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Your Top 10 Anime Composers




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zzeroparticle



Joined: 04 Dec 2010
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 3:21 am Reply with quote
Hey all! This thread is for a special project, one that I'm conducting for Anime Instrumentality.

Basically, I'm interested in knowing who your ten favorite anime composers are since I'm looking to begin writing an article series about that topic and showcase some of the music they've written over the years. If you guys can give me your two cents on the matter, that'd be great!

A few ground rules: when I say anime composers, any composer who’s written any music for anime (including OPs/EDs/insert songs) qualifies. That was easy, wasn’t it? Basically, the only vocalists that are permissible for this are those who actually compose music. Obviously the extent to which you enjoy their music is important and will probably be the primary criterion by which you assemble your list. You can also consider other things like their quantity of work they’ve done. But when you put together your list, do rank order them from most favorite to tenth favorite. Nothing more needs to be done, but you are welcome to add comments about why you chose X person.

Lastly, do try to come up with ten. I specifically stress the word try, because it’s perfectly OK if you aren’t able to come up with that many. If you’re stuck, it does help to look through some of your favorite shows and see who composed their music, but if all else fails, just list one, or two, or five. That’s totally fine. Do fill this out by December 31, 2010 because that's when I'll begin tabulating.

Thanks!

And for those interested, my list:
1. Joe Hisaishi
2. Yoko Kanno
3. Michiru Ooshima
4. Shiro Sagisu
5. Akira Senju
6. Yasuharu Takanashi
7. Yuki Kajiura
8. Taku Iwasaki
9. Toshihiko Sahashi
10. Masumi Itou (also goes by Hikaru Nanase)
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@



Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 3498
Location: IN your nightmares
PostPosted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 1:28 am Reply with quote
I'm just going to post a quick list off the top of my head. I'll probably add more later but I'm in the mood to do this now.

1) Yuki Kajiura (to express my adoration for her work, I was tempted to list her as number 1 thru 9 with Kenji Kawai being #10, but that wouldn't be very helpful would it?)
2) Kenji Kawai
3) Shiro Sagisu
4) Yoko Kanno (as great as people make her out to be, if not for Escaflowne, I doubt she'd even make my top 10).
5) Joe Hisaishi
6) Nobuo Uematsu (I don't know if he counts as a composer for anime, since his extensive body of work has been limited mostly to just the games, but it's a significant enough contribution enough to list here).
7) Ko Otani
8) I've
9) Seikou Nagaoka
10) Kouji Makaino


Last edited by P€|\||§_|\/|ast@ on Sat Dec 11, 2010 8:09 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
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Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 4:55 pm Reply with quote
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zzeroparticle



Joined: 04 Dec 2010
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:14 pm Reply with quote
I realize that another thread does exist on this subject. However, like I said, this is more of a special project type of deal that requires its own thread so that I can collect data on people's preferences rather than a general purpose deal. =P
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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:47 am Reply with quote
Then I doubt you'll get too many replies. The Talkback and Anime forums are the most frequently visited, with Manga being a distant third, and then Retail, Feedback, and Bugs & Tech hovering below that. As much as I personally love music (the most important element of an anime next to its story and voice acting), not too many people share the same fervor, or at least don't know how to properly convey it. But what the heck, I'll entertain the idea:

1) Yoko Kanno
2) Toshio Masuda
3) Taku Iwasaki
4) Toshihiko Sahashi
5) Susumu Hirasawa
6) Noriyuki Asakura
7) Tsuneo Imahori
8) Yoshihisa Hirano
9) Kenji Kawai
10) Yuki Kajiura
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zzeroparticle



Joined: 04 Dec 2010
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 8:47 pm Reply with quote
Ha! Yeah, I definitely hear you on that. When I began writing about anime music, it's sort of tough getting people to pay attention because the stuff you mentioned like plot and voice acting tend to be more often discussed among the fanbase. I'm trying to change that slowly and I'd like to think I'm getting some traction in this area. We'll see though.

