Kenji Kawai

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born April 23, 1957 is a Japanese composer and arranger. Known as one of the biggest names in the soundtrack world, he has worked on a wide range of mixed media productions, including anime, TV shows, films, video games and ice shows. Among his credits are Toei's Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever, Tsui Hark's Seven Swords and ; Wilson Yip's Ip Man; Mamoru Oshii's films The Red Spectacles, , Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, and Assault Girls. He also worked on the OVA and TV anime adaptations of Vampire Princess Miyu, The Sky Crawlers and Avalon; the anime adaptations of Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½ and Maison Ikkoku; the live-action adaptation of Gantz and Hideo Nakata's films Ring, Ring 2, Chaos, Dark Water and Kaidan.

His nephew, Hidehiro Kawai, is a bassist in Fox Capture Plan, an instrumental band.

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Career After dropping out of a nuclear engineering program at Tokai University, Kawai began studying music at Shobi Music Academy. However, he dropped out after half a year. With a few friends, he created the band Muse, playing fusion rock and participating in music competitions. Through competing in such contests, the band members became technically competent to enter the music industry and decided to part ways.

After leaving Muse, Kawai began composing music for commercials in his home studio. While recording music for radio actor and voice actor Yūji Mitsuya, he met music director Naoko Asari, who advised him to compose anime soundtracks. Some of his work for anime soundtracks can be found in Ranma ½ and Ghost in the Shell. According to Kawai, he is not good at creating music from nothing, as he draws sounds from the visuals of the works. In the majority of cases, the images of the anime are not yet created, so he creates music when referencing storyboard visuals.

Following his success as an anime music composer, he became involved in live action movies. He contributed music to : Ring, Ring 2, Dark Water, Japanese-Polish science-fiction film Avalon, the Hong Kong film Seven Swords and in the 2017 live action film Death Note.

Kawai has worked on several projects with director Mamoru Oshii (both Headgear members) and has written scores for all of Hideo Nakata's films. Kawai's music has received the Annie Award and Hong Kong Film Award. In 2005, he was nominated for an Annie Award.

For the music found in Seven Swords and A Battle of Wits he was nominated for Best Original Film Score Awards at both the 25th and 26th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2006 and 2007.

In 2019 he composed the music for the storytelling ice show Hyoen – Like the moonlight, which was based on the novel The Tale of Genji, starring Japanese figure skater, Olympic bronze medallist and former world champion Daisuke Takahashi in the title role.

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Works

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Anime/television

1986	Cosmos Pink Shock	TV Movie
1986	Maison Ikkoku
1987	Devilman	OVA
1988	Patlabor	OVA
1988	Vampire Princess Miyu	OVA
1989
1989	Ranma 1/2
1989		Movie
1989	Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai!	OVA
1989
1990	Devilman	OVA
1990	Project A-ko	OVA
1990	Karakuri Kengō Den Musashi Lord
1990	Kyatto Ninden Teyandee
1990	MAROKO
1991	Burn Up!	OVA
1991		OVA
1991	Mermaid Saga	OVA
1991	Demon Warrior Luna Varga	OVA
1992	Zetsuai 1989	OVA
1992	Hime-chan's Ribbon
1993	Ranma ½ OVA	OVA
1993	The Irresponsible Captain Tylor	OVA, TV Series
1993		Movie
1994	Blue Seed
1994	Iczer Girl Iczelion	OVA
1995	Princess Minerva	OVA
1995	Ghost in The Shell	Movie
1996	Sorcerer Hunters
1996	Baby and Me
1997	Hyper Police
1997	Vampire Princess Miyu
1999	You're Under Arrest THE MOVIE
1999	Dai-Guard	Movie
2001	Geisters
2001		OVA
2001	Rave Master
2002
2003	Gunparade March
2004		Movie
2004	Ultraman Nexus
2004	Windy Tales
2005	Starship Operators
2005
2006	Fate/Stay Night	TV series
2006	Tachiguishi-Retsuden	Music and Actor
2006	Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
2007
2007	Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
2007	Mobile Suit Gundam 00
2008	The Sky Crawlers
2009	Eden of the East
2010
2010
2011	Towa no Quon
2011	Busou Chuugakusei Basket Army
2012
2012	Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger
2014	Barakamon
2014	World Trigger
2014	The Perfect Insider
2015	Hana Moyu	Taiga drama
2015	Wakaba Girl
2015	Subete ga F ni Naru
2016		ONA, serve as extra episode of Japan Animator Expo
2016	Joker Game
2016	Mob Psycho 100
2016	Servamp
2016
2017	Ultraman Geed
2017	Kamen Rider Build
2018	The Ryuo's Work Is Never Done!
2018	Manpuku	Asadora
2019	Afterlost
2019	No Guns Life
2020
2021	Vlad Love	ONA
2021
2023	The Fire Hunter
2023	My Home Hero
2023		ONA
2024		ONA
2025	Uma Musume Cinderella Gray

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Film

1987	The Red Spectacles
1991
1991
1992	Talking Head
1998	Ring
1999	Ring 2
2000	Sadistic and Masochistic
2000	Sleeping Bride
2000	Chaos
2001	Avalon
2001	Unloved
2001	The Princess Blade
2002	Dark Water
2002	Samourais
2002	Bloody Mallory
2004
2004
2005	Open Your Mind
2005	Antarctic Journal
2005	Seven Swords
2005	Rinne
2005	Kidan (奇谈)
2006	Death Note
2006	Running Wild
Dragon Tiger Gate
2006	Trapped Ashes
2006
2006	A Battle of Wits
2007	Kaidan
2008	Ip Man
2009	Assault Girls
2009	Samayou Yaiba
2010	Ip Man 2
2010	The Incite Mill
2010
2011	GANTZ
2011
2011	Tormented
2013
2014
2015	Ip Man 3
2015	Gamera
2016
2017
2018
2018
2019	Ip Man 4
2019	Blood Friends (血ぃともだち)
2020
2021	Limbo
2024

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Video games

1990	Sansara Naga	Famicom
1990	Bloody Warriors: Shangō no Gyakushū	Famicom
1992	Sorcerian	PC Engine
1994	The Point of No Return	PC-FX
1994	Sansara Naga 2	Super Famicom
1998	Sega Saturn
2003	Nobunaga's Ambition Online (Chapter of Hiryu)	PlayStation 2
2007	FolksSoul	PlayStation 3
2007–2010	Sangokushi Online	Windows

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Documentary

2009

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Ice shows

2019	Hyoen – Like the moonlight
2024	Hyoen – Miracle of the Cross

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Others

2015	Gamera

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Awards and honors

• Asteroid 117582 Kenjikawai, discovered by Roy A. Tucker in 2005, was named in his honor. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on January 9, 2020 ().

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See also

• Anime
• Cinema of Japan
• Hideo Nakata
• Japanese horror
• Mamoru Oshii

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External links

• Kenji Kawai at Media Arts Database

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