is a Japanese composer, arranger, conductor and singer-songwriter. He is affiliated with the music production company Imagine. He has created numerous musical scores for

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series,

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

s, films,

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s and ''

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, War film, war, fantasy, or Horror film, horror media featuring such te ...

'' series including ''

Gunbuster ''Gunbuster'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese OVA anime series produced by Bandai, Victor, and Gainax and released from 1988 to 1989. It was the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, best known as the creator and director of ''Neon Genesis ...

'', ''

Sakura Wars is a Japanese steampunk media franchise created by Oji Hiroi and owned by Sega. It is focused around a series of cross-genre video games. The first game in the series was released in 1996, with five sequels and numerous spin-off titles being ...

'' and ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...

''.

Biography

Tanaka was a student at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

. While employed playing the piano in a hotel lounge, he was requested to arrange a song in '' Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX'', a 1982 TV anime, and it became his first work as a composer. Afterwards, he produced some songs and arrangements for the

Super Sentai series is a Japanese superhero team metaseries and media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company, and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi ("Sentai" is the Japanese word for "task force" or "fighting squadron"). Th ...

and his first work as a lead composer was for the television anime ''Konpora Kids'' in 1985. Notably, the background music in ''

'' made his name and talent very famous among anime fans and is recognized as one of his most important works. He also handled the composition of ''

Diebuster ''Diebuster'', also known as and ''Gunbuster 2'', is a six-episode original video animation series directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, written by Yōji Enokido and animated by Gainax. It was created to commemorate the studio's 20th anniversary in ...

'', a sequel series of ''Gunbuster'', and showed a peculiar arrangement to his own work 17 years ago. He hosted the Dai Anime Hakurankai radio show on Tokai Radio together with the voice actress

Konami Yoshida Konami Yoshida ( ja, 吉田小南美, Yoshida Konami, formerly ja, 吉田古奈美, born June 6, 1967) is a Japanese voice actress from Tokyo, Japan. Filmography Television animation *Woman (A) in Armored Police Metal Jack (1991) *Maria Shir ...

from April 1993 to September 1994. His discussions with

Toshio Okada is an anime producer, author, and lecturer. He is a co-founder and former president of the production company Gainax. He is portrayed by actor Gaku Hamada in the 2014 TV Drama ''Aoi Honō'' based on the autobiographical manga by his fellow Kazuh ...

and Hiroshi Yamamoto about anime, originally published in the ''hm3'' voice acting magazine, have been republished in book form. On February 14, 2008, he opened an official website and announced his intention to work also as a singer in the future. On July 4, he released his first solo album called ''Kokorone song 1st''.

Works

Anime

Films

Video games

References

External links

* http://ameblo.jp/kenokun/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Kohei 1954 births Anime composers Berklee College of Music alumni Japanese composers Japanese conductors (music) Japanese film score composers Japanese male composers Japanese male conductors (music) Japanese male film score composers Living people Musicians from Osaka Tokyo University of the Arts alumni Video game composers