Nami Tamaki's energetic techno-pop, which infuses the sound of Madonna and Britney Spears with a dose of Japanese dramatics, proved a great fit for the anime/gaming industry, and so her success can be largely credited to such high-profile cartoon series as Gundam SEED and D.Gray-man. However, this is not to say Tamaki has no talents of her own: she adds a knack for dancing to her vocal abilities, with the combo of both skills helping the Wakayama-born schoolgirl to win a Sony Music Japan contest at a tender age of 15, when she beat 5,000 participants to the tune of Destiny's Child's "Survivor." After that she was invited to provide two songs for Gundam SEED, the first, Believe (2003), being her pro debut; it charted at number six, and the follow-up Realize (2003) reached number three. Tamaki continued her romance with the Gundam franchise in 2004, when her song Reason became the theme of Gundam SEED Destiny and scored number two, the best result achieved by one of her singles. The same year she released her debut album Greeting (number five on the Oricon), which also came out in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the U.S., and she appeared at the Pacific Media Expo in California, performing along with T.M. Revolution. That she carried home a Japanese Gold Disk Award for the New Artist of the Year in 2004 was hardly a surprise.