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Shoji Meguro

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Shoji Meguro
目黒 将司
Born (1971-06-04) June 4, 1971 (age 53)
Tokyo, Japan
Alma materNihon University
Occupations
Years active1996–present
Employer
Musical career
Genres
Instruments

Shoji Meguro (目黒 将司, Meguro Shōji, born June 4, 1971) is a Japanese composer, guitarist, and video game designer. Formerly an employee of the game company Atlus, he is best known for his work in their Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series. His music spans several genres, such as rock, electronic, J-pop, jazz, and symphonic. Meguro has also designed indie games and was the creative director of the PlayStation Portable remakes of Persona and the Persona 2 duology.

Career

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Early life

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Meguro was born on June 4, 1971, in Tokyo, Japan. He became familiar with technology from a young age due to his parents running a factory.[1] As a child, Meguro did not take an interest in popular music, and instead listened to and enjoyed classical. In junior high, he became interested in the likes of jazz artists such as T-Square, Herb Alpert, and Casiopea. It was in junior high that he became particularly fond of writing and profiteering music.[1] He then majored in hydrodynamics at the College of Industrial Technology at Nihon University.[1]

Atlus

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After sending a demo tape and attending two interviews, Meguro was hired by Atlus in 1995. He got his start in the company by working on Revelations: Persona for the PlayStation, for which he composed 16 tracks, including one that became a staple in the series: "Aria of the Soul".[2] Meguro continued to work on several projects in the mid to late 1990s, including Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers on the Sega Saturn, composing around 50 pieces for the game, as well as Maken X on the Dreamcast.[1]

The first time he became a leading composer was on Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne in 2003, where he somewhat diverged from the music in the prior games for the Megami Tensei series, giving the game a more orchestral and fusion sound. A crucial point of his career was Digital Devil Saga; he had creative freedom that let him establish his own sound.[1] Meguro also worked on series such as Trauma Center in the mid 2000s.

Meguro's career was propelled to international stardom in his craft with his work on Persona 3, where he used a pop-based vocal style, and the soundtrack to the game sold over 100,000 copies. In 2008, Meguro continued upon his success with Persona 4, where he blended genres to craft a unique sound. A concert at Akasaka Blitz was held to celebrate Meguro's work on the Persona series, where Persona favorites were played. During this time, he also worked on the music for Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army and Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon.[1]

Meguro was promoted to game director for the PlayStation Portable remake of Persona. During this time he received some criticism from some fans for changing the soundtrack for the remake, but overall received a warm response. He later directed the PSP ports of both Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment. In the mid-2010s, Meguro served as the sound director for three spin-off Persona titles, as well as composing and producing the majority of the soundtrack for Persona 5.[3][4] Meguro also contributed to the film Mint and Persona 5 Royal.[5][6] He also served as the lead composer for Persona 5: The Animation, arranging various tracks from the original game in addition to writing new material.[7]

Meguro announced his departure from Atlus in October 2021, choosing to become a freelancer while still being contracted to work on some Atlus projects.[8] His first announced project after leaving was Guns Undarkness, an indie game which he designed and composed music for.[9] He later launched a Kickstarter campaign to help crowdfund the game, with it expected to be released on PC and consoles.[10] Meguro also served as the composer on Metaphor: ReFantazio, a game made by several former Persona staff members.[11]

Musical style and influences

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Although many of his works feature a signature rock style, Meguro experiments with different musical genres, such as orchestral, electronica, jazz, and hip hop on various projects.[4][12] Meguro cites video game composers Koichi Sugiyama, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, as well as T-Square, Casiopea, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky as some of his musical influences.[4][1] Regarding the use of English lyrics in many of the Persona games, Meguro stated that due to Japanese people not fully understanding the language, it helped create music that was not as distracting to them as Japanese would be.[4]

