On September 22 and 23, 2026, “The Tenth Mosaic” was held at the Japan-France Institute in Tokyo.
This event, centered on the theme of video games—which have come to be known as the “tenth art” in Europe and the United States—features a variety of creators presenting their work.
We’re reporting on a discussion held there between Kazutake Odaka, CEO of Tokyo Games, and Masafumi Takada, a music producer also affiliated with Tokyo Games.
What Led Them to the Game Industry
Reflecting on the late Super Famicom era, Mr. Takada discusses what led him to start working on video game music. At that time, video game music was just beginning to establish itself as a specialized profession. He says his motivation stemmed from the thought, “Video game music was starting to get better. Since there weren’t many professionals in the field yet, I figured it might be a lucrative opportunity.”
Regarding game music at that time, Takada explained, “It was still an era when programmers were doing the work.” He noted that it was rare to commission professional composers like Koichi Sugiyama.
Later, after working at Human and elsewhere, Takada began collaborating with Hifumi Kono and others. His encounter with Goichi Suda led him to join Grasshopper Manufacture, where he worked on titles such as *killer7* and *Flowers, Sun, and Rain*.He explained that for *Flowers, Sun, and Rain*, classical music was incorporated to convey the atmosphere of a game set in the tropics.
Mr. Kodaka, who reportedly worked part-time at a game shop at the time, also played Grasshopper Manufacture titles as a fan.“Grasshopper Manufacture’s games were made for old-school otaku to boast about—like, ‘I get it,’” Mr. Kodaka recalled half-jokingly. In response, Mr. Takada remarked that they were creating works that allowed players to “experience something they had never felt before.”
Mr. Kodaka reflects that his extensive exposure to Mr. Takada’s works during this period directly influenced his own game development later on. However, he revealed that he had earned only about 1 million yen in total during his 20s, laughing as he said, “It was way too much of a tightrope walk. There’s absolutely no way to replicate that.”
A Full-Fledged Partnership That Began with *Danganronpa*
The two began collaborating in earnest on *Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc*.
According to Mr. Kodaka, at the time, he was writing the scenario while Takayuki Sugawara was in charge of the specifications. As he was thinking about the music, he laughed as he recalled that the only game composers he knew by name at the time were Mr. Takada and Shoji Meguro.
So, he reached out to Takada through an acquaintance. It happened to be right after Takada had left Grasshopper Manufacture and joined Tango Gameworks, but he agreed to take on the music production as a freelancer.
Looking back on that time, Takada explains that the first thing he received was a single proposal document. Since Kodaka was still unknown at the time, Takada was apparently roped into attending the presentation alongside him. Kodaka laughed and said, “You’re a con artist, aren’t you?”
The first track he produced was “Debate -MIX- (EDGE Version),” which plays during the class trial.
Mr. Kodaka thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun to have a class trial where everyone’s really hyped up?” and reportedly, the initial brief was just a single line or so. Mr. Kodaka has always been a fan of electronic music and revealed, “I’ve been a techno DJ since college.”
“I’m actually a social butterfly,” he said with a laugh, adding that what he likes about Takada’s music is its “rave-like vibe” and elements reminiscent of “pro wrestling entrance themes”—elements that amp up the energy and build anticipation.
After reading the script, Mr. Takada gradually came to understand the direction the work was aiming for.
According to Mr. Odaka, during the early stages of production, the staff hadn’t yet reached a consensus on “how far to take the silliness.” Deciding whether to add playful humor to particularly gruesome scenes was a particularly difficult challenge.
“Once they read the script, they finally got it. It was like, ‘Oh, so we can go this far with the silliness.’”
At the proposal stage, the only term used to describe the work was “Psycho-Pop.”
Monokuma’s design also originated from the keywords “black” and “white.” According to Mr. Kodaka, they were conscious of the duality between black and white—cuteness and grotesqueness—and Rui Komatsuzaki surprised the audience by recalling, “He drew it in five minutes, and it was already in its current form.”
“It took 20 minutes” — The *Danganronpa* Theme Song
A memorable anecdote was also shared about the *Danganronpa* theme song.
It was a song that Mr. Takada spent about a month agonizing over, right up until the deadline. However, since the game was unknown at the time, he had apparently only come up with the idea of including the phrase “Danganronpa” in the vocals.
