I proudly invite you:


The Legacy of Japanese Composers
The Music of Japanese Entertainment
Main Thread, Overview and Hub



I have a passion for symphonic music (and other stuff).

Introduction (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW0CHif9Hug&t=2m24s)

With this thread I bring Symphonic/Orchestral music to light that is certainly overlooked and unappreciated for anyone who loves classic film, concert music and Jazz. Music from Japanese media. As legendary Korngold put it, "music is music" and in Japanese media you can find a whole library of music that is build on the foundation of classical music, symphonic Hollywood music and symphonic European film music and even ventures forth into pioneering new genres of orchestral music. It is my greatest pleasure to bring this music to your ears and I hope I can make your day and life a little brighter with wonderful music. Much of the music here has deeply affected me, touched me and inspired me when I compose music. It is beyond amazing what the Japanese entertainment industry has offered throughout the decades and I hope you find yourself reliving my joy the first time I listened through it.

I humbly invite you to take on this journey and I hope this music touches your soul and inspires you to compose music.


I. Media Compilations:


1.1. The Music of Japanese Entertainment (1995-2015) (Thread 198723)



1.2. 2016 For the Concert Hall: The Music of Japanese Entertainment (Thread 198723)



1.3. The Music of Japanese Late-Night Anime (Thread 198723)


1.4. 2017 in Concert: Anime and Games Symphony & 2017 in Brass (Thread 221737)


1.5. 2018 in Concert: Orchestral Stories (Thread 230385)


II. The History of Orchestral, Classical and Jazz Music in Japanese Animation




[SIZE=5]2.1. Orchestral Music in the 80s and 90s (Thread 224788)


2.2. Orchestral Music in the 2000s and 2010s (Thread 224788)



2.3. Anime Conservatory: European Culture in Japanese Animation (1995-2017) (Thread 217397)

Sample: What the heck is anime? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKi95017ut8)



2.4. Tokyo III Jazz Night: American Culture in Japanese Animation (1995-2017) (Thread 217397)

Sample: What the heck is Anime Jazz? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nEfWNEMeSc)




