Anime composer

Last updated

An anime composer is a composer who mainly composes music for anime productions.

Anime soundtracks are part of the "media mix" of anime marketing, in which a show encourages purchases of related products, such as memorabilia, games, and retail tie-ins. The careers of anime composers are accordingly shaped by different commercial pressures than other kinds of music writers. [1]

Beginning with Astro Boy in 1963, Japanese cartoons had short theme songs. These would be expanded with a few extra verses to sell on small 45 rpm records for children. The songs themselves were typically cheerful imitations of Western music styles, with essentially anonymous composers. [2]

Anime soundtracks became more mainstream in the 1970s. The major success of John William's score for Star Wars (1977) inspired the creators of Spaceship Battle Yamato (1974-5) to release the record Symphonic Suite Yamato (1977), composed by Hiroshi Miyagawa. It sold well, and very soon it became the industry standard for all anime TV shows to produce spin-off LP records with ten to twelve songs. Particularly notable anime music composers in the 70s include Yuji Ohno, who composed modern jazz albums for Lupin III, and Seiji Yokoyama, who composed symphonies for Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned, a feature film adapted from The Tomb of Dracula. [2]

In the 1980s, the anime industry intersected more strongly with Japan's pop music industry. Composer Tetsuya Komuro, for example, eventually became a multimillionaire music producer for pop artists like Namie Amuro. His career began as an anime composer, with his first record being the soundtrack to Vampire Hunter D (1985). He spearheaded a trend for electronic music inspired by European dance clubs, which he composed for the influential anime series City Hunter (1987-8). Komuro's name became synonymous with a brand of catchy music, suitable for karaoke, which blurred boundaries between anime music and pop music. [1]

Yoko Kanno composed melancholic experimental music for Cowboy Bebop (1998-9). [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yasunori Mitsuda</span> Japanese composer and musician (born 1972)

Yasunori Mitsuda is a Japanese composer and musician. He is best known for his work in video games, primarily for the Chrono, Xeno, Shadow Hearts, and Inazuma Eleven franchises, among various others. Mitsuda began composing music for his own games in high school, later attending a music college in Tokyo. While still a student, he was granted an intern position at the game development studio Wolf Team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelo Badalamenti</span> American composer (1937–2022)

Angelo Daniel Badalamenti was an American composer and arranger best known for his work in composing for films. He is best known for his acclaimed collaborations with director David Lynch, notably the scores for Blue Velvet (1986), the Twin Peaks television series, The Straight Story (1999), and Mulholland Drive (2001).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filmi</span> Music produced for Indias mainstream motion picture industry

Filmi music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Indian cinema. In cinema, music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed by playback singers and the genre represents 72% of the music sales market in India.

J-pop, natively also known simply as pops, is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional music of Japan, and significantly in 1960s pop and rock music. J-pop replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetsuya Komuro</span> Japanese musician, songwriter and producer

Tetsuya Komuro is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is recognized as the most successful producer in Japanese music history and has introduced contemporary electronic dance music to the Japanese mainstream. He was also a former owner of the disco Velfarre located in Roppongi, Tokyo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurobeat</span> Music genre

Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe: one is a British variant of Italian Eurodisco-influenced dance-pop, and the other is a hi-NRG-driven form of Italo disco. Both forms were developed in the 1980s.

Globe was a dance-oriented Japanese pop band, formed in 1995 by the producer and songwriter Tetsuya Komuro. Originally consisting of Komuro, Keiko Yamada and Marc Panther, the group's singles consistently entered the charts. In late 2002, Yoshiki, the drummer and pianist оf X Japan, joined the group, but he left the band about a year later.

Daisuke Asakura is a Japanese musician, songwriter and producer who is known for his compositional work and skill at keyboards.

TM Network is a Japanese rock/new wave/pop musical band, made up by Tetsuya Komuro (keyboardist), Takashi Utsunomiya (vocalist) and Naoto Kine (guitarist). They became popular in Japan as the "futuristic pop songs with synthesizer" after the release of their 1987 single "Get Wild".

Noriyuki Asakura is a Japanese composer and vocalist, best known for composing the soundtracks to the anime series Rurouni Kenshin and the video game franchises Tenchu and Way of the Samurai. He is well known for combining traditional Japanese music with elements of rock, jazz, and other world music. He established the music production studio Mega-Alpha in 2003, which composes for various types of media.

