is a Japanese

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist, and the founder and artistic director of the

Eminence Symphony Orchestra The Eminence Symphony Orchestra founded in Sydney, Australia is an independent symphony orchestra which delves into the classical music featured in video games and anime, as well as film scores. History Eminence was founded in 2003 by a smal ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia, and the owner and CEO of three Tokyo-based entertainment companies: AREA 35, Inc., SAFEHOUSE, Inc. and Whistler. He was educated at

The Scots College The Scots College is an independent primary and secondary Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school for boys, predominantly located in , an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is affiliat ...

in Bellevue Hill.''Forbes Japan''
magazine named Yura as one of thei
Culture-Preneurs 30
in 2024.

Video Game & Film Career

Yura later founded his own company, Creative Intelligence Arts, which in 2013 announced its first video game project, titled '' Project Phoenix''. In addition, it was announced that Yura would be the project producer for the ''

Under the Dog is a 2016 Japanese original video animation. Originally a collaborative project between Creative Intelligence Arts and Kinema Citrus, and later a project solely produced by Kinema Citrus, it is a Kickstarter-funded anime project, released on A ...

'' anime project planned for a 2015 release. In 2016, Yura founded a new game studio, AREA 35, Inc., alongside the announcement and Kickstarter of their new game, TINY METAL, a spiritual successor to Advance Wars and other military turn-based strategy games. While the Kickstarter was unsuccessful, the game was still released in 2017 and was followed up by a successor in 2019: TINY METAL: FULL METAL RUMBLE. Yura has served as Producer on both projects in the TINY METAL series. At Tokyo Game Show in 2022, Yura announced AREA 35's newest game, Felicity's Door, where he will again serve as Producer, among other roles. Yura is also the owner of SAFEHOUSE, a production studio based in Tokyo that creates works utilizing Unreal Engine. Through SAFEHOUSE, Yura has been involved in works such as ''Lupin III: The First, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, Forspoken,'' and ''Demon Slayer: Infinity Train''. In their latest announcement on July 4, 2023, it was revealed that Yura, as part of SAFEHOUSE, would serve as Producer on the series ''Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance'' in partnership with Sunrise.

Kickstarter projects

In 2013, Yura launched a Kickstarter project named ''Project Phoenix'' through his new company CIA, Inc. and collected $1,014,600 thanks to 15,802 backers. ''Project Phoenix'' had a rough estimated release date of 2018 but has still never been made. In September 2016, through another new company called Area 35, Inc., he started a new Kickstarter project by the name of TINY METAL, which gathered 1,276 backers but did not reach its funding goal of $50,000. TINY METAL was still produced through alternative funding sources, while Project Phoenix backers had already waited 3 years at that point for their game to be made. His involvement in the TINY METAL game was never stated in the Kickstarter campaign, only known after the game was produced. In November 2017, Hiroaki Yura was accused by Tariq Lacy of using funds raised from the Kickstarter of Project Phoenix to develop and fund TINY METAL. Later, Lacy admitted that his claims and accusations against Yura and AREA 35 were false.

Personal life

Hiroaki Yura has two sons from a previous marriage.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yura, Hiroaki 1981 births Living people Japanese violinists Sydney Conservatorium of Music alumni People educated at Scots College (Sydney) 21st-century Japanese violinists