Fripside

Japanese J-pop-aided electronic duo fripSide were formed by composer Satoshi Yaginuma (Sat) and singer Nao in February 2002 and found fame largely in the world of gaming and anime. After releasing music through various online channels in the early '00s, the pair stepped out in 2003 with their debut album First Odyssey of fripSide, before signing to Japanese publishing house Visual Arts in 2006 and lending their focus to videogame music. They launched a side group called fripSide NAO Project in March 2007, releasing an album and single under that name before taking the Number 26 spot on Japan's Oricon chart with their "Flower Of Bravery" single as fripSide. Singer Nao quit the group in 2009 in order to focus on a solo career, with voice actor Yoshino Nanjō replacing Nao as the new lead singer of fripSide. The newly rebooted fripSide re-emerged in 2009 with their Number 3 charting single "Only My Railgun", which served as the opening theme to the anime series A Certain Scientific Railgun for Geneon Universal Entertainment. They spent the next decade releasing singles that included their first Japanese chart-topper in 2013, "Sister's Noise", which was used as the first opening theme for A Certain Scientific Railgun S. Yoshino Nanjō announced her retirement from fripSide on October 31, 2021, but is still slated to perform with Satoshi Yaginuma in a live context.