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Sunday, January 1, 2017

Behind the Drums: Yuji Masubuchi


Born on July 26th, Yuji Masubuchi (増渕裕二氏) is one of the series' longest-contributing composers from NAMCO SOUNDS, as well as one of the few figures of the Taiko Team that have both composed songs and created notecharts along the years. Masubuchi joined the Taiko Team during the summer of 2001, and since then he's the sound director for the series' subsequent entries.

Having the phrase 'Seriously Serious' (真面目に不真面目) as his personal motto, the composer joined Namco Bandai in the hopes of being put in charge of idol-sang progressive rock tracks, which ultimately led to the creation of Taiko series' Mika Sato songs as one of his earliest tasks and later on having the opportunity to make several original tracks for the iDOLM@STER series, with Linda AI-CUE often teaming up as the lyricist (or in the case of Namco Original Mekadesu, as the singer himself!). According to a Famitsu interview on issue no.1237, Masubuchi is currently in a supervision position of the Taiko Team, while being himself in a quite flexible frame on his roles for the Taiko series, composing songs for some of the most recent cross-over music games events as well as co-hosting and live performing songs during several Taiko Team livestreams of the past up to become one of the judges of the CreoFUGA-fueled song creation contests for the series.

Masubuchi's passions often intertwine with the Taiko lore and in-joke scenarios in more ways than his progressive rock passion alone, with him being a fan of motorcycles and food (with his favorite dishes being tsukemen noodles and rice curry). The food-loving trait, for example, has been quite the appreciated aspect along the years, with song titles and Taiko Team tweets winking to 'lots of rice curry' due to Masubuchi's will to enjoy his favorite meal at least twice a week! It's also been the topic of the most recent songs of the de series, between eating-based parties and Masubuchi himself enacting the role of Professor Marvy in the inside joke-y audio drama series Audio Deka.

As a notechart creator, Masubuchi's carreer roughly started around the third Taiko arcade's release, generally being put in charge of high-difficulty songs and roughly 90% of the tracks created by himself. Due to Masabuchi being a guitar and drums player, his charts usually follow the instrumental base of the songs charted, often resulting in hybrid cluster formation sequences in different time signatures. Since 2016, Masubuchi is signing his notecharts under the Notecharter Sentai nickname of Masubu・Chuji (マスブ・チュジー), although it's also referenced in other instances as Masubu・Chupi (マスブ・チュピー), such as during the staff roll of the iDOLM@STER MUST SONGS titles.

Music Production

For the songs that are marked with a star (★), Yuji Masubuchi is both the composer and notecharter.

Variety
  • Jingle Bells No.765 (ジングルベル第765番) ★
Classic
  • Classic Medley (Rock Ver.) (クラシックメドレー(ロック編)) ★
  • Classic Day (Sports Day Ver.) (クラシックメドレー(運動会編)) ★
  • Toccata and Fugue and Rock (トッカータとフーガとロック)
  • Surfside Satie (サーフサイド・サティ)
  • Minuet (メヌエット) ★
  • Fantasie Impromptu (幻想即興曲) ★
  • Etude Op. 10-4 (練習曲Op.10-4) ★ - regular Oni only
  • Le Tombeau de Couperin (クープランの墓) ★
Game Music
  • Taiko March (太鼓のマーチ)
  • KAGEKIYO ★ - regular Oni only
  • Yokai Dochuuki Ondo (妖怪道中記音頭)
  • Dragon Spirit Medley (ドラゴンスピリットメドレー) - arranger
  • Dragon Spirit Medley (バーニングフォースメドレー) - arranger
  • Katamari on the Swing (塊オンザスウィング) - drums
  • RIDGE RACER STEPS -GMT Remix-
  • Densha de Densha de OPA!OPA!OPA! -GMT mashup- (電車で電車で OPA!OPA!OPA! -GMT mashup-) - composer, chorus
  • Reimei Starline (黎明スターライン) ★
  • Overmaster (オーバーマスター) - arranger
  • Shocking na Kare (ショッキングな彼) - arranger
  • Vault That Borderline! - arranger
  • Visionary (ビジョナリー) - arranger
  • Honey Heartbeat ~10 Stars Mix~ - drums
  • Town ~Must Mix~
  • Thinking ~Must Mix~ ★
  • Tsubomi Yumemiru Rapsodia ~Alma no Michibiki~ (華蕾夢ミル狂詩曲~魂ノ導~)
Namco Original
  • Don-Chan Ekaki Uta (どんちゃんえかき歌) ★
  • Taiko Samurai (太鼓侍)
  • Eringi no Ekubo (エリンギのエクボ) ★
  • Neko Kujira (ねこくじら)
  • Scroll Mika (スクロール・ミカ)
  • Mekadesu. (メカデス。) ★
  • Diet Padarise (ダイエット・パダライス)
  • Crane City (クレーンシティ) ★
  • Wasure na Gusa (わすれなぐさ)
  • Menkui Miracle (メンクイミラクル)
  • Canadea (カナデア)
  • Taiko Ranbu (太鼓乱舞)
  • STAGE 0.ac11
  • Akuukan Yuuei ac12.5 (亜空間遊泳ac12.5) ★
  • Waruru-sama no Uta o Kike! (ワルルーさまの歌を聴けぇ!)
  • Ignis Danse ★
  • Audio de Ka! (オーディオ de カッ!) - singing
  • Warera Muteki no Dokon Gang (われら無敵のドコン団) - arranger, guitar/bass
  • Haya Saitama 2000 (はやさいたま2000) - arranger
  • Shimedore 2000 (〆ドレー2000) - arranger
  • Yozakura Ryouran Kanshasai (夜桜繚乱感謝祭) - arranger
  • Desert de Yakiniku (Sahara-hen) (デザートde焼肉 (サハラ編)) - guitar
  • Famires Wars (ファミレスウォーズ) - guitar
  • Aisowarai (愛想笑い) - guitar
  • Kibou e no Melody (希望へのメロディー) - guitar
  • Zetsubo e no Toccata (絶望へのトッカータ) - guitar
  • D's Adventure Note - base track, guitar
  • Yumeiro Coaster (夢色コースター)
  • Joubutsu 2000 (万戈イム-一ノ十)
  • Kimi no Planet (君のプラネット)
  • Shoujo no Kami no Ryuishi (少女の神の粒子)
Other credited roles in Taiko no Tatsujin
Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Dororon! Youkai Dai Kessen! - Youkai Ranbu (妖怪乱舞) themes
Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Dodon~! to Nidaime! - BGM

Other Music Games Songs

Idolm@ster
  • DREAM - arranger
  • Hanikami! First Bite (ハニカミ!ファーストバイト) - arranger
Notechart-only Contributions

Anime
  • Kill Me no Baby! (キルミーのベイベー!)
Game Music
  • Ridge Racer
  • Where is the Target?
  • Outride a Crisis
Namco Original
  • Saturday Taiko Fever (サタデー太鼓フィーバー) - regular Oni only
  • Ra Morena Kumonai (ラ・モレーナ・クモナイ)
  • Hayabusa (隼)
  • DIMENSIONS
  • Houjou Yayoi (豊穣弥生)
  • Bakemono Tsukiyo (化物月夜)
  • Oozora to Taiko no Odori (大空と太鼓の踊り)
  • Alexander no Theme (アレキサンダーのテーマ)
  • Gashadokuro (がしゃどくろ)
  • Mahoujin -Summon Delta- (魔方陣 -サモン・デルタ-)
  • Jotei ~Imbiratuula~ (女帝~インバラトゥーラ~)
  • Kokorobo (ココロボ)
  • Tengu Bayashi (天狗囃子)
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