Born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan on February 14, 1954, Kohei Tanaka is a composer, arranger, conductor, and singer/songwriter best known for his anime film and television scores as well as his work in the video game industry. After attending the Tokyo University of the Arts, he temporarily relocated to the US to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Back in Japan, he was working as a pianist in a hotel lounge when he was asked to arrange a song for the 1982 anime television series Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX. This led to more jobs as an arranger – including the Super Sentai series – before becoming the main composer for the 1985 anime series Konpora Kid. For the next 35 years, worked on some of the most popular anime projects including Dragon Ball (1986), Gunbuster (1988-89), Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1996), Pokémon The Movie 2000 (1999), Sakura Wars: The Radiant Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms (1999-2000), Gundam Evolve (2001), Tamagotchi: The Movie (2007), D_Cid Traumerei the Animation (2021) and many others. He’s also been involved with the Sakura Wars and One Piece series and movies. While not as prolific in video games, he has composed the music for Sakura Wars, Gravity Rush, and One Piece games. While he has also recorded music outside of anime, he is best most popular songs are from the soundtracks to anime projects including Mobile Fighter Gundam: Gundam Fight Round 1 & 2, which features songs such as “Moegare Toshi Imawashiki Syukumei wo koete” and “Waga kokoro Meikyo-Shisui-Sared kono Syo wa Rekka no gotoku”.
