Band Cover: Startear (Sword Art Online II ED)

My newest cover with CollaboDaisakusen, the ending song to Sword Art Online II. Make no mistake that I do not have positive feelings about the Sword Art Online franchise -- I won't go into detail here, but read my friend's blog post for a general idea. However, I don't dislike the music, which was quite solid, and was nonetheless happy to jump aboard another CollaboDaisakusen project. So here's my second band cover:

Startear (Sword Art Online II ED): Band Cover



Lyrics: saku
Composer: saku
Performer: Haruna Luna
Starring: YorozuyaNeesan, Conway, Fireteamtorch, Rob A. Ranowsky, Raz, Makino Jou, Sno

Embarrassing admission: For the longest time, I legitimately thought the title of the song was "start ear" rather than the more sensible "star tear." I'm still not completely convinced the former interpretation isn't the right one, though.

See ya,

xds

Piano Cover: Future Fish (Free! Eternal Summer ED)

Last summer's Free! was a show that I enjoyed a lot more than I like to admit. Even aside from the (what I found to be hilarious) fanservice and adorable Matsuoka Gou, I actually found the plot to be pretty interesting. (Maybe I should watch more sports shows.) In any case, Free! is back for another season in Eternal Summer, and I'm quite happy about it. ^_^

HELP CAN'T STOP STARING

The opening song for Free! Eternal Summer was a solid piece, but didn't quite stick out to me. The ending, on the other hand, has a lot of style, and is catchy as all hell. (I'm still not quite sure whether I prefer this ED or the first season's infamous Splash Free, though. :P) This piece was a bit challenging for me to cover, since it's quite a different style than I'm used to, but I ended up having a lot of fun with it anyway. Hope you enjoy!

Future Fish (Free! Eternal Summer ED): Piano Cover



Artist: Style Five (a.k.a. Free! cast)
Date Completed: 2014-07-31
Software: Audacity, FL Studio, Sony Movie Studio
Instrumentation: Piano

More cool stuff coming soon! ^_^

'Til next time,

xds

Piano Cover: A/Z (Aldnoah.Zero ED)

All hail the new anime season! There have been a number of enjoyable shows this summer, including one Aldnoah.Zero, a mecha show about robots from Mars. I'm not typically a big fan of mecha shows, but Aldnoah.Zero's definitely come out pretty strong. I wouldn't say it's my favorite so far -- I'm somewhat more intrigued by Tokyo Ghoul and (especially) Zankyou no Terror, but it's definitely one I'll be watching and looking forward to.

Honestly, New Orleans wouldn't have been my top choice to invade...

Scoring Aldnoah.Zero is one Hiroyuki Sawano (perhaps you've heard of him), also known for the soundtracks of Guilty Crown, Kill la Kill, and Shingeki no Kyojin, among many others. His is a distinctive style, so I was a bit surprised upon hearing the ending theme, which was a calm and peaceful number. And since "calm and peaceful" is my preferred style for piano covers, I jumped right on that. My piano cover of "A/Z" (what the heck does that mean?) is below!

I also (finally) discovered a nice piano VST (TruePianos), so you can hear it in action!

A/Z (Aldnoah.Zero ED): Piano Cover



Artist: Hiroyuki Sawano & mizuki
Date Completed: 2014-07-19
Software: Audacity, FL Studio, Sony Movie Studio
Instrumentation: Piano

Stay tuned for more projects as the season progresses! Thanks for dropping by~

xds

Band Cover: Ambiguous (Kill la Kill OP2)

Before I happened upon CollaboDaisakusen earlier this year, my dreams of being in an anime band were just that: dreams. Well, sometimes dreams do come true, because working with CD has been one of the most fun and rewarding experiences I've had so far. And at long last, my first project with CD has finally been released! Hope you enjoy, and please support us!

ambiguous (Kill la Kill OP2): Band Cover



Lyrics: meg rock
Composer: toku
Performer: GARNiDELiA

That's all for this time! Look forward to CollaboDaisakusen covers (in addition to my typical piano covers) in the future! ^_^

'Til next time,

xds

Concert Review: Angela @ Anime Central 2014

Another year, another Anime Central. Aside from being another phenomenally fun weekend, ACen was also home to this year's visiting musical guest: Angela. Angela had previously performed in the United States at Otakon 2004, so this year marks their first performance in the U.S. in almost a decade. But let's face it -- Angela is a hell of a lot more popular now after their recent songs appeared in a few hit shows.



