Shiro Sagisu Evangelion Music Composer
Shiro Sagisu (born August 29, 1957) is a famous Japanese music producer, composer and orchestrator. He is from Setagaya in Tokyo. Sagisu is currently the president of P Productions an anime and special effects production company that was founded in the late 1960’s by his father, Tomio Sagisu. During his extensive career he has worked on a number of famous anime series and films. Most notably, his collaborations with GAINAX and the soundtrack he created for Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.
History and Background
Sagisu was involved in the production industry from his early years in highschool helping his father on project with P Productions. From a young age he was exposed to film and media with his father having a studio next door to his family home.
In 1979, he made his debut as a solo artist with the album ‘EYES’ and in the 80’s has had many collaborations with famous classical artists. He has also had a lot of input in influential television commercials and was also well known for being the composer for the famous Japanese TV show ‘Waratte Ii Tomo’.
During the 1990’s Sagisu branched away from the Japanese industry and was known for his activities in Paris, owning a club and working with many classical European artists. He also had projects in Asia, being the first Japanese to ever be the lead music director of a Korean film. In 1999, he returned to his solo work in Japan with a series of his life work ‘SHIRO'S SONGBOOK’. More recently, Sagisu would produce the music for famous Japanese pop stars, Misia and R&B singer Ken Hirai.
Famous Anime Titles
From the mid 1980’s Sagisu had a heavy hand in many of the famous anime that are seen as classics today. Such as the Attacker You! Series and Ranma ½. From the 1990’s he worked on the soundtrack for the Square Enix game Final Fantasy VI followed by working with Hideaki Anno and GAINAX on Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and Neon Genesis Evangelion. From the 2000’s Sagisu once again made compositions for household known names such as Bleach.
In 2015, Sagisu was also apart of the Attack on Titan boom that hit the world. Sagisu wrote the "metal-opera" score for the Attack on Titan two-part film that was recorded with the London Studio Orchestra. This piece mixed incorporated distorted metal guitars, industrial synths, and drum beats to his jazzy and classical style of music.
In addition to Evangelion work, most recently Sagisu was once again a part of a Japanese iconic franchise, Godzilla. Using integrations from the original Godzilla composer Akira Ifukube’s works, Sagisu created a more modern soundtrack for the 2016 Shin Godzilla movie directed by Hideaki Anno.
His work as a solo artist has been very successful, but the anime industry is where he made his biggest mark.
Awards
Sagisu is active in the music world, however the world of anime was where he would make and find the most success. The Evangelion soundtracks reached high rankings on the Oricon charts, with Neon Genesis Evangelion III reaching the number one slot for highest sales in 1997.
In 2010, Sagisu was awarded as the winner of Best Music in the Tokyo Anime Awards for his soundtrack in the second movie of the Evangelion Rebuild series, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance.
In 2017, Sagisu was a nominee in the Awards of the Japanese Academy for ‘Best Music Score’ for his composed soundtrack in the Shin Godzilla movie (2016)
Discography
- EYES with Somethin' Special (1979)
- Pole Position 2 with Somethin' Special (1980)
- Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale (orchestral arrangement, 1994)
- Shiro's Songbook (1999)
- Shiro's Songbook 2 (2000)
- Tribute to Cool! Shiro's Songbook 2.5 (2001)
- 5.1 Gospel Songbook (2001)
- Shiro's Songbook "remixes and more" (2002)
- Shiro's Songbook Selection London Freedom Choir (2003)
- Shiro's Songbook Ver 7.0 (2005)
- Shiro's Songbook Xpressions (2013)
- Shiro's Songbook The Hidden Wonder of Music (2017)
- Shiro's Ani-Songbook (2018)
Anime Works
- Attacker You! (1984–85)
- Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko (1985)
- Ai City (1986)
- Megazone 23 (1985, 1987, 1989)
- Kimagure Orange Road (1987–1988)
- Battle Royal High School (1987)
- Ranma ½ Nettōhen (1989–1992)
- Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990–1991)
- Macross II (1992)
- Ushio and Tora (1992–1993)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995–1996)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (1997)
- The End of Evangelion (1997)
- Rebuild of Evangelion (2007–present)
- Garzey's Wing (1996)
- His and Her Circumstances (1998)
- Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (2002)
- Bleach (2004–2012)
- Bleach: Memories of Nobody (2006)
- Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion (2007)
- Bleach: Fade to Black (2008)
- Bleach: Hell Verse (2010)
- The Skull Man (2007)
- Berserk: The Golden Age Arc (2012–2013)
- Berserk (2016–2017)
- Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (2012–2013)
- Magi: The Kingdom of Magic (2013–2014)
- Black Bullet (2014)
- Japan Animator Expo (2014—2015)
- until You come to me. (2014)
- On a Gloomy Night (2015)
- Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen (2015)
- SSSS.Gridman (2018)
Movie works
- Musa (2001)
- Casshern (2004)
- The Restless (2006)
- Attack on Titan (2015)
- Shin Godzilla (2016)
- Wotakoi (2020)