Contents

Masaru Yokoyama

Masaru Yokoyama (横山 克, Yokoyama Masaru, born November 3, 1982) is a Japanese composer and arranger, known for his work on television dramas and anime series.

Yokoyama was born in Nagano Prefecture.^[1] He started to take piano lessons at the age of three,^[2] taught by his aunt who is an alumna of Kunitachi College of Music,^[1] but became interested in music when he was in elementary school, after playing his own compositions.^[1][2] When he was in middle school, he began to compose music using a synthesizer that he bought and his computer,^[2] and had also briefly played in a band.^[1] Interested in computers, Yokoyama attended National Institute of Technology, Nagano College, studying electronic engineering for five years after graduating from middie school.^[1][3]

Influenced by Joe Hisaishi's music in Studio Ghibli's films that he watched when he was young and musician Tetsuya Komuro, Yokoyama decided to pursue a career in music and attended Kunitachi College of Music when he was nineteen,^[2] following his aunt encouragement.^[1] While in college, he met guitarist Hiroaki Tsutsumi, who would later work with Yokoyama on many projects.^[1] After graduating, Yokoyama worked as a freelancer, writing songs for various artists, before joining the music production company Miracle Bus in 2009,^[3] where he began to produce soundtracks for television dramas, anime, and other media.^[4] His first work as a sole composer was the 2011 television drama series Mitsu no Aji: A Taste of Honey.^[3]

He occasionally records his score overseas,^[4] and improvises instruments that would match the concept of each work, such as using buckets and decking brushes as instruments when recording the soundtrack for Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans.^[2]

• Profile at Miracle Bus (in Japanese)
• Masaru YokoyamaatAnime News Network's encyclopedia