Where have these composers gone? (The MIA thread)

[Jormungand]

So, I've been wondering what's happened to composers who either dabbled in VGM for a short time never to be seen again, or composers that were relatively active up until retirement/career change/personal reasons/whatever.

This thread is for those composers, and the reasons for their disappearance! Anyone who has any information to contribute is encouraged to post.

If anyone has any additions they'd like to make, please feel free. I would say it's reasonable to add any composer that has been inactive in the VGM field for more than three years. That number is based on my concept of game development cycles, where a composer who seems inactive may very well be actively scoring a game that is either unannounced or announced but without its designers fully disclosed.
--------------------------------------

Yumiko Kanki (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1717) (F-Zero)
Last known game work: F-Zero (1990)

Masahiko Yoshimura (http://vgmdb.net/artist/3024) (Shining Force, Shining in the Darkness)
Last known game work: Shining Force (1992)

Norihiko Yamanuki (http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,233125/) (The 7th Saga)
Last known game work: The 7th Saga (1993)

Yayoi Wachi (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1473) (Magic Knight Rayearth, Panzer Dragoon Zwei)
Last known game work: Panzer Dragoon Zwei (1996)

Toshiyuki Sasagawa (http://vgmdb.net/artist/411) (Tengai Makyou Zero)
Last known work: Ten Plants 2 (1999)
Last known game work: Tengai Makyou The Apocalypse IV (1997)

Motoaki Takenouchi (http://vgmdb.net/artist/630) (Shining Force II, Shining Force CD, GunGriffon)
Last known game work: GunGriffon (1998)

Yasuhiro Kawakami (http://vgmdb.net/artist/351) (Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, Tobal No.1, Chocobo's Dungeon 2)
Last known game work: Chocobo's Dungeon 2 (1998)

Mitsuhito Tanaka (http://vgmdb.net/artist/6261) (Treasure Hunter G)
Last known game work: Baroque (1998) - as arranger

Hiroshi Tamawari (http://vgmdb.net/artist/2206) (Vandal Hearts I & II, Azure Dreams, Suikoden)
Last known game work: Vandal Hearts II (1999)
Official site: http://www.eurus.dti.ne.jp/~tama/

Yasuhiro Kawasaki (http://vgmdb.net/artist/3065) (Illusion of Gaia)
Last known game work: Super Producers (1999)

Masanori Hikichi (http://vgmdb.net/artist/58) (Terranigma, Granstream Saga)
Last known game work: Oprhen: Scion of Sorcery (2000)

Hiroyuki Masuno (http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,164728/) (Drakkhen, Top Gear)
Last known game work: Arle no Bouken: Mahou no Jewel (2000)

Yasunori Shiono (http://vgmdb.net/artist/313) (Lufia I & II, Energy Breaker)
Last known game work: CIMA: The Enemy (2003)

Noboru Iwata (http://vgmdb.net/artist/2892) (Langrisser III)
Last known game work: Erde ~Under the Juniper Tree~ (2003)

Junko Shiratsu (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1474) (Panzer Dragoon Zwei, Hundred Swords, Onimusha Buraiden)
Last known game work: Sega Rally 2006 (2006)


Partially solved mysteries:

Mari Yamaguchi (http://vgmdb.net/artist/327) (Breath of Fire, Super Ghosts 'n' Ghouls, Disney's Magical Quest series)
Last known work: Rockman 10 Image Soundtrack (2010) - as arranger
Last known game work: Mega Man 10 (2010)
*Mari Yamaguchi's last known game work before MM10 was Mickey to Donald Magical Adventure 3 in 1995; in other words, she is assumed to be officially retired from the VGM industry. I wonder if she still is an active composer otherwise?

Noriko Matsueda (http://vgmdb.net/artist/225) (Front Mission 1 & 2, Bahamut Lagoon, Final Fantasy X-2)
Last known work: Final Fantasy X-2 Piano Collection (2004) - as arranger
Last known game work: Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission (2004)
From SEMO (http://www.squareenixmusic.com/composers/matsueda/biography.shtml):

Matsueda subsequently worked on 2004's acclaimed Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission and her three arrangements of the Final Fantasy X-2 Piano Collection. Written with the intention of leaving a legacy, Matsueda decided to leave the gaming industry immediately afterwards to the distress of her friends Shimomura and Eguchi. Her intensive job brought sleeplessness, loss of appetite, sharp weight decreases, and rough skin and Matsueda found this increasingly affected her with age; the reception towards Final Fantasy X-2 was the last straw. She currently resides in Japan living a relatively quiet life, but continues to listen to and play music as a hobby and actively follows her former colleague's careers.
I wonder if she would find freelancing less stressful?

