Pokemon Anime Orchestra Performers

[Blue_Drifblim]

I've always wondered who actually performed the music in the Pokemon anime in the Japanese version.... It's been unusually shrouded in mystery. So, I decided to go searching a couple of days ago. Well, it appears I have found my answer, thanks to Yumiko Yamamoto's website and blog. She works as a studio musician and has TONS of info/pictures for different anime recording sessions. It turns out, she has info about Pokemon recording sessions dating all the way back to 2004 (the Deoxys movie)! (Near the bottom of each entry, you can see who plays what instrument). I thought people might be interested in this, so here are some small excerpts from her website. I put some pictures in, but you can find more pictures of Shinji Miyazaki and the orchestra members in the links given at the top of each section.

Edit: Names/information for Movies 9-14, DP TV series and Best Wishes TV series is now put up! I've also organized this first post.

Names and instrument info have been gotten from posts on Yumiko Yamamoto's website. Clicking on their names takes you to each person's VGMdb page. Keep in mind that there may be more people/instruments not mentioned... They probably could have not been in the recording session reported about, or just not mentioned. Note the "and one other", "and two others".

Before you go on though, something real quick that you should know: おっちゃん is 旭 孝 (あさひ たかし) - Takashi Asahi. He's in many pictures on the website. Some with Shinji Miyazaki! ...Okay, had to get that out of the way.

Click on the spoiler tabs to see the info for that movie/TV series. Sources are listed at the bottom of the credits. Please let me know if there are any errors or wrong links! If you want me to add images of people/the recording studio/the actual recordings let me know. Also, if anybody has any tips/recommendations for a better organization of this post, please feel free to say so.

Sorry that this took me a little bit longer than expected. I hope you enjoy, or find this useful! I'm most likely going to add images later, along with the information for the Deoxys movie. (I have not seen recording information for the Lucario movie)

Movie 14 (Victini) 1st recording session

Spoiler

Strings - マサさんのグループ - Masa-san's Group (Masatsugu Shinozaki Strings)
Flute, Piccolo - おっちゃん, 金子奈美 - Nami Kaneko
Oboe - 石橋雅一 - Masakazu Ishibashi
Clarinet - 十亀正司 - Masashi Togame
Trumpet - 菅坡雅彦 - Masahiko Sugasaka, 横山 均 - Hitoshi Yokoyama and one other
Trombone - 中川英二郎 - Eijiro Nakagawa and two others
Horn - 藤田乙比古 - Otohiko Fujita and one other
Percussion - 藤井珠緒, Tamao Fuji
Operator - 丸尾 稔 - Minoru Maruo
Conductor - 多田彰文 - Akifumi Tada
Source

BW TV Series

Spoiler

Strings - マサさんのグループ - Masa-san's Group (Masatsugu Shinozaki Strings)
Flute, Recorder, and Bamboo Flute - おっちゃん
Flute, Piccolo, Recorder - 金子奈美 - Nami Kaneko
Oboe - 石橋雅一 - Masakazu Ishibashi
Clarinet - 十亀正司 - Masashi Togame
Trumpet - 菅坡雅彦 - Masahiko Sugasaka, 横山 均 - Hitoshi Yokoyama and one other
Trombone - 中川英二郎 - Eijiro Nakagawa, 松本 治 - Osamu Matsumoto, 山城純子 - Junko Yamashiro
Horn - 藤田乙比古 - Otohiko Fujita and one other
Operator - 丸尾 稔 - Minoru Maruo
Conductor - 多田彰文 - Akifumi Tada
Engineer - 中村充時
Recorded at サウンドシティのＡ- Sound City Recording Studio A
Source

DP TV Series

Spoiler

Strings - 小池ストリングス - Hiroyuki Koike Strings
Flute, Piccolo, Recorder, and Ocarina - おっちゃん, 金子奈美 - Nami Kaneko
Oboe - 石橋雅一 - Masakazu Ishibashi
Clarinet - 十亀正司 - Masashi Togame
Trumpet - 寺島 (?) and two others
Trombone - 松本 治 - Osamu Matsumoto and two others
Horn - 南浩之 - Hiroyuki Minami and one other
Percussion - 草刈とも子 - Tomoko Kusakari, 高田みどり - Midori Takada
Piano - 松田真人 - Masato Matsuda
Conductor - はいしま公二
Engineer - 中村充時
Recorded at ビクターの３０１- Victor Studio Room 301
Source

