VGMdb
Go Back   VGMdb Forums > Discussion > Miscellaneous Discussion > Artist Discussions
Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old Oct 24, 2008, 09:13 AM
Blitz Lunar's Avatar
Blitz Lunar Blitz Lunar is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 778

I think this is the real name of Norio Hanzawa, rather than vice versa - GMCL seems to think so at least. In either event, they're the same guy, and currently unlinked.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old Oct 25, 2008, 05:19 AM
Secret Squirrel's Avatar
Secret Squirrel Secret Squirrel is offline
VGMdb Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Cleveland, OH
Posts: 8,240
Default

Generally GMCL is pretty trusted. However, there's only one other Japanese site that mentions the alias, so I'm not sure where to go with this. Some corroborating evidence is that the dates don't overlap, implying an official change in what he wanted to be called (although he mostly used NON.) However, I can find some places where he's still credited as Kazuo as late as 1997:

http://www.jbook.co.jp/p/p.aspx/7152/s

Assuming they are the same person, I don't think it's clear which is the real name.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old Dec 28, 2008, 08:16 AM
Gigablah's Avatar
Gigablah Gigablah is offline
VGMdb Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 2,403
Default

"Trouble Maker" is originally from this album: http://vgmdb.net/album/3729

In this case NON and Kazuo Hanzawa are both credited on the same album (check the back scan). Although it's not uncommon for an artist to use different aliases on the same album or even the same track.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old Dec 24, 2009, 04:25 PM
CHz's Avatar
CHz CHz is offline
VGMdb Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,977
Default

Kazuo and Norio were still unlinked more than a year later, so I finally linked them together because they're definitely the same person. Which one is the real name, though, that I still don't know. And boy would I like to, this is one of the most crazy talented guys out there (emphasis on "crazy").
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old Dec 24, 2009, 06:10 PM
Blitz Lunar's Avatar
Blitz Lunar Blitz Lunar is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 778
Default

nice one ya, he is brilliant. whenever there's a discussion about mega drive music going on i instantly suggest alien soldier, that game's soundtrack is mindblowing.

oh, reminds me. recently i noticed that this release has simpsons arcade music on it, which was written by him. could he be added? he appears as N. Hanzawa in the game credits, for what it's worth.
__________________
iridescentaudio.co.uk
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old Oct 2, 2011, 11:17 PM
MiLO's Avatar
MiLO MiLO is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 604
Default Norio Hanzawa (#1587)

Hanzawa was also a composer for the 2nd Sin & Punishment.
Why haven't they released an official OST for either of those games??...
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old May 10, 2012, 08:30 PM
dissident93's Avatar
dissident93 dissident93 is offline
Trusted Editor
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 1,163
Default

GameMusicComposerMEMO lists Norio as Kazuo's alias. I know this is not direct confirmation, but this site is pretty accurate with aliases and what not.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old May 10, 2012, 08:45 PM
CHz's Avatar
CHz CHz is offline
VGMdb Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,977
Default

I posted a little bit about NON's name a while back, buried in another thread. He has a profile on some music production company's site under the name Kazuo, but he's registered with the Canadian copyright agency exclusively as Norio, and as far as I know it's only real names there. He doesn't make it easy.

Quote:
Originally Posted by CHz View Post
I found a profile for Kazuo Hanzawa here: http://www.silentvision.net/PROFILE/profile_D.N.P..html. Mentions game music for Sega, Nintendo, Konami, and Enix, all of which have published games NON/Hanzawa worked on, but no specifics are listed. It says Kazuo composed for a Genesis game awarded game of the year in 1993 by an unnamed American magazine, and that Hideki Matsutake collaborated on the soundtrack. Gunstar Heroes was awarded action game of the year by EGM in the 1994 buyers' guide, which was published at the end of 1993: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...94&postcount=1. Gunstar Heroes was composed by NON, and Matsutake did synthesizer manipulation on the arrange album: http://vgmdb.net/album/2678.

I've always thought Norio was his real name, but based on that profile, perhaps it is Kazuo after all.

