An In-Depth Interview with Composer Tanaka Kouhei on a 40
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An In-depth Interview with Composer Tanaka Kouhei on a 40 Year Long Career. From Behind the Scenes of Sakura Wars and Gravity Rush, to the Secret Story of that Famous JoJo Song! From Famitsu.com 2/10/21 Written by Kobayashi Hakusai and edited by Sekai Sandai Miyokawa In 2020, Tanaka Kouhei and Hidaka Noriko each reached 40 years of work since their debuts as composer and singer, respectively. Famitsu.com interviewed the two of them to commemorate this achievement. Our first subject today is Mr. Tanaka Kouhei. He has been diligently nearing half a lifetime on the front lines of his field, in a 40 year career that has been at times shocking, and at times comical. Composer of countless well known tunes, focusing on anime and games such as One Piece and Sakura Wars. Known as a big gamer, he’s playing a multitude of video games at any given time. (Text provided by Tanaka) Smooth Sailing as a Composer for the Last 40 Years Mr. Tanaka, you started your career composing music for anime with background music during the 1982 TV broadcast of [the Captain Harlock anime] Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX. After that you became involved in famous productions such as Kinnikuman, Esper Mami, and Dragonball Z. I sure have been doing this for a long time. The stories from before I got involved in anime are really interesting too you know? What kind of work were you doing before that? TV music, commercials, also something like copying music for karaoke. I’d listen to the actual song and then transcribe it. Back then the composer was always in communication with the studio musicians, so as I produced my work the studio side of it would already be set. Having to start on the recording side from scratch is a pain. You’re up in front of 50 or so people and you’re thinking “They’re definitely making fun of me”. So you were working for 2 years before starting in anime. I probably don’t have the kinds of stories that you want to hear the most. Working at the bottom, struggling with work, things like that. So it’s been smooth sailing the entire time? (Laughs) I really have to take offense to that though (laughs). For the first ten years I was always going at the same pace. I’d work over 300 days every year. But once I went 1000 days in a row without a day off. I skipped New Years three times! What an incredible level of vitality… I was happy that the work kept coming. Fundamentally, I just can’t turn down anime or game work. Hidaka Noriko is the same way I think. If that’s how you are, you just end up always working without taking any time off. The social standing of an anime composer now must be different from how it was in 1980, right? 1 When I entered the anime industry you had three people, Watanabe Michiaki , [his son] 2 3 Watanabe Toshiyuki , and Kikuchi Shunsuke composing essentially all of the music for the entire industry, from theme songs to background music and anything else. Mr. Kikuchi would often say to me, “Hey you, you’ve been taking all the jobs” and I’d say, “But Sensei, I haven’t taken Dragonball.” When I had begun to work in anime I got some work doing rearrangements for the Dragonball music, but I was never able to get an opportunity to compose for it. After that I started getting put in charge of shows like Esper Mami or 21 Emon, shows that before would likely have gone to him. Ever since then he’s hated me quite a bit (laughs). So your relationship is as rivals? 1 Composer. Famous for robot anime like Mazinger Z and tokusatsu shows. Still energetic and working even at 95 years old providing music for works like The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage 2 Composer. Most renowned for his work on the Mothra series. Recently oversaw the music for Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion THE ANIMATION 3 Composer. Known for many pieces of famous music from the Kamen Rider and Doraemon series. Also famous for the theme to The Unfettered Shogun I don’t know if you’d call it rivals, Mr. Kikuchi has been a great teacher to me ever since back then. Also, I still remember what Mr. Watanabe Michiaki told me. “Everyone in the industry is happy that someone like you has arrived. Thank you.” So I always try to keep that same attitude, and when newcomers arrive I tell them “Do your best,” and try to get 4 them work. I helped out Kanno Yugo for example, and now I’ve lost a lot of jobs to him. Ahahaha (more laughter). So history repeats itself! History repeats itself (laughs). So it’s the same situation now as it was for those three when I showed up. I think of it as revitalization. When it came to background music back then it was an iron-clad rule of anime work that you’d have to record a lot of songs on a 5 very tight budget. It was the same for Hisaishi Joe. When he quit composing for TV anime he laughed at me when he saw my face. After that I ended up buried in cheap work. I had to deal with handling a lot of work, but thinking about where things went from there it all worked out. To be clear, the environment for recording background music back then wasn’t good. You needed to do a lot of recording for low pay, it was a hassle to book the studio for long periods of time, and it was hard to be particular about your work. So, the people around me suggested, “Why not sell your music?” At the time it wasn’t CDs, but records. If you created something that you have a financial stake in, it’ll definitely sell, 4 Composer. Famous for works such as Birdy the Mighty, PSYCHO-PASS and Gundam Reconguista in G 5 Composer. In charge of the music for many of Director Miyazaki Hayao’s works from Nausicaa Valley of the Wind onwards. Involved in game music for works like Far East of Eden II: Manji Maru and the Ni no Kuni series. they said. So then with Madou-Ou Granzort (1989) and Brave Exkaiser (1990) I did so under protest, and sure enough, they sold. With the first sales I could establish myself as a business, and ever since then I sold my music. Well, it wasn’t just me, Wada Kaoru was doing the same thing at the time. Even Kawai Kenji was releasing his music for Mobile Police Patlabor (1989). After that they started giving us proper budgets. Up until just a bit ago they paid really well, so everyone was getting really good work. “Until just a bit ago”? It’s because CD sales have been steadily declining. I guess if you have something like Demon Slayer the budget is still there. One Piece is the same. It depends on the style, like the music in most late night anime is done by programming now, it doesn’t require a lot of spending. Meeting Hidaka Noriko during Aim for the Top! You mentioned Granzort, but at the same time you were also doing Aim for the Top!. Was this when you first met Ms. Hidaka Noriko, who’s also reached 40 years of work? I was doing Top!, and I was in the third floor rehearsal room at Victor [Entertainment]. I had arrived first, and I was at the piano playing “Aim for the Top! ~Fly High~”. Ms. Hidaka and Ms. Sakuma Rei entered the room, saying “Good morning!” I remembered thinking, “Woah, it’s Hidaka.” Ahahaha (laughs). Sort of like, “That’s a super famous voice actor!” Of course I would have known who she was. I don’t think she knew me though. After that they started warming up. We were introduced after that when it was time to record her song for Top!. You know, Ms. Hidaka is really amazing, and I’m not just saying that because she’s 6 nearby. I’m always saying this, but just her arrival changes the atmosphere of a room. With Sakura Taisen too, just her arriving for practice suddenly brightened everything up. It’s another reason that she’s an incredibly valuable person. So, you’ve always had a favorable impression of her from the first time you met. No, even more than favorable. The only thing bad I could say about her is when everyone would go out drinking and she’d be talking too much (laughs). I see (laughs). By the way, has there ever been a conversation with her about getting your start at the same time? Yeah, there has been. I had a concert to celebrate my 30 year anniversary and I asked Ms. Hidaka to officiate it. And then, it turned out it was actually my 29th. What!? You miscounted? (Laughs) 6 During this interview, Ms. Hidaka was waiting in a neighboring room. Ms. Hidaka was the one that pointed it out. She said, “Mr. Tanaka, aren’t we from the same time? This year is my 29th you know.” And I went, huh? Was my math off? This happened in front of 2000 people. “I’m very sorry, it’s my 29th anniversary,” I had to say, with “Tanaka Kouhei’s 30th Anniversary Concert!” written behind me.