Long interview with Takuro Iga, composer! (The 47th "Inside Man" of Anime and Game)

In this 47th installment of our writer crepuscular series, we introduce Takuro Iga, a "maverick" composer who has descended upon the world of anime music. He is now known as the play-by-play accompanist for "Watashi ni Tenshi ga Mita! (Wataten), but his music is always full of individuality and love. In his debut TV series, "Aria Aria AA," he created sharp electronic sounds at a fast pace, and in "Tsuki ga Kirei," he softly expressed the delicate feelings of junior high school romance on the piano. For "Kabukicho Sherlock," he surprised fans with another novel approach, blending jazz and festival music. In his recent work "Koisuru Asteroids," he skillfully manipulated piano and wind instruments to create the world of the film with a score full of transparency. In this interview, we asked Iga about his career, composition theory, what he values in his work, and his future challenges. How did he nurture his "maverick" talent? How did he develop his "maverick" talent? What is behind the scenes of the birth of his famous songs? If you are interested, please check it out.

Animation music is "the accumulation of things that I could not do on my own.

Thank you very much for joining us today. First of all, what is the appeal of being an animation music composer?

Takuro Iga (Iga): This is true for composing in general, but the most enjoyable part is when people who can play instruments that I cannot play get together and give shape to what I have in mind. As a professional player, I can only play the piano. In addition to that, in the case of visual music such as animation, there are many things that I cannot do on my own, such as moving pictures and adding voices. The final product is not only my music, but also a comprehensive combination of all the elements, and it is something far beyond my imagination, so I am happy to be able to see it.

The number of musical compositions for a TV series is large, and the schedule is tight. Is there anything you find difficult during the production process?

Iga: Yes, there are many times when I feel that way. There are times when I find myself thinking, "I can't come up with a good melody... ......," or when I think, "This should be good enough," and I get a response saying, "This is not the right direction. And even if things don't go smoothly, deadlines are still looming. If I am making music that I like for myself, I can go as far as I want, but for anime accompaniment, I have to make dozens of songs under various restrictions, so I am very happy and excited when I receive an offer, but I still feel pressure. I also do a lot of performance work, so I can't devote all of my time to composing.

Iga: So you are still active as a pianist?

Iga: That's right. I participate in concerts of Taro Hakase and Chisako Takashima as a support musician, and I also do studio recordings of other composers and related arrangement work. If I am busy, I may have about half a month's performance work, so it would be different if I could focus only on play accompaniment composition, but I am always very excited to work on it.

Easy-to-understand" music

What works have had the greatest influence on your creative activities?

Iga: When I was in elementary school, the first CD I bought with my own allowance was the soundtrack of the TV series "Lupin the Third" by Yuji Ohno and the soundtrack of the movie "Space Battleship Yamato" by Yasushi Miyagawa. Looking back, I think I preferred to listen to things that were easy to understand. I liked songs that were cathartic in an easy-to-understand way, that expressed emotions in an easy-to-understand way, and that were cool in an easy-to-understand way. I liked that kind of music. I attended the Yamaha Music School until I was 15, where I was taught to compose music that was easy to understand.

Iga: Do you still listen to new music?

Iga: I like listening to music, so I always have music playing no matter what I am doing. I listen to music that is being talked about in rankings, but I don't listen to it on my own. I get frustrated (laughs). I also enjoy listening to music recommended by friends. I have a drummer friend who likes "Dream Theater" and metal music, and he is always looking for new music and sending it to me. I also listen to a lot of music on my subscriber, which is very convenient, and if I find a song I like, I buy it. I listen to a lot of music on my subscriber and if I find something I like, I buy it.

The story behind the birth of the musical "Tenshi no Gaze

Iga: Please tell us about your favorite genre of music and sound creation.

Iga: I don't have a strong preference for any genre or style. This is because even if the director or producer says to me while I am writing a song, "That's not right, I want you to make a melody line more like this," and it turns out to be different from what I originally intended or envisioned, I think my color will still come out without any loss.

As a pianist, you must have confidence in your piano pieces, don't you?　In terms of the number of pieces, I have the impression that there are many piano scores.

Iga: Yes, that is true. I think that is what is required of me, and since I am also a player, I think it is one of the points that appeal to people. To say a little more, I have been playing jazz all my life as a piano player, so I think I am good at jazz-like things. But that's just a "if I may say so," so I like any genre. I like any genre. (2019), which has a lot of gaps, and I also like the large orchestra I'm working on now.

I also like large orchestras that I'm working on now. Speaking of which, there was a musical "Angel's Gaze" in episode 12. You wrote the lyrics, composed the music, and arranged all the songs.

Iga: It wasn't actual footage, but I was given a storyboard by director Daisuke Hiramaki, and I created it while looking at the seconds and cuts in the storyboard. There were tentative lyrics written on the storyboard, but there were times when I thought, "This number of words isn't enough," or conversely, "It doesn't fit in.