[Nisto]

Sad to hear that about Matsueda. I haven't heard any soundtracks from her besides Final Fantasy X-2, which was a beautiful soundtrack.

[Cedille]

What's the source on Matsueda?


Yasunori Shiono (http://vgmdb.net/artist/313) (Lufia I & II, Energy Breaker)
Last known game work: CIMA: The Enemy (2003)

He seems to have quit Neverland long ago and retired from the composer, according to what his wife says in her SNS. I heard Shiono has talked about the reason why he had left Telenet Japan in a magazine interview, but it was too old for me to confirm (if that's true, he was actually afraid of Sakuraba's talent).

[kyubihanyou]

The last thing Kanki did was the cancelled Star Fox 2 with Kozue Ishikawa. I guess the former went down with the ship.

[strugglepoo]

Soshiro Hokkai (http://vgmdb.net/artist/442) (Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance)
Last known game work: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003)

Motohiro Kawashima (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1177) (Streets of Rage 2 & 3)
Last known game work: Can't remember, something for the Saturn I think (mid-late 90's)

Junko Tamiya (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1454) (Strider, Bionic Commando, Little Nemo)
Last known game work: Little Nemo: The Dream Master (1990)

[KeyLogic]

One composer that comes to mind is Tim Follin who composed the music for Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future, one of KeyLogic's favorites. :) Unfortunately for us, he has moved on to other projects as video game music wasn't supporting him quite they way he had hoped. :(

[Medina]

What ever happened to Yuko Takehara (http://vgmdb.net/album/1545)? Like Mari Yamaguchi, she was last seen composing for video games in 1999 (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), and then disappeared until 2010 to write for Rockman 10 again. I love Yuko's music, it's a shame she's not actively composing anymore.

[Kewing]

Motohiro Kawashima (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1177) (Streets of Rage 2 & 3)
Last known game work: Can't remember, something for the Saturn I think (mid-late 90's)


Apparently he actually worked again with Koshiro on a Hitman Reborn! game for the PS2 and Wii just 2 years ago. I haven't found any rips or samples of the music; a shame, because I'm quite curious after such a long time.


You're also missing another one-hit wonder:

Naoto Ishida (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1716) (F-Zero)
Last known game work: F-Zero (1990)

It's kinda stunning how the composer of one of Nintendo's most iconic songs in its music history just seems to be non-existant. I wonder what other music we would have been graced with if he stayed on the VGM industry.

[Blitz Lunar]

Motoaki Takenouchi -- the last I heard from him was the track "Shower (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoJ_rCp9j_g)" that he wrote for Rina Chinen. great song. that was back in 2000 though. he was responsible for arrangement for a bunch of other random songs too... i think they were all listed on joshinweb. maybe there's some new things, haven't checked in a while. certainly no game stuff that i know of though. I REALLY would love to hear more stuff from him, he's great.

here's some.

Eriko Imura (Klonoa, Wagyan Paradise, Prime Goal 3)
Last known game work: Klonoa 2 (2001)

she only wrote stuff for those four soundtracks. her music for all of them is brilliant. speaking to her on twitter recently, from what I understand she hopes to return to the industry in the near future. I hope so. again, from what I can understand, I think she's been working as a (music?) teacher for some number of years.

Soyo Oka (Super Mario Kart, Sim City, Pilotwings)
Last known game work: Gakkou no Kaidan (2004)

she's at least not disappeared without a trace, and she's on twitter now. the recent arrangement activity is promising too. nonetheless, no known game soundtracks in six years is a bummer. her recent stuff for Nurse Witch, Lagnacure and Gakkou no Kaidan has been pretty nice. maybe she has done more recent games but they're just not mentioned anywhere. methinks it's SEMO interview time...

Masanao Akahori (Cybernator, Brainlord, Exhaust Heat)
Last known game work: X-Squad (2000)

from all I can tell he's been working less on soundtracks and more on sound engineering and localisation in the last decade.

Shinobu Amayake (Stunt Race FX, Wario's Woods(?))

