Yuki Kajiura/Awesome Music

Composer Yuki Kajiura is responsible for many memorable anime themes and background music. Also, she sometimes collaborates with a singer or a group of singers to form her "solo" project, FictionJunction.

• Puella Magi Madoka Magica has its own page.
• Most of Noir's soundtrack is composed by Yuki Kajiura and is pretty amazing absolutely fucking brilliant.
  • Canta Per Me from Noir. You've got a somewhat melancholy romance song, sung by a Japanese woman in Italian, mostly used to score either awesome shootouts or the buildup to awesome shootouts, and somehow it just works.
  • Salva Nos is great, too. Both versions.
    • Don't forget Salva Nos II.
  • Melody ~ Salva Nos Version is just... amazing.
  • Le Grand Retour
  • Killing.
• Four Names: Madlax, Hitomi no Kakera, nowhere, Yanmaani!
  • Madlax's entire soundtrack qualifies. I'm Here deserves special mention, however.
  • Along with the ED. Inside Your Heart
  • And Fall On You, which unfortunately I can't find online at the moment.
    • Allow Me.
  • This live rendition of nowhere by the FictionJunction alumni at Animelo 2009 takes the epicness through the roof.
  • There is Margaret's Theme, which is very good and that you 'will' remember if you watch the show. Then, there is Madlax's Theme, not so much used. And finally We are one, used when the characters merge and which is a mix-up where the two aforementioned melodies are played, completing each other.
• My-HiME and Mai-Otome have three (Mezame, MATERIALISE, and Sei Otome no Inori) of these between them, and all the rest of the soundtrack is just as good. And none of them even have any (comprehensible) lyrics.
  • Kirei na Yume no Sono Hate ni, Natsuki's Image Song, is also pretty amazing, both music and lyrics.
    • Natsuki has another Image Song, Flower by the Pond, which is actually used during the series. To explain: Hey! You got your Defrosting in my Ice Queen!
  • Then there's Hinageshi no Hana no You ni, which can bring tears to your eyes even if you've never seen the series and don't understand a word.
  • Yamiyo no Prologue, anyone?
• Tsubasa Chronicles' A Song of Storm and Fire.
  • The live version kicks a lot of ass.
  • Also run for your life.
  • How can you talk about Tsubasa music without mentioning Ship of Fools?
  • In fact, the music is so amazing, that it nearly makes up for the epic fail that is the Bee Train anime adaptation of Tsubasa. That is REALLY saying something. This troper would like to add Smile (Fai's Image Song) and Hear Our Prayer. The latter is truly heartbreakingly beautiful.
  • Not to mention the sadly overlooked aikoi.
  • Don't forget the beautiful ballad Kaze no Machi he.
  • When this troper first heard Break the Sword of Justice, he realized just how much of a Badass Kurogane was.
  • Catastrophe is pretty much Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Something bad has happened, and it's just getting worse.
  • Sacrifice also shows how awesome the Tsubasa soundtrack really is.
  • This troper would like to add Synchronicity due to its sheer epicness, as well as I Talk To The Rain, because if this song doesn't move you is because you don't have a soul.
  • Femme is utterly haunting and gorgeous. Morning Moon deserves a mention too, for being able to pack so much emotion into such an understated song.
  • My Dear Feather, 1 & 0 City, The Dreamers, and When Two Powers Collide.
• So you're watching Kara no Kyoukai. Hear any strings? Is it the main theme? Or an instrumental rendering of any given ending song? Prepare for asskicking of barely comprehensible proportions.
  • Submitted for your consideration here, here, here, here, and here (the best for last).
  • You can listen to more nice tracks here.
  • Don't forget about the series ^{[dead link]} awesome ^{[dead link]} theme ^{[dead link]} songs!
• For the ultimate Tear Jerker song we have Where The Lights Are from Fist of the North Star Raoh Den I, the song that plays when Shuu dies.
  • And I challenge any man here, Brother Martial Artists and Warriors in particular, to not shed Manly Tears at 1:01 of "Lightseekers" as the thunderous chorus of Kenshiro's theme fills his heart with courage and his soul with hope.
• The .hack//SIGN OST has some particularly awesome pieces. Three standouts: the OP, Obsession, Key of the Twilight, and Fake Wings.
