Music

Random plug for old Kotoko stuff: Suppuration Core and Uzu-Maki. Also, because nobody mentioned it yet, Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari is probably the best song this summer.

As far as composers go, I like Yuki Kajiura's works (most recent memory being in Kara no Kyoukai), but I have to say the top dog is still Daisuke Ishiwatari. Also, Jun Maeda, for all of his Key stuff.

That's interesting. . . . I've never heard of Daisuke Ishiwatari. o-o I listened to a few tracks after reading your reply. I have to agree, I love it. XD It's the composer for the songs in the anime BlazeBlue, right?

Daisuke Ishiwatari is the lead composer for Arc System Works, who produce fighting games like BlazBlue and Guilty Gear. I'd recommend Lust SIN, Gale, and Imperial Code the most out of the BlazBlue OST but that's just me. The whole OST is pretty much amazing.

I wish there was a Blazblue anime but no it's just for the games like Ryuuka said. Also if you like any of Mell's or Kawada Mami's OP or ED's for animes you should check out their albums too. I'm just waiting for Elisa to come out with an album she's becoming one of my favorites.

Ah, my bad. There's a lot of things I've never heard of. So if I get something wrong, please excuse the noob.

Always been a fan of KOTOKO.
But really my favorite has got to be ORANGE RANGE. Locolotion
Quite frankly I don't listen to a lot of music from Japan but a couple others I do listen to are Morning Musume and Nana Kitade. Onna ni Sachi Are Kanashimi no Kizu
Lately I've been listening to more of SKE48, a somewhat new all female group like BeForU, Speed, etc. Tsuyoki Mono Yo
Similarly, AKB48, a group produced by the same person as SKE48, Yasushi Akimoto. Bingo!
Perfume has definitely been one of the more popular artists recently though they've been around for quite some time.