Anime music

I have a feeling that your tastes are more towards orchestral music. So here's a big fat list I posted on the previous GFF:

(NOT MENTIONED: Yuki Kajiura, Taku Iwasaki, Toshihiko Sahashi, Hikaru Nanase, Koh Ohtani, Kenji Kawai)

• Shirou Hamaguchi
  Definitely check his anime work out. You might recognize him from the Final Fantasy Piano Collection series -- he's the one who usually arranges FF themes for performances. He also composes wonderful anime soundtracks - all of them orchestral!
  
  » Ah! My Goddess the Movie (Nobuo Uematsu composed 3 of the songs used in the movie)
  » Ah! My Goddess TV
  » Kiddy Grade
  » One Piece (collaboration with Kouhei Tanaka)
  » Sakura Taisen TV & Movie (again, with Kouhei Tanaka)
  » Final Fantasy Unlimited (with Akifumi Tada and Nobuo Uematsu)
  
  
• Kouhei Tanaka
  He's mostly recognized for his work on the Sakura Taisen series, though there are plenty of other anime soundtracks he's worked on. 'Battle themes' are his specialty.
  
  » Brave Exkaiser (the very first one in the Sunrise Yuusha series)
  » Blazing Transfer Student
  » Angelic Layer
  » Gate Keepers
  » Sakura Taisen (OVA, TV & Movie)
  » Gad Guard (with Kazuhiko Sawaguchi)
  » Gunbuster
  » One Piece
  
  
• Michiru Oshima
  She's had a distinguished career, scoring soundtracks for films from the Godzilla series, as well as games like ICO. Like the aforementioned composers, most of her anime music is great orchestral work.
  
  » Kaze ni Tairiku ~The Weathering Continent~
  » Legend of Crystania
  » Arc the Lad TV
  » Mahou Tsukai Tai
  » Fancy Lala
  » Queen Emeraldas
  » Full Metal Alchemist
  
  
• Haishima Kuniaki
  He's relatively obscure, but his orchestral work is absolutely amazing. He also tends to experiment with different styles, as shown in the Master Keaton soundtrack.
  
  » Macross Zero
  » RUN=DIM
  » Blue Gender
  » Neo Ranga
  » Master Keaton
  » Alien 9
  » Gasaraki
  » Sumeba Miyako no Cosmos Sou Suttoko Taisen Dokkoider
  » Monster
  
  
• Tsuneyoshi Saitou
  He hasn't done much anime work, but his soundtracks have that mystical feel to them. Very beautiful, emotional music.
  
  » Asagiri no Miko
  » Nazca
  » Tenchi Muyo Movie 2 & 3
  » Soukyuu no Fafner
  » Tide-Line Blue
  » xxxHOLiC (Movie)
  
  
• Shinkichi Mitsumune
  An extremely talented composer. His style is pretty recognizable, although the shows he works on are wildly different.
  
  » Revolutionary Girl Utena
  » Love Hina Again
  » FLCL (certain instrumental tracks)
  » Green Green TV
  » Cyber Team in Akihabara
  » Nurse Angel Ririka S.O.S.
  » Rozen Maiden
  » Speed Grapher
  
  
• Masamichi Amano
  Can't forget him! You can always depend on Amano for nostalgic, orchestrated themes. Some of his newer works are synthesized, but the good old orchestra is retained for choice tracks.
  
  » Giant Robo
  » Super Atragon OVA
  » Ninja Resurrection
  » Melty Lancer
  » Princess Nine
  » Stratos 4
  
  
• Yuji Yoshino
  His compositions usually consist of what may be vaguely termed 'world music', a fine example of which would be the opening theme to Brigadoon.
  
  » Brigadoon Marin & Meran
  » .hack//Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu
  
  
• Kunihiko Ryo
  His oriental-flavoured compositions in Juuni Kokki are breathtaking... unfortunately, that's about the entire scope of his involvement in anime music =(
  Edit: Oh, and Victorian Romance Emma too.
  
  
• Mina Kubota
  A relatively unknown composer. He's good at portraying emotions and tension through his character themes. At present, his only anime music works are Kaleido Star and Kannazuki no Miko.
  
  
• Takayuki Hattori
  Most of his compositions are for science fiction and fantasy genres. Expect upbeat and grand-sounding themes.
  
  » Martian Successor Nadesico
  » Captain Herlock OVA
  » Slayers (Movies & OVAs)
  
  
• Hattori Katsuhisa
  Another excellent SF composer, though his strength lies in mellow and romantic themes.
  
