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  #31  
Old Feb 9, 2010, 10:10 PM
Brad Evans Brad Evans is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PsychoZeke View Post
As for the Maverick names, you're referring to X5 and they were intentional. Don't ask me what they were thinking back then, but Capcom's unyielding fanaticism for GnR is sometimes a bit too much, and X5 is a prime example of it.
Honestly, I think Capcom was on crack when they did the whole GnR theme in X5. Not saying the Japanese names are that much better, what can you do when your running out of ideas (X7 is really bad) but really, GnR is not the band it was back in... like... 1992 and we're talking about a game from the year 2000. When I look at GnR now, I don't see the same band I did back then because it isn't the same band.

Additionally, I got so sick of people bashing Slash for leaving. Can you blame him? Try working on the same album for ten years and see how much patience you have. At least he did something with VR in that time frame.

Deep Purple is another band that is pretty popular in Japan as well.

Also, don't forget that Capcom's love of GnR also showed up in other forms in X5. Axle the Red's stage is littered with - wait for it - Guns and Roses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fepEs...eature=related

Last edited by Brad Evans; Feb 9, 2010 at 10:16 PM.
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  #32  
Old Feb 16, 2010, 06:26 AM
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http://www.squareenixmusic.com/featu...amashita.shtml

new interview!
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  #33  
Old Feb 16, 2010, 06:33 AM
kyubihanyou kyubihanyou is offline
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Originally Posted by The Gambler View Post
It doesn't prove anything new; it just enforces that a) Kinuyo did everything for the original X3 and b) Minakuchi Engineering Staff is an alias, especially since it is never heard of again.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't read far enough before posting. This IS new in that it confirmed that Kinuyo never directly worked under Minakuchi Engineering.

Last edited by kyubihanyou; Feb 16, 2010 at 07:58 PM.
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  #34  
Old Feb 16, 2010, 06:34 AM
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Originally Posted by kyubihanyou View Post
It doesn't prove anything new.
I didn't post it with the intention to prove anything; this is the thread for this music composer so everything related to her is fit.
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  #35  
Old Feb 16, 2010, 09:06 AM
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The interview states that she is not Minakuchi Engineering Staff.

"I was never part of the Minakuchi Engineering Staff."

They are a company that got Kinuyo a job working for Capcom; likely some type of contractor company or hiring agency. I'm not exactly sure how this should be handled in the credits, because it's true that they are credited in lieu of Kinuyo.

Also, she moved to New Jersey!? She must have odd tastes, because there's nothing in New Jersey I've seen worth living there for.
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Last edited by Kaleb.G; Feb 16, 2010 at 11:14 AM.
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  #36  
Old Feb 16, 2010, 01:03 PM
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Maybe she's a big fan of Clerks...?
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  #37  
Old Feb 16, 2010, 01:47 PM
Brad Evans Brad Evans is offline
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Originally Posted by KyleJCrb View Post
Maybe she's a big fan of Clerks...?
And of the George Carlin album "What Am I Doing in New Jersey?"
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  #38  
Old Feb 16, 2010, 03:22 PM
kyubihanyou kyubihanyou is offline
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If Kinuyo was never a member of Minakuchi Engineering, and the organization was just a middleman between her and Capcom, then ME, in the context of video game music and video games in general, is an abstract party that never directly contributed to the creation of X3.

It's certainly not a sound team like Alph Lyla, so it can't be considered a "Unit" in VGM terms, nor has it worked on the production of any videogame whatsoever, so it can't be considered a "Unit" in video game staff terms either.

Also, if it weren't credited in lieu of Kinuyo, instead using a regular alias like James Banana, then barely any gamers would have known of ME's existence or its role unless it were publicly disclosed by Capcom or Kinuyo herself, as she has done. In the end, Minakuchi Engineering Staff is just a name in the video game industry used in place of just one composer for just one game for security reasons. That, meets all the requirements of an alias. Minakuchi Engineering, by that name, can remain here as a unit, but Kinuyo should at least be granted the alias of Minakuchi Engineering Staff, as she was temporarily part of the "Staff" of Minakuchi Engineering," an external employee, if you will, when she took the offer. Even though Kinuyo wasn't an actual member of the organization, she still worked through that group and served as the means to its ends.

To summarize,
Minakuchi Engineering=Non-VG organization
Minakuchi Engineering Staff=Kinuyo Yamashita


On a side note, New Jersey really isn't as bad as it seems when you know where to look; the beaches are great and the Princeton area has a lot to offer aside from the University.

Last edited by kyubihanyou; Feb 16, 2010 at 04:08 PM.
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  #39  
Old Feb 16, 2010, 04:11 PM
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I guess after seeing Wrightstown and Newark, it left a scar on my mind...

