The "Techno Guy" Who Picked Up an Orchestra
In the spring of 2026, a single vinyl record quietly appeared on store shelves: the LP edition of Kensuke Ushio's original soundtrack for the film Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc, "CHAINSAW MAN THE MOVIE: REZE ARC original soundtrack -summer's end-." The CD came in September 2025, a special edition with ten additional tracks arrived that December, and the analog edition landed on April 1, 2026 — one film's music reaching listeners in gradually shifting forms over nearly a year. The man who supported this globally celebrated title on the sonic side is the score composer Kensuke Ushio. Alongside star theme songs — Kenshi Yonezu's "IRIS OUT" and the Yonezu x Hikaru Utada ending "JANE DOE" — it was his score that shaped the very breathing of the images.
An Unusual Career That Began with Ping Pong
Ushio's career did not, in fact, begin with film scoring. In December 2008 he debuted as an electronic musician under the name "agraph." The ear he honed in the context of dance music — techno, house, electro — was first brought to anime in Masaaki Yuasa's Ping Pong in 2014. Since then, through works with director Naoko Yamada such as A Silent Voice and Liz and the Blue Bird, he has built up a body of scoring work with a texture unlike anyone else's, in both anime and live action. He casually dissolves the boundary between acoustic instruments and electronics, creating sound so fused with the work that "BGM" is far too small a word for it. That is Ushio's craft.
In 2022 he scored the TV anime Chainsaw Man, and in 2024 he brought a "Chainsaw Man Live" to Amsterdam, establishing film music as something worth staging and hearing in concert. An electronic musician had, before anyone noticed, become an artist delivering scores across borders.
Full Orchestra and the Tiniest Sounds in Reze Arc
Standing on that lineage, Reze Arc became a clear turning point. One of the ideas Ushio had long said he "hadn't yet unleashed" — a full-scale use of orchestra — was finally set loose here. Through repeated dialogue with director Tatsuya Yoshihara and sound director Yasushi Nagura, the music was designed as a film score that hugs the image. To match the lyrical story, the power of a large ensemble is set against the extremely delicate resonance of piano and violin.
What Ushio reportedly cared about most was the beach scene. He deliberately recorded the very finest sounds of the violin, letting them nestle against the characters' emotions. "I hope people will listen even to the small expressions of sound you can only catch in a movie theater" — his own words pinpoint the design philosophy of Reze Arc's sound. Roaring action, and a silence that holds its breath. That range is precisely the proof that this musician from electronic music grabbed the orchestra as a "new instrument." From noisy, violent sounds to quiet, beautiful melodies, more than thirty genre-crossing tracks are gathered there.
Dandadan, and an Unbroken Present
Ushio's name is still being engraved into current credits. He also scored the second season of Dandadan, and "Dandadan Original Soundtrack 2," containing 22 tracks, was released in October 2025. Once again he pulls together a chaos of occult and sci-fi with his singular sense of sound. From Ping Pong to Chainsaw Man to Dandadan — crossing works scattered across genres and media, there is always a consistent touch that can only be called "the sound of Kensuke Ushio." The vinyl of Reze Arc, still running in theaters worldwide, is just the right record for sitting down and listening again to where he stands now.