Works

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Video games
Year Title Role(s)
1996 Revelations: Persona Music with Hidehito Aoki, Kenichi Tsuchiya, and Misaki Okibe
Yusha: Heaven's Gate Sound with Kenichi Tsuchiya, Toshiko Tasaki, and Misaki Okibe
1997 Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers Music with Toshiko Tasaki and Tsukasa Masuko
1999 Maken X Music with Takahiro Ogata
2001 Maken Shao: Demon Sword Music
2003 Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Music with Kenichi Tsuchiya and Toshiko Tasaki
2004 Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax Music
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga Music with Kenichi Tsuchiya
2005 Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 Music
Trauma Center: Under the Knife Music with Kenichi Tsuchiya and Kenichi Kikkawa
2006 Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army Music
Persona 3 Music
Trauma Center: Second Opinion Sound director[13]
2007 Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Opening theme
Persona 3 FES Music
2008 Persona 4 Music
Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon Music
2009 Shin Megami Tensei: Persona Game director; opening and ending themes; arrangements
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Music
Persona 3 Portable Music
2010 Trauma Team Music with Atsushi Kitajoh and Ryota Kozuka
2011 Catherine Music with Atsushi Kitajoh and Kenichi Tsuchiya
Persona 2: Innocent Sin Game director; opening theme
2012 Persona 4 Arena Music with Atsushi Kitajoh
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment Game director
Persona 4 Golden Music with Atsushi Kitajoh
2013 Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Sound director
2014 Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Sound director
2015 Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker Music
Persona 4: Dancing All Night Sound director
2016 Persona 5 Music; sound director
2017 Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux Music with Toshiki Konishi
2018 Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight Sound director
Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight Sound director
Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth Sound director
2019 Persona 5 Royal Music with Toshiki Konishi
2020 Persona 5 Strikers Sound director
2024 Persona 3 Reload Arrangements with Atsushi Kitajoh
Metaphor: ReFantazio Music with Atsushi Kitajoh and Toshiki Konishi
Guns Undarkness Game design; music
Anime
Year Title Notes
2011 Persona 4: The Animation Music
2014 Persona 4: The Golden Animation Music with Tetsuya Kobayashi
2016 Persona 5: The Animation – The Day Breakers Music
2018 Persona 5: The Animation Music
Persona 3 The Movie
Year Title Notes
2013 #1 Spring of Birth Music
2014 #2 Midsummer Knight's Dream "Fate is In Our Hands"
2015 #3 Falling Down Music with Tetsuya Kobayashi
2016 #4 Winter of Rebirth "My Testimony"

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Greening, Chris (January 20, 2013). "Shoji Meguro Profile". Video Game Music Online. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015.
  2. ^ "Shoji Meguro interview". RocketBaby. Archived from the original on August 26, 2002. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  3. ^ Greening, Chris (January 17, 2017). "Atlus releases three-disc Persona 5 album". Video Game Music Online. Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d Mielke, James. "'Persona 5' Creators Talk Series' Legacy, Character Design and J-Pop". Glixel. Archived from the original on July 7, 2017. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  5. ^ First, Marlene. "NEGA, Persona Creators Make Anime-Live Action Film Mint". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on December 28, 2018. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  6. ^ Romano, Sal (April 24, 2019). "Persona 5 Royal launches October 31 in Japan, 2020 in the west; first details, trailer, and screenshots". Gematsu. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
  7. ^ Farrell, Reilly (April 4, 2018). "Shoji Meguro returning for Persona 5 anime". Video Game Music Online. Archived from the original on April 7, 2018. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  8. ^ Romano, Sal (October 27, 2021). "Composer Shoji Meguro leaves Atlus, developing indie game to be announced on November 6". Gematsu. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  9. ^ Romano, Sal (November 6, 2021). "Shoji Meguro announces stealth RPG Guns Undarkness for PC". Gematsu. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  10. ^ Adam, Khayl (October 17, 2022). "Shoji Meguro's Kickstarter JRPG Guns Undarkness Is Officially Coming to Console". Push Square. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  11. ^ Vitale, Adam. "Atlus reveals Metaphor: ReFantazio for Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC, set to launch in 2024". RPG Site. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  12. ^ Wan, Zhiqing. "Twinfinite's Endless Playlist: Persona 5's Soundtrack and the Definition of Smoothness". Twinfinite. Archived from the original on August 1, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  13. ^ Atlus (November 19, 2008). Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Wii). Atlus USA. Scene: Credits.
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