Hayato Matsuo

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. 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

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