Kow Otani (born May 1, 1957) is a Japanese composer who has done work for anime, video games, and films. Largely known for the soundtracks to the Gamera movies in the 90s and Shadow of the Colossus, he's also composed for a large number of popular anime, starting way back in 1987 with City Hunter.
Compare his western counterpart Danny Elfman
Notable roles by Kow Otani:
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Anime
- City Hunter (1987)
- Ultimate Teacher (1988)
- Future GPX Cyber Formula (1991), plus the OVAs 11 (1992), and ZERO (1994).
- You're Under Arrest! (1994)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (1995)
- Birdy the Mighty (OVA series) (1996)
- Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge (1997)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (1998)
- Outlaw Star (1998)
- Po Po Lo Crois Monogatari (1998)
- Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness (1998)
- Wild ARMs: Twilight Venom (2000)
- The SoulTaker (2001)
- Zoids: New Century (2001)
- Haibane Renmei (2002)
- Zatch Bell! (2003)
- Daphne in the Brilliant Blue (2004)
- Blade of the Phantom Master (2004)
- Eyeshield 21 (2005)
- Shakugan no Shana series (2005 - 2011)
- Pumpkin Scissors (2006)
- Ayakashi Ayashi (2006)
- Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas (2006)
- Deltora Quest (2007)
- The second season of Gunslinger Girl (2008)
- Blade of the Immortal (2008)
- Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (2009)
- Hakuouki (2010)
- .hack//Quantum (2010)
- Colorful (2010)
- Hyouge Mono (2011)
- Another (2012)
- Humanity Has Declined (2012)
- Arata: The Legend (2013)
Films
- Several films with Shusuke Kaneko in the early 90s: No Worries on the Recruit Front (1991), My Soul Is Slashed (1991) Graduation Journey: I Came from Japan (1993), and It's a Summer Vacation Everyday (1994)
- Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995)
- Gamera 2: Advent of Legion (1996)
- Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys (1998)
- Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack! (2001)
Video Games
- Philosoma (1995), a Shoot 'Em Up released for the PlayStation
- Macross Digital Mission VFX (1997), part of the Macross Expanded Universe.
- Sky Odyssey (2001)
- Heavy Metal Thunder (2005)
- Shadow of the Colossus (2005)
- Sengoku Basara 3 (2010)
Tropes associated with Kow Otani
- Autobots, Rock Out!: His action anime soundtracks, such as Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star, and Zoids tend to do this.
- Leitmotif: Used frequently, with specific songs for specific characters.
- Production Posse: All of the live-action films he's worked on have been directed by Shusuke Kaneko.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Goes hand-in-hand with Autobots, Rock Out!.