Do you know Hiroyuki Sawano? He is a Japanese composer, lyricist, musician and producer quite famous for works in anime, series, movies and games. Sawano was born in 1980 and started playing the piano in elementary school, at age 17 he studied piano, composition, arrangement and orchestration with Nobuchika Tsuboi. Their soundtracks are so enchanting that I decided to write an article just to talk about them.
You must have definitely heard Hiroyuki Sawano's compositions in some anime or game. He is famous for doing Soundtracks (OST) related to science fiction, sci-fi as in the Anime of Aldnoah Zero, Guilty Crown and games like Best OST Aldnoah Zero. He has also done soundtracks for highly successful anime such as Shingeki no Kyojin and Nanatsu no Taizai. Sometimes he is on the same level or even above Yuki Kajiura and Taku Iwasaki. Some even call him the Hans Zimmer of the East.
In case you're one of those who never stopped to pay attention to the background music, or even listened to them separately on google, you might have some nostalgia in this article.
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The works of Hiroyuki Sawano
Hiroyuki Sawano uses the code [nZk] in their songs to show their authorship. Their songs are often energetic and formic, helping to keep focus. Sometimes a track tends to touch the heart with a feeling of sadness as in the case of different versions of verses at Aldnoah.Zero.
One of the criticisms about Hiroyuki Sawano is that he usually recycles a lot of versions of songs, and sometimes his rhythms are repetitive. We can even notice several different versions of the same song present in the anime, not that it's something abnormal. Sawano surprises with bombastic, highly vocalized songs in the midst of action scenes, or instrumental versions of openings and endings.
List of works where Hiroyuki Sawano worked:
- Aldnoah.Zero - OST and Endings;
- Blue Exorcist;
- Guilty Crown;
- Kill la Kill;
- Koutetsujou no Kabaneri - OST and endings;
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn;
- Seven Deadly Sins;
- Owari no Seraph;
- Re:Creators;
- Sengoku Basara;
- Attack on Titan;
- Xenoblade;
The songs that captivated me were from Aldnoah Zero, especially &Z, AlieZ, Vers, and their oriental versions. And how not to remember the songs do not worry and uncontrollable from Xenoblade X. Well that's my taste, but there are many other songs that go further.
Vocalized songs - A perfect match
Many compositions by Hiroyuki Sawano are vocalized. One of the prominent singers of his compositions is Mika Kobayashi. She was born in 1978 in Hiroshima, and usually sings mostly English songs. Several songs by Shingeki no Kyojin and Aldnoah.Zero are sung by Mika Kobayashi and composed by Hirayuki Sawano. In XenobladeX she sings several songs including uncontrollable.
Another prominent voice belongs to Mizuki, a mysterious girl who actually appears to be the lead singer of the band Itsue. She sings the endings of Aldnoah Zero as AlieZ. There is also a version sung by Mika Kobayashi known by the name of MKAlieZ. We cannot fail to mention the amer and cyua with their beautiful voices, which is very present in Sawano's compositions.
We recommend the video below which has a compilation of the best songs sung by Hiroyuki Sawano. Remembering that many epic openings and endings are not present in this video, due to copyright.
There are several notable composers in Japanese works, unfortunately talking in detail about all of them would take a lot of work, so I mentioned my favorite! Composers are like weapons in an arsenal, and their effectiveness is often determined by their talents. Do you like Hiroyuki Sawano? What do you think of him? What is your favorite composer?
