{"id":56164,"date":"2026-01-26T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=56164"},"modified":"2026-01-26T18:57:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T09:57:47","slug":"in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/","title":{"rendered":"In The Hundred Line, even the \u201ceveryday\u201d song is designed to\u00a0fill you with unease. Masafumi Takada on creating \u201cpop dissonance\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0drawing from ancient Japanese music\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy\u2019s<\/strong> original soundtrack, created by Danganronpa and Digimon Story series composer Masafumi Takada, recently released across digital streaming platforms, with a physical disc scheduled to go on sale in April this year. Commemorating the launch, AUTOMATON sat down with Takada to learn about some the techniques he uses to create an underlying \u201cunease\u201d in his tracks, the influence he draws from ancient Japanese court music, and why his \u201chappy\u201d songs are intentionally simpler than others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first track Takada created for The Hundred Line was the titular \u201cHUNDRED LINE,\u201d which also happens to be one of the first songs players hear too. \u201cIt\u2019s basically an everyday-life track that plays when nothing special is happening,\u201d Takada says, \u201cbut to hint at the extraordinary situation lurking beneath the surface, I built it around sounds that feel unsettling and unstable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHarmonically, I was conscious of things like intentionally omitting the thirds or frequently using ninths, but ultimately, I composed this track by slowly working in the uneasy atmosphere and wavering emotions I felt from the game\u2019s plot while playing the piano. For this one, I was quite free with the bass line,\u201d he explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although they tend to not receive much of the spotlight, Takada says that a game\u2019s \u201ceveryday\u201d theme plays an extremely important role. \u201cOnce you decide on a song that serves as the daily-life theme, it becomes the starting point for the narrative arc. It makes it easier to plan things like ensuring you can return to that point, or creating various derivations from it. It’s like the game\u2019s normal position or neutral state, the core. Once that\u2019s established, composing the rest of the music later becomes much easier.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takada also\u00a0gave\u00a0us some insight into\u00a0\u201cSirei\u2019s\u00a0Supervision<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0one of The Hundred\u00a0Line\u2019s\u00a0most popular tracks. Interestingly, Takada had successfully\u00a0predicted that this song would be the most popular among overseas players. It also happened to be the most challenging track\u00a0for him\u00a0to get right,\u00a0as it had to convey\u00a0the mascot character\u2019s\u00a0unusual energy\u00a0in a memorable way,\u00a0much like the character theme song of Monokuma in\u00a0Danganronpa.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you hear the full version, it starts with a four-on-the-floor beat, then shifts to a five-beat rhythm, similar to Creepy Nuts’ \u201cBling-Bang-Bang-Born\u201d to give recent example. This captures the shift from techno’s four-on-the-floor to contemporary five-beat rhythms. At the beginning, I deliberately play a melody that suggests a five-beat feel, but the kick drum stays on a four-beat. This makes listeners think, It’s not a five-beat, but it’s kind of interesting,<\/em> leaving them with a slight sense of unease as they listen. Then, in the second loop, I release the five-beat, aiming for that moment when listeners instantly fall in love with the track.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takada says his music is full of technical gimmicks like this, and another specific example is getting the listener to \u201cplay out\u201d music phrases in their head as they listen. \u201cFor example, removing the melody on the second loop, or intentionally leaving out rhythmic fills that you\u2019d expect to come in. It\u2019s an approach to time structure that\u2019s similar to gagaku, the ancient Japanese court music tradition.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In gagaku, a large group plays a phrase together, and then gradually one or two players drop out. The phrase disappears, but in the listener\u2019s head it keeps playing. That makes it easier for the music to imprint itself on your memory. I use that kind of technique in a lot of the tracks [in The Hundred Line].\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to making the player feel anxiety, like in \u201cClear Heart<\/a>\u201d or \u201cGoodbye Hope,<\/a>\u201d Takada focuses on creating dissonance. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about making things dark or heavy,\u201d he explains. \u201cInstead, I leave a bit of pop sensibility in there while introducing slightly off-kilter dissonance, a kind of \u2018pop dissonance.\u2019  Because the music is still easy to listen to, those bits of discomfort stand out even more strongly, creating a lingering sense of unease that stays with the player.