This is the third and final part in our series of anecdotes from Shenmue composer Osamu Murata. For previous parts, see Part One and Part Two.
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| Osamu Murata (profile photo from Twitter / X) |
Shenmue III
Jun 16, 2015: S3 Festival Begins
スタジオから帰宅！と思ったらお金集まってる！S3祭りはまだまだ続く！お祭りなので、初出しシェンムーお宝。「巌の手紙」に藤岡さんのサイン。1999だって。すげー生きてきたなー、自分。
Translation:
"Home from the studio! And found out money is being raised! The S3 festival continues! Since it's a festival, here's a Shenmue treasure for the first time. A 'Iwao's letter' signed by Mr. Fujioka. It's from 1999. What an amazing life I've lived!"
Unfortunately, the image associated with this 2015 tweet is no longer available but we can imagine a physical reproduction of the in-game letter left for Ryo by his father. Murata's letter was even signed by the actor for the character of Iwao Hazuki in the Japanese version, Hiroshi Fujioka.
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| The letter left for Ryo by Iwao Hazuki in Shenmue. |
Dec 2, 2021: The Shenmue III LP Set
レコード版サントラが届いた。
11枚組。圧巻です。
パッケージのハイクオリティさに驚き。
カラフルなレコードだなと思いきや、ちゃんとキャラクターに合わせたカラーになっていて、これは裕さんのアイデアかもな？とも思ったり。
ただ、作曲家の名前がどこにも記されていない。ゲームパッケージに続き致し方ないのかとも思うがやはりそこは尊重をしていただきたいと熱に思う。
なので1枚だけサインをする。
宮脇先生の絵の上には自分は到底書けないのでCGの涼くんの1枚に。
これからCD版も届く予定。そちらは6枚組。
ハードなサントラですな。
たくさん自分の曲が入っているものを出してもらえたのはありがたや。
ありがとう。
Translation:
"The vinyl soundtrack has arrived.
It's an 11-disc set. Quite impressive.
I was surprised by the high quality of the packaging.
At first, I thought the records were simply colorful, but then it crossed my mind that they actually match the characters' colors, so maybe that was Yu-san's idea?
However, the composer's names are nowhere to be found. I understand that might be consistent with the game packaging, but I still feel it's important to show respect there.
So, I'll sign just one disc.
I'll sign it on the one with Ryo's CG illustration, as I feel I can't possibly write over Mr. Miyawaki's art.
The CD version is also on its way. That one's a 6-disc set.
It's quite a hard-hitting soundtrack.
I'm grateful that something with so many of my own songs was able to be released.
Thank you".
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| Shenmue III The Definitive Soundtrack Vol. 1: Bailu Village set |
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| Signed LP cover |
This set was a preview copy of the "Shenmue III The Definitive Soundtrack" set of LPs containing all 194 music tracks from Shenmue III.
In December 2019, IGN Japan awarded Shenmue III with "Best Sound" winner for the year:
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| Shenmue III was awarded winner of "Best Sound" in 2019 by IGN Japan (Google translation, article by Esra Krabbe) |
December 13, 2019: Response to the Best Sound Award
シェンムー１、２、US BGMサウンドチーム
光吉さん 古代さん 井内さん 柳川さん 新田さん 大塚さん 桜井さん 松木さん! やったね！
また、３のサウンドをまとめてくれた中村さんもお疲れさまでした。これで一区切りですね。
これを機にまた注目があって売上あがるよう祈ってます。
クラベ・エスラさんのコメントの”お蔵入り”はちょっと違うんだよな。裕さんはお蔵入りの曲にしてない。作曲と選曲をずっと一緒にやっている中で「これはあの場面の曲、これはあの場面の曲。」としっかりと割り振って曲を確保していたんです。無駄な曲は１曲もない。皆で作った曲はまだ続くんだよ。それが３で使われ、これから４で使われ、５で使われってなってくるんじゃないかな。まぁ、作り過ぎって言われればそれまでだけどね。
古くは感じるはずないよ。WorldMusicなんだから。民族音楽を古く感じる奴いるか？どこにもいないよ。そういう作り方を元々していたのがこのサウンドチームだったんだからね。
これにて終了！🤓
Translation:
"Shenmue 1, 2 & US BGM Sound Teams
Mitsuyoshi-san, Koshiro-san, Iuchi-san, Yanagawa-san, Nitta-san, Otsuka-san, Sakurai-san, Matsuki-san! We did it!
