5) Yasunori Mitsuda
Famed Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and Xenogears composer, Yasunori Mitsuda is an underrated composer in my opinion. He doesn't get enough credit-- and he already gets a lot of credit! His music moves me in ways that I didn't think was possible by sound, but he has done it time and time again with his magical melodies and great atmospheric tunes. These examples help support my claim as you'll probably agree.
4) Motoi Sakuraba
Motoi Sakuraba has an impressive roster of soundtracks under his metaphorical belt. From Star Ocean to Valkyrie Profile to Camelot's sports titles to Tales of Symphonia and Vesperia, his reach goes above and beyond most composers. Two of my favorite soundtracks come from him-- Star Ocean: The Second Story and Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. It's his musical style that I really admire. Take a gander at the following examples to experience the magic of Motoi yourself.
3) John Williams
Known as the master when it comes to motion picture music composition, John Williams' resume is a lengthy and highly-respectable one. There's the Star Wars saga, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Home Alone, and countless other memorable masterpieces. His pension for creating iconic themes for movies is topped by no other, and hopefully the following examples prove why.
2) Nobuo Uematsu
The king of video game music composition, Nobuo Uematsu is most famously known for his work on the Final Fantasy series. He has since left Square-Enix to form him company where he most recently works with Final Fantasy creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi on various Mistwalker-related projects like Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey and the Last Story. Hear some of his works with the following examples.
1) Yoko Kanno
The queen of music composition, I watch certain anime only because she composed the music for it. Otherwise I would have never given Wolf's Rain or Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex any sort of chance. My first run-in with Mrs. Kanno came during Cowboy Bebop when it originally premiered on Adult Swim, back when it was on Sunday nights. I'm taking the O.G. Adult Swim with "everybody out of the pool" as the tagline. Through her ability to compose music from various genres whether it be rock, rap, jazz, hip-hop, pop, heavy metal, or whatever else you can think up, Yoko Kanno reigns supreme. Here's but a sampling of her work.
Tank!
Gravity
Zero Signal
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Gravity
Zero Signal
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That's it. There's another list put out to pasture. Who are your favorite composers? Perhaps you truly like less modern composers and like a little Bach or Mozart? Let me know in the comments section.
