Composers you’d like to see return

For discussions covering more than one Toho film or show that span across more than one “era.”

You have six (6) options…

Reijiro Koroku (The Return of Godzilla)
17
13%
Koichi Sugiyama (Godzilla vs Biollante)
5
4%
Takayuki Hattori (Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla 2000, Anime trilogy)
8
6%
David Arnold (Godzilla 1998)
6
5%
Michiru Oshima (Godzilla vs Megaguirus, Kiryu Saga)
24
19%
Kow Otani (GMK)
15
12%
Nobuhiko Morino (Godzilla: Final Wars)
1
1%
Daisuke Yano (Godzilla: Final Wars)
4
3%
Alexandre Desplat (Godzilla 2014)
12
9%
Shiro Sagisu (Shin Godzilla)
10
8%
Bear McCreary (Godzilla: King of the Monsters)
24
19%
Tom Holkenborg (Godzilla vs Kong)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 127

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tbeasley
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Composers you’d like to see return

Post by tbeasley »

Simple question - Of the Godzilla composers still with us, who would you like to see return and score a new Godzilla film? Of the dozen choices available you have six options, which I hope help gives more varied and interesting results...

Reijiro Koroku (The Return of Godzilla)
Koichi Sugiyama (Godzilla vs Biollante)
Takayuki Hattori (Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla 2000, Anime trilogy)
David Arnold (Godzilla 1998)
Michiru Oshima (Godzilla vs Megaguirus, Kiryu Saga)
Kow Otani (GMK)
Nobuhiko Morino (Godzilla: Final Wars)
Daisuke Yano (Godzilla: Final Wars)
Alexandre Desplat (Godzilla 2014)
Shiro Sagisu (Shin Godzilla)
Bear McCreary (Godzilla: King of the Monsters)
Tom Holkenborg (Godzilla vs Kong)

If you need a refresher, here's a great video showcasing all 36 main themes -

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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by CrimsonBloodX »

Michiru Oshima. I love her work. It's soothing, beautiful, but still having some of those great tracks that we expect from a giant monster movie. If she would return for another Godzilla movie, I'm sure she would do a great job.

My second choice would be Alexandre Desplat. I really like what he gave us in the 2014 film and I was a little disappointed when none of his work returned in King of the Monsters. The opening credits is the best music in the movie.
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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by Terasawa »

I actually didn't know Koroku was still alive (oops), and I was also surprised to see he's still scoring films, at least as of 2019. He's 71 now and seems to do much more TV than film (true of most show-biz people in Japan, though). I think his RoG score is fantastic but I didn't vote for him just because I don't think he will ever return to the series.

Instead, I voted for Hattori and Oshima. I think those are the best composers on this list who are also still working and who have realistic shots at returning to compose music for more Godzilla films.
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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by Spuro »

Kow Otani, Bear McCreary, and Michiru Oshima are my top three choices, in that order.

Since we have six votes, my secondary choices were Reijiro Koroku (The Return of Godzilla), Koichi Sugiyama (Godzilla vs Biollante), and Takayuki Hattori.

Not a huge fan of the other Monsterverse composers; Shin Godzilla’s score was the laziest thing since Godzilla vs Gigan, and one of the worst aspects of that movie; and the composers for Final Wars were hit and miss.

David Arnold’s score for GINO was actually pretty good... but I feel it’s better to keep names attached to that film away from the franchise going forward...
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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by Cryptid_Liker »

Takayuki Hattori.

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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by shadowgigan »

KK42 wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 11:35 am Kow Otani, Bear McCreary, and Michiru Oshima are my top three choices, in that order.

Since we have six votes, my secondary choices were Reijiro Koroku (The Return of Godzilla), Koichi Sugiyama (Godzilla vs Biollante), and Takayuki Hattori.

Not a huge fan of the other Monsterverse composers; Shin Godzilla’s score was the laziest thing since Godzilla vs Gigan, and one of the worst aspects of that movie; and the composers for Final Wars were hit and miss.

David Arnold’s score for GINO was actually pretty good... but I feel it’s better to keep names attached to that film away from the franchise going forward...
Shin's score may have been lazy, but I will say the original pieces composed for the film were brilliant.

Added in 53 seconds:
How did I not realize Hattori scored the anime trilogy?!

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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by Spuro »

shadowgigan wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 12:24 pm
KK42 wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 11:35 am Kow Otani, Bear McCreary, and Michiru Oshima are my top three choices, in that order.

Since we have six votes, my secondary choices were Reijiro Koroku (The Return of Godzilla), Koichi Sugiyama (Godzilla vs Biollante), and Takayuki Hattori.

Not a huge fan of the other Monsterverse composers; Shin Godzilla’s score was the laziest thing since Godzilla vs Gigan, and one of the worst aspects of that movie; and the composers for Final Wars were hit and miss.

David Arnold’s score for GINO was actually pretty good... but I feel it’s better to keep names attached to that film away from the franchise going forward...
Shin's score may have been lazy, but I will say the original pieces composed for the film were brilliant.

Added in 53 seconds:
How did I not realize Hattori scored the anime trilogy?!
You’re right, the original pieces were generally fantastic.

That unfortunately just makes it all the more disappointing to me.
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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by shadowgigan »

KK42 wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 12:32 pm
shadowgigan wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 12:24 pm
KK42 wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 11:35 am Kow Otani, Bear McCreary, and Michiru Oshima are my top three choices, in that order.

