Ishiwatari was born in
Johannesburg, South Africa, and raised in Japan.[1]
Ishiwatari worked with
Arc System Works on the first Guilty Gear as soon as he left school. Recently, Ishiwatari, along with Yoshihiro Kusano, also wrote the music for BlazBlue, as well as painting the character selection portraits for the sequel, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. As well as this, he has also composed for Hard Corps: Uprising.
Ishiwatari is also noted as being a composer in the metal and rock genres. His compositions, found in his signature series, Guilty Gear, feature intricate guitar work, as do his compositions found in BlazBlue. The albums Guilty Gear XX in LA and Guilty Gear XX in NY include vocals for selected songs, as do three albums in Japanese by the band Lapis Lazuli.[2]