Legendary musical maestro Michio Mamiya, best known for his composition in the 1988 film Grave of the Fireflies, has passed away. The Japanese virtuoso breathed his last late last year on December 11, due to pneumonia, but the news only reached the global scale now. He was 95 years old.
According to Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, his wake was held on December 17, followed by the funeral on December 18 in Tokyo. The news of his passing became global only during the 2025 Annie Awards held on Saturday, February 8. Mamiya’s name was mentioned in the In Memoriam segment, along with many other anime industry professionals who lost their lives last year.
About Michio Mamiya
Born on June 29, 1929, in Hokkaido, Japan, Mamiya pursued his education at the Tokyo University of the Arts, which predominantly focuses on art and music. In 1958, he won the Mainichi Music Award for Composition for Chorus No. 1. His opera Narukami (1974) won the Grand Prix at the Salzburg Opera Festival.
His most popular composition is in Isao Takahata’s 1998 film Grave of the Fireflies. Widely acclaimed as one of the best-animated war films, it follows the lives of orphan siblings Seita and Setsuko who struggle to survive during the final months of the Pacific War. The music and the dialogue in the film are one entity.
Aside from Grave of the Fireflies, he has also composed music for Gauche the Cellist, Horus—Prince of the Sun, and Tenguri, the Boy of the Plains.