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, The Hundred Line\u2019s more positive songs, like \u201cThe Light Beyond<\/a>\u201d and \u201cBlue Drops<\/a>\u201d have a comparatively simpler sound to them, but Takada says this is very much intentional on his side. \u201cHappiness is something people seek out in their everyday lives, and there\u2019s already plenty of music in the world that serves that purpose. Because of that, I believe that if you overdo those moments in a game, it can actually fall flat. In recent game music, you sometimes see happy scenes hammered home with overwhelmingly \u201chappy\u201d tracks. Personally, I feel like that approach doesn\u2019t fully trust the overall flow of the game and its emotional ups and downs. If you go that far, it leaves no room for the player\u2019s emotions to settle.\u201d In this sense, Takada\u2019s \u201chappy\u201d tracks are designed as a kind of small anthesis to recent trends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy\u2019s <\/strong>Original Soundtrack by Masafumi Takada is out now on digital streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, and is also available for purchase on Steam<\/a>. A Director\u2019s Edition of the soundtrack will release on disc on April 24. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy OST composer Masafumi Takada spills the secrets behind his catchiest and most dread-incuding tracks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":56165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,10,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-56164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-interviews","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nIn The Hundred Line, even the \u201ceveryday\u201d song is designed to\u00a0fill you with unease. Masafumi Takada on creating \u201cpop dissonance\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0drawing from ancient Japanese music\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy OST composer Masafumi Takada spills the secrets behind his catchiest and most dread-incuding tracks.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In The Hundred Line, even the \u201ceveryday\u201d song is designed to\u00a0fill you with unease. Masafumi Takada on creating \u201cpop dissonance\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0drawing from ancient Japanese music\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy OST composer Masafumi Takada spills the secrets behind his catchiest and most dread-incuding tracks.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-26T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hundra-20260119-408290-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1297\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In The Hundred Line, even the \u201ceveryday\u201d song is designed to\u00a0fill you with unease. Masafumi Takada on creating \u201cpop dissonance\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0drawing from ancient Japanese music\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy OST composer Masafumi Takada spills the secrets behind his catchiest and most dread-incuding tracks.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In The Hundred Line, even the \u201ceveryday\u201d song is designed to\u00a0fill you with unease. Masafumi Takada on creating \u201cpop dissonance\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0drawing from ancient Japanese music\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy OST composer Masafumi Takada spills the secrets behind his catchiest and most dread-incuding tracks.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-01-26T13:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1297,"height":864,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hundra-20260119-408290-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"In The Hundred Line, even the \u201ceveryday\u201d song is designed to\u00a0fill you with unease. Masafumi Takada on creating \u201cpop dissonance\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0drawing from ancient Japanese music\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-01-26T13:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/"},"wordCount":1029,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hundra-20260119-408290-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["Game Development","Interviews","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/","name":"In The Hundred Line, even the \u201ceveryday\u201d song is designed to\u00a0fill you with unease. Masafumi Takada on creating \u201cpop dissonance\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0drawing from ancient Japanese music\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hundra-20260119-408290-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-26T13:00:00+00:00","description":"The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy OST composer Masafumi Takada spills the secrets behind his catchiest and most dread-incuding tracks.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hundra-20260119-408290-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hundra-20260119-408290-header.jpg","width":1297,"height":864,"caption":"Masafumi Takada"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/in-the-hundred-line-even-the-everyday-song-is-designed-to-fill-you-with-unease-masafumi-takada-on-creating-pop-dissonance-and-drawing-from-ancient\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In The Hundred Line, even the \u201ceveryday\u201d song is designed to\u00a0fill you with unease. Masafumi Takada on creating \u201cpop dissonance\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0drawing from ancient Japanese music\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56164"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56172,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56164\/revisions\/56172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}