Yuki Kajiura, a well-known Japanese musician, has been loved by many fans with his high degree of completion, ethereal style, elegant melody and holy harmony, and has even been revered by fans in China as "Kajiura Daijin", which shows his popularity. However, on February 21 of this year, Yuki Kajiura suddenly announced that he would withdraw from his firm SPACE CRAFT, and the three-member system activities of his girl group Kalafina, who is in charge of music, would also be suspended. As soon as this news came out, even the country also set off an uproar, and many fans said that "an era has passed", "I regret that I did not participate in KL's concert before, and I will not have a chance in the future" and so on. It can be seen that Yuki Kajiura has a high status in the animation music industry.
Yuki Kajiura was born in Yokohama, Tokyo in 1965. Influenced by his father, who was a lover of opera and classical music, Kajiura showed a love of music and a high musical talent early on. In 1972 (at the age of 7), he composed music for the first time and began to learn piano and was able to accompany his father. After graduating from the English Department of the Faculty of Letters at Tsuda Juku University, Kajiura joined NTTsha, Japan's largest mobile communications operator, and later became a music producer.
In 1992, Yuki Kajiura and his friend Yukiko Nishioka officially formed the girl band See-Saw.
In October of the same year, he officially debuted as the keyboardist of the band. Bassisted by Yukiko Nishioka and led by Chiya Kii is Ishikawa (now stage name Ishikawa Tomoki).
In July 1993, See-Saw officially released his first single "Swimmer".
In 1994, Yukiko Nishioka withdrew, and See-Saw became a combination of Yuki Kajiura and Tomoaki Ishikawa, as we now know it. But then the two of them worked for a long time, so that See-Saw did not have any new songs released, no events, Live held, and even some fans thought that See-Saw was dissolved. In fact, at this time, both of them were engaged in their own personal development, Ishikawa engaged in some harmony and lyrics, composition work, and Kajiura was involved in a wider range of fields, composing music for movies, advertising, animation, games, and stage plays, and the experience at this time also created a solid foundation for Kajiura to enter the animation industry.
Yusuke Kajiura (left) Tomoaki Ishikawa (right)
In 2001, Yuki Kajiura composed music for the anime NIOR for the first time, and from the beginning of the work planning, the supervisor and sound performance Koichi Mashita gave Kajiura a very high degree of creative freedom, so there was a magical phenomenon of low-cost animation with an ultra-high-quality soundtrack. The worldview of "NIOR" is full of elements such as pornography, violence, and exoticism, which also adds a unique depth and flavor to the music, and the arrangement and style are more diverse and weird. The combination of imaginative themes and solemn and flexible music with some tragic atmosphere also seems to complement each other today. Interestingly, the last song included in the OST released by NIOR that year was See-Saw's unpublished work "Indio", which in a sense was revived by animation.
Although Kajiura's early music for animation was well received, her name and her exotic music were still in a tepid state due to the relatively unpopularity of the anime itself. She was first truly known to the public as a score for 2003's Gundam SEED. Among them, the soundtrack "Dawn Car" highlights her talent. "The Car of Dawn" first appeared in the scene of Cagallie's farewell to her father in SEED, and the tragic and energetic melody of the song moved the listener. And this song is also Kajiura's release and liberation of himself, 19-year-old Kajiura witnessed the process of his favorite father losing weight due to illness until he parted from the world, and for the next 20 years Kajiura has always lived with the thoughts and guilt of the deceased, and finally completed his liberation in "Dawn Car". The song title "The Car of Dawn" is said to be an allusion to the Norse mythological Valkyrie who drives the car of dawn every day, expressing the tragic state of mind of welcoming the arrival of dead life every day.
With the success of songs such as "晓の車", Kajiura was attracted more and more attention by anime fans, and her own workload began to increase. In 2004 alone, he was the soundtrack to Three anime, Cosette's Portrait, Madlax, and Dance-HiME, and at the end of the year he scored the soundtrack for Gundam SEED's sequel, Gundam SEED Destiny.
To tell an interesting story, in "Dance - HiME" "It's only the fairy tale" is not only regarded as a divine comedy by the Japanese, but also widely circulated in China by the Chinese people to change to "Sister Carrying a Doll", and its melody is also well known to the Chinese people, although the song itself is more terrifying, but on the other hand, it can also be seen that Kajiura's works are not only highly circulated in Japan, but also have a strong appeal to Chinese listeners.
