Rockman ZX Advent Soundtrack: ZXA Tunes Booklet Translation

Released back in August 2007, ZXA Tunes was the physical release of Rockman ZX Advent remastered soundtrack. The album came on two CDs and even featured the 8-bit soundtrack from "Rockman a (antique)" mini-game as a bonus. Despite Inti Creates' tradition of including drama tracks with their Rockman soundtracks, the second album in the ZX series doesn't – instead, it comes with four vocal tracks.


Once again thanks to Sidier for translating the booklet:

Liner Notes (by Tomoya Sato)

One day when I was working in the editing department, “that man”, “Mr. A.” (real name [probably Aizu CEO] ) suddenly appeared there. And told me this. “Would you write the liner notes of ZXA Tunes?”.

I always put on headphones when playing games and I like listening to soundtracks but it’s not like I’m so knowledgeable about music to the point I can go into detail about it. Am I really the right person for the job? I hesitated for a short while and politely declined, yet…

“The musical terms will be explained by Mr. Yamada (Ippo) so you needn’t write technical terms. Someone who’s played the games would be welcome. Write as much as you want from the PoV of a game writer.”

I feel like I’m having “that man” tell everything and it’d been rude to decline after I’d been told that so, reluctantly… No, I gladly accepted the task. (Most of the above is non-fiction)

Well then… While I do feel a bit anxious about this, I think I do want to write a lot about “Rockman ZX” and its music. There are parts that won’t be complete but please stick around with me for a short while.

Also, I’ve been a gamer for a long time (ever since the NES era) but I only began seriously playing the action games of the Rockman series with “Rockman Zero 3 (GBA)”. I guess veteran Rockman fans would call me “a new gen guy”. (laughs). But I do like to play games at the fullest, to complete all. In the case of “Rockman ZXA”, that’d mean gathering all of the medals. Simply gathering them isn’t artistic so I tried to take on the challenge to get them in no-damage runs but transforming into Falseroids to beat the bosses is hard.
Their movements have habits to them and their bodies are too big. Where did the attuned moves I did with Model A go to!? I was desperately playing the game while thinking that (laughs). Well, I guess that’s enough gameplay talk. Let’s get into the main topic.

Information gathered through sound in gameplay might be more important than you think. The SFXs tell you what’s happening and you can deduce what’ll happen, you can predict danger ASAP. In “Rockman”, that can apply to the sound of gunfire, telling you there’s enemies off-screen shooting at you. Or that your attack hit a boss’ weak point. Or the boss’ voice tells you what they’ll do next. To give more concrete examples… Kaisemine’s “play with them” means that I must get behind her, Siarnaq’s “Locked on, locked on” means I must lock-on into him using the homing shot; the voices allow me to tell the next attacks at once and so I get ready to dodge or counterattack.

And the music that plays in-game… I guess you can say they must “burn” to make the game exciting. The tracks’ tunes allow to predict what’ll happen in this scene. This eerie tune tells you something bad is about to happen. Amongst the tracks of “ZXA”, the track of the waterfall ruins, “Oriental Sentinels”, uses Japanese guitar (shamisen) and bamboo flute (shakuhachi), and while I did think it sounded very Japanese-like, Argoyle and Urgoyle, the Shiisaa bosses appeared, and I was like “I see. So that’s why.”. In action games, if the music is too prominent it can take away concentration but, in that aspect, the “Rockman” games’ music doesn’t outstand that much but they don’t feel absent either, they do have a very subtle balance to them.

In my opinion, sounds are a must-have for games else motivation doesn’t appear; and you can’t focus in the game. So at some point I became used to using headphones while playing games.

The music of “ZXA” is full of great tracks; the more you listen to them the more you’ll notice their “flavors”. I’ll list up some tracks that left an impression on me.

“Drifting Floe”: I like the high-pitched note melody that comes in mid-way across the track. This stage is pretty long and has a complicated map so I struggled a lot in my first play. I was able to beat it thanks to this music (laughs)

“Evil Heritage”: it’s a slow-tempoed and a bit dark track, but it makes you feel like something important is about to happen. It’s a dark stage too, which I made my way through full of excitement… And the battle with Model ZX surprised me indeed.