III. The History of Symphonic Music in Japanese Video Games:





3.1. The Video Game Legacy of Koichi Sugiyama (Thread 221190)



3.2. Orchestral Game Concerts (1991-1995) (Thread 192768)




3.3. Symphonic Games (1991-2017) (Thread 221190)




3.4. Orchestral Game Concerts (2008-2018) (Thread 221190)




IV. Legendary Composers:



4.1. The Works of Joe Hisaishi (Thread 219642)


4.2. The Works of Michiru Oshima (Thread 219643)


4.3. The Works of Yoko Kanno (Thread 219644)


4.4. The Works of Kohei Tanaka (Thread 219645)


4.5. The Works of Masamichi Amano (Thread 219647)


4.6. The Works of Toshihiko Sahashi (Thread 219646)


4.7. The Works of Kosuke Yamashita (Thread 219648)


4.8. The Works of Akira Senju (Thread 219649)


4.9. The Works of Naoki Sato (Thread 219650)


4.10. The Works of Taku Iwasaki (Thread 219652)



V. Genius Composers



5.1. The Works of Tomoyuki Asakawa (Thread 224999)


5.2. The Works of Yasuo Higuchi (Thread 224997)


5.3. The Works of Keiichi Oku (Thread 224998)


5.4. The Works of Yoshihisa Hirano (Thread 219651)


5.5. The Works of Reijiro Koroku (Thread 227972)



VI. Great Composers:



6.1. The Works of Shiro Hamaguchi (Thread 219655)


6.2. The Works of Toshiyuki Watanabe (Thread 219654)


6.3. The Works of Takayuki Hattori (Thread 219653)


6.4. The Works of Kow Otani (Thread 219656)


6.5. The Works of Kenji Kawai (Thread 57893)


6.6. The Works of Taro Iwashiro (Thread 219657)


6.7. The Works of Kaoru Wada (Thread 219658)


6.8. The Works of Hayato Matsuo (Thread 219659)


6.9. The Works of Kan Sawada (Thread 219661)


6.10. The Works of Hitoshi Sakimoto (Thread 219662)



VII. Promising Composers:


7.1. The Works of Yoshihiro Ike (Thread 219660)


7.2. The Works of Natsumi Kameoka & Yasunori Mitsuda (Thread 219937)


7.3. The Works of Hiroshi Takaki (Thread 219664)


7.4. The Works of Yugo Kanno (Thread 219665)


7.5. The Works of Keiji Inai (Thread 219812)


7.6. The Works of Kuroishi Hitomi & Kotaro Nakagawa (Thread 219938)

VIII. Hidden Treasures:


8.1. Michiru Oshima: Fullmetal Alchemist (The Orchestral Story) (Thread 173501)


8.2. Katsuro Tajima: Katamari Symphony and Deadstorm Pirates (Thread 173347)


8.3. Symphonic Cascades: The Wonderful Music World of Kohei Tanaka (Thread 192770)


8.4. Kohei Tanaka: Gravity Daze 1+2 (The Complete Recordings) (Thread 215297)


8.5. From Ivalice to Neo Verona: The Music of Hitoshi Sakimoto (Thread 226036)


8.6. The Music of MONACA (Thread 224333)


8.7. Akito Matsuda: Liz und ein Blauer Vogel & Other Works (Thread 224286)


8.8.1. Akira Miyagawa, Hiroshi Miyagawa: Project 2199 (Thread 224314)


8.8.2. Akira Miyagawa, Hiroshi Miyagawa: Project 2202 (Thread 230740)


8.9. Yoshihiro Ike's Rage of Bahamut (Thread 226028)


8.10. Musical Portrait of Taku Iwasaki & Bungou Stray Dogs (Thread 224315)


8.11. Hiroshi Takaki and PreCure Voice Cast: PreCure 15th Anniversary (Thread 223817)


8.12. Shinji Miyazaki et al: Pocket Monsters (Thread 225809)


8.13. Toshihiko Sahashi: FULLMETAL PANIC! The Complete Score (Thread 2196469)


8.14. Shinsuke Kazuto: Ultraman Great (Film Score Edit) (Thread 57893)


8.15. Mitsuo Hagita & Kaoru Wada: Record of Lodoss War (30th Anniversary) (Thread 224089)


8.16. Mark Mancina (yes, really): The Score of Blood+ (Thread 72996)


8.17. Takayuki Hattori - Sanada Maru (Thread 57893)


8.18. Takayuki Hattori: Gundam The Origin [FILM SCORE EDITION] (Thread 226037)


8.19. The Ancient Magus Bride [COMPLETE ORCHESTRAL WORKS] (Thread 57893)


8.20. Yasunori Nishiki: Octopath Traveler [The Recording Sessions] (Thread 221190)

IX. The Old Masters of Japanese Orchestral Music (Other People's Contributions)




laohu and Brandon O'Brian:


9.1. The Works of Akira Ifukube


Part 1 (https://mega.nz/#!cBMASSqa!VbsqJirpS7rHAWl6lNvZC0LBjo9C6BdrlxYnqaATeQI) / Part 2 (Thread 214776) / Part 3 (Thread 220068)


Bart Oss and Yen:

9.2. The Works of Toru Takemitsu

https://img.discogs.com/46WSaP8BODWvjt3jR01J-S4XxMU=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():qualit y(40)/discogs-images/A-115467-1500444165-1473.jpeg.jpg

Part 1 (Thread 210411) / Part 2 (Thread 185210)


amish:


9.3. The Works of Yoshihiro Kanno


Part 1 (Thread 57893) / Part 2 (Thread 57893)


