Riichiro Manabe

Who is Riichiro Manabe?

Riichirō Manabe is a Japanese composer who wrote the scores for numerous science fiction, horror, and kaiju films from 1956 to 1979. Among fans of these genre films, his music has gained a less-than-positive reputation. His scores draw from jazz and dissonant modernism. His scores, particularly the ones he is most famous for in the 1970s, utilize electric guitar, pipe organ, the piccolo, the keyboard synthesizer, and the vibraslap heavily.

For instance, Manabe's score for Godzilla vs. Hedorah has been described as "atrocious". The same source calls Godzilla vs. Megalon's score "more competent" but at the same time, "none pleasant to listen to". Note, however, that Megalon is one of the more maligned entries in the Godzilla canon, and that Manabe's score is only one of several elements that is frequently lambasted. He is often lambasted as one of Toho's worst composers.

Manabe's score for the 1970 war film The Militarists is more highly regarded, one commentator remarked, " mostly reserved too, lacking the more unorthodox approaches to scoring present on the composer's science fiction work".