But yeah, and alias seems OK for this case.
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  #40  
Old Feb 16, 2010, 08:06 PM
kyubihanyou kyubihanyou is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaleb.G View Post
I guess after seeing Wrightstown and Newark, it left a scar on my mind...

But yeah, and alias seems OK for this case.
Thank you, and this time, I'll let you do the honors. After all, you started this (at least this thread), and now you gotta finish it.

Also agreed on Newark; the airport just plain sucks.

Last edited by kyubihanyou; Feb 16, 2010 at 08:08 PM.
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  #41  
Old Feb 17, 2010, 07:47 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kyubihanyou View Post
but Kinuyo should at least be granted the alias of Minakuchi Engineering Staff
This is more a case of her being a member of a unit than an alias, though, since MES doesn't exclusively refer to her, as an alias would. And I'm not sure how we can say with certainty that ME have in no other cases been involved in hiring people to do jobs for the video game industry [were we able to find out if this was the kind of company ME was?]. So I would treat this case as any other where 'the parent is credited instead of the child'.

This case is similar to this one, and I'm sure there could be others.
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Last edited by seanne; Feb 17, 2010 at 07:50 AM.
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  #42  
Old Feb 17, 2010, 09:56 AM
Chris Chris is offline
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Given a) Kinuyo Yamashita explicitly stated she is NOT part of Minakuchi Engineering Staff, b) an externally contracted freelancer does not constitute a company staff member, and c) Minakuchi Engineering is a unit, not an alias, I totally disagree with kyubihanyou and think listing it as an alias would be misleading.
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  #43  
Old Feb 17, 2010, 10:06 AM
kyubihanyou kyubihanyou is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by seanne View Post
This is more a case of her being a member of a unit than an alias, though, since MES doesn't exclusively refer to her, as an alias would. And I'm not sure how we can say with certainty that ME have in no other cases been involved in hiring people to do jobs for the video game industry [were we able to find out if this was the kind of company ME was?]. So I would treat this case as any other where 'the parent is credited instead of the child'.
In the context of video games, she is currently the only person associated with ME who worked on a video game, and since ME is now gone and it was never mentioned in any other game, I highly doubt it can apply to anyone else.

As I said before:
Minakuchi Engineering = The organization
Minakuchi Engineering Staff = Kinuyo Yamashita

Though not an official employee of ME, she still worked through them externally in order to accomplish what Capcom originally assigned ME to do. That temporarily makes Kinuyo involved with ME's business affairs.

The page for Minakuchi Engineering can stay; it had the role of being a relay between Capcom and Kinuyo, but Minakuchi Engineering Staff is, in the context of video games, a name that belongs solely to Kinuyo. The only contradiction to this would be if any other composers worked with ME AND used that exact alias, but presently that's more of a "wait-and-see" scenario, as the organization is gone and the only way information like that would be revealed would be interviews such as this or other forms of public disclosure.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris View Post
Given a) Kinuyo Yamashita explicitly stated she is NOT part of Minakuchi Engineering Staff, b) an externally contracted freelancer does not constitute a company staff member, and c) Minakuchi Engineering is a unit, not an alias, I totally disagree with kyubihanyou and think listing it as an alias would be misleading.
-She may not be an official member by definition, but she still fulfilled ME's obligation to Capcom from outside the building, like an external auditor for an accounting firm, and essentially worked for them because she was asked and ultimately assigned by them to do that job, just as the basis of any company assigns duties and obligations to its employees/staff.
-She is externally contracted from Capcom's position, but she was given the assignment by ME, who in turn received it from Capcom, making Kinuyo more directly under Minakuchi Engineering. The most likely reason Capcom used the term Minakuchi Engineering Staff is because they assumed that people from within Minakuchi Engineering would do the compositions. In other words, Capcom knew nothing of Kinuyo's involvement at the time, doing nothing more than initially contacting ME and collecting the finished works.
-Minakuchi Engineering, by name, is most certainly a unit, but the name Minakuchi Engineering Staff, in the context of video games, currently applies to only one person, and most likely no one else. Like it or not, Kinuyo is associated with Minakuchi Engineering to some degree of employment. Perhaps she could have been referred to as "Minakuchi Engineering Special Group" or "Minakuchi Engineering Outside," but at the end of the day it doesn't change the fact that all the music was composed, programmed, and otherwise created by Kinuyo Yamashita. The name Minakuchi Engineering Staff on the X1~X6 album is merely a placeholder for Kinuyo created by these apparently obscure contracting negotiations, but, like any other alias, there is a real person behind it, and that person is Kinuyo Yamashita (at least for X3/this album).

