菊池俊輔

Shunsuke Kikuchi (菊池 俊輔, Kikuchi Shunsuke, born November 1, 1931) is a prolific Japanese composer. He specializes in incidental music for media such as television and film. Active since the early 1960s, 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 television dramas. His works are comparatively more common in Toei-related productions. Up-tempo works like those in Kamen Rider and Abarenbō Shōgun form the majority of his works, while his 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 Abarenbō Shōgun 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." The song "Urami Bushi" (怨み節) which he composed for the Female Convict Scorpion series was included in the American film Kill Bill and on its soundtrack.