Found this to be pretty well done and interesting..

It's only 15 mins, but hoping to see additional episodes

http://bcove.me/7bxltqbg

My immediate critiques include - why is 'Red Bull' (shameless crack-like-substance marketers) involved in this, and the compare and contrast with 'hip hop' artists (when so many others should be / could be referenced)...but that said - pretty cool info and interviews with 'Hip' Tanaka, and one of the original Namco sound designers...

That was very interesting. Never really heard of Rally-X.

This is great

This is fantastic! 15 minutes definitely doesn't feel like enough, though it appears they're going to use episodes to focus on a handful of figures at a time. It's too bad; the taste of the technical end we got from Namco left me wanting to see much much more of that.

Aside from hosting the videos, Red Bull's presence isn't felt at all, so I can't hold anything against them. I don't necessarily object to the western artists featured, but for all their talk of how game music influenced, we don't get to hear any of that influence outside of some Pac-Man sampling. They don't really contribute anything meaningful compared to the detail and insight of the Japanese speakers, mostly a lot of "Contra man, that shit was ill."

The second episode is out, and pays tribute to the composition (and hardware) of Konami and Sunsoft. I was surprised to hear some Gremlins 2 (NES), though it wasn't mentioned by name, of course.

I wonder why they use so many random shots of general streets/outdoors when they could show the gameplay the music comes from instead more.  that seems strange to me.  And yes, other than Anamanaguchi I don't see what all the other rap artists bring to the discussion other than sayin it's all "illin'" too.

Waveform charts - That is some hardcore stuff. Liked the quote on the cheapness of the sound being special. Episode is well-paced. The use of various non-Japanese artists is good filler before getting to the good stuff. Cool to hear about Jamaica's influence on Tanaka's music.

Edit: Watched Episode 2. Maintains the high quality of the first episode. Hearing the NES music with the HD footage of Japan is very calming. The bike ride to compose melodies with cool breeze is very good information; I'll be adding it to a vgmdb thread on inspirations artists use.

I think this episode overdid it with the non-Japanese artists talking. Looking forward to Ep. 4.

That shows the influence of the old Namco/chip/NES soundtracks. It spills over across generations, continents, and genres. The fact that some square waves that were programmed by some woman in Japan in 1984 have influenced a young hip-hop artist living in America in 2014 speaks to the weight of VGM. I love this shit! Can't wait for the final three episodes.

Word dog...

Sorry, no offense... couldn't resist.

All six episodes are up now. Loved this series, and really appreciated the recognition and respect they gave to composers like Shimomura, Uematsu, Namco ST, etc. Totally worth your time if you haven't seen them yet!

holy crap,, uematsu has a whole wall of cds to the ceiling.
its a good thing there are no earthquakes in ja,,,, oh wait, nevermind...

The Verge did a story on these documentaries and on Japanese VGM:
Why modern music owes a big debt to Japanese video games

They address this briefly in the article actually.