--

all i can think of for the moment

The last thing Kanki did was the cancelled Star Fox 2 with Kozue Ishikawa. I guess the former went down with the ship.

almost! her last game work that i know of was "Special Tee Shot (http://snesmusic.org/v2/profile.php?selected=435&profile=set)" on the SNES, released in 1996 -- a little later than Star Fox 2. Pretty fun soundtrack too! parts definitely remind me of her f-zero work. Who knows where she is now though. I'd like to know, I really like her music.

I wonder what other music we would have been graced with if he stayed on the VGM industry.

I seem to remember him doing some earlier NES and disk system games, can't remember which ones though. I know Kanki worked on some NES projects too.

[Revoc]

Very interesting thread.

Akito Nakatsuka (http://vgmdb.net/artist/504) (Ice Climber, Excite Bike, Zelda II: Link's Awakening)
Last known game work: Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (2006)

Izuho Takeuchi (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1398) (Phantasy Star III)
Last known game work: Phantasy Star III (1991)

Seiichi Fukami (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1764) (Gradius II, Gradius III)
Last known game work: X-Men (1992)

Tokuhiko Uwabo (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1463) (Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Columns, Phantasy Star)
Last known game work: Sorcerian (Mega Drive) (1990) (I'm not 100% sure)

[zinger]

Motoaki Takenouchi (http://vgmdb.net/artist/630) (Shining Force II, Shining Force CD, GunGriffon)
Last known game work: GunGriffon (1998)

Apparently working (or has been since he quit composing for games) in the pop music business as a producer. Rina Chinen was one of his projects.

EDIT: sorry, just saw that Blitz Lunar had responded to this.

[Razakin]

Miki Higashino (http://vgmdb.net/artist/191) (Gradius, Contra Spirits, Suikoden, Suikoden II)
Last known game work: Tsukiyo ni Saraba (2005)

I mean, come on guys, missing Higashino. That makes me weep. I would sell my soul to see Suikoden VI composed by Higashino.

[Dag]

Takayuki Iwai (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1510) (Darkstalkers series, Capcom arcades)
Last known game work: Twinkle Star Sprites: La Petite Princesse (2005)

He formed Wavelink Zeal with his wife Yuki Iwai. But around late 2007 she made a cryptic statement saying she would be in charge of WZ. She kept composing now and then, but there is no mention of him anywhere. I fear the worst.

[Kewing]

Izuho Takeuchi (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1398) (Phantasy Star III)
Last known game work: Phantasy Star III (1991)

Wasn't his last work actually Phantasy Star IV? It is shame he disappeared right after that, had gotten really good by then.

[Chris]

Interesting about Motoaki Takenouchi.

I'm pretty sure Izuho Takeuchi is Ippo Yamada, but still waiting for absolute confirmation.

Chudah's Corner's liner notes on Moonlit Shadow pretty much explain the Miki Higashino situation.

she's at least not disappeared without a trace, and she's on twitter now. the recent arrangement activity is promising too. nonetheless, no known game soundtracks in six years is a bummer. her recent stuff for Nurse Witch, Lagnacure and Gakkou no Kaidan has been pretty nice. maybe she has done more recent games but they're just not mentioned anywhere. methinks it's SEMO interview time...

Actually, I was having a big discussion with Don about possible interviews and Soyo Oka came up, along with two other semi-retired female composers. I'll see if I can make it happen once I'm done with exams. Her DeathSmiles arrangement was sublime!

[Blitz Lunar]

great :) fingers crossed then. i'd love to know once-and-for-all what the score is regarding Bando and Kondo's involvement in SMK and Pilotwings (respectively.) there must be people other than me who find that totally confusing.

[Mika]

Nobuyuki Hara (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1158)
Last work? Dual Orb II (SNES, 1994)
Naoki Kodaka (http://vgmdb.net/artist/309)
Last work? Albert Odyssey Gaiden (Saturn, 1996)

I remember both of them fondly from the old Sunsoft NES games like Batman and Ufouria, though Kodaka did also Albert Odyssey Gaiden, which is pretty awesome.

[strugglepoo]

Hideki Naganuma, where art thou?

[Robochao]

I've always wondered what these people do when they stop composing video game music.

I would just rocking chair my life away.

[kyubihanyou]

Hideki Naganuma, where art thou?

