Japanator has a fun weekly feature called the Tuesday Otaku Debate, where fans pick a side and do battle to the death in the comments. This week’s debate is a pair of anime/game composers, Toshio Masuda and Hitoshi Sakimoto.

Why am I posting about it? Because I’m officially campaigning for a Masuda win– preferably by a landslide. Masuda-sensei composed two soundtracks that have enriched my life personally: Mushishi and Ghost Hunt. The former is probably better known than the latter, but both are really fantastic CDs, and they’re not his only well-known works: see also Jubei-chan and Jubei-chan 2, Hand Maid May, Puni Puni Poemi, Mahoromatic, and even Naruto.

No disrespect meant for Sakimoto, whose work on games like Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII, along with the music for the anime Romeo x Juliet, is solid and respectable. But I find Masuda’s music stays with me much more firmly.

If you’re interested in other (non-Yoko Kanno) anime composers, I’d recommend Michiru Oshima, who did the fantastic OSTs for Fullmetal Alchemist, and Kouji Ishii, who (along with Yasukasu Tabei) created the incredibly amazing Hellsing soundtrack.