9.4. The Works of Shigeaki Saegusa


Part 1 (Thread 57893) / Part 2 (Thread 57893) / Part 3 (Thread 57893) / Part 4 (Thread 57893) / Part 5 (Thread 57893) / Part 6 (Thread 57893) / Part 7 (Thread 57893)


Various uploaders:


9.5. The Works of Kentaro Haneda



Part 1 (Thread 216441) / Part 2 (Thread 222015) / Part 3 (Thread 127680) / Part 4 (https://mega.nz/#F!joZi0baJ!QsmmBI2ac3y8WmW34Ousyw) / Part 5 (Thread 164106)


nextday and Sanico:


9.6. The Works of Reijiro Koroku



Part 1 (Thread 186229) / Part 2 (Thread 124487) / Part 3 (Thread 114315)


nextday and Herr Salat:


9.7. The Works of Yusuke Honma



Part 1 (Thread 165822) / Part 2 (https://mega.nz/#!ai5BmSDT!odploojt56D3dTLQL12frLAP5y_0BoY-P8ikmZK9VHI)


amish:


9.8. The Works of Tamiya Terashima



LINK (Thread 189800)


Herr Salat:


Toru Fuyuki conducts Ultra Seven



LINK (Thread 57893)


Crusher Joe Symphonic Suite



LINK (Thread 57893)


tri2061990 and Yen:


Japanese Orchestral Music



LINK (Thread 224801)


Works of Yasushi AKUTAGAWA



LINK (Thread 86413)



X. Heisei Trubute: Four Decades of Anime and Games



Anime and Games Symphony (Thread 230385)



List of working orchestral/symphonic composers (2018)

It's amazing that right now there's so much generational overlap scoring for Anime, Games and Live-Action:



1. (Semi-)Retired masters (1st Generation):

- Tomoyuki Asakawa
- Akira Senju
- Keiichi Oku
- Koichi Sugiyama
- Yasuo Higuchi
- Reijiro Koroku
- Yasunori Iwasaki
- Shigeaki Saegusa
- Katsuhisa Hattori
- Yuji Nomi
- Probably a few more I'm forgetting

Occasionally, they (can) grace us again with new works


2. The old guard (2nd Generation):

- IMAGINE brigade (Kohei Tanaka, Hayato Matsuo, Shiro Hamaguchi, Shinji Miyazaki, Akifumi Tada etc.)
- Toshihiko Sahashi
- Kaoru Wada
- Naoki Sato
- Kow Otani
- Taku Iwasaki
- Michiru Oshima
- Taro Iwashiro
- Takayuki Hattori
- Sagisu/Amano
- Hitoshi Sakimoto
- Toshiyuki Watanabe
- (Yoko Kanno if she returns for Macross)
- Kotaru Nakagawa
- Joe Hisaishi

All are pretty much regulars now (again), some have now more job offers than ever (Tanaka, Oshima, Hattori) and others have quite a resurgence (Wada, Iwashiro, Matsuo, Sahashi).


3. The seasoned composers (3rd Generation):

- Yoshihisa Hirano
- Kosuke Yamashita
- Natsumi Kameoka
- Yasunori Mitsuda
- Akira Miyagawa
- Hiroshi Takaki
- Go Shiina
- Hikaru Nanase
- Mina Kubota
- Hiroaki Conisch
- MONACA (Hoashi, Takada, Kosaki etc.)
- (Yugo) Kanno
- Yoshihiro Ike
- Tatsuya Kato
- Yoshiaki Fujisawa
- Masato Coda
- Ichiko Hashimoto


All regulars, some have their career in motion now (Coda, Fujisawa, Ike, Kosaki) and others dominate (Mitsuda and Ike)


4. The new wave (4th generation):

- Souhei Kano
- Keiji Inai
- Taku Matsushiba
- Kenichiro Suehiro
- Michiru Iida
- Evan Call
- Taisei Iwasaki
- Yuya Mori
- Akito Matsuda
- Shuji Katayama
- Harumi Fuuki
- Rei Ishizuka
- Takashi Ohmama
- Shunpei Ishige
- Umitaro Abe
- Shingo Nishimura
- Kota Yokoseki
- Yasunori Nishiki


The sense of community and "composer family" is very noticable in Anime and Games, no wonder since most of the new wave have the old guard as their mentors and the seasoned composers studied under the retired masters. Most are also part of "composer/music companies" with a strong sense of community as well. Of course the biggest is the JCAA which again reinforces that composers and arrangers over there have a strong tie and a personal lobby for their profession.