Iga: You also wrote, composed, and arranged lyrics for special endings, such as "Toki no Sands" in episode 5 of "Kakuriyo no Yakuhan" (2018) and "Ano Sora no Mukou ni" in episode 4 of "Koisuru Asteroids" (2020).

Iga: I also enjoy writing songs. For "Koi As," I arranged the ending for the video so that it would be connected to the special ending at the end of the main story. For this, I received the pre-finished video instead of a storyboard, and edited it by adding a few interludes and then returning to the song.

Composing without thinking of keys and chords

I would like to ask you about your composing method. What is your usual method?

Iga: When I receive a menu list, if the director tells me that a piece is important, I start with that piece first, and if not, I choose a possible theme and compose it myself. I retype all the menu lists and materials I receive into my computer and keep track of them in an Excel spreadsheet. I add the instruments to be used, the approximate number of seconds, and the scenes to be envisioned, etc., to the menu list and manage them.

Iga: How do you come up with that impressive melody?

Iga: When I create a song with a strong melody, I try not to think of the keyboard and chords, and I hum the melody and record it. Iga: "Important songs are usually melody-driven music, so I tend to create them in that way.

You compose music "without thinking of the keyboard and chords"?

Iga: In the past, I always thought that I had a "weak melody line. When I thought about the cause of this, I found that I usually played the piano when I composed music, and even if I didn't have a piano, I played the piano in my head. Whenever I thought of a keyboard key, a chord movement would appear on its own. And once that happens, the development of the song is decided there. It's just the way it's always been. It's not a habit of mine, but I tend to narrow down my melodic image, or the melody is limited to the range of my hands, or it becomes instrumental melody that doesn't sound like a song. So now, when I want to create a song, whether it is a song or a dramatic accompaniment, and I want the melody to be strong, I record humming without thinking of the keyboard and chords.

─ Some of Mr. Iga's dramatic accompaniments have a song-like structure such as A melody, B melody, and C melody, with the main melody instruments alternating as the song develops. I wonder if this is one of the characteristics of your music, but what do you think about it yourself?

Iga: Except for songs that become landscapes, when I make a song with a melody, I try to make it easy to understand and to give it excitement, just like a song. I think the songs that I make in this way are the ones you are talking about.

The "jazz-influenced dehyayashi" that I attempted in "Kabukicho Sherlock.

The song "Entrance Theme of Sherlock" played in the introductory scene of the mystery rakugo in "Kabukicho Sherlock" (2019-20) was a very cool song with trumpet and shamisen playing together.

Iga Thank you very much. The sound director, Yukio Nagasaki, specified in detail where each and every song would be used in the script, and it was easy to understand his orders. He was very clear about what he wanted. He would say, "I want this song to be used in this scene, so I want this kind of song. The music for "Sherlock" was very detailed, including instrumentation, etc., and we worked out the details in the meeting stage.

Entrance Theme of Sherlock" was ordered as a "debayashi," a musical accompaniment to Sherlock. Usually, debayashi involves shamisen, flutes, and shimedaiko drums, but since jazz is at the core of my music, I thought, "Let's use jazz for the debayashi! I thought, "Let's use jazz for the deayashi. But I thought that ordinary jazz would be boring too, so I decided to use a "dehyayashi that is very Sherlockian, with a touch of improvisation on the shamisen.

Iga: Do you have a menu that doesn't specify scenes?

Iga: Not really. I think it is rare to have a specification like Mr. Nagasaki's. That's why I usually write my own scripts and make my own music. So, I usually compare the script and the menu list by myself and guess, "This scene sounds like this music," and compose the music with that scene in my mind.

The trumpet was blaring high in "Entrance Theme of Sherlock," but "Mystery RAKUGO," which was used in the subsequent deduction scene, on the contrary, had a quiet rhythm of a wood bass. Was this done so as not to disturb Sherlock's lines?

Iga: You are absolutely right. Mystery RAKUGO" is used in the scene where the killer is revealed, so I created it with "quiet but tense jazz" in mind. The melody also has a longer span so that it doesn't interfere with the dialogue.

The trumpet solo "Insanity of Moriarty" played in the scene where Sherlock chokes Moriarty in episode 21 had a strong impact.

Iga: Mr. Nagasaki suggested that we use only the trumpet for this piece during the meeting.

The music of "Koisuru Asteroids (Asteroids in Love)" is impressive with its transparent music using woodwind instruments, such as "Earth Science Club Activity 1 Self-Introduction," "Heartwarming Chat," "Let's Talk," and "The Place of My Longing. They seem to be well received by fans.

Iga That makes me happy. Now that you mention it, I think I am quite fond of using woodwinds, and not just in "Koi Asu". Woodwind instruments have distinct colors, and I think you can tell the direction and emotional expression of a song just by listening to the tone. I often use a piano or strings to envelop the woodwind melody.

Iga: This depends on the judgment of the director and sound director, but it seems that your music box scores are often used in reminiscence scenes.

Iga: I have an image of a music box as a reminiscence. Even without being told, I sometimes use a music box for reminiscences. Also, since music boxes have few calories and tracks, I tend to add them on my own as a plus option, even if they are not on the menu list.