Yuki Kajiura (梶浦 由記) is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer. She has provided the music for several popular anime series, such as Sword Art Online, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero, The Garden of Sinners, Pandora Hearts and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. As a composer, Kajiura is known for her unique and distinctive musical motifs and leitmotifs, as well as for her distinctive fusion of contemporary classical music and electronic music.

Biography

Kajiura was born on August 6, 1965, in Tokyo, Japan. She has been into music since 1972 and accompanying her father on the piano. Her family later moved to West Germany because of her father's work. Kajiura wrote her first composition when she was seven years old titled " Thank you, Good-bye" as a farewell for her grandmother before leaving Japan. Kajiura moved back to Japan when she was in middle school and later graduated from college. She began working as a systems engineering programmer until 1992 that she decided to focus more on music. In 2002, See-Saw participated in another Mashimo's project, .hack//Sign. During the production of the series, Kajiura met Emily Bindiger and impressed by her vocals, offered her to perform over 10 of the series' insert songs. She has also jokingly called Bindiger "her English teacher" at Anime Expo 2003. In 2003, Kajiura signed with FlyingDog to form FictionJunction Yuuka with Yūka Nanri. In 2004, the duo produced the opening and ending songs for Kōichi Mashimo's Madlax and in the next year, published their first collaborative album, Destination. In 2008, Kajiura signed with SME Records to form Kalafina. The group consists of Wakana Ootaki, Keiko Kubota, and Hikaru Masai. In 2009, Kajiura started a new project called FictionJunction. Unlike FictionJunction Yuuka, vocalists in this project were not fixed. This project involves collaboration with artists such as Wakana Ootaki, Asuka Kato, and Kaori Oda. In October 2007, it was announced that Yuki Kajiura would be attending the performances of the Eminence Orchestra's concert, 'A Night in Fantasia 2007 – Symphonic Anime Edition', as a special guest. The 2014 series Aldnoah.Zero's opening theme "Heavenly Blue" was composed by Kajiura and was performed by Kalafina. In July 2016, Aniplex of America announced that the “Yuki Kajiura LIVE featuring SWORD ART ONLINE” concert that took place in March 2016 in Japan would be having an additional date on January 14, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, but was later canceled due to visa issues. In December 2017, a source reported to a news site, Sponchi Annex that Kajiura was planning to leave her agency, Spacecraft Produce, over contract disputes. In February 2018, Kajiura herself confirmed via her Twitter that she has officially left her agency. Kajiura has performed internationally at various anime conventions including Anime Expo 2003, Anime Boston 2009 (with Kalafina), Anime Expo 2012 (with FictionJunction), and Anime Expo 2018 (as part of Anisong World Matsuri). On February 22, 2018, her contract ended with SpaceCraft Produce after being a talent for 25 years. She is now represented by FictionJunction Music, a talent agency she founded herself.

Discography

Solo albums

Compilation albums

As project member

Produced albums

Other involvements

Works

Anime

Anime films

Video games

Television dramas

Live-action films

Musicals