Ritsuko Okazaki

As is the case with many Japanese artists her privacy was well guarded little is known about her life apart from her artistic career. During the 90s she continued singing and also wrote for anime voice actors. From 2000 she became involved in earnest with anime and composed several songs for Wedding Peach Fruits Basket and Love Hina. She formed the duo Melocure in 2002 with singersongwriter Megumi Hinata and in the following two years the duo released several singles and an album Melodic Hard Cure. Okazaki also produced songs during these years for artists such as Megumi Hayashibara Mayumi Iizuka and Yui Horie. Her work consists mainly of ballads and can be categorised within the spectrum of Japanese music as most closely related to JPop. According to her fans the lyrics of Okazakis songs are characterized by poetic imagery depth of emotion gentle optimism and simplicity. On May 5 2004 Ritsuko Okazaki died suddenly at the age of 44 from septic shock as a result of septicemia. She was unable to speak any last words and left her work unfinished.