Shunsuke Kikuchi, the legendary composer of Dragon Ball, Doraemon, and Kamen Rider has died

The anime world loses one of its iconic composers. Shunsuke Kikuchi, responsible for the mythical themes of Dragon Ball, Doraemon or Kamen Rider, has died at the age of 89.

It is very possible that not all of you who read this article know Shunsuke Kikuchi (Kikuchi Shunsuke) by name, but we already anticipate that, if you are anime fans, you have listened to his work, and surely hummed more than one of his compositions. However, today we wake up to the sad news of his death at 89 years of age, after suffering from pneumonia that has ended the life of the composer of instrumental pieces in anime like Dragon Ball Z or Kamen Rider .

Kikuchi had been retired since 2017 when he began to be treated for an illness that required that his level of activity was not usual for a composer of anime music as in demand as him. Only four years later we must mourn his death.

Among some of his memorable works is the original intro of Doraemon , the 1979 anime that was on a mission for a whopping 27 years, always accompanied by the music of Shunsuke Kikuchi or reminiscences of it.

Throughout his career, Shunsuke Kikuchi has put music to some of the most iconic scenes in anime. It would be impossible to conceive of some of the most spectacular battles in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z without their instrumental themes.

His work also reached Hollywood. Quentin Tarantino featured Kikuchi’s music composed for Champions of Death in his Kill Bill movie. It is certainly a sad loss to the community of anime lovers.