“Trap Phantasm”: it feels like a straight line heading to the climax, it makes you be infatuated (with Pandora)... I mean, it’s a battle track that makes you burn!* “Let’s have fun, shall we!” I was in very high spirits as I battled. I died a lot though (laughs). Ah! And I want to add that 2 VS 1 is unfair!

*Untranslatable pun involving two words that sound the same: 萌える (moeru), to be infatuated, to have a crush and 燃える (moeru), to burn

And the “Green Grass Gradation” and “Rockin’ On” of the minigame “Rockman a (antique)” felt so nostalgic to me, ‘cause I’m an old gamer; this PSG tone generator (that blip-blop sound) is good to the point it made me cry (laughs). The source tracks are the prequel’s Area A and Boss Battle tracks, yes. The game graphics make a great job at recreating those old cheap sprites with few colors (laughs). That minigame that comes after beating the last boss is a must-see for Rockman fans.
There’s a lot of other good tracks but Mr. Yamada will take care of explaining the famous tracks so I’ll leave it here…

SOUND ONLY “An extra mission. We got an incomplete music mix track. Write something about this, too”

Now!? Do you have any idea how busy I am!? Rubbish!! … Oh no! It’s an honor to be able to hear the tracks one month before the soundtrack goes into sale! Well then, I’ll write about 3 tracks that caught my interest when looking at the website info.

Let’s begin with “Be One”: it’s a song that keeps on with the image of Ashe’s words “This is my life, my story”. Trying to listen to the stage track while listening the song I did feel that it was a good track to turn into a song.

Next is “Seeking The Future”: this was quite the surprise. Chinese? I see. I feel like it’s a bit too bold, though (laughs)

Last one is the one I secretly was looking forward to: “Rockman a (antique) Remix”: this one is so good, better than what I expected it to be. It’s indeed a track so emotive that it makes you shake! It makes use of its original sound and it’s arranged in trance style. And the jump and buster SFXs mixed in as if it were a DJ scratching the discs. Pointless gorgeous and pointlessly has so much passion mixed in! You can’t talk about “ZXA Tunes” without listening to this! … Sorry, I got too excited there (laughs)

By the way, the “ZXA” music recorded in the soundtrack is not the same music that plays in the NDS game but remastered versions made by the creators, who’ve created arrangements of the base tracks.  There’s a limit to how many sounds you can use in the NDS so there’s a drop in quality compared to the original track.
The Sound Producer shows his skill when recreating those tracks in the NDS without breaking its original image. I think that, taking into account, it’s fun to compare the soundtrack and the game music.

Of course, you can also simply listen the music without taking that into mind and be satisfied nevertheless. Because this soundtrack is full of “fun”. Find your way to have fun, and enjoy it at the fullest along with the game.

• PROFILE SATO TOMOYA

Made his debut in the year ‘98 as a writer. Wrote in digital magazines of Media Works. Nowadays he’s mostly in charge of Rockman articles in the “Dengeki Nintendo DS” magazine. A stupid gamer who loves playing time attacks and no damage runs in games even though nobody asked him to. He won’t feel satisfied unless he can defeat bosses unharmed and precisely. He has a critical weakness as a writer: he spends too much time in pointless stuff so he always delays writing his articles.

A Mouse Pad that was given to people that preordered the soundtrack. 

Notes on Tracks (by Ippo Yamada)

The explanations of all ZXA tracks. There’s a lot of accumulated job in the business that keeps me busy. I write them during my displacements in my business trips. Whenever there’s a typhoon or an earthquake stopping me from using the route I’d scheduled that’s an exciting happening, similar to the game, so I’ll write these track notes in a fluster.

ASHE DISC

·Go For it!

The ZX Advent image tune… Because there’s new protagonists. When I heard that, I (and probably everyone else) went “HUH!?”. The sound concept of this game was gonna start from scratch: the concept was “I decide my own future!”. Felt very cheerful and full of dreams. It actually was more “how are we gonna make this much stuff in this span of time!?”. We were nervous, angsty and unrestful. Or something like that… (laughs) Gotta do it! Go For it!!