  • Open Your Heart. In particular, the Fiction Version, is also a beautiful song.
  • "In the Land of Twilight, Under The Moon" is a wonderfully composed song that fleshes out a very descriptive atmosphere primal, chaotic, and hedonistic urges and celebrations through it's lyrics and chaotic use of saxophone and guitar riffs. There is nothing you can't like about this song.
  • "Aura" is an absolutely haunting theme that perfectly portrays Morganna's plotting regarding the birth of Aura, showing both the dark and light sides of "The World".
  • All four openings for .hack//LIMINALITY also qualify.
  • "The World" gives this troper shivers every time.
  • This troper is surprised that Bear's Theme is not on the list yet.
  • Yasashii Yoake/Gentle Dawn and Tasogare no Umi/Twilight Sea.
  • A Stray Child.
    • The opening for .hack//ROOTs: Silly-Go-Round may be the best opener for a .hack series overall, unfortunate name aside.
• The Elemental Gelade sound track is also quite enjoyable. Special props for the OP "Forever" by savage genius even though it is not by Yuki Kajiura.
  • More like special props to Kasukanari Aogi no Sai, which is by Kajiura.
• Gundam Seed's Akatsuki no Kuruma and Honoo no Tobira in the sequel. Incredible stuff, moreso when paired with their respective scenes in the anime. Also, as part of See-Saw: Anna ni Issho Datta no Ni and Kimi no Boku ni Niteiru make perfect bookends for the Cosmic Era.
• The entire soundtrack of Le Portrait de Petite Cossette amounts to this, but the Main Theme is probably the best example, if only for its use at the end of the series when Eiri uses his own blood to paint a portrait of Cossette in order to defeat the spirit of the grudge contained in the portrait that Cossette's murderer painted of her, which was why he killed her.
• Pandora Hearts' "Every time you kissed me" sung by Emily Bindiger in the last episode is the most fantastic rendition of a Yuki Kajiura song you could ask for.
  • Oh, hell yes Pandora Hearts! This troper loves "Limit," "Pandora Hearts (Expanded)," "Will," "Contractor" and "Lacie." That last video is awesome since it's a fan-made music box.
    • The original posting troper is partial to Ghost Blood, Cradle, Another Dimension, Revolve, and Misgiving, in addition to the already-mentioned Will and Contractor. But still, nothing beats Every Time &c.
  • "Everytime you kissed me" or "Bloody Rabbit"
  • "Bloody Rabbit" is amazing even when it´s played in reverse!
  • "The relief"
  • Parallel Hearts and Maze! (although the latter isn't Yuki Kajiura's work)
    • The crazed guitar solos of "Dash".
  • The music played during the previews sound fantastic.
• Calling from Baccano!!. Part Yuki Kajiura, part Kaori Oda, 100% Amazing.
• El Cazador and Cazador del Amor from El Cazador de la Bruja. Hell, the rest of the soundtrack qualifies as well.
  • Damn right it does! L.A. and Inca Rose are some standouts.
  • Special mention must go to her splendid arrangement of the savage genius theme Hikari no Yukue which she still adds many of her stylistic flavors to it.
• Ookamikakushi's OP, Toki no Mukou Maboroshi no Sora.
• Sacred Seven's OP, stone cold.
• Her work in video games shouldn't be ignored either. Particularly on her work in the Xenosaga games.
• Kajiura has been confirmed as being the composer for the music of Fate/Zero. Just the first PV alone is enough to give you an eargasm, and now that the first episode has been released we can safely confirm the score will not disappoint.
  • From the first OST, we have the battle is to the strong, otherwise known as Gilgamesh vs. Berserker.
  • We've also got let the stars fall down, from when Iri finally shows us her stuff.
  • What about Point Zero, the epic song that is used when Kiritsugu, Kariya, Tokiomi and Waver are summoning their servants.
  • Can't forget about tragedy and fate now can we?
  • Also from the first OST, we've got another epic song, rule the battlefield.
  • It's a travesty that the second opening, to the beginning, the second ending, Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau, and Manten, the ending song to Episodes 18 & 19 aren't on here. Especially since they were all composed by her.