Speaking of great film composers - Anime

[Sequent]

Okay, I put this in an umbrella kind of thread to encompass a wider spectrum, but I'm more specifically thinking of Yoko Kanno and Yuki Kajiura. Two extremely talented ladies who've done and are doing imo some really great work and who are perhaps entirely overlooked outside of their own particular spheres.

Yoko's work with the Israeli Symphony on Macross Plus and with the Warsaw Philharmonic on numerous projects, especially the Vision of Escaflowne series. Music that raised those animated films to an entirely different level.

Yuki with fewer items I think, but getting better with every project. I especially have gotten a lot of enjoyment from her soundtrack for Madlax. Brilliant imo, and now too with Tsubasa Chronicle.

Then there is Joe Hisaishi who does a lot of work for Hayao Miyazaki. Though I don't find myself listening to his work as much these days. (I'm kind of in Yuki mode at the moment)

Also... Dolce Triade for Last Exile. Some really wonderful moments in that soundtrack.

But especially, I'd like to get back to and highlight Yoko and Yuki, since it seems that there are mostly male composers being mentioned here. :)

[tgfoo]

I love Yoko Kanno. She's easily one of my all time favorite composers. The soundtracks to Cowboy Bebop and Escaflowne are probably two of my all time favorites. I'm also a huge Joe Hisaishi fan. I think that Yuki Kajiura is alright, though I wouldn't put her up there with Yoko Kanno and Joe Hisaishi yet, but the stuff of her's that I heard and/or had is pretty good.

[JoelS]

If you haven't already, you should seek out Yoko Kanno's soundtrack for 'Turn A Gundam'. It mixes orchestral, folk, tribal, and other esoteric elements... but the orchestral compositions are absolutely spectacular. You will have to get lucky on Ebay to find the OST albums though, as they were only released in Japan. Or find an anime importer that has them in stock. It really is sad that her work doesn't get wider recognition. Once I become fabulously rich, I will make a point of it to hire her to score movies that I produce. If I were helming a Hollywood blockbuster (in any genre) and needed a musician, I'd feel just as comfortable turning to her as I would any of the more traditional luminaries in the field.

[Sequent]

Joel, cool... thanks for that head's up! OST2 and Concert ordered. There's an anime convention in town this weekend, so maybe I'll get lucky there and find the first one and Cocoa as well as some other cool things. Means I'll have to face those crowds though. :(

I have something like 22 soundtrack cds from Yoko and I think 14 from Yuki. As tgfoo said... Yuki is not up there with Yoko yet... at least not on the orchestral level, but I still like her. Would love to meet them one of these days.

As for your comment re scoring and turning to Yoko... most definitely!





If you haven't already, you should seek out Yoko Kanno's soundtrack for 'Turn A Gundam'. It mixes orchestral, folk, tribal, and other esoteric elements... but the orchestral compositions are absolutely spectacular. You will have to get lucky on Ebay to find the OST albums though, as they were only released in Japan. Or find an anime importer that has them in stock. It really is sad that her work doesn't get wider recognition. Once I become fabulously rich, I will make a point of it to hire her to score movies that I produce. If I were helming a Hollywood blockbuster (in any genre) and needed a musician, I'd feel just as comfortable turning to her as I would any of the more traditional luminaries in the field.

[mattmann13]

I haven't seen a huge amount of anime but one film I was really impressed with was ghost in the shell 2 with Kenji Kawai's score. amazing