is a Japanese singer and

dōjin music , also called in Japan, is a sub-category of ''doujin'' activity. ''Doujin'' are non-official self-published Japanese works which can be based on official products or completely original creations. Such products are sold online on specialized ...

composer known for her vocal themes in the ''

Atelier Iris is a role-playing video game developed by Japanese developer Gust for the PlayStation 2, the first of the ''Atelier Iris'' saga. Despite the ''Atelier'' series' long run and popularity in Japan, ''Atelier Iris'' was the first of the series to b ...

'' and ''

Ar tonelico is a multimedia project series made in collaboration by Gust Corporation and Banpresto (currently subsidiaries of Tecmo Koei and Namco Bandai Games respectively) consisting of video games, manga, and an OVA. The name of the series is also the name ...

'' series. She also wrote the lyrics and sang the ending themes to the first two seasons of '' Rozen Maiden'' as well as the OVA under the name

Kukui ''Aleurites moluccanus'', the candlenut, is a flowering tree in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, also known as candleberry, Indian walnut, ''kemiri'', varnish tree, ''nuez de la India'', ''buah keras'', ''godou'', kukui nut tree, and ''rata ke ...

, with Myu. Shimotsuki's original music mainly consists of

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established fo ...

and fantasy music, and most of her songs are soft in tone.

Career

Haruka Shimotsuki started her career in 2001 beginning with singing main themes for games, and writing and composing songs. She started releasing her

under the names Maple Leaf and tieLeaf; tieLeaf is a collaborative circle with Ao Sorano and Nao Hiyama. The group has a seventy-two-page

dōjinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created ...

, one CD entitled ''Tsukioi no Toshi'' (also called ''Leozet Lag Ecliss'' in its own original language, the ''Lag-Quara'' language), a manga and novel text story book that was twenty-eight pages, and a single CD with the same name as the book, ''Lip-Aura'', a side-story of ''Tsukioi no Toshi''. Another project by tieLeaf, an adventure titled ''Neji Maku Tsuki'', serves as a tie-in to ''Tsukioi no Toshi''. She gained attention after singing the ending theme "Tōmei Shelter" for '' Rozen Maiden'' under the name Refio+Shimotsuki Haruka. After singing "Tōmei Shelter", she and Myu (a member of Refio) formed the band

. Shimotsuki has also formed a group with

Rekka Katakiri is a female Japanese singer under the self-published label Closed/Underground. She has released several songs that have served as theme songs for anime shows, including ''Higurashi When They Cry'', '' My Wife is the Student Council President'', ...

and

Chata is a Japanese singer who has performed theme songs for video games and anime series. She has also participated in various dōjin music circles. Her own private circle is called ''Usagi Kinoko''. History Chata began dabbling in music in 1998. S ...

many times, and they have been good friends for a long time. As an independent singer, she was once a supporting member of

Sound Horizon Sound Horizon is a Japanese symphonic rock musical group with composer () as the leader and only permanent member. They describe themselves as a "fantasy band" and have released works that closely resemble classical suites. Their songs often r ...

, and made an appearance as a guest singer in their 2006 concert. She took a more major role in

's album ''Moira'' and performed in the corresponding live concerts in 2008 and 2009. Haruka Shimotsuki held a solo concert, : Haruka Shimotsuki Solo Live Lv.1 on August 10, 2006. Her second solo concert, Haruka Shimotsuki solo live Lv.2: , was held on July 13, 2008. Besides singing, composing and writing the lyrics for the opening and ending themes for the PC

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

''Relict: Toki no Wasuremono'', she also composed about seven

background music Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...

tracks for the game. Wind and

string instruments String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...

are heavily used for the tracks, and she was able to exhibit her talent in

ethnic music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

. This was her first time in composing songs for a game, and her feelings at that time were recorded in the booklet attached to the ''Image Soundtrack'' of the game. In the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on ...

game '' Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia'', she composed and performed the songs of one of the heroines, Aurica Nestmille, and took part in singing the ending theme "EXEC_PHANTASMAGORIA/.". She later took part in the sequel ''

Ar tonelico II Sekai ni Hibiku Shōjo-tachi no Metafalica ''Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica'', known in Japan as is a role-playing video game, developed by Gust for the PlayStation 2 which was released in Japan on October 25, 2007, in North America on January 20, 2009, and was set to be released ...

'' as the singing voice of one of the heroines, Luca Truelywaath, and took part in the ending song "EXEC_with.METHOD_METAFALICA/.". In November 2009, she had another concert, Haruka Shimotsuki Original Fantasy Concert 2009 -FEL ARY ARIA-, was held at NIPPON SEINEN-KAN HALL featuring all her songs from Tindharia no Tane and a select few from Griotte no Nemurihime. It was later released on DVD on February 24, 2010.

Discography

Dōjin albums

* ''Ciel Etoile'' (BGM arrange album for Key's ''

Air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...

'') (October 2001) * ''Sacred Doors Vol.1'' (October 2001) * ''Reed+'' (BGM arrange album for the

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

Ragnarok Online ''Ragnarok Online'' ( ko, 라그나로크 온라인, marketed as ''Ragnarök'', and alternatively subtitled ''The Final Destiny of the Gods'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) created by Gravity based on the manhwa '' ...

