# Takenobu Mitsuyoshi

Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (光吉 猛修, Mitsuyoshi Takenobu) is a Japanese composer of video game music, singer, and video game voice actor. He has composed music for various games produced by Sega, including Virtua Fighter 2 and Shenmue. He first gained major recognition after the release of Daytona USA, for which he had written all music and personally sang all vocals.
With the arcade games, Derby Owners Club, World Club Champion Football and Star Horse, he also recorded live orchestras.
Aside from original compositions, he also arranges, provides vocals, and is a performer for a variety of projects, including S.S.T from 1988 to 1993, and [H.] from 2004 onwards. He is well-known voicing the character Kage-Maru of Virtua Fighter franchise.
He has a younger brother named Kenji Mitsuyoshi (光吉 賢司, Mitsuyoshi Kenji), who is a manga artist and member of the artist-writer duo Ark Performance along with Kōichi Ishikawa.

## Works
### Video games

| Year | Title | Role(s) |
| 1990 | G-LOC R360 | "Earth Frame G" |
| 1990 | GP Rider | Music with Hiroshi Kawaguchi |
| 1991 | Rent a Hero | Music with Hiroshi Kawaguchi |
| 1991 | Strike Fighter | Music |
| 1992 | Virtua Racing | Music |
| 1992 | OutRunners | Music with Takayuki Nakamura |
| 1994 | Daytona USA | Music, vocals |
| 1994 | Virtua Fighter 2 | Music with Takayuki Nakamura and Akiko Hashimoto |
| 1994 | Virtua Striker | Music |
| 1995 | Sega Rally Championship | Music |
| 1995 | Manx TT Superbike | Music |
| 1995 | Virtua Fighter Remix | Sound design |
| 1996 | Sonic the Fighters | Music with Maki Morrow |
| 1996 | Virtua Fighter Kids | Music with Takayuki Nakamura and Maki Morrow |
| 1996 | J.League Victory Goal '96 | Musicians |
| 1996 | Virtua Fighter 3 | Music with Fumio Ito and Hidenori Shoji |
| 1997 | Virtua Striker 2 | Sound director |
| 1997 | Fighters Megamix | Sound design |
| 1997 | J.League Victory Goal '97 | Musicians |
| 1997 | Digital Dance Mix: Namie Amuro | Sound director |
| 1998 | Daytona USA 2 | Vocals |
| 1998 | Burning Rangers | Vocals |
| 1999 | Shenmue | Music with various others |
| 2000 | F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa | Music with various others |
| 2001 | Crackin' DJ Part 2 | Music with various others |
| 2001 | Shenmue II | Music with various others |
| 2002 | World Club Champion Football | Music |
| 2003 | Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Marz | Sound design |
| 2005 | Sonic Gems Collection | "Fairy of A.I.F." |
| 2006 | Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice | Music |
| 2006 | Sega Rally 2006 | Music with various others |
| 2009 | Yakuza 3 | Sound production |
| 2009 | Hummer | Music |
| 2010 | Yakuza 4 | Interpretation assistance |
| 2010 | Let's Go Island: Lost on the Island of Tropics | Music with Junpei Mishima and Keisuke Tsukahara |
| 2011 | Daytona 2011 | Music |
| 2011 | Ridge Racer | "Ridge Racer USA Mix" - DLC |
| 2012 | Maimai | Music with various others |
| 2012 | Samurai Bloodshow | Music |
| 2015 | Chunithm | "Ikazuchi" |
| 2015 | Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX | Motion actor |
| 2017 | Daytona 3 Championship USA | Music |
| 2018 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | "F-Zero Medley" |
| 2021 | Initial D The Arcade | "Super Sonic" |
| 2022 | Sin Chronicle | "A Reason of Unchosen" |
| 2023 | Sonic Superstars | "Golden Capital Zone Act 2", "Zap Scrap" |
| 2024 | Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth | "Reminiscent Mood" |

### Voice acting

| Year | Title | Role(s) |
| 1993 | Burning Rival | Bill |
| 1993 | Virtua Fighter | Akira Yuki, Kage-Maru |
| 1996 | Virtua Fighter 3 | Kage-Maru |
| 2001 | Virtua Fighter 4 | Kage-Maru |
| 2003 | Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Marz | Sgt. Hatter |
| 2005 | 3rd Super Robot Wars Alpha: To the End of the Galaxy | Apharmd the Hatter |
| 2006 | Virtua Fighter 5 | Kage-Maru |
| 2012 | Phantasy Star Online 2 | Himself (English and Japanese) |
| 2012 | Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed | Announcer (Japanese) |
| 2015 | Project X Zone 2 | Kage-Maru |
| 2017 | Sonic Mania | Competition Announcer |
| 2022 | Party Quiz Sega Q | Himself |

## Concerts

Mitsuyoshi's music from Shenmue was performed live at the first Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany, in 2003. It was the first time that a concert featuring video game music was held outside Japan.
Mitsuyoshi attended the world-premiere of Play! A Video Game Symphony at the Rosemont Theater in Rosemont, Illinois, in May 2006. His music from the Shenmue series was performed by a full symphony orchestra. This event drew nearly 4000 attendees.
In 2007, his music from the World Club Champion Football series was presented at the fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert. Takenobu Mitsuyoshi joined the choir during the performance.
For Symphonic Shades – Hülsbeck in Concert in 2008, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi arranged music from Apidya, by German composer Chris Hülsbeck. The event was performed by the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne in Cologne, Germany, and marked the first live radio broadcast of a video game music concert.
His first dinner show was scheduled for March 22, 2020, but was postponed to August 23 of that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then rescheduled again to January 24, 2021, due to the spread of the second wave of infection. He did an online dinner show livestream on August 23, 2020, to make room for the reschedule.