Katamari Soundtracks: Transliterated Tags
While on a vacation in Japan, I bought the soundtracks to the PlayStation 2 games “Katamari Damacy” and “We ♥ Katamari”. These CDs were produced for the Japanese market, and are labeled entirely in Japanese.
When I got home from my trip, I ripped the CDs to Vorbis files on my computer, as I do with all CDs that I buy. As part of that process, I needed to tag the song files with the title and artist names, but they’re written in Japanese characters that I can’t readily type, and I didn’t really want to use the Japanese characters anyway since I can’t read them.
So I spent some time and did some research, and came up with a complete list of the transliterated names of everyone who’s credited for the music on this pair of albums.
The names written in Japanese are exactly the ones that appear in the cover booklets of the two CDs, and the Latin transliterations were obtained through many hours of looking up Kanji characters in the online Unihan Database and the GNOME Character Map, and searching the Web with Google. Some of these people, such as Yu Miyake, have their transliterated names mentioned frequently on the Web and were easy to find; others were very difficult, and required more creative searching and occasional guess-and-check.
Note that if you don’t have Japanese fonts installed on your computer, you won’t be able to see the Japanese characters on these pages. If ‘大’ appears as a box or question mark or something, rather than the Kanji character for “big”, you’re missing Japanese fonts. (Windows XP users: open Control Panel, choose “Regional and Language Options”, change to the “Languages” tab, and check the “Install files for East Asian languages” box.)
Background Information
For each of the songs on these CDs, people are credited in four roles:
- 作曲
- Means “composition/setting (of music)” according to the Unihan database. I refer to this role as “composer”.
- 作詞
- Means “song making” according to the Unihan database, in the sense of writing words to a song. I refer to this role as “lyricist”.
- 編曲
- Means “arrangement” according to the Unihan database. I refer to this role as “arranger”.
- うた
- Means “singer” according to the Unihan database, and I refer to it as such.
Not all songs have an arranger, and of course, instrumental songs don’t have a lyricist or singer. Some songs have several people in a given role.
The Artists
This is a list of all the musicians, in Latin alphabetical order by given name. The Japanese forms of these names are written in Japanese order (family name followed by given name) as they appear in the CD booklets; the Latin forms are written in Western order (given name followed by family name) as they appear when mentioned this way on the Web.
- Ado Mizumori (水森 亜土)
- Singer of “A Crimson Rose and a Gin Tonic”.
- Akitaka Toyama (遠山 明孝)
- Composer and lyricist of “The Moon and the Prince”.
- Composer of “You Are Smart”, “Stardust Fanfare”, and “Sunbaked Savanna”.
- Composer, arranger, and lyricist of “Everlasting Love”.
- Alisa (有紗)
- Singer of “Everlasting Love”.
- Asuka Sakai (境 亜寿香)
- Composer of “Overture”, “Overture Ⅱ”, “Fugue #7777”, “Last Samba”, and “Sunbaked Savanna”.
- Composer and lyricist of “A Crimson Rose and a Gin Tonic” and “Que Sera Sera”.
- Composer and arranger of “Bluffing Damacy”.
- Bigmouth the Duck (イヌのジョン), Yuuhi the Crow (アヒルのビッグマウス), Pe the Goat (カラスのユウヒ), Booby the Pig (ヤギのペー), Sexy the Cat (ブタのブービー), Nyuu the Crow (ネコのセクシー)
- These are the animal sounds which are used as instruments on “Sunbaked Savanna”.
- Charlie Kosei (チャーリー・コーセイ)
- Singer of “Que Sera Sera”.
- Dokaka
- Arranger, lyricist, and singer of “Katamari on the Rocks” (second version).
- Hideki Tobeta (戸部田 英樹)
- Composer and lyricist of “Katamaritaino”.
- Composer of “Katamari★Stars” and “Sunbaked Savanna”.
- Composer, arranger, and lyricist of “Angel Rain” and “Houston”.
