August 23, the full-length music video for one of the album's songs, , was released. On May 19, 2017, she held her first street performance in over a year in Shinjuku, with approximately 2,000 fans in attendance. On November 24, 2017, Sayuri's solo concert at Tokyo Dome City Hall became her largest up to this point.
2018–2021: "Tsuki to Hanataba", "Reimei", "Kōkai no Uta" Sayuri released her sixth single on February 28, 2018; the song was the ending theme of the anime Fate/Extra Last Encore. She performed at Anisong World Matsuri at Anime Expo on July 6, 2018, in Los Angeles, California. She collaborated with My First Story for the song , released on November 27, 2018; the song is used as the second opening theme of the anime series Golden Kamuy. Sayuri was featured on Hiroyuki Sawano's song "Me & Creed <nZkv>", which was originally planned to be the theme song for the mobile game Blue Exorcist: Damned Chord before being cancelled in 2020.
Between August 2–4, 2019, Sayuri performed two concerts in Mannheim during AnimagiC convention which marked her first concerts in Germany and her European concert debut. Later that month, on August 25 it was announced that she will perform the ending theme song for the anime My Hero Academia season 4 with her song ; it was released as a single on November 27, 2019. Milan Records released an eponymous "World Edition" EP on digital platforms on November 29, serving as Sayuri's international debut. On May 22, 2020, her new song "Aoibashi", the theme song for the anime Sing "Yesterday" for Me, was released digitally; it was named after the former Keiō Line station. Sayuri released the album Me on June 3, 2020, consisting of acoustic renditions of her previous songs; she later embarked on the 12-show Nejikoboreta Bokura no "Me" tour in 2022 to promote the album. On August 1, 2020, she released another digital single "Summer Bug". On October 24, 2020, Sayuri announced that she would be signing with iTony Entertainment. She released the song "Kamisama" on March 5, 2021; it was used as the opening theme for the drama series . On September 8, 2021, she released the song , which served as the second ending theme of the anime series Edens Zero.
2022–2024: "Hana no Tō", marriage, and death On July 3, 2022, , the ending theme to the anime series Lycoris Recoil, was released the day after the series premiere. On August 10, 2022, she released her second album Sanketsu Shōjo. In October 2023, Sayuri was featured on the song by BAK. On March 18, 2024, she announced that she had been married to Amaarashi, one half of the J-pop duo .
On July 25, 2024, she announced that she would take a hiatus from singing to recover from functional dysphonia. On September 27, 2024, Amaarashi released a statement announcing that Sayuri had died on September 20 at age 28. A private funeral was held by her relatives and close friends. It was stated that she had been suffering from a chronic illness.
Musical style She used the monikers and . She normally performed in a poncho while barefoot because, as she revealed in an interview with JaME she felt she is "one with the land when I'm standing there". Her musical image would depict her real self as a "floating presence" between her "2D" online career and "3D" live career. Yukako of TicketJam said that Sayuri "has a wide range of charm as a singer-songwriter, such as her overwhelming singing voice and singing ability that captivates not only listeners but also fellow artists, and her unique songwriting sense".
Discography Studio albums + Title Album details Peak chart positions JPN JPNHotPeak positions in the Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart: Mikazuki no Koukai: Sanketsu Shōjo: Me: Released: May 17, 2017 Label: Ariola Japan Formats: CD, CD+DVD, CD+BD, digital download 3 4 Released: August 10, 2022 Label: Ariola Japan Formats: CD, digital download 13 8
Remix album + Title Album details Peak chart positions JPN JPNHot Released: June 3, 2020 Label: Ariola Japan Formats: CD, CD+DVD 3 2
Extended plays + Title EP details Released: June 24, 2016 Label: Ariola Japan Formats: Digital download, streaming About a Voyage (World Edition)Released: November 29, 2019 Label: Milan Records Formats: Digital download, streaming
Singles CD singles + Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album JPNPeak positions in the Oricon Singles Chart:
JPNHotPeak positions in the Billboard Japan Hot 100: "Mikazuki": "Sore wa Chiisana Hikari no Youna": "Furaregai Girl": "Parallel Line": "Tsuki to Hanataba": "Reimei": "Kōkai no Uta": "Hana no Tō": 2015 20 14 RIAJ: Gold Mikazuki no Koukai 2016 17 15 17 22 2017 10 10 2018 10 10 Sanketsu Shōjo 7 10 2019 12 34 2021 10 — "—" denotes a single that did not chart.
Digital singles As lead artist + Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album JPNDig. JPNHot 2016 — — Mikazuki no Koukai 2020 — — Sanketsu Shōjo 34 — "Summer Bug" — — 2021 — — 2022 5 52 RIAJ: Gold RIAJ: Platinum "—" denotes a single that did not chart.
As featured artist + Title Year 2023
Guest appearance + Song Year Album Album artist "Me & Creed <nZkv>" 2019 Remember SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]
Music videos + Title Year Director(s) "Mikazuki" 2015 "Raise de Aou" 2016 "Sore wa Chiisana Hikari no Youna" "Anonymous" Yasuhiro Arafune "Furaregai Girl" "Parallel Line" 2017 Yasuhiro Arafune "Birthday Song" Atsushi Tani "Jū-oku-nen" "Tsuki to Hanataba" 2018 Atsushi Tani "Reimei" "Kōkai no Uta" 2019 "Nejiko" 2020 Kozue Satō "Summer Bug" "Kamisama" 2021 Shusshin Katsushika "Sekai no Himitsu" Udon Tsutomu Mita "Sanketsu Shōjo" 2022
Awards and nominations + Award Year Category Nominee Result CD Shop Awards 2018 Grand Prize Mikazuki no Koukai 2012 Grand Prix "Ru-Rararu-Ra-Rurararu-Ra" Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award Newtype Anime Awards 2023 Best Theme Song "Hana no Tō" 2022 Anime Song Grand Prize Artist Song Award User Vote Award Space Shower Music Awards 2018 Best Breakthrough Artist Sayuri
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