Atsuko Ishizuka (いしづか あつこ, Ishizuka Atsuko; born September 3, 1981) is a Japanese animator, storyboard artist and…Atsuko Ishizuka (いしづか あつこ, Ishizuka Atsuko; born September 3, 1981) is a Japanese animator, storyboard artist and director. She began her animation career after joining Madhouse in 2004.
Hoshiko Yamane (山根星子, Yamane Hoshiko; born 4 April 1981) is a Japanese violinist, composer and performer based in…Hoshiko Yamane (山根星子, Yamane Hoshiko; born 4 April 1981) is a Japanese violinist, composer and performer based in Berlin. She has been a member of Tangerine Dream since 2011.
Michiru Yamane (Japanese: 山根ミチル, Hepburn: Yamane Michiru; born September 23, 1963) is a Japanese video game composer…Michiru Yamane (Japanese: 山根ミチル, Hepburn: Yamane Michiru; born September 23, 1963) is a Japanese video game composer and pianist. Yamane's musical style draws on baroque, classical and rock traditions, with both Johann Sebastian Bach and Yellow Magic Orchestra as prominent influences. She is best known for her two decades of work at the gaming company Konami, with her compositions for the Castlevania series among her most recognized work. Yamane grew an interest in music at an early age, practicing on the electric organ and piano. She studied composition in college and began working as a composer for Konami in 1988. As a member of the Konami Kukeiha Club, she collaborated with other musicians on many Konami video games. Her breakthrough work came with the Castlevania games Bloodlines (1994) and Symphony of the Night (1997).
Yoshitomo Nara (奈良 美智, Nara Yoshitomo; born 5 December 1959 in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese…Yoshitomo Nara (奈良 美智, Nara Yoshitomo; born 5 December 1959 in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese artist. He lives and works in Nasushiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, though his artwork has been exhibited worldwide. Nara has had nearly 40 solo exhibitions since 1984. His art work has been housed at the MoMA and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). His most well-known and repeated subjects are "big-headed girls" with piercing eyes, who one Nara scholar describes as having "childlike expressions [that] resonate with adult emotions, [their] embodiment of kawaii (cuteness) carries a dark humor, and any explicit cultural references are intertwined with personal memories."
Shigenobu Nakamura (中村 滋延, Nakamura Shigenobu), born in Osaka in 1950, is a Japanese composer and music teacher. He…Shigenobu Nakamura (中村 滋延, Nakamura Shigenobu), born in Osaka in 1950, is a Japanese composer and music teacher. He teaches at Kyushu University (Faculty of Design). He has written fifteen books and done both chamber music and symphonies. In the 1990s his visual works were performed at festivals in Palermo and Germany.
Hiroyuki Fujikake (born 1949), also known by his pen name Hiro Fujikake, is a Japanese composer, conductor and…Hiroyuki Fujikake (born 1949), also known by his pen name Hiro Fujikake, is a Japanese composer, conductor and synthesizer player.
Naoki Kodaka (小高 直樹, Kodaka Naoki) is a Japanese video game music composer who worked for Sunsoft. He is currently a…Naoki Kodaka (小高 直樹, Kodaka Naoki) is a Japanese video game music composer who worked for Sunsoft. He is currently a professor of music at several universities and occasionally composes new music for special events. Kodaka first learned to play piano during his early childhood but quit formal training at age 7, finding that he preferred to play popular music. He later resumed his classical studies in high school and would go on to major in composition at the Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts. Following his graduation, he briefly worked on producing music for radio and television. Among his classmates, Kodaka was known to spend much of his spare time in arcades, and this ultimately attracted Sunsoft to hire him as a video game composer. He is best known for writing the soundtracks for Journey to Silius, Batman (NES, Genesis and Game Boy versions), Blaster Master, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, the Albert Odyssey series, Super Fantasy Zone, and a few other titles. He was almost always assisted on his NES projects by sound programmers Nobuyuki Hara, Shinichi Seya, and sometimes Naohisa Morota. Usually, Kodaka would compose songs on traditional sheet music, and the sound programmers would translate the compositions for the NES, sometimes receiving feedback from Kodaka on how the songs should sound. Kodaka retired from game music composition in 2002 and became a professor at Nagoya College of Music, where he teaches composition, arrangement, and production. At some later time, he also joined the faculty at Daido University, where he teaches music theory and computer-based music.