- Hiroshi Okubo (大���保 博)
- Composer, arranger, and lyricist of “Baby Universe” and “Disco★Prince”.
- Illreme (イルリメ)
- Composer, arranger, and lyricist of “Kuru Kuru Rock”.
- Kahimi Karie (カヒミ・カリィ)
- Lyricist and singer of “Blue Orb”.
- Katamari Company Jr. (かたまり隊 Jr.)
- Singers of “Cherry Blossom Color Season”.
- Katamari Robo (カタマリロボ)
- This is the synthesized voice heard in “Houston”.
- Katamari Samba Company (塊サンバ隊)
- Singers of “Last Samba”.
- Katsuro Tajima (田島 勝朗)
- Composer and arranger of “The Royal Academy of Katamari”.
- Composer of “A Song for the King of Kings”.
- Kazuyuki Oda (小田 一行)
- Lyricist of “Katamari Mambo — Katamari Syndrome Mix”.
- Keita Takahashi (高橋 慶太)
- Lyricist of “Katamari on the Rocks — Main Theme” and “Bluffing Damacy”.
- Kenji Ninuma (新沼 謙治)
- Singer of “The Moon and the Prince” and “Disco★Prince”.
- Kirinji (キリンジ)
- Singer of “Bluffing Damacy”.
- Maki Nomiya (野宮 真貴)
- Singer of “Baby Universe”.
- Masayuki Tanaka (田中 雅之)
- Singer of “Katamari on the Rocks — Main Theme”.
- Natsuki Isaki (井崎 夏樹)
- Lyricist of “Que Sera Sera”.
- Nobue Matsubara (松原 のぶえ)
- Singer of “Katamari Mambo — Katamari Syndrome Mix”.
- Sakamoto‐Chan (坂本ちゃん)
- Singer of “Katamari Mambo — Katamari Syndrome Mix”.
- Saki Kabata (椛田 ���紀)
- Singer of “Lonely Rolling Star”.
- Shigeru Matsuzaki (松崎 しげる)
- Singer of “Katamari Love — Ending Theme” and “Katamari on the Swing”.
- Takaki Horigome (堀込 高樹)
- Arranger of “Bluffing Damacy”.
- Takeshi Ugajin (宇賀神 岳史)
- Lyricist of “A Song for the King of Kings”.
- Tomoki Kanda (神田 朋樹)
- Composer of “Blue Orb”.
- Tomu Miyazaki (宮崎 吐夢)
- Singer of “A Song for the King of Kings”.
- Yohihito Yano (矢野 義人)
- (Alternatively spelled “Yoshihito”)
- Composer and lyricist of “Lonely Rolling Star”, “Katamari Love — Ending Theme”, and “Katamari on the Swing”.
- Composer of “Beautiful Star”.
- Composer and arranger of “Sunbaked Savanna”.
- You
- Singer of “Angel Rain”.
- Yu Miyake (三宅 優)
- Composer of “Nananan Katamari”, “Overture”, “Overture Ⅱ”, “Wanda Wanda”, “Angel Flavor’s Present”, “Lovely Angel”, “Last Samba”, and “Katamari March Damacy”.
- Composer and lyricist of “Katamari on the Rocks — Main Theme”, “Cherry Blossom Color Season”, “Introduction”, “Katamari on the Rocks” (second version), and “Beautiful Star”.
- Composer, arranger, and lyricist of “Katamari on the Swing”.
- Arranger of “Disco★Prince”.
- Composer and arranger of “Sunbaked Savanna”.
- Arranger and lyricist of “A Song for the King of Kings”.
- Yui Asaka (浅香 唯)
- Singer of “Katamaritaino”.
- Yuri Misumi (三角 由里)
- Composer of “The Wonderful Star’s Walk is Wonderful” and “Sunbaked Savanna”.
- Composer and lyricist of “Katamari Mambo — Katamari Syndrome Mix”.
- Composer, arranger, and lyricist of “Katamari Holiday”.
