Sotaro Tojima (Souji Taro) Discussion/Info?
 

Sotaro Tojima is a composer for Konami who happens to be extremely talented, and yet his/her discography seems to be very limited, and I can't seem to find any information on him/her anywhere. He/she wrote the music to the SNES games Super Castlevania IV and Axelay, and also contributed the original tracks to CV: Circle of the Moon.

I'm listening to the Axelay soundtrack right now, and am again really impressed how he was able to make such a unique and dynamic soundtrack. Though there is a heroic tone to much of the music, it goes from straight-ahead rock to some spacy electronic music for probably the best known piece on the OST, "Colony". "Mother" edges almost into jazz territory, not what you'd expect from a Konami shmup in this era. The whole soundtrack is great from beginning to end, really.

Earlier I was listening to CotM a bit, and was reminded again how "Awake" is probably my favorite CV theme ever. I love how it starts off with the slow, beautiful melody, and then builds up a great ROCK'N arrangement from that, making the original riff the climax of the piece. I haven't listened to CVIV that much (or played the game, for that matter), but I know the classic "Theme of Simon" was introduced there, and have listened a bit to a bit of the rest of it. Though it's probably my least favorite work of his on the whole, there is some great atmosphere built up by many of the tracks and I can see how well it must fit with the CV series.

Which brings me to my question: anyone know of other works that Tojima has done or any info? Are there other fans on the board?

Thanks!

I don't know all that much about his works in the past, but he is presently working with Kojima Productions, with the job title of Sound Producer. His most recent composing effort seems to have been for a Hikaru no Go game back in 2002. He is currently working as sound producer for MGS4 as well as serving as the sound director for Hideo Kojima's weekly podcast Hidechan!.

You can find more info about him on his profile page at the Kojima Productions webpage, right here. Though it makes no mention of any works prior to 1999.

The page you linked says he joined Konami only in 1999, so this Sotaro Tojima cannot be Souji Taro...

Yeah, I was wondering about that as well. But considering he's credited as a composer for Circle of the Moon there can be little doubt about it being him. So I assume that him joining in '99 is either (a) a mistake, or (b) he was not hired by Konami at the time when he composed for Axelay and Super Castlevania IV. I have no info on how much work he did on those two titles - all I know is that other people were involved as well.

He's probably my favourite "unknown" composer. I like Michiru Yamane a lot but Konami seems to be overusing her despite Sotaro being the composer of the awesome SC4 soundtrack (one of the best scores of the saga). Btw it's funny but his tracks for Circle of the Moon are also my favourites of the whole game: "Awaken", "Proof of Blood" and "Fate to Despair".

After Axelay he seemed to have vanished because he came back in 2001 for the OST of Konami Krazy Racers. I wish some Castlevania fans could do an interview to him so we know more about this talented guy.

SC4 and Axelay have both soundtracks that covers diverse musical genres yet the scores feel like a single piece that helps greatly to set the mood of the games (And also the tracks are usually very catchy), that's the great thing about Sotaro
Masanori Oodachi colaborated in SC4 and there's a mysterious M.C. Ada credited as "remixer" in Axelay.

Yeah, I've been trying to look up info on him as well and coming up short. I'm also confused/skeptical about Taro and Tojima being the same person. It just doesn't add up. I consider Axelay one of my favourite soundtracks of all time, SCIV ranks up high there as well. Definitely my favourite Castlevania OST.

Those are two different persons indeed.

Sotaro Tojima (戸島壮太郎)
GBA Akumajou Dracula Circle of The Moon
PS1 Blaze & Blade Busters
PS2 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (sound designer)
GC Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (Demo SE ?)
PS2 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Demo SE ?)

Taro Kudou (工藤太郎) aka Souji Taro, Taro
SFC Axelay
SFC Castlevania 4

source: GMCL ver.2

So yeah, that's only two for the awesome Taro. :(

edit: o wait

工藤太郎 - Wikipedia

Don't have time now but this should be translated ~

Axelay - music

Super Mario RPG - event design

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - minigame

moon - doesn't say what he did, but the RPGFan listing for the OST lists as one of many composers The Thelonious Monkees (Taniguchi "TaniGUCCI" Hirofumi, Masanoff Adachi, "Miki", and "Taro"); Hirofumi Taniguchi and Masanori Adachi both worked for Konami, and I speculate that "Miki" is Miki Yanagisawa and "Taro" is Taro Kudou

U.F.O. -a day in the life- - also doesn't say what he did, but it looks like The Thelonious Monkees might be involved with this too; Hirofumi Taniguchi was the main composer, though

Endonesia - planning

Coloball 2002 - again no explanation; moon, U.F.O., and Coloball are all games by Love-de-Lic, which also made Chulip, Chibi-Robo, and Giftpia

Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland - direction

The article doesn't list Super Castlevania IV, which is kind of weird. :|

So his real full name is Taro Kudou? "Souji" is a nickname of sorts? And he works as a director for the developer Vanpool? Interesting. That might explain why we've never heard any compositions from him after Axelay.

There's an interview here and I *think* it talks about him working at Konami as a music composer. The google translator is pretty lousy. Can anyone help? I think it continues onto this page.

Here's a picture of him (on the left) from here:
http://www.nindori.com/interview/158...158_pic_10.jpg
and another from here:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0609/2_2/img/photo03.jpg

Yeah, they're two different people. Like Yuki Iwai and Takayuki Iwai.

Or like Kenji Yamamoto and Kenji Yamamoto.

Oh, now that just sucks.

But isn't it a bit strange that Sotaro Tojima composed the music of another Castlevania game (Circle of Moon) wich has remixes of Castlevania IV themes?

And why Souji Taro who is a music composer is credited as game planner and director?