Takeharu Ishimoto

is a Japanese video game composer and musician. Formerly employed by Square Enix, he joined them in 1999 as a synthesizer programmer on Legend of Mana, working for them on several games. In 2002, he was promoted to the role of composer, beginning with World Fantasista, and composed for several large-budget games, such as The World Ends with You, the Final Fantasy series, and the Kingdom Hearts series. In addition to his work for Square Enix, he is a composer and guitar player for the band The Death March. He left Square Enix at the end of 2017, becoming a freelancer.

Biography According to Ishimoto, he first got into music due to living in the country, where there was nothing else to do. He first worked as a synthesizer programmer, beginning with Legend of Mana in 1999, before becoming a composer starting with the PlayStation 2 soccer game World Fantasista. In 2004, he began to compose for games in the Final Fantasy series, which he had previously worked on as a synthesizer programmer for Final Fantasy X. His last work as a synthesizer programmer was for Kingdom Hearts II in 2005; since then, he worked exclusively for Square Enix as a composer.

Ishimoto was also a member of the Japanese musical group SAWA, which he formed along with Sawa Kato in October 2008, performing with the group under the name HIZMI. Kato sang some of SAWA's songs, also writing lyrics on Ishimoto's soundtrack for The World Ends with You. The band released an album, 333, in 2008. In December 2017, Ishimoto announced that he would be leaving Square Enix and becoming a freelancer. Ishimoto stated that the decision to leave was his own, leaving on amicable terms with the company. Ishimoto composes songs in many different genres, including rock, hip hop, electronica, and pop.

Works