is a Japanese

anime composer An anime composer is a composer who mainly composes music for anime productions. There have been many anime composers over the years, and while anime soundtracks are big business in Japan, there have been few notable, long-term composers of anime ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

and

orchestrator Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

. He is best known for composing music to the anime franchises ''

Girls und Panzer , abbreviated as ''GuP'' or ''Garupan'' , is a Japanese anime franchise created by Actas which depicts a competition between girls' high schools practicing tank warfare as a sport. The series was directed by Tsutomu ...

'', ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...

'', and '' Oh My Goddess!'' and arranging/orchestrating music in the ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...

'' series. He frequently collaborates with fellow composers Kohei Tanaka and

Akifumi Tada is a Japanese anime music composer and video game composer. Discography Video games ;Composition *'' Bomberman 64'' (1997) Anime ;Composition *''Captain Tsubasa Road to 2002'' *''Fight Ippatsu! Jūden-chan!!'' *''Cyborg 009 The Cyborg So ...

on anime scores.

Biography

Early life and career

Born in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

, Japan, Shiro Hamaguchi graduated with a music degree from Tokyo University of the Arts, where he befriended fellow video game musician

Masashi Hamauzu is a Japanese composer, pianist, and lyricist. Hamauzu, who was employed at Square Enix from 1996 to 2010, was best known during that time for his work on the ''Final Fantasy'' and ''SaGa'' video game series. Born into a musical family in German ...

. After graduation, he was hired as a department project manager at Victor Entertainment from 1994 to 1996. In 1996, he joined the

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

and

video game music Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to ...

production company Imagine, where he worked alongside famed composers Hayato Matsuo, Kohei Tanaka, and

Kow Otani is a Japanese composer. He is best known for creating the soundtracks for the Heisei ''Gamera'' trilogy, '' Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack'', ''Mobile Suit Gundam Wing'', and ''Shadow of the Colossus''. Biogra ...

. His debut role was the anime series '' Violinist of Hameln'' (1996), where he arranged Tanaka's works. His music impressed ''

'' composer

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton Jo ...

, who chose Hamaguchi as the arranger for the '' Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks'' album. He provided orchestral renditions of "Aeris's Theme", "Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII", and "One-Winged Angel", which have become iconic through their use in various ''Final Fantasy'' concerts. Subsequently, he created music for the anime series ''Ehrgeiz'' (unrelated to the video game) and ''AWOL - Absent WithOut Leave''.

Further career

Hamaguchi scored the pirate-based anime ''

'' in 1999 with Tanaka, later returning to compose four of its movies. He also worked as an arranger for the '' Sakura Wars'' series. The success of his ''

Final Fantasy VII is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the seventh main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Entertai ...

'' arrangements led Uematsu to hire him to orchestrate four pieces for the 1999 title ''

Final Fantasy VIII is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation console. Released in 1999, it is the eighth main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Set on an unnamed fantasy world with science fiction elements, t ...

'', including the opening theme "Liberi Fatali" and the theme song " Eyes on Me". These pieces and nine new arrangements appeared in the orchestral album '' Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec Final Fantasy VIII''. The following year, he arranged a selection of tracks from the game's soundtrack for the series' first Piano Collections album in five years. The success of "Eyes on Me" prompted

Kenji Ito , also known by the nickname , is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He is best known for his work on the ''Mana'' and ''SaGa'' series, though he has worked on over 30 video games throughout his career as well as composed or arranged m ...

to use Hamaguchi as the arranger for his theme song in ''

Chocobo Racing ''Chocobo Racing'', known in Japan as , is a racing game developed by Square Co. for the PlayStation. The game was released in Japan in March 1999, followed by North America and Europe in August and October, respectively. The game's star and nam ...

''. In 2000, Hamaguchi composed the '' Megumi no Daigo'' film and the ''

Dinozaurs (also known as ) is a Japanese toyline created by toy company Bandai in 1998. Alongside the toys, two media adaptations were created by Sunrise: a 5-episode 3D CGI OVA series that ran from November 27, 1998 to January 2000 and a 26-episode an ...

'' anime series, the latter with Imagine colleague Akifumi Tada. He provided orchestrations to '' Final Fantasy IX''s

full motion video Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...

music, featured in '' Final Fantasy IX Original Soundtrack PLUS'', and an arrangement of the theme song "

Melodies of Life The music of the video game ''Final Fantasy IX'' was composed by regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu. It was his last exclusive ''Final Fantasy'' score. The ''Final Fantasy IX Original Soundtrack'', a compilation of all music in the game, was o ...