Thanks for the response though! One thing I've noticed (I did sprinkle this poll on quite a few anime-related sites) is Toshio Masuda name coming up quite a bit... and unfortunately I don't listen to his works nearly as often as I should... hmm.
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Sanosuke_Inara



Joined: 23 Nov 2009
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 10:39 pm Reply with quote
I'm one of those people that honestly doesn't nearly enough attention to the names of composers of songs in anime. From the few that I do know by name, though, my favorite would pretty easily be Taku Iwasaki, mainly because of his work on Now and Then, Here and There.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 10:52 pm Reply with quote
Toshio Masuda is pretty diverse. I first came across his work in Naruto. It's a lot of rock and heavy metal guitar riffs with little bits of traditional Japanese instrumentation in the form of taiko drums and shamisen, then a little bit of synth and piano for the slow stuff. I think it really helps set the pacing of all the fights and action throughout the entire series and makes for a cool fusion of modern-day sounds with old-school spirituality.

But speaking of spirituality, his best work is easily from Mushishi. The show's premise is so fantastical and filled with magic that I think it actually is half of what makes the show successful (with the other half being the artwork). You kind of have to get lost in the mysticism of the world that is Mushshi, but once you do, the music is addicting. You can listen to it for relaxation, during school work, or any time you feeling like being calm. Definitely give it a listen. It consists mainly of piano, light percussion instruments (like bells and chimes), and various synthesized sound effects for that ambient effect.

Then the last work of his that caught my ear was for Ghost Hunt. I'd say the music was probably the most important part of the series. It's not enough that they tell stories about paranormal occurrences and use spooky sound effects. But the sound of the music itself and the utterly creepy mood it sets can be very chilling, especially during the "Bloodstained Labyrinth" arc, where they go into the house of this doctor who had experimented on living subjects, but apparently died and is haunting the place. I don't think I've ever been so creeped out by an anime in my 20 years of watching the stuff.

But yeah, check his work out. Maybe even check out those series if my musical descriptions have complemented them enough to pique any interest.
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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 7:55 pm Reply with quote
Since I don't see his name mentioned above, I'm going to mention Kô Ôtani. To me, his work for Haibane Renmei is beyond exquisite. Check out this Jonathan Mays Review. Also, check out the Shakugan no Shana O.S.T. along with Assorted Shana: CDs I-III. I just adore La Vie Recommence (track #10 on CD #3)!

Faves of mine mentioned above:
  1. Kô Ôtani
  2. Joe Hisaishi
  3. Yoko Kanno
  4. Yuki Kaijura
  5. Kenji Kawai


Last edited by nobahn on Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:12 pm; edited 1 time in total
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zzeroparticle



Joined: 04 Dec 2010
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 9:43 pm Reply with quote
@nbahn
Is there a specific order that goes in? Just wanted to know since I do have a scoring spreadsheet set up to aggregate these entries and come up with a rank ordering.

Also, kinda cool to know that ANN had soundtrack reviews waaay back when. Haibane Renmei is definitely a solid score through and through and I really need to listen to more of his recent fare in like... Tokyo Magnitude 8.0.

Sanosuke_Inara wrote:
I'm one of those people that honestly doesn't nearly enough attention to the names of composers of songs in anime. From the few that I do know by name, though, my favorite would pretty easily be Taku Iwasaki, mainly because of his work on Now and Then, Here and There.
Is Iwasaki it or are there more? It's cool if Iwasaki is the only composer you want to put forward and I'll take just that. In the event you have any others, feel free to list those too! Like I mentioned above, I do have a scoring method that I'm planning to use for this.
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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:23 pm Reply with quote
@zzeroparticle:
  • I just noticed your registration date; welcome to the forums!
  • I've amended my list as per your request.
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wizardz199



Joined: 10 May 2008
Posts: 112
Location: Hayward, CA
PostPosted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 3:45 pm Reply with quote
10. Taku Iwasaki
9. Susumu Hirasawa
8. Shiro Sagisu
7. Kotao Nakagawa
6. Koichi Sugiyama
5. Akihiko Matsumoto
4. Shiroh Hamaguchi
3. Shiroh Hamaguchi
2. Joe Hisaishi
1. Yoko Kanno
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Peroxid



Joined: 23 Jan 2010
Posts: 210
PostPosted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 7:02 pm Reply with quote
Top 10 is too much, I don't even know 10 anime compositors, but I could post a top 5:

5. Susumu Hirasawa
4. Joe Hisashi
3. Kanno Yoshihiro
2. Yamashirogumi
1. Kenji Kawaii
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