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= Maisa Tsuno = Maisa Tsuno (2 October 1991 - 18 October 2020) was a Japanese songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player best known as a leader of the rock band Akai Ko-en.

Musical Upbringings
Tsuno was born in Tachikawa, Tokyo to a mother, a piano teacher and Goji Tsuno, a composer and a multi-instrument player. Youji Tsuno, her paternal grandfather also was a composer. Her elder brothers also enjoyed playing musical instruments, she grew up in a musical household [2] and started playing the electone when she was 3 years old.

She later recalled having diverse range of musical influences from her childhood experiences – from The Carpenters she played together with her family, Tchaikovsky she started to love while practicing ballet, Ringo Sheena she found in her father’s music collection, Aaron Copland (she played "Appalacian Spring" in her junior-high brass band where she played saxophone) to various kinds of rock music (from shoegaze to experimenta l) she discovered herself. She had basic lessons in musical composition in local music school at an early age but soon quit after the teacher insisted that she avoid using dissonant (in strictly classical sense) chords. Since then she had no formal musical studies.

At 15, Tsuno started playing electric guitar but mostly self-taught throughout her career. She chose to find her own way of fingering chords, often using only 3 strings out of 6, which gave unique sounds to her playing. She joined a band in her high school and started composing songs for her band to play.

Just before graduating from high school, at 18, she joined the band formed by school friends Hikari Fujimoto (bass), Nao Utagawa (drums, vocals) and Chiaki Sato (vocals) which later became Akai Ko-en.

Self production
After the release of demo single and EP from indie label and a tour in Canada, Akai Ko-en released their first major EP in February 2012, followed by yet another EP in May and a single in September. Having composed and produced all tracks, written lyrics for all but one song and worked on promotional ideas by herself, Tsuno had to put the band into hiatus due to her poor health induced by overwork.

Tsuno continued to compose during all 8 months of hiatus and she was back to the recording studio with the band for the single "Imasara/Kōshin/Sayonara wa iwanai" (今更/交信/さよならは言わない) in March 2013 and the band resumed live activities by May 2013.

She continued to write/compose/produce all materials on the band's debut full LP which was positively received by critics and audiences.

Working with producers
After the release of "Ko-en Debut", Tsuno reflected with regret that their music so far was not easily accessible for wider audiences and decided to change then band's musical style. She felt she dose not have enough experience or knowledge to make this change by herself and decided to ask experienced producer/arranger to help her - those include Seiji Kameda of Tokyo Jihen, Kōichi Tsutaya (蔦谷好位置) and Shūta Hasunuma (蓮沼執太). This continued from "Kazega-shitteru" (2014) to "Koi to Uso" (恋と嘘).

Back to self-production
On the last album before Chiaki Sato's departure, Nesshō Summer (熱唱サマー) released in August 2017, most of the new materials written for the album were arranged and self-produced by Tsuno once again. Tsuno stated that his was due to the "lack of time", she stopped working with producers from this point alltogether.

2nd line-up of Akai Ko-en
Tsuno was quiet for sometime after Chiaki Sato's departure and did not cleary indicate how she intends to continue the band. But on January 4 (the band's anniversary) 2018, she led 3 piece Akai Ko-en and performed live. They played over 20 brand new songs but this time both Fujimoto and Utagawa contributed their own materials. Until this point, all compositions were by Tsuno but in the 2nd line-up, Fujimoto's songs were regurally performed on stage.

On 2 May 2018, the band performed with a new lead-vocalis, Riko Ishino (石野理子), formerly of idol group Idol Renaissance (アイドルネッサンス). Ishino was almost 10 years younger than the rest of the members and had As Ishino was still a high-school student and based in Hiroshima at that point, they had to limit their activity as a band to allow her to continue her studies. However, their first music video with Ishino, "Kienai" (消えない) was released in October of the same year. The song would later be released as the lead track from an EP of the same name, and performed on a live tour, at live venues and festivals. Still, it wasn't until May 2019 that they signed with a new label.

After signing up with Epic Records Japan, the band released Kienai - EP (消えない - EP) on October 23, which includes songs previously released as music videos and completely produced by Tsuno herself, once again. The band started the FUYU TOUR 2019 "Yo-Ho" in November to promote this release. In January 2020, the single "Zettai reido" (絶対零度) was released, with the title-track being chosen as the ending theme song for the anime Drifting Dragons.

On 15 April 2020, the band's 5th full album THE PARK was released. It was the first full-album with Riko Ishino and all songs were produced by Tsuno. A tour was announced for May, however, it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band then performed on a streaming live concert at Tachikawa Babel, in August. This performance turned-out to be the last with Maisa Tsuno.

As Composer / Song Writer
In 2014, she shot to fame as a composer of the song "Joy!!" which won open competition for the single for Japanese iconic group SMAP. Throughout her professional career, Tsuno continued to compose for various musicians including Morning Musume, Cute and Toko Miura.

Tsuno’s last published work was “Sweet Seep Sleep” written and performed jointly with Maguro Taniguchi.

Death
On 18 October 2020,[21] Maisa Tsuno was found lying in her home and taken to the hospital, where she was confirmed dead.[22] The cause of death has not been disclosed.