"; he also created another Piano Collections album to the game. Hamaguchi collaborated with Uematsu to create music for the animated film '' Ah! My Goddess: The Movie'' and the 2001 anime series '' Final Fantasy: Unlimited'', which also featured compositions by Tada. For ''

Final Fantasy X is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square as the tenth main entry in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Originally released in 2001 for PlayStation 2, the game was re-released as ''Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster'' for PlayStat ...

'', he orchestrated the ending theme and the two versions of the theme song "

Suteki da ne The music of the video game ''Final Fantasy X'' was composed by regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu, along with Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano. It was the first title in the main ''Final Fantasy'' series in which Uematsu was not the sole comp ...

". He also produced the arrangements for the 2002 concert

20020220 Music from Final Fantasy ''Final Fantasy'' is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix that includes video games, motion pictures, and other merchandise. There have been a number of compilation albums of ''Final Fantasy'' music produced b ...

, the first ''Final Fantasy'' concert since 1989. It mixed his older arrangements with new ones such as "Vamo' Alla Flamenco", "Theme of Love", "Tina", "Dear Friends", "Final Fantasy", and an eight-minute medley of music from '' Final Fantasy I'', '' II'', and ''

III III or iii may refer to: Companies * Information International, Inc., a computer technology company * Innovative Interfaces, Inc., a library-software company * 3i, formerly Investors in Industry, a British investment company Other uses * Ins ...

''. The concert and its

CD release The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

set a precedent for many future concerts. Also in 2002, Hamaguchi scored the anime series ''

Kiddy Grade is a Japanese 24-episode anime series produced in 2002 and created by gímik and Gonzo Digimation and directed by Keiji Gotoh. The series is licensed and distributed in North America by FUNimation Entertainment. In October 2006, ne ...

''. His contribution to ''

Final Fantasy XI also known as ''Final Fantasy XI Online'', is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), originally developed and published by Squaresoft and then published by Square Enix as the eleventh main installment of the ''Final Fantasy ...

'' (2003) was arranging the opening theme. He also orchestrated three themes for ''

Unlimited Saga ''Unlimited Saga'' is a 2002 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (rebranded as Square Enix in 2003) for the PlayStation 2 as the ninth game in the ''SaGa'' series. It was released in 2002 in Japan and 2003 in North America a ...

'' on behalf of his university friend Hamauzu. At the end of 2003, Hamaguchi produced the '' Piano Collections Final Fantasy VII''. He also made new arrangements of "Opening ~ Bombing Mission", "To Zanarkand", "Ronfaure", "You're Not Alone", and "Opera 'Maria and Draco'" for the concert series Tour de Japon: Music from Final Fantasy in 2004. The concert also featured his arrangement of "Cloud Smiles" from the 2005 film '' Final Fantasy VII Advent Children''; the remaining contributions to the film by Hamaguchi were old orchestral and piano arrangements. A handful of Hamaguchi's orchestral arrangements were added to Tour de Japon's American successor Dear Friends - Music from Final Fantasy, which made its debut in May 2004 in Los Angeles. His arrangements have also been performed at the events More Friends: Music from Final Fantasy, Voices - Music from Final Fantasy, and

Play! A Video Game Symphony PLAY! A Video Game Symphony was a concert series that featured music from video games performed by a live orchestra. The concerts from 2006 to 2010 were conducted by Arnie Roth. From 2010, Andy Brick took the position of principal conductor and m ...

. In 2005, Hamaguchi scored the anime series '' Oh! My Goddess'' and contributed arrangements to the third Symphonic Game Music Concert. The same year, Hamaguchi decided to enroll at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in a one-year jazz composition course to further his opportunities as an anime composer. He has since scored '' One Piece Movie: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta'', '' Big Windup!'', ''Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings'', and ''

Rosario + Vampire is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akihisa Ikeda. The story revolves around Tsukune Aono, a boy who inadvertently enrolls in a boarding school for monsters. He quickly befriends Moka Akashiya, a vampire who soon develop ...

''. He orchestrated the late composer

Ingo Nugel Ingo Nugel (11 December 1976 – 25 March 2007) was a video game composer who together with his brother Henning founded Nugel Bros. Music. Together they wrote and produced music for games, short films and advertisements. After being diagnosed w ...

and his brother Henning Nugel's arrangements from ''

The Settlers II (10th Anniversary) ''The Settlers II (10th Anniversary)'' (german: Die Siedler II: Die nächste Generation) is a city-building game with real-time strategy elements, developed by Blue Byte and published by Ubisoft. Released for Microsoft Windows in September 200 ...

