I Think I Found My Favorite Composer | Yuki Hayashi

Recently, I discovered the Run with the wind OST on Apple Music and have found myself completely obsessed with it. I’ve enjoyed listening to it during the series but man it really has made easing into my days at work much more relaxing. As a programmer, you have a certain way that you work to get into the groove of things. My music and coffee make it easy to transition. Put on my noise-canceling headphones and go to town but this OST really brings the best work out of me I think. I thought it would be great to talk about the composer, Yuki Hayashi, who he is and some of my favorite work from him.

Yuki Hayashi was born in Kyoto and was an athlete for Men’s Rhythmic Gymnastics. He became fascinated with the background score for the gymnasium when tasked to select the songs. During college, he began to compose music and sell his pieces to other junior players so they can use it as their background score. After he graduated he became an apprentice to Hideo Kobayashi to learn beatmaking and the rest was history working on many dramas, movies, and anime.

I find it very interesting to hear stories where someone becomes great by finding their passion through a chance encounter. If he wasn’t selecting the music for the background scores, he could’ve had a completely different story. Now that you know a little bit about the man behind the music, I want to share some anime series that he has composed for.

Kiznaiver

In 2016 Trigger hit us with the closest thing you will get to an anime version of The Breakfast Club, Kiznaiver. Jokes aside, the series was based entirely on emotions and having the right music to help evoke the emotions from the audience is crucial. This OST was a great pairing with the vision that Mari Okada had and is an OST that I will always go back and listen to.

Junji Ito Collection

Okay. I know many people disliked this anime adaption but no one can argue that the music wasn’t chilling. I personally didn’t mind Junji Ito Collection but it was mainly because I didn’t read his manga before watching the anime. I swear it’s not because I was scared or anything… It’s safe to say that if the OST alone can give you chills, then the composer did his job. If there was a higher budget and maybe a better vision for the animation, it would’ve been great.

My Hero Academia

One of the things that made me instantly love My Hero Academia was the OST. The first moment where All Might told Deku that he can be a hero was so huge. The OST really forced me to feel it a few times more than I would’ve without it. For me, Hayashi just knows how to bring home the emotions that need to be felt during scenes and that is exactly what you want from an amazing composer. My Hero is a wonderful example of this. Also, You Say Run is probably one of the most played OST tracks in the last few years.

Haikyu

I feel like almost everything I said about My Hero can be applied to Haikyu. This OST was probably the first one that really made me start paying attention to Hayashi. It’s like when you start to really like a voice actor and get super excited to hear them being in the anime you are watching. One thing I love about Run with the wind is Hayashi made the choice of using a song he used in Haikyu for a scene in Run with the Wind. This song really fit well with the events that were conspiring in the series and thought it was very clever of him to make this choice.

There are many other anime series that he composed scores for but I may end being here all night writing and I know you guys won’t want to read 1200 words about how much I love Hayashi. I didn’t really talk about Welcome to the Ballroom but I recently rewatched and wanted to sneak it in here and let you know to watch it if you haven’t! The OST is also by Hayashi and amazing.

Thank you for checking out this post. I would love to hear who your favorite composers are and maybe what your favorite OSTs are! Have a great day guys!