Motoi Sakuraba

Motoi Sakuraba (桜庭 統) is a Japanese composer of video games, anime series, and television dramas as well as independent progressive rock albums.

Biography
Motoi Sakuraba was born in Akita Prefecture, Japan. He is married to Yuko Sakuraba and has a daughter, Mio Sakuraba. Sakuraba broke into the music scene as composer and keyboard player of the progressive rock band Deja Vu, which released an album, "Baroque in the Future", in 1988. The band later disbanded, and Sakuraba went on to release a solo progressive rock album, "Gikyoku Onsou", in 1990. During his work as video game composer he continued to produce heavily extended arrangements of his compositions.

In late 1989, Sakuraba began work as main composer for Wolf Team, a subsidiary of Telenet Japan. While this team eventually splintered into several others, the professional friendships formed here have resulted in a great demand for Sakuraba's composing abilities, as seen in the following:
 * In 1994, former Wolf Team director and composer Masaaki Uno started working at Camelot Software Planning as coordinator and sound director, developing games for Sony, Sega and Nintendo. Sakuraba was called upon as a composer for various Camelot games, including the Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and Golden Sun series.
 * In 1995, Wolf Team developed the breakthrough game Tales of Phantasia for Namco. This and other games in the Tales series primarily feature Sakuraba and fellow Wolf Team composer Shinji Tamura as composers (the exception so far has been Tales of Legendia, composed by Go Shiina). Eventually the remnants of Wolfteam morphed into the Namco Telenet joint subsidiary Namco Tales Studio in 2003.
 * Also in 1995, former Wolf Team director and producer Jun Asanuma, as well as Tales of Phantasia writer and programmer Yoshiharu Gotanda, founded tri-Ace with financial backing from Enix. The Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile games have been their keystone productions. Again, Sakuraba has been the composer for all their games, with the exception of the Noriyuki Iwadare-scored Radiata Stories (which included arrangements of a few choice Sakuraba tracks).
 * In 1999, long-time Sakuraba sound designer and programmer Hiroya Hatsushiba, a former member of Wolf Team and tri-Ace, founded tri-Crescendo. While initially continuing to contribute sound work to tri-Ace games, tri-Crescendo began game development in 2001. Together with Monolith Soft, tri-Crescendo started working on Baten Kaitos; Namco provided the financial backing. Hatsushiba, as director and main programmer of the project, again called upon Sakuraba's composing services. This has extended to the sequel (Baten Kaitos Origins) and Eternal Sonata.
 * In 2007, Sakuraba was selected to join a long list of video-game composers to contribute music to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was selected to arrange the famous Menu theme from the game's predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee. He also arranged Gourmet Race, Victory Road, the Airship Theme from Super Mario Bros. 3, the Battlefield theme and Final Destination's.

In addition to all this, Sakuraba is regularly contracted for composing work in other media through his own TEAM Entertainment, a company founded in 1999 to promote and license the work of artists.

Live performances
During July 2003, Sakuraba held a live concert in Tokyo, Japan. He performed progressive rock interpretations of music from the PlayStation games Star Ocean: The Second Story and Valkyrie Profile. His bandmates for this concert were bassist Atsushi Hasegawa (a member of the band Gerard) and drummer Toshihiko Nakamura. As noted, this concert was released on DVD and CD; many Sakuraba fans worldwide were delighted by the news that the DVD was region-free.

At the same time as they were rehearsing for the concert, Hasegawa and Nakamura assisted in recording new material for the Director's Cut of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time.

The following year, the trio performed another concert. The venue was smaller, but included music from Baten Kaitos and a couple of new, non-game-related pieces. Unfortunately, this concert was not officially recorded.

However, in 2006, a new concert was given in celebration of tri-Ace's new  title. This concert has been released on CD.

Musical style
Motoi Sakuraba takes the baroque and melodic Japanese progressive rock of the 1980s and expands it with his own trademark complex rhythms, emotional flutes, use of male choir and heavy reverb. The lighter side of his style is a crossover between symphonic progressive rock, cinematic orchestra and new age. Sakuraba is also known for introducing many jazz-like improvisations to his music style. In recent years he has made a serious effort toward expanding his style even further.

