Yuji Ohno was a Japanese jazz pianist, bandleader, and film/television composer, trained in piano from childhood, who shifted his focus to composition in the early 1970s. He is best known for composing the scores for the Lupin III anime and film franchise beginning with Lupin III Part II (1977–1978), including the score for the acclaimed film The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), and continued scoring Lupin III productions across decades with his jazz-fusion big band, the Yuji Ohno & Lupintic Five. Over his career he produced more than 100 soundtracks and albums, blending jazz, funk, and orchestral idioms. Ohno died in 2026 at age 84.

Ohno’s jazz-inflected scores for the Lupin III franchise became one of the most iconic and enduring musical identities in anime history, establishing a template for sophisticated jazz-based scoring in Japanese film and television.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuji_Ohno