Kajiura Yuki
From Bee Train Fan Wiki
| Kajiura Yuki | |
| Japanese | 梶浦 由記 |
| Born | 6 August 1965 |
| Occupation | Composer and Songwriter |
Yuki Kajiura is a successful Japanese composer for various commercial mediums. Her musical experimentation of genre-blending and distinct style have won her many fans and a unique presence in the animation world. Most noted are her animation partnerships with Bee Train studios, participation in the female pop duo See-Saw, and collaborations with several artists under the name FictionJunction. She currently resides in Tokyo.
Contents |
Biography
Due to her father's work, Kajiura resided in West Germany until 1972 when entering middle school. She was classically trained on the piano from an early age, pushed by her father, and came to compose her first song at the age of 7, a farewell song to her grandmother. [1] After graduating from college in Tokyo, she began a career as a Systems Engineering programmer. However, she eventually found that her time would only allow her job or her interest in music. Greatly encouraged by her father, a lover of operic and classical music, she focused on the latter. [1]
In 1992, Kajiura made her debut in the all-female-trio group See-Saw, then consisting of Ishikawa Chiaki (lead vocals), herself (back-up vocals, keyboards) and Nishioka Yukiko. Ishikawa had originally signed on without any former experience with encouragement by Kajiura. In 1994, the pop group broke up after two albums and six singles. Nishioka turned to writing while Kajiura pursued a solo-career composing music for other artists, commertials, television, films, animation, and games.
Her first animation soundtrack was Kimagure Orange Road in 1996. She was invited by the producer due to her work with See-Saw and was excited to compose for a genre she was largely unfamiliar with. However, arguably her career took off when she worked with director Mashimo Kōichi as composer for the animation Eat-Man in 1997.
In 2001, Chiaka Ishikawa and herself reformed See-Saw. About this same time, Kajiura got involved with Bee-Train's controversal and wildly successful production Noir. Despite conflicting reactions to the series amoung reviewers, all noted it's unique and atmospheric soundtrack that maintained a character all in itself throughout the series rather than submitting to mere background music. Influences for the soundtrack were a mix of french-flair, European styles, classical works, pop, and techno.
Mashimo's unique approach to animation gave Kajiura the artistic freedom she craved to create music she was interested in. Although sometimes confused, she would be asked to create music in terms of breadth and scale rather then quality based on character sketches and the "Mashimo Menu". Without specifying specific songs needed, Mashimo Kōichi pens titles such as "The Gatekeeper of Hell is All Alone" which turned into Madlax's theme, and "Picture Book, Blood, and Deep-Sea Fish," which later became Margaret's theme. Kajiura interprets this as a challenge on the part of the director and says it ignites a special creative spirit from herself.
In 2002, she was re-invited to join Bee-Train on the next Mashimo project, .hack//SIGN. See-Saw produced the OP and ED as well as several edits, while Kajiura focused on the soundtrack. During the production, Kajiura met singer Emily Bindiger and "fell in love" with her voice. [1] She collaborated with her in no less than ten songs. The soundtrack sold 300,000 over units.
In 2003, See-Saw sold 100,000 copies of their new album Dreamfield, heralding another success. Her solo album, Fiction was released in the same year. Other major hits include Anna ni Issho Datta no ni, and ending theme for Mobile Suit Gundam SEED that sold 200,000 hits as well as inserts and an OP for Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny that marked her wildest success to date. After her work on Madlax in 2004, she has been invited to several high profile series to compose soundtracks including Mai-HiME as well as the third OST for Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny.
Artist Collaborations
Yuki Kajiura - under the pen name FictionJunction - has collaborated with a number of artsts: Nanri Yuuka, Kato Asuka, and Oda Kaori. Perhaps the most successful of such collaborations was FictionJunction YUUKA with Yuuka Nanri in the album Destination (2005).
Discography
Animation soundtracks
| Animation Title | Year of Release |
|---|---|
| Kimagure Orange Road | 1996 |
| Eat-Man | 1997 |
| Noir (OST I, II, III) | 2001 |
| Aquarian Age | 2002 |
| .hack//SIGN | 2002 |
| .hack//Liminality | 2002 |
| Le Portrait De Petit Cossette | 2004 |
| Madlax (OST I, II, OP & ED Single) | 2004 |
| Mai-HiME | 2004 |
| Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny OST 3 (with Toshihiko Sahashi) | 2004 |
| Tsubasa Chronicle | 2005 |
| Elemental Gelade | 2005 |
| Mai-Otome | 2005 |
Game soundtracks
| Game Title | Game Platform | Year of Release | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double Cast | PlayStation | 1998 | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| Meguri-aishite | PlayStation | 1999 | SME |