Hideki is rumored to be Skankfunk (Air Gear), as Hummin' the Baseline has been remade into Not Hummin' But Vibin', but I believe they are two different people, as Skankfunk claimed to be "paying homage" with that track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBeR7Uceme8 - Hummin' the Baseline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1SVqmU5ai0 - Not Hummin' But Vibin'

The timing of his departure/recession from Sega (late 2005/early 2006) is also positioned too well to be merely a coincidence (The Air Gear anime started later in '06), so that might be why they chose to use it (because the game series was technically over then).

This may or may not help
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/keyword/%E9%95%B7%E6%B2%BC%E8%8B%B1%E6%A8%B9

[Schwerer]

Anyone have heard about Waichiro Ozaki nowadays?; the guy whom composed YuGiOh: Duelist of the Roses; Falsebound Kingdom; Forbidden Memories and Ephemeral Fantasia.
I think its music is good that deserves somebody ask about him.

[strugglepoo]

Shinobu Amayake (Stunt Race FX, Wario's Woods(?))


Profile: Born in Kyoto Prefecture. Formerly of Nintendo Data Development. Presently a representative of AMK music, jazz vocalist, and the person behind this sheet music arrangement collection. Also worked on the music of Pokemon, etc.
via: http://www.glitterberri.com/ocarina-of-time/special-interview-koji-kondo

Also, pictures.

[Blitz Lunar]

interesting :) though that doesn't say anything about new music from her :(

speaking of Shinobus though... what's Shinobu Tanaka up to these days? What was her last work for Nintendo? Was it Wii Fit? That was released in early 2007, and I can't think of anything she's done more recently. Maybe she left Nintendo?

[kyubihanyou]

interesting :) though that doesn't say anything about new music from her :(

Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia / Pokémon Ranger: Batonage (2008)
http://www.mobygames.com/game/nintendo-ds/pokmon-ranger-shadows-of-almia/credits

Sound: Takuto Kitsuta, Kinta Sato, Shinobu Amayake

Amayake did not return for Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs, however.
http://www.mobygames.com/game/nintendo-ds/pokmon-ranger-guardian-signs/credits

Sound Director: Takuto Kitsuta
Music: Ken-ichi Koyano, SIGERO, Keisuke Oku
Sound Effects: Ayumu Ito

speaking of Shinobus though... what's Shinobu Tanaka up to these days? What was her last work for Nintendo? Was it Wii Fit? That was released in early 2007, and I can't think of anything she's done more recently. Maybe she left Nintendo?

Wii Play, actually.
http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,55568/

[Blitz Lunar]

err oops, wii play was what i meant.

[Revoc]

Wasn't his last work actually Phantasy Star IV? It is shame he disappeared right after that, had gotten really good by then.

You're right, I completely forgot.

Motohiro Kawashima (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1177) (Streets of Rage 2 & 3)
Last known game work: Can't remember, something for the Saturn I think (mid-late 90's)Apparently he actually worked again with Koshiro on a Hitman Reborn! game for the PS2 and Wii just 2 years ago. I haven't found any rips or samples of the music; a shame, because I'm quite curious after such a long time.

I've found his Twitter account (http://twitter.com/mvorak) and this profile (http://www.kma.co.jp/html/teacher/15.html). He is on MySpace (http://jp.myspace.com/motohiro758) too.

[dissident93]

Tokuhiko Uwabo (http://vgmdb.net/artist/1463) (Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Columns, Phantasy Star)
Last known game work: Sorcerian (Mega Drive) (1990) (I'm not 100% sure)

He went to SEGA Europe (1995-1997) after the completion of Sonic 3 and Knuckles. He then left that in 1997 to do venture capital. In 2007 he became the Managing Director at mobile gaming company, Winlight.

[Gigablah]

Mari Yamaguchi (http://vgmdb.net/artist/327) (Breath of Fire, Super Ghosts 'n' Ghouls, Disney's Magical Quest series)
Last known work: Rockman 10 Image Soundtrack (2010) - as arranger
Last known game work: Mega Man 10 (2010)
*Mari Yamaguchi's last known game work before MM10 was Mickey to Donald Magical Adventure 3 in 1995; in other words, she is assumed to be officially retired from the VGM industry. I wonder if she still is an active composer otherwise?

