is a Japanese composer, arranger and musician best known for her work on the soundtracks for many
anime films, television series, live-action
films,
video games, and
advertisements. She was born in
Sendai,
Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. She has written scores for famous animated works, including
Darker than Black,
Macross Plus,
Turn A Gundam,
Cowboy Bebop,
The Vision of Escaflowne,
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex,
Wolf's Rain,
Kids on the Slope, and is the most trusted composer by veteran and new-wave directors such as
Yoshiyuki Tomino,
Shinichiro Watanabe and
Shoji Kawamori. Kanno has also composed music for pop artists, the most notable being
Maaya Sakamoto and
Kyoko Koizumi. She is also a skilled keyboardist, and is the frontwoman for the
Seatbelts, who perform many of Kanno's
compositions on the various original soundtracks for which she is responsible.