He composed music for the anime series Mazinger Z, Godannar, Getter Robo Go, and Transformers: Victory, among others.
Composer Michiaki Watanabe (also known as Chumei Watanabe) passed away due to heart failure at a Tokyo hospital on June 23.
He also composed the music for the first two Kikaider live-action series, Inazuman, the first six Super Sentai series (and contributed to later Super Sentai series as recently as last year’s Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger), and the first five Metal Heroes series starting with Space Sheriff Gavan.
For the next 20 years, Watanabe worked with TOHO regularly on film soundtracks while improving his craft under the likes of jazz musician Sadao Watanabe.