Announcing a New Upcoming Post Series: Anime Composer Profiles
Methodology
This is me acting like a statistician and social scientist and failing horribly at both.
Five sites were chosen to take part in this survey. In addition to Anime Instrumentality, I scattered some seeds over on MyAnimeList, AnimeSuki, Anime News Network, and Anime-Planet. These sites were chosen because they’re major hubs of anime fan activity and I was hoping to be able to get a large sample of fans to respond to this question. Some of the response rates were better than others and I’ll go into that much later.
Anyhow, respondents were asked to rank-order their ten favorite anime composers. Scoring was done in such a way that their #1 composer earned 15 points, #2 got 13 points, #3 got 11 points, #4 got 9, #5 got 7, #6 got 5, #7 got 4, #8 got 3, #9 got 2, and #10 got 1. If they listed fewer than 10 composers, then the point totals would only go up to where they stopped. If they didn’t put together a list, then composers were chosen on the basis of which ones they named first and an order established based on where it was listed in the comment or post. The points would then be totaled up and the results from all sites tabulated to come up with the aggregate score shown on page 1.
Site By Site
Anime Instrumentality’s Totals and Comments
1. Yoko Kanno (194)
2. Joe Hisaishi (179)
3. Yuki Kajiura (167)
4. Taku Iwasaki (112)
5. Michiru Ooshima (75)
6. Jun Maeda (73)
7. Tenmon (67)
8. Yasuharu Takanashi (54)
9. Toshihiko Sahashi (52)
10. Yoshihisa Hirano (51)
Not surprising, people who responded on here knew a lot about anime music since it’s probably true that only people who are interested in anime music to begin with and have some baseline knowledge about the composers actually come to visit this site on a regular basis. In any event, the response rate was very good in that it tied with MAL for having the most respondents. More importantly, most respondents actually used all 10 of their slots. As you progress further on down at the other sites, this will become an increasingly rare phenomenon.
MyAnimeList’s Totals and Comments
1. Yoko Kanno (182)
2. Yuki Kajiura (167)
3. Joe Hisaishi (118)
4. Kenji Kawai (75)
5. Jun Maeda (74)
6. Taku Iwasaki (73)
7. Tenmon (53)
8. Shiro Sagisu (50)
9. Susumu Hirasawa (48)
10. Kou Otani (36)
The Key contingent managed to move Maeda up quite a few notches and Kenji Kawai also did pretty well amongst this group. These numbers might look a bit odd to you, especially when you notice how the two-digit mark came up one place earlier and how the composer in tenth place scored versus on Anime Instrumentality and there’s actually a very simple reason why. Fewer points were distributed amongst MAL voters; there were many posts where people only put one composer down. Some had five. I’d say the incidence of people distributing their entire allotment of points was rarer. So even if the quality of the responses weren’t as high, there was still a decent turnout.
AnimeSuki’s Totals and Comments
1. Yuki Kajiura (79)
2. Taku Iwasaki (71)
3. Kenji Kawai (50)
4. Toshihiko Sahashi (48)
5. Yoko Kanno (45)
6 (tie). Joe Hisaishi (37)
6 (tie). Jun Maeda (37)
8. Kotaro Nakagawa (36)
9. Kouhei Tanaka (27)
10 (tie). Yoshihisa Hirano (25)
11 (tie). Shiro Sagisu (25)
The lack of responses really didn’t help matters here since we had a little more than 10. It was enough to knock Kanno and Hisaishi from their usual ranking as being among the top 3 at any rate and elevate Kenji Kawai and Iwasaki higher than I would have predicted out of any poll, formal or otherwise. Kouhei Tanaka also nabs a top-10 spot, which is kind of unusual.
Anime-Planet’s Totals and Comments
1. Yuki Kajiura (97)
2. Susumu Hirasawa (54)
3. Kenji Kawai (44)
4. Yoko Kanno (43)
5. Jun Maeda (30)
You’ll notice that I’ve only put 5 on here. That’s because pretty much anything below that data is mostly noise that can see a high chance of getting on the board from one 15-point vote. The response rate was one fewer than AnimeSuki, but the points distributed per post was abysmal, which pretty much all but guarantees a very lopsided vote count. In this case, the folks at Anime-Planet really love their Yuki Kajiura. I mean, just look at the point spread to see how lopsided is was. It’s certainly a major deviation from the victory margins we’ve seen thus far. If you want to know why Kajiura managed to take the top spot in the poll, you can thank these guys for elevating her that high.
ANN’s Totals and Comments
1. Yoko Kanno (35)
2. Taku Iwasaki (26)
3. Yuki Kajiura (25)
4. Kenji Kawai (22)
5. Joe Hisaishi (20)
Talk about a response rate. Four people showed up to vote on the poll. They were friendly. Apologetic too. One of their mods told me that the music board doesn’t see a whole lot of activity and I was prepared for a low turnout. And yeah, it was low. So like with A-P, I’m listing only 5 since everything below that is just noise. I do wonder whether ANN’s lack of music coverage contributes to this general low level of interest about anime and other forms of J-music on their messageboards. But that’s just pure speculation. In any event, I do find it odd that the most-widely read anime news and review site has members not too interested in the music in the medium.
