Celebrating 25 Years of Anime Soundtracks
Looking back on awesome composers and their amazing music
Introduction
Anime soundtracks hold a special place in my heart. A soundtrack (aka OST) for me, is a fancy term for denoting background music. However, in principle, a soundtrack is much more than that; it includes all the audio elements and not just the music. You may refer to my OST playlist, paramrathour.github.io/anime-osts, to get an idea of the concept. I also maintain an interest stack for some of my favourite anime soundtracks.
I recently made this anime OST quiz. Its objective was to guess the anime and the composer by listening to the OSTs of some anime. The quiz contained OSTs of anime from the last two decades (2001-2010, 2011-2020). In total, there were 20 anime from unique years and composed by unique composers. It was my first time hosting an anime-related quiz, but it turned out to be quite fun. As I had already done my research for the quiz, I thought I would expand upon it in this blog post. I have also added some juicy tidbits that I mentioned during the quiz.
As a result, this blog will cover anime OSTs from the first quarter of the 21st century (2001-2025)1 – one per year, per composer, per franchise.
A Dilemma of Years
A problem similar to the one discussed in my anime timeline arises. Usually, anime can go on longer than a year, can be broken up into cours/seasons over multiple years, or it can just stop. This gives rise to the problem of determining the year an OST belongs to – maybe the ideal solution is to pinpoint the exact day the episode containing the OST was publicly released, but this is a time-consuming process. Instead, I have taken the answer as the starting year of the season/cour featuring the given OST.
Hold on
Let’s make some important announcements to ease your navigation.
- Creators can block embedded YouTube video playback on external sites. To accommodate for such cases, you can either click on video links to open it within the YouTube interface or simply refer to this playlist containing the OST from each year.
- While providing my insights on each composer, I have added many other YouTube videos as a plain hyperlink. I have added such videos to this playlist in the order they are mentioned in this post.
The media attached on this page belongs to their respective owners. I have tried my best to include official releases but only some tracks are available in my country.
Timeline
2000s
2001
- Anime Name
- Arjuna
- Composer Name
- Yoko Kanno
Kanno is one of the most beloved music composers. Her influential works include Terror in Resonance, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and many more. Arjuna, though underrated, is equally impactful.
2002
- Anime Name
- Millennium Actress
- Composer Name
- Susumu Hirasawa
Hirasawa’s music perfectly complemented with other Satoshi Kon’s works such as Paprika, Paranoia Agent. And, of course, nobody can forget his Berserk tracks.
2003
- Anime Name
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Composer Name
- Michiru Oshima
Michiru Oshima is renowned for creating beautiful music. The Tatami Galaxy, Bloom Into You, Little Witch Academia are other examples.
2004
- Anime Name
- Howl's Moving Castle
- Composer Name
- Joe Hisaishi
Hisaishi is popularly known as the composer for most Ghibli movies.
2005
- Anime Name
- Mushi-Shi
- Composer Name
- Toshio Masuda
Besides his atmospheric tracks of Mushi-shi, Masuda is known for countless epic and emotional tracks from Naruto.
2006
- Anime Name
- Welcome to the N.H.K.
- Composer Name
- Pearl Brothers
This anime had one of the most chill and laid-back music; sadly they haven’t worked on more anime projects.
2007
- Anime Name
- Kaiji
- Composer Name
- Hideki Taniuchi
You might know him for his L’s or Light’s or Near’s theme of Death Note. His funky grooves will get anyone going. Unfortunately, he was found in possession of illegal substances and that’s all we know.
2008
- Anime Name
- Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
- Composer Name
- Koutarou Nakagawa
I would say he is The Master of intense songs. He made an anime like Prison School exponentially more epic.
2009
- Anime Name
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
- Composer Name
- Akira Senju
Senju brought up a very different but still fascinating take on the music of this FMA readaptation.
2010s
2010
- Anime Name
- Katanagatari
- Composer Name
- Taku Iwasaki
Noragami, Gurren Lagann and JoJo Part 2? This man is all about hype.
2011
- Anime Name
- Hunter × Hunter
- Composer Name
- Yoshihisa Hirano
H×H has a perfect soundtrack. From its light-hearted themes to shιt just got real tracks, there is a theme for everything. And Understanding is the most beautiful piece ever to exist. The composer also co-composed for Death Note, taking care of the orchestral side.