Compared to the Kalafina concert last year, Angela's performance was significantly less crowded, taking place in one of the convention center's larger ballrooms rather than taking up an entire performance hall. Sadly, the crowd was both a bit small and rather subdued, which was a shame because Angela's performance was full of energy.

I hadn't explicitly investigated Angela before and didn't know many of their songs offhand, so I was surprised at the number of songs I actually recognized at the concert. Angela performed three songs from the 2012 show K, all of which I recognized. I was particularly thrilled when they performed "Tsumetai Heya, Hitori," one of my favorite anime songs ever and one that I was totally unaware Angela had written. In addition to the K music, Angela also performed "Angel" from Coppelion, which I knew from working with my collab group, as well as the OP to the new show Sidonia no Kishi. Unfortunately, it didn't seem that many in the audience knew even fewer songs than I did, which may have contributed to the low energy.

Angela was a fun band to watch. While atsuko (the vocalist) wasn't as animated as, say, KOTOKO, she was nonetheless fun to watch and sang beautifully. KATSU (the guitarist), on the other hand, was simply overflowing with energy, and the bassist and drummer who were helping out were equally enthusiastic. During one particular song, "Asu eno brilliant road" from Stellvia, atsuko taught us a cute little dance, which was quite fun.



Below is the setlist for Angela's Anime Central performance in no particular order, or at least all that I can remember. (There are probably a few missing, but oh well.) Click the little "x" to the left of each song to check it out on Last.FM.

[x] To Be With U (K Project)
[x] Tsumetai, Heya, Hitori (K Project)
[x] KINGS (K Project)
[x] Angel (Coppelion)
[x] Tooku Made (Coppelion)
[x] Sidonia (Sidonia no Kishi)
[x] Asu eno brilliant road (Stellvia)
[x] Separation (Stellvia)
[x] Shangri-La (FAFNER in the Azure)
[x] Beautiful fighter (Corpse Princess)
[x] Gravitation (Corpse Princess)
[x] Boku janai (Valvrave the Liberator)
[x] A new song whose name I can't recall

After closing their setlist, Angela came back to the stage after the audience demanded an encore. They'd performed all of their most recognizable songs by that point so I was a bit curious what they would perform, but nothing prepared me (or the audience, judging from the density of the cheers) for their encore:

[x] Cruel Angel's Thesis (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

(Apparently it's one of KATSU's favorites.) It was a bit ironic that their most popular song ended up being one that they didn't actually write, but it was still a very pleasant surprise.



Because I couldn't quite get enough of Angela even after the concert, I attended both Angela's poster signing, where I was able to briefly meet and interact with atsuko and KATSU. (My friend had the pleasure of sharing an elevator with atsuko, that lucky bastard.) I also attended Angela's final panel, where I learned (via their translators) a couple fun tidbits about the group:

-atsuko and KATSU were once in "rival" bands, but joined forces after moving to Tokyo. According to atsuko, they joined up was because they knew each other from high school.
-Angela was a struggling street band when the director of Stellvia approached them after hearing a performance. According to KATSU, anime "saved their careers."
-atsuko's favorite song they've produced is "Asu eno brilliant road."
-KATSU's favorite anime that they've produced for is Sidonia no Kishi.
-atsuko's favorite recent anime is Kill la Kill. (I wish I hadn't ditched my cosplay by then...)
-KATSU grew up on mecha anime, and a favorite of his is Neon Genesis Evangelion.
-KATSU's catchphrase is "she's a babe," which he learned because "it would be useful."
-Before composing each song, KATSU will thoroughly read the source material for inspiration.
-Angela writes over 8 different drafts for each anime song before sending it to their producers.
-atsuko has no formal training in music (despite being such a wonderful singer!).
-The music video for "Angel" stars Chiaki Kuriyama of Kill Bill fame.