Last edited by kyubihanyou; Feb 17, 2010 at 02:12 PM.
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  #44  
Old Feb 17, 2010, 11:05 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kyubihanyou View Post
In the context of video games, she is currently the only person associated with ME who worked on a video game, and since ME is now gone and it was never mentioned in any other game, I highly doubt it can apply to anyone else.
^I'm not quite sure how you can claim this to be a fact. You must have some nice inside information on this company ;D

But it doesn't even matter in this case. The way we do it, an alias is a name which only (and specifically) refers to one specific person. It should be quite clear that this isn't the case here.
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  #45  
Old Feb 17, 2010, 01:48 PM
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You offer a lot of speculation, but little to no back up of your theories. While interesting, I don't think they're sufficient to justify an edit to the profile in this case. Also, the ME official website confirms that the company wass involved in game production in a range of roles and had at least 16 internal staff. I also disagree with your definition of what a staff member is.

Last edited by Chris; Feb 17, 2010 at 01:58 PM.
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  #46  
Old Feb 17, 2010, 03:06 PM
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Didn't we already come to an agreement that the Minakuchi Engineering credit would be entered as a suffix instead? Suffixes don't necessarily mean "part of".
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  #47  
Old Feb 17, 2010, 06:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gigablah View Post
Didn't we already come to an agreement that the Minakuchi Engineering credit would be entered as a suffix instead? Suffixes don't necessarily mean "part of".
I like the suffix idea the best. I think it should stay as such.
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  #48  
Old Feb 20, 2010, 11:15 PM
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Yamashita confirms she wasn't an employee of Minakuchi or Natsume, and offers her thoughts on the PS1 arrange version of the X3 soundtrack: http://www.facebook.com/notes/kinuyo...3/485641030231
Quote:
This is all the music from Rockman X3(SFC) sold it in Japan (Mega Man X3).
I was never part of the Minakuchi Engineering Staff. Also, I'm not an employee of Natsume.
That was actually the name of the company that requested the work from me and I suppose they were credited in the game.
Because this was SFC, I made data by sampling all tones and using them.
I knew this PS version had been put on the market back by Capcom recently.
However, I was a little disappointed when I listened to the arrangement.
The sound is lighter.
The rhythm of the drums is strange.
Because it was PS, I was sure the sound would be better. The hardware has more power. But I didn't think the arrangement was suitable for the landscape in "Mega Man X3". However, I guess that is a subjective statement. People are fans of the music on the PS version.
However, as the original composer, I didn't think that the arrangement on the PS version was good.
We (video game music composers) need to compose music that is appropriate for the game.
Whoever made the PS version didn't understand that. I was shocked.
When I listen to the music from Mega Man X3. I wonder if it's good music. I think that I would be able to composer better music now.
However, I can say that I did my best at the time.
Thank you for loving music that I composed.
It's interesting, at least.
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  #49  
Old Feb 21, 2010, 06:39 AM
kyubihanyou kyubihanyou is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleJCrb View Post
Yamashita confirms she wasn't an employee of Minakuchi or Natsume, and offers her thoughts on the PS1 arrange version of the X3 soundtrack: http://www.facebook.com/notes/kinuyo...3/485641030231


It's interesting, at least.
Well to be honest, this was Shusaku's very first game [and the first PSX game for all 4 of them, all of whom would perform their big PSX games after this]. This could simply be considered practice to them. Even so, I thought Frozen Buffalio, Gravity Beetbood, Acid Seaforce, Screw Masaider, Boss 2, Stage Clear and especially Doppler Stage 1 were better in the arrange version. I also liked how Cast Roll was slowed down and given a downward inflection instead of being fast and upbeat, and Ending 1 just came out wonderfully.

Last edited by kyubihanyou; Jun 11, 2010 at 09:16 AM.
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  #50  
Old Apr 15, 2011, 06:57 PM
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Seems like her birth year might be 1965. She says in this performance, that she was 20 when composing music for Castlevania. Since the game was earliest released on 26 Sep, 1986, and she had already turned 20 by then -- she must've turned 20 by the end of 1985 (assuming she worked on Castlevania between 31 Dec 1985 and 26 Sep, 1986), which would mean that her year of birth is 1965.

Edit: Also, here's another reference: http://www.giantbomb.com/kinuyo-yamashita/72-39875/

Last edited by Nisto; Apr 15, 2011 at 10:36 PM.
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  #51  
Old Apr 15, 2011, 07:12 PM
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She says in her bio that she joined Konami in 1986, so she can't have started writing Castlevania's soundtrack any earlier than 1986 either (unless she somehow did so before she was hired).
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  #52  
Old Apr 15, 2011, 10:26 PM
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Quote:
She says in her bio that she joined Konami in 1986, so she can't have started writing Castlevania's soundtrack any earlier than 1986 either (unless she somehow did so before she was hired).
Not really familiar with her, but generally speaking, it's not so uncommon a student who is supposed to graduate and join a company next spring already starts working for the company as a part-timer.