'') (October 2002) * (December 30, 2002) * ''Impronta''/ (October 19, 2003) * (Under the name tieLeaf) (December 30, 2005) * ''Maple Leaf Box'' (December 29, 2006) * ''Lip Aura'' (''Tsukioi no Toshi'' side-story) (August 17, 2007) * '': Sacred Doors Another Tale'' (August 16, 2008) * (August 15, 2010) * - with arcane753 circle composed of Manyo (composition/arrangement), Nao Hiyama (lyrics) and Shimotsuki (vocals) (December 29, 2010) * - with arcane753 circle (with Marie as guest vocalist) (August 13, 2011) * - with arcane753 circle (with Marie as guest vocalist) (August 11, 2012)

Commercial singles

* (

PS2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

version ''

Princess Maker is a series of social simulation bishōjo games where the player must act as a parental figure and raise a young girl. The series was produced by the video game and anime production company Gainax. The first ''Princess Maker'', while popular en ...

4'' theme song; released October 26, 2005) * (Collaboration single with Revo of

; released June 14, 2006) * (Released September 26, 2007) * (TV anime '' H₂O: Footprints in the Sand'' ending theme and insert song; released February 22, 2008) * "break time" (Web radio program ''Frost Moon Cafe'' opening and ending theme; released April 8, 2009) * ( PSP game ''Dice Dice Fantasia'' theme song; released December 23, 2009) * (

PS3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

game ''

Last Rebellion is an action role-playing video game developed by Nippon Ichi Software and Hit Maker exclusively for the PlayStation 3. It was published by Nippon Ichi Software in Japan as well as in North America and Tecmo Koei in Europe . The game was release ...

'' ending song; released February 10, 2010) * "smile link" (''Frost Moon Cafe+'' opening and ending theme; released June 1, 2011)

Commercial albums

* (Released September 22, 2005) ''(Compilation album)'' * (Released February 28, 2007) * (Released June 25, 2008) ''(Compilation album)'' * (Released October 14, 2009) ''(an album in the Tindharia universe)'' * (Released April 14, 2010) '' (Compilation album)'' * Innocent Grey Haruka Shimotsuki Collection (Released January 14, 2011) * (Released February 23, 2011) * (Released April 25, 2012) ''(an album in the Tindharia universe)'' * (Released June 30, 2012) ''(an album in the Tindharia universe)'' * (Released November 14, 2012)

Other works

Anime

* (September 27, 2006) * Nishi no yoki Majo (opening)

Games

* ''Akai Ito Original Soundtrack'' (November 3, 2004) * : ''Progressive Memories'' (December 1, 2004) * Taito no Suika (Music video game

Beatmania IIDX is a series of rhythm video games, that was first introduced by Konami in Japan on February 26, 1999. ''IIDX'' has since spawned 31 arcade releases and 14 console releases on the Sony PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to the '' beatmania'' gam ...

10 th Style CS) (2004) * (April 20, 2005) * '' Atelier Iris ~Eternal Mana 2~ Original Soundtrack'' (May 18, 2005) * : ''Manie'' (August 19, 2005) * ''Atelier Iris ~Eternal Mana 2~ Original Drama Vol. 2'' (October 5, 2005) * ''

Hymmnos concert side Crimson Tsuki Kanade: Tsuki Kanade'' (January 25, 2006) * (Under the name MW, a duet with Rekka Katakiri; released January 27, 2006) * (March 21, 2006) * (June 21, 2006) * : ''Ar tonelico Hymmnos Musical'' (August 30, 2006) * : ''Ar tonelico Hymmnos Musical'' (February 28, 2007) * (May 5, 2007) * (May 30, 2007) * (October 10, 2007) * (October 24, 2007) * ''Clear'' * : ''Visitor of Another Air'' * * ''Full Voice Edition'' * (April 20, 2008) * (July 4, 2008) * (August 15, 2008) * (January 27, 2010) * (November 10, 2010) * (December 22, 2010) * (February 23, 2010) * ''-HISTORIA- (

Radiant Historia is a role-playing video game co-developed by Atlus and Headlock for the Nintendo DS. It was released in Japan in 2010 by Atlus, and in North America in 2011 by their subsidiary Atlus USA. An expanded remake for the Nintendo 3DS, titled ''Radia ...

ending theme.)'' with composer

Yoko Shimomura is a Japanese composer and pianist primarily known for her work in video games. She graduated from the Osaka College of Music in 1988 and began working in the video game industry by joining Capcom the same year. She wrote music for several game ...

(November 3, 2010) * (March 14, 2012) * , Track 3 (September 5, 2012) * Element of SPADA (Music video game

21 SPADA) (2013) * Kurobeni Sukui (Music video game ) (2016) * FestivaLight (Music video game maimai MiLK PLUS) (2018) * ''

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom ''Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom'' is a platform game developed by Game Atelier and published by FDG Entertainment. The game is a spiritual successor to Sega's ''Wonder Boy'' series, and was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xb ...

'' (2018) * '' Cross Edge'' (2008) * Trinity Universe (2009) * Étoile (Japanese ver.) (Mobile game MementoMori) (2022)

Dōjin

Drama CDs

* (May 28, 2008) * (August 15, 2010) - with Annabel * (August 15, 2010)

Cover songs

*"Englishman in New York" (on the album ''SoulS'')

With Barbarian on the Groove

*''Taos Pueblo'' (album) *''Le Monde Musical De'' (album) *''Dragon Valley'' *''Dragon Valley ~Arco Iris~'' *''Dragon Valley ~Twilight~''

References

External links

* *
Web Radio ''Harechatta Utatane Biyori''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimotsuki, Haruka 1986 births Anime musicians Doujin music Japanese composers Japanese women composers Japanese women singers Living people Musicians from Miyagi Prefecture Video game musicians