Legendary Anime Composer Yoko Kanno: 10 Times She Changed Our Lives

Today is the birthday of Yoko Kanno, the amazing anime composer, arranger, and producer who has created some of the most incredible soundtracks in anime. It’s her 62nd birthday, so let’s celebrate her most iconic musical creations over the years!

Great news! J-List is having a $40-off-$200-or-more holiday coupon you can use for all in-stock items shipping from Japan! (Except calendars and Lucky Boxes.) This means you can make a big order of ecchi products for men, manga and doujinshi, JAV DVDs and Blu-rays, or hentai products and save big. Start browsing here!

How Did Yoko Kanno Become Interested in Composing?

Yoko Kanno was born on March 18, 1963, in Sendai, Northern Japan. She became interested in music at an early age, following her older sister’s fascination with playing the piano. In middle school, she joined her school’s brass band and began arranging the pieces the band would be performing. Although music was in her blood from the beginning, she was more interested in literature and yearned to become a novelist.

In 1985, she made her debut as a music composer for video games with the Sangokushi series by Koei. The game was a hit, although the limitations of MIDI music at the time limited her potential. Her work in TV commercials led to her meeting many directors, and she was eventually approached by Macross creator Shoji Kawamori to try her hand at writing music for anime. The result was the well-received Macross Plus, which set her on the path of making music for anime.

Yoko Kanno performed with a jazz band called The Seatbelts for years. Some of the band’s members joined back at the beginning of her career. The group did much of the musical arrangement in the popular Cowboy Bebop anime, including the iconic opening theme “Tank!”

The 10 Most Iconic Anime Songs and BGM by Yoko Kanno

There are many ways to get into anime. You might be a manga fan and watch manga based on your favorite comics. You could be a fan of a specific genre, like romance, isekai, or slice-of-life and follow shows that explore these kinds of stories. Or you might become a fan of anime songs and BGM and only watch the series with truly iconic music. I know more than a few fans like this, and I’m positive most of them love the music of Yoko Kanno.

Let’s look at the top games and anime Yoko has created music for!

Nobunaga’s Ambition Exposed Early Fans to Her Music

After creating music for 8-bit console games in the 1980s, Yoko worked on the Oda Nobunaga no Yabou series from Koei. It was a turn-based strategy game in which the player takes on the role of Nobunaga Oda, the first of Japan’s three unifiers. As the series progressed, computers got more advanced, allowing her to improve the quality of the game’s soundtracks.

Macross Plus Put Yoko Kanno on the Map for Anime Fans

I became aware of Yoko Kanno after being bowled over by the eerily beautiful songs and BGM of Macross Plus. These were so unlike anything that had come before, so I knew anime was changing. Music in anime would never be just an afterthought anymore.

She Composed the Record of Lodoss War Theme Song

I missed watching the 1998 Lodoss TV series because I was still in “startup mode” with J-List, and too busy to watch much anime. But can you believe how beautiful this music is? Maybe I’ll go back and watch it now!

Tenkuu no Escaflowne Was Another Turning Point in Yoko Kanno’s Career

Another anime made more memorable by the music of Yoko Kanno was The Vision of Escaflowne. In addition to amazing BGM, Yoko wrote the theme song “Yakusoku wa Iranai,” sung by newly debuted voice actress Maaya Sakamoto. Maaya would be a frequent collaborator with Yoko and went on to voice popular characters like Shinobu Oshino from Monogatari Series.

The Music of Turn A Gundam Still Wows Fans Today

The composer also created music for ∀ Gundam (read Turn A Gundam), a groundbreaking series from 1999. In selecting the YouTube videos for this blog post, I was repeatedly struck by comments I saw, left by fans for whom the music had had a profound effect.

Which era of Gundam did you grow up with? Read this blog post comparing the different Gundam universes.

Zankyou No Terror Was Another Chance for the Composer to Show Her Skill

For the “post 9-11” anime Terror in Resonance, directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, Yoko teamed up with Icelandic singer-songwriter Arnór Dan. The result was like nothing fans had encountered before.

Yoko Kanno Arranged the Final Song for Porco Rosso

If you pay attention to Hayao Miyazaki’s films like I do, you’ll know he aims to create a single vocal song that will get stuck in your head, potentially for years. For Porco Rosso, that vocal song was Toki ni wa Mukashi no Hanashi from the ending credits, which feels like it came out of the world of the film.

Macross Frontier Broke All the Records of Anime Music Popularity

One of the best iterations of the four-decade Macross series was Macross Frontier, which smartly updated the series for a modern era while containing plenty of shout-outs for old fans like me. The songs she wrote for the series were so popular, they ranked near the top of the charts for all songs, not just in the anisong category.

Her Work on Ghost in the Shell Stands Alone

I’m a huge fan of the two Ghost in the Shell: SAC series, and considered them the pinnacle of the genre, at least until Cyberpunk Edgerunners came out. Yoko Kanno composed the entire soundtrack, with all four opening/closing songs.

Cowboy Bebop’s Music Brought Anime to the Jazz Hall

How does an anime composer create a theme song so iconic that everyone is positive it must have been around since the 1960s? The opening theme “Tank!” was performed by Yoko Kanno’s jazz ensemble band The Seatbelts and took lots of cues from the music of the past. And today this anime theme song has become a staple of marching bands across the US.

Thanks for reading this blog post celebrating the career of Yoko Kanno, the amazing anime music composer, arranger, and producer. When did you discover her moving music? Tell us in the comments below!

Let’s Chat

You made it to the end of this post! Thank you! As a token of our appreciation, enjoy an extra 5% off your next order when you use the code BLOG at checkout. Also, don’t forget to follow J-List on all our platforms!