'' for performance at the fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert in August 2007. In September 2010, he arranged a suite containing the music from Starwing and Lylat Wars for the

Symphonic Legends A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

concert in Cologne. Hamaguchi also composed the official music score for the

Sanrio is a Japanese entertainment company. It designs, licenses, and produces products focusing on the ''kawaii'' ("cute") segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and accessories which are sold ...

anime '' Jewelpet'' and its sequels, ''

Jewelpet Twinkle , also called ''Jewel Pets'', is a 2009 Japanese fantasy anime series produced by Studio Comet, based on the Jewelpet franchise jointly created by Sanrio and Sega Sammy Holdings. The series was written by Atsushi Maekawa (''Digim ...

'' and '' Jewelpet Sunshine''. He later left the production staff in 2012 to focus on composing music for the film '' One Piece Film: Z'' and the anime film '' Hanasaku Iroha: The Movie – Home Sweet Home''.

Discography

Anime

;Composition *''Ehrgeiz'' (1997) *''Awol: Absent Without Leave'' (1998) *''

'' (1999–present) – with Kohei Tanaka *''

'' (2000) – with Akifumi Tada *'' Final Fantasy: Unlimited'' (2001) – with Akifumi Tada *''

'' (2002) *'' Oh My Goddess!'' (2005) *''Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings'' (2006) *'' Big Windup!'' (2007) *''Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy'' (2007) *''

'' (2008) – with Kohei Tanaka *''Rosario + Vampire Capu2'' (2008) – with Kohei Tanaka *'' Jewelpet'' (2009) *''Ōkiku Furikabutte ~Natsu no Taikai-hen~'' (2010) *''

'' (2010) *'' Jewelpet Sunshine'' (2011) *'' Hanasaku Iroha'' (2011) *''

'' (2012) *''

Tari Tari ''Tari Tari'' is a 2012 Japanese anime television series produced by P.A. Works, written, and directed by Masakazu Hashimoto. The series aired in Japan between July 1 and September 23, 2012 on TV Kanagawa, and was also simulcast by Crunchyroll ...

'' (2012) *''

Problem Children Are Coming from Another World, Aren't They? , also known as , is a Japanese light novel series written by Tarō Tatsunoko and illustrated by Yū Amano. An anime adaptation by Diomedéa aired from January 11, 2013, to March 15, 2013. Part 1 of the series ended on April 1, 2015, with ...

'' (2013) *'' Karneval'' (2013) – with

Keiji Inai is a Japanese composer, arranger and orchestrator best known for his work in anime and video games. He is affiliated with the music production company Imagine. Biography Inai was born in Hiroshima, Japan. He studied at the Toho Gakuen School of ...

*''

Galilei Donna is an original anime television series created by Yasuomi Umetsu and produced by Fuji TV, Aniplex, Kyoraku, Dentsu, and A-1 Pictures. It is directed by Umetsu, with Shingo Adachi as a character designer, Niθ as a mechanical designer, and Shir ...

'' (2013) *''

Shirobako ''Shirobako'' is a 24-episode anime television series produced by P.A. Works and directed by Tsutomu Mizushima. It aired in Japan between October 9, 2014 and March 26, 2015. A manga adaptation began serialization in ASCII Media Works's ''D ...

'' (2014) *''

Wish Upon the Pleiades is an original net animation series produced by Gainax in collaboration with Japanese automaker Subaru. The series was released on YouTube in four parts on February 1, 2011, with the English-subtitled version appearing six days later. An ani ...

'' (2015) *''

Haruchika , also called ''Haruta & Chika'', is a Japanese mystery novel series by Sei Hatsuno. Kadokawa Shoten has published five novels since October 2008. A manga adaptation published by Kadokawa Shoten in ''Monthly Shōnen Ace'' began serializati ...

'' (2016) *''

The Magnificent Kotobuki is an anime television series produced by GEMBA, which aired from January to March 2019. A smartphone game titled ''Kōya no Kotobuki Hikōtai - Ōzora no Take Off Girls!'' was released in February 2019. A compilation film titled ''The Magni ...

'' (2019) ;Arrangement *''

Violinist of Hamelin is a Japanese manga series created by Michiaki Watanabe. The manga centers around a group of adventurers named Hamel, Flute, Raiel, Trom and Sizer. All 5 are attempting to travel North, to the "Continent of Demons" in order to avert a gr ...

