was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and arranger best known for composing the '' Sailor Moon'' anime series and '' Digimon'' series (Seasons 1-4). He wrote music for the series, including its video games. Born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Arisawa began to learn piano at the age of 20. After graduating from Senzoku Gakuen College, Arisawa started his career in 1980 by composing "Shinjuku Transfer". He worked for the

Tokyo Broadcasting System formerly is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network and radio network . It has a 28-affiliate television network called JNN (Japan News Network), as well as a 34-affili ...

and wrote several

TV drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-ge ...

s. From the 1990s until his death, Arisawa began composing for anime series exclusively. His work on ''Sailor Moon'' was initially based on

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

, but gradually began to change to those found in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

. ''Sailor Moon'' was successful and Arisawa won several awards for his work. After ''Sailor Moon'', Arisawa composed music for several shows, including the ''Digimon'' series, until his death from bladder cancer in 2005.

Biography

Arisawa was mostly self-taught, having been interested in music from childhood. He started to learn piano when he was 20 years old, and entered Senzoku Gakuen College when he was 22, eventually graduating with degrees in Composing and Orchestral Music. He studied

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and pop arrangement with arranger

Norio Maeda was a Japanese jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it h ...

. In 1980, Arisawa's song "Shinjuku Transfer" was recorded by the

chorus group Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

SOAP for

Epic/Sony Records Epic Records Japan is a Japanese record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Its founder was Shigeo Maruyama. Between 1978 and 1988 the label operated as a wholly owned subsidiary: Epic/Sony Inc. () was established in August 1978

. The group released a full album the following year, "Harmotopia," and received the New Composer Incentive Award at the 1981

Tokyo Music Festival The Tokyo Music Festival was an international music contest that ran from 1972 to 1992. It was organized by the Tokyo Music Festival Association. The first edition of the Tokyo Music Festival took place on 13 May 1972 with 12 participating countri ...

. The group broke up in 1982, but "Harmotopia" was re-released in 1993. During the 1980s Arisawa worked as a composer and arranger for

and wrote music for

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

s, including

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

advertisements. He also composed for various

s, and released a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "Takeoff of Love", for

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

' 30th anniversary celebration. He later served as Music Director for the

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

series

Let's Learn English! The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request. The imperative mood is used to demand or require that an action be performed. It is usually found only in the present tense, second person. To form the imperative mood, ...

. As the Music Director for '' Sailor Moon'', Arisawa's first award was the 1993 Golden Disk Grand Prize from

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. He continued to compose for the entire anime series, plus several video games and some of the stage musicals. In 1998, 2000, and 2001 he won the

JASRAC The , often referred to as JASRAC, is a Japanese copyright collection society. It was founded in 1939 as a nonprofit organization, and is the largest musical copyright administration society in Japan. Overview JASRAC's main business activity i ...

International Award for most international royalties, owing largely to the popularity of ''Sailor Moon'' music in other nations. Arisawa expressed an admiration of Hollywood-style music, drawing his initial inspiration for the tone of the ''Sailor Moon'' soundtrack from the '' Charlie's Angels'' TV series. He frequently made use of symbolism when writing themes for specific characters or groups, borrowing thematic elements from diverse

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

s and from other countries. As the series progressed, his music gravitated from a pop feeling toward more classical arrangements to represent the protagonist having passed through painful experiences and grown as a person. In 2005, his score piece for Sailor Moon was used in Steven Spielberg's ''

War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appearance in hardcover was i ...

'', before his death on November 26 after the movie was released on June 29.

Works

Anime, games, and TV shows for which Arisawa composed music: *'' Ask Dr. Rin!'' *''

Bikkuriman is a line of wafer snacks produced by Lotte, made notable for the randomly assorted bonus stickers included inside each snack. First released in 1977, Bikkuriman (ビックリマン, “Surprise Man”) became wildly popular in Japan w ...

'' and '' Super Bikkuriman'' *'' Digimon'' series (Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers and Frontier) *'' Don-Don Domel to Ron'' *''

Galaxy Fraulein Yuna A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

'' *''

Goldfish Warning! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Neko Nekobe which ran in ''Nakayoshi''. A 54-episode anime television series aired on TV Asahi from January 12, 1991 through February 29, 1992. Each episode of the anime contained two ...

'' *'' Kamen no Ninja Akakage'' (ending theme only) *'' King's Brunch'' (opening theme) *''

Moero!! Robocon is a Japanese tokusatsu comedy family robot television series created by Shotaro Ishinomori and produced by Toei. It ran from October 4, 1974, to March 25, 1977, on NET TV. ran from January 31, 1999 (a week after the finale of '' Tetsuwan T ...

'' *'' Sailor Moon'' series (Sailor Moon first season, R, S, SuperS and Sailor Stars) *''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'' (Japanese version) *''

Tales of Eternia , known as ''Tales of Destiny II'' in its original North America release, is an action role-playing game published by Namco as the third main title in their '' Tales'' series. Initially released for the PlayStation in November 2000 in Japan, an ...

'' *''

Yume no Crayon Oukoku is a Japanese seventy-episode anime television series created by Toei Animation and broadcast from 1997 to 1999. It was based on the novel series by Reizo Fukunaga, and was adapted into a manga by Michiru Kataoka and serialized in '' Nakay ...

'' * ''

'' (Sailor Moon soundtrack used)

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arisawa, Takanori 1951 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Japanese male musicians Anime composers Deaths from bladder cancer Deaths from cancer in Japan Japanese composers Japanese film score composers Japanese male composers Japanese male film score composers Japanese music arrangers Toei Animation