In 2005, Kajiura took over the soundtrack of three TV anime, Name Race Legend, Wing Chronicles, and Dance-B HiME, and wrote OP "Moon の呪缚" (月之缚) and ED "みちゆき" (Journey) for the anime "Loveless" that was broadcast at the same time as the first two, which shows how amazing Kajiura's creativity is. In addition to scoring the anime itself, he also collaborated with powerful singer Arizaka Mika on ED2 "Life goes on", wrote the character song "Deep Sea Lonely" for the tragic supporting actress Stella in the film, worked with Yuka Minami to perform a song "Flame Door", which symbolized Cagari's return, and even found his old friend, a former member of See-Saw, Ishikawa Chiaki (i.e. Chiya Ki Ishikawa) to sing ED4 "Jun は仆に似ている".
At this point in time, we have to mention Kalafina, a legendary Japanese music girl group with Kajiura himself in charge of the soundtrack.
In 2008, kajiura was in charge of discovering the singers of the seven-chapter theme song when Kajiura was in charge of the background music of "The Empty Realm", which was named "Kalafina Project", and the group formed by the selected singers was called "Kalafina". Since then, most of the anime OP/ED works led by Kajiura have been basically sung by Kalafina. The representative works they have been responsible for include the theme song of "The Realm of Emptiness Chapter 1 Overlooking the Scenery", the ED of "Magical Girl Circle", the ED of "Fate/Stay Night", and the ED of "Live Strike Sword Dance".
Magical Girl Circle ED
Another sentence, Kajiura's "Empty Realm" series of OST quality explosion, the arrangement is very exquisite, the variety of instruments is rich and properly used, strong Amway "Empty Realm vol.2 Killing Investigation" M01 and M18, M01 piano tone is long, the timbre is full, the violin insertion time is even more wonderful: M18 in the flute is clear and ethereal, the bass instrument is set off, and the whole piece is flexible and full, which can't help but be impressed.
In 2011, a "Magical Girl Circle", which was regarded as a god by many anime fans, came out, and it was Yuki Kajiura who was responsible for the soundtrack of this work, which was also another peak of Kajiura. The highly discussed "Magical Girl Circle" has a lot of focus on Kajiura. Because of Kajiura's exquisite arrangement, inexplicable melody, and the addition of holy harmony, the theme song "Sis Puella Magica", "Credens Justitiam", "Decretum" and the dark wind ending song "Magia" are warmly sought after by the audience, and she has also won many music awards in the 2011 Newtype Animation Awards, which shows the recognition and appreciation of her music by the industry.
In 2013, Yuki Kajiura scored the theatrical version of "The Rebellious Story of Magical Girl Otoki", which received praise again, with "Another Episode", "Absolute Configuration", "Noi!", "I Was Waiting For This Moment", "Take Your Hands", "He Is... and other songs being the best. Yuki Kajiura's theatrical version of the ending song "Jun の銀の庭" also became the highest sales in the history of the Kalafina Troupe with a score of 60,922 pieces.
In addition to the animation works mentioned earlier, Yuki Kajiura has also participated in many well-received works, such as the suspense group portrait drama "Eternal Wine" with a multi-line structure, the classic moon work "Fate/Zero", the "Sword Art Online" series that has become a pit for many people, the January 16 dark horse "Only I Don't Exist" and so on. With Kajiura's infectious melody, the picture and story are given a deeper meaning, so that the audience's feelings are more easily mobilized. Therefore, the success of these works is inseparable from Kajiura's excellent composition.
From Yuki Kajiura's experience, it can be seen that she has a high degree of musical literacy, a unique musical style, a wealth of experience in commercial music and a unique composition model, from these aspects, Yuki Kajiura is an extremely successful commercial musician.
But more importantly, Kajiura's attitude towards music, each work is created by her painstaking efforts, and each work carries her own thoughts on works, life, and the world. Her music begins with a bit of oppressive darkness, but this darkness is not "eternal as a long night", but the darkness before dawn, the darkness before the dazzling light breaks through the horizon.
Kajiura is like a spirit who preaches blessings to the world and tells us, "Don't be afraid of the darkness, please hold on, look at the sky, the light is coming." "This may be the reason why Kajiura's music can always impress us and achieve success in the end."
In the next article, we will analyze the musical style of Yuki Kajiura and explain why Yuki Kajiura has been able to grasp the ears of the audience so deeply.