Movie 13 (Zoroark) 2nd recording session

Spoiler

Strings - マサさんのグループ - Masa-san's Group (Masatsugu Shinozaki Strings)
Flute, Piccolo, Bamboo Flute, Alto flute, and Whistle - おっちゃん
Flute, Piccolo, Alto flute - 金子奈美 - Nami Kaneko
Oboe - 石橋雅一 - Masakazu Ishibashi
Clarinet - 元木瑞香 - Mizuka Motoki
Harp - 朝川朋之 - Tomoyuki Asakawa
Trumpet - 菅坡雅彦 - Masahiko Sugasaka and two others
Trombone - 中川英二郎 - Eijiro Nakagawa, 山城純子 - Junko Yamashiro and one other
Horn - 藤田乙比古 - Otohiko Fujita and two others
Percussion - 草刈とも子 - Tomoko Kusakari, 藤井玉緒 - Tamao Fuji (most likely an alternate)
Operator - 丸尾 稔 - Minoru Maruo
Conductor - 多田彰文 - Akifumi Tada
Engineer - 中村充時
Recorded at ビクターの３０１- Victor Studio Room 301
Source

Movie 13 (Zoroark) 1st recording session

Spoiler

Strings - マサさんのグループ - Masa-san's Group (Masatsugu Shinozaki Strings)
Flute and Piccolo - おっちゃん, 金子奈美 - Nami Kaneko
Oboe - 庄司知史 - Satoshi Shoji
Clarinet - 元木瑞香 - Mizuka Motoki
Trumpet - 菅坡雅彦 - Masahiko Sugasaka, 横山 均 - Hitoshi Yokoyama and one other
Trombone - 中川英二郎 - Eijiro Nakagawa, 松本 治 - Osamu Matsumoto, 山城純子 - Junko Yamashiro
Horn - 藤田乙比古 - Otohiko Fujita and two others
Percussion - 高田みどり - Midori Takada
Operator - 丸尾 稔 - Minoru Maruo
Conductor - 多田彰文 - Akifumi Tada
Engineer - 中村充時
Recorded at サウンドシティのＡ- Sound City Recording Studio A
Source

Movie 12 (Arceus)

Spoiler

Strings - マサさんのグループ - Masa-san's Group (Masatsugu Shinozaki Strings)
Flute, Piccolo, Recorder, and Whistle - おっちゃん, 金子奈美 - Nami Kaneko
Oboe - 石橋雅一 - Masakazu Ishibashi
Clarinet - 十亀正司 - Masashi Togame
Harp - 女性 (Female)
Trumpet - 菅坂雅彦 - Masahiko Sugasaka, 河東 - Nobuo Kato(could be someone else) and one other
Trombone - 中川英二郎 - Eijiro Nakagawa, 松本 治 - Osamu Matsumoto, 山城純子 - Junko Yamashiro
Horn - 藤田乙比古 - Otohiko Fujita and two others
Percussion - 藤井玉緒 - Tamao Fuji (most likely an alternate), 高良久美子 - Kumiko Takara
Operator - 丸尾 稔 - Minoru Maruo
Conductor - 中谷勝昭
Engineer - 中村充時
Recorded at ビクターの３０１- Victor Studio Room 301
Source

Movie 11 (Shaymin) 2nd recording session

Spoiler

Strings - 小池弘之さんのグループ - Hiroyuki Koike Strings
Flute and Recorder - おっちゃん
Flute and Piccolo - 金子奈美 - Nami Kaneko
Oboe and English Horn - 石橋雅一 - Masakazu Ishibashi
Clarinet - 十亀正司 - Masashi Togame
Harp - 朝川朋之 - Tomoyuki Asakawa
Trumpet - 寺島昌夫 Masao Terashima (possible alternate spelling?), 斎藤幹雄 - Mikio Saito,
石井憲一
Trombone - 松本 治 - Osamu Matsumoto, 中川英二郎 - Eijiro Nakagawa, 山城純子 - Junko Yamashiro
Horn - 南浩之 - Hiroyuki Minami, 中島大之 - Hiroyuki Nakajima, 丸山勉 - Tsutomu Maruyama
Percussion - 高田みどり - Midori Takada, 藤井珠緒 - Tamao Fuji
Conductor - 中谷勝昭
Engineer - 中村充時
Recorded at サウンドシティのＡ- Sound City Recording Studio A
Source

Movie 11 (Shaymin) 1st recording session

Spoiler

Strings - マサさんのグループ - Masa-san's Group (Masatsugu Shinozaki Strings)
Flute - おっちゃん, 金子奈美 - Nami Kaneko
Oboe - Masakazu Ishibashi
Clarinet - 星野正 - Tadashi Hoshino
Horn - 藤田乙比古 - Otohiko Fujita and one other
Trumpet - 菅坂雅彦 - Masahiko Sugasaka and two others
Trombone - 松本治 - Osamu Matsumoto and two others
Percussion - 高田みどり - Midori Takada
Recorded at ビクターの３０１ - Victor Studio Room 301
Source

Movie 10 (Darkrai)

