Manami Matsumae

Manami Matsumae was born on Christmas Day 1964 in Kyoto, Japan. She graduated from the Osaka Academy of Music in 1987, and that same year joined the local company Capcom as a composer. Pioneer of music NES and 8-bit, she is known for her work on Mega Man and the memorable themes of its different levels.

She left Capcom in 1990 to become a freelancer, and soon after moved to Tokyo, where she lived for fifteen years before returning to Kansai, in Osaka, with her husband, also a composer, Kimitaka Matsumaeand their son. Over the years, she has composed music for games for various publishers, including U.N. Squadronthe series Derby Stallion or even Dragon Quest Swords.

In recent years, she has returned to the forefront of the music scene, composing a track for Mega Man 10his first Mega Man since Mega Man II. The studio Yacht Club Games asked him to write two songs for their retro hit Shovel Knightand she has found Keiji Inafuneafter more than fifteen years for Mighty No. 9which broke the new record on Kickstarterfor a video game in September 2013.

She is one of the directors of the Brave Wave Productions based in Japan and Kuwait, and has composed tracks for each of the label's albums: World 1-2In FluxRetro Active Pt. 1 and Rainblocks. She is currently working on a solo album due in 2017 as well as on Project Lightan album in collaboration with other former Capcom composers such as Yoko Shimomura and Ippo Yamada.

She came to Japan Expo in Paris in 2015, where she was able to meet many of her European fans for the first time.


Artist's Artworks