Though I may not have been an Angela fan going into ACen, I definitely emerged as one. Angela's friendliness, passion, dedication and talent won me over, and I can't wait to hear the music they produce for anime in years to come.

'Til next time,

xds

Piano Cover: Niji no Kakera (Ishuukan Friends OP)

This anime season is one of the most exciting for me in quite a while. There are plenty of shows I've been absorbed in, from the eccentric Ping Pong to the ridiculously over-the-top Brynhildr as well as a large serving of sweet in Soredemo, among others. But my favorite show, at least so far, might be an unassuming little slice-of-life/pseudo-romance piece called One Week Friends. I won't spoil the first episode for anyone, but it is one really cute show.

Seriously, look how cute she is.

I fell in love with the opening song, "Niji no Kakera" ("Fragments of Rainbow") pretty quickly; it's a really nice ballad-like piece that fits the style of the show well. I decided to do a piano cover blah blah blah 20 takes blah let's skip straight to the cover~

Niji no Kakera (Isshuukan Friends OP): Piano Cover



Artist: Natsumi Kon (昆夏美)
Date Completed: 2014-04-17
Software: Audacity, Sony Movie Studio
Instrumentation: Piano

Look forward to more covers as the season progresses! ^_^

Have a great week,

xds

Piano Cover: Main Theme (Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha Insert)

Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha finished up a few days ago, marking the beginning of the Spring 2014 season finales. I'll be honest: the show kind of let me down toward the end, but I more or less enjoyed it, for what it was worth. I wish they'd focused more on the interesting and awesome Uka-sama rather than Inari and her middle-school antics, but whatever. :P

Meet Uka-sama, the cutest crazy cat fox lady ever.

Although the show itself may have been disappointing, the music was not. Written by composer Takeshi Senoo, the music in Inari was amazingly beautiful, perhaps reminiscent of Joe Hisaishi with a distinct Eastern flavor. In particular, the main theme of the show (or what I consider to be, at least -- it plays each time between the first and second halves of the show) really struck a chord with me, and easily takes a spot in my list of most nostalgic anime songs ever. In episode 7, there's a beautiful piano rendition that plays in the background during a particular scene, and I decided to transcribe and cover it! Enjoy~

For those interested, you can find the piano score here.

Main Theme (Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha): Piano Cover



Composer: Takeshi Senoo
Date Completed: 2014-03-18
Software: Audacity, Sony Vegas
Instrumentation: Piano

Thanks for stopping by, as always. The next season is coming up soon, so hopefully you'll hear more from me soon! :)

Best,

xds

Piano Cover: Kyou ni Koiiro (Inari OP)

Although this anime season started off a little slow, an unassuming little show called Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha showed up on week 2 and captured my heart. It's a strange cross between slice-of-life and supernatural, revolving a girl who gains mystical powers from a ridiculously cute fujoshi goddess. It's a shame this show is only 10 episodes; it's been consistently solid so far.

Gamer goddesses = the best goddesses.

The OP for Inari is a collaboration between composer kz of livetune (perhaps most famous for the Hatsune Miku song "Tell Your World") and singer May'n. The result is as beautiful as you might imagine; livetune's music is great, and I'm definitely a fan of May'n's lovely voice.

While the tempo on the original song is actually fairly high, I thought the song lent itself well to a slower interpretation. (Either that, or it's an excuse because I can't play fast.) After some faffing around on the piano, this cover was the result. I actually tried to do something a little more complicated (for me, at least) with the left hand this time, to mixed results. In any case, cover:

Kyou ni Koiiro (Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha ED): Piano Cover



Artist: May'n & livetune
Date Completed: 2014-02-02
Software: Audacity, Sony Vegas
Instrumentation: Piano

I also put together some sheet music! Click here for the link. That's all for now! :)

Take care,

xds

Global Game Jam 2014: Race the Rainbow

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of taking part in the 2014 Global Game Jam, a game-making marathon held at multiple locations worldwide over the course of 48 hours. The theme was "We don't see things as we are, we see things as they are." After some brainstorming of ideas and quite a bit of arguing, we decided on our game:



"Race the Rainbow" is, as its title suggests, a racing game. Each racer is one of four colors, and various colored tiles are scattered across the racetrack. When a racer is driving on a tile that matches its color, it gains a speed boost; if the tile is of a different color, it takes a severe speed penalty. Thus, although the racetrack is the same for all players, each player sees the racetrack differently depending on the color. (Yay loose interpretation of theme!) 48 hours is never as much time as you think, and I'm glad we ended up settling on this straightforward idea.