EDIT: More Norio/Kazuo controversy. The Canadian Copyrights Database has "Norio Hanzawa" registered for the 2009 game Sin & Punishment: Star Successor: http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/cp...ype=1&lang=eng. Game was registered with them on April 28 of this year. Sigh.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old May 11, 2012, 02:44 AM
dissident93's Avatar
dissident93 dissident93 is offline
Trusted Editor
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 1,163
Default

! This is definitely strange. I've asked Aki Hata on Facebook but got no response. Perhaps I shall seek out another one of his former associates and see if they answer.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old Jun 20, 2012, 06:09 AM
ntwrk506 ntwrk506 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 96
Default

I posted a question about Kazuo Hanzawa in a discussion thread for Castlevania: The Adventure, and I thought I'd post it here as well:

http://vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1974

Basically, I'm asking which tracks you think Hanzawa did, based on knowing his distinctive style from other games he worked on alone...
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old Dec 31, 2014, 03:55 PM
CHz's Avatar
CHz CHz is offline
VGMdb Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,977
Default

Minor, unexciting bump to explain a kanji edit on the Norio profile:

The only source I've seen giving "Norio Hanzawa" in kanji as 半沢紀 is the soundtrack for Yu Yu Hakusho: Makyou Touitsusen.

Everything else I've been able to find lists his name as 半沢紀: Guardian Heroes, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, and Gaist Crusher.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old Jul 24, 2018, 12:29 AM
CHz's Avatar
CHz CHz is offline
VGMdb Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,977
Default

So the primary appearance of the 半澤一雄 name is in conjunction with works by director Satoshi Kameoka and his company/brand/something Silentvision: https://web.archive.org/web/20050307...le_D.N.P..html. (It does also appear, randomly, for composition of Mischief Makers's vocals.)

Every time Hanzawa's name is listed in English in a Silentvision work, it's romanized as Ichio, not Kazuo. On the website, on videos, and even on a CD (DIGITAL NATURE PARADISE, which I'm going to add in a sec).

So I'm not sure that "Kazuo Hanzawa" was actually ever correct. Thanks again, GMCL! (Though there is a stray credit to "N.KAZUO" in Konami's Cue Brick.)
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old Jul 29, 2018, 09:02 AM
dissident93's Avatar
dissident93 dissident93 is offline
Trusted Editor
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 1,163
Default

So either there's a possible third name, or Kazuo was just never correct?
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old Jul 29, 2018, 01:00 PM
CHz's Avatar
CHz CHz is offline
VGMdb Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,977
Default

Unless you can find an actual official credit for it somewhere, it doesn't seem like Kazuo was ever the correct reading of the 半澤一雄 name, no.
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old Aug 20, 2018, 07:39 PM
ntwrk506 ntwrk506 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 96
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by CHz View Post
So the primary appearance of the 半澤一雄 name is in conjunction with works by director Satoshi Kameoka and his company/brand/something Silentvision: https://web.archive.org/web/20050307...le_D.N.P..html. (It does also appear, randomly, for composition of Mischief Makers's vocals.)
So basically, Google Translate is just incorrectly translating it to Kazuo, when it should actually be Ichio?

Quote:
Originally Posted by CHz View Post
Unless you can find an actual official credit for it somewhere, it doesn't seem like Kazuo was ever the correct reading of the 半澤一雄 name, no.
Does Konami's Cue Brick not count?
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old Aug 20, 2018, 10:48 PM
CHz's Avatar
CHz CHz is offline
VGMdb Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,977
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ntwrk506 View Post
So basically, Google Translate is just incorrectly translating it to Kazuo, when it should actually be Ichio?
Please don't ever put names into Google Translate, that's a recipe for errors

If 半澤一雄 was a real name then it would surely be read Kazuo Hanzawa, which is why several sites (English and Japanese) went with it. But since it looks like he made it up, it seems that he made up the reading of Ichio for it as well.