Hastily-Drawn Conclusions
As you can see from these lists, there really isn’t that much of a deviation between the composer names that popped up between each of the site surveyed; the same names kept coming up over and over. A good followup to this would be to see a breakdown in the age categories to determine whether differences exist between the age groups, but that study is for another day. Finally, most people who willingly took the time to answer my questions was able to name about 1-5 composers. What that tells me is that this site still has a ways to go to further the anime music love and hopefully expose more fans to good composers with much merit. But it’s a challenge we’ll take on, and here’s hoping that the composer profiles is a step in the right direction to hit that goal.
Omake
Composers with highest average rating (3+ votes):
1. Yoko Kanno (11.88)
2. Susumu Hirasawa (11.54)
3. Takeshi Senoo (11)
4. Joe Hisaishi (10.94)
5. Yuki Kajiura (10.52)
6. Kotaro Nakagawa (10.38)
7. Jun Maeda (10.19)
8. Tenmon (10)
9. Shinji Orito (9.25)
10 (tie). Kouhei Tanaka (9)
10 (tie). Hiroyuki Sawano (9)
ohhh nice this looks like a fun little project! 😀 I look forward to reading them
Yuki Kajiura only won because of Anime-Planet! 🙁
Anyway, great idea, zzero! Good luck, I can’t wait to read these! Hopefully my own composer series won’t become too overshadowed 😉
Looking forward to it…
=)
I should have voted when I had the chance :(. Was a little absent minded and didn’t put my vote down the first time I read the Anime Instrumentality post and then forgot all about it.
I also didn’t realize until now that many composers are extremely well liked for a few very specific but well done soundtracks. Susumu Hirasawa, Jun Maeda, Tenmon, Shinji Orito and Takeshi Senoo, just to name a few off that last list, are all known for only one or two soundtracks of their small anime repertoires. It’s just that one (or two) soundtrack is often one of the most memorable ones in anime. We still have some obvious heavy hitters with lots of work under their belt like Kajiura, Kanno and Hisaishi though.
Otherwise, nice to see Kou Otani on the list, as I didn’t think he was well known enough. I’m a little sad that Mitsumune Shinkichi seemed to have gotten little if any mention, but that one’s a personal bias because the Rozen Maiden soundtrack was one of the first few OSTs I listened to.
I’m glad to see Yuki Kajiura at number one. She’s my favorite. So many soundtracks come to mind… Noir, Mai HiME… etc.
Anyways, looking forward to the project. It’s going to be fun to expand on my way too limited knowledge of composers.
No surprise at the top 3 biggies although I thought Kanno would top the list. I ‘m looking forward to your write up on all these different composers. It’s a good way for a newbie like me to get to know more about the composers whose work are less known to me. Great idea for sure!
I’m so glad Yoshihisa Hirano made it! Some of that music has just…made my life all-around better. Looking forward to this series!
Looks like a very exciting year (and a few months) ahead. Most of my own highlights comes in the second year, so let’s make this series a success so we will be able to continue strong into the second year.
For this year, there’s always Hisaishi, Sagisu, Hirano and Sahashi to really look forward to. I’m kind of disappointed Sahashi ended up at 11. His works are among the best of any composers out there. (And easily the most consistent too)
Looks like a giant project that stretches more than a year! All the best!
I’m definitely interested in reading more on Hisaishi, it’s an elephant of a hole in the little knowledge I have of anime music, as emphasised by his ranking in this here poll. Definitely looking forward to it!
Very glad Kou Otani made the list, he’s a favorite of mine. Disappointed that Kaoru Wada didn’t make it at all… I think I’m the only one that voted for him… Though I wonder if you counted all of Baka-raptor’s 1-10 votes for Kajiura, haha? Look forward to workin on this.
To tell you the truth, the only two composers I really know are Kajiura and Kanno. Please educate me.
this is awesome!
it was a little hard for me to find this website and its sad there not more websites about anime musik, because this also shows how people arent aware of this great music at least in the west.
A friend i asked (who has over 100 soundtracks from hollywood films) about anime Soundtacks. He said he has not heard anything, from Japanese composers (or especially Anime Soundtracks) the only thing i had, was prinzes mononoke and i sold it on ebay, because i didnt liked it.
When i became interested in Anime OSts i also wanted to get to know the Composers a little more beside the great ones i couldnt find little to nothing.
I would love to see making offs of maybe fma, fma brotherhood, death note, naruto, fairy tail, elfen lied soooo much moore, like in hollywood. Not even interviews of them maybe its all in japan i dont know…
But its good to see there is a site like this thanks!
@Baka-Raptor
Looks like you won’t be learnin all that much the first two months, then, eh? Haha.
@Bearfist (Awesome name, by the way. Ironic in a manly sort of way, like “OctopusKick”)
If you’re interested in Death Note,check out my review of its OST from a few days ago: https://blog.animeinstrumentality.net/2011/01/death-note-original-soundtrack-review/
In any case, I’m glad you like the site. Keep coming back, because those shows you mentioned just might pop up in our upcoming series!