I was on composing/sound design duty for the entire weekend, which was a ton of fun: it's been a long time since I've been able to focus just on writing music. I had the pleasure of working with two other talented audiophiles/composers, and learned more about producing music and recording over a single weekend than I have in my whole life. Working with the other members of my team (programmers, designers, and artists) was a lot of fun as well.

I ended up being responsible for the main level theme, which we decided would be of a "modern chiptune" style. I tackled the composition in FL Studio (accompanied by FL-chan :P), which I had finally purchased over the past holiday season. After scrapping my first few drafts, the final melody idea came to me in my early-morning drive back home, and I subsequently put the rest of the piece together over the next 30 hours or so. A bit slow in retrospect, but given that I was simultaneously learning how to use FL Studio, I'd say not bad. Here's the full version of my song, "Chromatic Circuit":



Title: Chromatic Circuit
Date Completed: 2014-01-26
Software: Audacity, FL Studio
Composition time: ~15 hours

All in all, the weekend was a huge blast, and I'd recommend that anyone who has an interest in games check out the next Global Game Jam (January 2015). Check out our official Game Jam page here, and if you're interested in playing our game, you can either download the executable from the page or play in a browser here. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Best,

xds

Piano Cover: Oto no Naru Hou e (Gin no Saji)

First cover of 2014, and of the new season! :D To be honest, this season's been disappointing so far, so I was very glad to see Gin no Saji, one of my favorite shows from two seasons ago, return for its second run. The show's more-or-less the same (minus one particular farm animal), but that's a good thing: can't argue with seeing more of the super-adorable Mikage :D

There does indeed appear to be a silver spoon.

The song I decided to cover from Gin no Saji season 2 was the "Oto no Naru Hou e" (no idea what that means, honestly), the super-catchy ending by Goosehouse. Actually, likely the best part of me attempting this cover was discovering Goosehouse, who is a flat-out amazing musical group. While their work doesn't quite have the same immediate impact as some other artists, they clearly really enjoy what they're doing, and that comes across in both their music and their videos. Check out their YouTube channel here.

Anyway, here's my cover. I had fun with it, but after way more takes than I'd intended, I just gave up and went to bed. X_x The end result isn't as polished as I would have liked for it to be, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Oto no Naru Hou e (Gin no Saji Second Season ED): Piano Cover



Artist: Goosehouse
Date Completed: 2014-01-17
Software: Audacity, Sony Vegas
Instrumentation: Piano

Also, I finally managed to pull off widescreen, so no more random crops!

'Til next time,

xds

Piano Cover: Just One Life (Samurai Flamenco)

Happy 2014! Except I'm still blogging about things from 2013. Typical T__T

Samurai Flamenco! Now in cherry, grape, peach, and lemon.

I honestly don't know what to say about Samurai Flamenco. At one point I would have recommended it without any reservations, but recent developments in the show have tempered my enthusiasm a bit. I'm still finding it fairly enjoyable for the time being, but suffice it to say, it's a very different show now than I'd have expected a few weeks ago. Nonetheless, I think it's still worth a watch, at the very least for the brilliant first few episodes.

I know this is a second image but I LOVE MAYA MARI OKAY

The opening to Samurai Flamenco, "Just One Life" by SPYAIR, is more rock-like than songs I typically cover, but as always, I dialed down the tempo a bit and offered a more liberal interpretation of the song. I think there's plenty of emotion in the song, particularly when matched with the opening footage. Here's my cover!

Just One Life (Samurai Flamenco OP): Piano Cover



Artist: SPYAIR
Date Completed: 2013-11-27
Software: Audacity, Sony Vegas
Number of Takes: Also don't remember
Instrumentation: Piano

New season's in tow, so look for more covers (hopefully in a timely fashion) soon!

