Mitsuhiro Kaneda

	Date of Birth:	April, 1974 (Tokyo)
	Education:	Graduated from Tokyo Institute of Technology
	Instruments Played:	Piano
	Place of Residence:	Tokyo
	Official Web Site:	Profile at Basiscape Web Site

Biography

This biography was written by Harry exclusively for use at Square Enix Music Online. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission, as this is a violation of copyright.

Born in Tokyo in April 1974, Mitsuhiro Kaneda will almost certainly develop into one of the most prominent figures in the game music industry. He initially studied at both the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Science, and, while still a student at the colleges, participated in a concert by Japanese stars Toshio Iwai and Ryuichi Sakamoto as a programmer. At the same time, he started composing for visuals arts. After graduating from both colleges, Kaneda joined Opus Studio Inc. where he worked on such Playstation 2 titles as Fantavision and Wave Rally, being accredited as sound programmer. In 2002, he finally received his chance to compose for a game, Fishing Live Online, but this was unfortunately cancelled for release. He was also scheduled to do the sound effects and sound driver programming for the same game.

The year 2004 was fairly significant for Kaneda. He made up for the previous loss by performing the same duties for Opus Studio Inc.'s Pro Fishing Challenge, published by Microsoft for the Xbox. He also co-composed the score for Full Metal Alchemist: Dream Carnival with Masaharu Iwata; this was the first time that he had collaborated with his future Basiscape colleague. He made his exit from the company by composing and programming the sound driver for Red Ninja: End of Honor, a game that was designed by Tranji, part of Opus Studio. It was after this project that Kaneda left Opus Studio for Basiscape. The corporation was founded by game music legend Hitoshi Sakimoto in Autumn 2003 and also played host to two other successful composers, the versatile Iwata and the shooter king Manabu Namiki, both successful game composers. Since then, he has been recognised as a respectable jazz, fusion, and orchestral composer, and, in his spare time, loves to show his talent in sound clubs of all sorts.

Kaneda's first project while contracted to the company were two arrangements for December 2004's Stella Deus BGM ReArrange Album. Though a promotional album, the quality of the arrangements were consistently high and Kaneda ensured he brought the most musical enrichment out of Sakimoto and Iwata's original themes as effectively as possible. Some even regard Kaneda's "Planet She" as the defining arrangement on the album. His first original score was for the PSP's BLEACH - Heat the Soul alongside Manabu Namiki and Kanata Yoshihiro, which was based on the popular manga series. The composer has also contributed to the scores for the PC's Wizardry: Prisoners of the Battles and the Game Boy Advance's B-Legend! Battle B-daman Fire Spirits!, an anime series spin-off. Unfortunately, these scores all failed to receive soundtrack releases, which makes Kaneda's discography very limited at the current moment of time.

Fortunately, Kaneda's discography has grown in recent months. This was first represented by May 2005's release of Choir's Death Meta - Book of Music, the original score for Death Meta, which also included a bonus arranged side. Kaneda created one arrangement here, working alongside reputable musicians such as Yasuhisa 'Yack' Watanabe and Super Sweep's Ayako Saso and Masashi Yano. Kaneda worked alongside other major names for the release of August 2005's The Starting Over: Hyper Street Fighter II Remix Tracks. This was a promotional album for Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition, featuring arrangements from Street Fighter II, and was part of a rather expensive Insanity DVD set. Kaneda's contributions were the arrangemnets of "Dee Jay Stage" and "Cammy Stage," which were well-received and remarked upon for their thorough development. His latest project is the sequel BLEACH - Heat the Soul 2, to be released by the end of the year. Every composer has to start somewhere and much bigger roles will be attributed to him in the near future, no doubt.

List of Game Projects

Note: This list only includes games that the composer has actively worked on, so those games that feature reprises of the composer's work from older titles are not included.

Key: C = Composer, A = Arranger, P = Performer, S = Sound Programmer, E = Sound Effects, M = Synthesizer Operator

List of Albums

Original Scores

• Death Meta - Book of Music

Arranged Albums

• Stella Deus BGM ReArrange Album
• The Starting Over: Hyper Street Fighter II Remix Tracks