Hiroyuki Sawano – The sound of anime

Before coming to Japan, I used to spend my spare time making cosplays, watching and reviewing anime online and whilst sewing or sanding for hours, listening to anime or game soundtracks. One name would crop up time and time again. Perhaps one of the most famous anime soundtrack composers, the name Hiroyuki Sawano probably rings a few bells, or at most those who have seen a few mainstream titles may have heard some of his work.

I was a huge fan and would sometimes just watch a show because I saw his name under music. His music always connected with me, and there was more than enough to listen to whilst I spent endless hours sewing or sanding. Hiroyuki Sawano, born in Tokyo, is best known as a pianist, composer, lyricist and music producer; the list of anime, games and tv shows for which he has written music is countless. But some more well-known titles include Attack on Titan, Gundam, 86, Xenoblade chronicle, Solo Levelling, Guilty crown, Kill la Kill and many more. He has won several music awards for his masterpieces. He has two additional music ventures alongside his instrumental pieces; in 2014 he started a vocal project called sawanoHiroyuki[nZk] where the primary focus is collaborating with other artists. In 2022 he created the group NAQT VANE which focused on creating music for overseas western audiences.

Sawano’s interest in music started very young and he began learning the piano in elementary school at the time he had vague dreams of working in music. In junior high school those dreams became more solid; he joined a band and learned the keyboard. Once he hit 17, he studied music and composition from a teacher and in his final year he wanted to make soundtracks so enrolled into vocational school to focus on composition. He has said he was highly inspired by the soundtracks of the Ghibli movies. He began his early career writing music for others and the rest is history.

Sawanos’ music has many standout features which make it easy to tell if a piece is his. First many of pieces have strange titles where numbers or even symbols are not uncommon. The reasoning behind this is something I admire he wants listeners to create their own conclusions with his work and not be influenced by titles; he isn’t a fan of explaining what is happening on screen in a song title. Which I honestly understand, in my 16 years as a photographic model I worked with many photographers who would exhibit their pieces in contests and exhibits. And many would title pieces with the obvious, tree, sitting girl etc. the pieces I always admired the most where the ones left to the viewer. They evoked much more feeling than the pieces telling me what was happening. Another common feature with Sawanos work is the feature of English vocals, with a vast majority of his vocal features including Japanese or German, the use of English is used to provoke thought and expand the song further.

For those wondering what came first the anime or the music, Sawano has stated when he is working on music for a series all music is composed ahead of seeing any animation. Another aspect I really admire, the emotions and the music speaks for itself and often helps with world building.

For me Hiroyuki Sawano was a soundtrack for endless hours of cosplay building which could often get lonely. When sewing and sanding it was hard to type or focus on subtitles, so music really was the answer. When I applied for the JET program, I recall telling them how much I loved his work and would be over the moon to see him live. It was something I had never even dreamed of for the simple fact that he rarely visits outside of Japan, and when he does, it is often America. The chance to see him was never there. But when applying for JET, the thoughts of what if started crossing my mind. At first, I was unsure if he even played live concerts. A lot of the recordings online are video quality, or they felt like private invite-only events.

After about half a year of being in Japan, I started to get to grips with how things worked, and some interesting news crossed my path. Hiroyuki Sawano did, in fact, do lives, and he was holding a Live in Yokohama. I have written a piece already on how tickets work in Japan, and if you are interested, be sure to give it a read. I signed up for the most-used ticketing site, and without hesitation I applied for the lottery to get tickets. I wasn’t expecting much; I knew for certain which the name Hiroyuki Sawano was known only to certain circles of people in the West. I knew for a fact he was a big name in Japan. I wasn’t expecting to win tickets, but the act of hitting apply was itself something I was very excited about. I ended up being successful, and I was over the moon to see him live in Yokohama. Hearing the pieces I was so familiar with in person really was a whole new experience. That night I felt like I had ticked off a bucket list item; I had achieved a goal of mine pre-Japan.

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of seeing him again live in Tokyo at the NHK Hall, and it was an amazing experience as he played Attack on Titan pieces which were absent from the previous show, as it was before his Attack on Titan concert in the US. The night was amazing, and seeing the session musicians often featured in his suites, YouTube recordings, and videos was special.

At the end of this show, he announced big news that he would be performing with a live orchestra soon! Ticket applications went live that night; the show in question was Gundam! Up until now, I have not seen him perform live with a full orchestra. I have my fingers and toes crossed that my application is successful.

If you are an anime fan, I recommend listening to more of his music and keeping an eye out for any shows he does outside of Japan. These occasions are very rare; however, there are endless hours of music online for you to enjoy too. I hope I can see him at least once more before my move home, and for it to be with a full orchestra would really be the cherry on top. Fingers crossed.