is a Japanese composer and sound designer, best known for his work on the soundtracks for '' killer7'', ''

God Hand is a beat 'em up video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 2. It was released in Japan and North America in 2006, and in 2007 for PAL territories. It was re-released for the PlayStation 3 as a List of PlayS ...

'', '' No More Heroes'', and the '' Earth Defense Force'' and '' Danganronpa'' series. Takada often collaborates with guitarist and composer Jun Fukuda, and has worked on multiple projects for

Goichi Suda , known by his alias Suda51, is a Japanese video game designer, writer and director. Affiliated with Human Entertainment from 1994 to 1998, he founded Grasshopper Manufacture in 1998 with a number of other Human Entertainment staff to produce thei ...

's studio

Grasshopper Manufacture is a Japanese video game developer founded on March 30, 1998 by Goichi Suda. They are well known for creating titles such as '' killer7'' and the '' No More Heroes'' series. History The company was founded on March 30, 1998 in Suginami, Ja ...

Career

Takada was born in

Inuyama, Aichi is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 73,420 in 31,276 households, and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . The name of the city literally transliterates to "Dog ...

, Japan, and took interest in music since childhood after playing the

Electone Electone is the trademark used for electronic organs produced by Yamaha. With the exception of the top end performance models, most Electones are based on the design of the spinet electronic organ. Current models are completely digital and conta ...

at Yamaha Music School and experimenting with synthesizers. He learned to play the piano and tuba in high school and studied music in Tokyo for six years, earning a degree. He entered the game industry around the end of the

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...

, which he felt was a good time as game console sound chips were becoming more advanced. In 1997, Takada composed the soundtrack of '' Moonlight Syndrome'', directed by

. Takada would compose music for multiple projects by

, which Suda founded after leaving

Human Entertainment was a Japanese video game developer and publisher founded in 1983. The company produced games for a number of platforms, including home consoles, portable consoles, and personal computers. Human declared bankruptcy in 2000 and disbanded. Its for ...

. For ''killer7'', Takada placed a large emphasis on ambient music and sought to retell the game's story through the music. He considers the game's soundtrack to be among his favorite work. For '' No More Heroes'', Takada took inspiration from

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat gen ...

for the boss music. On November 5, 2008, Takada founded Sound Prestige, a music and sound production company. The company also functions as a record label where Takada publishes his own music. Takada composed the soundtrack of '' Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc'' which released in 2010. For the soundtrack, Takada combined a variety of tones to convey tension and claustrophobia during exploration, and a sense of momentum during trials. Takada returned to compose the soundtrack of the sequel, '' Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair'', in 2012, which sought to convey a tropical feel due to the change in setting. Takada composed for '' Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony'' in 2017, aiming for a more mature composition which ended up being more

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

-oriented. The soundtrack for ''V3'' was much larger than the previous titles, and was split into two album releases. In 2017, Takada co-founded the video game development studio

Too Kyo Games is a Japanese video game developer founded by ex-employees of Spike Chunsoft. It was formed in 2017 by ''Danganronpa'' series writer Kazutaka Kodaka, composer Masafumi Takada and illustrator Rui Komatsuzaki, as well as '' Zero Escape'' director ...

, alongside former members of

Spike Chunsoft is a Japanese video game development and localization company specializing in role-playing video games, visual novels and adventure games. The company was founded in 1984 as Chunsoft Co., Ltd. and merged with Spike in 2012. It is owned by Dwang ...

. Takada composed for ''

Death Come True is a 2020 interactive film adventure game developed by Too Kyo Games and Esquadra and published by IzanagiGames for Android, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, Windows, and PlayStation 4. The game was written and directed by Kazutaka Kodaka, better ...

'' and was sound supervisor for '' World's End Club'', both releasing in 2020. Takada will be composing for '' Master Detective Archives: Rain Code'' with Jun Fukuda, which was announced in November 2021.

Works

''All works listed below were composed by Takada unless otherwise noted.''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Takada, Masafumi 1970 births Anime composers Japanese male composers Living people Musicians from Aichi Prefecture People from Inuyama, Aichi Japanese sound designers Video game composers