Yuki Kajiura is a Japanese musician, composer and record producer. She has provided the music for several popular anime series, such as the final Kimagure Orange Road movie, Noir, .hack//Sign, ', Madlax, My-HiME, My-Otome, Pandora Hearts, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero, Sword Art Online, ' and the Kara no Kyoukai movies. She also assisted Toshihiko Sahashi with Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit GundamSEED Destiny. Kajiura has also composed for video games, including the cutscene music for Xenosaga II and the entire Xenosaga III game soundtrack. She composed the music for NHK's April 2014 morning drama Hanako to Anne.
Biography
She 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 programming 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. One of Kajiura's solo projects includes FictionJunction. The project involves collaboration with artists such as Yuuka Nanri, Asuka Kato, and Kaori Oda. FictionJunction Yuuka, with Nanri as the vocalist, is the most prolific of these collaborations. 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 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. On July 2016, Aniplex of America announced that the “Yuki Kajiura LIVE ~featuring SWORD ART ONLINE~” concert that took place on 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, Anime Expo 2012, and Anime Expo 2018. 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.