·Through the Lightning 

Ashe’s opening stage. When I first began to work on this track, I immediately felt “this girl is gonna be the flower(?)”. Ashe mode begins by chasing a fleet of Illegal Hunters, and then bumping into a bunch of Irregulars. The fly-shaped red (and black) flying Irregulars have a Galleon within their heads. If you ride atop them they will look upwards in a “what’s going on?” feeling (laughs). Since the airships are fused with Galleons, they’re considered to be Irregular (machines) by themselves rather than a vehicle.

·Relief

The protagonists stir and wake up… In the Hunter Camp’s infirmary. It’s a quiet track, imagining a peaceful situation. Nothing else happens here apart from the wake-up event. I wish there’d be more “healing” happenings, though (laughs)

·Target Chaser

The track of the cargo train stage. It was originally made as a song so I redid it to become a stage track. Hence why the melody is slightly different. Deeburn is the boss. He speaks in imperfect speech but has a “cool” image to him. I did wonder if it was a good idea to make the first boss so “cool” but… Maybe he’s not that “cool”? (laughs)

·Slam Down

Boss battle. There were several entries of tracks for the boss battle, but Ito D (Director Ito Ryota) turned down most of them. This is the last one that was left (bitter laugh). It’s an attempt to become a melodious boss battle track and I hesitated over the choice, thinking it wasn’t the right one. This one was hard to make, but did you enjoy it?

·Twisted Vine

The deep-green tower. It’s the stage of Lord Rospark, the hottest topic around here. You can choose protagonists of both genders in this game, too, and he was designed to be a boss character who’d react differently depending on the gender you’d chosen. His motif has been the rose from the start, but that he ended up being fitting for the role was… fate? He has a lot of deeply meaningful lines but this game is for all ages and for good kids so you can be at ease, Moms and Dads. Looks like there’s something like that boss from X2, W(X)re Hetim(X)rl, mixed in amongst the vegetation. Also, Rospark is Rose + Spark.

·Flashover

The oilfields stage. This where the Flame Rockman, Atlas, appears. If you beat her, one of Model A’s seals will be unlocked and you’ll know that Model A and Model V were made by the same subject. The leader of the Illegal Hunters, Wolf, also debuts here. Despite that he appears in publicity illustrations and that Mr. Banjo Ginga voiced him, this is the only (voiced) scene he appears in (laughs).

I did also retort about “how can there be an oilfield next to an area with flowing ice!?” but I got told that all areas have a lot of distance between them and that (the protagonists) are moving from area to area during the black fade out when you’re switching during areas…

The Illegal Hunters’ ship has crashed so the desert’s background has Clay The Giant who’s fallen there. Also, this area has a room which you can only enter after you’ve cleared the game, and it has a “seasonal item” hidden on it, which is tied to the DS console’s clock so don’t forget to pick it up.

·Bullet Drive

The Legions HQ stage. The Dark Rockman, Siarnaq, appears here. It’s a speedy and cool track, the most impressive in this game. If you defeat Siarnaq, you’ll figure out that the mastermind behind the scheme is one of the 3 Sages. The world of “ZX” is made up of self-governed cities such as “Cinq Ville”, spread across the world, and by the collective state they form; Legions, the core of that federal government, is in a city named “Banten” which is where this mission is set in. Since it’s buildings where the federal government is at, they have a gorgeous image, with stuff such as red carpets and so. The 3 Sages are the highest authority within Legions. The names are taken from those 3 professors the fans are familiar with, but they’re totally unrelated to their namesakes (laughs). The Legions HQ design is seemingly inspired by the (Soccer) World Cup trophy.

·Be One

When this track was made up, I was asked to turn it into a song so I turned into an up-tempo pop track. It was made to have vocals so the melody’s interval range is very wide and hard to sing but CAO did a very good job at it. This song’s theme is Ashe. Her image is that of a “subtle cat who seeks prey”. Her initial design had her hair loose and was long-haired but when her sprite transforms into Rockman, it’s overlaid by the gray body so it was turned into the current ponytail, apart from the body, to make it possible to turn it into a sprite.

·In the Wind

The hovering ruins stage. The Wind Rockman, Helios, appears here. Just like in ZX, the scene is an outer (area) forest and we’ve got a track that’s similar to “Green Grass Gradation”. Defeating Helios will reveal the condition to become a “match”. The names of the opposing Rockmen are, like Prometheus and Pandora, were named from moons of Saturn and Helios is another name used in the myth of “Hyperion”, a moon of Saturn. The source of the antique item here is the legendary gun item you all know about.