- Arranger and lyricist of “A Song for the King of Kings”.
- Yuusama (ゆうさま)
- Singer of “Katamari Holiday”.
Album: 「塊は魂」 (“Katamari wa Damacy”)
- Track 1: “Introduction”
- Composer: Yu Miyake
- Arranger: Akitaka Toyama
- Lyricist: Yu Miyake
- Track 2: 「塊オンザロック」 (“Katamari on the Rocks”)
- Composer: Yu Miyake
- Arranger: Dokaka
- Lyricist: Yu Miyake, Dokaka
- Singer: Dokaka
- Track 3: “Overture Ⅱ”
- Composer: Asuka Sakai, Yu Miyake
- Track 4: 「塊オンザスウィング」 (“Katamari on the Swing”)
- Composer: Yohihito Yano, Yu Miyake
- Arranger: Yu Miyake
- Lyricist: Yu Miyake, Yohihito Yano
- Singer: Shigeru Matsuzaki
- Track 5: 「くるくるロック」 (“Kuru Kuru Rock”)
- Composer: Illreme
- Arranger: Illreme
- Lyricist: Illreme
- Track 6: “Everlasting Love”
- Composer: Akitaka Toyama
- Arranger: Akitaka Toyama
- Lyricist: Akitaka Toyama
- Singer: Alisa
- Track 7: 「つよがり魂」 (“Bluffing Damacy”)
- Composer: Asuka Sakai
- Arranger: Asuka Sakai, Takaki Horigome
- Lyricist: Keita Takahashi
- Singer: Kirinji
- Track 8: 「ビューティフ���スター」 (“Beautiful Star”)
- Composer: Yohihito Yano, Yu Miyake
- Arranger: Yu Miyake
- Track 9: 「天使の雨」 (“Angel Rain”)
- Composer: Hideki Tobeta
- Arranger: Hideki Tobeta
- Lyricist: Hideki Tobeta
- Singer: You
- Track 10: 「���ューストン」 (“Houston”)
- Composer: Hideki Tobeta
- Arranger: Hideki Tobeta
- Lyricist: Hideki Tobeta
- Singer: Katamari Robo
- Track 11: “Blue Orb”
- Composer: Tomoki Kanda
- Lyricist: Kahimi Karie
- Singer: Kahimi Karie
- Track 12: 「塊ホリディ」 (“Katamari Holiday”)
- Composer: Yuri Misumi
- Arranger: Yuri Misumi
- Lyricist: Yuri Misumi
- Singer: Yuusama
- Track 13: 「ベイビーユニバース」 (“Baby Universe”)
- Composer: Hiroshi Okubo
- Arranger: Hiroshi Okubo
- Lyricist: Hiroshi Okubo
- Singer: Maki Nomiya
- Track 14: “Disco★Prince”
- Composer: Hiroshi Okubo
- Arranger: Hiroshi Okubo, Yu Miyake
- Lyricist: Hiroshi Okubo
- Singer: Kenji Ninuma
- Track 15: 「灼熱のサバンナ」 (“Sunbaked Savanna”)
- Composer: Yohihito Yano, Yu Miyake, Asuka Sakai, Hideki Tobeta, Yuri Misumi, Akitaka Toyama
- Arranger: Yohihito Yano, Yu Miyake
- Singer: Bigmouth the Duck, Yuuhi the Crow, Pe the Goat, Booby the Pig, Sexy the Cat, Nyuu the Crow
- Track 16: “The Royal Academy of Katamari”
- Composer: Katsuro Tajima
- Arranger: Katsuro Tajima
- Track 17: 「キングオブキングのうた」 (“A Song for the King of Kings”)
- Composer: Katsuro Tajima
- Arranger: Yuri Misumi, Yu Miyake
- Lyricist: Yu Miyake, Takeshi Ugajin, Yuri Misumi
- Singer: Tomu Miyazaki
- Track 18: “Owari no Comment”
- (No artists are credited for this song.)