# Kohei Tanaka (composer)

Kohei Tanaka (Japanese: 田中 公平, Hepburn: Tanaka Kōhei, born February 14, 1954) 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 television series, OVAs, films, video games and tokusatsu series including Gunbuster, Sakura Wars, The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, Betterman, and One Piece.

## Biography

Tanaka was a student at Berklee College of Music. 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 and his first work as a lead composer was for the television anime Konpora Kids in 1985.
Notably, the background music in Gunbuster 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, 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 from April 1993 to September 1994. His discussions with Toshio Okada 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

| Year | Title | Crew role | Notes |
| 1985–86 | Button Nose | Music | |
| 1986 | Dragon Ball | Theme song arrangement | "Makafushigi Adventure!", "Romantic Ageru yo" |
| 1986 | Doteraman | Music | |
| 1987 | Esper Mami | Music | |
| 1987 | Maps | Music | OVA |
| 1987 | The Three Musketeers | Music | |
| 1987–89 | Lady!! series | Music | Also Hello! Lady Lynn |
| 1988–89 | Gunbuster | Music | |
| 1988 | Patlabor | Music | OAVs |
| 1989–92 | The Laughing Salesman | Music | |
| 1989 | Wataru Majinzan | Music | OVA |
| 1990–91 | Brave Exkaiser | Music | |
| 1990 | Obatarian | Music | |
| 1990 | Madō King Granzort: The Final Magical Battle | Music | OVA |
| 1991–93 | Matchless Raijin-Oh | Music | Also OVA in 1992 |
| 1991 | Honō no Tenkōsei | Music | OVA |
| 1991 | Otaku no Video | Music | |
| 1992 | Bastard!! | Music | |
| 1992 | Spirit of Wonder: Miss China's Ring | Music | |
| 1993 | Dragon Half | Music | OVA |
| 1993 | Yaiba | Music | |
| 1994 | Mobile Fighter G Gundam | Music | |
| 1995 | Gulliver Boy | Music | |
| 1996 | Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team | Music | OVA |
| 1996 | Brave Command Dagwon | Music | |
| 1996 | Violinist of Hameln | Music, Composer | |
| 1997 | The King of Braves GaoGaiGar | Music, Composer | |
| 1999 | Pokémon The Movie 2000 | Composer | Insert song 1 |
| 1999–present | One Piece | Music | with Shiro Hamaguchi |
| 1999–2000 | Sakura Wars: The Radiant Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms | Music | OVA |
| 2000–2003 | The King of Braves GaoGaiGar Final | Music Composer | OVA |
| 2000 | Gate Keepers | Music | |
| 2000 | Sakura Taisen | Music | TV series |
| 2001 | Angelic Layer | Music | |
| 2001 | Gundam Evolve | Music | with others |
| 2002 | Tenchi Muyo! GXP | Music | |
| 2002 | Gate Keepers 21 | Music | OVA |
| 2002–03 | Overman King Gainer | Music | |
| 2002 | Monkey Typhoon | Music | |
| 2003 | Sakura Taisen: Ecole de Paris | Music | |
| 2003 | Gad Guard series | Music | |
| 2004–07 | Kaiketsu Zorori series | Music | |
| 2004 | Desert Punk | Music | |
| 2004 | Sakura Taisen: Le Nouveau Paris | Music | OVA |
| 2004 | Diebuster | Music | OVA |
| 2006 | Buso Renkin | Music | |
| 2007 | Sakura Taisen: New York, New York | Music | OVA |
| 2007–08 | Let's Go! Tamagotchi | Music | |
| 2007 | Tamagotchi: The Movie | Music | |
| 2008 | Rosario + Vampire series | Music | 2 seasons, with Shiro Hamaguchi |
| 2009 | Hayate the Combat Butler | Composer, Arranger | |
| 2010–11 | Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan series | Music | Demon Capital with Kazuhiko Sawaguchi and Keiji Iuchi |
| 2012 | Hyouka | Music | |
| 2012 | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure | Theme song composition | "JoJo (Sono Chi no Sadame)" |
| 2013 | Gaist Crusher | Music | with Takayuki Negishi |
| 2015 | Assassination Classroom | Theme song arrangement | |
| 2017 | The Laughing Salesman New | Music | |
| 2018 | Planet With | Composer, Arranger | |
| 2020 | Sakura Wars: The Animation | Music | |
| 2020 | Princess Connect Re:Dive | Theme song arrangement | |
| 2020 | Motto! Majime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori | Music | |
| 2021 | Back Arrow | Music | |
| 2021 | D_Cide Traumerei the Animation | Music | |
| 2024 | Grendizer U | Music | |

### Films

| Year | Title | Crew role | Notes |
| 1988 | Esper Mami: Hoshizora no Dancing Doll | Music | |
| 1993 | Hello! Dynosis Kids | Music | Doraemon short film |
| 2001 | One Piece: Clockwork Island Adventure | Music | |
| 2001 | Sakura Wars: The Movie | Music Director | |
| 2002 | One Piece: Chopper's Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals | Music | |
| 2003 | One Piece The Movie: Dead End no Bōken | Music | with Shiro Hamaguchi |
| 2004 | One Piece: The Cursed Holy Sword | Music | with Shiro Hamaguchi |
| 2005 | One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island | Music | |
| 2006 | Giant Mecha Soldier of Karakuri Castle | Music | with Fuminori Iwasaki |
| 2007 | One Piece Movie: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta | Music | with Shiro Hamaguchi, Fuminori Iwasaki, Minoru Mauro, Kazuhiko Sawaguchi |
| 2008 | Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in the Winter, Miracle Cherry Blossom | Music | with Shiro Hamaguchi |
| 2008 | Tamagotchi: Happiest Story in the Universe! | Music | Film with Shiro Hamaguchi |
| 2009 | One Piece Film: Strong World | Music | with Shiro Hamaguchi |
| 2012 | One Piece Film: Z | Music | with Shiro Hamaguchi |
| 2012 | Kaiketsu Zorori Da-Da-Da-Daibouken! | Music | |
| 2013 | Kaiketsu Zorori: Mamoru ze! Kyouryuu no Tamago | Music | |
| 2015 | Kaiketsu Zorori: Uchū no Yūsha-tachi | Music | |
| 2019 | One Piece: Stampede | Music | |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Crew role | Notes |
| 1990 | Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom | Music | FM Towns version |
| 1992 | Xardion | Music | |
| 1992 | Paladin's Quest | Music | |
| 1992 | Just Breed | Music | |
| 1993 | Tengai Makyo: Fuun Kabukiden | Music | |
| 1995 | Tengai Makyō Zero | Music | |
| 1996 | Lennus II | Music | |
| 1996 | Sakura Wars | Music | |
| 1997 | Alundra | Music | |
| 1998 | Dragon Force II: Kamisarishi Daichi ni | Music | Main song |
| 1998 | Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die | Music | |
| 1999 | Alundra 2 | Music | |
| 2001 | Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning? | Music | |
| 2002 | Sakura Wars 4: Fall in Love, Maidens | Music | |
| 2005 | Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love | Music | |
| 2010 | Resonance of Fate | Music | with Motoi Sakuraba |
| 2012 | Gravity Rush | Music | |
| 2017 | Gravity Rush 2 | Music | |
| 2018 | Princess Connect! Re:Dive | Music | with others |
| 2019 | One Piece: World Seeker | Music | |
| 2019 | Sakura Wars | Music | |