Akino Arai

From a young age Akino Arai was a songwriter and performer. Her father was very fond of music and the two would often spend time writing songs together. This early encouragement most certainly nurtured the seeds of musical talent that would bloom into her future musical career.

The early musical compositions that Akino wrote with her father came to an abrupt end when her parents separated. However she never forgot her father and is grateful for the time and effort that he lavished upon her early attempts at song writing. Even though her father who was her main influence left and her family relocated to Fukuoka, the young composer continued to be interested in music.

Her dream was to become a recording artist, but the road to a record contract is a long and difficult process. As her only performances were miniature concerts in her mother's coffee shop, it would be almost impossible for her to get the exposure needed for a record company to notice her. But Akino was very lucky that someone who DID hear one of her small coffee shop concerts contacted Victor records who offered her the opportunity to come to Tokyo to record. She then realised her dream of following a career in music could become a reality and agreed.

Akino's early efforts at Victor were offset by severe management restrictions and demands which after only a few short years would exhaust and burn her out to the extent that it caused her to suffer from a bad case of writer's block. These early years were productive none the less, and after a few collaborations with various artists she released her first album Natsukashii mirai which was followed up by a series of grueling concert performances. It was at this point that she decided the restrictions on her artistic freedom that her management imposed upon her was unacceptable. Two years later she parted ways with them.

Even though she was now a freelancer and able to choose projects as she wanted it meant that it limited her to chiefly writing music for other people and collaborations. But even so she released a number of singles and albums during this period. Notable releases at this time included her Sora no niwa album and a number of popular singles such as Hiru no tsuki and Tsuki no te. She also worked widely for television and advertising companies as well as forming friendships in anime/gaming circles with whom she would extensively work with later in her career.

It was when Akino Arai was starting to become more involved with anime and games soundtracks that she found that she was really starting to feel greater confidence and inspiration. This new found creativity led to more solo album releases and chart success. Her dream of musical success was now a reality. Work on notable anime including "Record of Lodoss War", "Macross Plus" and "Please Save my Earth" cemented her place as one of Japan's most popular and prolific anime music artists. Her popularity earned her the chance to work on a new project called "VIRIDIAN HOUSE" which is a weekly hour long radio show and also the name of her personal website.

Apart from anime/game soundtrack recordings she has worked on several collaborations including a successful duet project with Yayoi Yula, a musician whom she greatly admired. Additionally she played acoustic guitar and toy piano in the band Marsh-mallow with whom she recorded the self titled album Marsh-mallow . Zabadak was another band with whom she recorded an album with, but because of her commitment to her other works she did not remain a member of either band for long.

To celebrate her 20th anniversary as a recording artist she released a special album entitled Sora no uta as well as a live performance DVD of the same name. Due to growing international interest in her career, Akino made the decision to embark on her first overseas tour in which she performed to enthusiastic audiences in France and Germany during the spring of 2006. After her return to Japan, she released the single Kimi e mukau hikari for the anime series "ZEGAPAIN".

After a couple of years of being fairly inactive except for being featured on several anime themed compilations, a new full album entitled Sora no sphere has been set for release in April 2009. Additionally a mini European tour with dates in Germany and France has been lined up to promote the album. Akino Arai's career although long, continues with great success!