Not to mention the medium is nowadays in many ways directly tied to the Japanese concert world as well as their music education system. As a Japanese music student you have the opportunity to study under Senju, Tanaka, Koroku, Oku, Watanabe, Sahashi and many more, and if you're doing good they can get you a job offer for some obscure late-night anime with even enough budget for a real ensemble (Kota Yokoseki).

Then there's of course the passionate musicians and arrangers forming new orchestra units celebrating the anime and games medium, JAGMO of course being the most famous. The uprising concert craze also continues with numerous new announcements, now also with anime titles joining the fray.


All of this took me years to finish but now there exists a comprehensive index of Japanese media music, roughly since 1995, and a comprehensive overlook about the history of orchestral music in Anime and Game since the rise of the medium to prominence, with much exposure why its so damn great, and an introduction to great composers and musicians working in that field. Through the years this music has become a source for inspiration, relaxation and joy. I hope this effort on my part makes your day brighter, inspires you to compose music one day and share it all around the world. In my opinion, our world needs more of this kind of music, for the good of mankind. I will leave you with the following insightful words:

�Part of what�s going on in Japan is simply the globalization of taste, culture, cuisine and the way that, in the modern world, you can get almost anything everywhere. But Japanese Americana and Japanese European Style is more than that. There�s a special way that the Japanese sensibility has focused on what is great, distinctive and worthy of protection in American and European culture, even when Americans or Europeans have not realized the same thing. It isn�t a passing fad. It�s a long-standing part of Japanese culture, and, come to think of it, as more Americans and Europeans are exposed to products, music or visual art revived or reinterpreted by Japanese designers, artists and musicians, the aesthetic is essentially becoming part of American and European culture, too. If you ever wonder which of the reigning American and European tastes, sounds, designs or styles will last into the future, there�s no better place to answer that question than in the stores and restaurants, the bars and studios, the television and computer screens of Japan. They often know us better than we know ourselves.�



After seven years of conception, six years of archieving and four years of sharing (two years of Legacy Composers) this thread is the ultimate culmination of all I have done. My Legacy if you will...

I dearly thank all contributors and supporters, online and offline who made this colossal task a managable one. From conception to reality, six years of effort, hours upon hours of great music I had the pleasure to work on and archieve, sometimes together with fellow members.

It is my greatest pleasure to bring this music to your ears and I hope I can make your day and life a little brighter with hours of wonderful, wonderful, wonderful music.

I might have some ideas left that I may or may not realize in the future, I will continue my "Year in music" series if time allows it and will continue to update my list of hidden gems.

You're free to archieve it in any way you please: store, save, share, reupload.

I thank you all for indulging me on this path and feel free to dive in and express your thoughts and experiences with the music.

Take on a journey.


_Vinphonic

as a fan of yoko kanno, taku iwasaki, and new comer yutaka yamada, i really enjoy the diversity and beauty of Japaneses soundtrack music.
and a million thanks for your hard work to bring wonderful music to our ears and heart!

This amount of dedication over Japanese music is quite astonishing! Thank you very much for all these collections, there are many hidden gems and very hard OSTs to find^^

This thread left me speechless!!!!
First time I will listen to many of these composers.
Thank you very much for sharing this GREAT music!!

Thanks for the share…

Simply amazing thread...

A little update: I added 2016 to my introduction, featuring the best orchestral music from Anime and Games and everything under the sun from last year.