Quote:
Originally Posted by ntwrk506 View Post
Does Konami's Cue Brick not count?
Yes I mentioned that earlier, the stray credit to "N.KAZUO." Why do you think that's Hanzawa and not someone named Kazuo N.? The presence of other names like "O.MASANORI" (Masanori Ohuchi) suggests it's a person whose family name starts with N.
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old Aug 21, 2018, 04:55 AM
ntwrk506 ntwrk506 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 96
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by CHz View Post
Yes I mentioned that earlier, the stray credit to "N.KAZUO." Why do you think that's Hanzawa and not someone named Kazuo N.? The presence of other names like "O.MASANORI" (Masanori Ohuchi) suggests it's a person whose family name starts with N.
Yeah, I know you mentioned it in an earlier post -that's how I found out about it. I was just curious why you thought that wouldn't be evidence of Kazuo being the name or an official alias. Sure, it does seem, based on the format of the names (last name initial, first name), that the person's name would be Kazuo N., but there's no other occurrence of anyone named Kazuo who worked at Konami at that time except for what we've known to be Kazuo Hanzawa. Furthermore, the N could have very easily been a translation error and was meant to be an H. The two letters are very similar looking. So based on this, I feel like the staff roll in Cue Brick does point to an official credit for Kazuo H (if that H was intended to be an N). Do you know of any other Kazuo's that could have been?

Also, not that they can be trusted as legitimate sources, but there are many places on the internet that list Cue Brick as part of Norio Hanzawa's gameography. For example, here or here or the description here. Again, who knows how legitimate those sources are, but it does kind of help the notion that Kazuo N in Cue Brick is meant to be Kazuo H aka Norio H.

Perhaps try searching "Norio Hanzawa" along with "Cue Brick" to see more of the places where Norio is credited with Cue Brink. Maybe there's a more official listing that I didn't come across. All in all, I think it's still really unclear what his name is and that it could be any of the three: Kazuo, Norio, or Ichio.
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old Aug 21, 2018, 05:09 AM
ntwrk506 ntwrk506 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 96
Default

One other thing. I tried to figure out anyone named Kazuo N who worked in video game music in general around this time and all I could come up with was:

Kazuo Noguchi - Worked at Namco around the time of Cue Brick, but who knows, he could have been freelance. (Actually, all of his Namco credits are from 1988 and Cue Brick is 1989, so...)

Kazuo Nii - Was a Sunsoft employee but only seems to be active starting in the 90s and on.

But ultimately, I think it's likely that Cue Brick's Kazuo N is not Noguchi or Nii.
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old Aug 21, 2018, 05:25 AM
ntwrk506 ntwrk506 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 96
Default

Sorry, ONE more little bit of research here. I was listening through the soundtrack to Cue Brick and this track does sound like something Norio Hanzawa would have done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAU5ItoKTxI

There were a couple other tracks that I could see being Hanzawa’s as well, but this one in particular reminded me of Quarth and other more experimental stuff he would later do. Of course, nothing conclusive, but thought I’d share anyway.
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old Aug 21, 2018, 01:15 PM
CHz's Avatar
CHz CHz is offline
VGMdb Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,977
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ntwrk506 View Post
Yeah, I know you mentioned it in an earlier post -that's how I found out about it. I was just curious why you thought that wouldn't be evidence of Kazuo being the name or an official alias Sure, it does seem, based on the format of the names (last name initial, first name), that the person's name would be Kazuo N., but there's no other occurrence of anyone named Kazuo who worked at Konami at that time except for what we've known to be Kazuo Hanzawa. Furthermore, the N could have very easily been a translation error and was meant to be an H. The two letters are very similar looking. So based on this, I feel like the staff roll in Cue Brick does point to an official credit for Kazuo H (if that H was intended to be an N). Do you know of any other Kazuo's that could have been?.
I'm suggesting that if Hanzawa was never officially credited as Kazuo anywhere else (which appears to be the case), and the intended reading of 一雄 is Ichio (which appears to be the case), then it's much safer to assume that "N.KAZUO" is a separate person who only worked on one game, which isn't all that uncommon in video games, rather than a combination of (1) an alternate name that he's never used anywhere else and (2) a typo of his initial.

