is a Japanese music composer and orchestrator who primarily does work in video games and anime. He has worked on games such as Front Mission 3, Final Fantasy XII, the Shenmue series, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Hellsing Ultimate. He graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts in 1991 and began working with composer Koichi Sugiyama as an assistant.
His first score was Master of Monsters (1991). Over the next few years, he worked on several games and anime series. In 1995, he joined the independent music composition group Imagine. He has continued since then to compose and orchestrate works for several game, anime, and television series, as well as a few pieces for original albums.
Biography Early life Matsuo's mother was a piano and electone teacher, and she inspired him to enjoy classical music. She also organized concerts for local children to compose and perform music in, which he took part in. While in school, he was inspired by Yellow Magic Orchestra and Rick Wakeman. He eventually attended Tokyo University of the Arts, where he focused on classical music. While in school, however, he also was involved in more popular music, and was involved with the progressive rock band G-Clef, filling in sometimes for members of the band, many of whom he was friends with. He also provided some music for the band. When he was near graduation, Matsuo was introduced to Koichi Sugiyama, the composer for the Dragon Quest franchise. Upon graduating, he went to work with Sugiyama.
Career Matsuo began his career arranging Sugiyama's pieces for Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai in 1991. His first work as an also came in 1991, with the video game Master of Monsters. His first notable work came in 1993 with Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, which he worked on with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata. Since then, he has worked on over 30 other video games, both as a composer and orchestrator.
Beginning in 1994, Matsuo has also written music for anime series. His first was Magic Knight Rayearth, which he considers to be a turning point in his career. In 2003 he composed the soundtrack for the live-action television show Kamen Rider 555, and in the early 1990s he arranged pieces for orchestration for the Orchestral Game Music Concerts. While his early work was done as an entirely freelance, in 1995 Matuso was recruited by Kohei Tanaka to join Imagine. Imagine is an independent music composition and sound effect group for video games, consisting of nine employees. While Matsuo has never released an album of original works himself, he has released numerous original tracks on six albums released on Shinji Hosoe's Troubadour Records label.
Works All works listed below were composed by Matsuo unless otherwise noted.
Video games YearTitleNote(s) 1991 Master of Monsters Mercury: The Prime Master with Taku Iwasaki, Seirou Okamoto and Tsushi Yamaji 1992 Syvalion Super NES version 1993 Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata Classic Road Sword Maniac with Hitoshi Sakimoto 1994 Super Ice Hockey World Heroes 2 PC Engine arrangements 1995 Classic Road II Tengai Makyō: Kabuki Ittou Ryoudan with several others 1996 Master of Monsters: Neo Generation Nights into Dreams theme song orchestration 1997 Chou-Mahsin Eiyuuden Wataru: Another Step 1998 Dragon Force II with Kohei Tanaka Let's Smash 1999 Front Mission 3 with Koji Hayama Ogre Battle 64 with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata Shenmue orchestration 2001 Shiren the Wanderer GB2 Shenmue II orchestration 2002 Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka the Swordswoman Panzer Dragoon Orta arrangements 2004 Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special arrangements 2005 Homeland 2006 Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable Dragon Quest: Young Yangus and the Mystery Dungeon arrangements Final Fantasy XII with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer arrangements 2007 Itadaki Street DS arrangements Dragon Quest IV DS arrangements2008 Dragon Quest V DS arrangements Shiren the Wanderer 2010 Dragon Quest VI DS arrangements Shiren the Wanderer 4 Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate GO Series: Pinball Attack! Arrow of Laputa 2011 El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron arrangements 2012 Dragon Quest X sound programming2022Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originarrangements with several others
Anime Year Title Role(s) 1991 Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai arrangements with Motoaki Takenouchi 1994 Magic Knight Rayearth 1995 Saint Tail The Brave of Gold Goldran Magic Knight Rayearth 2 1996 Landlock 1997 Haunted Junction 1999 Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation 2001 Spirit of Wonder Scientific Boys Club 2002 Transformers: Armada 2005 Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor 2006 Hellsing Ultimate Yomigaeru Sora - Rescue Wings 2007 Les Misérables: Shoujo Cosette 2010 The World God Only Knows 2011 The World God Only Knows II 2012 Crayon Shin-chan: Fierceness That Invites Storm! Me and the Space Princess with Keiji Inai, Toshiyuki Arakawa and Akifumi Tada JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Phantom Blood arc 2013 The World God Only Knows: Goddesses A Certain Magical Index: The Miracle of Endymion arrangements with Kenji Inai and Yasunori Iwasaki 2014 Shirobako synthesizer programming 2016 Endride with Kohei Tanaka and Hiroshi Nakamura Drifters with Yasushi Ishii Keijo!!!!!!!! 2018 Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Take on Me arrangements with several others Captain Tsubasa Hi Score Girl arrangements with several others 2021 Heaven's Design Team 2024The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians music with Yoko Shimomura and Dai Haraguchi 2027Tenkaichi: The Greatest Warrior Under the Rising Sun Blade & Bastard
Television works Year Title Role(s) 2003 Kamen Rider 555
References
External links Profile at IMAGINE inc. Discography at VGMdb