Michiru Yamane | |
|---|---|
山根ミチル | |
| Born | (1963-09-23)September 23, 1963 (age 62) Kagawa Prefecture, Japan |
| Alma mater | Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts |
| Occupations | Video game composer,pianist |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Employer | Konami (1988–2008) |
| Known for | Castlevania series |
Michiru Yamane (Japanese:山根ミチル,Hepburn:Yamane Michiru; born September 23, 1963) is a Japanesevideo game composer andpianist. Yamane's musical style draws onbaroque,classical androck traditions, with bothJohann Sebastian Bach andYellow Magic Orchestra as prominent influences. She is best known for her two decades of work at the gaming companyKonami, with her compositions for theCastlevania series among her most recognized work.
Yamane grew an interest in music at an early age, practicing on theelectric organ and piano. She studied composition in college and began working as a composer for Konami in 1988. As a member of theKonami Kukeiha Club, she collaborated with other musicians on many Konami video games. Her breakthrough work came with theCastlevania gamesBloodlines (1994) andSymphony of the Night (1997).
Yamane was born inKagawa Prefecture, Japan, on September 23, 1963.[1] She began learning electric organ around the age of four, on her family'sYamaha Electone.[2][3] She also soon began learning piano.[3][4][5] Yamane enjoyed playing popular rock music on the organ, but grew a fascination with classical music with her piano studies.[3] She began composing around eight years old,[5] and realized by her teenage years that she wanted to write songs for movies or commercials, or be a jazz pianist.[2] She attended a music high school that specialized in advanced piano courses,[4] and focused her studies around harmonic rhythm, counterpoint, and music theory.[6] Around this time, she also began playing video games at various local arcades.[3] She decided not to compete at performance withvirtuoso players, so decided to attend theAichi Prefectural University of the Arts and focus on their composition courses they offered.[4][1] In college, she learned how to write music for large orchestras, and did her thesis on German composerJohann Sebastian Bach.[5][4] She also continued gaming on a friend'sFamicom at the time.[3][7]
Yamane started working forKonami in 1988, shortly before her fourth year at college.[4][7] She held a teaching license at the time, and was teaching part-time, though she felt the job did not suit her.[4] She applied to Konami after finding an open position through her college recruitment office, and was hired.[4] She had never considered specifically becoming a game composer, although she liked games and music.[7]
At Konami, Yamane was a member of theKonami Kukeiha Club, the company's sound team.[5] She was nervous she would be required to dofrequency modulation programming, but she was only a composer at first.[3] She would later be introduced to computer music sequencing programs in graduate school.[5] Yamane's first work at the company were the main themes forKing's Valley II andRisa no Yōsei Densetsu (1988).[8][9][6][7] She also became involved with theTrack and Field games, composing short victory jingles.[5] Following that, she worked on several Game Boy, Famicom, MSX, and arcade games.[3][4][6] Many of the first projects she collaborated on wereshoot 'em ups, including theNemesis series andDetana!! TwinBee. She compared the synchronicity of sound in shooters to that ofDisney animated films.[5] Yamane felt these games were a good introduction to the "Konami sound" and helped build her foundation.[5] At first, she found it limiting working with only three simultaneous sound channels on the Famicom, given her orchestra composition background, but she grew to enjoy working around the limit over time.[5] She drew motivation from Bach's "Inventions and Sinfonias", which also only used two or three simultaneous notes.[5]
Yamane's first job as a lead composer was withGanbare Goemon 2 (1989).[4][5][6] With this game, she learned how to editprogrammable sound generator samples from senior sound programmers.[5] Although she is credited inContra: Hard Corps, Yamane does not have any memory of composing music for it. She believes it is possible she contributed a few pieces as the sound team was busy with multiple projects at the time.[5] She also worked onRocket Knight Adventures (1993) and its two sequels; writing music forSparkster and creating sound effects forSparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2.[4][5]Akira Yamaoka joined Konami around this time, and worked with Yamane on the latter.[5]
Yamane is primarily known for her work on theCastlevania series.[5] After moving to Konami'sTokyo office fromKobe, her boss thought she would be a good fit for theCastlevania game in development,Castlevania: Bloodlines (1994).[3] Since the series was already popular and known for good music, she felt pressure to perform well. She was asked to write music based on pre-existing themes introduced in earlier games.[7] Yamane felt there was a link with the game'svampiric themes and the classical music she had grown up with. She worked to integrate her classical style with the rock themes previously introduced in the series.[5] When working on Mega Drive games, Yamane was required to program the music into the game, on top of composition.[4]GamesRadar+ calledBloodlines her first "breakthrough" game soundtrack.[10]
The next game in the series,Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997), was developed for thePlayStation.[5] The art director, Osamu Kasai, requested Yamane to join the team.[6] Because it usedCD-ROMs, the system was capable of much higher quality music and sound.[6] Yamane felt more expressive freedom as she was no longer limited to FM chips and could use real sounds.[5][7] ForSymphony of the Night, she drew heavy inspiration from concept artwork byAyami Kojima.[5] She used anAkai sampler connected to a computer runningLogic Pro andPro Tools to record music.[7] The soundtrack was the first time she attempted placing rock music in a game.[7] It remains one of her most popular soundtracks.[5] In addition to the soundtrack, she also produced all the sound effects due to a shortage of staff.[6]
Yamane continued to remain deeply involved withKoji Igarashi and theCastlevania development team afterSymphony of the Night, reviewing artwork and scenario writings for further games.[3] She worked onLament of Innocence (2003) andCurse of Darkness (2005), which made for challenging compositions.[5] She also composed for theGame Boy Advance andNintendo DS games, which had note limitations like older home consoles.[5] She broadened her listening habits to gain more inspiration and prevent her music from becoming repetitive.[3] OnPortrait of Ruin (2006), she collaborated withYuzo Koshiro.[5] The lastCastlevania score she wrote was forOrder of Ecclesia (2008), which she worked on with Yasuhiro Ichihashi.[5] She says that her favorite scores were forAria of Sorrow (2003),Portrait of Ruin, andOrder of Ecclesia.[5]
While working on theCastlevania series, Yamane also composed for other games. She contributed toSuikoden III (2002) andSuikoden IV (2004), following in the tracks ofMiki Higashino's work on the first two games.[5] After Sota Fujimori joined Konami in 1998, Yamane worked with him onGungage (1999) andElder Gate (2000), mixing her classic symphonic style with his modern electronic music.[5] She also worked on theWinning Eleven series andThe Sword of Etheria (2005).[5]
After writing music for over 40 games at Konami,[1] Yamane left the company in 2008 to become a freelance composer.[5] She came to this decision after getting a pet cat, and growing a desire to slow down her career and move to working from home. She desired to have more freedom to do projects she wanted, and manage her own time.[5][7] Since becoming a freelance composer, Yamane has continued to compose for video games, as well as films, commercials, television, and anime.[11][3][2] She has considered making a solo album.[7][2] Games that she has composed for includeOtomedius Excellent (2011)[12] andSkullgirls (2012).[11] Although no longer working directly for Konami, she has continued working with the company onCastlevania music.[7] She has also composed for Koji Igarashi'sBloodstained: Ritual of the Night.[13]
Yamane occasionally performs in live concerts.[11][2] Her first live performance was a song fromSymphony of the Night at theSymphonic Game Music Concert inLeipzig in 2006.[7] She wrote music for aCastlevania arrangement box set,[5] and played live atCastlevania: The Concert inStockholm in 2010.[7] In 2015, she played with other Japanese composers at the Game Sound Maniax concert in China.[14][15]
