Shunsuke Kikuchi, the composer of the score for the anime Dragon Ball Z in the 1990s, has sadly passed away due to aspiration pneumonia. He was 89.
His career spanned more than 50 years across the film and television industry, and he became one of the most sought-after composers in Japan. Kikuchi's first credit was the film The Eighth Enemy, soon after graduating from the Nihon University College of Art. Then, his work on the Tiger Mask anime in the late 1960s and early 1970s drew acclaim, with one reviewer expressing that his ballad ending theme had "changed Japanese anime music." In fact, he frequently collaborated with Toei Animation, and this is when and where the iconic theme for Dragon Ball Z came into being.
The Dragon Ball Wiki explains how significant Kikuchi's contribution to the anime was in its early years and beyond. He composed 23 different packages of music for the original Japanese versions of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, which works out to be over 400 different pieces of music, and it transpires that a majority of his cues were never released physically. That means that the anime is likely to be the only source where you are able to listen to his score for Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z in its entirety.
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As well as the anime, Kikuchi was famous for his incidental and background songs from long-running series such as Doraemon, Kamen Rider, Abarenbō Shōgun, Chōshichirō Edo Nikki, Key Hunter and G-Men '75. He was formally recognised for his artistry, too, as he won a number of awards across his prolific career.
In 1983, he was nominated for the Japan Academy Prize for Music for the films The Gate of Youth and To Trap a Kidnapper. He won the International Award which is part of the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers four times for Dragon Ball Z - in 2008, 2015, 2016, and 2018. According to Gulf News, his family held a private funeral for Kikuchi. Our thoughts are with them during this difficult time.
Featured Image Credit: Toei Animation