Albums
The following albums feature work by Motoi Sakuraba:

Games

 * For Wolf Team (subsidiary of Telenet):
 * Tales of Phantasia (published by Namco)
 * Tales of Destiny (published by Namco)
 * Tales of Eternia (published by Namco)
 * Tales of Destiny 2 (published by Namco)
 * Arcus Odyssey
 * Arcus Spirits (published by Sammy)
 * Arcus I-II-III
 * Arcus II: Silent Symphony
 * Arcus 3
 * Earnest Evans
 * Anetto Futatabi
 * El Viento
 * Maneuver Cepter Granada
 * Goh
 * Goh 2
 * Zan II Spirits
 * Zan III Spirits
 * Zan: Yaksa Enbukyoku
 * Zan: Kagerou no Toki
 * Zan: Youen no Jidai (published by Taito)
 * Zan Gear
 * Fhey Area: Century of the Gods
 * Sol Feace (Sol Deace in America)
 * Devastator
 * Final Zone Senki: AXIS
 * Hiouden
 * Hiouden 2
 * Hiouden: Maou Tachi to no Chikai
 * Cybernetic Empire
 * D - European Mirage
 * Niko²


 * For Telenet:
 * Ace wo Nerae!
 * Cosmic Fantasy 4
 * Parlor Parlor Series
 * Tenshi no Uta: Shiroki Tsubasa no Inori (with "Hassy")


 * For Namco Tales Studio (subsidiary of Namco and Telenet):
 * Tales of Symphonia
 * Tales of Rebirth
 * Tales of the Abyss
 * Tales of the Tempest (co-developed with Dimps)
 * Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
 * Tales of Vesperia
 * Tales of Hearts
 * Tales of Graces
 * Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X
 * Tales of Graces EF


 * For Camelot Software Planning:
 * Golden Sun (published by Nintendo)
 * Golden Sun: The Lost Age (published by Nintendo)
 * Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (published by Nintendo)
 * Shining the Holy Ark (published by Sega)
 * Shining Force III: Scenario 1 (published by Sega)
 * Shining Force III: Scenario 2 (published by Sega)
 * Shining Force III: Scenario 3 (published by Sega)
 * Beyond the Beyond (published by Sony)
 * Minna no Golf (aka Hot Shots Golf, Everybody's Golf) (published by Sony)
 * Mario Golf N64/GBC (published by Nintendo)
 * Mario Tennis N64/GBC (published by Nintendo)
 * Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (published by Nintendo)
 * Mario Golf Advance Tour (published by Nintendo)
 * Mario Power Tennis (published by Nintendo)
 * Mario Tennis: Power Tour (published by Nintendo)


 * For tri-Ace:
 * Star Ocean (published by Enix)
 * Star Ocean: The Second Story (published by Enix)
 * Star Ocean: Blue Sphere (published by Enix)
 * Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (published by Enix)
 * Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (originally published by Enix, rereleased on PSP by Square Enix)
 * Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (published by Square Enix)
 * Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (published by Square Enix)
 * Infinite Undiscovery (published by Square Enix)
 * Star Ocean: The Last Hope (published by Square Enix)
 * Resonance of Fate (published by Sega)


 * For tri-Crescendo:
 * Baten Kaitos (published by Namco)
 * Baten Kaitos Origins (published by Nintendo)
 * Eternal Sonata, aka Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream (published by Namco)


 * For KidsStudio Games:
 * Duel Masters (published by KidsStudio)


 * For Nintendo:
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl
 * For Success
 * Drone Tactics

Anime

 * Gensomaden Saiyuki
 * Star Ocean EX
 * Atashinchi
 * Weiß Kreuz Glühen
 * Boukenyuki Pluster World

Television dramas

 * TV Asahi Weekend Drama Series
 * Cyber Bi-Shoujo Telomere
 * Vanny Knights

Movies

 * Blue Remains (CG Movie)