1985 ??? - Working on Castlevania
1985 Dec - Turned 20 years old
1986 April - Officially joined Konami

Konami let a college student score Gradius and some other classics. Given the status of VGM at that time (and her talent, of course), it's likely Castlevania was also scored by someone who wasn't a full-fledged employee of Konami yet (I guess it's a bit difficult to describe in words, since the employment system in and outside of Japan might be different. Not sure you see what I mean by a part-timer).
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  #53  
Old Apr 16, 2011, 01:38 AM
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Hmmm yeah, that's a good point. If she was a part-timer when she composed Castlevania, it could've happened in 1985, which would make her birth year 1964. No guarantees, but a possibility.

(We have that kind of part-time job as student / full-time job after graduation arrangement here in the U.S. too. You were 100% clear.)
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  #54  
Old Apr 28, 2011, 01:40 PM
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Btw, was she ever confirmed as the composer of "Vampire Killer"? I don't doubt it, but as long as I quickly checked three interviews with her, I couldn't find an explicit confirmation. The reason I'm asking is not to go anally, but there are some "Vampire Killer" still credited to Konami Kukeiha Club and want to work on them.
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  #55  
Old Apr 28, 2011, 02:25 PM
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Maybe this is good enough for confirmation:

Quote:
Originally Posted by questions about Castlevania from her page
Raven : Finally, please tell us about the song Vampire Killer. To me, Vampire Killer is an unforgettable song. Please tell us about the evolution of this song. How you feel about the newer versions of today? It's a pretty important song, and so please tell us a bit about it.

Kinuyo : I'm sorry, I haven't heard the recent versions and so I can't really answer.
You'd think she'd argue about not composing it if she really didn't.
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  #56  
Old Apr 28, 2011, 03:11 PM
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"Castlevania Rock" from Video Games Live is comprised of, respectively, "Beginning" (Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse), "Wicked Child" and "Vampire Killer" (both from Castlevania) and "Moonlight Nocturne" (Symphony of the Night). In the VGL: Level One booklet she appears as the composer of the Castlevania excerpt of the medley. However, I don't know if a western production is the most accurate source (the same booklet credits "Club Kukeiha" for Dracula's Curse)...

On a side note, about the "James Banana" issue discussed here, wouldn't be better if we create a unit with this name, with Kinuyo Yamashita as a member?

Last edited by Revoc; Apr 29, 2011 at 03:13 PM.
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  #57  
Old May 3, 2011, 09:06 PM
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I think it's a good idea to use James Banana, but I guess besides Yamashita and T.Terashima, we might need to add Rusher Sakamoto as a member, since he wrote a comment regarding the ending theme of the first CV on this album. Sakamoto didn't explicitly state he had composed the track so he might have been just there in place of Yamashita or Terashima who had left Konami by then, but at the same time, if the track was Rusher Sakamoto's only contribution to the game, it clears up Prime Blue's question, because the MSX2 version had a different ending theme, while the rest remained mostly the same.

I hope Yamashita is free to reveal which tracks they was responsible for, like Yamane or Takenouchi did, although she already forgot it (I even worry she didn't know the first stage theme was titled as Vampire Killer).
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  #58  
Old May 4, 2011, 04:15 PM
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Interesting detail about Shinya Sakamoto. But we don't have confirmation if S. Terashima worked on NES Castlevania yet, right?

About "Vampire Killer" composition: in this video, Yamashita doesn't say clearly "I composed Vampire Killer", but it's a good clue:

Quote:
"I am very excited to hear that the Stockholm Youth Symphony Orchestra will be performing "Vampire Killer" at Castlevania: The Concert. As a game composer, it brings me great joy to see young talent perform my music."
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  #59  
Old Jun 29, 2011, 01:25 AM
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The Legacy Music Hour recently did an interview with Yamashita-san and we found out some interesting information regarding the composer credits of Castlevania. I don't want to spill the beans just yet, but the interview will be posted next Wednesday (Jul. 6).
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  #60  
Old Jul 6, 2011, 03:18 AM
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I already posted this in the Legacy Music Hour thread, but thought I'd post here as well. Here's a link to the interview with Kinuyo Yamashita. The interview is scripted, because it was easier for her to do it that way (due to her not speaking a lot of English). And it's also posted in text form, because it's sometimes hard to understand the audio. Anyway, like I said before, the interview contains some clarification about Satoe Terashima's role in Castlevania that may be of some interest to you:

http://legacymusichour.blogspot.com/...36-kinuyo.html
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