Per Ramza's suggestion, I am creating a new thread for this.  Do you wanna know what Hibino knows?  Ask him questions and get some answers?  Like, what is a fire and why does it... what's the word, burn?

Anyway, we rolled out a new feature at OSV called "Ask Hibino" where we take his English fan mail and pick one each month for him to respond to on the site.  He's going to try to answer the other messages he receives as well, but only one will be selected for the site.

http://www.originalsoundversion.com/?p=224

I've been telling people, even if they're not the hugest fan of Hibino or whatever, this is still pretty cool for a composer to take the time to do, so at least thank him for his time and willingness to get in touch with his fans.

And for those not "in the know," Norihiko Hibino did a number of Konami works including some of the soundtracks in the "Metal Gear Solid" series. One of my favorite works by him is for a PS2 RPG that stayed in Japan called Elvandia Story.

Be sure to submit some questions!

Ramza

I think I might've heard about that game.

Haha, I can picture Ramza making quotation marks in the air while saying that.

I'd like to know if Hibino will be returning for the eventual ZOE threequel's OST.

Submit it as a question!!

I hope he does.

Done and done. I love the guys' work a lot, and hope he does return.

It's nice to see another ZOE fan, but I really doubt that Hibino would be able to confirm whether there will be a third Zone of the Enders title and whether he is working on it. I'd personally be more inclined to ask a broader question such as how he feels about his Zone of the Enders work and whether he'd consider returning if the series were revived in the future.

Anyway, this is a cool feature. I'll also get straight to work on coming up with questions for SEMO's interview with him. Thanks for the help arranging that, Jayson!

All told, you're right. I was caught up in the excitement, is all.

And as far as I am concerned, as long as they bring back Hibino for music, and Nishimura for character designs, I'll be a happy camper.

So, uh.

Am I missing something or is there only one "ask hibino"?

(also, what the heck is the "remix monitor"?)

Heh, he's working on an Ask Hibino article as we speak!  Our initial intent was to do it monthly, but it's difficult with deadlines.

Also, Remix Monitor is a feature that we haven't started yet.  It's supposed to be a weekly recap of remixes from OCR and other venues.  So many grand ideas, but not the staff to do it.

Want to help us out?  ;D

Remix monitor sounds exactly like the kind of thing I'd like to help with, and also exactly the kind of thing I'd be terrible at doing. I'm a poor critic period, but my ability to discern the virtues and flaws of music in particular is nearly non-existent. I'd love to see some other people here contribute for that, though.

Yeah, I have a lot of ideas.  Remix Monitor was one of earliest ideas.  I actually wrote one edition, but figured I wouldn't be able to keep it up.  I was hoping Mustin or dhsu would take it up, but they don't have time either.

I mean, ideally we want somebody who's a fan, a musician, and a writer.  Very hard to find that combination.  Some people are fans and musicians, but not writers, or writers and not fans.  I'd love to see more people involved as well.  Especially in the areas of the remixing community, Japan's doujin scene, chip music, anime, and the demoscene.  I can only do so much!

I'm a fan, musician, and writer (though I haven't recorded any music in about 4 years).

But then, I've never followed OCremix, fan remixes, and doujin albums in general.

I stick to what I know for OSV.

I too was wondering about Ask Hibino. Glad another one is coming up!

FYI, the latest entry is up.  It's about his work on Ninja Blade. Already got one in the works for next month about some non-game projects he's working on.

B-b-but....my Boktai question....all I want to know if any albums other than the promotional were planned....

Well, I guess I was curious about Ninja Blade. And his comments about the curious duality of Japanese conservatism and Japanese flamboyance is interesting, if a bit obvious. I'm also glad to hear about there being two discs of music - that's usually the right amount for an action/adventure game (whereas I've lamented the recent downsizing of Uematsu scores).

Wait, did you formally ask about the Boktai thing?  Hibino had responded to a question about Boktai from Chris in the first entry (after the introduction):

Hibino: Well, actually I didn’t even know about the Boktai bonus soundtrack! Konami probably didn’t make a soundtrack because political matters tied it up. A Boktai arrange album may be cool! I should ask Konami if they are interested.

Did you want to know something else?

*stares at first Ask Hibino entry*

......

You edited that in, didn't you?!

(geez, am I really getting that oblivious? I could've sworn I read that entry...)