2012
- Anime Name
- Hyouka
- Composer Name
- Kouhei Tanaka
The classical vibes match perfectly; who could have guessed that this guy also composed for One Piece.
2013
- Anime Name
- Attack on Titan
- Composer Name
- Hiroyuki Sawano
The Man, The Myth, The Legend; apart from his extremely well-received music, he is also popular for his ‘Sawano Drop’ and peculiar track names. Like, do YouSeeBIGGIRL/T:T?
A few of his notable works are 86, Kill la Kill, Guilty Crown, and Re:Creators.
2014
- Anime Name
- Ping Pong the Animation
- Composer Name
- Kensuke Ushio
I can describe Ushio’s works in one word – MADNESS. His unique way of incorporating non-standard musical instruments, such as ping-pong balls, toys, and household items in the composition sets him apart. His music for Devilman: Crybaby, A Silent Voice and the recent Chainsaw Man anime has significantly influenced the industry.
2015
- Anime Name
- Death Parade
- Composer Name
- Yuuki Hayashi
Yuuki is most famous for My Hero Academia and Haikyu!!, for the pure goosebumps of You Say Run and Team Potential. But that doesn’t mean there are any unfulfilled emotional roller-coasters.
2016
- Anime Name
- Erased
- Composer Name
- Yuki Kajiura
My first love for anime music. It was with this anime I realised that background music can be cinematic. She has made a name for herself by working on Madoka Magica, Sword Art Online, Demon Slayer and the Fate franchises, utilising her made-up language to create lyrics.
2017
- Anime Name
- Land of the Lustrous
- Composer Name
- Yoshiaki Fujisawa
The insane sound direction in this anime made me realise how music is much more than just complexity. And yes, Erhu has quickly become one of my favourite instruments.
Fujisawa has also achieved success with the OST of Mushoku Tensei, A Place Further Than The Universe, Revue Starlight and more.
2018
- Anime Name
- Steins;Gate
- Composer Name
- Takeshi Abo
The music alone can be a reason to check out the entire Science Adventure visual novel series.
2019
- Anime Name
- Vinland Saga
- Composer Name
- Yutaka Yamada
Yutaka Yamada is in my humble opinion, a highly underrated composer. His tracks often tell a story, whether they are his piano melodies or the choir song that inspired the name of this blog :).
While the anime Tokyo Ghoul and Great Pretender didn’t receive much positive attention for its stories, its music still stood out.
2020s
2020
- Anime Name
- Kaguya-sama: Love is War
- Composer Name
- Kei Haneoka
This anime took a unique approach to both its visual and sound design by creating tracks referencing pop culture of every type. Okay, the number of words in the previous sentence weren’t enough here’s the sheet of all (identified) references.
Kei Haneoka has also been associated with the later seasons of the acclaimed Monogatari series.
2021
- Anime Name
- Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song-
- Composer Name
- Satoru Kousaki
Speaking of the Monogatari series. Its earlier seasons were composed by Satoru Kousaki, who also did the music for Beastars and the recently aired The Apothecary Diaries.
2022
- Anime Name
- Made in Abyss
- Composer Name
- Kevin Penkin
Speaking of The Apothecary Diaries, alright, I won’t try another segue :D.
Kevin Penkin introduces himself as an Aussie bloke who occasionally produces beeps and boops; even his song lyrics are gibberish sometimes. But that’s how I realised the emotion of music is not in the lyrics but in that noise.
His other liked works include The Rising of the Shield Hero, Tower of God and the currently airing Spice and Wolf readaptation.
2023
- Anime Name
- Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
- Composer Name
- Evan Call
Evan Call is best known for his wonderful work on Violet Evergarden and Josee, the Tiger and the Fish movie. He brings the best out of orchestral music.
2024
- Anime Name
- Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-
- Composer Name
- Kenichiro Suehiro
Well, I am cheating a bit here, as Re:ZERO’s season 3 hasn’t aired yet. But I am sure its OST will make it here.
While my favourite track composed by Kenichiro Suehiro is undoubtedly the Requiem of Silence; overall, my favourite work of his is Girls’ Last Tour, with its hauntingly beautiful vocal performances. His other prominent works include The Eminence in Shadow and Golden Kamuy.
Wrap Up
And that’s it for now. Thanks for reading a (possibly) useless blog post, as music is entirely subjective.
Footnotes
2025 isn’t here yet. Hopefully, I will remember to update this blog post. ↩︎