·Overloaded

The highway stage. The Ice Rockman, Thetis, appears here. Defeating him will allow you to figure that the conspirer used pieces of Model V to make two sibling Repliroids, and ordered them to fight other Rockmen to decide who was the strongest amongst them. That’s Prometheus and Pandora. In terms of settings, it’s supposed to be a highway within “Cinq Ville”. At first it was a stage with clean blue skies, but since other stages had a very similar image, it was hurriedly redone into a nighttime stage. The “War Riker” has a “cutting” finish so you can feel like Go(X)mon*

*Translator Note: Probably a reference to Ishikawa Goemon XIII from Lupin the 3rd, a swordsman whose sword can cut anything in half

·Rush Trash Squash

The scrap dumpster. The prequel’s snow stage has had its snow melted by the heat of the machines that re-activated. I was aiming for other aspects with this stage track. Condorock is the boss. This rock jerk is my favorite boss and his movements remind me of a game I’d worked on in the past as the main responsible. Those splitting headache rock guitar sounds. But the Trans-On Condorock might not be as great as the original (laughs).

·Brimstone

The stage is the remains of the Serpent Company Home Office, destroyed in the prequel. The slap base sequence is hot, making it an intense track. The battles here of the prequel ended up with the company being dismantled, and the building itself is being reused as the control facility of an energy furnace: that’s the setting. The Model V that Prometheus recovers in the second half of the stage is a piece of the one that the protagonists of the prequel had destroyed.

·Evil Heritage

The Hunter Camp’s quarry. A creepy dark cave stage. The Exspiders appear all of a sudden and I hate that. Here is where Model P’s “Touch Kunai” (guess you can only pull this on a NDS?) gets to be useful. It’s very useful in dark spots. I like the SE used in the Model V that’s being hung in this stage.

·Determined Eyes

The transformation theme of (Model) ZX. Long! Too long! Transformation punk! When I recorded it, Lady Aile’s storyboards were not the definitive version yet so at the end of the footage, Aile took a pose and (a text saying) COMING SOON (was placed)... The (animation) studio sure got nervous there (laughs). I wanted to make a sung version of this, too, there wasn’t enough time… What a pity! (laughs)

·Oriental Sentinels

The waterfall ruins were made into a Japanese track. This one was hard to make, and I had Mr. Suzuki (Masaki) make several prototypes of it. The Japanese guitar feeling is superb! The pedestals in which the bosses, Argoyle and Urgoyle, stand in were the capsules where they’d been kept, according to when their settings were made; their serial numbers are written on them. The right capsule is “130. Model T.” and the left capsule “04. Model T.”. If you look closer at the pedestals, they are designed to spell A-un*... It looks like that if you play in “Mania Mode”, they will move like Gemini Man of “Rockman 3”! Go check it out!

*Translator Note: A-un; In Japanese Mikkyō Buddhism, the letters represent the beginning and the end of the universe.

·Organic Line

The sewers stage. It’s the drainage of the BioLab further ahead and it’s supposed to reek but you can’t tell that in a game (laughs). The boss is Bifrost, who’s in command of the 8 bosses. He’s one of the few who knew the whole of Albert’s plan but he gets beaten before he can tell much about it.
We wanted a composed and convincing voice so we had Mr. (Banjo) Ginga provide it but when I did the casting I didn’t take into account what to do when Ashe transformed (into him)...

·Path to the Truth

The seabed volcanoes stage, where the story is moving in a big scale as we head towards the conclusion. To make you feel that “something”, Mr. Suzuki turned into a pleasant track. This is Albert’s homebase, where the Model Vs are gathered from across the world. And ironically, the accumulated anger of Prometheus and Pandora becomes the trigger which causes Ouroboros to become activated.

·Trap Phantasm

The theme of Prometheus and Pandora becomes more powerful and comes back! I think that, this time around, I was able to capture more of the “coolness” when making this track! (laughs) Both of their Live Metals are said to be “pieces of Model V” but in the demo illustration, they’re drawn with red and blue crystals. Rather than be something not set, it’s ambiguous. That’s up to the users’ imaginations.


