6th Anniversary of Ifukube's Death

[Tapkaara]

February 8, 2012 marks the 6th anniversary of the death of Akira Ifukube. He passed away on February 8, 2006 at the age of 91 in Tokyo.

Do you remember how you reacted when you learned of his death? Share you memories and thoughts here.

[Shazam14]

Ifukube was the man. I remember being really bummed about his death.. still kinda am. But whenever I do get bummed out about it I just listen to these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXR3IE361Q4

[Crocodile]

To be completly honest, I didn't feel sad. Not that I was apathetic, but more at peace with it. The man was 91, he'd lived his life, written amazing music, and his time had come and gone. Just felt like the cycle had completed itself as it should, so I wasn't really sad about it. More like accepting of it.

[Tapkaara]

To be completly honest, I didn't feel sad. Not that I was apathetic, but more at peace with it. The man was 91, he'd lived his life, written amazing music, and his time had come and gone. Just felt like the cycle had completed itself as it should, so I wasn't really sad about it. More like accepting of it.

I remember being shocked at first (even though he was quite old) and then quite sad. The night of his death I listened to his concert piece Gotama the Buddha, which has a very sweeping and dramatic ending. If I recall correctly, I also listened to the Requiem from G vs Destroyer.

[G-Matt]

In my opinion, when you talk about a man who's been so important to Japanese cinema and to its many fans like us, you can't help but feel sad when he passes away. That's how I felt when I first heard that Ifukube had died. Of course I knew that he was 91 years old, but still it felt like a certain era had ended since he was the last of the "fathers of Godzilla" to go. I was also glad that at least he managed to still be around when Godzilla had his 50th anniversary.

Naturally I listened to a lot of Ifukube's music to pay tribute to him. One thing I remember is that around that time I had first listened to the soundtracks of Varan and the Mitsubishi Pavilion.

[Gojira-Fan]

I remember I was pretty sad about his death. About as sad as a 12 year old could get about hearing the last of the "fathers of Godzilla" dyeing.

[Hellspawn28]

I was shock that he past away as well. He was a old guy and created a big legacy through history.

[HeiseiGodzilla117]

I'll probably catch shit for saying this, but I wasn't phased by his death. I had no attachment to him. Sure, the whole thing is kind of sad, but I was apathetic. I'm not trying to be a dick... I just didn't care.

[Tyler]

When I first gained access to the Internet and began reading about the creators of Godzilla I was very sad to learn most of them had passed away. Ifukube is no exception. Shogo Tomiyama's tribute to him on the Mothra vs. Godzilla DVD was very touching.

[Godzilla 1995]

I have been a Godzilla fan for a long while, but it took me a while to appreciate the amount of skill and depth Ifukube had. Truly the greatest composer for Godzilla, and perhaps one of the greatest composers of all time. May his wonderful Godzilla theme live for many years to come.

[Tapkaara]

It's no misnomer to say that Ifukube, a composer, was one of the founding fathers of the franchise. In many ways, then, he was just as integral to the success of the franchase as Tsuburaya was, for example. The music is really part of the special effects, I guess, as it has a very special effect on the over-all quality and mood of the films. When the images and the sound are so much a part of each other, as Godzilla is with Ifukube's music, you know you have something extraordinary and vital to the sum of the parts.

[HayesAJones]

Cool guy, great composer, was sad to find out he died.

[GodzillaRangerPrime]

Too bad he didn't do the score for Big G's 50th film, because Japanese Michael Bay didn't feel his music would fit his abomina....I mean film.