PROFILBARU.COM

Naoshi Mizuta
Naoshi Mizuta
Born	January 24, 1972 (age 52); Kochi, Japan
Alma mater	Chiba University
Occupation(s)	Composer, musician
Years active	1995–present
Employers	Capcom (1995–1998); Square Enix (1998–present);
	Musical career
Genres	Video game music; rock; orchestral; electronic; funk;
Instrument	Bass guitar

Naoshi Mizuta (水田直志, Mizuta Naoshi, born January 24, 1972) is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He is best known for his work on the Final Fantasy franchise, most notably Final Fantasy XI, but has also composed music for games such as Street Fighter Alpha, Mega Man & Bass, and Parasite Eve II. He started his career at Capcom before moving to Square (now Square Enix) in 1998.

Biography

Born in Kōchi, Japan in 1972, Mizuta's interest in music began to grow when he "was in the second or third grade".^[1] Although still interested in music, Mizuta studied law and economics at Chiba University. He composed his first song while in his last year there, and after graduating went to work for Capcom in 1995 as a composer. He began his career scoring the Street Fighter series where he was part of the sound team for Street Fighter Alpha in 1995.^[1]

In 1998, while still working for Capcom, Mizuta applied to Square as a composer in response to an advertisement and was hired. His first assignment for Square was to score Parasite Eve II, for which he was the sole composer and spent a year and a half working on.^[1] The original Parasite Eve game was scored by Yoko Shimomura, and Mizuta incorporated some of the original game's musical themes into the sequel. Mizuta's next role was as the main composer for Final Fantasy XI, with assistance from Nobuo Uematsu and Kumi Tanioka. Mizuta remained with the Final Fantasy XI project for over ten years, serving as the sole composer for the game's five expansions, and considers it his life's work.^[2] During this period, Mizuta became involved in The Star Onions, a band composed of Square Enix composers for which he plays bass guitar.^[3]^[4] Other members of the band, which plays arrangements of songs from Final Fantasy XI, include Tanioka, Hidenori Iwasaki, and Tsuyoshi Sekito. The band has since released two albums, Music from the Other Side of Vana'diel and Sanctuary.^[4]^[5]

Mizuta has also worked on several other projects for Square Enix, including Blood of Bahamut and Guardian Cross. He has also worked on many other games in the Final Fantasy series, including Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Musical style and influences

For games, Mizuta is primarily focused on creating music that fits the title and the scene at hand, without consideration for how it might sound in isolation.^[2]^[3] On older consoles, the hardware restricted composers to working with a limited number of channels, which challenged composers to create strong, memorable melodies without the aid of atmospheric and accompanying lines.^[3] Even without such constraints in modern titles, Mizuta feels that this style has its merits and is worth preserving in modern games. On the other hand, for alternative presentations of his music such as live performances or piano arrangements, Mizuta feels more free to have fun and play it however he likes.^[3] Mizuta is heavily influenced by the work of Ryuichi Sakamoto, as well as Nobuo Uematsu, his superior at Square.^[1] He also draws inspiration from a variety of film scores as well as fan remixes of his work on YouTube.^[1]^[3]

Works

Year	Title	Notes
1995	Street Fighter Alpha	Arcade version; music with several others
1995	Street Fighter Alpha	PlayStation version; arrangements with Akari Kaida and Naoaki Iwami
1996	Ide Yousuke Meijin no Shin Jissen Mahjong	Music with Naoaki Iwami, Makoto Tomozawa and Shusaku Uchiyama
1998	Resident Evil 2	Music ("The Underground Laboratory")
1998	Mega Man & Bass	Music with Toshihiko Horiyama and Akari Kaida
1999	Parasite Eve II	Music
2002	Final Fantasy XI	Music with Nobuo Uematsu and Kumi Tanioka
2002	Tetra Master	Music
2003	Final Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart	Music
2004	Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia	Music
2005	Hanjuku Hero 4 ~The 7 Heroes~	Music ("Reckless Blood Manipulations" and "Hidden Research")
2006	Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan	Music
2007	Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess	Music
2007	The Shochu Bar	Music
2009	Blood of Bahamut	Music
	Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light	Music
	Season of Mystery: The Cherry Blossom Murders	Music
2010	Final Fantasy Dimensions	Music
2011	Final Fantasy XIII-2	Music with Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki
2011	Final Fantasy XIV	Music with Ryo Yamazaki and Tsuyoshi Sekito
2012	Guardian Cross	Music
2012	Demons' Score	Music (main theme)
2013	Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin	Music
	Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn	Music with Masayoshi Soken, Tsuyoshi Sekito, and Ryo Yamazaki
	Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII	Music with Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki
2014	Deadman's Cross	Music
	Glorious Blades	Music
	Groove Coaster	Music ("OWARANAI Groove")
2015	Arcadia no Aoki Miko	Music with YOHKA
2015	Final Fantasy Dimensions II	Music
2017	Final Fantasy XV: Episode Prompto	Music
2022	Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin	Music with Hidenori Iwasaki and Ryo Yamazaki