Shunsuke Kikuchi

Shunsuke Kikuchi (菊池 俊輔) is a prolific Japanese composer from Hirosaki. He specializes in incidental music for media such as television and film.

Active since the early 60s, he has been one of Japan's most highly demanded film and TV composers, working principally on tokusatsu and anime productions for children, as well as violent action films, jidaigeki and dorama. His works are comparatively more common in Toei-related productions. , he is still active.

Kikuchi's compositions characteristically have a 16-beat blues and pentatonic basis. Up-tempo works like those in Kamen Rider and Abarenbo Shogun form the majority of his works, while the 12/8 theme of Doraemon and the slow background music from long-running series have become some of his best-known works.

As anime and tokusatsu like Doraemon, Kamen Rider, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, jidaigeki such as Abarenbo Shogun and Chōshichirō Edo Nikki, and TBS Saturday-night productions ranging from Key Hunter to G-Men '75 became long-running hit series, people began to say that "if Kikuchi Shunsuke is in charge of the music, the show will be a hit."

Selected works

 * Abare Hasshū Goyō Tabi
 * Abarenbō Shōgun
 * Babel II
 * Casshan
 * Chōshichirō Edo Nikki
 * Daimos
 * Doraemon (Nobuyo Ōyama series, up to March 18, 2005)
 * Denjin Zaborger
 * Dr. Slump and Arare-chan
 * Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z
 * Dragon Princess
 * Female Convict 701: Scorpion
 * Gaiking
 * Gamera series, including Gamera vs. Guiron , Gamera vs. Jiger , Gamera vs. Zigra and Gamera: Super Monster,
 * Getter Robo and Getter Robo G
 * Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell
 * Grendizer
 * Highschool! Kimen-gumi
 * Hurricane Polymer
 * Jumborg Ace
 * Kamen Rider (first series through -ZX; only New Kamen Rider excepted)
 * Kiteretsu Daihyakka
 * Kure Kure Takora
 * La Seine no Hoshi
 * Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger
 * Message from Space
 * Q-tarō (Fusako Amachi series)
 * Robotto Keiji
 * Ronin of the Wilderness
 * Sister Street Fighter
 * Tenchi in Tokyo (also known as New Tenchi Muyo)
 * Terror beneath the Sea
 * Tiger Mask
 * Tōyama no Kin-san (with Ryōtarō Sugi)
 * Yojimbo of the Wilderness
 * Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs