VGM Composer Hiroki Kikuta’s Upcoming Touhou Arrangement Project
This bit of news is a bit old for those of you who really follow the Touhou doujin music scene closer than I, but video game composer Hiroki Kikuta has a Touhou album in the works, released through his Zero Symphonic Battalion doujin circle. As someone who still passively enjoys listening to Touhou music (and occasionally wanders into danmaku hell when time permits) it’s right up my alley. Compound that with my love affair with video game music complete with a skilled composer at the reins and this news certainly has me interested to say the least.
Hiroki Kikuta isn’t exactly a household name in the realm of video game music, at least, when you compare him to giants like Uematsu and heck, even Hitoshi Sakimoto, but he’s got a resume that stretches pretty far back. I remember really enjoying the music he composed for Secret of Mana on the SNES while playing through that and more recently, adored the whimsical melodies from his Alphabet Planet album. Otakon goers may also know him as the composer of “Shackles of Night,” which served as Otakon 2010’s opening theme.
Anyhow, there is a video of him talking (presumably) about the music that he’s composing for his Touhou arrange album, titled Touhou Zerokyo Kitan ~ Sophisticated Insanity, set to release this December. He also previews a rock arrangement of “Maiden’s Capriccio” (also known as Reimu’s theme) from Imperishable Night which you can watch below. I’d summarize the video more, but the lack of Japanese knowledge is hampering here, so I’ll just let those interested take a peak at what he’s got to offer. Anyone who can shed more light on what he’s saying, feel free to do so!
I only know Kikuta for his Secret of Mana soundtrack. I’m pretty surprised he did Koudelka, I really liked that soundtrack and now I know why. 🙂
I’ll be eagerly awaiting the release of his arranged album of Touhou music, I’m sure it’ll be a great deal better than 80% of what’s out there.
This is nice. I don’t really recognize this composer (or most composers), but I’m always in favor of more Touhou arrangements, especially from established composers.
@Rhythmroo
Of all his works that I listen to, Alphabet Planet easily gets the most playtime out of the lot and given how his recent stuff has turned out, it definitely looks like we’ll be seeing a pretty spiffy Touhou arrangement from him.
@Yi
Don’t worry, very few people are weird/crazy enough to memorize odd composer names 😉
Ooh, I remember someone mentioning this album to me a few weeks ago. Looks like more and more composers are getting into the whole Touhou phenomenon. TENMON released an arrange album earlier this year and Ayane also did a vocal arrange in a Tatsh album last year.
@TetsuwanAtomFuu
Thanks for dropping by! Yeah, I have listened to TENMON’s arrangement and do like his interpretation of the music very much even if it’s not a wholehearted departure from the main melodies. But it’s enjoyable the whole way through and you’d be hard-pressed to find any major faults beyond that.
The day that Hamauzu arranges Touhou music is the day to die for… especially if he puts it in the form of a piano collection.