Manabu Namiki

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Manabu Namiki
並木 学
Born (1971-09-13) September 13, 1971 (age 53)
Raizing (1995–2000)
  • M2
    • (2012–2017)
    Musical career
    Genres
    Instrument(s)Piano, keyboards

    Manabu Namiki (並木 学, Namiki Manabu; born September 13, 1971) is a Japanese

    Raizing and M2. In October 2002, Namiki, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Masaharu Iwata
    founded the music production company Basiscape, whom he worked with until 2011.

    Early life

    Namiki became interested in arcade games during his childhood. He never received any musical education, nor learned to play any instruments. He became enthusiastic about music from video games, as well as hard rock and heavy metal bands such as

    MSX2, he learnt how to program music in BASIC and attempted to imitate the riffs of the bands he enjoyed. He also joined a video game music cover band in 1989 along with his classmate Jin Watanabe, who also went on to become a video game composer.[1][2]

    Allumer, NMK and Raizing (1990–2000)

    In 1990, he joined

    Raizing.[2]

    One of the first games he composed for at Raizing was

    light gun shooter game Ghoul Panic and created the sound data, but outsourced the music to other composers.[4]

    Freelance work and Basiscape (2000–2012)

    Namiki was offered the opportunity to work as a planner at Raizing instead of sound; as he ultimately wanted to continue pursuing his composing career, he left the company in early 2000 and became freelance. He struggled to find employment, while some game projects he had taken on were cancelled. His first project as a freelancer was DokixDoki Sasette!, where he composed all of the music and created the sound driver.[4] He took influence from Western chiptune music for the game's soundtrack.[5] This was followed by Cave's shoot 'em up games DoDonPachi DaiOuJou and Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi, released in 2002 and 2003 respectively. He found the projects challenging; the music in both games had to be composed in the MOD format using 8 channels. In October 2002, he co-founded the music production company Basiscape with Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, both of whom he had previously worked with on projects at Raizing, although he worked as a contractor in a freelance capacity and not as a full-time employee.[2]

    One of his first major projects at Basiscape was Mushihimesama, which features lighter music than previous shoot 'em up games he had composed for, taking influences from a wide range of genres; Iwata also contributed several tracks to the game, which he feels widened the variety of music in the game. During his time working with Basiscape, he also contributed music to several games related to anime franchises, such as Fullmetal Alchemist: Dream Carnival, the Bleach: Heat the Soul series, and Battle Stadium D.O.N, as well as role-playing games such as Fantasy Earth Zero, Odin Sphere, and Opoona.[2] He also served as the sole composer of the action role-playing game Black Rock Shooter: The Game in 2011.[2]

    Namiki's work with Cave continued throughout his time at Basiscape. Although he was initially asked to compose the music for Espgaluda, he could not fit the job into his schedule, although he composed for its sequel, Espgaluda II, which similarly features trance music. He composed for Deathsmiles in 2007, which features gothic rock music; it features guitar performances by Noriyuki Kamikura, a composer who worked at Basiscape at the time. He also composed for DoDonPachi Resurrection with then-new Basiscape members Azusa Chiba and Yoshimi Kudo, as well as its Black Label version in 2010 alongside Chiba, Kudo and Kamikura. He found it difficult to communicate with his juniors due to the large generational gap and having different musical influences.[2]

    M2 and later freelance work (2012–present)

    In 2012, he joined M2 as a sound director, whom he had already closely worked with for a decade. One of his first projects at the company was composing the soundtrack for G.rev's shoot 'em up game Kokuga; its sound has been described as more melodic and less atmospheric than his previous shoot 'em up scores.[6] While employed at M2, Namiki also worked on several titles in the Sega 3D Reprint Archives series; 3D OutRun notably features two new tracks composed by him and M2 colleague Jane-Evelyn Nisperos respectively.[7]

    Namiki left M2 in 2017, but continues to maintain a close relationship with the company. He designed and composed music for the

    Gimmick! Exact Mix and P-47 Aces
    Mk.II.

    Personal life

    Namiki is a single father. In May 2024, Namiki was hospitalized due to a chest pain, resulting in him being diagnosed with a myocardial infarction. He was subsequently infected with COVID-19. He also struggles with mental health. As a result of his ongoing issues, his work output has slowed down to a halt.[9][10]