It just hit me that I forgot to mention how excited I am to see Yasuharu Takanashi on the list! The Jigoku Shoujo soundtrack is my favourite OST, and Shiki is at the same level so far. So good at creepy!
sounds great! I’d definitely want to read this!
I’m really excited for this. I don’t know much about anime music (one of the reason I read this blog) but I’d like to so this sounds like a wonderful series. Good luck!
-Narutaki
As much as I’d like to say that I have this music domain covered down pat, this project will also be a huge learning experience for me since I’ll actually make a stab at listening at nearly everything the composer I’m covering worked on. Also, biographical details I’m kind of thin on, so that’ll be fun to research.
On to the comments:
@chii
You did a damn excellent job with the 365 anime characters project of yours. I can only hope to be able to maintain the discipline you showed in seeing that through to the end.
@kevo
Yeah, I mean, what kind of ridiculous victory margin was that? If it’d approach the normal levels shown on the other locales, then we’d be looking at Kanno first.
I’ll be looking forwards to reading your personal composer list though!
@Jo
Thanks! Hope to be able to meet those lofty expectations.
@Elineas
I wonder how true it is that a great many composers got noticed because of one work. I mean, most people probably won’t be able to name Kou Otani out of anything other than Haibane Renmei and Shakugan no Shana. Maybe Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, but the focus of that show was on other things and not so much the music.
As for Shinkichi Mitsumune, you’re right in that not a lot of people seemed to have mentioned him much. Probably because aside from Rozen Maiden, his stature isn’t that high. Not many have listened to Asatte no Houkou though they should. It’s a gem of an album.
@Yi
Glad to see that your favorite composer is the one right out of the proverbial starting blocks then. A lot of work too, especially since I’ll have to cover her work with See-Saw, FictionJunction, and of course, Kalafina.
@Ayumikat
Well, you know who to blame for Kajiura taking first place 😀 But yeah, I’d say the first four were predictable (if out of order in terms of what I expected). Surprisingly, people like Kenji Kawai. My coverage of him may be a wee bit more critical.
@Arianna Sterling
The Julliard man packs quite a punch, and I’ll be eager to explore what he’s got to offer. No surprise that the Ouran fans came on strong for this one though. As for Takanashi, I thought he’s pretty under-appreciated, and relative to the big names, he is. He does seem to be gathering a solid fanbase though.
@Jen
It’ll be a fun project for sure as we put our best effort into figuring out why some of these artists, even ones we’re not totally fond of, attract the following they do.
@ottocycle
I’m pretty excited to see where this will head, especially since it means I’ll be knee-deep in listening to a specific composer each month. Or rather, pay more attention than I usually would. Just imagine me going through the entirety of Kajiura’s discography right now and that’s an accurate picture of what I’m doing.
@Aftershok
You doubt me, good sir! But yeah, Kaoru Wada didn’t get that much support. Guess Casshern Sins and Inu Yasha fans were kinda absent when I called for votes.
@Bearfist
Glad to be of service! I’ll be delving as deeply as I can since there’s much to explore. Hope you get something out of my musings!
@Sebz
Keep an eye out then! I’ll be sure to be going clip-happy whenever I stumble on anything that needs mentioning! You may just discover some new stuff to appreciate and older stuff that’s worth giving a re-listen.
@Narutaki
This is kind of like… uncharted territory for me? I mean, we’ve got plenty of seiyuu bloggers, people who really focus on franchises or directors or studios, yet music seems to be neglected. Glad to know we’ve served as a great resource and that we’re highlighting an area that’s definitely a part of the viewing experience (while giving us nostalgic hearkenings out of context ;)).
I’m looking forward to this a great deal 🙂
Learning more about the people who create the stuff you like is always a good thing, as is discovering more things to enjoy about artists you’ve never paid much attention to before.
@Yu
And there shall be sound clips galore. Yeah, here’s hoping people discover new stuff, which I guess is what all of my post series have emphasized most.
Sigh, as far as pop song PLUS ost’s are concerned, where the hell is Kousaki Satoru? http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=creator&creatorid=530
Since God Knows from Haruhi, to Lucky Star, the Haruhi movie, Bakemonogatari, and many others, Kousaki has shown deft skill with both OST’s and hit pop songs.
Even in the last season, he composed both hiru hoshii from Fractale AND Monochrome from Star Driver. The problem with these insert songs is that few people care about the composer, they just see that Aya Hirano sang it, big whoop. How many people know who composed God Knows…?
@math4origami
Well, arguably, Kousaki has yet to really knock the ball out of the park soundtrack-wise. Kanno and Kajiura have both been more impressive in that arena. Beyond that, you’re preaching to the choir since people just don’t give the J-pop composers enough credit and they all seem to flock to the performers who tend to be dime a dozen (the good ones notwithstanding).
Pingback:Poll: Who are Your Top 10 Anime Composers? (2015 edition) | Anime Instrumentality Blog