5 years ago on March 9, Kenji Yamamoto was fired

[DB1984]

Yes, it was 5 years ago today that Kenji Yamamoto, the longtime composer and arranger for the Dragon Ball franchise, was fired by Toei for plagiarism that had been around for about 20 years. Wow. Time really passed by so quickly.

To understand how and why did this happen to Yamamoto, we have to start at the beginning. Yamamoto's link with the Japanese music industry began when he was hired by Toei as a music arranger for the Dragon Ball franchise in 1987. His very first project was on With a Blazing Heart: Defeat the Red Ribbon Army, the insert song to episode #065 of the show.

His role on the show expanded even further when Dragon Ball evolved into Dragon Ball Z in 1989. For the next four years, Yamamoto worked as an arranger on many of the songs in the show, including the opening and ending themes (CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA and Come Out, Incredible ZENKAI Power! respectively), all the DBZ movie ending themes up until Movie 9, the ending themes to the Bardock and Trunks specials, insert songs such as Mind Power …Ki… and Day of Destiny: Spirit Vs. Spirit (from episodes #139 and #184 respectively),and all the albums in the DBZ Hit Song Collection Series from Vol. 1 to Vol. 16. The same year DBZ premiered, he composed his first song: Battle Colored Warriors, the insert song to episode #020. Many of his arrangements featured the multi-talented Hironobu Kageyama on lead vocals. The two struck up a friendship in 1989, and have been friends since.

Then in 1991, Yamamoto composed and arranged what is generally regarded as his opus: Battle Point Unlimited. The song originally appeared on Vol. 6 of the Hit Song Collection, and became more well-known when it was played twice as the insert song of episode #120, when Future Trunks battled a revived Frieza. Songs that were composed by Yamamoto were usually performed by him and his band, which was called Monolith.

During this time, Yamamoto crossed over to other Shows from Toei, including the Super Sentai series. He was the arranger on the Fiveman, Zyuranger, Dairanger, and Kakuranger shows. He would go on to be a composer for Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger. He also arranged the opening theme to Bishoujo Kamen Poitrine, the 11th entry in the Toei Fushigi Comedy Series franchise. He even worked on non-Toei shows, including Kiteretsu Encyclopedia and Bomberman B-Daman Bakugaiden.

In 1993, Yamamoto added video game music to his resume, when Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden, his first composition for a DBZ video game was released for the Super Nintendo. There was another Kenji Yamamoto who worked on video game music, but he had nothing to do with the one known for DBZ, and his name used different Kanji (山本 健誌 instead of 山本健司).

In 2002, Dragon Ball Z Budokai was released on Playstation 2 in the United States. This was when Yamamoto's music started getting more exposure outside of Japan. It also became something of a pastime on forums to point out that there was one thing many of his compositions had in common: They all sounded suspiciously similar to many western rock 'n' roll songs. For instance, Challengers from DBZ Budokai sounded like Hunting High and Low by Finnish band Stratovarius and Battle Point Unlimited from DBZ sounded like three different songs from the German band Propaganda. Now, it had never been an uncommon thing for musicians in Japan to compose similar sounding music, almost to the point of ripping off. In fact, trying to compile a list of video game BGM tracks that sound just like real songs would fill up an entire book. However, there was something about Kenji Yamamoto that set him apart from all the others.

In 2009, Yamamoto was announced as the composer for the refurbished and remastered Dragon Ball Kai. In 2010, the shows' English dub debuted in America with his BGM. Unfortunately, this was the beginning of the end for Yamamoto. The plagiarism in his composition was becoming way too obvious, and right off the bat, a few of his tracks were discovered to have been rip-offs of Hollywood movie scores (I.E. Terminator: Salvation, Avatar and Elizabeth).

In 2011, the fallout began. On March 7, Nippon-Columbia announced that Vol. IV of the soundtrack to Dragon Ball Kai was cancelled indefinitely. It was supposed to have been a "Best Of", featuring 76 tracks, including 6 previously unreleased. Two days later, it was a done deal. After 24 years with them, Yamamoto was shown the door by his bosses at Toei. Toei then issued a statement that they had now acknowledged muisc in Dragon Ball Kai, that possibly infringed other peoples' works. Fuji TV was at episode #095 of the refurbished Cell arc, and had three more to go until the series was over. The timing of Yamamoto's termination could not have been anymore coincidental, as yet another two days later on March 11, Japan was devastated by a massive combination of earthquakes and tsunamis. Dragon Ball Kai had to be preempted on March 13, and the Yamamoto BGM that they had ready to go for the last three episodes was hastily replaced with the Shunsuke Kikuchi BGM from Dragon Ball Z. Eventually, the rest of the series' BGM would follow suit. Many fans, even those who were otherwise fans of the Kikuchi BGM, criticized the placement of the cues; the fact that only a portion of his music had been converted from analog to digital didn't help either. Japan, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less; they welcomed back the Kikuchi BGM with wide-open embrace. Episodes #096 and #097 respectively aired on March 20 and 27, while #098 was exclusive to DVDs and Blu-Rays.

