Shunsuke Kikuchi

Shunsuke Kikuchi
菊池 俊輔
Shunsuke Kikuchi.jpg
Born(1931-11-01)1 November 1931
Died24 April 2021(2021-04-24) (aged 89)
Tokyo, Japan
Alma materNihon University College of Art
OccupationComposer and arranger
Years active1961–2017

Shunsuke Kikuchi (菊池 俊輔, Kikuchi Shunsuke, 1 November 1931 – 24 April 2021) was a Japanese composer who was active from the early 1960s until 2017. He specialized in incidental music for media such as television and film. Kikuchi was regarded as one of Japan's most highly demanded film and TV composers, working principally on tokusatsu and anime productions, as well as violent action films, jidaigeki, and television dramas.

Early life and education

Kikuchi was born on 1 November 1931 in the city of Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture. He graduated from Aomori Prefectural Hirosaki Technical High School, specializing in mechanics. Shunsuke then attended the Nihon University College of Art.

Career

After graduating from the Nihon University College of Art, he made his debut composing for the 1961 film The Eighth Enemy (八人目の敵). The Tō-Ō Nippō Press wrote that the contrast between the heroic opening theme and the melancholic ballad ending theme that Kikuchi composed for the 1969 Tiger Mask anime, "changed Japanese anime music." Kikuchi composed the song "Urami Bushi" (怨み節), sung by Meiko Kaji, for the early 1970s Female Convict Scorpion series was included in the American film Kill Bill and on its soundtrack. The Tō-Ō Nippō Press also wrote that the success of the TV drama Abarenbō Shōgun, which aired for 800 episodes from 1978 to 2008, had people say; "If Shunsuke Kikuchi is in charge of the music, the show will be a hit."

In 1979 Kikuchi composed "Doraemon no Uta", the theme song of the Doraemon anime, which ran on TV for 26 years. Up-tempo works like those in Kamen Rider and Abarenbō Shōgun form the majority of Kikuchi's works, while his slow background music from long-running series have become some of his best-known works. Some notable works that he composed for, include anime and tokusatsu like Doraemon, Kamen Rider, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, jidaigeki such as Abarenbō Shōgun and Chōshichirō Edo Nikki, and TBS Saturday-night productions ranging from Key Hunter to G-Men '75 became long-running hit series.

Retirement and death

Kikuchi ceased composing music in 2017, when he stated that he was taking a break to be treated for an illness. Kikuchi died while being treated for pneumonia in a hospital in Tokyo on 24 April 2021. His death was announced four days later.

Awards

In 1983 Kikuchi was nominated for the Japan Academy Prize for Music for his work on The Gate of Youth and To Trap a Kidnapper. He received an Award of Merit at the 2013 Tokyo Anime Awards.

Kikuchi has won several annual awards from the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers based on the royalties he earned from his works in the previous year. He won the International Award, which is based on foreign income, in 1983 (UFO Robot Grendizer), 1989 (UFO Robot Grendizer), 2008 (Dragon Ball Z), 2010 (Doraemon), 2012 (Doraemon), 2015 (Dragon Ball Z), 2016 (Kiteretsu Daihyakka), 2018 (Dragon Ball Z), and 2019 (Dragon Ball Z). He came in second in overall royalties in 2004 (Dragon Ball Z). In 2015, he received a lifetime achievement award at the 57th Japan Record Awards.

Selected works


This page was last updated at 2022-04-12 14:38 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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