Since we have six votes, my secondary choices were Reijiro Koroku (The Return of Godzilla), Koichi Sugiyama (Godzilla vs Biollante), and Takayuki Hattori.

Not a huge fan of the other Monsterverse composers; Shin Godzilla’s score was the laziest thing since Godzilla vs Gigan, and one of the worst aspects of that movie; and the composers for Final Wars were hit and miss.

David Arnold’s score for GINO was actually pretty good... but I feel it’s better to keep names attached to that film away from the franchise going forward...
Shin's score may have been lazy, but I will say the original pieces composed for the film were brilliant.

Added in 53 seconds:
How did I not realize Hattori scored the anime trilogy?!
You’re right, the original pieces were generally fantastic.

That unfortunately just makes it all the more disappointing to me.
I can understand this perspective. I used to feel that way but now I like hearing the old themes. I also like the old sound effects lol.

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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by Terasawa »

KK42 wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 11:35 am Shin Godzilla’s score was... one of the worst aspects of that movie
I agree, although I don't mind the use of the Ifukube tracks. I don't really like any of Sagisu's compositions besides "Who Will Know," "Persecution of the Masses," and maybe a couple of other tracks and in general I thought the score's orchestration was pretty weak.
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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by tbeasley »

I voted for Koroku, Oshima, Otani, Desplat, Sagisu and McCreary.

Was never a fan of the Biollante score, and considering how awful a person Sugiyama is, I wouldn't mind his continued absence.

While I feel Hattori's work has gotten stronger with each film, he just scored the anime trilogy, so I excluded him to help narrow down my votes.

I don't think Godzilla 98 has a bad score or anything, but I doubt Arnold will be receiving a call anytime soon.

Not a big fan of the Final Wars score, and felt Godzilla vs Kong was a downgrade from previous MonsterVerse films.

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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by Voyager »

Oshima, for sure.
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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by Spuro »

tbeasley wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 5:25 pm Was never a fan of the Biollante score, and considering how awful a person Sugiyama is, I wouldn't mind his continued absence.
Jesus christ, I want to change my vote now...
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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by GodzillavsRayquaza »

Bear McCreary absolutely has my vote, KOTM’s soundtrack is glorious. So is GMK’s, and Shin Godzilla’s tracks that Shiro Sagisu composed.
Last edited by GodzillavsRayquaza on Sun May 16, 2021 11:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by tbeasley »

Oshima seems to be winning by a good margin followed by McCreary and Koroku.

Somewhat related - Google celebrated Akira Ifukube's 107th birthday...
Today’s Doodle celebrates the 107th birthday of Japanese composer Akira Ifukube—a prodigious talent in classical music and cinematic film scores widely known for his work on the original soundtrack for the “Godzilla” movies of the 1950s.

Akira Ifukube was born on this day in 1914 in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan, into a distinguished family lineage that traces its origins back to at least the 7th-century. A passionate listener of European musical scores as a teenager, he aspired to intertwine his deep-rooted national identity into original compositions, an idea further solidified after listening to Russian composer Stravinsky’s 1913 emotive orchestral piece “The Rite of Spring” at 14 years old.

In 1935, Akira left home to study forestry at Hokkaido University, where he wrote ”Japanese Rhapsody,” his first original orchestral number. Following a brief stint as a forestry officer and lumber processor, he chose to pursue music composition full time. In 1947, he released the first of his more than 250 film scores that he produced over the next half-century. The height of his film score career came in 1954 when he wrote the soundtrack for “Godzilla,” whose signature roar he created by taking a resin-covered leather glove and dragging it against the loose string of a double bass.

Outside of his lifelong work as a composer, Akira served as president of the Tokyo College of Music starting in 1976 and published a 1,000-page book on theory entitled “Orchestration.” The Japanese government honored his lifetime achievements with both the Order of Culture and the Order of the Sacred Treasure.

Happy birthday, Akira Ifukube!

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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by tbeasley »

Terasawa wrote: Thu Oct 07, 2021 6:11 am Godzilla vs Biollante composer Koichi Sugiyama died September 30, age 90.


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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by Dv-218 »

Oshima and McCreery for sure, two of my favorite composers in the franchise other than Ifukube. Oshima's Godzilla march is a classic on it's own and the sheer primal feel of McReary's Ghidorah and Godzilla themes is beyond epic. Koroku is a runner up for me, always thought Return's score was underrated as hell. Considering he had limitations regarding the usage of Ifukube's motifs the original ones he created fill those holes perfectly. Would be neat to hear him compose again.

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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by LegendZilla »

The return of Michiru Oshima one day is a must if you ask me. At this point she is pretty much the next-gen Ifukube.

As for Ifukube himself, If I could I would travel back in time to the Showa era and recruit Ifukube to score a Godzilla film in the present.
Last edited by LegendZilla on Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Composers you’d like to see return

Post by Cryptid_Liker »

LegendZilla wrote: Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:31 pm As for Ifukube himself, If I could I would travel back in time to the Showa era and recruit Ifukube to score a Godzilla film in the present.
Given that chance, I'd bring Akira Kurosawa to the present. The reason they didn't let him do a Godzilla film is because they'd need a bigger budget. With Shin's success, they have to have more money than ever so it could work.

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