In addition, they had to go back and replace the Yamamoto BGM on the DBZ video games. Japan has always been known to take controversies like this VERY seriously (There was also the time singer Noriko Sakai, who narrated the Pokemon short Pichu and Pikichu, was arrested for a drug abuse scandal in 2009, and her narration was removed from ALL further reissues of the short).

In 2012, Hironobu Kageyama decided not to renew his contract with Nippon-Columbia, since Yamamoto was no longer involved with the Dragon Ball franchise. Supposedly, Yamamoto disappeared from the public eye after March 2011. However, that's not true as he arranged music for a Japan tribute album, after the events of March 11. He also continutes to arrange music for Kageyama, and in a statement that he released only privately, he said that he was banned from ever composing music for obvious reasons.

After Yamamoto was fired, Toei hired saxophonist Norihito Sumitomo to replace him. He composed music for Dragon Ball Kai 2.0, the two new DBZ movies in Battle of Gods and Revival of F, and Dragon Ball Super. Since then, Toei has also tried their best to make sure that something like this will never happen again.

[VegettoEX]

Very nice overview from beginning to end.

I don't have much more to contribute other than a few links here on the site: our news post about Toei's announcement and our big feature on Yamamoto.

[LuckyCat]

I remember the ending of this story vividly. I say today what I said then: What a waste! Yamamoto has at least some talent, but he borrowed way too much for his own good. The real shame is how it hurt Dragon Ball Kai, where the energizing new music was among the best features of that product.

It's hard to come to Yamamoto's defense, but the least I'll say is that he often improved on the tracks he allegedly stole from. But if he was going to "borrow" as much as he did, he should've gotten permission from the original composers.

[DB1984]

Thanks, VegettoEX. I touched upon some things that you didn't mention in your retrospective.

I know a lot of people will throw tomatoes at me for saying this, but Kenji Yamamoto was, in my not so humble opinion, and excellent arranger. Just about everything he arranged for the DBZ Anime, from 1989 to 1993, was gold. The songs that came after the opening and ending themes changed, they weren't bad, but they weren't as good.

I think that if Yamamoto had just stuck with arranging, and never moved on to composing, he'd still be working for the franchise right now.

[Ajay]

After Yamamoto was fired, Toei hired saxophonist Norihito Sumitomo to replace him.

To be perfectly frank, this is ultimately what upsets me most about this situation.

As much as I enjoyed "Yamamoto's" music, he got what he deserved. I'd rather not have this show associated with a known plagiariser. We all knew he did, but to finally have it put out there officially definitely shifted things dramatically.

Now we're stuck with Sumitomo; someone whose music may be his own, but is painfully bland and unfit for the series.

Thanks, Yamamoto. You fucked it up for everyone.

[Kuririn Fan]

It really sucks that he was stealing music, i really liked his soundtrack. And that fucked up everything.

[Geekdom101]

Yeah it sucks we'll never get those missing Kai eps or the classic video game soundtrack in the HD remake games. Sucks man.

[Iberian_Saiyan]

Five years already? Time passes by quickly. I loved the Kai soundtrack by Yamamoto so much that I bought all four albums, Kai Vol.1-3 and the Complete Song Collection but unfortunately Vol. 4 was never released and never will be.

[JulieYBM]

Oh, I didn't know Kageyama had left as a result of the scandal. I wonder if he knew what Yamamoto was doing and flew the coop to avoid retribution or was exiled?

[DB1984]

Oh, I didn't know Kageyama had left as a result of the scandal. I wonder if he knew what Yamamoto was doing and flew the coop to avoid retribution or was exiled?

I already said in my original post that Yamamoto continues to arrange music for Kageyama and is still friends with him.

[Thanos]

Sure, his Kai and tail-end video game soundtracks weren't anything special, but it signified the end of an era. I didn't particularly care for the Burst Limit/Raging Blast soundtracks, but it meant that we would probably never have anything to the level of the Super Butoden or Budokai OST's ever again. I know they were plagiarized, but I would argue that he had a genuine knack for arrangement and making songs his own. I have tons of fond memories around them, and they played a big part in my enjoyment of those games. The Budokai HD "Collection" took a massive hit without those tracks--so much so that to me, buying a PS2 and hunting down the original releases is a preferable scenario. And we still haven't gotten anything that's even come close in the music department. Xenoverse actually has a pretty solid soundtrack, but it just isn't the same. I miss the horns, the jazzy vibe, and the heavy guitars.

And if that's true about Kageyama, that's a damn shame. When it was discussed in the podcast about Masako Nozawa and Joji Yanami's voices being part of the "DNA" of Dragon Ball--I feel much the same about Kageyama.

There's definitely been something missing, in my opinion, since their departures.

[Lord Beerus]

He also continutes to arrange music for Kageyama, and in a statement that he released only privately, he said that he was banned from ever composing music for obvious reasons.

Good. I just can't stand the idea that some of my favourite tracks in Dragon Ball were shamelessly stolen.

[kei17]

Gosh, it's been five years since then already? I feel old.