And Nakamura-san, who compiled the sounds for 3, great job too. This marks the end of a chapter.
I hope this brings renewed attention and boosts sales.
Regarding Esra Krabbe's comment about the tracks having been 'shelved', that's not quite right. Yu-san didn't shelve any of the songs. All throughout the composition and selection process we carried out together, we carefully allocated songs for each scene, saying, 'This one's for this scene, and this is for that scene'. There isn't a single wasted song. The songs we all created will go on. They'll be used in 3, then in 4, and 5. Well, if people say we made too many, so be it.
They shouldn't feel dated at all, because it's World Music. Who finds ethnic music old-sounding? No one. That's how this sound team has always approached composing them.
That's it for now! 🤓"
- Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
- Yuzo Koshiro
- Ryuji Iuchi
- Takeshi Yanagawa
- Tadahiro Nitta
- Shinji Otsuka
- Koji Sakurai
- Yasushi Matsuki
外国人のアフレコディレクター。
俺らが25年前にやってたこととほぼ同じ。
違いは日本で声優を集めたのとは違い、演技ができる人が多かっただろうな。
Coreyも最初は大変だったけどだんだん良くなった。最初の収録分を録りなおしたりもしたりね。
裕さん隣にいるとやりずれーんだよな。🤗
Translation:
"The foreign voice-over director.
It's almost the same as what we were doing 25 years ago.
The difference is that, unlike then when we gathered the voice actors in Japan, they probably had more people who could act.
Corey also had a hard time at first, but he gradually got better. We even re-recorded some of the initial takes.
It's tough working with Yu-san right next to you. 🤗 "
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| Frame from 2018 video clip shared by Bill Black |
On seeing an in-studio video clip shared later by Bill Black, the Voice-Over Director for Shenmue 3, Murata recalls his time managing the English voice recording for the first games. It is fun to imagine the early period when Corey Marshall was getting accustomed to recording his lines under Yu Suzuki's stern gaze.
I had to chuckle at the comment about voice actors and their acting abilities! It reminded me of this 2011 Shenmue Dojo interview with one of the Shenmue II English voice actors, who revealed that professional English voice talent residing in Japan at the time of recording for the initial games was insufficient for the vast number of characters, leading to a great variation in quality in the English spoken lines.
Jan 20, 2024: Quantity Over Orchestration
重要な部分にはオケアレンジの曲がシェンムーには入ってる。でも実は自分の曲はオケ化されてない。新人だった自分にはオケ化するような大きな仕事はさせてもらえなかった。悔しかったので曲数で勝負に出た。その結果がシェンムー３の曲がほぼ自分の曲で構成されたということ。25年間眠ってた曲たち。
Translation:
"Orchestral arrangements feature at important points in Shenmue. However, none of my compositions were turned into orchestral pieces. As a newcomer [to Sega], I wasn't allowed to do such a significant task. I was disappointed about that, so I competed instead through my sheer number of songs. As a result, almost all the songs that make up Shenmue 3 are my ones - songs dormant for 25 years".
It seems that Murata succeeded admirably in this effort, being the most prolific of all Shenmue composers. He contributed hundreds of mesmerizing pieces to the Shenmue vault - 800 to 1000 by his own estimate!
Reminiscing with Shenmue The Animation
Shenmue the Animationを観た。
各シーンでゲームサイドを作った仲間の顔が浮かんできた。セリフもゲームに寄せていて自分はアフレコした時の記憶が蘇った。今もセリフを覚えているからTVと斉唱してたら家族に気持ちがられたけどね。ひとつ、声優は総取替えした方が良かったな。
Translation:
"I watched Shenmue the Animation.