'' (1996) *''Sakura Wars 2'' (1999) – with Akifumi Tada, Masami Kishimura, Shinji Miyazaki, and Takayuki Negishi *'' Sakura Wars'' (2000) *''Sakura Taisen: New York NY.99'' (2007) – with Takayuki Kishimoto

Film

;Composition *'' Ah! My Goddess: The Movie'' (2000) – with

*''Megumi no Daigo'' (2000) *'' One Piece the Movie: Deddo Endo no Bōken'' (2003) – with Kohei Tanaka *''Boku no Son Goku'' (2003) *'' One Piece: Norowa re ta Seiken'' (2004) – with Kohei Tanaka *'' One Piece Movie: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta'' (2007) – with Kazuhiko Sawaguchi, Kōhei Tanaka, Minoru Maruo, and Yasunori Iwasaki *'' Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in the Winter, Miracle Sakura'' (2008) – with Kohei Tanaka *''Eiga! Tamagotchi Uchū Ichi Happy na Monogatari!?'' (2008) *'' One Piece Film: Strong World'' (2009) *'' One Piece Film: Z'' (2012) *'' Hanasaku Iroha: The Movie – Home Sweet Home'' (2013) *'' Girls und Panzer der Film'' (2015) *'' The Magnificent Kotobuki Complete Edition'' (2020) *''

Girls und Panzer das Finale , alternatively ''Girls und Panzer: The Final Chapter'', is a six-part Japanese animated film series and a sequel to ''Girls und Panzer'' (2012) and '' Girls und Panzer der Film'' (2015). Produced by Actas and distributed by Showgate, the film ...

'' (2017–present) ;Arrangement *'' Final Fantasy VII Advent Children'' (2005) – with Keiji Kawamori, Kenichiro Fukui, and Tsuyoshi Sekito

Video games

;Arrangement *''

'' (1997) *''

'' (1999) *''

'' (1999) – with

*'' Final Fantasy IX'' (2000) – with Kunihiko Kurosawa *''

'' (2001) – with

Junya Nakano is a Japanese video game composer. After working for Konami in the early 1990s, he was employed by Squaresoft and then Square Enix from 1995 to 2009. He is best known for scoring ''Threads of Fate'' and co-composing ''Final Fantasy X'' for Squa ...

, and Hirosato Noda *''

'' (2002) – with

Hidenori Iwasaki Hidenori (written: 秀典, 秀憲, 秀則, 秀徳, 英則, 英徳 or 英智) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese sound effects editor *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese ice hockey player *, Japan ...

and Hirosato Noda *''

'' (2002) *'' Monster Hunter'' (2004) *''

Monster Hunter Tri (also known as ''Monster Hunter 3'') is the third console installment in the ''Monster Hunter'' franchise, developed by Capcom and released for the Wii in Japan on August 1, 2009. ''Monster Hunter Tri'' was released on April 20, 2010, in North Am ...

'' (2009)

Other works

;Arrangement *'' Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks'' (1997) *'' Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec Final Fantasy VIII'' (1999) *'' Piano Collections Final Fantasy VIII'' (2000) *'' Final Fantasy IX: Melodies of Life - Emiko Shiratori'' (2000) *'' Piano Collections Final Fantasy IX'' (2001) *''

'' (2002) – with Masashi Hamauzu *'' Piano Collections Final Fantasy VII'' (2003) *'' More Friends: Music from Final Fantasy'' (2006) – with Arnie Roth, Tsuyoshi Sekito, Michio Okamiya, and Kenichiro Fukui *'' Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy'' (2007) – with

Naoshi Mizuta is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He is best known for his work on ''Final Fantasy XI'' (with Nobuo Uematsu and Kumi Tanioka), but has also composed music for ''Mega Man & Bass'', ''Street Fighter Alpha'', and '' Parasite Eve II''. H ...

, Sachiko Miyano, and Arnie Roth *''Soul Calibur Suite - The Resonance of Souls and Swords'' (2009) *'' Symphonic Legends - Music from Nintendo'' (2010) – with

Jonne Valtonen Jonne Valtonen is a Finnish composer, arranger and orchestrator. He is renowned for his contributions in the field of demoscene and tracker music, under the name Purple Motion, and with Future Crew. Life and early career Jonne Valtonen was b ...

, Roger Wanamo, Hayato Matsuo,

and

Torsten Rasch Torsten Rasch (born 1965 in Dresden) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. He lives in Berlin, but has found moderate success in the UK. Biography Torsten Rasch was born in Dresden in 1965 and began piano lessons at the age of s ...

References

External links

Profile at Imagine's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamaguchi, Shiro 1969 births Anime composers Japanese composers Japanese film score composers Japanese male composers Japanese male film score composers Japanese music arrangers Living people Video game musicians