I also added the history of orchestral Anime and Game concerts in Japan and recent development in that area of Japanese orchestral music.

thanks for the introduction, its wonderful and awesome!
thanks for sharing!!!!!

I'm surprised Kentaro Haneda's not on this list :l

KENTARO HANEDA & KOICHI SUGIYAMA

Its a different beast because I would rely 90% on other people's contributions and would make their threads of hard work obsolete. For now I've listed composers that are still working today and whose soundtracks I generally own. I also limited myself to start at 1995. But the idea of a "retro/grandfathers of anime/game music" project about Katsuhisa Hattori, Kentaro Haneda, Shigeaki Saegusa, Hiroshi Miyagawa, Yasuo Higuchi, Reijiro Koroku, Koichi Sugiyama, Seiji Yokohama and Kei Wakakusa and others have indeed crossed my mind. But that will take time since I'm still hunting for their scores (obscure doesn't describe it). If no links to their works are available any longer on this site I might be tempted.

Sugiyama, however, will appear in some form very soon, since he is still active (Dragon Quest XI symphonic suite next year) but not in complete form for various reasons.
I'm still undecided how to approach the old masters but don't expect anything sometime soon.

would you mind re-editing the main thread so the early adopters like me can be able to figure out which parts are newly added? (i feel the main thread has a lot of new composers added? no? -i am still processing all the music ever since october.. gonna take me 4 more months lol
so far, my least favorite is Hiroshi Takaki...

Newly added are Keiji Inai, Hitomi & Nakagawa, Kameoka & Mitsuda. I've also done some cleanup (in preparation ;))

What an amazing collection! I'm really impressed! Keep up the good work and thank you very much!!

Thank you very much :)

I added/expanded point III: The History of Symphonic Music in Japanese Video Games (3.1 - 3.4)

Impressive thread but I'm surprised and disappointed Shunsuke Kikuchi isn't part of the Legendary Composers section.

Its a different beast because I would rely 90% on other people's contributions and would make their threads of hard work obsolete. For now I've listed composers that are still working today and whose soundtracks I generally own. I also limited myself to start at 1995. But the idea of a "retro/grandfathers of anime/game music" project about Katsuhisa Hattori, Kentaro Haneda, Shigeaki Saegusa, Hiroshi Miyagawa, Yasuo Higuchi, Reijiro Koroku, Koichi Sugiyama, Seiji Yokohama and Kei Wakakusa and others have indeed crossed my mind. But that will take time since I'm still hunting for their scores (obscure doesn't describe it). If no links to their works are available any longer on this site I might be tempted.

;)

Hey Vinphonic. I want to express my gratitude for your effort of putting up this colossal project. It is utmost impressive. There is so much music to listen to, let alone putting all of this together. I can only speak for myself here, the fact that we're facing life as adults, no more we have enough time in a day for games, film and anime like we used to. And having all the good music in one place like this, it's convenient for us but I can't imagine how much time and hard work you put in.

I am slowly going through it now, but one by one I am baffled with the fact that there's so much good music to be missed. That Naoki Sato Train Suite for example... how you even found it I can only submit to your eagle eye ( and even though it doesn't belong in this thread, I also love the Soul & Blade The Great Journey that you posted, without which I'd never have found that incredible gem.)

I confess that I've been never a fan of the elitist community you frequent, i.e the Orchestral Thread. Albeit your uploads, people only argue about music which to me is absurd. As Costello put it, "writing about music is like dancing about architecture." I always get discouraged seeing those pointless arguments, but here is a different place, a happy place. I just want you to know that your effort and endeavor didn't go unappreciated. There has to be thousands of pieces of music here, and I am shocked after listening through every one of them. Incredible. My hat is off to you, my friend.

