
Yuji Ohno

 is a Japanese jazz musician. Ohno is known for his musical scoring of Japanese anime television series, particularly "Lupin III", and most famously the 1977 series "Lupin III Part II" and the feature film "The Castle of Cagliostro". Later anime series scored by Ohno include "", the 1979 Toei series "Captain Future" (known as "Capitaine Flam" in France) and the 1982 series Space Adventure Cobra. He has composed scores for live-action films, namely Toei's tokusatsu series "Seiun Kamen Machineman", his only work on this genre to date. His music was also featured on the very rare Hi-Vision LaserDisc "Ordinary Europe" from Pioneer in 1993.
Ohno is also a member of a jazz trio with Czech bassist Miroslav Vitous and American drummer Lenny White, The Lupintic Five (later The Lupintic Six) and You & The Explosion Band.
Early life.
Born in the founding family of Atami City's Hotel Ohnoya, Ohno began playing piano in elementary school. He formed the group Junior Light Music with clarinetist and future NHK announcer Isamu Akashi, a classmate at Keio Senior High School. It was at this time that he taught himself jazz. While enrolled in the Faculty of Law at Keio University he was a member of the prestigious big band "Keio University Light Music Society". Later in college, on the recommendation of , he joined a quintet with Takeshi Shibuya.
Career.
Ohno made his recording debut in 1966 backing Hideo Shiraki and Yūzō Kayama on their record "Hideo Shiraki Meets Yuzo Kayama".
He took a leave of absence from the piano in the early 1970s and devoted himself to composing, working on TV dramas and movie accompaniments. In 1976, Ohno composed the score for the film "The Inugami Family". Kōji Ishizaka, who starred in the film, was a classmate of Ohno's at Keio High School and Keio University. The promotional literature for the theatrical release contains an article about Ishizaka's visit to Ohno's recording studio.