Not really sure if this is the first official otaku music debate or not, but I think I picked two contenders that are near and dear to many of our hearts. Two who could easily vie for the title of the most renown and popular Japanese musician in the world. Of course, there are plenty of other contenders but we can't just have them all compete. Well, we could, but my fingers would fall off from typing about them, and I'd love to have more of these.

In one corner, we have Gackt Camui, the former member of Malice Mizer who has gone on to unprecedented solo stardom. The man has done it all from appearing in Japanese dramas, commercials, movies, and even games to doing an entire album of Gundam music. Hell, he even has his own Vocaloid, and what's more, they recently announced he's doing the ending theme to the next Samurai Warriors game. Aside from being totally talented though, he comes with the drawback of being bat-shit insane. I know, you're wondering what I mean, or if you're not wondering that, you're fuming that I'd say such a thing about your beloved idol. Well, he thinks he's a 500 year-old vampire-- seriously. He's gone on record to state that. On the bright side, he did it way before the whole Twilight craze (see: when vampires were cool).

Then we have Utada Hikaru, the Japanese American who stole the hearts of Japan and America in one fell swoop. Hikki-chan still holds a number of records such as the best selling album on the Japanese Orichon charts with her debut album "First Love," and has had twelve other #1 singles to date. She also contributed to the hugely popular Kingdom Hearts series, which arguably plagues our anime cons with lazy cosplay. Oh, and she contributed to one of my favorite dramas of all time, Hana Yori Dango. No doubt you've heard of that, if not the manga it was based on. She's also a gamer girl, and her "mad Tetris skills" are rumored to be on par with that of the great Nick Chester himself. In case you're wondering, that's an accomplishment.