Motoi Sakuraba

is a Japanese composer and keyboardist. Sakuraba is known for his numerous contributions in video games, including the Tales, Star Ocean, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Golden Sun, and Dark Souls series, as well as several other anime series, television dramas, and progressive rock albums.

Career Sakuraba was born on August 5, 1965, in Akita Prefecture, Japan. While attending Meiji University, Sakuraba began to take music composition seriously and formed the progressive rock band "Clashed Ice" in 1984, consisting of him on keyboards and Genta Kudo on drums and vocals. After the duo had graduated the following year, they were noticed by music producer Shingo Ueno, and ending up signing with Made in Japan Records. The band had then added bassist Tetsuya Nagatsuma, and was renamed as "Deja Vu". In 1988, the band would release their only studio album, Baroque in the Future, composed by Sakuraba. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Mario Tennis Open, Mario Golf: World Tour, and many Tales series games, including Hearts, Graces, Xillia, Xillia 2, Zestiria, and Berseria. In 2014, he was selected to provide musical arrangements for Brawl's successor, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. For this title, Sakuraba arranged "Theme from Area 6 / Missile Slipstream" from Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Command, "Battle! (Team Flare)" from Pokémon X and Y, and "The valedictory elegy" from Baten Kaitos Origins.

In addition, Sakuraba has continued to write for non-gaming and anime projects, including solo albums such as "Forest of Glass", "What's Up?", and "Passage", as well as performing on several arrange albums. In the 2020s, he composed for games such as One Piece Odyssey and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.

Live performances During July 2003, Sakuraba held a live concert in Tokyo, Japan. He performed progressive rock interpretations of his music from games Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Star Ocean: Blue Sphere and Valkyrie Profile. His bandmates for this concert were bassist Atsushi Hasegawa (a member of the band Gerard) and drummer Toshihiko Nakamura. As noted, this concert was released on DVD and CD. At the same time as they were rehearsing for the concert, Hasegawa and Nakamura assisted in recording new material for the Director's Cut of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time.

The following year, the trio performed another concert. The venue was smaller, but included music from Baten Kaitos and a couple of new, non-game-related pieces. This concert was not officially recorded and released, however. However, in 2006, a new concert was given in celebration of tri-Ace's Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria.

In September 2011, Sakuraba and his band joined up with the Earthbound Papas in Kawasaki, led by former Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu, to perform at Fantasy Rock Fest 2011. The event featured game music performances, along with new progressive rock pieces from both bands. The first six tracks that Sakuraba and his band played were sold at the event as a preview CD for his then-upcoming solo album After all..., which was released by Strange Days Records on October 19, 2011.

In June 2015, Sakuraba performed at the Tales of Festival at the Yokohama Arena, being the first time he performed tracks from the Tales series at a live event. A selection of Sakuraba's music from the Dark Souls and Tales series was performed live at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris in February 2017. The event, known as "Orchestral Memories", featured a guest appearance by Sakuraba.

Works Note: this list is not comprehensive and consists mostly of notable works. Video games

Anime / television / film + List of anime, television shows, and films scoredYearTitleRole(s) 2000 Gensomaden Saiyuki Music 2001 Star Ocean EX Music Saiyuki: Requiem Music 2002 Atashin'chi Music Weiß Kreuz Glühen Music 2003 Pluster World Music 2008 Tales of the Abyss Music 2014 Tales of Zestiria: Dawn of the Shepherd Music with Go Shiina 2016 Tales of Zestiria the X Music with Go Shiina

Studio albums + List of studio albumsYearAlbum 1991 Gikyokuonsou 2008 Forest of Glass 2011 After All... 2013 What's Up? Passage