Kensuke Ushio on Composing Agents of the Four Seasons: Nostalgia, Noise, and the Perfect Pause

When adapting a high-fantasy literary work into a visual medium, the weight of world-building often falls heavily on the shoulders of the music department. For the anime adaptation of Kana Akatsuki’s fantasy light novel series, Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring, WIT STUDIO enlisted the talents of renowned composer Kensuke Ushio. Known for his deeply emotional piano arrangements and intricate electronic soundscapes, Ushio stepped into a genre he had rarely explored throughout his career, drawing on his own teenage nostalgia to construct a score that seamlessly blends the ancient, the modern, and the supernatural.

Quick summary

• An Inductive Approach to Fantasy: Rather than forcing a rigid pre-determined concept onto the work, Ushio composed an initial image album instinctively, letting the character designs and story details guide the sound.
• Bridging Traditional and Electronic: The soundtrack juxtaposes traditional Japanese melodic motifs with modern glitch, techno, and Celtic choral elements to establish a transcendent, supernatural atmosphere.
• The Power of Post-Production: Ushio credits music selector Maiko Goda and sound director Eriko Kimura for transforming his studio recordings into dynamic cinematic elements through masterclass editing and the strategic use of silence.

Why it matters

Modern anime soundtracks are increasingly moving away from generic, symphonic fantasy tropes in favor of bespoke, hybrid sonic identities. Kensuke Ushio’s work on Agents of the Four Seasons highlights this transition. By rejecting purely traditional Japanese instrumentation or standard Western orchestrations, his score sets a new benchmark for how literary fantasy can be reinterpreted. This project demonstrates how delicate sound design, electronic textures, and strategic collaboration during post-production can elevate a standard adaptation into a deeply immersive sensory experience for the viewer.

Background

Written by Kana Akatsuki, the celebrated author behind Violet Evergarden, the Agents of the Four Seasons light novels first began publication under ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki Bunko imprint in April 2021. The narrative, centering around deities who embody the seasons and protect the natural order, presented a rich tapestry of folklore and romance. WIT STUDIO took on the anime adaptation under the direction of Ken Yamamoto, producing a 14-episode run that aired from March 29 to June 28, 2026.

For Kensuke Ushio, the opportunity to work on a high-profile fantasy project arose through long-standing professional relationships. Music producer Shinji Yamauchi and director Ken Yamamoto had been seeking to collaborate with Ushio for years, but scheduling conflicts had repeatedly stood in the way. Once the timing aligned, Ushio found himself surrounded by a familiar production staff, including veteran sound director Eriko Kimura, with whom he has worked closely since the production of Ping Pong in 2014. This established rapport eliminated the learning curves typically associated with new projects, allowing the composer to dive straight into experimental songwriting.

The Inductive Philosophy of Composition

Unlike his usual workflow, which typically begins with deep theoretical planning and conceptual framing, Ushio approached Agents of the Four Seasons inductively. He chose to channel the immediate emotional responses he experienced when reading fantasy novels as a teenager in the 1990s—a formative era heavily defined for him by series like Boogiepop Phantom.

Rather than laying down a strict set of musical rules first, Ushio began by looking at the visual character designs and letting his hands wander on the piano. This hands-on, intuitive process quickly yielded the track "Hinagiku – theme from ‘Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring,’" a melody that formed the emotional backbone of the entire series. To expand this universe, Ushio blended classical romantic piano lines with glitchy electronic beats and sci-fi synth textures, establishing a bridge between the physical and spiritual realms.

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Musical Clichés

One of the most delicate balances Ushio had to strike was in the vocal and choral arrangements of the series. While aiming for a sound that felt divine and otherworldly, he had to avoid steering the music into territory that felt too culturally specific.

If the choral arrangements leaned too heavily into traditional Western church music, they risked invoking a Christian sense of divinity that would clash with the Shinto-inspired seasonal deities of the source material. Conversely, utilizing purely traditional Japanese vocal styles would make the fantasy world feel too grounded in real-world historical drama. To resolve this, Ushio incorporated Celtic-influenced choral arrangements, using drums and bells to instill a sense of the ancient and supernatural while maintaining a universal, transcendent aesthetic.

The Despair of the Seasonal Songs

While instrumental scoring came naturally, composing the actual "Songs of the Four Seasons" presented a significant creative hurdle. With lyrics pulled directly from the original light novels, Ushio was tasked with writing simple, rhythm-driven vocal arrangements that carried deep narrative weight.

The composer recalled the immense difficulty of capturing the correct mood for these pieces—specifically the "Winter Song," which features the ominous line, "Kill autumn and die in spring." To reflect the gravity of the lyrics, Ushio arranged the piece for a low-register male voice. The pressure of translating the poetic source material into memorable songs was so intense that the composer admitted to pacing around his studio in frustration, shouting into his pillows during the most challenging moments of production. Ultimately, director Ken Yamamoto encouraged him to keep the arrangements sparse and raw, relying heavily on vocals and percussion.

Post-Production Alchemy: The Power of the Pause

A soundtrack is only as effective as its execution within the context of the moving image. Ushio heavily praised the contributions of music selector Maiko Goda and sound director Eriko Kimura for their work on the final broadcast. Specifically, he pointed to a crucial scene in Episode 1 following Hinagiku's dance, where the character Nazuna sheds tears.

In the original studio recording of "Hinagiku," the track flows continuously. However, Goda and Yamamoto decided to insert a sudden, dramatic pause in the music to align perfectly with the character dialogue and camera cuts. Once the line is delivered, the music swells back in. Ushio emphasized that this level of sonic editing completely alters the emotional weight of the piece, creating a vastly different experience from listening to the track on a standalone streaming album. It is this dynamic interplay between composer and music selector that defines the superior sound design of the series.

Qnews24h insight

Kensuke Ushio's work on Agents of the Four Seasons proves that the best fantasy soundtracks do not always rely on grand orchestral sweeps or literal thematic cues. By letting nostalgia and intuition dictate the music's direction, Ushio captured the delicate, fleeting nature of the seasons in a way that feel deeply personal.

Furthermore, this project showcases how crucial the post-production stage is to the success of an anime's music. The deliberate manipulation of silence—such as the pause in Episode 1 highlighted by Ushio—acts as its own instrument. In an era where soundtracks are often treated as background noise to fill space, the creative team behind Agents of the Four Seasons understands that knowing when to silence the music is just as important as knowing when to play it.

Sources

This article utilizes information and quotes from an exclusive interview conducted by Milan Records, published via Anime Corner.