Hiroki Kikuta - New Projects
 

Post-Koudelka, most thought that Hiroki Kikuta had fallen off the edge of the earth until he turned up... composing hentai games of all things. Well, since then, it's gradually emerged that he's done quite a bit more than just this. His known non-hentai projects:

1) Kikuta started work on an ambitious three year project, the Chinese MMORPG Bukyo, in 2001, where he was the concept designer, game planner, and composer. Developed by Square Enix, the game's development was abandoned after a closed beta testing period in Taiwan during 2004, meaning neither Kikuta's concept nor score was ever released to the world.

2) Kikuta published the much-publicised original album Lost Files in 2006. His first commercial release in seven years, it was principally a scattered collection of tracks from various projects that haven't been heard before, including the original versions of the demo tracks he submitted to Square to be recruited by them. This album is sold on his personal website and at VGM World.

3) Kikuta is writing a novel and its accompanying CD. In Tennin-so Story, Kikuta's expression of inspiration is anticipated to reach new levels and, by working alone, he will not be compromise by others. Prior to the novel's release, a CD will be released in August 2006's Comic Market 70 event, based on the same world. At last, Kikuta will create a brand new major work that will actually be published!

I'm not so sure what your point is.

Just an aside: I don't think that composing for H-game soundtracks is considered such a step down in Japan. The releases from the most prestigious companies do seem to get some good-quality musical talent.

That's interesting about the CMMORPG. It's certainly possible that the music will turn up somewhere, even if he doesn't reuse it. The novel sounds interesting too. We probably will never see an English translation, but I'm sure the cd will pop up with all the other C70 stuff.

1) To announce a major new project of Hiroki Kikuta's to an English-speaking audience (unless someone else has and I've been blind)
2) To emphasise that Kikuta has done more than just compose for H-games and compile an album of lost files since Koudelka, contrary to popular belief
3) To make some clarifications about the Bukyo projects

I agree here to a large extent. The genre of the games Kikuta composed for post-Koudelka didn't bother me and I know there's plenty of musicians (e.g. Shinji Hosoe and Yasuhisa Watanabe) have made respectable soundtracks to H-games while evolving their styles. Still, I still considered a step-down from the perspective that, for Koudelka, he was involved in practically all sides of production for a major RPG, whereas his role was much more limited and for a smaller audience in the H-games. So, to me, it's more of an issue of audience and role than genre.

Hey, what makes H-Games are something to be ashamed of? I'm sure there's some entertaining ones out there. :tpg:
Also, with people like Kikuta composing the music for games like Sakura Relaxation.. They can't be all that bad. xp

Interesting info, in any case. I'll be awaiting more news on the novel, and moreso, the CD that will be released to accompany it. More Kikuta music is welcome in my collection. :) Lost Files was excellent, no doubt. It reminded me of the stuff that he is capable of.

As for the MMORPG stuff, I wonder why its development was discontinued? S-E was too busy with the Final Fantasy games, or what. :(

EDIT: Yeah, good point about the audience in H-Games, Mr. Maul. There's definitely a smaller group of people that Kikuta's music could reach to, since he ended up composing the music for obscure games.

I heard of Bukyo and bought Lost Files, but I'm still ready for more. I'm glad to hear he's going to keep composing!

Also, :tpg:

Yeah Sakura Relaxation was awesome.

Any info on Bukyo? I mean, despite the fact it was a close beta, surely some chinese boy shared the music somewhere...

Sounds like a new holy search ~

Oh yeah worst thread title ever

I love all of Kikuta's work. Even Koudelka.
I'm glad to see he's making a come back, I just hope he hasn't given up on game music - I love Soukaigi, and I hope that in the future there will be a Seiken Densetsu Arranged Album (might be asking for a bit much) even though Mitsuda is releasing a arranged album of Chrono Cross.

Shame about the online game - looking forward to the next cd :)

There's quite a lot of info about it here. It's all in Chinese, but I know there's a few Chinese dudes in this forum.

That made me cry! ;_; But, yeah, the truth hurts.

Lost Files was pretty bad. Where's the Soukaigi quality sexiness?

You guys seriously can't set Soukaigi as some sort of standard for Kikuta. That is a high bar. It had live instrumentation. Most soundtracks don't even have this.

And Lost Files didn't suck. :mad:

I was a bit disappointed at the beginning of the album, but after learning in this thread that they were likely from his "demo tape" to Squaresoft, I can fully accept that they are subpar when compared to Kikuta's other work.

If you get past the initial disappointment, the later tracks on Lost Files begin to reach a Soukaigi-like level of goodness. I recommend listening again with a fresh disposition.


Also, Mr. Maul, thank you so much for the information you provided in the opening post. <3

As much as I hate to revive an old and horribly titled thread, it's been announced that Hiroki Kikuta has a new project at Square Enix. This is the MMORPG Concerto Gate, to be hosted by NHN Japan in April 2007. He has been hired as a co-composer, whereas Kenji Ito will lead. Some more info here for the interested.