Something interesting I came across: Someone called Mari Yamaguchi (same kanji name) was credited for the 1998 visual novel "Natural ~Mi mo Kokoro mo~". The soundtrack is included in this album:
http://vgmdb.net/album/26365

Credit can be found on Wikipedia: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_-%E8%BA%AB%E3%82%82%E5%BF%83%E3%82%82-
音楽 - 山口真理、他

It could easily be someone else though, considering the amount of dubious profiles that appear on Google search for that name =)

[MEATWART]

Apparently working (or has been since he quit composing for games) in the pop music business as a producer. Rina Chinen was one of his projects.

EDIT: sorry, just saw that Blitz Lunar had responded to this.

I've spent a ton of time trying to find a way to contact Motoaki Takenouchi over the past several years. I think I've checked nearly every link on every US and Japanese search engine, tried to contact him through other Japanese composers, even had some friends in Japan try to find him, but to no avail. He used to have a website (which is archived) which had an email address, but it longer works.

I personally think his Shining Force II soundtrack is THE best VG soundtrack of all time. I would love to tell him that personally, as well as ask him about the composition process of that soundtrack.

[Blitz Lunar]

Myself and surasshu were talking about him around a week ago in relation to this. It does seem like he has straight up fallen off the planet... it's very peculiar.

Which other composers did you contact? My first thought is Shinji Hosoe as he is kind of an oracle and knows everyone. Also Hayato Matsuo would probably know more as well but he isn't the easiest to contact either. Takenouchi would be a fascinating person to interview, for sure. Shining Force II has brilliant music.

[MEATWART]

Myself and surasshu were talking about him around a week ago in relation to this. It does seem like he has straight up fallen off the planet... it's very peculiar.

Which other composers did you contact? My first thought is Shinji Hosoe as he is kind of an oracle and knows everyone. Also Hayato Matsuo would probably know more as well but he isn't the easiest to contact either. Takenouchi would be a fascinating person to interview, for sure. Shining Force II has brilliant music.

To be honest, I don't remember all the names (some of them I contacted 5+ years ago.) I only got one or two replies; all negative. I know for a fact that composer Noriyuki Iwadare (of Lunar and Grandia fame) knows Takenouchi personally, since Iwadare once blogged about attending Takenouchi's wedding. Iwadare also praised Takenouchi's music style (such as his unusual time signatures) in that same post. I sent two emails to Iwadare (several months apart) but got no responses. I imagine Iwadare is bombarded with emails though, so my messages probably got ignored.

My best guess about Takenouchi is that he's probably doing some behind the scenes work such as writing music for commercials or producing music, where he is no longer in the public eye, hence the difficulty in finding him.

Edit: I don't remember if I contacted Shinji Hosoe (again, I tried contacting other composers 5-6 years ago) but after checking out his website, it seems he would be a reasonable person to ask about Takenouchi. Hosoe has a blog and is on twitter, so contacting him will probably be pretty easy. Once I get a hold of my Japanese-translation guy, I may try contacting Hosoe.

[Blitz Lunar]

I thought maybe he had disappeared into studio work of some kind too, but even considering that, you'd think there'd be some kind of trace of activity these days nonetheless. if he was actually still freelancing i would expect to see more of an internet presense - that's good for business :J

well anyway, i guess Hosoe would be the best bet. fingers crossed.

[OpaOpa]

I'd also love to know what Takenouchi's been up to.
Same for Taro Kudo (http://vgmdb.net/artist/325) and, as mentioned earlier, Soshiro Hokkai (http://vgmdb.net/artist/442).

[CHz]

Taro Kudo (http://vgmdb.net/artist/325)
Kudo didn't disappear per se; he's still around working on games, just not composing. He left Konami and joined Love-de-Lic with Masanori Adachi and Hirofumi Taniguchi, and their game Moon has his last known compositions as far as I know. After LdL closed, he and Adachi went on to Vanpool (along with another ex-Konami composer, Tomoko Sano), and he's still there today. He's the representative director of Vanpool actually, didn't know that until I checked just now.

His roles these days are usually direction and game design.

[aquagon]

I've also got some news to report, and are rather tragic for Ar tonelico and Atelier music fans: Takashige Inagaki, known for having greatly contributed to the music of both series, passed away on November 2009 from a brain tumor, according to the comments published here (http://ar-tonelico.jp/ARIGATO/comment.html) by Wacha. As they say in the Ar tonelico world, yasra dius manaf (Precious life, rest in peace).

