While iconic anime composers like Joe Hisaishi and Yoko Kanno dominate recognition, a wealth of exceptional soundtracks remain overshadowed despite exceptional musicianship and innovative approaches to composition. Series like 86: Eighty-Six, Made in Abyss, Parasyte, and Vinland Saga showcase underrated composers crafting sophisticated scores that rival their acclaimed counterparts, yet rarely receive critical attention. As anime music streams have surged 395% on Spotify since 2021, with younger audiences (under 29) accounting for 70% of consumption, recognition gaps persist largely due to visibility disparities rather than quality differences.
The Recognition Gap: Why Great Music Gets Overlooked
The Dominance of Recognizable Names
The anime soundtrack landscape is dominated by a small group of celebrated composers whose names carry significant weight: Joe Hisaishi (Studio Ghibli films), Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex), Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, 86), and Taku Iwasaki (Gurren Lagann, Noragami). These composers receive the lion’s share of fan discussions, critical acclaim, and streaming attention, creating a feedback loop where their visibility perpetuates their recognition while equally talented peers remain in the shadows.
Importantly, Michiru Oshima, despite composing over 100 films, 200 television titles, and winning the Tokyo Anime Award for Best Music in 2006 and the Japanese Academy Award for Music of the Year in 2008, remains substantially underrated. Her versatile orchestral work across Fullmetal Alchemist (original), Little Witch Academia, The Tatami Galaxy, and Bloom Into You demonstrates compositional sophistication that rivals any celebrated composer, yet she is rarely mentioned in conversations about anime’s greatest musical minds.
The Streaming and Platform Paradox
Anime music is experiencing unprecedented global growth. Since 2021, anime music streams on Spotify have increased 395%, with 6.7 million user-generated anime playlists on the platform (now up to 7.2 million). Yet this explosion in accessibility hasn’t equally distributed recognition. The same blockbuster series—Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man—dominate playlists and discussions, while exceptional scores from lesser-known series remain relegated to niche communities.
Streaming platforms, despite their theoretical ability to expose listeners to diverse content, actually reinforce existing popularity hierarchies through algorithmic recommendations, editorial playlists, and featured content. A soundtrack’s visibility depends heavily on the series’ mainstream success rather than musical merit alone.
Hidden Musical Gems Worth Discovering
86: Eighty-Six – Hiroyuki Sawano & Kohta Yamamoto
While Hiroyuki Sawano’s work on Attack on Titan achieved iconic status, his collaboration with Kohta Yamamoto on 86: Eighty-Six represents equally masterful—and arguably more innovative—composition work. The OST received particular recognition among music theorists and serious listeners, with graduate students at Linköping University publishing research on the effects of Sawano’s music structure and composition techniques.
The ending theme “Avid,” performed by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:mizuki, exemplifies the soundtrack’s sophistication. The track masterfully blends orchestral elements with vocal performances that capture the profound psychological and emotional weight of the series’ narrative about war, sacrifice, and lost humanity. Despite this quality, 86 remains criminally underappreciated compared to other Sawano works.
Made in Abyss – Kevin Penkin
Composed by Kevin Penkin, Made in Abyss OST represents one of anime’s most emotionally resonant soundscapes. The score’s ability to underscore the deceptively dark horror lurking beneath the series’ charming aesthetic demonstrates sophisticated understanding of psychological scoring. Multiple Reddit discussions identify Made in Abyss as an underrated gem, with fans specifically praising how the music elevates the viewing experience and remains beautiful when listened to independently.
Penkin’s orchestration captures both whimsy and dread, employing dynamic shifts in instrumentation that mirror the series’ tonal unpredictability. Despite widespread critical acclaim for the series itself, the soundtrack receives minimal recognition in mainstream anime music conversations.
Violet Evergarden – Evan Call
Composer Evan Call’s work on Violet Evergarden employs a distinctly classical orchestral approach, utilizing piano and string arrangements that evoke the aesthetic of European classical cinema. The soundtrack’s sophistication and emotional restraint stand in stark contrast to more bombastic anime scores, yet this subtlety has paradoxically reduced its prominence in fan discussions.
The OST functions brilliantly as standalone instrumental music suitable for studying and focusing—a testament to its compositional quality. Despite this crossover appeal and critical success, it remains overshadowed in conversations about anime’s greatest soundtracks.
Parasyte: The Maxim – Kota Kouyama
Kota Kouyama’s score for Parasyte: The Maxim represents sophisticated horror-adjacent composition that perfectly captures the body-horror and psychological tension central to the series’ narrative. The soundtrack’s avant-garde elements and innovative use of instrumentation demonstrate compositional ambition comparable to celebrated horror film composers, yet anime music discourse rarely acknowledges this work.
Vinland Saga – Makoto Sato
The Vinland Saga OST, composed by Makoto Sato, crafts an epic Norse-inspired soundscape that enhances the historical anime’s dramatic weight and cultural richness. Despite the series’ critical acclaim and dedicated fanbase, the soundtrack achieves minimal recognition outside dedicated anime music communities, despite its compositional sophistication and thematic coherence.
Notable Underrated Composers Deserving Recognition
Kensuke Ushio
Though not a household name even among anime enthusiasts, Kensuke Ushio has created distinctive, experimental soundtracks that push compositional boundaries. His work demonstrates technical sophistication and willingness to challenge anime scoring conventions.
Yoshiaki Fujisawa
Composer of Land of the Lustrous, Revue Starlight, and A Place Further Than the Universe, Yoshiaki Fujisawa crafts sophisticated, genre-diverse compositions. Despite critical praise for the series themselves, Fujisawa’s compositional contributions receive minimal independent recognition.
