Shoji Meguro

is a Japanese composer, guitarist, and video game designer. Formerly an employee of the game company Atlus, he is best known for his work in their Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series. His music spans several genres, such as rock, electronic, J-pop, jazz, and symphonic. Meguro has also designed indie games and was the creative director of the PlayStation Portable remakes of Persona and the Persona 2 duology.

Career

Early life Meguro was born on June 4, 1971, in Tokyo, Japan. He became familiar with technology from a young age due to his parents running a factory. As a child, Meguro did not take an interest in popular music, and instead listened to and enjoyed classical. In junior high, he became interested in the likes of jazz artists such as T-Square, Herb Alpert, and Casiopea. It was in junior high that he became particularly fond of writing and profiteering music. Meguro continued to work on several projects in the mid to late 1990s, including Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers on the Sega Saturn, composing around 50 pieces for the game, as well as Maken X on the Dreamcast. Meguro also contributed to the film Mint and Persona 5 Royal. He also served as the lead composer for Persona 5: The Animation, arranging various tracks from the original game in addition to writing new material.

Meguro announced his departure from Atlus in October 2021, choosing to become a freelancer while still being contracted to work on some Atlus projects. His first announced project after leaving was Guns Undarkness, an indie game which he designed and composed music for. He later launched a Kickstarter campaign to help crowdfund the game, with it expected to be released on PC and consoles. Meguro also served as the composer on Metaphor: ReFantazio, a game made by other former Persona staff members.

Musical style and influences Although many of his works feature a signature rock style, Meguro experiments with different musical genres, such as orchestral, electronica, jazz, and hip hop on various projects. Meguro cites video game composers Koichi Sugiyama, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, as well as T-Square, Casiopea, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky as some of his musical influences.

Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Opening theme Persona 3 FES Music

Persona 4 Music Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon Music

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona Game director; opening and ending themes; arrangements Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Music Persona 3 Portable Music

Trauma Team Music with Atsushi Kitajoh and Ryota Kozuka

Catherine Music with Atsushi Kitajoh and Kenichi Tsuchiya Persona 2: Innocent Sin Game director; opening theme

Persona 4 Arena Music with Atsushi Kitajoh Persona 2: Eternal Punishment Game director Persona 4 Golden Music with Atsushi Kitajoh

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Sound director

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Sound director

Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker Music Persona 4: Dancing All Night Sound director

Persona 5 Music

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux Music with Toshiki Konishi

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight Sound director Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight Sound director Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth Sound director

Persona 5 Royal Music with Toshiki Konishi

Persona 5 Strikers Sound director

Persona 3 Reload Arrangements with Atsushi Kitajoh Metaphor: ReFantazio Music with Atsushi Kitajoh and Toshiki Konishi

Denshattack! "Set for Destruction" Guns Undarkness Game design; music

Project Mix Guest composer