I still strongly despise him for what he did and throwing dirt at my favorite franchise, but now I sort of feel pity for him at the same time.

In Japan, music arrangers have an unfairly lower status than composers, singers, songwriters and producers. Unlike these people, arrangers' works are often wholly purcased by record companies very cheaply and they don't have right to receive any royalities however their works sell well. Music arrangement is not considered as much creative as composition or writing lyrics since it's not a process of creating something from scratch. As a result, they don't take their responsibilities for their own creations seriously, which makes them turn to shamelessly copy songs ranked high in Billboard. As a music arranger, Yamamoto must've experienced something like this, too, and it might have taken him off course.

Being involved in anime and video game music doesn't help, too. Music composers hired for TV anime or video games are ordered to compose dozens of pieces at one time, very quickly. In addition, their genres cover a lot of ground, so they tend to appreciate utility men who can cleverly copy what anime/video game directors make pointed reference to, like "we need something sounds like Darth Vader's theme." Yoko Kan'no is a typical instance of this kind of anime music composers.

So, Kenji Yamamoto might be an extreme manifestation of the negative side of the Japanese music industry. Of course, it doesn't justify his extraordinary immorality, but I think I can now understand why someone like him could exist.

[Esfír Dedragón]

About a year or so before he was sacked, I distinctly remember watching several Youtube videos from this one channel that accused Yamamoto of possible plagiarism for some of his songs. The one that shocked me the most was "Battle Point Unlimited"', which has an uncanny, audial resemblance to Propaganda's "The Murder of Love", "The Chase", and "P Machinery.

I actually remembered reading several Youtube comments on Propaganda's songs about how similar it was to "Trunks's theme". For awhile, I wondered how Yamamoto was able to get away with this until I read from Daizex that he was *finally* caught.

Perhaps it was when he started to compose for Kai that someone finally exposed him?

I know that at least two of his tracks for Kai were ripped-off from Avatar and Terminator: Salvation.

[MCDaveG]

Yes, that's the guy who destroyed the audio part of Dragon Ball for years to come, leaving us with Sumitomo.
Well, at least it shows everything that is bad in Japanese industry. This weird and shortsighted approach is not only in music indsutry in Japan, but in anime, manga, school system, any other work you can think of...
I am always grateful to not be born there, as I can't imagine doing designing under tons of stress from little time and be precise (not to mention, I usually arrive at work late).

For god's sake, even my wife's japanese studies are crazy as hell. What is wrong with those people?
In the end, I pity Yamamoto, because plagiarism aside, he had a talent and his signature style that can be recognized anywhere. Sumitomo is bland s**t spinner.

[Enigmo]

To be honest, though he plagiarised, he had skills lol... his technical abilities were impressive.

I think this is one of his lesser known rip-offs. But, his version is better lol

Original - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Taf0NM2bn8A

Yamamoto-sama's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv08kO_cAFU

edit: he's so frickin stupid though....like, he even ripped the chorus' sound....like it wasn't needed. If he had just done that guitar melody and didn't copy the chorus' riffs, this one for e.g. wouldn't have been identifiable

I mean, I find Yamamoto to be a man of legend. He made a 20-year career of plagiarising, despite showing little subtlety.

Does anyone have any info on what he's up to these days?

And I can somewhat sympathise with him. If you make music, you can hear someone else's music and find it really awesome and feel it's really amazing, but at the same time be frustrated that you could have been the one who made this, but now someone has made it and you will never be able to do it yourself (if you understand what i'm trying to say lol) and both this admiration and frustration can drive an artist crazy lol. But, the fact that he actually went ahead and done it so frequently makes me think he had some real kind of problem--borderline psychopathy.

[Enigmo]

and OH lol

another thing about Kenji yamamoto that's funny is he actually "ripped off" others' dragon ball content lol (i'm assuming he arranged the DB kai opening song "Dragon Soul"--if he did Cha La and the whole of the actual Kai ost, then seems likely)

https://youtu.be/U0FkyYxOxQE?t=46s

That sounds a LOT like the chorus of the Dan Dan Kokoekosokasiodiao song from DBGT right? I wouldn't say he plagiarised here, since the melody is different, but they're uncannily similar, and I can--with confidence--say that, if Yamamoto arranged this, he definitely had "DB GT OP #1.mp3" on loop on his iPod while on the train, going to the studio to make some flamin' hot tracks

edit: i'll do a study. on my YT channel I'll upload that small snippet from the video I linked and ask people "what song is this?" and see how many say DBGT lol

[DB1984]

Enigmo, Yamamoto didn't arrange Dragon Soul; Seichi Kyoda did. Kyoda was an arranger on several songs of the original series, such as Mezase Tenkaichi.

[Enigmo]

DAMNIT!!!! this would have been such a good addition to Yamamoto's resume

[TheBlackPaladin]

Wai-wai-wait...Yamamoto is the reason Kageyama is gone? I didn't know that...if that's true, then that's horrible. I friggin love Kageyama's songs, and his singing style was a perfect fit for Dragon Ball. To know that that's why we lost him makes me much angrier with Yamamoto than I previously was.