Hidekazu Tanaka

Hidekazu Tanaka

Hidekazu Tanaka (born June 4, 1987) is a Japanese composer and arranger best known for his work producing songs and soundtracks for anime and videogames. He was affiliated with the music production company MONACA, but left in 2021 to be freelance.

During his 10 years at MONACA, Tanaka composed music and songs for such anime as Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!, Aikatsu!, Servant × Service, THE IDOLM@STER MOVIE: Kagayaki no Mukōgawae!, The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls, Sword Oratoria: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Hitori Bocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu, and Idoly Pride.

He is perhaps best known for composing the first opening song "Star!!" for The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls anime, as well as composing the anime's soundtrack. He also composed and arranged many of the songs in the larger The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls franchise. More recently, he is credited as the composer for the second and fourth versions of the opening song "1・2・3" for the Pokémon Journeys: The Series anime, and composed the opening song "Ichigo Ichie Celebration" for the second season of the Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! anime.

Arrest and conviction

On October 24, 2022, at age 35, Tanaka was arrested in Tokyo on the charge of attempted forcible indecency — a Japanese legal term which includes sexual assault. It is reported that he made sexual comments towards a teenage female (15 years old) and forcibly took her hand at a train station's bicycle parking area in Tokyo's Meguro ward in August. One source claims that, according to The Mainichi, a major Japanese news outlet, Tanaka allegedly called out to the girl and then tried to touch her sexually. The activity allegedly took place on August 20 at approximately 10:30 at night, while Tanaka and the teenager didn’t know each other beforehand.

The Metropolitan Police Department’s Himonya Police Station has shared some details. According to them, Tanaka said the girl caught his attention and he followed her by getting on the same train she was taking. Police believe that Tanaka and the young female were in a parking lot after the train ride and he brought her into a dark area where he tried to initiate sexual contact.

The female in question did not reciprocate his advances and actively resisted, running away and quickly making a report to the police. According to Anime News Network’s report, the police looked at footage from the train station’s security camera and saw someone following the young female. Tanaka allegedly said "I'll give you money so won't you do it?" before taking her hand.

According to another source, during his appearance in court, Hidekazu stated that he'd acted similarly "numerous" times in the past decade. The musician said doing this helped him relieve stress. Reportedly, he pleaded guilty and was found guilty of other offences, including exposing his penis on trains and sneaking pictures of young females' underwear. He apologized and stated that he wanted to experience the thrill of whether he would get caught, and stating that his actions were a way to relieve work stress and daily frustrations. After pleading guilty to all charges, he was sentenced to prison behind bars.

In response, his name has been removed from various anime series, the sales for the 2nd opening theme to Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! were halted, and the sales of the 4th version of the 1st opening theme to Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series were halted as well.