Naoki Kaneda (金田直樹) born on February 25, 1972, is a composer and arranger that was previously employed at Falcom, he joined the company in 1992 and worked there for five years.
Kaneda has been involved in numerous Falcom games during the mid-90s, including Brandish 2 and 3, Ys IV to V, The Legend of Xanadu series and The Legend of Heroes III and IV. Along with Shirakawa and Nakajima, Kaneda dominated during the PC-98 era with an iron fist and produced a lot of recognizable, high-quality work during this period. It would not be an exaggeration to call Kaneda one of the greatest composers Falcom have ever had, with Brandish 3 being his crowning achievement as a member of Sound Team J.D.K. and the pinnacle of Falcom's FM music.
After leaving Falcom, Kaneda moved to Quintet, which was established by former Falcom employees from the late-80s, and composed music for Solo Crisis, Code R and Brightis. Shortly after completing work on Brightis, he joined the visual novel developer Orbit under the alias "KIM's SOUNDROOM". As the only sound creator at Orbit, Kaneda handled the music of almost all their works, and eventually became the president of the same company.
Orbit paused indefinitely on December 2012 due to the effects of the earthquake, although their website was updated and renewed in June 2016. KIM's SOUNDROOM is currently active at ARIDESIGN Co.,Ltd.
Most of Kaneda's Falcom work has been revealed through Twitter exchanges with him. He's happy that people are still showing interest in his Falcom music.
Works in the series[]
| Game | Kaneda's Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Ys IV: Mask of the Sun | Composer |
| Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys | Composer |
| Ys V: Kefin, Lost Kingdom of Sand | Composer & Arranger |
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