| Blood: The Last Vampire | PlayStation 2 | 2000 | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse (movie scenes) (Xenosaga II - Zenaku no Higan) | PlayStation 2 | 2004 | Namco |
| Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra | PlayStation 2 | 2006 | Namco |
Movie soundtracks
| Movie Title | Year of Release | Director |
|---|---|---|
| Tokyo-Kyodai | 1995 | Ichikawa Jun |
| RUBY FRUIT | 1995 | Takumi Kimiduka |
| Rainbow | 1999 | Naoto Kumazawa |
| Boogiepop and others | 2000 | Ryu Kaneda |
| MOON | 2000 | Takumi Kimiduka |
Musicals
| Musical Title | Year of Release |
|---|---|
| Sakura-Wars | 1998 |
| Fine | 1998 |
| FUNK-a-STEP | 1998 |
| FUNK-a-STEP II | 1999 |
| Christmas Juliette | 1999-2000 |
| High-School Revolution | 2000 |
| Christmas Juliette | 2000 |
| Shooting-Star Lullaby | 2001 |
| Love's Labour's Lost/SET | 2002 |
| Angel Gate | 2006 |
Solo albums
| Album Title | Year of Release |
|---|---|
Fiction
| 2003 |
FictionJunction YUUKA - Destination
| 2005 |
Produced albums
(vocalist: Chiba Saeko)
| Album Title | Year of Release |
|---|---|
| Melody | 2003 |
| Everything | 2004 |
See-Saw albums
(vocalist: Ishikawa Chiaki)
| Album Title | Year of Release |
|---|---|
| I Have a Dream | 1993 |
| See-Saw | 1994 |
| Dream Field | 2003 |
| Early Best | 2003 |
Inserts and Singles
This section is unfinished
| Genre | Project | Involvement | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anime | .hack//SIGN | Opening Theme (See-Saw) | Obsession | 2002 |
| Anime | .hack//SIGN | Ending Theme (See-Saw) | Yasashii Yoake | 2002 |
| Anime | Chrono Crusade | Ending Theme (with Saeko Chiba) | "Sayonara Solitia" | 2003 |
| Game | .hack//QUARANTINE | Insert | Yasashii Yoake | 2003 |
| Anime | Mobile Suit Gundam SEED | Ending Theme (See-Saw) | Anna ni Issho Datta no ni | 2003 |
| Anime | Mobile Suit Gundam SEED | Insert (FictionJunction Yuuka) | Akatsuki no Kuruma | 2003 |
| Anime | Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny | Second Ending Theme (See-Saw) | Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru | 2004 |
| Anime | Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny | Insert (FictionJunction YUUKA) | Honoo No Tobira | 2004 |
| Anime | .hack//Legend of the Twilight | Ending Theme | 2004 | |
| Anime | Loveless | Opening Theme | 2005 | |
| Anime | Shōnen Onmyōji | Opening Theme | Egao no Wake (The Meaning of Your Smile) | 2006 |
Hired vocalists
- Arisaka Mika (Jap. 有坂美香)
- Emily Bindiger
- Tulivu-Donna Cumberbatch
- Emily Curtis
- Margaret Dorn
- Fion
- Hikita Kaori (Jap. 引田香織)
- Hisakawa Aya (Jap. 久川 綾)
- Inoue Marina (Jap. 井上麻里奈)
- Ishikawa Chiaki (Jap. 石川千亜紀 / 石川智晶) / See-Saw
- Ito Eri (Jap. 伊東恵里)
- Kaida Yuriko (Jap. 貝田由里子)
- Kasahara Yuri (Jap. 笠原由里)
- Kato Asuka (Jap. 加藤あすか) / FictionJunction ASUKA
- Kikuchi Mika (Jap. 菊地美香)
- Koshimizu Ami (Jap. 小清水亜美)
- Kuwashima Hōko (Jap. 桑島法子)
- Deb Lyons
- Makino Yui (Jap. 牧野由依)
- Miyamura Yuuko (Jap. 宮村優子)
- Nanri Yuuka (Jap. 南里侑香) / FictionJunction YUUKA
- Nishikawa Kaori
- Nishina Kaori (Jap. 仁科かおり / 仁科薫理)
- Oda Kaori (Jap. 織田かおり) / FictionJunction KAORI
- Ogawa Noriko (Jap. 小川範子)
- Okina Reika (Jap. 翁鈴佳)
- Omi Minami (Jap. 南央美)
- Saeko Chiba (Jap. 千葉紗子)
- Tanaka Rie (Jap. 田中理恵)
- TARAKO
- Tomaru Hanae (Jap. 戸丸華江)
- Tomokazu Seki (Jap. 関智一)
- Yukana (Jap. ゆかな)
Trivia
- To motivate herself to write music, all she has to do is to "keep the love of music alive".
- She has to keep studying music because she got into music later than her peers. However she believes her strength lies in her selfishness. Being selfish allows her to make music that she is most interested in.
- Director Mashimo describes Kajiura as "Terrifying and extremely clever".
- The volume of the soundtrack in Bee-Train's series are often turned up in comparison to other shows where music isn't so dominant. The reason is because Director Mashimo believes it is "a perfect fit".
- Kajiura's advice to those interested in pursuing a similar career is that it is largely the result of luck. Just "make your own music to be proud of".
- Mashimo takes Kajiura's music and places it wherever he wants to. She knows a song is liked the more it is played.
- Yuki Kajiura likes to experiment with the sounds of languages in her songs, creating complex choruses of "nonsense" languages that she feels express the emotion of the song. The most prominent examples are "Yanmaani" in "nowhere" from Madlax OST I and "Mezame" from the first Mai-HiME original soundtrack. These artificial languages are sometimes collectively referred as "Kajiuran". [1]
- One of Kajiura's favorite anime characters is Chloe from Noir.
References
External links
- Yuki Kajiura's Home Page
- See-Saw Home Page
- FictionJunction YUUKA Home Page
- Victor Entertainment (Yuki Kajiura)
- Yuki Kajiura's Biography at Anime-Source.Com
- Rocketbaby's Interview with Yuki Kajiura
- A Yuki Kajiura French Fan-site
- Anime Academy's Yuki Kajiura Profile
- Kajiura Yuki at English Wikipedia
- Kajiura Yuki at Anime News Network
