is a Japanese musical

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

originally from Hyōgo, Japan working for the

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

brand Key under

VisualArt's , formerly and previously spelled in English as VisualArt's, is a Japanese publishing company which specializes in publishing and distributing visual novels for a large list of game developers. Visual Arts has developed game engines their brands ...

. Before forming Key, Orito worked for another software company named

Leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

where he contributed to four games. After leaving Leaf, Orito transferred to another company named

Tactics Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics In chess, a tac ...

where he had a hand in the creation of three games for that company: ''

Dōsei is a Japanese Eroge, adult social simulation game developed by Tactics (company), Tactics, a brand of Nexton. It was released on May 23, 1997 for Microsoft Windows, Windows Personal computer, PCs, the same day as ''To Heart'' by Leaf (company), L ...

'', ''

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

'', and '' One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e''. After forming Key, Orito has put much work into such famous titles as '' Kanon'', ''

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

'' and ''

Clannad Clannad () were an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal, by siblings , and (Moya) (in English, Brennan) and their twin uncles Noel and (Duggan). They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history. Beginn ...

''. Orito has been influenced by the famous Japanese composers

Joe Hisaishi , known professionally as , is a Japanese composer, musical director, conductor and pianist, known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981. Hisaishi's music has been known to explore and incorporate different genres, inclu ...

and Yuzo Koshiro.

Career

After graduating from high school, Orito worked at a bank, but due to a recession in the economy, the bank fell to

restructuring Restructuring or Reframing is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. ...

, and Orito quit soon after. Orito found new work at the video game developer TGL composing music, but when a friend from high school named Naoya Shimokawa (now the president of Aquaplus) invited him to work for the video game developer

, he accepted. Starting in 1995, Orito composed music for three of Leaf's games: ''DR² Night Janki'', ''Filsnown: Hikari to Koku'', and '' Shizuku'' (precursor of '' To Heart''). When Leaf's next game, ''Hatsune no Naisho!!'', was under production, Orito quit Leaf. Orito got a

part-time job A part-time job is a form of employment that carries fewer hours per week than a full-time job. Workers are commonly considered to be part-time if they work fewer than 30 hours per week. Their hours of work may be organised in shifts. The shifts a ...

working for a post office while providing outsourced musical composition for the video game developer

under

Nexton is a Japanese Software company, software publishing company specializing in the publishing and distribution of Eroge, adult visual novels for 23 game development brands that Nexton is partners with. The company is located in Osaka, Japan. The ...

for the game ''

''; afterward, Tactics hired Orito, who helped compose music for two more games: ''Moon'' and '' One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e.'' In 1999, Orito and much of the staff behind ''Moon'' and ''One'', including

Jun Maeda is a Japanese writer and composer. He is a co-founder of the visual novel brand Key under Visual Arts. He is considered a pioneer of nakige visual novels, and has mainly contributed as a scenario writer, lyricist, and musical composer for the ...

, Itaru Hinoue, Naoki Hisaya, and OdiakeS, left Tactics to work for the video game publishing company

, where they formed the company Key. Orito has composed music for all of Key's titles, though he contributed to only one track on the original soundtrack of '' Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet''. Music that Orito composes for Key is published on Key's

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

Key Sounds Label Key Sounds Label is a Japanese independent record label formed in 2001 as a brand of the publishing company Visual Arts. Key Sounds Label was formed to catalog and release music related to visual novels produced by the brand Key, also under Visu ...

. The label's first album, '' Humanity...'', was produced by Orito for his temporary band Work-S. Orito was also the director for the

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson ('' Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 200 ...

''OTSU Club Music Compilation Vol.1'', also on Key Sounds Label, and is a member of OTSU (Organized Trance Sequential Unit). During his time at Key, Orito has provided outsourced musical composition for three games by three separate companies under VisualArt's. The first was for ''Sense Off'' by Otherwise, followed by ''Shoya Kinjō'' by Giant Panda, and finally ''Realize'' by Playm. In 2001, Orito composed the opening and ending themes for the

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

series '' Please Teacher!''. In 2006, Orito composed the song "Precious" on Mami Kawada's debut album ''

Seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

''. Between December 2007 and August 2010, Orito was one of three personalities (the others being Itaru Hinoue and another woman named Chiro working for Pekoe, another visual novel studio under VisualArt's) on an

internet radio Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...

show sponsored by Key in regards to the brand called '' Key Net Radio''. Orito composed the music for Key's game '' Rewrite'' (2011) and its fan disc '' Rewrite Harvest festa!'' (2012). Orito released his album '' Circle of Fifth'' in October 2012. In 2016, Orito composed music for Key's game ''

Harmonia In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; /Ancient Greek phonology, harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the goddess of harmony and concord. Her Greek opposite is Eris (mythology), Eris and her Roman mythology, Roman counterpart is Concordia (mythol ...

''. Orito's musical roots are in producing

dōjin In Japan, a is a group of people who share an interest, activity, or hobby. The word is sometimes translated into English as " clique", "fandom", "coterie", "society", or "circle" (as in " sewing circle"). Self-published creative works pro ...

music as a hobby. He used to visit a music BBS called Unison-BBS and named his dōjin circle Unison Label after the website, which has since gone offline. Many people were involved with the circle, which focused on a musical style similar to that featured in

bishōjo game A or is "a type of Japanese video game centered on interactions with attractive girls". ''Bishōjo'' games are similar to ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' books in the way of narrative, in which the game tells a story but the player may make c ...

s. The group was active between 1994 and 2000. During the time he worked with Tactics and later Otherwise, Orito was also a member of a professional group of composers known as the Unison Sound Team, in which he was known as either or .

References

External links

Key's official website

Key Sounds Label official website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Orito, Shinji 1973 births Anime composers Japanese composers Japanese film score composers Japanese male film score composers Japanese techno musicians Key (company) Living people Musicians from Hyōgo Prefecture Japanese video game composers