is a Japanese music composer and arranger. He is best known for his work on anime, including Lucky Star, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Monogatari, Beastars and The Apothecary Diaries. He worked at Namco, where he primarily composed soundtracks for video games. Since 2005, he has been affiliated with Keiichi Okabe's music production company Monaca, where he has often collaborated with his colleagues to produce soundtracks for anime and other media.
Biography
Early life Kōsaki was born on September 16, 1974, in Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan. He began playing the piano and Electone, at the age of three. His parents also played classical guitar and frequently played songs by classical guitarists within the household. Although he eventually ceased playing the piano, he played the trumpet in his junior high school's brass band. He listened to fusion artists such as Casiopea and T-Square, as well as pop artists such as Hikaru Genji, and developed an interest in video game music through the Mycom BASIC Magazine, where he started to program music on a PC-9801.
As an information engineering student at Kyoto University, he developed an interest in composing music as a member of the amateur circle , which he decided to join instead of the university's brass club. He purchased a Roland JV-1000 for composition purposes, using a 4-track multitrack recorder. The circle created music in a wide variety of genres, so he listened to several albums for inspiration. Director Yutaka Yamamoto, who was also at the same university, asked Kōsaki to compose the soundtrack for his film Onnen Sentai Ressentiment, as well as playing the role of Emperor Komuro. As he did not have any formal music education, his process for creating music involved listening to existing music and imitating styles, but realized this approach would be risky due to lacking a deep understanding of each genre.
Namco (1999–2005) After his graduation in 1999, he applied to join Namco and submitted a demo tape consisting of tracks he composed while at university, as he admired the music of Namco composer Nobuyoshi Sano and wanted to work with him. After receiving an offer, he joined the company, where his first work was composing music for the arcade game Aqua Rush. He used Microsoft Excel to compose and program the music, which he did not find difficult due to his previous music programming experiences.
Kōsaki went on to compose tracks for video game series including Tekken and Kotoba no Puzzle, along with working as an in-house trumpeter for various games. Kotoba no Puzzle: Mojipittan features Shibuya-kei-inspired music, with influences from early Namco game music and 80s synthpop. He aimed to write catchy melodies, which was a trial-and-error process. Its theme song is "Futari no Mojipittan", which features vocals by Moji-kun's voice actress Nana Furuhara. For his work on Tekken games, he created music in genres such as techno and breakbeat; he did not consider these genres to be his area of expertise, but tried his best to maintain a quality on par with other composers involved.
During his time at Namco, he was also a member of fellow Namco composer Hiroshi Okubo's doujin circle nanosounds, where he contributed original tracks to a number of albums. He also participated in J-pop competitions, but was unsuccessful in all of them. Still in contact with director Yamamoto, he would also score the music for the 2005 OVA Munto 2: Beyond the Walls of Time, using the alias Shinji Ikeda as he was still employed at Namco at the time. Citing a desire to compose a greater variety of music without restrictions, he left the company towards the end of the year to join Monaca, a production group founded the previous year by his former colleague Keiichi Okabe, who had previously left Namco in 2000 for similar reasons.
Monaca (2005–present) Kōsaki's first major project with Monaca was the soundtrack for the 2006 anime television series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Series production director Yamamoto recommended Kōsaki as the composer for the anime, who found it difficult to get involved in such a large scale project outside of Namco, serving as another reason for quitting the company to join Monaca. An album containing three of his compositions ("God knows...", "Lost my music", and "Koi no Mikuru Densetsu") for the anime sold more than 136,000 copies in Japan and peaked at #5 on the weekly Oricon Singles Chart. "God knows..." in particular has received a lot of acclaim, although Kōsaki found it challenging to compose due to having little experience with band recording and playing guitar, so he studied band rock music. Although he often incorporated live musicians in his previous Namco work, this served as the first time he composed a track fully performed by a band.
In 2007, he composed the soundtrack for the anime television series Lucky Star; the series' opening theme "Motteke! Sailor Fuku" peaked at #2 on the chart upon release. It would also go on to win the 2007 Radio Kansai Award, a subset of the Animation Kobe Theme Song Award. He found the workload overwhelming, as prior to joining Monaca he was not used to composing a large number of tracks under time constraints.
He served as the lead composer for Bakemonogatari in 2009, composing all of the background music and most of the songs. The song "Renai Circulation", features lyrics by Meg Rock and vocals by Kana Hanazawa as character Nadeko Sengoku. Kōsaki felt it would be interesting to feature Hanazawa rapping, inspired by Shibuya-kei group Kaseki Cider. The song received acclaim in particular and inspired a wave of cover dances and mash-ups on Niconico during the 2010s. It later found further popularity on TikTok in the late 2010s, which intrigued Kōsaki as many people who listened to it did not know about it at the time of release.
In December 2010, he announced an indefinite hiatus from his work due to poor health. He began a second illness-related hiatus in February 2014 and returned to work in January 2015. During this time, he re-studied music theory, as he previously felt insecure about not having formal music education.
In 2019, he worked on the anime Beastars, which features gypsy-inspired music. In 2020, a compilation album titled Satoru Kosaki 20th Anniversary Selected Works "DAWN" was released to commemorate 20 years of being a composer. It includes a selection of his most successful songs, while the limited edition release also includes a selection of anime BGM. In 2021, he composed for the anime Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song; the following year, the anime won the Best Music Anime award at AniTrendz's 8th Annual Anime Trending Awards.
