History Music / HiroyukiSawano

Sawano has composed music for:

* ''LightNovel/EightySixEightySix'' (anime)

* ''LightNovel/EightySix'' (anime)

** His stellar work on the Series/ThunderboltFantasy soundtrack. Perhaps one of his most victorious tracks is the series [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcYz91OyplA theme song, thunderBOLTfantasy.]]
*** "[=thunderBOLTfantasy=]" got retooled for the 2nd season to be the opening theme "His/Story", now with vocals by Music/TMRevolution.

** The main {{Leitmotif}} of ''Series/ThunderboltFantasy'' is titled "[=thunderBOLTfantasy=]". Another track is titled "蔑、guy" and that's the leitmotif for villain Betsu Ten Gai (the comma is meant to be read as "ten"), and there's also "Kguy&kill don't 生kiLL" which is the leitmotif for both Kei Gai and Setsu Mu Shou. Then there's the songs "⚡bolt-arr1" and "⚡bolt-arr2" that can't be properly formatted most places because the first character ends up being parsed as an emoji if at all.

* ''Series/ThunderboltFantasy'' (puppet animation project)

* AutobotsRockOut: Often combined with OrchestralBombing. Many energetic songs are composed and start off in the range of 100-125 BPM, which is a typical for a heart rate when the human body is exercising or experiencing adrenaline spikes. This is followed by the signature "Sawano Drop", where the song shifts its tone, often accompanying the visuals where the hero regains their resolve or all hell breaks loose. Examples include "[[Anime/KillLaKill Before my body is dry]]", "[[Manga/AttackOnTitan The Reluctant Heroes]]" and "[[Videogame/SengokuBasara BLAZE Crimson Lotus]]". The Cartoon Cipher channel on Youtube released ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v4YBXaIIpY The Science of the Sawano Drop]]", which goes into better explanation of just how he makes this work so damn well.

** Several songs have perfect English grammar, like "DOA" for ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', performed by Aimee Blackshleger (an American singer living in Japan), who also sung for ''Anime/GuiltyCrown'', ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'', ''Anime/KillLaKill'' and the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' anime. David Whitaker, a rapper from Atlanta, Georgia who moved to Japan in 2005, has also provided music for ''Manga/BlueExorcist'', ''Anime/KillLaKill'', ''Anime/GuiltyCrown,'' and ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX.''

** The title theme for ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' is "ətˈæk 0N tάɪtn", whilst another track, "Titan's Attack", is transcribed as "凸】♀】♂】←巨人". In fact, the entire second soundtrack one ups the first by being filled with these.

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish:

** "Before My Body is Dry" is the most established song in ''Anime/KillLaKill'', whose refrain often plays when Ryuko makes her transformation into her battle form. The first half of "k1ll◎ill" builds up to a TriumphantTeprise of the refrain of that song, which plays at a critical moment in the story when Ryuko regains her resolve to keep going.

* ''LightNovel/JuuniTaisenZodiacWar'' (theme song only)

* ''LightNovel/JuuniTaisen'' (theme song only)

* AutobotsRockOut: Often combined with OrchestralBombing. Examples include "[[Anime/KillLaKill Before my body is dry]]", "[[Manga/AttackOnTitan The Reluctant Heroes]]" and "[[Videogame/SengokuBasara BLAZE Crimson Lotus]]".

* OneWomanWail: There's always at least one in every musical score he composed, courtesy of Mika Kobayashi's powerful singing voice. This notably became one of his staples after a [[AwesomeMusic/KillLaKill certain song]].

[=In 2014, he started a vocal project called "SawanoHiroyuki=][nZk]" (kind of similar to how Music/YukiKajiura does this with "[=FictionJunction=]").

* ''[[Literature/LegendOfGalacticHeroes Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These]]'' (theme song only)
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'' (anime)

** A lot of songs in ''VideoGame/XenoBladeChroniclesX'' are written in code, with the title of the song mixed in between other random characters, such as "z5'''m'''20'''i'''12'''r'''04'''a'''28" and "z39b20'''co'''13'''mi'''01'''cal'''09" (aptly named, as it is a light-hearted song that plays during comedic scenes). There are a few wingding titles as well, such as "no5=KAKU-WEST-→▲★★KAI" and "no7=G-LOW-S→F.S.K.O".

* PsychoStrings: Uses jarring electronics to achieve the same effect, as in "Banshee" from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', the outro of "The Key We Lost" from ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'', or the outro of "The Reluctant Heroes" from ''Anime/AttackOnTitan''

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Several songs have perfect English grammar, like "DOA" for ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', performed by Aimee Blackshleger (an American singer living in Japan), who also sung for ''Anime/GuiltyCrown'', ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'', ''Anime/KillLaKill'' and the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' anime. David Whitaker, a rapper from Atlanta, Georgia who moved to Japan in 2005, has also provided music for ''Manga/BlueExorcist'', ''Anime/KillLaKill'', ''Anime/GuiltyCrown,'' and ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX.''

His style fuses electronic and orchestral music in a sweeping, bombastic mix that imbues anything he works on with as much Hollywood-esque grandeur as it can support. He stands out in particular for his usage of energetic [[InsertSong Insert Songs]] during action sequences, usually featuring lyrics in SurprisinglyGoodEnglish (and [[Anime/KillLaKill German]]!) sung by an array of associated artists.

* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Used frequently in both lyrics and track titles; GratuitousGerman and [[GratuitousEnglish English]] are particular favourites.

* PsychoStrings: Uses jarring electronics to achieve the same effect, as in "Banshee" from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn''.

** He also has a good number of the Japanese singers he works with sing English & German songs. Depending on which singer he collaborates with, the pronunciation can be anywhere from passable to total gibberish.
* VictoriousChorus: Regularly used to give a TriumphantReprise some extra zing. An example would be "Zero Gravity", a reworking of the main theme from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn''.

* WordSaladLyrics: The lyrics for the chorus portion of "ol", performed by mizuki, have to be seen to be believed. One has to wonder she didn't have an aneurysm while trying to recite the lyrics in the intended, computer-like language.

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: His pieces tend to have exceedingly strange titles, featuring a jumble of symbols and letters from various different alphabets. To wit:

* WordSaladLyrics: The lyrics for the chorus portion of "ol", performed by mizuki, have to be seen to be believed. One has to wonder if Sawano tried to torture the singer with completely nonsensical TechnoBabble.

Hiroyuki Sawano (born 12 September 1980) is a relatively new arrival on the Japanese entertainment scene. He first became famous for the soundtrack of the LiveActionAdaptation of ''Manga/TeamMedicalDragon''. Since then, he has composed for movies and TV series both live-action and animated, fusing electronic and orchestral music in a sweeping, bombastic style that imbues anything he works on with as much Hollywood-esque grandeur and energy as it can support.