[Titens]

Which are the best instrumental music for anime composers out there?

Here are my thoughts after listening to so many osts. It's long, but not only is useful (these guys made 95% of the good osts I've heard), I also think any anime music lover will enjoy reading it too:

Yuki Kajiura: There is no anime music lover that hasn't heard about her. Not only she makes amazing music, but she has also worked in mountains of animes, many of them pretty famous. The only thing I don't like that much about her music, is that it's always too similar... and it feel repetitive in the long run. Still love her tho.

Her best jobs (or at least some of them): Tsubasa chronicles, kara no kyoukai, madlax, mai-hime, .hack// sign, elemetad gelad, etc.

Sato Naoki: He hasn't done that many things, but since 3 years ago he has released nothing but masterpieces (haven't heard any of his early osts yet... which I should be ashamed of). If I had to pick a favorite composer, it would be him.
His best ost: Eureka 7 (both TV and movie... both top 5 ost), Heroic age and Sword of the stranger.

Toshihiko Sahashi: To be honest, I've heard 4-5 ost of him, and except for one, the rest weren't impressive at all. But this guy is responsible of making THE BEST OST EVER: Gundam SEED/Gundam SEED destiny (uncontested). It consist of 9 albums, of 35 songs in each of them, and each of this albums is better than most of the osts of other series (in single album comparison, eureka 7, ef-, naruto shippuuden, atc... are better tho). This only, is enough to put this guy among the best for sure.

Other ost: Simoun, Full Metal Panic & TSR, Black blood brothers, Hunter x hunter, gunslinger girl,etc...

Kaoru Wada: This guy has a bunch of good ost. But it also has a problem: they are ALL exactly the same. Grab one of his ost (Casshern sins and d. gray-man), mix the songs, and it'll be completly impossible to tell one theme from one ost from another them of the other one. But at least his formula is not bad, so listening to one ost might be a good idea.

Some of the ost: Casshern sins, d. gray-man, lost canvas, inuyasha, ninja scroll, etc...

Yasuhara Takanashi: Most of the times, good ost come from good animes. This rule has many exceptions... but never I have been as surprised about an ost but from the ost that come from this guy. My first big surprise was when I heard Naruto Shippudden's ost... while I was downloading this, I was expecting a mediocre ost at best... and it ended being one of the top 5 best ost ever. Don't believe me? Listen to it yourself and come back then. My second biggest surprise was with an anime I expected even less from: Ikkitousen Great Guardians. I downloaded it for the lulz, thinking of deleting it as soon as I heard it once... and it was fucking great.

Best jobs: Naruto Shippuuden, Ikkitousen Great guardians, Jigoku shoujo, Mononoke, Tori no uta, gantz, etc.

Yoko Kanno: One of heavy weights of instrumental music... and probably a champion. Personally, I don't enjoy most of her ost that much... but not because they aren't great... but because I just don't like jazz/blues, and many of her albums are of that genre (being Cowboy Beebop the biggest one of all). Even so, many of her ost are different type of music, being old school instrumental music (escaflowne), epic music (Macross frontier), and modern music (Ghost in the shell SAC). And all of them really good.

Her best osts: Cowboy beebop, Ghost in the shell SAC, escaflowne (both movie and tv), Earth girl Arjuna, darker than black, Macross 7 plus and frontier, rahxephon, wolf's rain, turn a Gundam, etc.

Kawai Kenji: A guy that has made countless anime osts, with great critics in many of them. Personally, I never though of his album to be anything especial, except for a few of them (but in general they are good). First album I heard of him was Seirei no moribito, and amazing ost, his best, and the only reason that I don't consider him to be a bit overrated.

He has made so many ost, that i'm only naming a few: Ghost in the shell movies, ranma 1/2, gundam 00, seirei no moribito, Higurashi no naku koro ni, Fate stay night, Eden of the east, etc.

Hans Zimmer: For me, the best composer in the planet. He is not really an anime music composer, being his ost made for top notch production movies, like Pirates of the Caribbean, last samurai, Gladiator, etc. But for some reason, he made in cooperation with Mark Mancina (Brother bear ost), the Blood+ anime ost. And the result: one of the best ost ever. And it didn't surprise me that was the outcome.

TENMON: A very unique composer. His music is different than most of the rest, and it's simply amazing. There's not even one of their ost that I haven't liked, and ef - a tale of memories, is one of the top 5 ever for me too. Too bad it has made less than 10 ost so far.

Best ost: Ef - a tale of memories and melodies, byosuoku 5cm, beyond the clouds, hoshi no koe.

Joe Hisaishi: Pretty good. He makes all of studio Ghibli's movies ost.

ONE HIT WONDERS:
Toshio Masuda (Mushishi)
Hideyuki Fukasawa (Bakumatsu kikansetsu Irohanihoheto)
Juan Maeda (Air TV)
Hitomi Kuroishi (Code geass 1 & r2)
Michiru Oshima (FMA & xam'd)
Matsutani Suguru (Nodame cantabile)
Hirasawa Susumu (paprika)
Kikuchi Hajime (true tears)
And so many more....

COMPOSERS I JUST DON'T LIKE:
Iwasaki Taku: Not because he's bad... but because his ost are AVERAGE... fairly good at best... and for some reason it became extremely popular (being his popularity related to the anime itself, more than the music itself). If you are still wondering who the fuck is him, it's the composer of the TTGL ost... probably the most overrated ost ever, along with elfen lied's. He also did Soul eater's and a bunch of other ones.


AND I FINALLY FINISHED WRITING!!

[smilydude]

Yeah, I really like Toshihiko as I believe he did a simply superb job on the Big O soundtrack.

[ta7in]

mine are toshiro masuda ....

[Titens]

I haven't listened to many of Toshiro Masuda's. I really liked Mushishi's ost, but the other 2 ost I heard of him (Naruto... and more that I can't even remember it's name) weren't any good.
Which ost would you recommend of him?

[Green Tea]

I like Yoko Kanno's work. Oh, and in b4 "Yoko Kanno plagiarizes, steals, is a fraud, etc."

[klaynne14]

only know Taku Iwasaki's work (self-consciousness tracks) esp. from the Rurouni Kenshin OVAs.. classic..

hitomi, hmm.. guess I got affected by geass too much back then

and some 3 or 4 others in the list.. can't remember other names atm..

Sagisu Shirou from the bleach ost.. just randomly popped in my head..

[MegaMortal]

Jun Maeda, because I loved his work on Clannad, Kanon and Air TV

[RinVonStark]

Yoko Kanno, also inb4 what Green Tea said.

[vanteya37]

I love Yuki Kajiura's music, have a lot of respect for Sato Naoki, Kawai Kenji & Toshihiko Sahashi. Hirasawa Susumu isn't bad either.

[Darkchao45]

Well I dont really know the name of the composer but i like whomever composed the music for the "Tenshi Muyo In Love" movie.