Tsuyoshi Sekito (関戸 剛, Sekito Tsuyoshi, born April 3, 1963) is a Japanese video game composer, arranger, and musician who has been employed at Square Enix since 1995. As a composer, he is best known for scoring Brave Fencer Musashi (1998), Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005) and The Last Remnant (2008). He also plays the guitar in the rock bands The Black Mages and The Star Onions; both groups arrange and perform compositions from the Final Fantasy series.

Tsuyoshi Sekito
関戸 剛
Born (1963-04-03) April 3, 1963 (age 61)
Alma materKansai Gaidai University
Occupation(s)Composer, musician, guitarist
Years active1989–present
EmployerSquare Enix
Musical career
GenresRock, video game music
InstrumentElectric guitar

Biography

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Tsuyoshi Sekito was born in Osaka, Japan. His career as a video game composer began at the end of the 1980s when he joined Konami's sound team. The first game he scored was Space Manbow in 1989. The following year, he created the music for SD Snatcher and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake along with several other composers. He was subsequently assigned to score the sports titles Double Dribble: 5-on-5 (1991) and Soccer Superstars (1995) and the cartoon adaptations Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers (1991) and Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure (1993), often as the leading composer. In 1994, he created the soundtrack to the arcade game Lethal Enforcers II: Gunfighters with Yuichi Sakakura. He left Konami in 1995 to join the Osaka branch of Square.[1]

After joining Square, Sekito did not compose any games until 1998; his first assignment for the company was to create the music for Brave Fencer Musashi. In 1999, he assisted in scoring the soundtrack to Chocobo's Dungeon 2 by creating 12 pieces. His fellow composers were Kumi Tanioka and Kenji Ito. The following year, he composed music for the Japan-only All Star Pro-Wrestling along with Kenichiro Fukui and Tanioka. Sekito went solo for the game's sequel, All Star Pro-Wrestling II (2001), and was joined by Fukui again for the third and final installment, All Star Pro-Wrestling III (2003).[1]

In 2002, after Sekito and Fukui's collaboration on All Star Pro-Wrestling, they decided to arrange some of the pieces in the Final Fantasy series, composed by Nobuo Uematsu. The two presented their arrangements to Uematsu who enjoyed their work. Although hesitant at first, Uematsu agreed to join Sekito and Fukui in forming the rock band The Black Mages; Sekito served as the group's guitarist. In 2003, Keiji Kawamori, Arata Hanyuda, and Michio Okamiya also joined the band.[1] The Black Mages have released three studio albums, and have appeared at several concerts to promote their albums.

To create the music for The Last Remnant, Sekito utilized his guitar collection for different tracks and used different guitar sounds and techniques including detuning and delay effects on the album.[2] Sekito did not use an orchestra for the game's music, but chose particular instruments and players to make the music an assortment of the best for each part.[3]

In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Sekito felt unrestricted while composing music for the Nintendo 3DS, saying that he was able to create songs that would make a game player feel that were in a large world even on a small device due to the game console's 3D graphics.[4]

For the game Final Fantasy Explorers, Sekito had to begin composing music with very few visual effects finished, and thus composed a wide variety of music to fit however it turned out.[5]

Musical style and influences

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Sekito cites heavy metal bands Van Halen and Dream Theater and film score composer Jerry Goldsmith as musical influences.[1]

Works

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Video games

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Year Title Notes
1989 Motocross Maniacs Music with Michiru Yamane
Space Manbow Music with Michiru Yamane and Yuji Takenouchi
1990 SD Snatcher Music with several others
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake Music with several others
1991 Double Dribble: 5-on-5 Music
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers Music with Yuko Kurahashi
1993 Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure Music with Shinji Tasaka and Hideto Inoue
1994 Lethal Enforcers II: Gunfighters Music with Yuichi Sakakura
1995 Soccer Superstars Music
1998 Brave Fencer Musashi Music
Chocobo's Dungeon 2 Music with Kumi Tanioka, Yasuhiro Kawakami, and Kenji Ito
1999 Chrono Trigger (PlayStation ver.) Arrangements
Final Fantasy Chronicles Arrangements
2000 All Star Pro-Wrestling Music with Kenichiro Fukui and Kumi Tanioka
2001 All Star Pro-Wrestling II Music
2002 Final Fantasy Origins Arrangements
2003 All Star Pro-Wrestling III Music with Kenichiro Fukui
2005 Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Music with Kenji Ito
Hanjuku Hero 4: 7-Jin no Hanjuku Hero Music with several others
Front Mission Online Arrangements
2006 Dawn of Mana Music with Kenji Ito, Masayoshi Soken and Ryuichi Sakamoto
Final Fantasy III (Nintendo DS) Arrangements with Keiji Kawamori
2008 The Last Remnant Music with Yasuhiro Yamanaka
Dissidia: Final Fantasy Arrangements with Mitsuto Suzuki
2009 Gyromancer Music
Death by Cube Music with Mud-J
2010 Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Music with Yoko Shimomura and Takeharu Ishimoto
The 3rd Birthday Music with Yoko Shimomura and Mitsuto Suzuki
2011 Fantasy Earth: Zero Chronicles Music with Hidenori Iwasaki and Ryo Yamazaki
MindJack Music
Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy Arrangements with Keiji Kawamori and Mitsuto Suzuki
Lord of Vermilion Re:2 Arrangements with several others
2012 Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance Music with Yoko Shimomura and Takeharu Ishimoto
2014 Rise of Mana Music with Kenji Ito, Hiroki Kikuta, and Yoko Shimomura
Final Fantasy Explorers Music
2015 Dissidia Final Fantasy Arrangements with Takeharu Ishimoto and Keiji Kawamori
2018 Secret of Mana Arrangements with several others[6]
2019 Kingdom Hearts III Music with Yoko Shimomura and Takeharu Ishimoto
2020 Final Fantasy VII Remake Arrangements with several others
2024 Visions of Mana Music with Hiroki Kikuta and Ryo Yamazaki[7]

Films

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Year Title Notes
2005 Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Music with Nobuo Uematsu and Keiji Kawamori
2009 Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete Arrangements with Keiji Kawamori

Other works

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Year Title Notes
2001 feel/Go dream: Yuna & Tidus with Masashi Hamauzu and Masayoshi Kikuchi
2003 The Black Mages
2004 The Black Mages II: The Skies Above
2008 The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Chris Greening (30 December 2012). "Tsuyoshi Sekito Profile". Game Music Online. Retrieved 2014-09-21.
  2. ^ Marushi Akio (2008-12-07). "Mr. Sekito about his guitar collections". Square Enix. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  3. ^ Wesley Yin-Poole (2008-11-19). "The Last Remnant Preview". Video Gamer. Archived from the original on 2012-10-03. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  4. ^ Audun Sorlie (2012-07-26). "Exclusive: Meet the Kingdom Hearts 3D sound team". Destructoid. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  5. ^ Johnny (2014-07-07). "Tsuyoshi Sekito Explains The Main Theme of "Final Fantasy Explorers"". Square Portal. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  6. ^ Gallagher, Mathew (19 November 2017). "Team of arrangers announced for Secret of Mana remake". Video Game Music Online. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  7. ^ Ramsey, Robert (December 10, 2023). "Visions of Mana Isn't Open World, But It Does Have 'Vast' Semi-Open Areas". PushSquare. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
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