I don't click on enough threads around here to know if he's well-known on this forum or not, but in Japan, he was an absolute legend, with a credits list a mile long. He composed the scores for tons of anime and tokusatsu series such as DORAEMON, DRAGONBALL, KAMEN RIDER and countless others.
Given his age, I had been expecting this news for some time, but it still caught me off-guard. For my part, I would have loved for him to contribute one last thing to the DRAGONBALL franchise after being away from it for so long.
A friend of mine informed me shortly after the news broke. I was certainly heartbroken. I'll be giving his scores that I have in my collection a listen in the coming days.
He's the composer (with Seiji Yokoyama) who started my love for film and anime music, with UFO Robot Grendizer (Goldorak in France). I was 5 years old.
And to think that if this man had not existed I would be rich. I probably wouldn't have had to spend thousands of euros on a collection of 4,500 CDs. He also led me to learn a little Japanese (JLPT Level 3 in 2004).
Here in Italy milions of Young Children from the 70s / 80s did grow listening to his masterpiece anime soundtracks! Maestro Kikuchi has been the symbol of Soundtracks for the now aged 45 / 50 years old Italian citizens. RIP Maestro and thanks for all Your masterpieces! I will listen to them forever, I have all its anime scores on cd.
