Birthday: December 29, 1959

Birthplace: Hashima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan

Died: May 5, 2004 (age 44)

Ritsuko Okazaki broke into music as a singer-songwriter in 1993, though she's best known for her work scoring anime throughout the 2000s. She contributed songs to series like Wedding Peach, Fruits Basket, and Love Hina, and spent much of the nineties writing for voice actors as well. In 2002 she formed the duo Melocure with Megumi Hinata; over the next couple years they released several singles and an album called Melodic Hard Cure. Beyond her own projects, she also produced tracks for established artists including Megumi Hayashibara, Mayumi Iizuka, and Yui Horie.

Her style centered on ballads rooted in J-Pop, and fans often note that her lyrics carried real poetic weight—emotional without being heavy-handed, with an underlying gentleness and optimism even when dealing with serious themes.

Okazaki died suddenly on May 5, 2004, from septic shock brought on by septicemia. She was 44. Details about her personal life remained largely private throughout her career, and her death left several projects incomplete.