Some of her most famous soundtrack themes include “Voices” (Macross Plus), “The Real Folk Blues” (Cowboy Bebop), “Yakusoku wa Iranai” (Escaflowne), “Gravity” (Wolf’s Rain), and “Inner Universe” (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex). She was the lead member of a band called The Seatbelts, which regrouped in the year of 2004 to compose the soundtrack of the Cowboy Bebop game, scheduled for a 2006 US release. It is also rumored that Yoko Kanno will be making the opening theme for the live-action series Kamen Rider Kabuto, with the song being titled “FIRE”. She has composed for many Koei games released during the late 1980s to early 1990s and for a Dreamcast game. Due to her close involvement in the Cowboy Bebop anime, the game released by Bandai also features her work. Apart from anime and games, Kanno also composes for live-action films and CMs (television advertisements or commercials) for all sorts of brands. Grand Funk Inc. is her recording studio of choice in producing for these two media. Contributions to films started in the 90s but only since 2002 has there been a trend towards the medium. Most of the latter were shown in international film festivals. There is some speculation that one of her frequently hired vocalists, Gabriela Robin, is Kanno herself under a pseudonym. She is married to fellow composer Hajime Mizoguchi, with whom she collaborated on the soundtracks for Please Save My Earth and Escaflowne. She has attended Otakon and Anime Expo in 1999, as well as Anime Expo New York in 2002. On September 13, 2005, GameSpot reported Kanno has been hired by Gravity Corp. to do the scoring for their in-development MMORPG, Ragnarok Online 2. Recently, she has done work for a number of anime series’ including Darker than Black, which began airing on April 5, 2007. Her early career includes her part in the jazz band てつ100％. Her music often borrows heavily from other pieces, from a wide variety of sources. Often the entire backing will be used, and only the melody changed. This has lead to some of her listeners to accuse her of plagiarism, but so far no legal action has been taken against her. Examples can be found here varying in the level of similarity. This has led to some fans thinking of her as more of an arranger or orchestrator than as a composer. |
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