As I watched each scene, the faces of my fellow game developers who worked on the game side came to my mind. The dialogue was also reminiscent of the game, bringing back memories of when I did the voice recording. I still remember the lines, so when I started reciting them along with the TV, my family looked at me strangely. One thing, though: I think it would have been better if they had completely changed the voice actors".
The Japanese version of Shenmue the Animation retained some of the voice actors from the game, namely Masaya Matsukaze (Ryo Hazuki) and Haruka Terui (Shenhua in Shenmue III).
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| The Japanese version of Shenmue The Animation aired in April 2022 |
Fans and Shenmue
June 15, 2021: Musical Memories in the US
RichardさんはSHENMUEの楽曲のコピーをたくさんしてくれていて、そのどれもが素晴らしい。音符もさることながら音も再現してくれている。S/Nも良くて当時の私が作ったものに比べてもとても綺麗。ミスタッチやミスコードなども再現してくれちゃっているので恥ずかしい。
この曲は思い出があって、SHENMUE USのプロモーションにアメリカへ行った時にNVIDIAというグラフィックボードを作っている会社の創始者のJensen Huangさんが鈴木裕さんのお友達だったのでシリコンバレーに会いに行ったことがあった。NVIDIAの本社へ行ってそのまま会食になった。あるホテルのレストランに行って先方の役員の方々とお食事。そこにグランドピアノがあって突如弾けと命じられたのね。その時引いたのが「The Place Where the Sun Sets」とこの「Memoiies of Distant Days」。お酒のせいもあってかJensenさんは涙を流して喜んで、自分の母国を思い出すといってくれた。今でも鮮明に覚えてる。自分もとても嬉しかった。
この次の日は当時の副社長の家に行ってそこでも家族に聴かせてあげたり、その副社長が弾くエレクトーンとロックンロールで盛り上がったあとに自家用ジェットで裕さんはナパのワイナリーへ、自分はでっかいリモでドライバーと共にナパへフェリー。ワインの買い付けに行ったことは当時はやべーなと思ったけど今はいい思い出話。97年のオーパスをいったい何ダース買ったのだろうか。😁
Translation:
"Richard has made many recreations of Shenmue's music, and each one is fantastic. Not only are the notes reproduced accurately, but the sound is also faithfully recreated. The signal-to-noise ratio is excellent, and even compared to what I made back then, it sounds very clean. He even reproduces my mistakes and wrong chords, which can be embarrassing.
This particular song holds memories for me. When I went to the US for the promotion of Shenmue, I once visited Silicon Valley because Jensen Huang, the founder of NVIDIA, was a friend of Yu Suzuki. We went to NVIDIA's headquarters and ended up having dinner there. We went to a restaurant in a hotel, and suddenly I was asked to play the grand piano. I played The Place Where the Sun Sets and this song, Memories of Distant Days. Perhaps due to alcohol, Jensen was moved to tears and said it reminded him of his homeland. I still remember it vividly. I was also very happy.
The next day, we went to the house of the then-vice president, where I played the music for his family. Afterward, the vice president played the Electone and we had a blast with rock and roll. Then, Yu went to a winery in Napa on his private jet, while I took a ferry to Napa with a big limo and a driver. At the time, I thought going wine shopping was crazy, but now it's a good memory. I wonder how many cases of Opus 97 we bought that year. 😁"
It is great to see recognition of this brilliant cover from Richard, with praise from the composer himself who also left this comment on Richard's YouTube video:
"Great track makeup. I'm embarrassed because you reproduced my mistake perfectly. Let me introduce you on my Facebook".
Apr 23, 2022: Why Shenmue Has Overseas Fans
ファンが日本人より海外の人が多いっていう理由は自然な日常をとことん作り込んだところにあるんだね。開発の魂がゲームから浮き出してきてたんだね。当時は死に物狂いで作っていたから初めて冷静に振り返ったな。
Translation:
"The reason there are more [Shenmue] fans overseas than in Japan is probably because of how meticulously it creates natural daily life. The developers' spirit really came through in the game. Back then, we were working like crazy, so this is the first time I've looked back calmly".
