Hideki Taniuchi

Taniuchi co-composed the score for the 2006 Death Note anime with Yoshihisa Hirano for Madhouse. He also scored Real Drive, Akagi, and the gambling drama Kaiji, and contributed music to Aoi Bungaku and the Heian arc of Otogi Zoshi.

Before moving into composition in the mid-2000s, Taniuchi worked as a guitarist for the band Shocking Lemon. He then shifted toward scoring anime and television, starting around the time of Death Note.

Taniuchi's most recognized work is his Death Note score, co-written with Yoshihisa Hirano, which includes widely cited cues such as "L's Theme" and the show's title track. The soundtrack remains one of the more frequently referenced anime scores of its era.

Taniuchi and Hirano's combined score paired orchestral tension with rock-tinged instrumentation, a sound built to match the cerebral, high-stakes battle between Light Yagami and L. That approach reflects a broader pattern in Taniuchi's work, which often blends electric guitar riffs with orchestral and electronic elements suited to psychological drama.

Hideki Taniuchi is a Japanese composer born in 1972. He is best known in the anime world for co-composing the Death Note score with Yoshihisa Hirano.