Shirō Hamaguchi
Biography. Early life and career. Born in Fukuoka, Japan, Shiro Hamaguchi graduated with a music degree from Tokyo University of the Arts, where he befriended fellow video game musician Masashi Hamauzu. After graduation, he was hired as a department project manager at Victor Entertainment from 1994 to 1996. In 1996, he joined the anime and video game music production company Imagine, where he worked alongside famed composers Hayato Matsuo, Kohei Tanaka, and Kow Otani. His debut role was the anime series "Violinist of Hameln" (1996), where he arranged Tanaka's works. His music impressed "Final Fantasy" composer Nobuo  Uematsu, who chose Hamaguchi as the arranger for the "Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks" album. He provided orchestral renditions of "Aeris's Theme", "Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII", and "One-Winged Angel", which have become iconic through their use in various "Final Fantasy" concerts. Subsequently, he created music for the anime series "Ehrgeiz" (unrelated to the video game) and "AWOL - Absent WithOut Leave". Further career. Hamaguchi scored the pirate-based anime "One Piece" in 1999 with Tanaka, later returning to compose four of its movies. He also worked as an arranger for the "Sakura Wars" series. The success of  his "Final Fantasy VII" arrangements led Uematsu to hire him to orchestrate four pieces for the 1999 title "Final Fantasy VIII", including the opening theme "Liberi Fatali" and the theme song "Eyes on Me". These pieces and nine new arrangements appeared in the orchestral album "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec Final Fantasy VIII". The following year, he arranged a selection of tracks from the game's soundtrack for the series' first Piano Collections album in five years. The success of "Eyes on Me" prompted Kenji Ito to use Hamaguchi as the arranger for his theme song in "Chocobo Racing". In 2000 , Hamaguchi composed the "Megumi no Daigo" film and the "Dinozaurs" anime series, the latter with Imagine colleague Akifumi Tada. He provided orchestrations to "Final Fantasy IX"s full motion video music, featured in "Final Fantasy IX Original Soundtrack PLUS", and an arrangement of the theme song "Melodies of Life"; he also created another Piano Collections album to the game. Hamaguchi collaborated with Uematsu to create music for the animated film "" and the 2001 anime series "", which also featured compositions by Tada. For "Final Fantasy X", he orchestrated the ending theme and the two versions of the theme song "Suteki da ne . He also produced the arrangements for the 2002 concert 20020220 Music from Final Fantasy, the first Final Fantasy" concert since 1989. It mixed his older arrangements with new ones such as "Vamo' Alla Flamenco", "Theme of Love", "Tina", "Dear Friends", "Final Fantasy", and an eight-minute medley of music from "Final Fantasy I", "II", and "III". The concert and its CD release set a precedent for many future concerts. Also in 2002, Hamaguchi scored the anime series "Kiddy Grade". His contribution to "Final Fantasy XI" (2003) was arranging the opening theme. He also orchestrated three themes for "Unlimited Saga" on  behalf of his university friend Hamauzu. At the end of 2003, Hamaguchi produced the "Piano Collections Final Fantasy VII". He also made new arrangements of "Opening ~ Bombing Mission", "To Zanarkand", "Ronfaure", "You're Not Alone", and "Opera 'Maria and Draco'" for the concert series Tour de Japon: Music from Final Fantasy in 2004. The concert also featured his arrangement of "Cloud Smiles" from the 2005 film "Final Fantasy VII Advent Children"; the remaining contributions to the film by Hamaguchi were old orchestral and piano arrangements. A handful of Hamaguchi's orchestral arrangements were added to Tour de Japon's  American successor Dear Friends - Music from Final Fantasy, which made its debut in May 2004 in Los Angeles. His arrangements have also been performed at the events , Voices - Music from Final Fantasy, and Play! A Video Game Symphony. In 2005, Hamaguchi scored the anime series "Oh! My Goddess" and contributed arrangements to the third Symphonic Game Music Concert. The same year, Hamaguchi decided to enroll at the Berklee College of Music in a one-year jazz composition course to further his opportunities as an anime composer. He has since scored "", "Big Windup!", "Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings", and "Rosario +  Vampire". He orchestrated the late composer Ingo Nugel and his brother Henning Nugel's arrangements from "The Settlers II (10th Anniversary)" for performance at the fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert in August 2007. In September 2010, he arranged a suite containing the music from Starwing and Lylat Wars for the Symphonic Legends concert in Cologne. Hamaguchi also composed the official music score for the Sanrio anime "Jewelpet" and its sequels, "Jewelpet Twinkle" and "Jewelpet Sunshine". He later left the production staff in 2012 to focus on composing music for the film "" and the anime film "Hanasaku Iroha: Home Sweet Home