If it wasn't already common knowledge that he's "Kazuo Hanzawa," which based on the other evidence I'm contending was never correct, and he was always known as either Norio or Ichio, then it would be a SIGNIFICANT stretch that he's "N.KAZUO."


Quote:
Originally Posted by ntwrk506 View Post
Also, not that they can be trusted as legitimate sources, but there are many places on the internet that list Cue Brick as part of Norio Hanzawa's gameography. For example, here or here or the description here. Again, who knows how legitimate those sources are, but it does kind of help the notion that Kazuo N in Cue Brick is meant to be Kazuo H aka Norio H.
Yeah, I've tried to find other sources too so I've seen all of those, and none of them address my concerns above with any sort of evidence explaining why he's "N.KAZUO," so I don't trust them. Like, I could go upload a song and edit a wiki I've never heard of before to claim that Cue Brick was composed by a fake person I just made up, if you want. :V

I'm sure all of those were just drawn from the same pool of common knowledge that Norio is Kazuo, and I'm attacking that fundamental level. If there are interviews, or liner notes, or other official works lists where Cue Brick is included, or other definitive credits as Kazuo, I'm all ears.


Quote:
Originally Posted by ntwrk506 View Post
All in all, I think it's still really unclear what his name is and that it could be any of the three: Kazuo, Norio, or Ichio.
Given that he's credited in the Canadian Copyrights Database in three games as Norio (Bucky O'Hare, Wario World, and Sin & Punishment 2) and none as a different name, I'm very confident that's his real name.
Reply With Quote
  #21  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 07:48 AM
ntwrk506 ntwrk506 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 96
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by CHz View Post
I'm suggesting that if Hanzawa was never officially credited as Kazuo anywhere else (which appears to be the case), and the intended reading of 一雄 is Ichio (which appears to be the case), then it's much safer to assume that "N.KAZUO" is a separate person who only worked on one game, which isn't all that uncommon in video games, rather than a combination of (1) an alternate name that he's never used anywhere else and (2) a typo of his initial.

Typos are pretty common in video games, especially Japanese games with English characters. It just seems very odd, considering that an N is very similar looking to an H, that there was a mystery person at Konami who worked on one game and it was at the same time Norio Hanzawa was working there AND some of the music to that game sounds like Hanzawa's (granted, I might be influenced in what I'm hearing because I'm already leaning towards thinking it's him).

Maybe Ichio is a newer thing for him? Maybe it's kind of like a new alias or something. Are there any English printed credits with Ichio Hanzawa during the Konami or Treasure days? Like any album releases?

Also, isn't there someone we can ask who worked with Norio Hanzawa about what the deal is with these alternate names? Katsuhiko Suzuki, Aki Hata, Atsushi Fujio, or Hidehiro Funauchi? One them is probably contactable and could clear it all up, right?
Reply With Quote
  #22  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 01:54 PM
CHz's Avatar
CHz CHz is offline
VGMdb Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,977
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ntwrk506 View Post
Typos are pretty common in video games, especially Japanese games with English characters. It just seems very odd, considering that an N is very similar looking to an H, that there was a mystery person at Konami who worked on one game and it was at the same time Norio Hanzawa was working there AND some of the music to that game sounds like Hanzawa's (granted, I might be influenced in what I'm hearing because I'm already leaning towards thinking it's him).
I don't know why it's baffling to you that they might just be a person who worked on one game and then moved on to something else, or retired, or was fired, or died? Some other folks off the top of my head who appeared in one game under sound/music etc. and then never in any other game: Dan Miyakawa* (Kirby Super Star), Kentaro Ishizaka (SSB Brawl), Kunitaka Watanabe (Death Crimson), Hiroshi Mitsuoka (CV Circle of the Moon), Nao Hatsutani (Tomba), Atsushi Yoshida & Kanako Teramae (FE Path of Radiance), Naoto Miyatake (FE Radiant Dawn), Miyuki Homareda (Harvest Moon Back to Nature), etc.