[Gigablah]

This pegs it at 15 Nov 2009:
http://studio-denden.com/hokazono/2010/11/live.html

[strugglepoo]

Kudo didn't disappear per se; he's still around working on games, just not composing. He left Konami and joined Love-de-Lic with Masanori Adachi and Hirofumi Taniguchi, and their game Moon has his last known compositions as far as I know. After LdL closed, he and Adachi went on to Vanpool (along with another ex-Konami composer, Tomoko Sano), and he's still there today. He's the representative director of Vanpool actually, didn't know that until I checked just now.

His roles these days are usually direction and game design.
There's an interview here (http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hi3m-tkuc/int13.html) that I always wanted to see translated. It explains a lot, and I even believe it mentions him working at Konami. It would be great to see that part translated at the least. But yeah, Axelay has an amazing soundtrack. One of my top favs. Can't believe he stopped composing.

[VncentValntine]

Whatever happened to Hajime Hirasawa...

Last known (and only) soundtrack: Star Fox Original Soundtrack =(

I loved that OST so much, I wish I could have heard more from this man.


okay, so I already know what happened to him... but stil...

He's CEO of Faith Inc. (http://www.faith-inc.com/corporate/)

[Raizen1984]

Hirasawa also did the soundtrack to a Famicom Disk System game called Time Twist; the soundtrack can be found on this (http://vgmdb.net/album/415).

[Cedille]

Yasunori Shiono (http://vgmdb.net/artist/313)[/b] (Lufia I & II, Energy Breaker)
Last known game work: CIMA: The Enemy (2003)

Not sure what exactly happened after his departure from Neverland, but Shiono now helps his father's soba noodle restaurant and quit composing music for a while.

[Mac_Tear]

Sadly, there are also no latest activities from Suikoden fame Miki Higashino (I love the series' music). She contributed a few arrangements on Otomedius this year, but that's all... :(

[thedreamtraveler]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this person yet, but I think that it's sad that we have not heard anything new from Hiroshi Kondo. He was the lead composer for the Dark Savior and Climax Landers games. I personally loved Dark Savior a lot, wish I could find the OST's to it. Such a great game, one I feel didn't get played by enough people. I loved everything about it from the characters to the world to the music. Garian's Theme, "Lonesome Soldier", being absolutely epic and full of 90's goodness that only the Playstation and Saturn era's can deliver.

For those that know the game, some still debate if there was an extra Parallel in the Japanese version that was cut out of both US/EU editions. Crazy stuff. The last game that he composed for was Climax Landers, Time Stalkers in the US/EU, for the Dreamcast in 1999. Where the heck is this guy? And Why haven't I heard anything new from him after all these years? Makes me quite sad when I think about it, I know that I would let him compose more!

[dissident93]

Hideki Naganuma, where art thou?
He's active on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/hideki.naganuma).

Also, I tried to contact Shinji about Motoaki, but he didn't respond. Would be such a shame to learn that he passed away years ago or something terrible like that. : (

[Blitz Lunar]

Also, I tried to contact Shinji about Motoaki, but he didn't respond. Would be such a shame to learn that he passed away years ago or something terrible like that.

Agh. Maybe he didn't get a chance to reply yet? I hope he will eventually. It's a real mystery. I can't imagine him completely dropping out of his music career, that seems really strange. It's possible he passed away, I'm prepared for that being a possibility. He could have been incarcerated too... I don't want to speculate too much, but really hope we can find out some day.

[Cedille]

I tried a brief google search on Motoaki Takenouchi, and he seemed to attend some musical events as a lecture in 2008 and 2011 though. I guess he now works in the noh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh) industry?

http://www.nihu.jp/events/nichibun/
http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/event/archive/dentopro.html

日　時】　平成23年2月23日（水） 14:00～16:30
【内　容】 　
第一部　　解説「能の構成と音楽的性格」　笠谷和比古（日文研教授）
第二部　　演奏「西洋管弦楽法による能『小鍛治』」　武内基朗（作曲家）
　　　　　　　　※演奏はCD版による

[DragoonEnRegalia]

I bet he's gone freelance, with enough contacts in real-life to support him without the need to utilize any web-based resources to get his work done. The most we can do is try and focus our efforts to message Iwadare, Matsuo, and Hosoe on the matter. It might help for a group like SEMO to help out, mainly because we have connections and they're substantial enough for the time being.

