Masafumi Takada

is a Japanese composer and sound designer, best known for his work on the soundtracks for killer7, God Hand, No More Heroes, and the Earth Defense Force and Danganronpa series. Takada has worked on multiple projects for Goichi Suda's studio Grasshopper Manufacture and co-founded Too Kyo Games in 2017.

Career Takada was born in Inuyama, Aichi, Japan, and took interest in music since childhood after playing the Electone at Yamaha Music School and experimenting with synthesizers. He learned to play the piano and tuba in high school and studied music in Tokyo for six years, earning a degree. He entered the game industry around the end of the Super Famicom, which he felt was a good time as game console sound chips were becoming more advanced. In 1997, Takada composed the soundtrack of Moonlight Syndrome, directed by Goichi Suda. Takada would compose music for multiple projects by Grasshopper Manufacture, which Suda founded after leaving Human Entertainment. For killer7, Takada placed a large emphasis on ambient music and sought to retell the game's story through the music. He considers the game's soundtrack to be among his favorite work. For No More Heroes, Takada took inspiration from The Chemical Brothers for the boss music. Takada composed the soundtrack of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc which released in 2010. For the soundtrack, Takada combined a variety of tones to convey tension and claustrophobia during exploration, and a sense of momentum during trials. Takada returned to compose the soundtrack of the sequel, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, in 2012, which sought to convey a tropical feel due to the change in setting. Takada composed for Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony in 2017, aiming for a more mature composition which ended up being more jazz-oriented. The soundtrack for V3 was much larger than the previous titles, and was split into two album releases. With the company, he composed for Death Come True (2020), Master Detective Archives: Rain Code (2023), and The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy (2025). For The Hundred Line, Takada focused on treating the music like its own character, and sought to incorporate sounds similar to his past work using a Virus TI synthesizer. He considered Sirei's theme song to be the most challenging to compose, due to the character's similarity to Danganronpas Monokuma. Takada initially had sound designer Jun Fukuda perform vocals, but ultimately decided to edit the vocals for the final version of the song.

Works All works listed below were composed by Takada unless otherwise noted. Video games Year Title Notes 1996 Tsuribaka Nisshi Music Ranma ½: Battle Renaissance Music 2001 Flower, Sun, and Rain Music Global Defence Force Music 2006 Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked Music Contact Music Beatmania IIDX 12: Happy Sky "IceCube Pf.(RX-Ver.S.P.L.)" No More Heroes Music Flower, Sun, and Rain: Murder and Mystery in Paradise Music Beatmania IIDX 16: Empress "ToyCube Pf.(RX-Ver.S.P.L.)" Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Music Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls Music Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair Music with Jun Fukuda Beatmania IIDX 24: Sinobuz "Yellow Sketch(RX-Ver.S.P.L.)" Hana Oboro: Sengoku-den Ranki Music Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker's Memory Music 2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Arrangements 2020 Death Come True Music 2022 Earth Defense Force 6 Music with Jun Fukuda 2023 Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Music Digimon Story: Time Stranger Music 2027 Danganronpa 2×2Music

Anime Year Title Notes 2013 Danganronpa: The Animation Music 2018 100 Sleeping Princes and the Kingdom of Dreams Music 2019 Days of Urashimasakatasen Music 2022 Tribe Nine Music