牛尾憲輔 (Kensuke Ushio)

Kensuke Ushio is a Japanese composer and musician, born in Tokyo, who has become one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary anime and film scoring. He first drew wide attention with his emotionally restrained, textured score for the 2016 film A Silent Voice, which blended acoustic instrumentation with subtle electronic processing to mirror the film's themes of communication and isolation. His work often sits at the intersection of ambient electronic music, post-rock, and orchestral scoring, favoring atmosphere and negative space over conventional melodic statements.

Ushio built his reputation through a string of high-profile anime soundtracks, including Space Dandy, the Netflix reboot Devilman Crybaby (2018), Boogiepop and Others, and the Japan Sinks: 2020 adaptation for Netflix. His score for Devilman Crybaby in particular showcased his ability to fuse aggressive electronic and industrial textures with more introspective passages, matching the show's violent, emotionally raw tone. He later composed the score for the widely watched Chainsaw Man anime adaptation, further cementing his standing among fans of anime music.

Beyond his anime work, Ushio has also released music under the alias Agraph, exploring more purely electronic and experimental territory, and was part of the rock band Lama for a brief period around 2011–2012. His compositional style is often praised for its restraint and sound-design sensibility, treating music as another layer of a film's sonic world rather than a purely melodic overlay, which has made him a sought-after collaborator for directors seeking an intimate, immersive score.