Today, the anime fandom is mourning the loss of a beloved composer. Shunsuke Kikuchi sadly passed away on April 24 in Japan after battling aspiration pneumonia. The musician was 89 years old.
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For those who don’t know Kikuchi by name, you will most definitely know his work. The composer has a large resume with tons of hit anime listed. To be frank, his most famous pieces can be found in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z while others will know Kikuchi for Kamen Rider.
RIP Shunsuke Kikuchi. Besides providing DB with its best score, he also worked on a million other things of course, including some of the Gamera films…which led to his name being misspelled in the opening credits for the US release of Gamera vs Guiron. pic.twitter.com/i8u4CDxkuQ
— Todd Blankenship (@Herms98) April 28, 2021
Born in November 1931, Kikuchi made his way into soundtrack composition at 30 years old. His first project came in 1961 thanks to the movie Hachininme no Teki. As his career progressed, Kikuchi formed a tight bond with production houses like Toei and Shochiku. This is how Kikuchi came to work on Kamen Rider, Dragon Ball, Dr. Slump, and more.
Over the past twenty years, Kikuchi has become a recognized legend in the industry, and he has the awards to prove it. Back in 2015, the musician was given a lifetime achievement honor by the Japan Record Awards. It was shortly after Kikuchi went into retirement as he stepped away from the industry in 2017. At the time, Kikuchi said he was taking a break to deal with a chronic illness. And now, his death has reminded hundreds if not thousands of the impressive work he did over his lauded career.
Our thoughts are with Kikuchi’s loved ones during this difficult time. May he rest in peace.
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