Kenji Ito facts for kids

Kenji Ito (born July 5, 1968) is a famous Japanese video game composer and musician. People also know him by his nickname, Itoken. He is most famous for creating music for the Mana and SaGa game series.

Kenji Ito has worked on more than 30 video games. He has also composed or arranged music for over 15 other albums, concerts, and plays. He learned to play many instruments when he was young. In 1990, he joined Square as a composer. He worked there for over ten years, making many popular songs. In 2001, he left Square to work on his own. However, he still works with the company sometimes.

Since leaving Square, Ito has composed music for many games. He has also started creating music for plays and albums for other singers. His music has been played in concerts just for his songs. It has also been featured in general video game music events. Kenji Ito has even played the piano in some concerts. Some of his famous songs from the SaGa and Mana series have been turned into piano solos. These are available in sheet music books.

About Kenji Ito

Early Life and Music Journey

Kenji Ito was born in Tokyo, Japan, on July 5, 1968. He became interested in music when he was only four years old. He started learning to play the piano. He loved the sound of piano music coming from a classroom he passed every day.

By the time he was ten, he could play the alto saxophone, clarinet, and piano. He even wanted to be a singer and songwriter! When he was about to finish college, he decided to become a music composer. A professor suggested he compose music for video games. This was because games like Dragon Quest III were very popular in Japan. In March 1990, Kenji Ito started working at Square. He had applied to several video game companies, including HAL Laboratory.

His Career in Video Game Music

Kenji Ito's first project was in 1990. He worked with Nobuo Uematsu on the Game Boy game Final Fantasy Legend II (also known as SaGa 2). This led to his first music album, All Sounds of SaGa, in 1991. This album included music from The Final Fantasy Legend, Final Fantasy Legend II, and Final Fantasy Legend III. All of Ito's music from Legend II was on it.

Soon after, in 1991, he composed his first solo soundtrack. This was for Final Fantasy Adventure (Seiken Densetsu), another Game Boy game. He then worked on the SaGa series for a few years. He composed music for Romancing SaGa, Romancing SaGa 2, and Romancing SaGa 3 for the Super Famicom. These soundtracks led to his first arranged albums. For example, the music from the first game was arranged in a French style.

Ito was supposed to work on Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana). However, he was too busy with Romancing SaGa. So, Hiroki Kikuta took over that project.

In 1995, Kenji Ito worked on games outside the Mana or SaGa series for the first time. He composed music for Koi wa Balance. He was also part of a team for Tobal No. 1. In 1997, he returned to the SaGa series with SaGa Frontier. He ended the 1990s with Chocobo Racing and Chocobo's Dungeon 2. For Chocobo Racing, he mostly arranged older songs. He only contributed a few songs to Chocobo's Dungeon 2.

He left Square in 2001 to become a freelance composer. He wanted to have more freedom to work on different types of music, not just video games.

Working on His Own

The first music Ito composed after leaving Square was for Culdcept II. He feels this is his best work. He says this because it was his first project on his own. He also handled everything from composing to arranging the music.

After that, he worked with Square (now Square Enix) again. He remade his second soundtrack, Final Fantasy Adventure, for Sword of Mana. Two years later, he did this again for Romancing SaGa, which became Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song. He has also worked on the Mana series two more times. He composed music for Children of Mana and Dawn of Mana.

Since 2004, most of his video game soundtracks have been with other composers. One exception was Hero Must Die in 2007. During these years, he also started composing and producing music for other performers. He has also created music for plays and concerts. He even released an album of his own piano pieces. Only two of the eight songs on this album were from his video game work.

Kenji Ito's Music Legacy

Kenji Ito has performed piano live at several concerts. On September 22, 2006, he played at the Press Start 2006 -Symphony of Games- concert. An orchestra also performed some of his pieces there. Before that, on August 26, 2006, he played piano for songs he composed for the Manami Kiyota x Kenji Ito Collaboration Live concert. He has also played piano for The Black Mages, a band of Square musicians.

His music has been featured at other events too. These include the Extra -Hyper Game Music Event 2007 and Christmas Live 2008 "gentleecho -prelude-" concerts.

On February 21, 2009, a concert called "gentle echo meeting" was held just for his music. Five musicians performed eight of his songs. Kenji Ito also performed and talked about his music with Masahiro Sakurai. Ito wanted to have a concert for his music. The company organizing it found out the venue was run by one of Ito's high school classmates. The classmate insisted that discussions about Ito's music be added to the program.

Music from Dawn of Mana and Sword of Mana has been arranged for piano. These have been published by DOREMI Music Publishing. Two books of music from the Mana series have also been published. These are called Seiken Densetsu Best Collection Piano Solo Sheet Music. The first book has Ito's songs from Final Fantasy Adventure. The second added songs from Dawn of Mana. All the songs in these books are for beginner to intermediate piano players. They are made to sound as much like the originals as possible.

KMP Music Publishing also released a book of piano music from the Sword of Mana soundtrack album. Ito arranged these from his original compositions. DOREMI Music Publishing also published piano sheet music from some of the SaGa games Ito composed. Music from Romancing SaGa 3, Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song, and SaGa Frontier was arranged for piano solos.

Musical Style and Inspirations

Kenji Ito's music is mostly inspired by the images and feelings from the games he works on. Interestingly, he doesn't play the games himself! He only plays sports games. For most role-playing games he has scored, he has only seen the opening movie.

Many of his pieces are orchestral, meaning they sound like they are played by a large orchestra. However, he also enjoys composing "normal songs." He loves working in a recording studio.

His favorite video game music from other composers includes music from Star Fox, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Wizardry, and Nobunaga's Ambition. Outside of video games, he is inspired by Japanese popular music and anime soundtracks. He also likes easy listening music, like that by Paul Mauriat or Richard Clayderman. He especially enjoys string music. These influences make him want to create music "that you can listen to while you relax." He also hopes to compose more music outside of video games, especially ballads.

Works

Video Games Music

Other Music Projects

Compositions

Arrangements

• "Ai no Sumika"~"Hyouhaku no Toki /Komoro Nikki -Touson no Fuyuko" Stage Music Collection~ (1999) – album by Kyoko Fujimoto
• Hyouhaku no Toki/ Touson to Fuyuko (2001) – concert
• Katakoi (2002) – single by Muneyuki Satoh
• Soredemo Kisetsu wa (2002) – single by Muneyuki Satoh
• Tougenkyo -Masashi Sada Chromatic Harmonica Music Collection- (2002) – album by Etsuko Kitani
• Mirai (2003) – album by Yusuke Matsumoto

See Also

• Music of the Mana series
• Music of the SaGa series
• Music of the Chocobo series