generasia:Featured article for 2009 week 33

Shikata Akiko

Shikata Akiko (志方あきこ) is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter who debuted as a doujin artist by singing theme songs for video games. Her first independent studio album, Haikyo to Rakuen stayed at the first place of MUZIE distribution network charts for 24 weeks, giving her an invitation from producer Hakase Tarou to make a major debut. In the year 2005, she signed with Hakase's HATS UNLIMITED label and released her first major album Navigatoria. On March 18th, 2009, Shikata released her third major studio album Harmonia under avex trax label which reached #15 on the Oricon weekly charts in the first week with 12,275 copies sold.

On August 19th, 2009, Shikata will release her first single, Katayoku no Tori under Frontier Works label. The song is currently used as the opening theme for the anime adaption of Umineko no Naku Koro ni.

* Essay topic for JPop music and JPop singers.