The accuracy of the authentic world that is recreated in the first game is one of the main reasons I was drawn to the Shenmue series. It makes sense that this might be an aspect with greater appeal to players living outside Japan, allowing them to experience life in another country through the game.
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| Water fountain detail from the Hazuki residence garden |
Shenmue IV
8th June, 2024: Shenmue IV in Times Square
凄いことだ。シェンムーとは何なのだろうね。もうゲームを超えててプレイヤーの思いであり、想いであり、身体の一部なのだろうね。
タイムズスクエアとはまたこれ。想いが爆発したのだろうね。
シェンムーをリリースしてから25年くらいでしょ。開発者は皆歳をとって来てる。シェンムーはね、裕さんしか作れないんだよね。他のシリーズ系のゲームは原作を考えた人が変わっても作れているけどシェンムーは無理。根幹が裕さんだからね。"AKIRA"なわけだよ。
自分も離れて時間が経ったがまさかシェンムー3であれだけの自分の曲が乗っかるなんて思ってもみていなかった。おかげでCDやレコードを沢山買う羽目になって痛い出費になったが致し方ない。ほぼ自分の曲のサントラなんだからね。
ただ、もう恥ずかしいんだよね。もちろん当時真剣に作って、思いを込めて、キャラクターやシーンやプレイヤーの事を考えて作ったから誇りはある。ただ古いのだ。25年前だよ。青臭い自分に聴くたびに会うのが恥ずかしいのです。
でも先輩が作った荘厳な壮大なオーケストレーションの曲の下に自分の青臭い曲が存在する。これがシェンムーを構成してらしさを生んでいるのも確か。
IVをやるのであればそろそろ僕に新譜を作らせてくれないかな。裕さん、まだ自分はゲームサウンドコンポーザー、クリエイターをしているよ。続けられているのもあなたのしごきがあったからだよ。音楽で生きています。
Translation:
"This is amazing. What exactly is Shenmue? It seems to transcend the realm of gaming, becoming a part of players' memories, emotions, and even their very being.
And now, this at Times Square! Emotions must have erupted there.
It's been around 25 years since Shenmue was released. The developers have all aged. Shenmue can only be created by Yu-san. Unlike other series where the original creator can be replaced, it's impossible with Shenmue. The core is Yu-san; it's like [the manga] Akira.
I've been away from it for some time, but I never imagined so many of my songs would be included in Shenmue 3. As a result, I ended up buying a lot of CDs and records, which was a painful expense, but it couldn't be helped. After all, it's almost a soundtrack of my own music.
However, it feels a bit embarrassing now. Of course, I took it seriously at the time, putting my heart into it and thinking about the characters, scenes, and players, so I'm proud of it. But it's old. It's from 25 years ago. Every time I listen to it, I feel embarrassed to meet my younger self.
But my youthful songs exist beneath the majestic orchestration tracks created by my senior colleagues. This is what makes up Shenmue and creates its unique charm.
If there's going to be a Shenmue IV, won't you let me create some new music? Yu-san, I'm still working as a game sound composer and creator. I'm able to continue because of the training you gave me. I'm living through music".
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| A Shenmue promotion on a billboard in Times Square, arranged by the Shenmue Dojo |
It's excellent news to hear that Murata is keen to create music for Shenmue IV! And read on for his next message regarding a concrete plan.
Future Plans
"I'm thinking about becoming a freelance artist in the future and creating music with a Shenmue-like flavor and selling it. If I do this, will fans around the world support me? I'll write dozens of songs with Shenmue IV in mind until the end".
If you haven't done so, show your support by leaving some words of support for Murata-san on his tweet! There is no doubt we would all love to hear more of his enchanting compositions.
Final Words
That wraps up our collection of the thoughts and anecdotes from composer Osamu Murata that have bene published on X.
We wish him all the best with his composing, and will be keeping our eyes peeled for further his news and developments!
It will be so cool if we hear some new tracks from him in Shenmue 4 someday. Great talent and awesome composer. I'll definitely keep an eye for anything new he release.
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