Either way: I doubt he's dead if he's still being listed in areas. This is a really-cool find, Cedille, as it gives me, Blitz, and others hope of contacting the man for an interview someday.

[dissident93]

I saw Shinji has been active since I left the comment, so I doubt he will respond. Oh well..

Matsuo would seemingly be the best to ask, but he isn't active on the internet like the others. I guess Iwadare would be the next to ask. I'll leave him a message later. Or maybe somebody else should? I don't know any Japanese and maybe my terrible translation of it puts them off or something. "/

[Ramza]

Very thankful for this thread!

I'm perpetually interested in what may be going on with Noriko Matsueda. The best info on what happened comes from SEMO, specifically:

Despite the hostile response to the album, it was a financial success, especially given its low budget, and Matsueda won fame as the composer of most of its setting themes. Matsueda subsequently worked on 2004's acclaimed Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission and her three arrangements of the Final Fantasy X-2 Piano Collection. Written with the intention of leaving a legacy, Matsueda decided to leave the gaming industry immediately afterwards to the distress of her friends Shimomura and Eguchi. Her intensive job brought sleeplessness, loss of appetite, sharp weight decreases, and rough skin and Matsueda found this increasingly affected her with age; the reception towards Final Fantasy X-2 was the last straw. She currently resides in Japan living a relatively quiet life, but continues to listen to and play music as a hobby and actively follows her former colleague's careers. While the circumstances of her departure were unfortunate, she will always remain a cult figure among game music fans for her symphonic, jazz, and electronic contributions to several excellent scores.

(URL for full bio here http://www.squareenixmusic.com/composers/matsueda/biography.shtml )

That was last updated in 2007.

I'm waiting for the day that Matsueda says "to hell with it, I can be a freelance composer" and she appears on some random Japanese game soundtrack. Sort of like Michiko Naruke's surprising return. Anyone wanna take bets on if/when that happens?

Ramza

[Raziel]

Does anyone know who in the name of heaven is Shiro Kohmoto (whose sole credit is the music of Resident Evil: Survivor)?

[Cedille]

(URL for full bio here http://www.squareenixmusic.com/composers/matsueda/biography.shtml )

That was last updated in 2007.


SEMO last year updated some of their biographies, and here is the latest of hers (http://www.squareenixmusic.com/composers/matsueda/index.shtml), but we don't know much about her aside of having a child between Eguchi.

[Alcahest]

Very thankful for this thread!
I'm waiting for the day that Matsueda says "to hell with it, I can be a freelance composer" and she appears on some random Japanese game soundtrack. Sort of like Michiko Naruke's surprising return. Anyone wanna take bets on if/when that happens?

If only! I long for another album Front Mission 2 style (the best OST in the series imho), very mysterious, with these out-of-this-world tracks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvlNL9rnapM).

I also really wonder what Junya Nakano is doing now. Any info on his whereabouts would be welcome!

[MEATWART]

NEWS ABOUT MOTOAKI TAKENOUCHI

I posted on the first page (a while ago) about Motoaki Takenouchi. After several years of searching, with the help of a buddy who speaks and writes Japanese : I BELIEVE I HAVE THE (AN) EMAIL ADDRESS OF MOTOAKI TAKENOUCHI. This was provided to me by another Japanese composer who has worked with him.

I literally shake typing at this since I have spent years trying to track him down and I cannot believe I finally have a chance to send him something. I did want to come here to get suggestions on what to write. My first email will be thanking him for reading my mail, I will tell him how much I love his music etc... and then I will ask him if I can ask him more questions.

Please give me any suggestions you may have. This may be one of our only chances to at least initiate contact with him. I will wait a few days before giving my email to my friend to translate. Of course, after I'm done communicating with him, I will freely share everything -- ASSUMING HE RESPONDS.

Thanks guys.

[DragoonEnRegalia]

Son of a gun!

Well: I'd ask you to keep the message simple, cordial, and as mature as possible. Coming off as an obsessed fanboy isn't what you want to go for here (though I doubt that would happen, but it pays to be careful). The outline you've got is just fine—he's going to be in for a real surprise no matter what, and I'd send the e-mail several times to make sure he can see past the rest of his inbox and notice it. Try to mention his footprint in the Western game music community, too. He has a number of vocal fans around these parts, at the least.

