Noriyuki Asakura

Noriyuki Asakura 朝倉 紀行
Birth name	浅倉 紀幸 (Asakura Noriyuki)
Born	(1954-02-11) February 11, 1954 Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, vocalist
Years active	1982–present
Website	n-asakura.com

Noriyuki Asakura (朝倉 紀行 (formerly 浅倉 紀幸), Asakura Noriyuki, born February 11, 1954) is a Japanese music composer and vocalist, best known for composing the soundtracks to the anime series Rurouni Kenshin and the video game franchises Tenchu and Way of the Samurai. He is well known for combining traditional Japanese music with elements of rock, jazz, and other world music. He established the music production studio Mega-Alpha in 2003, which composes for various types of media.

Career

Asakura was born on February 11, 1954 in Itabashi, Tokyo and raised in Ehime Prefecture. Asukara was interested in music since he was a teenager, initially to impress his peers, but has gained a greater interest after listening to Led Zeppelin, playing for multiple amateur rock bands. While attending Nihon University, Asakura entered the music industry professionally in 1982, composing music for television programs and movies, as well as producing music for a number of Japanese pop stars during the 1980s and early 1990s. Asakra would enter the animation industry by composing 1987's Junk Boy, followed by Time Travel Tondekeman and the Shakotan Boogie original video animation. Asakura composed his first video game score for Crime Crackers, which released in 1994. In 1996, he composed the soundtrack to Rurouni Kenshin, which combined traditional Japanese music with rock, giving the soundtrack a contemporary feel. His compositions for the series would influence his style and later work.

In 1998, Asakura composed the soundtrack to Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, after being introduced to producer Masami Yamamoto and delivering a sample from a previous project, which became the game's opening theme. Contrary to popular belief, "Add'ua", the theme song to the first Tenchu game was not sung in Japanese, but rather in the West African language of Hausa. "Sadame", the theme song for Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven, and "Kurenai No Hana", the theme song for Tenchu: Fatal Shadows, were performed in Japanese. Following his work on Tenchu, Asakura composed the soundtrack for Acquire's Way of the Samurai. Asakura composed and performed "THE BUSTER," serving as the ending theme for Siren, which released in 2003.

In 2003, Asakura established Mega-Alpha, a music production company, in order to compose music for television programs, anime, and video games. Under Mega-Alpha, Asakura composed for multiple anime series, including Ragnarok the Animation, Major, and Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc. In 2008, Asakura returned to the Tenchu franchise, composing Tenchu: Shadow Assassins, taking inlfuence from his prior compositions and classical music. Asakura composed additional music for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which released in March 2019, and Pro Yakyuu Famista 2020's main theme, "GREAT BASEBALL." Asakura was to compose for Tokyo Babylon at King Records, which was set to premiere in 2021. The series was canceled following investigation of plagiarism regarding character designs by the production company, with a new anime production to be produced by a different studio.

Style

Motivated by a desire to take a different approach to soundtracks for historical Japanese fiction, Asakura combines traditional Japanese music with elements of rock, as well as music from China, Thailand, and Turkey. Asakura's style is also influenced by the way progressive rock musicians expanded on rock music in the 1970s, adopting a more experimental approach to traditional music in order to expand the horizons of its conventions.

Works

Video games

Year	Title	Notes
1994	Crime Crackers
1997	Crime Crackers 2
1998	Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
2000	Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins
2001	Way of the Samurai
2003	Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven
	Way of the Samurai 2
	Siren	"THE BUSTER!"
2004	Tenchu: Fatal Shadows	"Kurenai No Hana"
	Capcom Fighting Evolution
2005	Samurai Western
	Tenchu: Time of the Assassins
2008	Tenchu: Shadow Assassins
	Way of the Samurai 3
2011	Way of the Samurai 4
2014	Natural Doctrine
2019	Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice	additional music (with Yuka Kitamura)
2020	Pro Yakyuu Famista 2020	composed "GREAT BASEBALL" and "No.8 Right fielder"
	Katana Kami: A Way of the Samurai Story

Anime

Year	Title	Notes
1987	Junk Boy
1989	Time Travel Tondekeman
1991	Shakotan Boogie
1996	Rurouni Kenshin
2004	Major
	Ragnarok the Animation
2011	Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc
2014	Knights of Sidonia
2017	Atom: The Beginning
2018	Zoids Wild
2020	Tomica Kizuna Mode Combine Earth Granner
2021	Mazica Party

External links

• Composer N. Asakura (official site)
• Noriyuki Asakura discography at MusicBrainz
• RocketBaby's Interview