Spoiler

Strings - マサさんのグループ - Masa-san's Group (Masatsugu Shinozaki Strings)
Flute - 高桑英世 - Hideo Takakuwa, 若松純子 - Junko Wakamatsu
Oboe - 庄司知史 - Satoshi Shoji
Clarinet - 元木瑞香 - Mizuka Motoki
Trumpet - 菅坂雅彦 - Masahiko Sugasaka, 西村浩二 - Koji Nishimura, 横山 均 - Hitoshi Yokoyama
Trombone - 松本治 - Osamu Matsumoto, 井口有里 - Yuri Iguchi, 山城純子 - Junko Yamashiro
Horn - 藤田乙比古 - Otohiko Fujita, 勝俣泰 - Yasushi Katsumata, 広川実 - Minoru Hirokawa
Percussion - 草刈とも子 - Tomoko Kusakari, 長谷川友紀 - Yuki Hasegawa
Harp - 朝川朋之 - Tomoyuki Asakawa
Conductor - はいしま公二
Recorded at ビクターの３０１ - Victor Studio Room 301
(I think the report says something about おっちゃん being unable to attend)
Source

Movie 9 (Manaphy)

Spoiler

Strings - マサさんのグループ - Masa-san's Group (Masatsugu Shinozaki Strings)
Flute - おっちゃん, 金子奈美 - Nami Kaneko
Oboe - 石橋雅一 - Masakazu Ishibashi
Clarinet - 十亀正司 - Masashi Togame
Harp - 朝川朋之 - Tomoyuki Asakawa
Trumpet - 菅坂雅彦 - Masahiko Sugasaka, 横山均 - Hitoshi Yokoyama and one other
Trombone - 松本治, Osamu Matsumoto, 山城純子 - Junko Yamashiro and one other
Horn - 南浩之 - Hiroyuki Minami and two others
Percussion - 草刈とも子 - Tomoko Kusakari, 高田みどり - Midori Takada
Synth Operator - 丸尾 稔 - Minoru Maruo
Conductor - はいしま公二
Engineer - 中村充時
Recorded at ビクターの３０１ - Victor Studio Room 301
Source

Movie 7 (Deoxys)

Spoiler

Strings - マサさんのグループ - Masa-san's Group (Masatsugu Shinozaki Strings)
Flute - おっちゃん, 金子- (Nami Kaneko, I assume)
Oboe - 庄司知史 - Satoshi Shoji
Clarinet - 十亀正司 - Masashi Togame
Classic Percussion - 高田みどり - Midori Takada, 草刈とも子 - Tomoko Kusakari
(From what I gather from the report, the brass section was unavailable for some reason)

"Operator" refers to the Synthesizer Operator. I'm also pretty sure that the Engineer is also known as the Mixer. The Q&A/Dictionary section of the website is a great help...

Once again, giant thanks to VGMdb and Yumiko Yamamoto's website.

 

[Dogasu]

This is fantastic information. I'd love to delve into all that and start translating as soon as I get reliable Internet service again. Thanks for posting this!

 

[Blue_Drifblim]

This is fantastic information. I'd love to delve into all that and start translating as soon as I get reliable Internet service again. Thanks for posting this!

Great! I'll be looking forward to that time, then.

Yeah... When I found this info, it made my week. XD

Something I didn't mention in the first post is that you can search "ポケモン" through Masatsugu Shinozaki's blog and that leads to even more info, mostly pictures. I found a link to the blog in one of Yumiko Yamamoto's recording reports for Soul Eater. She has more links to the blog in other reports.

 

[SolgaleoGX]

I have always wondered about the participating musicians in many of my favourite series. Rarely are they openly credited for their participation. I never thought I'd hear about participating musicians the Pokemon Anime. Looking through this reminded me of extras available in movies and series DVD's. And to see history for various movies is amazing.

Seriosuly thanks so much for sharing this.

And I look forward to your translation Dogasu.

 

[JB2448]

I've had quite an interest in the anime's soundtrack (much more than the show itself), so this is amazing for me and I'm sure many others. Thank you so much!

 

[Blue_Drifblim]

Hey guys! Check out the first post... It's gotten an overhaul. Hope you find it useful.

 

[Yoshi1001]

It's neat you were able to get this information. Generally we're lucky if they print the names of the people in the studio orchestra in the liner notes (I've only seen it on the soundtrack to Star Trek: Nemesis).

 

[Blue_Drifblim]

Yumiko Yamamoto posted not too long ago a quite lengthy two-part report on the recording sessions for this year's movies. Orchestra performer's names are given as usual. Many pictures of the crew and a 40 second long video of a live recording are there as well, so check 'em out!

Also, apparently the soundtrack (soundtracks?) for these movies are a collaboration between Shinji Miyazaki, Akifumi Tada, and Kazuhiko Sawaguchi or something? Akifumi Tada has composed some pieces for the movies before, but I believe Kazuhiko Sawaguchi is a newcomer to Pokemon. Yumiko Yamamoto as also posted what I believe is an interview with the three of them.

If anybody wants to translate some of this stuff, please do! It'd be a great help.