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Shiro Sagisu Evangelion Music Composer

Shiro Sagisu (born August 29, 1957) is a renowned Japanese music producer, composer, and orchestrator. He is originally from Setagaya, Tokyo. Sagisu is currently the president of P Productions, an anime and special effects production company founded in the late 1960s by his father, Tomio Sagisu. Over the course of his long career, he has worked on several well-known animated series and films. His collaborations with GAINAX and the soundtrack he created for the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise are notable.

History and context

Sagisu has been involved in the production industry since his early high school years, helping his father on a project with P Productions. From a young age, he was exposed to film and media, as his father had a studio next to the family home.

In 1979, he made his debut as a solo artist with the album "EYES" and in the 1980s, he collaborated on numerous occasions with famous classical artists. He has also participated in many influential television commercials and is also known for being the composer of the famous Japanese television show "Waratte Ii Tomo".

In the 1990s, Sagisu moved away from the Japanese industry and became known for his activities in Paris, where he owned a club and worked with many classical European artists. He also had projects in Asia, becoming the first Japanese to be the main music director of a Korean film. In 1999, he returned to his solo work in Japan with a series of his works, "SHIRO'S SONGBOOK." More recently, Sagisu has produced music for famous Japanese pop stars Misia and R&B singer Ken Hirai.

Famous Anime Titles

Since the mid-1980s, Sagisu has played a prominent role in many famous anime that are considered classics today, such as the Attacker You! series and Ranma ½. Since the 1990s, he has worked on the soundtrack for Square Enix's Final Fantasy VI, followed by Hideaki and GAINAX on Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Since the 2000s, Sagisu has again composed for well-known names such as Bleach.

In 2015, Sagisu also participated in the Attack on Titan boom that hit the world. Sagisu wrote the "metal opera" soundtrack for the two-part film Attack on Titan, which was recorded with the London Studio Orchestra. This piece incorporated distorted metal guitars, industrial synths, and drum beats into his jazzy, classical music style.

In addition to his work on Evangelion, Sagisu has recently been a part of an iconic Japanese franchise, Godzilla. Using integrations from the works of original Godzilla composer Akira Ifukube, Sagisu created a more modern soundtrack for the 2016 film Shin Godzilla, directed by Hideaki Anno.

His work as a solo artist has been very successful, but it is in the anime industry that he has left his greatest mark.

Awards

Sagisu is active in the music world, but it is in the world of anime that he has achieved the most success. The soundtracks for Evangelion have reached the top of the Oricon charts, with Neon Genesis Evangelion III reaching the number one spot for highest sales in 1997.

In 2010, Sagisu was awarded Best Music at the Tokyo Anime Awards for his soundtrack to the second film in the Evangelion Rebuild series, Evangelion: 2.0 You Cannot (Advance) None

In 2017, Sagisu was nominated for a Japan Academy Award for "Best Film Music" for his soundtrack to the 2016 film Shin Godzilla.