Game Developer magazine called Yamane's music "old, gothic,Victorian style".[4] Yamane feels she grew an interest in dark classical through her Bach studies in college.[4] She has also drawn inspiration from other composers includingMozart,Beethoven,Ravel,Debussy,Rachmaninoff, andChopin.[5] In high school, Yamane listened toKraftwerk,Ryuichi Sakamoto, andYellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), with the latter being considered a major influence on many Japanese game composers.[3] She has also drawn inspiration, and enjoys listening toDream Theater.[4][5][6] She has expressed inspiration from many genres includingtechno pop,progressive rock,film scores,folk,jazz,rock,bossa nova, andcontemporary classical music.[5] She enjoys film scores by composers such asJerry Goldsmith, and enjoyed American pop in her youth from artists likeBarry Manilow,Burt Bacharach,Eric Carmen,The Doobie Brothers, andThe Eagles.[2]
Yamane has expressed enjoying music from other game composers, particularlyNobuo Uematsu,Hitoshi Sakimoto,Yoko Kanno, andMotoi Sakuraba.[7][6] She also explained thatTomb Raider andits sequel influenced the way she thought about sound design.[4]
Yamane contributed music to over 40 games at Konami.[1] As a member of theKonami Kukeiha Club, Yamane frequently collaborated with other composers, arrangers, and sound programmers.[5]
| Year | Game | Co-worker(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | King's Valley II[9] | Music with Kazuhiko Uehara, Masahiro Ikariko,Kinuyo Yamashita, Motoaki Furukawa |
| 1989 | Ganbare Goemon 2[16] | Music |
| Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction[5] | Music with Kazuhiko Uehara, Motoaki Furukawa, Yukie Morimoto, Masahiro Ikariko | |
| 1990 | Nemesis[5] | Music with Tomoya Tomita |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan[17] | Music | |
| 1991 | Detana!! TwinBee[18] | Music with Hidenori Maezawa and Masae Nakashima |
| Vendetta | Music | |
| 1992 | Asterix | Music with Mutsuhiko Izumi, Mariko Egawa,Junya Nakano, Ayako Nishigaki |
| 1993 | Pop'n TwinBee | Music with Kazuhiko Uehara, Masahiro Ikariko, Hideto Inoue et al. |
| Rocket Knight Adventures[4] | Music with Masanori Oouchi,Aki Hata, Masanori Adachi, Hiroshi Kobayashi | |
| 1994 | Sparkster[5] | Music with Masahiro Ikariko, Minako Matsuhira,Akira Yamaoka |
| Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2[5] | Music with Akira Yamaoka | |
| Castlevania: Bloodlines[17] | Music | |
| 1997 | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night[19] | Music |
| 1999 | Gungage[19] | Music with Sota Fujimori |
| 2000 | Elder Gate[5] | Music |
| 2001 | Pro Evolution Soccer[5] | Music with Norikazu Miura |
| 2002 | Pro Evolution Soccer 2[17] | Music with Sota Fujimori |
| Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance | Music with Soshiro Hokkai | |
| Suikoden III[20] | Music with Takashi Yoshida and Masahiko Kimura | |
| 2003 | Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow[21] | Music with Takashi Yoshida and Soshiro Hokkai |
| Castlevania: Lament of Innocence[19] | Music | |
| 2004 | Suikoden IV[20] | Music with Masahiko Kimura and Norikazu Miura |
| 2005 | The Sword of Etheria[16] | Music |
| Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow | Music with Masahiko Kimura | |
| Castlevania: Curse of Darkness[22] | Music with Yuka Watanabe | |
| 2006 | Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin[23] | Music withYuzo Koshiro |
| Elebits | Music with Naoyuki Sato | |
| 2008 | Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia[24] | Music with Yasuhiro Ichihashi |
| 2010 | Mushihime-sama Bug Panic[25] | Music with several others |
| 2011 | Otomedius Excellent[12] | Music with several others |
| 2012 | Skullgirls[26] | Music with Brenton Kossak and Blaine McGurty |
| 2016 | NightCry[27] | Music withNobuko Toda |
| 2018 | Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon[28] | Music with several others |
| Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom[29] | Music with Yuzo Koshiro,Motoi Sakuraba, Keiki Kobayashi, Takeshi Yanagawa | |
| 2019 | Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night[13] | Music with Keisuke Ito and Ryusuke Fujioka |
| Arcalast[30] | Music | |
| 2023 | 9 Years of Shadows[31] | Music with Miguel Hasson andNorihiko Hibino |
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