  » Crest/Banner of the Stars
  » Argento Soma (with DJ K. Hasegawa)
  » Infinite Ryvius
  
  
• Seikou Nagaoka
  No anime soundtrack enthusiast should miss out on his amazing work on Sol Bianca. You might want to sample his other recent works as well.
  
  » Sol Bianca ~ The Legacy
  » El Hazard
  » Stellvia of the Universe
  » Battle Programmer Shirase
  
  
• Tamiya Terashima
  His general work isn't that notable, but he's produced some gems like the final ending song to Key the Metal Idol, 'Tenohira no Uchuu'. One of the finest anime songs ever written.
  
  » Key the Metal Idol
  » Plastic Little
  » Maid in Hanaukyo
  
  
• Hans Zimmer and Mark Mancina
  Hahahahahahahaha
  
  » Blood+

The following composers do not necessarily produce orchestral music, but some of their works are a joy to listen to nevertheless.

• Toshiro Masuda
  One of my favourite composers. He's great at light/cheery music as well as 'cool' character themes. Some of his more dramatic tracks are really heart-wrenching. Here's a partial list of soundtracks that he's worked on:
  
  » Mahoromatic (both seasons)
  » Jubei-chan (both seasons)
  » Naruto
  » Excel Saga
  » Hand Maid May
  » Di Gi Charat (Summer and Christmas Specials)
  » Ai Yori Aoshi
  » Nanaka 6/17
  » Animation Runner Kuromi-chan
  
  
  
• Yasunori Iwasaki
  Another one of my favourites. Few other composers use the saxophone in their soundtracks, and his music usually has a great retro feel to it. Surprisingly, he's also capable of excellent orchestration, as shown by the Vandread Second Stage soundtrack.
  
  » Brave of the Legend Da-Garn
  » Brave Police J-Decker
  » Captain Tsubasa (with Akifumi Tada)
  » Fortune Quest L
  » Vandread (both seasons)
  » Happy Lesson (OVA, TV and Advance)
  » You're Under Arrest 1st season (this corresponds to TV OSTs 1,2 and 3)
  » Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Revenge
  » Tenjou Tenge
  » Grenadier
  » Amaenaideyo!
  
  
• Choro Club
  This is a new addition to my list -- after listening to their wonderful work on ARIA the Animation, I checked out their soundtracks for Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou as well. Extremely relaxing, laid-back music.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I just watched the xxxHOLiC movie, and Tsuneyoshi Saito's score for it was superb. A little derivative perhaps, but it definitely gave the movie a special, captivating mood.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

1. Rurouni Kenshin has two OVAs, Tsuiokuhen (prequel) and Seisouhen (sequel). Therefore this music is from the anime Rurouni Kenshin (duh), and there is only one Seisouhen album.

2. Please don't double post. Edit your earlier post instead if you have something to add.

3. This is a thread about anime music, so your last question is off-topic. Ask it in the General Questions thread instead.

4. You forgot to hide spoilers. Some people (including me) have not seen the show, and they might get very unhappy if you reveal plot points just like that. Read the guidelines for instructions on how to use spoiler tags.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

No, it's Hikaru Nanase and Masayoshi Furukawa.

Next time you can consult sites like AnimeNewsNetwork for such information.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by katchum

I'm confused about one thing though:
Heart of Sword is composed by Daisuke Asakura, but also by Noriyuki Asakura.
Which one is it?

Heart of Sword is composed by Daisuke Asakura from T.M.Revolution. Noriyuki Asakura is in charge of the BGM and had nothing to do with the song. The confusion is probably caused by people tagging ALL the tracks in Rurouni Kenshin soundtracks with the same artist (Heart of Sword is the 13th track in the 3rd OST).

I was speaking idiomatically.

Uh, no.

Daisuke Asakura [浅倉大介]
Noriyuki Asakura [朝倉紀幸]

While their family names are pronounced the same, the kanji is different. They're not brothers.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

There's anime music and there's anime songs. We've been discussing soundtracks for the most part, so there's more instrumentals involved than moon language vocals.

While we're on that subject though, I can happily listen to a vocal track whether it's in Japanese, Russian (Origa) or nonsense (Yoko Kanno). Understanding the lyrics might enhance my appreciation of the song, but it's not exactly crucial -- naturally, music plays a bigger role. For the record, I'm Asian and I have a bit of basic knowledge of the Japanese language. Not that being American automatically precludes you from knowledge of foreign language, either.

FELIPE NO