GREY DISC

·Dive into Depth

Theme of Albert’s “Rockman” scheme. And apart from being the track of when the Hunters enter the mysterious lab where Grey is sleeping in, it’s also used when the memories sealed in Model A are unlocked. The memory footage of Model A, supposedly made a long, long time ago show Vent, Aile, Girouette and Serpent amongst others; that’s because Albert is constantly updating the records. The code numbers whenever Model A’s memories are unlocked are rearranged dates from “that” famous anime… Or so they were, but posteriorly I was told that it’s not “TC” but “CC”, something that dejected me (bitter laughter).

·Destiny

Grey’s opening stage. The mysterious lab. Grey’s image is a “puppy whose leash has been cut off”. He’s become free and run outside (of the lab) but he doesn’t know where to go. I struggled to cast his VA. Was Ms. Hirata’s voice good enough?

·Drifting Floe

The track of the cold, flowing ice area. Director Ito (Ryo) says that (???) is the N(X)K Special “Let’s go to the cold river!” (laugh). The boss is Chronoforce, shaped like a horseshoe crab. The Time Bomb you can use when transformed is very powerful so I want to beat him first but the Sub Tank in this stage requires to transform into Rospark to get it… This setting always makes me hesitate…

·Dance Macabre - Second Act - 

The track of all those mid-bosses hindering the protagonists’ advance. It’s an arranged version of the prequel’s track. The mid boss I had the most fun with while making the SFXs was Giganto Rent; the part of the “soccer arms” buried in the ground is actually equipped with a giant drill. If you keep an eye out when it dives into the ground or ceiling, you can see it spinning below the mouth.

·Searching for the Future

A vocal arrangement of the Legions HQ stage track. Since it’s the future, descendants of many cultures will mix in and live together and so Chinese will still probably be used hence why I choose it. But then I stepped into an area I was inexperienced with: Chinese lyrics and finding a singer for that. A few days before recording I was told to lower a key for the orchestra arrange; the lack of time and budget was also a hassle.
I think I said in the past that random ideas aren’t good, yet… The end result was very good so I don’t really have room to reflect upon that.

·Whisper of Relics

The mysterious lab past the waterfall of the lab Grey woke up in. Apart from Prometheus’ (and Pandora’s) capsules, there’s also Original Albert’s capsule and there you can know (part?) of his scheme. Tesrat’s intonation was an adlib by Miss Kokoro (Kikuchi). It was very cute so we redid a bit of her lines to take profit of it. But both her design and moves were quite the challenger. “I almost didn’t make it, y’know!?”

·Uroboros

The fusion of the awakened Model Vs, “Ouroboros”, rises up from the sea: that’s when this theme plays. Model V, made from an ancient satellite cannon… The design of its fusion, “Ouroboros”, inherits some of its parts. The core section used to have the main cannon of the satellite cannon but since “Ouroboros” is shaped like a donut, the core and main cannon section is lacking.

·United Forces

The track of the final stage, where you intrude thanks to the help of the Guardians. It’s the last stage, and this melody that feels like it makes your soul dance is superb. The Model Vs gathered from across the world are thumping. In-house staff feedback is that it feels disgusting. The latter half of the stage was like STG, nostalgic and fun. Isn’t too easy? I went in feeling all confident and got stabbed by the spikes.

·The Chosen One

The chosen one. The theme of Master Albert, sage and scientist possessed by the ambition of being the “Rockman”, the ultimate. His experiment to create the ultimate life form using the world itself has, at some point, shifted into becoming a God to give birth to a new humanity; was that a must-have happening?

·Soul Ablaze

The battle with the robot 3-headed dragon that Albert controls. Just like in the prequel, Kawakami (Ryo) made a good job at decorating the final battle’s track. It’s been a while since you fought a piloted robot; talk about a sudden turn of events. The setting is that Albert and the throne are contained at the source of the necks but while I did think it was the spot it’d receive more attacks, I simply used Model P to shoot kunai in a row from close quarters.

·Divine Hammer

The 2nd round with Original Albert, who’s removed his restraints, a track done by Mr. Umegaki (Luna). The first round made you feel hot and excited, but what awaited beyond that thrust was a battle of Ultimate VS Ultimate with the world at stake. A battle between masters, something close to being soundless… That kind of calm which was the image we put in the song. As expected of the last boss battle. I struggled to beat him during my checks and I hated having to dodge those cross-shaped shuriken, I couldn’t find a good, stable way to beat him… But then Tamura in charge of characters, told me to turn into Chronoforce, which helped me. That moment made me cry, even.

·Den of Hunters

It’s the theme of the Hunter Camp and the ending theme as well. This place has a lot of members as well as facilities. The area built through area expansion allows you to place stuff you got as quest rewards and there items like the Utuboros from X1 or the Head Express / Pantheon Core from Z1. Regarding the “legendary hero”, it’d seem they asked Capcom USA about the copyrights but makes you wonder how many people you need to do that! (laughs) Eating too much owl broke the belt… Which seems to be something that really happened in-house. So don’t neglect exercise.

·Wind That Goes Onto The Future

We wanted to make a lot of songs for this CD so this one of the planned ones. At first it was made for promotion and for the movie in the train stage but it was ultimately recorded in-game as the ending theme. This CD version is a re-recording, a full version with the whole chorus.

·Rockman a (antique) Remix

The bonus tracks of this CD is Rockman a (antique). Mr. Fuuji (Natsuki), who was making the NES Model A sprites during noon breaks as fun was sharp sightedly found by our fellow Ryo (Director Ito Ryota) who turned it into a job; talk about an ogre (laughs) They wanted to be as detailed as possible so it was set that we’d record (the music) using PSG sound generator; I choose the popular ZX songs “Green Grass Gradation” and “Rockin’ On”. The SFXs were made with PSG too, recorded and used in-game. I’ve used those as a basis to make a cool remix for this CD.


Profiles

• Ippo Yamada - Sound Designer / Producer

Born in Kanazawa Prefecture. Graduated from Chiba University of
Science. Joined Capcom in the year 93. Worked on “Super Street Fighter II (SNES), “Demon’s Crest (SNES)”, “Resident Evil (PSX)”, etc. Also joined as support of (sound team) for “Rockman X2 (SNES)” and “Rockman 7 (SNES)”. Joins Inti Creates in the same year. Works in “Convertible Running Attack Gunbike (SNES)”, “LOVE & DESTROY (PSX)”, “Crayon Shin-chan The Adventure of Cinemland, the Wind-Beckoner (GBA)”, “Fantastic Children (GBA)”, “Crayon Shin-chan Legend-beckoner Extra City, Shock Gun (GBA)”, “Crayon Shin-chan DS Storm-beckoner Crayon Strategy (NDS)”, “Kabu Trader Shun (NDS)”, “Eureka Seven (PSP)” all sound of the “Rockman Zero Series”, “Rockman ZX (NDS)” as well as CD production. Also involved in “Shin Megami Tensei Devil Children The White Tome (GBC)” as Director of Monster Designs.

• Tsutomu Kurihara - Guitarist / Producer

Born in Tokyo Prefecture. Debuts in the year 84 at EUROX from Warner Pioneer. Works in anime songs for anime such as “Panzer World Galient” as well as in CMs for Suntory and Miki House. Provides songs to many artists like Nakamori Akina, Nyangilas and such.Joins in many recordings, such as those of: CLASS,  Ono Masatoshi, Tanaka Minako, Sendo Akiho, Tamura Eriko, Tone Mariko, Funta, etc. Forms EGQ in the year 98. Releases 2 albums with Crown Records. He’s currently teamed up with Umegaki Luna to form Lu7 and released 2 albums, “Efflorescence” and “L’esprit de l’exil”.He’s also taken part in “Wave Rally (PS2)” and “Drihoo (XBOX)” as guitarist.

• Luna Umegaki - Composer / Keyboardist

Born in Tokyo Prefecture. Joined the making of the Drama CD “Angelic - The Saclear of Light and Darkness” while he was studying.Then he went on making the soundtrack and SFXs for many games such as “Ape Escape 2001 (PS2)”, “Drihoo (XBOX)”, “Everybody’s Golf 2 (PSX)”, “Jumping Flash (PSX)”, “The Legend Of Dragoon (PSX)”, “Koneko mo issho (PSX)”, “Battle Arena Toshinden 3 (PSX)”, “Choro Q2 (PSX)”, “Choro Q3 (PSX)”, “SIMPLE 1500 Hello Kitty Vol. 1~3 (PSX)”,  “Crayon Shin-chan The Adventure of Cinemland, the Wind-Beckoner (GBA)”, “Fantastic Children (GBA)”, “Crayon Shin-chan Legend-beckoner Extra City, Shock Gun (GBA)”, “Crayon Shin-chan DS Storm-beckoner Crayon Strategy (NDS)”, “World Tank Museum For Game, Eastern Front (PS2)” while being active as a musician. He’s currently the leader of the instrumental band Lu7.

• Masaki Suzuki  - Guitarist / Composer

Born in Yokohama City. Began live support of SHAZNA and Kawamoto Makoto and is active as a new-gen guitarist. His guitar songs have charmed many with the emotion poured in them. He’s not only a performer, he also works as a composer. His main works are Kawasumi Ayako’s “Dream It - I Want to Meet You (Love Candidate (PSX & OVA)) Main Theme”, Tamura Rion’s “It’s Only You and Me”, YURIA “YOU (Theme of TV Anime “Shuffle”)”, '' as well as “Parallel Days”, Heiya Aya (Character song for Haruhi Suzumiya, in the anime “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”), “Hyappatsu Hyakuchū Toraburun♪ (Ui Miyazaki & Ryoko Shintani, main theme song of anime “Hime-sama Goyojin”)”, “HYBRID UNIVERSE” by Mizuki Nana; and he’s also joined the recordings of Akina (Folder5), Kuraki Mai, Shimatani Hitomi, “PRIVA ROSSA”, amongst others.

• Toshiki Horisawa - Guitarist / Writer

Leader of the technical hard rock trio “THE SURGERY”. As a music writer, he often writes music playing analysis articles in guitar magazines and so, he’s also taken part in music-teaching DVDs “Encyclopedia: the way to use a scale, and how to learn it (VOL 1)” and “VOL 2 (of the same name)”, “Pentatonic Scale Very Easy Use Encyclopedia”, he also published the music teaching book “Guitar Etude / the top 15 songs for training” (as co-author), and joined Project “E.G.Q” with another 4 guitarists. He’s released 2 albums with Nippon Crown (Publisher). He’s currently doing lives such as “AIRCASTLE”, “THE HORIZAWA SPECIAL”, “TT&K”.

Toshiki Horisawa Official Website

• DJ TAKAYOSHI - Arranger

Born in Hiroshima Prefecture. When at Club Music Scene, he worked in remix arrangements and music production of several genres. Trans Version of Iwasaki Yoshimi’s “Touch” (arranger), Trans Version of Mihara Junko’s “Sexy Night” (arranger)”, Ishii Akemi’s “CHA CHA CHA (TECHNO VERSION)” and others. 

• Akari Kaida - (GROVES AKARI) (Composer)

Born in Hyogo Prefecture. Graduated from the Osaka Musical College’s Junior College of Music. Joins Capcom in the year ‘94. Worked in the music of games such as “Cyberbots - Full Metal Madness - (AC)”, “Darkstalkers’ Revenge (AC)”, “Resident Evil (PSX)”, “Breath Of Fire III (PS2)”, “Dino Crisis (PSX)”, “OniMusha III (PS2)”, “Rockman and Forte (SNES)”, “Rockman EXE (GBA)”. Became a freelancer in the year ‘05, and apart from providing music for “Luminous Arc” and “Rockman ZX Advent”, she has provided music for overseas radio CMs and for artists. She’s working in other fields apart from game music.

• Koji Hayama - (Musician / Composer)

Born in Yokohama City. Enters “Messiah” (Brand name of Nippon Computer Systems Corp.) in the year ‘86 and debuts with games such as “Gaia Emblem (PC)”. Joins “Brain Grey” in the year ‘88 and is put in charge of “Last Armageddon (PC)”. He joins the foundation of Winds in the year ‘89 and, after working on titles such as “Kaizō Chōjin Shubibinman 2: Aratanaru Teki (PCE)” and “Ranma ½ (PCE)”, he becomes a freelancer. He records a big hit, no. 16 in the “Oricon Ranking” in the year ‘93, “Super Big Bro”.  In his debut live, he’s greeted by the great “Big Bro Call” and ever since then he’s referred to as “Big Bro”. His unique style of song-making by the use of sampling, as represented by “Super Big Bro” and “Muscle Genus Bat#1”, is called “Big Bro Sound” and is involved in orthodox games such as “Front Mission Third (PSX)”, “Super Robot Taisen Alpha (PS)”, “Ape Escape 2 (PS)” and in vocal songs such as “The Ballad of Men”, “Tomorrow Will Be Sunny”, “Lucky Raper Party”. Has composed tracks for “Super Smash Bros. Brawl (WII)” as well. Has released 14 CDs and has worked in about 30 titles as game music maker.
Has acted with Kouda Mariko and Mizuki Ichiro, is a radio personality, been in magazine column serializations, and emits an independent feeling of existence as a game music practitioner. 

• Ryo Kawakami - Composer / Keyboardist

Born in Tokyo Prefecture. Ever since he met electones as a child and synthesizers in junior high, he dedicated himself to making songs and taking part in bands. CLUSTER BULLET in the year ‘99, and CYBERNATUS in the year ‘01. He’s currently acting on his own. He also joined the united band MIN2. He made the drama CD “Tailor Shop”, and provided music for games such as “MEDICAL 91 (Win/PS2)”, “The Other Side of the Birdcage (PS2)” and “Rockman ZX (NDS)”.

• Toru Itoga  - Vocalist

While studying at college, his passion and assumptions led him to form LesVIEW in the year 87. Their activity in the Live House Harajuku Hokoten and others increased their band members and make contracts with Shinko Music and Fan House. They make their major debut in the year 90 with the album “Now’s the time to revive”. They make 4 albums and 10 singles until they disband in the year 93. He makes his solo debut in the year 96 as ITOGA. After that he released 2 singles through Pony Canyon.  He currently works as a lecturer and freelance vocalist while also taking part in a band named “Digital Spicy Duck”.

• CAO - Singer / Lyrics Writer

Born in Shizuoka Prefecture. In October 2. Libra. Blood type: A. Debuted with Cutting Edge in Unit Tiptory, in the year ‘98. Then debuted on her own as “SAO” through Togei Entertainments. Released CM songs such as the one for “Petit Pudding”. She’s now working as a Session Vocalist. She’s also been in choruses with Sakura Nogawa, Tokyo Purin, “Emoji D”. She’s also taken part in the games “Little Aid (Win/PS2)”, “Princess Days (PS2)”, “Panic Bullet (PS2)”, and the anime “Rabu Dollar”.

• Kaoru  Akiyama - Voice Actress / Actress

Born in Saitama Prefecture, on March 5th, Piscis, Blood Type A. Graduated from the Graphic Design Faculty in Tama College of Arts. While working as voice actress and actress, she also works as a designer with the name “Hako Factory”. The work in which she’s acted as the main star is “Goods”. Received Best Actress Award in the 2004 Toga Producer Contest held by the Actors Conference. She’s also been in plays, movies and TV CMs. She loves pro wrestling, and worked as backstage reporter for the New-Japan Pro Wrestling “WRESTLE LAND”. She’s a member of the mysterious “Risauta” and a solo singer. Anime: “Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple”, video game “Your Song Which Sparkles In The Universe” (role: Lumina, protagonist of the game), TV CM narration “Kids Cellphone papipo”, “Let’s cross over time! Kimon-chama” and others. (Blog) “The Very Favorite Umlaut” (https://ameblo.jp/hako)

• Sheng Zhiheng - Singer

Born in Daiun, China. Began learning piano at 5 years old, and began to study music at 15 years old. Specializes in vocal and music making in the Beijing Normal University. Ended up 2nd place winner in the Daiun Young Men Singing Contest (‘01). Same with the Daiun Chinese-Japanese Song Contest (‘04). Winner of the National Young Men Singing Contest (‘05). In the same year, he releases an album, “Call Me”, through the Chinese  Stereo Music Publisher Company and makes his debut in China. Comes to Japan in the year ‘07. Founds recording studio “The Universe’s Voices”. Begins his work in music-making and as a teacher.