I expected Kikuta to return to SE after the abandoned Bukyo project, but I'm surprised he'll be working on another MMORPG and even more shocked he'll be collaborating with Kenji Ito (a dubious collaboration, perhaps). I just hope the game and soundtrack don't fade into obscurity like Fantasy Earth, Cross Gate, Front Mission Online, and the various Chinese MMORPGs I know nothing about... or worse still, go down the root of Bakusou Yankee Damashii, Bukyo, and Ambrosia Odyssey...

Great news! Much can be expected from a collaboration of those two. =)

Oh, and I'm not too sure why are you naming all those MMORPGs in this context, except for Bukyo ...

Want me to change the title? Can I? Can I? ;_;

I find the collaboration strange, to be honest. I appreciate Kikuta and Ito for very different reasons. I find Kikuta's style much more original and subtle. Still, I felt Ito did well referencing Kikuta's Seiken Densetsu style in Dawn of Mana.

Well, for the sake of saying that the music for most of SE's MMORPGs has been shrouded in mystery and some MMORPGs just failed outright or were cancelled. So I'm dubious about an OST release...

Feel free to! :D

I think a MMORPG is exactly the kind of game in which their different styles could mix well, actually. Diversity is also something MMORPGS need desperately, on a gaming experience plan.

done. i went for something original ~

Surprising, but awesome news. More stuff from Kikuta is always welcome, and the collaboration with Ito should be interesting to say the least. It's also good to hear that he's joining forces with Square-Enix again (even if it's only for this project). Wonder if we can expect him to compose music for more console RPGs (specifically, one of the Mana games)? I suppose it's unlikely, but it would be nice.

Here's some followup information, as the title was mentioned in the first post but not anything else. It's...

Tennin So Kitan (NSLCD-0002)

Just 1 track, 8:37 in length, but a good one.

Starts off with a short drama (presumably about the novel's story), then around 1:50 the song itself comes in. It's all instrumental until 5:30, then the vocal lyrics get added.

Attached is the cover pic.

Thanks for the info and cover, Carl. The track sounds interesting, even if I thought this project would be more ambitious in terms of length. Great you think it's a good one.

Anybody know if Kikuta composed Puzzlebox's latest entry, Shukubo no Shinshitsu, and whether a soundtrack was released?

"Shukubo no Shinshitsu"? If it's 叔母の寝室 (romanized "oba no shinshitsu" on all Japanese websites which did so) then there's a very tasty sample at the less tasty site. Not particularly Kikuta-sounding to me, and no mention of Kikuta as composer, but his site is linked in the "creator" section of the site's link page whatever that's worth...

Edit: That sample is the theme piece which is explicitly credited to 和田貴史 (Takashi Wada?). No idea if he did the rest of the soundtrack as well as the theme piece is all they talk about music wise on the site.
Edit2: In the trailer Angel Note is credited for "BGM ・Arrangement", I'll suppose for now that includes composing as well. *shrugs

In the creator section Takafumi Wada is credited as the composer.
Besides the main theme there isn't really a good tune in the game either, I guess that's why they did not release a soundtrack. Wada has worked on Shinshou Genmukan for Ciel before (another SP-Janis brand that also Kikuta composed for), but Genmukan was just a remake of the original game made by aias.
Shinshou Genmukan's music is a lot better than Oba no Shinshitsu, but they both sound nothing like Kikuta's music. I doubt he will return for SP-Janis.

On his blog, Kikuta says he composed 13 tracks.



Now, 10 mp3 samples are available by extracting the swf file out of the official site (I can't play some files, though). 7th and 8th tracks are probably Kikuta's.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/i1ki6w

If anyone wants to listen to the Tennin so Kitan track, here it is.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/62mnu3

All the latest posts here have been very interesting and helpful to me. Good to know about those H-games suspected to be composed by him. Also, I find it promising that MP3 samples are included on the main site; maybe, just maybe, we will get a soundtrack release.

Thanks so much for the rip, Seanne. It brings back memories of Secret of Mana + for me. Love the track. :D

To be honest, I'm not sure that a collaboration between Ito and Kikuta is ideal. Neither is particularly renowned for aggressively paced melodies. The final result may indeed feel one-dimensional if neither feels comfortable venturing outside their norm.

Kikuta's ambient work is excellent. Ito's piano work is skilled, although often veering on the bland side of sound. On paper, it seems like an ideal pairing but, in execution, I wonder if their low-key styles will complement each other or compete for the same musical space. Where subtle background music is concerned, their collaborations may work. But where more forceful, energized music is necessary, I am hesitant to think that the partnership may be lacking. I'm sure they can come up with something but aggression is neither's forte and I almost worry that such music would sound forced.

Had Kikuta been paired with someone whose ouevre is similar but contains a little more...oomph...say, Tenpei Sato, Ken Nakagawa or Motoi Sakuraba, then I'd be thrilled at the news. For now, it's just an interesting pairing whose efforts feel more like an experiment than a true fellowship, to me.