Rank the Dragon Ball anime music scores

[TechExpert2021]

Now with Kosuke Yamashita composing the BGM for DB Daima, how would you rank the Dragon Ball anime music scores?

Here is a list of composers for reference:

Japanese

• Shunsuke Kikuchi (1986-1996, 2011 – Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, All DB and DBZ movies, Dragon Ball Kai episodes 1-98)
• Akihito Tokunaga (1996-1997 – Dragon Ball 10th Anniversary Movie, Dragon Ball GT)
• Kenji Yamamoto (2009-2011 – Dragon Ball Kai episodes 1-96)
• Norihito Sumitomo (2014-2018 – Dragon Ball Kai Buu Arc/The Final Chapters, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Super: Broly)
• Naoki Sato (2022 – Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero)
• Kosuke Yamashita (2024-2025 – Dragon Ball Daima)

English

• Peter Berring (1995 – FUNimation/BLT/D&RSS dub of DB episodes 1-14)
• Ron Wasserman (1996-1998 – FUNimation/Ocean/Saban dub of DBZ episodes 1-53 + FUNimation/Ocean/Saban dub of DBZ movie 3)
• Bruce Faulconer, Mike Smith, Julius Dobos, and Scott Morgan (collectively Faulconer Productions) (1999-2003 – FUNimation in-house dub of DBZ episodes 54-276/67-291 + FUNimation in-house dub of DBZ movie 4 + FUNimation in-house dubs of DBZ TV specials (TV broadcasts only))
• Dale Kelly, Andy Baylor, and Mark Akin (2000-2001 – FUNimation in-house dubs of the DBZ TV specials)
• Tom Keenlyside, John Mitchell, and David Iris (collectively Anitunes) (2001-2003 – AB Groupe/Westwood/Ocean dub of DBZ episodes 108-276/123-291)
• Mark Menza (2003-2006 – FUNimation in-house dub of DBGT + FUNimation in-house dubs of DBZ movies 1, 6-9, 11)
• Nathan Johnson (2005-2006 – FUNimation Ultimate Uncut in-house dub of DBZ episodes 1-67 + FUNimation in-house dubs of DBZ movies 2-3, 10, 12-13)

And here's how I rank them:

1. Shunsuke Kikuchi
2. Akihito Tokunaga
3. Kosuke Yamashita
4. Kenji Yamamoto
5. Ron Wasserman
6. Peter Berring
7. Naoki Sato
8. Tom Keenlyside, John Mitchell, and David Iris (collectively Anitunes)
9. Norihito Sumitomo
10. Nathan Johnson
11. Bruce Faulconer, Mike Smith, Julius Dobos, and Scott Morgan (collectively Faulconer Productions)
12. Mark Menza
13. Dale Kelly, Andy Baylor, and Mark Akin

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

1. Shunsuke Kikuchi
2. Akihito Tokunaga
3. Anitunes
4. The various artists Kenji Yamamoto plagiarised
5. Kosuke Yamashita
6. Norihito Sumitomo
7. Ron Wasserman
8. Faulconer Productions
9. Naoki Sato
10. Nathan Johnson
11. Mark Menza
12. Peter Berring
13. Dale Kelly, Andy Baylor, and Mark Akin

[MasenkoHA]

I only saw Super Super Hero once and barely remember the score and haven't seen Daima yet so leaving those composers out

I enjoy the scores very much
1. Kikuchi
2. Yamamoto

Pretty darn good
3. Sumitomo

Tis fine
4. Tokunaga
5. Wasserman


Meh
6. Johnson
7. Anitunes
8. Berring

Not a fan of most of it
9. Mike Smith and Friends


What is this Kami-sama forsaken shit?

10. Menza

11. Dale Kelly and Andy Baylor

[Trouser]

To me there's really no competition here. Kikuchi and Tokunaga are the best with Sato being very close to them. The rest is at best "okay" to "meh".

[Jord]

I like the music of Kikuchi score in itself, but the implementation in the anime makes it sound really old fashioned. Like something from a 70's Godzilla film. It works in some of the more calm parts like Genki dama theme but 80% of the score brings down the anime for me. It's like it makes the show feel slower or older than it already is. It's also goofy how he uses a slide whistle in some of it's tracks.

[GhostEmperorX]

I like the music of Kikuchi score in itself, but the implementation in the anime makes it sound really old fashioned. Like something from a 70's Godzilla film. It works in some of the more calm parts like Genki dama theme but 80% of the score brings down the anime for me. It's like it makes the show feel slower or older than it already is. It's also goofy how he uses a slide whistle in some of it's tracks.

Well, he did go on record in a 1997 booklet interview saying that modern style wasn't really his thing, and the same likely applied to some extent in the 80's. But hey, his was the style that the directors at Toei wanted, even if they (and Nippon Columbia) failed to meaningfully preserve it.

The slide whistles, flexatones, and trumpets are always mentioned as downsides, but no one ever mentions his incorporation of elements like grand piano and Timpani which are more or less always on point. And the motif work always gets overlooked because of the movie score substituting BGM that could have been made for the series proper.

For example, one of his Z OP re-arrangements translated a more modern part of the original (the synth arpeggio) into more regular instrumentation, i.e. woodwinds.

Also, the tracks that made it to stereo from original DB right on till the end of Z were all recorded in top notch quality, the real problem with age is with the mono tracks which had no reason to exist in that form at the time.

