Kow Otani

Kow Otani
Kana	大谷幸
Romanization	Ōtani Kō
Date of Birth	May 1, 1957
Place of Birth	Tokyo, Japan
Gender	Male
Occupation	Anime composer, film composer, video games composer
Works	Gamera (films), Shadow of the Colossus(video games)

Kow Otani (大谷幸, Ōtani Kō) is a Japanese composer of anime, films, and video games. He is best known for creating the soundtracks to several Gamera films and for his work on the video game Shadow of the Colossus.

Biography

Kow Otani was born in Tokyo, Japan. After graduating from university, he became a founding member of Yuji Saito's music production company Imagine in November 1986. The company has grown to feature musicians like Kohei Tanaka, Shiro Hamaguchi, Hayato Matsuo, and Shinji Miyazaki, who have become well known for cinematic scoring and orchestration through Otani. In 1987, he made his debut as an anime composer with the popular manga adaptation City Hunter, which earned him recognition in the industry. He later went on to work on titles such as Spy Games (1988), The Ultimate Teacher (1988), The Yadamura Waltz (1988), and You're Under Arrest (1994). The anime Future GPX Cyber Formula (1991) and Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (1995) and several films in the Gamera series are some of his most well-known works.

In 2001, he created the score to the film Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Other notable scores by Otani include Outlaw Star (1998), Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (1998), Cross Fire (2000), The SoulTaker (2001), Haibane Renmei (2002), Zatch Bell! (2003), Eyeshield 21 (2005), Pumpkin Scissors (2006), Deltora Quest (2007), and Over Drive (2007). He has also been the music director and keyboardist of the band Dreams Come True. He appeared at Eminence Symphony Orchestra's events A Night in Fantasia 2007: Symphonic Games Edition and Unearthing Eden ~The sounds of AINARU~ in 2007.

Throughout his career, Otani has also composed music for several video games, making his debut with the 1995 shooter game Philosoma. In 2000, he created the soundtrack to the flight simulator Sky Odyssey. He scored Shadow of the Colossus in 2005, his most famous video game work. Otani was responsible for composing the music for Wild Arms: Twilight Venom (2000), an anime adaptation of the Wild Arms video game series; he also arranged compositions of Michiko Naruke's music from the series. He did two more video game to anime adaptations: Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge (1997) and Popolocrois Monogatari (1998). In 2005, he created the track "Madness" alongside Hiroko Shigezumi for the Square Enix game Heavy Metal Thunder.

Discography

Anime

• City Hunter (1987)
• The Yadamura Waltz (1988)
• The Ultimate Teacher (1988)
• Spy Games (1988)
• Gokudō Sensō: Butōha (1991)
• Future GPX Cyber Formula (1991)
• Future GPX Cyber Formula 11 (1992)
• Yonigeya Hompo 2 (1993)
• Sotsugyō Ryokō: Nihon kara Kimashita (1994)
• You're Under Arrest! (1994)
• Future GPX Cyber Formula ZERO (1994)
• Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (1995)
• School Ghost Story 3 (1997)
• Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge (1997)
• Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (1998)
• Outlaw Star (1998)
• Popolocrois Monogatari (1998)
• Wild Arms: Twilight Venom (2000)
• Cross Fire (2000)
• The SoulTaker (2001)
• Zoids: New Century Zero (2001)
• Haibane Renmei (2002)
• Shōrō Nagashi (2003)
• Like Asura (2003)
• Lucky Ears (2003)
• Zatch Bell! (2003)
• Daphne in the Brilliant Blue (2004)
• Eyeshield 21 (2005)
• Shakugan no Shana (2005)
• Pumpkin Scissors (2006)
• Ghost Slayers Ayashi (2006)
• Yoshinaga-san Chi no Gargoyle (2006)
• Over Drive (2007)
• Deltora Quest (2007)
• Shakugan no Shana Second (2007)
• Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino- (2008)
• Blade of the Immortal (2008)
• Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (2009)
• Hakuouki (2010)
• .hack//Quantum (2010–2011)
• Hyouge Mono (2011–2012)
• Wikipedia:Hakuōki Hakuōki (2011)
• Shakugan no Shana Final (2011-2012)
• Another (2012)

Films

• No Worries on the Recruit Front (1991)
• My Soul Is Slashed (1991)
• Graduation Journey: I Came from Japan (1993)
• It's a Summer Vacation Everyday (1994)
• Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995)
• Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996)
• Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness (1998)
• Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys (1999)
• Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
• Blade of the Phantom Master (2004)
• The iDol (2006)
• Shakugan no Shana (2007)
• Colorful (2010)

Video Games

• Philosoma (1995)
• Sky Odyssey (2001)
• Shadow of the Colossus (2005)
• Heavy Metal Thunder (2005)
• Sengoku Basara 3 (2010)

External Links

1. Official website
2. Kow Otani on Wikipedia.