Go Shiina

Born in Yokohama, Japan, Shiina was taught how to play the electronic organ from his parents when he was growing up.[1] Although he was not a dedicated musician before becoming a composer, he was at one time a member of a Megadeth cover band who also played J-pop music. Shiina enrolled at Dokkyo Junior High School. After being rejected by 46 companies, including a jewelry company, a finance company, and a fast food company, he was hired by Namco (now Bandai Namco Games); he had little prior experience with video games.[2]

Creating music for old arcade releases using Namco's sound trackers felt more like computer programming than composing for Shiina, but he has said that the experience helped him out when he would have to use MIDI sounds in future games. The songs he composed for the first Mr. Driller were deemed unfitting for a puzzle game by some of the staff and they almost didn't make it into the final product.[2]

Shiina's first solo project was Mr. Driller G. He was given extensive access to live instruments and an incredible amount of creative freedom, setting the stage for his later work. The scores for future games in the Mr. Driller series would also be composed exclusively by Shiina.

When he began writing songs for Tales of Legendia, he originally tried to follow in the footsteps of the lead Tales series composer Motoi Sakuraba, but was later inspired to develop his own style for it.[2]

Bandai Namco gave Shiina freedom to compose for anime projects during his later years with the company. In September 2017, Shiina announced that he had retired from Bandai Namco.[3] He is currently a freelance composer.[4]

Go Shiina's music is characterized by dramatic melodies and unusual arrangements. His soundtracks contain a wide range of musical styles, including jazz,[5] orchestral, fusion, and rock, and he often mixes different genres and instruments together for unique sounds. Many of Shiina's songs use live string sections, slap bass, audio filter effects and artificial languages.

He has said that he can write music in any genre, as long as he is motivated, and has also stated that "when I write a song, the time it takes me depends on whether I know the singer's natural voice. The genre doesn't matter..." Shiina feels that there are two types of compositions: "some tracks can stand alone as musical pieces, and some only work when you hear them in the game," and he often alters or leaves out certain songs when putting together albums. When composing vocal or instrumental tracks, he often sings the parts out loud.[2]

For the soundtrack to God Eater, Shiina explained that the creative nature of the story pushed him to be creative with the music as well. He looked around for a variety of instruments from many countries, and some of the styles and instruments featured in the score include Japanese traditional music, African rhythms, and the Indian sitar.[1] He has also done string arrangements for bands.[6]

On 14 May 2021, asteroid 119846 Goshiina, discovered by American astronomer Roy A. Tucker at the Goodricke-Pigott in 2002, was named in his honor by the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature.[7]

Shiina was honored in the Sound/Music/Performance category at the 2022 Tokyo Anime Film Festival along with composer, Yuki Kajiura.[8] The two composers were also jointly nominated for Best Score at the 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2021 and won at the 6th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2022 for their work on Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Train Arc.[9] The film version was also honored at the 2021 Japanese Academy Awards for Outstanding Score.[10]

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Go Shiina at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Discography at VGMdb