Attack on Titan, Mobile Suit Gundam UC, The Seven Deadly Sins, Hathaway’s Flash — composer Hiroyuki Sawano, who has shaken countless on-screen moments to life, has released two books to mark his 20th year as a composer. First came the essay Sakkaku no Oto (“The Sound of Illusion”), published by Fusosha on February 3, 2026, followed by its sequel Sakkaku Shitsuzukeru (“Keep on Being Deceived”), which appeared as a live-venue exclusive on July 4. That the word “illusion” anchors both titles feels utterly Sawano. Looking back on 20 years in words rather than sound, the two volumes lay bare the core of how this man thinks.

Why “Illusion”?

Scoring for the screen often means writing music before the visuals are even finished. With only storyboards and a script to go on, the composer stacks up choirs, strings and beats on the belief that “this scene must surely sound like this.” It looks like conviction, but half of it is self-persuasion — an illusion, in other words. That almost excessive euphoria in Sawano’s music, the sweeping scale that carries listeners off in an instant, can only be born at the far end of relentlessly convincing yourself that “this is right.” The two titles cut straight to the heart of that creative process, revealing the grounded self-awareness hidden behind the flashy sound.

He Wrote the First Half; the Second Was Told in Interviews

Sakkaku no Oto (240 pages, 1,870 yen incl. tax, Fusosha) takes a two-part structure. Chapters one and two and the columns — covering childhood piano lessons, the high-school years when he threw himself into composing, and the lean, unrecognized apprentice days — were written by Sawano himself. From his professional debut onward, including his breakthrough with the drama Iryu: Team Medical Dragon and his rise to worldwide success with Attack on Titan, chapter three and beyond were compiled by writer Kitano from interviews. As Sawano wryly admits, he is “not the type who reads a lot of books,” which makes narrating himself at length an unusual venture. And precisely because of that, he offers himself up honestly as a person and a musician, prepared for even his biased ways of thinking to be “laid bare for all to see.”

  • Self-written part: from the childhood when he began piano, through the high-school years absorbed in composing, to the apprentice days before turning pro.
  • Interview part: the behind-the-scenes of signature works — from his breakthrough on Iryu to Attack on Titan, Mobile Suit Gundam UC, The Seven Deadly Sins and Hathaway’s Flash.

A Sequel You Can Only Get at a Concert

Then, on July 4, came the sequel Sakkaku Shitsuzukeru, released by Sony Music Solutions. This B6-format, 226-page volume (2,200 yen incl. tax) is an all-new essay collection written entirely by Sawano, complete with color photo pages. What stands out is that it was issued as live merchandise — meaning a concert venue is the main way to get hold of it. Ever widening his range through the vocal-centered project SawanoHiroyuki[nZk] and his production work for SennaRin and NAQT VANE, this composer, having looked back on 20 years in The Sound of Illusion, still declares in his title that he will “keep on being deceived.” Rather than wrapping up the past and stopping there, he keeps moving forward on the fuel of that very self-deception — and perhaps that refusal to stand still is exactly who Hiroyuki Sawano is. Read side by side, the two books quietly reveal what a composer holds onto behind the loud, dazzling soundscapes of film scoring.