Flashback Friday: Yuna Ito - Endless Story | When Nana got her wig snatched

It's that time of year when I play the shit out of Japanese ballads, and one which gets played with regularity is "Endless Story" from the live action movie adaptation of Nana. Which thankfully, after Sony Music Japan finally getting their shit together, is now available on Spotify worldwide.

If you don't know about this song, then I invite you to get to know.

The Nana movie featured a range of talent, many of whom were already pretty established stars. Lead star in the titular role Mika Nakashima already had a music career and a couple of hit albums under her belt, and co-stars Ryuhei Matsuda and Hiroki Narimiya were already well known actors. Yuna Ito comparatively was a new face for which Nana was a massive launch pad for her music career.

Despite Mika Nakashima's Nana single "Glamorous Sky" hitting number 1 on the Oricon weekly chart, "Endless Story" sold more copies and stayed on the charts longer overall. This was an amazing feat for a new artist up against a song by a pop star who'd already had top 10 singles and number 1 albums, with a song composed by Hyde of L'Arc-en-Ciel, the front man of a massively successful J-Rock band. But I guess a long career in pop wasn't meant to be for Yuna, as she fell off the radar from 2010 after only 5 years and 3 studio albums in that time. If there's one thing Sony Music Japan are not known for, it's supporting their hoes. Those still signed to Sony and putting out music are very lucky.

But "Endless Story" continues to live on as a fan favourite from the Nana movies after all of these years. It's truly a timeless song that holds a place in many hearts. Yuna could be 80 years old with a zimmer frame, come out on stage and have the whole crowd go mad as soon as the opening notes of "Endless Story" start. She'll always have this one song if nothing else.