[Fizzer]

Just ranking the ones I'm familiar with with (I've only seen Super Hero once for example)

1. Kikuchi
2. Sumitomo
3. Tokunaga
4. Wasserman
5. Falconer
6. Yamamoto
7. Johnson
8. Menza

Kikuchi never hits the hype moments like some of the others do. A lot of Sumitomo or Faulconer for example can really elevate the emotion and adrenaline of a scene. However, the old-timey Spaghetti Western but also Chinese sounding music is just the VIBE, and it's the most comprehensive score that actually has the material to cover the whole series. There also is a lot of really beautiful music there, mostly the motifs based on the various OP/ED songs throughout.

[RED_xyz]

Well, he did go on record in a 1997 booklet interview saying that modern style wasn't really his thing

Do you know where I can find this booklet? Thank you in advance.

[GokuHater]

I am not familiar with all of them, mind you, so I'll list the ones I know...

1.
Kikuchi - for me the man is a genius and while off course nostalgia plays a part in it, it is my default Dragon Ball music. To this day, I have goosebumps when hearing some tunes...
Someone in the thread said his music is like old fashioned. And maybe it is. It has sort of an old japanese anime feeling and for me that sits well with Dragon Ball.
My favorites are eg. The spirit bomb themes, many variations of Piccolo theme, Yajirobe, Gokus' themes and the one that player when Bora died (can't remember it's name)

2.
Tokunaga - I don't recall THAT much from Tokunaga compared to Kikuchi but when his music hits... It hits hard.

3.
Sumimoto. And I mainly talk Super and Broly.
There are actually MORE themes I enjoy than Tokunaga but still they don't stay with me that much. But while I sometimes have problems with Super's story and animation, the music always delivers.
My favorites (from Super) include Zamasu theme, UI theme, Ultimate Battle...

4. Falconer. I don't despise the music but I really cannot enjoy it over Kikuchi. It just doesnt work for me and I am not a fan of music bombardment non stop in the show. I like moments od silence.
I can however appreciate this score on its own terma, it's good music and I am sure if you grew up on its, it's god-like quality.

5. Yamashita.
Unfortunately Daima music does nothing for me...

[GhostEmperorX]

Someone in the thread said his music is like old fashioned. And maybe it is. It has sort of an old japanese anime feeling and for me that sits well with Dragon Ball.

Agreed, but in general there's quite a lot being missed when this angle (the period of its style) is the one that's focused on above all other areas. Points that go far beyond a lot of the usual narratives that get thrown around here & there.

[funrush]

It's hard for me to do a full ranking because I don't have an intense opinion about the majority of these scores, a lot of them are alright but don't blow me away. For me I'd have to say Yamamoto is the GOAT, Kikuchi is just behind him, and then Falconer behind Kikuchi. That's the clear Top 3 for me.

It's hard for me to put Yamamoto at 1 instead of Kikuchi because there's so many iconic Kikuchi songs, but I'm just going off of what Yamamoto was able to produce in such a short period of time. He was scoring for like 2 or 3 years and developed a catalog comparable in quality to (or dare I say even surpassing?) Kikuchi who had been scoring it for like 9 years. Yes some of those songs appear to be plagiarized to some degree, but the shit slaps. I actually went and bought the first 2 CDs of the Yamamoto score just to listen to while doing chores and shit, lots of badass and catchy songs. I could hum along to practically every tune, they're that catchy. To this day I still wish they put out the song that plays when Gohan goes Super Saiyan 2, it goes super hard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv9eDNZJEZU I've seen versions that use computers to take the dialogue off of it but you can still hear the faint echoes of Gohan's yelling and the sound quality is fucky because you strip a lot of the mids/highs off when you remove the vocals like that.

Kikuchi you know it you love it. That score pretty much is the default Dragon Ball music to me and so many cool songs that build the atmosphere in a way that feels whimsical and adventurous. Yamamoto and Faulconer drive the vibe towards epicness but Kikuchi is like occasionally intense and raw during some fights but does a wonderful job keeping things feeling lighthearted and fun during the downtime. The Kikuchi score has such a weird charm. For an 80s/90s cartoon the production style feels kind of ancient and yet it still works anyway because the compositions are just that strong and it never feels super out of place even as the tone and content of the show itself wildly changes throughout the years. For something that sounds dated it's quite timeless and versatile.

Faulconer has a lot of legendary songs. The reason he doesn't get #1 or 2 is it's not as consistently catchy as Yamamoto or Kikuchi. It's got lots of ambient tracks that fit the vibe great but don't get stuck in my head afterward. But when it gets intense it's some of my favorite Dragon Ball music ever. Super Saiyan 3, Vegeta going Super Saiyan. And oh man the Trunks theme, super badass and I still listen to it. Falconer's score does a really good job building an atmosphere, it's got this eerie technological thing going to it that I think was really fitting for the Android saga and it makes perfect sense that Legacy of Goku 2 ripped its OST straight from the Falconer score. Creepy scifi synth music which worked perfectly for the whole arc about evil robots but also for the arc about scary space aliens or the arc about a scary wizard and his creature. Also I grew up watching Z on VHS tapes so this is a score I have a lot of nostalgia for. I'll leave you with the Trunks commercial featuring that awesome song (epilepsy warning) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFeBDRGsDeE