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    Tomoya Kitagawa

    Awards & Honours

    3

    Awards Won

    3

    Honours

    3

    Rankings

    2

    Covers

    2

    Records

    Kitagawa's achievements reflect his rapid rise in the game and anime music world. Winning the GDC Award for Best Audio in 2022 put him on the map as a composer to watch. He followed that with a Japan Game Award and a Crunchyroll Anime Award. Forbes Japan named him a Top 30 Under 30 in Music in 2024. In 2026, he received an honorary mention in the Game Audio Network Guild Hall of Fame, a rare nod for a composer his age. His world tour announcement and the anticipation for Project: Aether II show no signs of slowing down.

    Awards

    Honours & Distinctions

    Forbes Japan 30 Under 30 (Music)

    Forbes Japan·2024

    Recognized as one of the top young talents in music in Japan.

    Newcomer of the Year

    Tokyo Game Music Festival·2025

    Awarded for outstanding contribution to game music as an emerging artist.

    Game Audio Network Guild Hall of Fame (Honorary Mention)

    G.A.N.G.·2026

    Honorary induction for significant impact on game audio.

    Rankings & Lists

    #4

    Top 10 Anime Composers to Watch

    Billboard Japan·2023
    #7

    10 Game Composers Defining the Decade

    NME·2024
    #9

    Greatest Video Game Composers of the 2020s

    Rolling Stone Japan·2025

    Magazine Covers

    Famitsu

    October 2023

    The Man Behind the Music: Tomoya Kitagawa's Synthwave Revolution

    Game Informer

    December 2024

    Sound of the Future: How Tomoya Kitagawa is Reshaping Game Audio

    Records & Feats

    Youngest composer to win GDC Best Audio

    Awards·2022

    At 25, Kitagawa became the youngest person to win the Game Developers Choice Award for Best Audio, for Eternal Threads in 2022.

    First composer to have a game soundtrack go viral on TikTok

    Career Milestone·2023

    His score for The Seven Deadly Sins: Grudge of Edinburgh (2023) became the first game/anime soundtrack to trend on TikTok globally.