page_title: Music of Ni no Kuni
section_title: Production and composition
hierarchical_section_title: Music of Ni no Kuni / Production and composition
caption_attribution_description: English: Joe Hisaishi in Krakow, 2011 Polski: Joe Hisaishi w Krakowie, 2011
context_page_description: The music for the role-playing video game series Ni no Kuni, developed by Level-5 and published in Western regions by Bandai Namco Entertainment, is primarily composed by Joe Hisaishi and performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Hisaishi, known for his previous work on Studio Ghibli films, agreed to work on the games after witnessing the development team's passion for the project. He aimed to make the music reflect the fantasy genre, creating a compatibility between the soundtracks and the game worlds.
  An album titled Ni no Kuni: Shikkoku no Madoushi Original Soundtrack was released in Japan in February 2011, featuring music from Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn. A two-disc soundtrack was later released in March 2013; the first disc is a re-release of the Japanese soundtrack, while the second disc contains additional tracks from Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. Critical reception to the soundtracks have been positive, as reviewers felt that the music for the first two games connected appropriately with the gameplay, with critics stating that Hisaishi's contributions matched the art style by Studio Ghibli.
context_section_description: When Studio Ghibli agreed to produce the animated sequences of Ni no Kuni, they contacted Joe Hisaishi to work on the game music. Hisaishi, who previously worked with Studio Ghibli on films such as Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001), met with Level-5 producer and writer Akihiro Hino. After witnessing Hino's passion for the project, Hisaishi agreed to work on the soundtrack. Rei Kondoh created the other half of the score, and all in-game music was performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. "Kokoro no Kakera", the games' theme song, was written by Hisaishi; his daughter Mai Fujisawa performed the song in Japanese, while chorister Archie Buchanan performed the English version. The team found great difficulty in selecting a performer for the English version, though ultimately settled upon Buchanan due to his ability to convey the "vulnerability and innocence" of the games characters in a "moving and powerful performance". For the orchestral music to fit onto the Nintendo DS at a high quality, Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn was shipped on a 4-gigabit game card.
  Hisaishi wrote 21 songs as piano sketches, across seven days. He found that the rhythm of the score was more complex than expected, but felt that this is "usually a good sign", which encouraged him to continue. The music was intended to reflect the fantasy genre, and contain an elegance based on traditional folk music of Ireland; Hisaishi described the music as "nostalgic, but still connected to the future". Hisaishi also felt a compatibility between his music and the world that the development team was creating, stating that their ideas generally worked naturally in "perfect unison".
  For the soundtracks, the piano was performed by Febian Reza Pane, the lute by Hiroshi Kaneko, the sitar by Masahiro Itami, the whistle by Hideyo Takakuwa, and the tabla by Ikuo Kakehashi. All music was recorded at Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall by Avaco Creative Studio, while Wonder Station mixed the soundtrack at Azabu-O Studio. Hiroyuki Akita oversaw the former, as recording engineer. Hisaishi would also return to work on the score for Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom.
caption: Japanese musician Joe Hisaishi, who previously worked on Studio Ghibli films, serves as lead composer for the series
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "SAMSUNG", "Image Model": "WB5000/HZ25W", "Image XResolution": "480", "Image YResolution": "480", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ver1.0.3", "Image DateTime": "2011:05:20 13:31:48", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "452", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "Image FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "313", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image GainControl": "High gain up", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4038", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6240", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:05:20 13:31:48", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:05:20 13:31:48", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "0", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "43/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "278/5", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "000", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "000", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4000", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}