The story of Nobuo Uematsu’s mustache

Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu has an epic mustache, doesn’t he? It really is one of his defining features. He rocks it with pride, as does his fellow Final Fantasy founding fathers Amano and Sakaguchi. Believe it or not, there’s actually a story behind the ‘stache, revealed in an interview with the composer on Original Sound Version.

One part of the story points to team hair growing. It seems that Uematsu wanted to support his friend, Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, in upper lip coverings.

Around Final Fantasy III, Sakaguchi said, “Hey, do you think I should grow my mustache?” And I said, “Yeah, you should do it!”

So Sakaguchi said, “Okay, let’s do it together!”

The other reason was related to Uematsu’s young looks in the beginning of his working days at Square. It was hard to command the respect of the audio team that worked under him, he says. The mustache was an easy fix:

“I had to direct a team of audio guys, but most people didn’t listen to me because I looked so young. So this barber that I went to told me, ‘maybe you should grow a mustache.’ The timing collided, so I had two reasons, and I did it.”

Be sure to check out the rest of this great interview at OSV, where Uematsu talks about his return to Final Fantasy with XIV, as well as his other recent projects.