Walter Anthony Murphy Jr. is an American composer, keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for the instrumental "A Fifth of Beethoven", a disco adaptation of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony which topped the charts in 1976 and was featured on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977. Further classical-disco fusions followed, such as "Flight '76", "Toccata and Funk in 'D' Minor" "Bolero", and "Mostly Mozart", but were not as successful.

Tomomi Kahara born Tomomi Shimogawara on August 17, 1974 in Tokyo), is a Japanese pop singer. She is famous for working with Tetsuya Komuro who gave her much success in the 1990s, which led to her deep dip in popularity after 1999, the year in which she released her first non-TK produced album, One Fine Day. Tomomi Kahara and Tetsuya Komuro dated for a few years, but they suffered from personal problems which led to their breakup. After a period of sickness, Kahara's talent agency terminated her contract on June 29, 2007.

Biddu Appaiah is a British-Indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer who composed and produced many worldwide hit records during a career spanning five decades. Considered one of the pioneers of disco, Euro disco, and Indian pop, he has sold millions of records worldwide, and has received an Ivor Novello award for his work. He has been ranked at number 34 on NME's "The 50 Greatest Producers Ever" list.

The Keane Brothers was an American pop music duo from 1976–82, composed of pre-teens, Tom Keane on piano and John Keane on drums. The duo released four albums and briefly hosted a television variety show on CBS. The brothers subsequently went on to solo careers as songwriters and music producers.

<i>Beauty and the Beast</i> (1991 soundtrack) 1991 soundtrack album by Various Artists

Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the official soundtrack album to the 1991 Disney animated feature film, Beauty and the Beast. Originally released on October 22, 1991, by Walt Disney Records, the album's first half – tracks 2 to 9 – generally contains the film's musical numbers, all of which were written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, while its latter half – tracks 10 to 14 – features its musical score, composed solely by Menken. While the majority of the album's content remains within the musical theatre genre, its songs have also been influenced by French, classical, pop and Broadway music. Credited to Various Artists, Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features performances by the film's main cast – Paige O'Hara, Richard White, Jesse Corti, Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury, Robby Benson and David Ogden Stiers – in order of appearance. Additionally, the album features recording artists Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson, who perform a pop rendition of the film's theme song of the same name, which simultaneously serves as the soundtrack's only single.

Anime song is a genre of music originating from Japanese pop music. Anime songs consist of theme, insert, and image songs for anime, manga, video game, and audio drama CD series, as well as any other song released primarily for the anime market, including music from Japanese voice actors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satoru Kōsaki</span> Japanese music composer and arranger (born 1974)

Satoru Kōsaki is a Japanese music composer and arranger. He is best known for his work on anime, including Lucky Star, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Monogatari and Beastars. He worked at Namco, where he primarily composed soundtracks for video games. Since 2005, he has been affiliated with Keiichi Okabe's music production company Monaca, where he has often collaborated with his colleagues to produce soundtracks for anime and other media.

Kinuyo Yamashita is a Japanese composer and musician known for her contributions in video games. Her best known soundtrack is Konami's Castlevania, which was also her debut work. She was co-credited with Satoe Terashima under the pseudonym James Banana for her work on the Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game. This pseudonym was a pun of the name James Bernard, the composer of the 1958 film Dracula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EZ Do Dance</span> 1993 single by TRF

"EZ Do Dance" is a song by the Japanese band TRF. It was released on June 21, 1993, as the band's second single. It was TRF's breakthrough hit and is credited with helping to introduce the general Japanese public to contemporary dance music. The song was given the Music Video Award at the 35th Japan Record Awards and has been used in video games such as Dance Dance Revolution X2 and Just Dance Wii U. "EZ Do Dance" also crossed over to the anime communities, where it is used as both the theme and insert songs in the Pretty Rhythm series and its spin-off, King of Prism.

Keiichi Okabe is a Japanese composer and arranger, best known for composing music for the Tekken and Drakengard series. He started his career at Namco in 1994, where he primarily composed for arcade games. Outside of video games, he has composed for anime series such as Working!! and Yuki Yuna is a Hero, along with arranging tracks for J-pop artists. He established the music production studio Monaca in 2004, which composes for various types of media.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Green, Laurence (2022). From score to song — The rise of the 'star composer' and the role of music in contemporary anime (PhD thesis). SOAS University of London.
  2. 1 2 Patten, Fred (2004). "All Those Japanese Animation Soundtracks". Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews. Stone Bridge Press.

Further reading