I really appreciate your warm and kind words. But I did not do this alone. I had much help over the years from my good friend nextday from vgmdb (he was the one digging up the Train Suite), as well as countless others from aforementioned Thread. Without tangotreats, Herr Salat, nextday, yepsa, arthierr, streichorchester, NaotaM and countless others, this thread here wouldn't exists. The orchestral thread was/is not always about what you percieve. Occasionally it is about people sharing and talking about what they love. Over time, countless hidden gems appeared and keep appearing that you most likely won't find anywhere else. This happy place that I hope enriches many people, was born out of the Orchestral Thread.

In any case, this is quite the Foundation-esque project if I say so myself and to not let all those years of getting my vision finished go to waste, everyone is free and encouraged to store my threads I listed here as well. There may be a time when I'm no longer around and MEGA ceases to exist. Doesn't matter on which forum, open or private, in threads or per PM, it would please me greatly to see it shared around if this thread is no more. Afterall, this piece of work is the result of years and years of dreaming about a place where everything great that affected me and goes unnoticed, is available with just a few clicks. It's not encapsulating everything out there, but I hope what is here will inspire enough people who want to hear/make/compose music like it to make a difference in the world.

But enough rambling, thank you very much and have a great day, my friend.



Update: I added a new category "Hidden Treasures", containing my recent musical shares from the orchestral thread. I suggest checking them from time to time. I might add more ;)

Your work is absolutely amazing. I'm curious though, why did you compress your remasters back down to mp3? Why not just upload in FLAC? If the sources were originally compressed, and then you converted them to FLAC, wouldn't the compression back down to mp3 damage the sound a bit?

We need a torrent for this.

I revised the thread again, added a new category "Genius Composers" (VI) and added "Kenji Kawai" under VII. I also added new treasures which are now numbered to navigate easier. Another new category "Other People's contributions" (IX) was added for various composers and shares for matters I addressed above.


One more thing, I forgot to include the Symphonic Poem "The Sea Prince and the Firechild" for my 80s and 90s anime collection by great Sugiyama. A separate link is now included under 1.2. symphonic arrangements.

I also forgot "Elvandia Story" for Symphonic Games. It is under the third download link for Part III of the History of Symphonic Music in Japanese Games.

Another major overhaul of the hub, now its no longer a pain in the ass to scroll to the parts you want. I have finalized my list of Hidden Treasures/New releases, have added and will add new ones when time allows it. Some composer also have new releases (i.e. Oshima).

EDIT: Added Akira Ifukube, Toru Takemitsu and others to Other People's contributions, added a list of working orchestral/composers and put on the finishing touches on everything else.

Amazing work Vinphonic. I have a love for symphonic music as well and this is the perfect thread for it. Tchaikovsky, John Williams and Joe Hisaishi were the first composers that opened the doors to symphonic music for me since I was 8 years old and I've never looked back since. True symphonic music in Hollywood is dying, but it most certainly isn't the case in Japan. It'll take me weeks or months to get through this thread, but i don't mind at all. I'm so happy to have found this thread and I can't thank you enough for putting this together. In all my years of lurking on this forum, your thread is easily the highest of quality in any I've seen. Well done.

I do have one burning question: Is there a backup of your post somewhere? Maybe google docs? ffshrine has been pretty unreliable lately and it'd be an absolute travesty to have all this lost forever.

Thank you kindly. It has been a pleasure. Yes, there is in fact a backup and I will finish it soon: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/orc/legacy-of-japan-backup-t11.html (you have to register first).

Your work is absolutely amazing. I'm curious though, why did you compress your remasters back down to mp3? Why not just upload in FLAC? If the sources were originally compressed, and then you converted them to FLAC, wouldn't the compression back down to mp3 damage the sound a bit?

Correct; conversion to mp3 will do untold damage to the sound, which can never be corrected, no matter what you do to it afterwards! Once the information in the sound files is gone, it's gone for good.

Extraordinary work, amazing thread. Huge thanks to you !

This is really amazing! Its' so great to see passionate people taking time to archive these great pieces of art that may otherwise be lost!

Absolutely incredible work. The forum is represented here with this magnificent share. Thank you. Particularly enjoyed the genius composers. A treat.