Anisong Singer Ray Announces Graduation From Artist Career

by tsubasalover
Jan 25, 2017 3:17 AM | 18 Comments

Anisong singer Ray has announced via her blog that she will graduate from being a singer after her summer live tour ends. The reason for her retirement is to take up another challenge—something other than singing.

Born Reika Nakayama, Ray debuted from singing the Ano Natsu de Matteru opening theme song "sign." She then sung several theme songs for other anime series such as Nagi no Asukara, To LOVE-Ru Darkness, Long Riders, and more.

Source: Ray's Blog

Musician Life Event

18 Comments Recent Comments

I'm always gonna be sad about this. She had such an AMAZING voice. She could've had a long and successful career ahead of her. No matter where she is, I hope she's happy with her current endeavors.

Mar 21, 2021 1:52 AM by Hibernape

I hope she comes back, I love her and IMO she has a voice of god T-T

Mar 3, 2017 3:10 PM by Glutek

Well, that's disappointing. I always find her voice to be something nice to listen to. And with her talent and a good manager, it's not hard to say that she has what it takes to top the charts. Unfortunately, that's not what happened.

Anyway, does this mean that the Nekopara OP is her last song?

Jan 25, 2017 3:54 PM by julyan

T_T thats sad....i really love her voice especially nagi no asakura
looks like i wont be hearing her songs again in the future ;-;
She has all my support in her next challenge

Jan 25, 2017 10:58 AM by Ayakashi_UwU

Aw. Her OP for Ano Natsu and OP 1 & 2 for NagiAsu were damn great. She will be missed.

Jan 25, 2017 10:56 AM by MaahHeim

I wonder what the challenge is? She's a singer not an idol, so love and marriage can't be the career ending challenge.

Jan 25, 2017 10:20 AM by Hoppy

That's a shame. I really like her voice.

Jan 25, 2017 10:04 AM by Hibernape

Playcool said:
That is a pity, I liked her performance with Nagi no Asukara.

The lyricist (Kawada Mami) retired last year. And now Ray is retiring too.

Jan 25, 2017 9:48 AM by Ermeson1996

maa
if it indeed be the best choice
good luck, even though I myself would probably miss his works

Jan 25, 2017 9:05 AM by MisakiOji

Playcool said:
That is a pity, I liked her performance with Nagi no Asukara.

OP1

OP2

Liked alot both the OPs, it is rare to see a series where I did enjoy BOTH OP1 and OP2 this much. Hope she returns one day.

Oh wow... She's sort of retiring?
Yeah I really really liked both songs that she sang for Nagi no Asukara.... (I always sang along with the opening songs)

Jan 25, 2017 8:51 AM by TopSpade

addioo12 said:

hpulley said:

She is moving on after 5 years; why it doesn't say other than that she thought about it and wants to do something else. What exactly it doesn't say but she says she has another big dream she wants to pursue. Have to keep checking her blog I guess, assuming she keeps writing it.

well...frankly, for someone whose main occupation it is to perform anisongs, she hasn't had much releases during those five years. I think it's pretty obvious why she would look for something different

9 singles plus the Ano Natsu OVA OP and a couple of Playstation CDs, 3 albums, some tours. Not terrible for 5 years I'd say but she didn't exactly rule the charts. I enjoyed her Long Riders theme song but it didn't sell that well, just 44th place, 2.3K and fell out of the top 100 after that. Little Trip ranked twice, 5.4K, not terrible but not a real stand out.

I thought she'd done some songwriting for others singers too, may have to check my Nitta Emi CDs as I know they were friends and I think she appeared on Emi's radio show but I could be misremembering.

Too bad but it seems she never found huge success. I wish her good luck and happiness in the pursuit of her new dream.

Jan 25, 2017 7:06 AM by hpulley

;_;

That's sad. I love her voice and her songs. But I respect her decision.

Jan 25, 2017 5:02 AM by phoenixalia

hpulley said:

SeijiroUshio said:
But why?

Long Riders' OP was good though.

Jan 25, 2017 4:59 AM by addioo12

SeijiroUshio said:
But why?

Long Riders' OP was good though.

Jan 25, 2017 4:34 AM by hpulley

But why?

Long Riders' OP was good though.

Jan 25, 2017 4:28 AM by SeijiroUshio

If she's retiring then I would be quite sad to be honest. For some reason, her voice is pretty angelic in a sense :c

Mostly Nagi no Asukara, AoKana, Wakaba*Girl and To Love Ru Darkness OPs :( those are my most favorites from her mostly.

Jan 25, 2017 3:49 AM by removed-user

That is a pity, I liked her performance with Nagi no Asukara.

OP1

OP2

Liked alot both the OPs, it is rare to see a series where I did enjoy BOTH OP1 and OP2 this much. Hope she returns one day.

Jan 25, 2017 3:45 AM by Playcool

Wait, what does this mean? Is Ray retiring? :o

If yes, it would be sad since I like her music. I'm happy for her though.

Jan 25, 2017 3:32 AM by Daisuki