All I can say is: I hope he's still using that address!

[Blitz Lunar]

Wow.

Maybe SEMO would be able to contact him for a more formal interview. But if you want to contact him, yeah I think just ask about recent projects (what he's been doing since 2000 basically), and sure a small amount of praise is usually appreciated. :)

[dissident93]

Awesome! Let's hope that he still uses the email and responds!

And who was the composer that helped you?

[Chris]

SEMO would be happy to interview him, provided he would be interested. :)

[MEATWART]

SEMO would be happy to interview him, provided he would be interested. :)

Didn't know about SEMO until a few days ago. How exactly could we get this process started? Any way we could submit/recommend questions? I want to avoid a Sonic 3 - type situation where the composers were so bombarded with questions that they stopped responding. It wasn't until some magazine interviewed Brad Buxer in 2009 that he finally admitted MJs involvement.

[dissident93]

Well if this all works out, the community here should pitch in questions and send the best ones. That is IF this email is a legit, working way to contact Motoaki.

[DragoonEnRegalia]

We'd be as considerate as possible with Takenouchi if contact is made, rest assured. I'm not sure about how Chris would want to handle questions for him, but it's not a bad idea.

[Chris]

First, we need to confirm it's him. Then, we should ask him if he is interested in an interview. Given he's been out of the industry for a long time, I'm not sure what to expect. Miki Higashino was a pleasure to correspond with and was very eager to do a retrospective. But others have been much more difficult. ;)

[Cedille]

I was also about to suggest you could use SEMO or OSV as a proxy. Nowadays we can easily talk to composers on twitter or facebook and more composers than expected are actually willing to friendly reply, but they're not obligated to respond, and thus they often don't respond, much less answering in details to each 'question' of just one fan mail, especially considering nobody could've contacted to him until now. A formal interview offer from a site that seemingly has already been succeeding in interviewing many prominent composers has far more chances.

[Blitz Lunar]

Yeah, I agree, the e-mail might be better received coming from a site rather than a random fan.

And who was the composer that helped you?

I'm interested in this too.

[DragoonEnRegalia]

I'm interested in who supplied the e-mail as well, but it's possible that the agent composer might be trying to stay anonymous for the time being, too. So let's just contact Takenouchi via the address before worrying about who happened to know the address.

[MEATWART]

Alright guys, I just wrote up an email and sent it to my friend who will translate it for me. Let's all hope this email is still valid. I already sent him an email once before but he was no longer using that email.

And with regards to who gave me the email, I'll let you all know (preferably by PM) after (and if) we get all the information from Takenouchi we need, to potentially avoid pissing anyone off. However, it was not a video game composer, but a guy that does freelance work (primarily work in commercials) and also plays in a jazz band. I highly doubt anyone here has heard of him.

[Phonograph]

I'm willing to email some composers and asking them "explain why I hate your tunes?"
that could change from fan emails, no? ;p

[Cedille]

It's about time I add Ken Nakagawa to the list. I suspect this guy is now hired by another company, not freelance, so he can't return to score Gust project anymore, but why no activity has been ever seen for the past two years.

[LiquidAcid]

It's about time I add Ken Nakagawa to the list. I suspect this guy is now hired by another company, not freelance, so he can't return to score Gust project anymore, but why no activity has been ever seen for the past two years.
I would also be interested in the fact, that Gust doesn't want to keep their composers in-house for a prolonged amount of time (see Yanagawa). Or is this part of the recent trend to go freelance ASAP (and not so much a decision of Gust anyway)?

[Blitz Lunar]

Was there ever any progress with Takenouchi?

[Garnobium]

I would ask him if he had anything to do with that really weird voice-over (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvhoNzSiiOY&feature=share&list=PL0E4B5AFFFE578224) on the Shining Wisdom soundtrack album, but probably not at first.

[Cedille]

I would also be interested in the fact, that Gust doesn't want to keep their composers in-house for a prolonged amount of time (see Yanagawa). Or is this part of the recent trend to go freelance ASAP (and not so much a decision of Gust anyway)?

I thought the latter would be the case, but now some tweets of Achiwa implies even he also left, I wonder Gust doesn't want to have their own sound team anymore, or at least doesn't care about ever lacking it.