JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime composer Kohei Tanaka shared on social media some anecdotes about the creation of the anime’s first opening song, “JoJo (Sono Chi no Sadame).” Tanaka often shares information on his social media about projects he worked on, like Overman King Gainer or Sakura Wars. [Thanks, Game Watch!]
Tanaka said that, due to unspecified circumstances, he received the request to work on the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime opening theme song approximately two weeks before the deadline. After accepting, the composer then asked famous lyricist Shoko Fujibayashi to write the lyrics for the song.
Fujibayashi managed to finish the request within a week. Afterwards, Tanaka finished a demo for “JoJo (Sono Chi no Sadame)” in two days and sent it to composer Kow Otani to have it arranged.
Tanaka also talked about adding the backing vocals of the song that sing “JoJo JoJo.” At first, the director asked Tanaka not to include it, but the composer went against their wishes. Once the director heard the demo, they changed their mind and asked Tanaka to keep it.
The most difficult aspect of creating the song for Tanaka was finding a singer. The composer remembered working with Hiroaki “Tommy” Tominaga once before, and managed to offer him the opportunity right on time.
You can listen to “JoJo (Sono Chi no Sadame),” the first opening song of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime, here:
Kohei Tanaka is a renowned Japanese composer that has worked on a multitude of anime series, including One Piece, Gunbuster, as well as the the Sakura Wars video game series, and the PlayStation exclusive Gravity Rush series. The original anime is streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix, and Viz Media is handling the manga outside Japan.