    Notable works

    Year Title Notes Ref.
    1992 Blandia Music with Hisao Shiomi and Akira Inoue
    Super Spacefortress Macross
         		Location test version; music with Kazunori Hideya and H. Mizushima [2]
    1993
    Bomb Jack Twin
         		Music [11]
    1994 Zed Blade Music [11]
    1995 P-47 Aces Music with Kazunori Hideya and Akira Hirokami [11]
    1996 Battle Garegga Arcade version; music [11]
    Terra Diver Sound effects [11]
    1997 Bloody Roar Arcade version; Music [11]
    1998 Battle Garegga Saturn version; arrangements with various others [11]
    Armed Police Batrider Music with Kenichi Koyano and Hitoshi Sakimoto [11]
    Bloody Roar 2 Arcade version; music with Masaharu Iwata, Kenichi Koyano, and Jin Watanabe [11]
    1999 Ghoul Panic Arcade version; direction, sound data creation [11]
    2000 Dimahoo Sound data creation, arrangements [11]
    Ghoul Panic PlayStation version; music [11]
    2002 DoDonPachi DaiOuJou Arcade version; music [11]
    2003 Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi Music [11]
    DoDonPachi DaiOuJou Console version; arrangement ("Stage 5") [11]
    2004 Battle B-Daman Manipulation with Hitoshi Sakimoto [11]
    Fullmetal Alchemist: Dream Carnival Music (two tracks) [11]
    Mushihimesama Music with Masaharu Iwata [11]
    2005 Bleach: Heat the Soul Music with Mitsuhiro Kaneda [11]
    Espgaluda II Music with Mitsuhiro Kaneda [11]
    2006 Metal Slug 6 Music with Mitsuhiro Kaneda [11]
    Fantasy Earth Zero Music ("Other Building Theme") [11]
    Eyeshield 21: Devilbats Devildays
         		Music with Atsuhiro Motoyama, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, and Masaharu Iwata [11]
    Battle Stadium D.O.N Music with Basiscape [11]
    Mushihimesama Futari Music with Kimihiro Abe [11]
    Digimon World Data Squad Music (one track) [11]
    2007 Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits Music [11]
    Odin Sphere Music ("Battle in Ringford - Second Movement") [11]
    Beatmania IIDX 13 Distorted CS Music ("Shoot 'Em All") [11]
    Namco Museum DS Music [11]
    Deathsmiles Music [11]
    Opoona Music with Basiscape [11]
    Doraemon Wii Music (two tracks) [11]
    2008 DoDonPachi Resurrection Music with Azusa Chiba and Yoshimi Kudo [11]
    Fate/unlimited codes Music with Basiscape [11]
    Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 Music with Noriyuki Kamikura [11]
    Gradius ReBirth Arrangements [11]
    Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa
    System 16
    version; music     		[11]
    2009 Contra ReBirth Arrangements [11]
    Deathsmiles II Music with Noriyuki Kamikura and Yoshimi Kudo [11]
    Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth Arrangements [11]
    2010 Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman Music with Basiscape [11]
    Busou Shinki: Battle Masters Music with Noriyuki Kamikura, Yoshimi Kudo, and Naoyuki Sato [11]
    2011 Otomedius Excellent Music with various others
    Half-Minute Hero: The Second Coming Music ("Intro of THE VENUS 7" and "Battle of THE VENUS 7")
    Black Rock Shooter: The Game Music [2]
    Busou Shinki: Battle Masters Mk. 2 Music ("Introduction")
    2012 DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou Music
    Kokuga Music; sound effects with Jane-Evelyn Nisperos
    2013 Caladrius Music with Yoshimi Kudo
    2014
    3D OutRun
         		Music ("Cruising Line")
    Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Arrangements ("Duck Hunt Medley" and "Wrecking Crew Medley")
    2015 Yakuza 0 Sound effects with various others
    2016 Yakuza 6: The Song of Life Sound effects with various others
    2020 GG Aleste 3 Direction; music [8]
    Gimmick! Exact Mix
         		Arrangements

    References

    1. ^ "ゲームミュージック＆アニメ専門店　ga-core - ジーエー・コア -". ga-core. November 11, 2009. Archived from the original on November 15, 2009.
    2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Greening, Chris (May 2011). "Interview with Manabu Namiki (May 2011)". Square Enix Music Online.
    3. ^ "ゲームミュージック＆アニメ専門店　ga-core - ジーエー・コア -". ga-core. November 11, 2009. Archived from the original on August 28, 2010.
    4. ^ a b "ゲームミュージック＆アニメ専門店　ga-core - ジーエー・コア -". ga-core. November 25, 2009. Archived from the original on August 28, 2010.
    5. ^ "OK, Let's hear the game music!". OK, Let's hear the game music!. September 9, 2002. p. 54.
    6. ^ Kotowski, Don (May 31, 2014). "Kokuga Original Soundtrack". Video Game Music Online.
    7. ^ Whitehead, Thomas (April 16, 2014). "3D OutRun Given a Release Date and Details for Japan". Nintendo Life.
    8. ^ a b Nickel, Thomas (November 27, 2019). "M2 Shows Us Aleste Branch, the Triumphant Return of a Classic 8-Bit Shmup". VG247.
    9. ^ Namiki, Manabu [@manabunamiki] (June 21, 2024). "お知らせです😊" (Tweet) (in Japanese) – via Twitter.
    10. ^ Namiki, Manabu [@manabunamiki] (December 31, 2024). "今年は狭心症と心筋梗塞で入院5回と手術・検査で心臓カテーテルを4回 左右手首に穴ポコ2個ずつのチャームポイント🤭 心臓とは別の事情で日常生活すら困難のため生活も不規則で心身ダメージきつい毎日 来春でシンパパ歴4年目 来年は並木學を立て直して本職復帰できます様に 応援なにとぞ🐍 よいお年を🙏" (Tweet) (in Japanese) – via Twitter.
    11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq "works". Santaruru Page (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2010-06-23. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
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