Mr. Odaka said that when he first heard the track, he felt, “This is so Masafumi Takada.” He had been expecting a song similar to those in *No More Heroes*, but when he heard the minor key progression that evoked a sense of gloom, he thought, “That’s exactly it.”
*Danganronpa* wasn’t an instant hit upon its release. According to Mr. Kodaka, first-week sales were around 30,000 copies. After that, sales gradually increased over the course of about half a year, to the point where the budget edition was selling better than the standard edition. Furthermore, following the anime adaptation, the game gained popularity overseas as well.
As Mr. Kodaka looked back with deep emotion, remarking, “I never imagined it would go this global,” Mr. Takada joked, “The wrap party was pretty lame, wasn’t it? It was at a tiny izakaya.”
In *Rain Code*, “We Show the World Through Music”
The conversation then turned to *Super Detective Case Files: Raincode*.
Mr. Odaka submitted the proposal to Spike Chunsoft, and immediately after it was accepted, he quit his job to go independent. “That’s pretty unthinkable,” he and Mr. Takada laughed together.
He explained that for *Raincode*, they envisioned a vast city as the setting and built the game from a visual perspective.
The first track Mr. Takada composed was “The Detective’s Song.” He was shown the stage in person and composed the track to match the tempo at which the characters walked.
Additionally, since it’s constantly raining in the game’s setting, Mr. Takada noted that from a music production standpoint, “it was a helpful design choice that it was raining.” He explained that he composed music that worked within that context while taking into account the frequency range of rain sounds.
Regarding whether to prioritize ambient sounds or BGM, Mr. Kodaka stated, “I wanted to make the most of the BGM.” While many open-world titles focus on ambient sounds to convey the world, he explained that with *Rain Code*, “I wanted to let the music speak and show the world through it.”
Regarding the theme song “RAIN CODE,” Takada explained that he incorporated Japanese-style chords. Kodaka recalled that during production, he repeatedly asked Takada to “bring out a detective-like atmosphere.”
He cited the movie *Detective Mike Ham* as a particular source of inspiration. “Suspense films often feature iconic songs, right? I wanted to create something you’d recognize just by hearing it,” Mr. Kodaka said, reflecting on how *Rain Code* meticulously crafted a unique world, including its music.
Reasons for Not Choosing the Indie Route
The two also exchanged views on their approach to game development.
Mr. Kodaka explained his current approach, in which he focuses on developing characters and the story while outsourcing the actual development to an external company.
“If we handled development in-house, the team would grow to around 50 people, which would force us to work continuously and accept projects we didn’t believe in.”
If they handled development in-house, they’d have to create things other than what they wanted to make just to keep the organization afloat. That’s why they settled on their current model. “We’re making what we love with other people’s money,” he said half-jokingly.
At the same time, they also took on the challenge of creating their own original IP. That project was *HUNDRED LINE -Final Defense Academy-*.
Looking back, Mr. Odaka remarked, “We really went all out with *HUNDRED LINE*!”
Since the publisher held the original rights to previous titles like *Danganronpa*, the team thought, “Well, maybe we should try owning the IP ourselves,” which served as the catalyst.
He explained that they poured in nearly all of their 500 million yen in capital, and the total cost eventually exceeded 1 billion yen. “Since there were 10 of us working on it, that works out to 100 million yen per person,” he said with a laugh, revealing that costs ballooned further as the development period dragged on.
“We had no choice but to step on the gas. I wasn’t going to give up, but I had nightmares thinking, ‘What if we only sell 300 copies before it’s finished?’” Mr. Odaka said. Mr. Takada responded, “You really were having nightmares, weren’t you?”
100 Endings: “Going Overboard”
One of the defining features of *HUNDRED LINE* is its 100 different endings.
Mr. Kodaka explained that they adopted the 100-ending structure to compete using their greatest strength. “People told us it was overkill,” he said, but he believed, “We needed that kind of impact.”
“In this day and age, you have to go this far to make people think, ‘These guys are crazy!’”