Works Anime
Year Title Notes 2005 Munto 2: Beyond the Walls of Time & theme song "Toki no Kabe o Koete", lyrics; as Shinji Ikeda 2006 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya & insert songs "God knows...", "Lost my music", and "Koi no Mikuru Densetsu" 2007 Lucky Star & opening theme "Motteke! Sailor Fuku", various insert songs 2008 Penguin Musume Heart opening theme "Ren'ai Jiyū Shoujo" Sekirei opening theme "Sekirei", ending theme "Dear sweet heart" Lucky Star OVA Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens & opening theme "Motto Hade ni ne!", ending themes "Musuhi no Toki" and "Shirigeya no Theme", various insert songs 2009 Sora o Miageru Shōjo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai & insert song "Montaro no Uta"; with various others The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya & opening theme "Ima Made no Arasuji", ending theme "Atogaki no Yō na Mono" Nyorōn Churuya-san The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya second season; & opening theme "Super Driver"Tenjōbito to Akutobito Saigo no Tatakai with various others Bakemonogatari & opening themes "staple stable", "Kaerimichi", "ambivalent world", "Renai Circulation", and "sugar sweet nightmare" 2010 The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya with Ryuichi Takada, Keigo Hoashi, and Kakeru Ishihama Working!! opening theme "Someone Else", ending theme "Go to Heart Edge" Sekirei: Pure Engagement ending theme "Onnaji Kimochi" Highschool of the Dead ending theme "Under the Honey Shine"Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai & ending theme "Tadaima.", insert song "Meteor Impact" Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto & various insert songs; with various others 2011 Fractale insert song "Hiru no Hoshi"Wandering Son with Keiichi Okabe and Keigo Hoashi A Channel & opening theme "Morning Arch", ending theme "Humming Girl"; with Ryuichi Takada, Keigo Hoashi, and Kakeru Ishihama The Idolmaster opening theme "Ready!!" 2012 Nisemonogatari & opening themes "Futakotome", "marshmallow justice", and "Platinum Disco" Natsume Yūjin-chō Shi ending theme "Takaramono" A Channel & smile opening theme "Balloon Theater" Joshiraku opening theme "Oato ga Yoroshikutte... yo!" Blast of Tempest ending theme "Happy Endings" Arata-naru Sekai theme song "Arata-naru Sekai" Nekomonogatari (Black) & opening theme "perfect slumbers", ending theme "Kieru Daydream" 2013 Star Driver The Movie & insert song "Hikari no Octave"; with various others Vividred Operation ending theme "Vivid Shining Sky" Muromi-san opening theme "Nanatsu no Umi yori Kimi no Umi" Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai. & insert song "Planet Burst" Monogatari Series: Second Season & opening themes "chocolate insomnia", "happy bite", "Mōsō Express", "fast love", and "Kogarashi Sentiment", ending theme "Sono Koe o Oboeteru" 2014 The Idolmaster Movie: Beyond the Brilliant Future! theme song "M@STERPIECE" Wake Up, Girls! Seven Idols theme song "Tachiagare!", insert song "Ōzora no Prism" Wake Up, Girls! opening theme "7 Girls War" Captain Earth insert song "Mugen no Hana" 2016 Kizumonogatari Part 1: Tekketsu with Ryuichi Takada, Keigo Hoashi, and Ken Namba Koyomimonogatari Monster Strike with Keiichi Hirokawa and Kuniyuki Takahashi Anne Happy with various others Kizumonogatari Part 2: Nekketsu & ending theme "étoile et toi" Monster Strike The Movie with Kuniyuki Takahashi, Ryuichi Takada, and Keiichi Hirokawa 2017 Kizumonogatari Part 3: Reiketsu & ending theme "étoile et toi [édition le blanc]" Frame Arms Girl opening theme "Tiny Tiny" Owarimonogatari & opening themes "terminal terminal" and "dreamy date drive" Fireworks& insert song "Forever Friends" (rearrangement; original composition by REMEDIOS) Wake Up, Girls! New Chapter insert song "Kakeru x Kakeru" 2018 Fate/Extra Last Encore & opening theme "Bright Burning Shout"; with various others 2019 Zoku Owarimonogatari opening theme "07734" Beastars & ending themes "Le Zoo" and "Floating Story on the Moon"; insert songs "Many Stories" and "A Tale of Moon"; with Ryuichi Takada 2020 Maesetsu! with Oliver Good and Keita Inoue 2021 Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song & opening theme & ending themes "Sing My Pleasure" and "Fluorite Eye's Song"; insert songs "My Code", "A Tender Moon Tempo" (brass arrangement), "Galaxy Anthem", and "Harmony of One's Heart" 2022 Aharen-san Is Indecipherable & ending theme "AHAREN HEART"; with Oliver Good and Keita Inoue 2023 The Apothecary Diaries & insert songs "Ashita o Tazunete", "Secchuuka", and "Sōkū no Honō"; with Kevin Penkin and Alisa Okehazama Protocol: Rain with Oliver Good and Keita Inoue The Diary of Ochibi-san 2024 Beastars Final Season - Part 1 opening theme "Into The World"; with issei Monogatari Series: Off & Monster Season episodes #1-6
Video games