| Takeharu Ishimoto | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 29 Nichinan, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupations | Composer, synthesizer programmer, musician |
| Instruments | Piano, guitar |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Labels | Square Enix Warner Music Group |
| Associated acts | SAWA |
Takeharu Ishimoto (石元 丈晴 Ishimoto Takeharu) is a Japanese video game composer, synthesizer programmer, and musician currently working at Square Enix. He joined Square Enix in 1999 as a synthesizer programmer on Legend of Mana, and worked for them on several games. In 2002 he moved to become a composer, beginning with World Fantastista. He has since composed for several large-budget games, such as The World Ends with You and Dissidia: Final Fantasy. In addition to his work for Square Enix he is a composer and guitar player for the band SAWA, which he formed with Sawa Koto in 2008, and with which he has released the album 333.
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Takeharu Ishimoto first got into music as, according to him, he lived in the country and there was nothing else to do.[1] He first worked as a synthesizer programmer before becoming a composer; he began working as such in 1999 with Legend of Mana. Several games later, he began to also work as a composer 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 with as a synthesizer programmer on Final Fantasy X. His last work as a synthesizer programmer was for Kingdom Hearts II in 2005; since then he has worked exclusively for Square Enix as a composer. He is currently working on two Final Fantasy games, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy Type-0.
Ishimoto is also a member of the Japanese musical group SAWA, with which he performs under the name HIZMI. He formed the band along with Sawa Kato in October 2008. Koto sang some of the songs and wrote the lyrics for Ishimoto's The World Ends with You soundtrack. The band has released one album, 333, in 2008.[1]
He was named by IGN as number ten in their top ten JRPG composers list in 2008.[2] Ishimito composes songs in many different genres, including hip-hop, electronica, pop, and experimental for The World Ends with You alone.[3]