Susumu Hirasawa
Yoko Shimomura
Naoki Sato
Nobuo Uematsu
I'm gonna have to browse through a lot of this to remember some names, aren't I? Fine.
@video_game_king: wikipedia says that Fragile Dreams' composer is Riei Saitō.
These are the ones that come to mind, there's probably a dozen more I can't think of right now.
For whatever reason, I thought that person just sang the intro and ending songs, even though her name is completely different.
Hitoshi Sakimoto
Miki Higashino
Nobuo Uematsu
Yoko Kanno
-Those are the only Japanese composers I have felt compelled to pursue the music of.
EDIT: Oh, just reread the title. Humans, of course.
Susumu Hirasawa
Even though he work has been a bit limited it's amazing and his music is quite distinct. With credits like Berserk, Millienium Actress and Paranoia Agent the guy has also just worked on some of my favorite shows.
Also Yuki Kajiura (again has a pretty distinct style, the way the music was used in .Hack/Sign was stunning) and of course Yoko Kanno.
Only 4 mentions of Yoko Kanno? I'm disappointed. She did Tank and the Kids on the Slope soundtrack.
In addition to that, Yasunori Mitsuda, the guy who did most of Chrono Trigger's soundtrack. I guess I might as well go ahead and say Nobuo Uematsu, but nothing of his really jumps out at me and I don't like his Chrono Trigger tracks as much as I like Mitsuda's. EDIT: That's not to say that I don't like Uematsu's tunes. I do. I just don't like them as much.
I guess I might as well go ahead and say Nobuo Uematsu, but nothing of his really jumps out at me
Half of Final Fantasy. Done. (And I think the main theme for 3D WorldRunner.)
I guess I might as well go ahead and say Nobuo Uematsu, but nothing of his really jumps out at me
Half of Final Fantasy. Done. (And I think the main theme for 3D WorldRunner.)
More like three quarters of Final Fantasy, but again nothing really jumps out at me. Keep in mind that I've played about four hours of FFVI, four of FFVII, and about eight of FF12. And the latter wasn't composed by him, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe I didn't get to the parts with good music, but Chrono Trigger had memorable music pretty much from the word go. Twenty minutes in and you're already listening to the 600 AD theme, but even before that you can run out and listen to the first town's theme or the one that plays while outside of towns in 1000 AD.
You need to fix this.
Also, this, but in the other direction.
I'm not sure if it's relevant, but I can remember a shitload of songs from 6 and 7, but only one song from 12. This song, to be specific, and even then, only one part (it's about two minutes in).
I'm going to fix that! I forgot to mention that I've also played about two and a half of FFX. But right now I'm doing my best to stick with Persona 3, and then I want to finish Nocturne. And then SMTIV comes out in the middle of summer, so there's that. How long is VI?
About 20 hours, if I remember correctly. Maybe longer with a couple more end-game sidequests on top (I remember not doing a few). I don't remember how long FF10 is, but I don't think either game can possibly be as long as an average SMT game.
Yuzo Koshiro no doubt.
Yuzo Koshiro, Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda and Yoko Shimomura.
I love a lot of Japanese composers I'm sure, but I can actually remember these names, so that must mean they are my favorite.
Seriously...only two mentions of Yasunori Mitsuda? Seriously...
If anyone wants to hear some rad talk about video game music from a semi-academic perspective, check out the old archives of Into the Score.
Well I'm not going to look up names so I'll just name some games
The Composers Of:
Final Fantasy Series (All of them including Matsuno's dude)
The Tri-Ace/Tri-Crescendo dude
Shadow of the Colossus
Nier
Silent Hill Series
Streets of Rage/Sonic/The guy who did most of the good Genesis soundtracks
Super Mario Brothers/Legend of Zelda Guy
Super Metroid
And From Anime:
Joe Hishashi
TENMON <-- Overall favorite
The guy who did The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
The guy who did the first Ghost In The Shell
Nobuo Uematsu, obviously. The entirety of the FFVII soundtrack sticks out to me, as well as huge chunks of FFVI and FFVIII - after that I kinda stopped caring about his FF-related work. My current "oddball" favorite piece of his music would be this particular battle music from FFVII. I really like how certain elements that were quite unusual for the rest of the OST by the time you get closer to the end would carry into the overall tone of VIII's soundtrack.
Shoji Meguro for his wonderful work on the Persona series. A very distinct style that always seems to fit the equally original visuals. The Almighty stands out to me the most - even though definitely on the more "urgent" side of his tracks.
Next up would be Ko Otani, most famously known for his fantastic work on SotC. I can really recommend pretty much every single song he composed for that game. Most of which are boss battle themes, obviously. You shouldn't overlook his other works, though. Haibane Renmei had some great tracks, too. And it is always a neat experience if you discover some stronger similarities on two different works that kinda close the loop from creative process to another of an artist. I definitely experienced that with Otani.
Keiichi Okabe also really hit a home run with Nier. Orchestral and pompous at times, he never loses this magical, original feeling. His contribution to that game sure helped its overall case - being visually rather unpleasant and all.
Tenpei Sato for his amazing, often times hilarious work on the Disgaea series.
But my absolute favorites, hands down, would be glorious, glorious Joe Hisaishi and "rejuvenated" Shiro Sagisu (yes, his Rebuild of EVA work can be brutally pompous at times, but also so god damn cool.) Akira Yamaoka may not be a "composer" in the most tradtional sense, but his output never ceases to amaze me and the man rightfully takes his place in my personal top 3.
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