Nana Okada

Nana Okada (岡田 奈々) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and actor, represented by Avex Asunaro.

She is a former member of the girl groups AKB48 and STU48.

She also released her first photobook, titled Kazaranai Hoseki and photographed in Hawaii, on February 27, and became the center (lead performer) of an AKB48 title track for the first time in the 56th single "Jabaja", released on March 14.

For the group's 38th single "Kibouteki Refrain", Okada was not selected to sing the title track, but was assigned as one of the centers (lead performers) along with Nagisa Sakaguchi for one of the B-sides, "Ima, Happy".

Later in May, she was selected to sing AKB48's 36th single title track "Labrador Retriever".

In the sixth AKB48 Group general election to determine the lineup for their 37th single, Okada ranked for the first time in 51st place, becoming part of Future Girls which performed the song "Seikaku ga Warui Onna no Ko" in the single "Kokoro no Placard".

In September, Okada was part of the cast for the AKB48 stage adaptation of the manga AKB49: Ren'ai Kinshi Jōrei, playing Haruko Mizuno.

She returned three weeks later, a day before the 8th AKB48 Group general election in which she placed 14th, thus entering the elected Senbatsu for the first time.

In her acceptance speech, she revealed that her hiatus was due to functional hypoglycemia and that she had considered leaving the group.

This was later elaborated in her solo documentary, aired in November on TBS as the fourth episode of the series AKB48 Inside Story, (AKB48裏ストーリー) titled "Nana Okada, 19 Years Old: The Price of a Dream".

(岡田奈々19歳、夢の代償)

In July, Okada placed ninth in the 9th AKB48 Group general election.

Okada joined AKB48 in 2012, and since 2016 has been part of the group's main lineup, performing in all the title tracks of their singles, including twice as lead singer.

Okada joined AKB48 in 2012 as part of the 14th generation trainees, after failing to pass the 13th generation audition the previous year.

On March 31, 2013, the AKB48 sub-unit Tentōmu Chu!

was revealed, consisting of the most promising trainee members from AKB48, SKE48, NMB48 and HKT48.

The selected members are Okada, Mako Kojima, Miki Nishino, Ryoha Kitagawa, Nagisa Shibuya, Meru Tashima and Mio Tomonaga; Okada, Kojima, and Nishino, the three AKB48 members of the unit, also became known as the Three Musketeers.

(三銃士) The Three Musketeers were later promoted to Team 4 in August 2013, during the third day of the group's Tokyo Dome concert.

On January 29, 2014, Okada and fellow Kanagawa native members Ryoka Oshima and Rina Kawaei formed "Team Kanagawa" to promote the new trains in the Yokohama Line.

In the group's fifth Janken Tournament, she placed 14th and appeared in the B-side of the winner Miyuki Watanabe's solo single.

In June 2015, Okada placed 29th in the seventh AKB48 Group general election.

She was a fixture on AKB48's major single lineups from 2016 to 2022 and is considered one of the best singers to have been part of the group.

On May 28, 2016, Okada went on hiatus due to poor health.

From 2017 to 2022, she was concurrently a member of AKB48's fifth Japan-based sister group STU48, based in Setouchi region, and served as captain since its founding until 2020.

She was a finalist in all the AKB48 Group No. 1 Singing Competitions, taking first place in the fourth event in 2022, and has released two solo songs as part of AKB48's releases.

Since then, Okada has become part of AKB48's main lineup and performed in all the title tracks of their singles, as well as her first solo song "Coin Toss" in the AKB48 album Thumbnail (2017).

On February 22, 2017, Okada announced that she would be holding a concurrent position in the new sister group STU48 and serve as the group's captain; she would later cite this appointment as what solidified her decision to continue in the entertainment industry.

She has held solo concerts in 2018 and 2022 and a duo concert in 2020.

Her solo debut album has been scheduled for release in November 2023.

As an actor, Okada has appeared in several AKB48 television series and starred in stage productions such as Majimuri Gakuen (2018), its sequel Majimuri Gakuen: Loudness (2021), and an all-female stage adaptation of Battles Without Honor and Humanity (2019).

After joining Avex Asunaro, Okada has appeared in productions outside the group, such as the television series Stolen Love, High School Teacher (2021) and the stage musical adaptation of Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (2022).

On January 16, 2018, Okada held her first solo concert at Tokyo Dome City Hall, billed "Nana Okada Solo Concert: My Precious Things", in which she performed 23 songs.

Okada co-starred in the stage adaptation of the television drama Majimuri Gakuen (2018) as Nero, who seeks to start a war between two rival schools and was partly inspired by the Roman emperor Nero.

In June 2018, Okada placed fifth in the tenth AKB48 Group general election with 75,067 votes, thus becoming a Kami 7.

In her acceptance speech, she encouraged the idol otakus to take pride in their support of AKB48 Group.

It would be the last general election held by the group.

Okada underwent surgery for vocal cord nodules in August and was unable to speak for some time while recovering.

In December, the AKB48 Group held its first AKB48 Group No. 1 Singing Ability Competition, (AKB48グループNo.1歌唱力決定戦) spanning all six Japan-based groups.

Okada earned the highest score in the qualification round, in which 155 members participated, and placed third in the finals.

She later portrayed main character Shozo Hirono in an all-female stage adaptation of Battles Without Honor and Humanity directed by Shutaro Oku, titled Battles Without Honor and Humanity ~Women's Battle to the Death~ (2019) and performed at the Hakata-za in Fukuoka in a collaboration to commemorate the theater's twentieth anniversary.