Regarding the number 100, he explained, “100 just feels like a nice round number.” He noted that users don’t need to play through every single ending; rather, he wanted to offer a wide variety of endings—much like *Shonen Jump*—so players could freely enjoy the ones they liked best. However, he was surprised to find that, in the end, more users than expected played all the way through to completion.
On the musical front, the first track Mr. Takada produced was “HUNDRED LINE,” a song depicting everyday life. He gave it a longer intro and crafted it into a poignant piece centered around the piano.
Mr. Odaka pointed out that the game centers on the theme of war, explaining, “You don’t understand why you’re being forced to fight, nor do you know if it’s just. There are all kinds of situations.” For that reason, he said he wanted to bring out a sense of “shadow” in the work.
Mr. Takada also described the music, saying, “It’s melancholic. It evokes the image of moping around in the middle of the night.”
Mr. Odaka also revealed that this piece was inspired by the Byakkotai. He explained that, as a symbol of the cruelty of war, the Byakkotai’s image aligned perfectly with the work’s theme and the song’s atmosphere.
Meanwhile, for the battle track “Invasion,” they commissioned a digital rock sound. They envisioned a sound reminiscent of the early Chemical Brothers and aimed for a direction different from the typical fantasy-style battle tracks often found in SRPGs.
According to Mr. Takada, *HUNDRED LINE* features approximately 400 tracks, with around 100 of them serving as main themes alone. A massive amount of music was produced to match the vast scope of the scenario.
“I had no choice but to create what I thought was good.” Mr. Odaka explains that he asked the in-house writers to type the scripts they were responsible for themselves.
This allowed them to give Mr. Takada direct instructions, such as “I’d like a song here.”
Mr. Takada laughs, saying, “The requests come in the middle of the night,” to which Mr. Kodaka replies, “It’s a real ‘black company,’ isn’t it?”
Since both are executives at ToTokyo Games, Takada joked, “We’re executives, so we can work 24 hours a day.”
Mr. Odaka revealed that employees sometimes tell him, “You work the hardest, so we can’t take a break,” and he turns it into a joke; however, he also notes that as a project becomes more personally tied to him, the line between work and personal time inevitably blurs.
Mr. Takada echoed this sentiment, saying, “Output is everything, isn’t it? It’s like being a potter.” He spoke about the mindset of repeatedly breaking what you’ve created in order to make something better.
Mr. Kodaka summed up his creative approach by saying, “I have no choice but to make what I think is good.”
Returning to the Act of “Reading” in *The End of the World Cult*
The conversation then turned to *Shuten Kyodan*.
Reflecting on this work, Mr. Takada noted, “There’s a wide variety of tracks.” The first track he produced was “The Woman with Two Faces, Unseen.” It has a Japanese-style atmosphere and is a type of song Mr. Takada hadn’t worked on much before.
He explained that the track was inspired by the style of Seishi Yokomizo, adding, “This was the first time I’d ever composed a piece like this.”
He also cites the track “The End of the World” as a particularly memorable piece. This track plays during the pre-game intro screen and expresses the game’s worldview—which, while centered on religion as a major theme, does not belong to any specific religion.
Regarding this title, Mr. Odaka explained that while he had previously created “story-driven games that aren’t just about reading text,” this time he deliberately chose to make a game that is “intended to be read literally.”
Due to the subject matter—religion and a series of dismemberment murders—as well as factors such as CERO ratings, he initially considered developing it as an indie game; however, the project came to fruition after DMM GAMES agreed to serve as the publisher.
How Did You Manage Such a Vast Amount of Scenario Content?
When asked how he managed the nearly 100 endings and vast number of branching paths in *HUNDRED LINE*, Mr. Kodaka revealed his approach of “designing for two playthroughs.”
Since presenting countless choices from the very beginning might cause players to lose interest, they built a structure where players first become emotionally invested during their first playthrough and then make choices during their second.
Mr. Kodaka reportedly developed the main storyline and a certain number of endings himself, then commissioned Mr. Kotaro Uchikoshi to handle the subsequent numerous branching paths, ultimately fine-tuning them to result in 100 endings.
From *Danganronpa* to *Raincode*, *HUNDRED LINE*, and *Shuten Kyodan*, this conversation, which looked back on the works the two have created, revealed the process by which the scenario and music mutually influence each other to shape the worldview of each title.