Like, it's not the same thing but in real life I know several different programmers who joined a company, worked on one project, and then left because they didn't like it there or decided they weren't interested in that specific area of coding. It absolutely doesn't seem odd to me that "N.KAZUO" could just be a person who found out that they hated writing video game music.

*Assuming that the KSS Miyakawa is the same as the songwriter Miyakawa, he does actually finally have second video game credit 20 years later, but it's just lyrics and background vocals for a song composed by someone else so I don't think it really counts haha.


Quote:
Originally Posted by ntwrk506 View Post
Maybe Ichio is a newer thing for him? Maybe it's kind of like a new alias or something. Are there any English printed credits with Ichio Hanzawa during the Konami or Treasure days? Like any album releases?
The first appearance I know of is on the Mischief Makers soundtrack album (1997) in Japanese only, and then after that are the Silentvision works where it's in both English and Japanese.

The argument that he might be "N.KAZUO" because... N looks like H, and... he used a name that's not read "Kazuo"... for a different company... eight years later (Cue Brick is 1989)... just doesn't hold any water for me without actual evidence, sorry. (And I've been ignoring the music comparisons with Quarth because that's not at all solid evidence either.)

There's no way that would seem logical if GMCL hadn't made the mistake that 半澤一雄 is read "Kazuo Hanzawa" despite the contemporary evidence and the rest of the internet had spread that around.


Quote:
Originally Posted by ntwrk506 View Post
Also, isn't there someone we can ask who worked with Norio Hanzawa about what the deal is with these alternate names? Katsuhiko Suzuki, Aki Hata, Atsushi Fujio, or Hidehiro Funauchi? One them is probably contactable and could clear it all up, right?
Some of them have Facebooks, you could give it a shot.
Reply With Quote
  #23  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 04:27 PM
ntwrk506 ntwrk506 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 96
Default

Just out of curiosity, what about this site listing Cue Brick? This site is usually accurate about stuff, no?
Reply With Quote
  #24  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 05:11 PM
CHz's Avatar
CHz CHz is offline
VGMdb Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,977
Default

It's pretty trustworthy in my experience, but it's also an anonymously-editable wiki and has had bad mistakes. One relatively recent one I remember is that the Splatoon 2 composer breakdown was total guesswork and was completely revised once the soundtrack album came out.

It, like everything else, doesn't explain why "N.KAZUO" is Hanzawa, so I'm not all that interested in taking its word for it. I'd guess it ultimately just derives from GMCL, like everything else. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Reply With Quote
  #25  
Old Aug 23, 2018, 04:04 PM
ntwrk506 ntwrk506 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 96
Default

Okay, so I've been emailing with Katsuhiko Suzuki and one, he confirmed that Norio Hanzawa is definitely his real name, so there's no question there. Two, the Ichio vs. Kazuo thing is still unclear. I asked him:

Norio had the alias "半澤一雄" When romanized or pronounced, was the 一雄 in this case meant to be "Ichio" or "Kazuo"?

And he wrote back:

I never remember using that name when I was involved with him. However, the reading method is "kazuo”. It is so described in Japanese web.


I also asked a couple Japanese friends (CHz, I think you know Japanese anyway, so this might be irrelevant) about 一雄 and one wrote me "You might think ichio but usually 一 is kazu" and then "Ichio sounds weird and sounds like American version." So I don't know what to make of that or what Suzuki wrote.

But by the way, regardless of how the name was meant to be romanized, and say it was meant to be Ichio, since the misunderstanding of it being Kazuo is so widespread and has been around so long, shouldn't Kazuo also be listed under the aliases? Because at this point, even if not officially, he's been credited in a lot of places as Kazuo Hanzawa. Perhaps if it were listed under the aliases, there could be an asterisk explaining that this might not be an official alias but a commonly known alias?
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump