Kohei Tanaka (composer) explained

Kohei Tanaka
Birth Date:14 February 1954
Birth Place:Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Alma Mater:Tokyo University of the Arts
Berklee College of Music
Module:
Embed:yes
Background:solo_singer
Years Active:1982–present

is a Japanese composer, arranger, conductor and singer-songwriter. He is affiliated with the music production company Imagine. He has created numerous musical scores for anime television series, OVAs, films, video games and tokusatsu series including Gunbuster, Sakura Wars and One Piece.

Biography

Tanaka was a student at Berklee College of Music. While employed playing the piano in a hotel lounge, he was requested to arrange a song in , a 1982 TV anime, and it became his first work as a composer. Afterwards, he produced some songs and arrangements for the Super Sentai series and his first work as a lead composer was for the television anime Konpora Kids in 1985.

Notably, the background music in Gunbuster made his name and talent very famous among anime fans and is recognized as one of his most important works.[1] He also handled the composition of Diebuster, a sequel series of Gunbuster, and showed a peculiar arrangement to his own work 17 years ago.

He hosted the Dai Anime Hakurankai radio show on Tokai Radio together with the voice actress Konami Yoshida from April 1993 to September 1994. His discussions with Toshio Okada and Hiroshi Yamamoto about anime, originally published in the hm3 voice acting magazine, have been republished in book form.

On February 14, 2008, he opened an official website and announced his intention to work also as a singer in the future. On July 4, he released his first solo album called Kokorone song 1st.

Works

Anime

YearTitleCrew role NotesSource
–86 Button Nose Music
Dragon Ball Theme song arrangement "Makafushigi Adventure!", "Romantic Ageru yo" [2]
Doteraman Music
Esper Mami Music
Maps Music OVA
The Three Musketeers Music
–89 Lady!! series Music Also Hello! Lady Lynn
–89 Gunbuster Music [3]
Patlabor Music OAVs
–92 The Laughing Salesman Music
Wataru Majinzan Music OVA
–91 Brave Exkaiser Music
Obatarian Music
Madō King Granzort: The Final Magical Battle Music OVA
–93 Matchless Raijin-Oh Music Also OVA in 1992
Honō no Tenkōsei Music OVA
Otaku no Video Music
Bastard!! Music
Spirit of Wonder: Miss China's Ring Music
Dragon Half Music OVA
Yaiba Music
Mobile Fighter G Gundam Music
Gulliver Boy Music
Music OVA
Brave Command Dagwon Music
Violinist of Hameln Music, Composer
The King of Braves GaoGaiGar Music, Composer
Pokémon The Movie 2000 Composer Insert song 1
–present One Piece Music [4]
–2000 Music OVA
–2003 The King of Braves GaoGaiGar Final Music Composer OVA
Gate Keepers Music
Sakura Taisen Music TV series
Angelic Layer Music
Gundam Evolve Music with others
Tenchi Muyo! GXP Music
Gate Keepers 21 Music OVA
–03 Overman King Gainer Music
Monkey Typhoon Music
Sakura Taisen: Ecole de Paris Music
Gad Guard series Music
–07 Kaiketsu Zorori series Music [5]
Desert Punk Music
Sakura Taisen: Le Nouveau Paris Music OVA
Diebuster Music OVA
Buso Renkin Music
Sakura Taisen: New York, New York Music OVA
–08 Let's Go! Tamagotchi Music
Music
Rosario + Vampire series Music 2 seasons, with Shiro Hamaguchi
Hayate the Combat Butler Composer, Arranger
–11 series Music Demon Capital with Kazuhiko Sawaguchi and Keiji Iuchi
Hyouka Music [6]
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Theme song composition "JoJo (Sono Chi no Sadame)"
Gaist Crusher Music
Assassination Classroom Theme song arrangement [7]
The Laughing Salesman New Music
Planet With Composer, Arranger
Sakura Wars: The Animation Music [8]
Theme song arrangement
Motto! Majime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori Music [9]
Back Arrow Music
D_Cide Traumerei the Animation Music [10]
Grendizer U Music [11]

Films

YearTitleCrew role NotesSource
Esper Mami: Hoshizora no Dancing Doll Music
Hello! Dynosis Kids Music Doraemon short film
One Piece: Clockwork Island Adventure Music
Music Director
One Piece: Chopper's Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals Music
Music
Music with Shiro Hamaguchi
One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island Music
Giant Mecha Soldier of Karakuri Castle Music with Fuminori Iwasaki
Music with Shiro Hamaguchi, Fuminori Iwasaki, Minoru Mauro, Kazuhiko Sawaguchi
Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in the Winter, Miracle Cherry Blossom Music with Shiro Hamaguchi
Music Film with Shiro Hamaguchi
Music with Shiro Hamaguchi
Music with Shiro Hamaguchi
Kaiketsu Zorori Da-Da-Da-Daibouken! Music
Kaiketsu Zorori: Mamoru ze! Kyouryuu no Tamago Music
Kaiketsu Zorori: Uchū no Yūsha-tachi Music
2019Music[12] [13]

Video games

YearTitleCrew role NotesSource
1990 MusicFM Towns version
1992XardionMusic[14]
Paladin's QuestMusic
Just BreedMusic
1993Tengai Makyo: Fuun KabukidenMusic
1995Tengai Makyō ZeroMusic
1996Lennus IIMusic
Sakura Wars Music [15]
Alundra Music [16] [17]
1998 Dragon Force II: Kamisarishi Daichi ni Music Main song [18]
Music [19]
1999Alundra 2Music
2001Music
2002Music
2005Music
2010Resonance of FateMusicwith Motoi Sakuraba[20]
Gravity Rush Music [21] [22]
Gravity Rush 2 Music [23] [24]
Music with others [25]
Music [26]
Sakura Wars Music [27]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Profile of Tanaka Kohei . https://web.archive.org/web/20061205101935/http://tanakakouhei.com/profile.html . December 5, 2006 . dead . TanakaKouhei.com.
  2. Web site: ドラゴンボール -東映アニメーション- . . July 4, 2019 . ja.
  3. Web site: One Piece's Tanaka & Romancing SaGa's Itō Hold Joint Concert. Anime News Network. September 29, 2016.
  4. Web site: 「ONE PIECE」ワノ国編のBGM演奏は和楽器演奏集団・桜menが担当(コメントあり). Inc. Natasha. コミックナタリー. ja. 2019-08-12.
  5. Web site: Megumi Hayashibara Stars in Kaiketsu Zorori Trailer. Anime News Network. September 29, 2016.
  6. Web site: Full Metal Panic's Gatoh Writes Kyoto Animation's Hyoka. Anime News Network. September 29, 2016.
  7. Web site: Assassination Classroom Anime Cast Sings Opening Theme. Anime News Network. September 29, 2016.
  8. Web site: New Sakura Wars Game Gets TV Anime in 2020. Anime News Network. September 13, 2019. September 13, 2019.
  9. Web site: New Kaiketsu Zorori Anime Reveals Cast, Theme Songs, April 5 Premiere . . February 13, 2020 . February 13, 2020.
  10. Web site: Bushiroad, Sumzap, Drecom Unveil D_Cide Traumerei Project With Game, TV Anime. . March 16, 2021 . March 16, 2021.
  11. Web site: Grendizer U TV Anime Revealed for Debut in 2024. Anime News Network. August 5, 2023. August 5, 2023.
  12. Web site: 「ONE PIECE ワンピース」DVD公式サイト. Log Collection. ja. 2019-07-28.
  13. Web site: EYCA-12666~7 ONE PIECE STAMPEDE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - VGMdb. vgmdb.net. 2019-07-28.
  14. Web site: Xardion for SNES (1992). MobyGames. 2020-01-17.
  15. Web site: Hardcore Gaming 101: Sakura Taisen. hardcoregaming101.net. September 29, 2016.
  16. Web site: Blues Brothers 2000 - Retro Gamer. retrogamer.net. February 13, 2012 . September 29, 2016.
  17. Web site: RPGamer > Staff Retroview > Alundra. rpgamer.com. September 29, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161001195638/https://www.rpgamer.com/games/alun/al/reviews/alstrev3.html. October 1, 2016. dead.
  18. Web site: Dragon Force II: When the Gods Abandoned the Earth : Review by Chris . Square Enix Music Online . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20101201153016/squareenixmusic.com/reviews/chris/dragonforce2.shtml . 2010-12-01 . 18 April 2022.
  19. Web site: Kohei Tanaka profile. imagine-music.co.jp.
  20. Web site: 桜庭統さんと田中公平さんが『エンド オブ エタニティ』の音楽について語る [Dengeki: Interview with Motoi Sakuraba and Kouhei Tanaka]]. March 2010. Dengeki Online. January 15, 2018.
  21. Web site: The Dizzy, Delightfully Grand Music of Gravity Rush. Kirk. Hamilton. kotaku.com. June 14, 2012 . September 29, 2016.
  22. Web site: The Best Video Game Music of 2012. Kirk. Hamilton. kotaku.com. December 14, 2012 . September 29, 2016.
  23. Web site: Check Out Gravity Rush 2's Latest Footage And Mini-Concert By Composer Kohei Tanaka. July 29, 2016. siliconera.com. September 29, 2016.
  24. Web site: 11 minutes of Gravity Rush 2 gameplay, details. December 9, 2015. gematsu.com. September 29, 2016.
  25. Web site: Notice on Release of Anime RPG "PRINCESS CONNECT! Re:Dive". February 15, 2018. cyberagent.co.jp. October 31, 2019.
  26. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Web site: ONE PIECE: World Seeker - Announcement Trailer PS4, X1, PC . YouTube. December 18, 2017 .
  27. Web site: Project Sakura Wars announced for PS4. March 30, 2019.