Famous Japanese Anime Composers Set to Perform at Otakon

Yuki Hayashi, one of the famous Japanese anime composers performing their musical composition at Otakon

Yuki Hayashi and Kaoru Wada, two famous Japanese anime composers, will thrill anime fans with their musical compositions at Otakon.

BY KAZAD

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Anime composers Yuki Hayashi and Kaoru Wada will perform at this year’s Otakon’s Sun and Stars concert on Sunday.  Both composers are famous in the anime world for their amazing compositions.

Yuki Hayashi

Born in Kyoto in 1980, Yuki Hayashi first came to the attention of the music world after participating in rhythmic gymnastics, a sports competition during which gymnasts perform floor exercises. The competitors use hoops, balls, clubs, ribbons, and ropes to win the hearts of the judges. There is dance and calisthenics. Yuki’s job during the competition was to select the music. In addition to surpassing expectations, he also fell in love with music.

In college, Yuki continued his love of music.  He started composing music without formal training. Soon after college, the young Yuki learned how to make basic tracks from Hideo Kobayashi, one of Japan’s most prolific electronic music producers and DJs.

With that knowledge, Yuki started his career composing music for various competitive dances. Over the years, Yuki has developed a style of his own. His music style combines Yuki’s experience as a rhythmic dancer with visuals.

Yuki continues to reinvent his music as he grows in the music industry. Fans will experience it when Yuki gets on stage at Otakon 2022. His performance will include a chamber orchestra and a rock band playing songs arranged by the composer. The Sun and Stars Otakon Anime Concert will include Yuki’s popular tracks from Japanese manga series such as  My Hero Academia, Haikyu!!, One Piece Film: Gold, Dragon Quest: The Adventure Of Dai, Death Parade, Gundam Build Fighter,  and  Pokemon, among others.

Kaoru Wada

Also performing at the Sun and Stars concert on Sunday is Kaoru Wada. Kaoru is a versatile artist who is active in a wide range of musical fields, including anime, film, television, theater, and events. He is also popular in the anime world because of his compositions.

Kaoru is a graduate of the Tokyo College of Music. In 1986, his “Three Fragments for Orchestra” had its first outing with the North Holland Philharmonic Orchestra (Noordhollands Philharmonisch Orkest). The outing was a major success.

In 1987, Wada’s work, “Aikake [Discourse] for Flute, Harp and Percussion,” won an award at the International Contemporary Music Composer Competition in New York City. Soon after, Wada traveled the world performing “Aikake” in many places across the world, including the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Norway, the United States, and Japan. In 1990, “Aikake [Discourse] for Flute, Harp and Percussion’.” The work was released worldwide on the Grammaphone Bis label.

Back to Japan

Soon after his travels around the world, Wada returned to Japan and continued his music career. He has produced compositions for film, video, television shows, and drama. In 1995, his music for the Shochiku film, “Crest of Betrayal,” won a Japan Academy Prize. 

In addition to everything else, Wada has also published many works for Japanese indigenous instruments, plus works that use Japanese folklore and folksongs as motifs. He conducted his first concert in November 2003. It was dedicated solely to his own works, “The World of Kaoru Wada,” in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, with joint sponsorship by the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.

A brilliant composer, Kaoru Wada has composed scores for many anime series including D.Gray-Man, Inuyasha, Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, Samurai 7, and Tesla among others.

Anime composers Yuki Hayashi and Kaoru Wada join other musicians like Yoshiki, and X-Japan, who have performed in the Otakon Sunday Concert.

Otakon will be held from July 29-31 in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

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