Ahead of her first performance in Italy, we had the opportunity to interview composer, producer, and performer Yoko Kanno. The artist is one of the main guests of Lucca Comics & Games, where she will meet fans on Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1. Later, on November 3, she will bring PIANO ME, her solo project combining live piano and visuals, to the Teatro Nazionale in Milan for the first time.
According to the festival’s director Emanuele Vietina:
We have long dreamed of hosting Yoko Kanno at Lucca Comics & Games, and the dream is coming true during our 60th anniversary celebration. In Lucca, for nearly two decades—from Nobuo Uematsu’s very first visit in 2007 to the more recent appearances of Eimear Noone (2022) and Yoko Shimomura (2025)—we have celebrated the great names of contemporary symphonic music in the hometown of Giacomo Puccini. From Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, and Ghost in the Shell to her work in video games, Yoko Kanno has composed scores that achieved legendary status overnight and now stand as milestones in the history of music and anime.
Famous for her collaborations in many projects across industries, she’s known in the anime industry for creating the soundscape of Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Macross Frontier, Darker than Black, and Genesis of Aquarion, among others. In this interview, the composer shared her thoughts on her inspirations, creative process, and musical career.
This interview was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter.
Q: If there were an anime about your life, what would be the music genre of the soundtrack? Do you have any artists in mind to perform in it?
A: The soundtrack to my life doesn’t need melody. Sound effects alone would be enough—birdsong, the cries of animals, the sound of wind and waves.
Q: As a fan of books yourself, if you could compose the soundtrack for an anime adaptation of any book, which project would you love to work on? How would it sound?
A: What I’d like to work on isn’t a story, but the world before words. I want to play with frightening sounds, strange sounds distorted by machines, all kinds of natural sounds mangled and reworked. It’s something I rarely get to do.
Q: You mentioned in the past the importance of traveling to get inspiration for composing, which led you to visit New Orleans, Iceland, and Brazil. How crucial is it for a composer to know about the world firsthand?
A: There’s so much you can’t understand from footage or a guidebook until you actually go. The smell. The humidity. The taste. The sound of a city. And in my case, I often get the chance to play with musicians from that place, and there are things you only understand once you’ve played together—the sense of time, the interpretation of a piece, the length of a breath. Even a single encounter with a stray cat in a place I’ve traveled to brings a new discovery every time.
Q: Is there any country whose music scene you would like to explore, but haven’t visited yet?
A: When it comes to rhythm, I still have so much to learn. I want to go to Africa. I want to feel where rhythm began, in my own body.
Q: In that regard, as I’m from Peru, I have to ask: are you familiar with traditional Peruvian music?
A: I don’t see such performances very often these days, but I remember seeing people from Peru performing in traditional dress in places such as Shibuya, in Japan. Watching them perform, I felt a dry wind. My knowledge of Peruvian music is limited, so I’d love for you to tell me more about it. By the way, I’ve been to a Peruvian restaurant—the food was delicious, and I got hooked.
Q: From your answers about creating music during childhood, I get the impression that you live by the phrase “if you want something done right, do it yourself.” Does that carry over into your life outside of music?
A: I’m not sure whether the nuance of “right” here will come across, but I simply enjoy doing things with my own hands—writing scores, playing with other people. I love getting a callus from holding a pencil, and whether I’m cooking or choosing clothes, I cherish even the mistakes.
Q: If an author asked you to score an anime adaptation of their work, what elements would catch your attention? What kind of story would it need to be?
A: Before considering the content of a work, I think about whether I want to spend a period of my life together with its creator. Time is finite. Working together means going on a journey of the heart with the people involved in the project. The question is whether I am ready for that at that moment.
Q: What is the key information about a character that you need in order to compose their personal theme?
A: I cannot understand a character better than the original author or character designer can. I may imagine that this is probably the kind of person the character is, but at that level, everyone would likely have much the same impression. I try to understand the feelings of the key person behind the work—whether the original author or the director—and consider what aspect of, say, the director a particular character embodies or represents.
Q: You have compared your experience working with Japanese anime directors to the Hollywood approach. What would be your ideal work environment for composing an anime soundtrack?
A: Personally, I think the Japanese production environment—where only a handful of people are responsible for the core of a work—suits me, even though it can become self-indulgent and things often go wrong.
Q: I saw your concert at Manga Barcelona (Spain) last year, where you had such a contagious spark during the performance with the SEATBELTS. What are the feelings that you can only capture during live performances?
A: There are sounds that can’t be born without a miraculous alignment: that day, that place, you being there, and us playing in good health. The brilliance lasts only an instant. I want to give thanks for that instant.
Q: Why do you think the music of Cowboy Bebop is compelling even for modern audiences?
A: It amazes me that, for nearly thirty years, this work has continued to be loved as though it were something new. That is entirely thanks to director Shinichiro Watanabe’s love of music.
Q: “The Real Folk Blues” combines a compelling urge to sing along with a melancholy that is hard to describe. How much of it was intentional before the anime release? Would you say that’s the core spirit of jazz and blues?
A: Director Watanabe chose this piece for the ending, but at the time I thought a drier aesthetic might have been cooler. In that sense, it wasn’t the world I had envisioned, but it fit the director’s sensibility. Now that time has passed, I have finally come to understand how he felt. It was the director, not me, who was jazz and blues.
Q: In the past you talked about what it means to be human in the context of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. What is your take on the current advancements in AI? Do you think it’s affecting the creativity of modern composers?
A: Any new technology can affect every field. As I use AI myself for office work and other tasks, I find myself thinking about this: “AI doesn’t get hurt; humans do”—and about what it means to be hurt.
Q: Finally, what should the audience at Lucca Comics & Games expect from your appearance there this year? And what can the audience at the PIANO ME concert in Milan look forward to in your performance?
A: Lucca is a city I’ve never visited, so I’m really looking forward to going there. Since Lucca Comics & Games is one of the largest events in Europe, I want to experience its scale and the energy of the people who attend. I’ll also be performing in Milan, which will be my first live performance in Italy. I’ve long been captivated by the musical expression of Italian composers such as Puccini and Ennio Morricone. The thought of performing there makes my heart dance. I hope people will sing along, relax, and enjoy themselves.
We want to extend our thanks to Lucca Comics & Games and Yoko Kanno for making this interview possible. We are very excited to have her in Italy this year and we hope to see her at future events.
If you want to experience PIANO ME, a performance conceived and produced by Yoko Kanno herself, the tickets for the Milan concert are already on sale.
Feature Image: © 2013 Meow on the Bridge, photo by Maki Umaba.
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