Shunsuke Kikuchi

Japanese composer (1931–2021)
the footballer

Shunsuke Kikuchi (菊池 俊輔) was a Japanese composer who was active from the early 1960s until 2017. He specialized in incidental music for media such as television and film. Kikuchi was regarded as one of Japan's most highly demanded film and TV composers, working principally on tokusatsu and anime productions, and also popular action films, jidaigeki, and television dramas.

Kikuchi was born on 1 November 1931 in the city of Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture. He graduated from Aomori Prefectural Hirosaki Technical High School, specializing in mechanics. Shunsuke then attended the Nihon University College of Art.

After graduating from the Nihon University College of Art, he made his debut composing for the 1961 film The Eighth Enemy (八人目の敵). The Tō Ō Nippō Press wrote that the contrast between the heroic opening theme and the melancholic ballad ending theme that Kikuchi composed for the 1969 Tiger Mask anime, "changed Japanese anime music." The Tō Ō Nippō Press also wrote that the success of the TV drama Abarenbō Shōgun, which aired for 800 episodes from 1978 to 2008, had people say; "If Shunsuke Kikuchi is in charge of the music, the show will be a hit."

Kikuchi ceased composing music in 2017, when he stated that he was taking a break to be treated for an illness. Kikuchi died while being treated for pneumonia in a hospital in Tokyo on 24 April 2021. His death was announced four days later.

In 1983 Kikuchi was nominated for the Japan Academy Prize for Music for his work on The Gate of Youth and To Trap a Kidnapper. He received an Award of Merit at the 2013 Tokyo Anime Awards. Kikuchi has won several annual awards from the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers based on the royalties he earned from his works in the previous year. He won the International Award, which is based on foreign income, in 1983 (UFO Robot Grendizer), 1989 (UFO Robot Grendizer), 2008 (Dragon Ball Z), 2010 (Doraemon), 2012 (Doraemon), 2015 (Dragon Ball Z), 2016 (Kiteretsu Daihyakka), 2018 (Dragon Ball Z), and 2019 (Dragon Ball Z). He came in second in overall royalties in 2004 (Dragon Ball Z). In 2015, he received a lifetime achievement award at the 57th Japan Record Awards.