Taku Iwasaki (Continued Underappreciation)
Despite his prolific career since 1995 composing anime soundtracks and his work on celebrated series like Gurren Lagann (Rap is a Man’s Soul exemplifies his genre-blending approach), Noragami, and Bungo Stray Dogs, Iwasaki remains relatively underrecognized compared to his compositional peers.
Yukari Hashimoto
Known for orchestral sophistication across Toradora, Little Witch Academia, and Patema Inverted, Yukari Hashimoto demonstrates compositional elegance often compared to Western film composer John Powell. Her ability to create impactful sequences with minimal musical material—four seconds of music defining crucial dramatic moments—showcases compositional mastery overshadowed by more visible peers.
Susumu Hirasawa
Creator of psychedelic, genre-blending soundtracks that combine electronica, experimental, and progressive rock elements, Susumu Hirasawa remains underappreciated despite his iconic work with director Satoshi Kon on Paprika and Berserk. His willingness to prioritize artistic experimentation over conventional anime scoring conventions has paradoxically reduced mainstream recognition despite critical appreciation among serious listeners.
Compositional Innovation in Underrated Soundtracks
Advanced Harmony and Theory
Anime music, particularly in underrated soundtracks, demonstrates sophisticated harmonic and melodic theory comparable to classical composition and contemporary film scoring. Composers employ extended harmonic vocabulary including secondary dominants, modal interchange, and diatonic walks that create emotional complexity exceeding typical soundtrack expectations.
86: Eighty-Six demonstrates particularly sophisticated chord progressions and harmonic movement, while Made in Abyss employs dynamic orchestration and timbre variation that creates psychological tension through non-traditional tonal relationships.
Diverse Instrumental Approaches
Lesser-recognized soundtracks often showcase diverse instrumentation beyond typical orchestral approaches. Michiru Oshima’s use of unconventional instruments—particularly her incorporation of saxophone in primarily orchestral contexts, notably in Sound of the Sky (a series about bugle players)—demonstrates compositional innovation rarely discussed in mainstream anime music conversations.
The Streaming Visibility Problem
Algorithmic Invisibility
The 395% increase in anime music streaming since 2021 has failed to proportionally increase recognition for underrated composers and series. Spotify’s algorithmic recommendations and curated playlists tend to perpetuate visibility hierarchies, with blockbuster series’ soundtracks dominating recommended playlists and discovery features.
Geographic Recognition Gaps
Interestingly, certain underrated anime achieve greater recognition in specific markets. For example, Oblivion Battery’s opening by Lilac, performed by artists like Mrs. Green Apple, dominated Japanese radio and retail spaces during 2024, yet remained virtually invisible in Western anime discussions. This geographic fragmentation means that exceptional soundtracks achieve recognition in some regions while remaining invisible globally.
Youth Demographics and Discovery
While listeners under 29 account for 70% of anime music consumption on Spotify, algorithmic exposure mechanisms tend to concentrate on the same popular series rather than diversifying listening across deeper catalogs. The demographic consuming the most anime music paradoxically possesses less institutional knowledge about compositional quality differences, creating opportunities for underrated gems to be overlooked.
Compositional Techniques Worth Recognizing
Psychological Scoring
Underrated soundtracks often excel in psychological scoring—using music to create emotional states rather than simply accompanying narrative events. Made in Abyss, Parasyte, and 86: Eighty-Six demonstrate this through careful use of silence, dissonance, and tonal ambiguity that creates unease and emotional complexity.
Cultural Adaptation and Thematic Coherence
Series like Vinland Saga demonstrate how sophisticated composers can create culturally authentic soundscapes that deepen thematic immersion. Makoto Sato’s Norse-inspired orchestration enhances historical authenticity while maintaining accessibility for contemporary listeners.
Orchestration Innovation
Underrated composers frequently employ innovative orchestration approaches—particularly the blending of traditional orchestral instruments with electronic elements, unconventional instruments, or genre-specific musical languages (jazz, folk, experimental). This innovation often receives less fanfare than more traditional approaches, despite representing genuine artistic advancement.
Why Recognition Matters
Recognition gaps for anime composers have practical implications. Acknowledged composers receive more commission opportunities, higher compensation, and greater institutional support. Underrated composers, despite equal or superior talent, often lack these advantages, perpetuating economic disparities and potentially contributing to industry-wide concerns about creator burnout and sustainability—issues discussed in earlier analysis of anime production economics.
Moreover, limited recognition for diverse compositional approaches potentially narrows creative possibilities within the industry. When only certain aesthetics and composers receive visibility, emerging composers may face pressure to emulate recognized styles rather than developing innovative approaches.
Recommendations for Deeper Listening
Dedicated anime music enthusiasts should actively explore soundtracks beyond the celebrated canon. Searching for series scoring by Michiru Oshima, Kensuke Ushio, Yoshiaki Fujisawa, and other underrated composers reveals consistent compositional sophistication. Series like 86: Eighty-Six, Made in Abyss, Parasyte, and Vinland Saga provide accessible entry points to discovering that exceptional anime scoring extends far beyond recognized names.
Streaming platforms including YouTube and Spotify feature full OST uploads for numerous underrated series. Dedicated anime music channels curate collections specifically highlighting overlooked soundtracks. Engaging with these resources directly bypasses algorithmic invisibility and provides direct access to hidden musical gems deserving broader recognition.
The explosion of anime music streaming presents unprecedented opportunity to expand recognition beyond a narrow canonical elite. Yet fully realizing this opportunity requires both listener initiative and platform-level commitment to featuring diverse composers and series beyond blockbuster titles. Until then, exceptional soundtracks will continue receiving recognition disproportionate to their artistic merit—waiting for discovery by passionate listeners willing to venture beyond algorithmic convenience.