From beyond to heaven,

xds

Tutorial: Gogo no Junjou (Kuragehime)

I've been on a josei roll of late. Sakamichi no Apollon is one of my favorite shows ever so I already had a soft spot for the genre, but I recently watched Kuragehime, Honey & Clover and Nodame Cantabile all in a row, and they were all pretty great. Kuragehime in particular had a cool little piano insert song with a metronome, so I decided to put together some sheet music.

...Of course, I finished this tutorial before I ever watched Kuragehime, so most of that previous paragraph is irrelevant.

I ALSO CAN'T BWEATHE BECAUSE CLARA IS TOO MOE

I was struck by this piece in particular because of its neat classical sound and ternary form, and because it sounded like so much fun to transcribe. It was, indeed, a lot of fun to transcribe; lots of arpeggiated passages and fairly predictable structure, and none of those annoying tricky chords that I always have trouble with. Then, like all music that I transcribe but am too lazy to actually learn, I put together a Synthesia tutorial! Check it:

午後の純情 (Kuragehime Insert Song)



Composer: Makoto Yoshimori
Date Completed: 2012-10-23
Software: Finale 2008, Fraps, Synthesia, Movie Maker
Instrumentation: Piano

Here is a link to the sheet music. It's a pretty fun technical piece; enjoy! And if you're looking for a funny, feel-good show, give Kuragehime a chance; I think it's definitely worth the watch.

Laters,

xds

Piano Cover: Innocent (Galilei Donna)

I'm several months behind, so I'm going to keep this one really short.

Because everything is better with more moe girls.

Galilei Donna was a show this season. I watched it. It was mediocre and I didn't finish it. (I am disappoint, NoitaminA.) I did, however, make a cover of the ending song, which is actually pretty catchy. And features even more moe girls! Enjoy :)

GOD EVEN MY VIDEO PREVIEW HAS A MOE GIRL ON IT

Innocent (Galilei Donna ED): Piano Cover



Artist: Earthmind
Date Completed: 2013-10-13
Software: Audacity, Sony Vegas
Number of Takes: Honestly don't remember
Instrumentation: Piano

I'm going to keep these posts short from now on to facilitate me actually getting them done in time.

Happy winter,

xds

Piano Cover: Rage On (Free!)

Once upon a time, there was an innocent little YouTube video, put together by Kyoto Animation to demonstrate its awesome new water-animating skillz. Unfortunately for video-kun, who just wanted some peace and quiet, the Internet was taken by storm. Legions of fangirls and fanboys celebrated KyoAni's foray into the world of delicious manservice, and dubbed the content "Swimming Anime." When it was finally discovered that Swimming Anime wasn't, in fact, a real show but only a demo, the resulting cries of grief and frustration were deafening. Overwhelmed by the pure volume of fan reaction, KyoAni finally relented, and announced that their new show Free! would begin airing in July. Cue the Internets going wild.

Or something like that.

The butt-slap that started it all.

Along with seemingly everyone and their great-aunts, I began watching Free! when it began airing in July (which was marginally awkward since I was visiting family in China). I don't know what I expected from the show, but one thing's for certain: KyoAni certainly didn't shy away from the fanservice, and Free! has been chock-full of shirtless dudes and near-yaoi moments. I really admire shows that are unapologetic about the content they're showing, and Free! is about as unapologetic as they get. With all the ridiculous female fanservice in the anime market, Free! comes off as almost tongue-in-cheek in the way it reciprocates it on the men.

I guess I should mention the backlash-from-dumb-people that the show got, but I'll direct you to my friend's blog post for all matters concerning that bit of controversy.

Oh, what's that? I'm supposed to talk about the music at some point?

To be honest, I can't say the music in Free! is the best I've ever heard -- though the ending sequence might be the most absurd (-ly awesome) I've ever seen -- but I still wanted to give the OP a try. The rock style of the song isn't the type of music I'm used to arranging for piano, but whatevs. :P Here is my attempt at covering the opening for the Swimming Anime:

Rage On (Free! Iwatobi Swim Club OP): Piano Cover



Artist: OLDCODEX
Date Completed: 2013-07-27
Software: Audacity, Sony Vegas
Number of Takes: 18
Instrumentation: Piano

Although I doubt Free! will find its way onto my best-anime-of-all-time list, it's definitely been an enjoyable ride so far. If you're curious, give it a try; I'd be interested to hear what you think! Here, have some Matsuoka Gou for good measure. :P

See you next water time (wut),

xds

Cosplay Interlude: Anime Central 2013

About three months ago (yayyy for being on time), I had the pleasure of attending Anime Central 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. With nearly two years (lol) of anime experience under my belt, I found this con experience even more exhilarating than Animazement 2012. The more shows I've watched, the more I enjoy and can identify with everyone at these conventions. Or at least, that's a pretty convenient excuse for me to watch even more anime. :P


As always, I went to this anime convention with a group of wonderful friends, and we decided again to attempt some group cosplays. After juggling numerous options for the full-group cosplay for the five of us, we finally settled on the fantastic 2010 show Katanagatari. In particular, we decided to cosplay characters from the Maniwa Ninja Corps, a group of hapless villains (of questionable degrees of actual malice) who inevitably get slaughtered over the course of the show's twelve episodes. For my character, I chose Maniwa Kamakiri, the mantis-themed ninja of the Insect Squad who meets his fate during episode 4.

Kamakiri's costume was definitely the most intricate I've ever attempted; completing it involved the help of several friends and multiple late nights, and it was definitely often a struggle. Nonetheless, I was able to pull off something passable in the end, and I've definitely learned a lot about cosplay (and particularly sewing) in the process.

(1) Maniwa Kamakiri of the Insect Squad: the green guy on the left.

(2) Some concept art of Maniwa Kamakiri. The final design was a little different.

(3) My Maniwa Kamakiri costume. Photo credit to Chou-Wa.

Unfortunately, Katanagatari wasn't quite as popular as I thought it might have been, what with the re-air and all, and there weren't a ton of people who recognized us. Nonetheless, we scheduled one photoshoot for the group with Chou-Wa Photography, whose photos can be seen here. However, the best part of the Katanagatari-cosplaying experience was undoubtedly the meetup. Although we'd arranged on the forums to meet up with another group of two Katanagatari cosplayers, it still didn't prepare me for the excitement of actually meeting other cosplayer-fans. (I think there was an even greater sense of camaraderie since our source material was relatively obscure.) We took a ton of fun photos, and were even lucky enough to receive a free impromptu photoshoot from the amazing M1photo, who was himself a Katanagatari fan. You can see the photos from our shoot with M1photo below.

(4) The whole Katanagatari group! Photo credit to M1photo.

(5) Compilation of individual character shots. Photo credit to M1photo.

Apart from the Katanagatari cosplay, I also put together a costume from the horror anime Shiki in a two-person group. (Photos for that costume are still pending, but I'll put them up as soon as they're sent to us.) Cosplay aside, however, the highlight of the convention was certainly the Kalafina concert (see my review). I've been fond of Kalafina ever since I heard the Madoka ending song Magia, and seeing them perform in person was nothing less than magical.

(6) I'M NOT SURE IF I'M SUPPOSED TO HAVE THIS PHOTO O_o

As always, I'll end this post with a bit of photo-vomit. I didn't actually take too many pictures this time around so there aren't many, but feel free to check out my Facebook album here if you're interested in seeing the complete set.

(7) Our cute lil' Maniwa Corps headpieces. :)

(8) Super Sentai Gokaiger!

(9) Our whole group! Cosplays represented: Shiki, Adventure Time, Shingeki.

(10) Ergo Proxy!

(11) The cuteness of HomuHomu knows no gender boundaries.

(12) Artist working live on chalk art. T'was ridiculously impressive.

(13) GOGOPOWERRANGERS

(14) BUZZ BUZZ, MOTHAFUCKER

(15) Some R&R with the Maniwa gang.

(16) A Mirai Nikki group! #represent

(17) Katanagatari photoshoot, in which Nanami MURDERS US ALL ._.

(18) Mufufufufu

(19) The completed product of the aforementioned chalk art. Beautiful.

(20) Mahou Meganekko Madoka Magica XD

That's all, folks! Don't forget to say hi if you're a fellow Anime Central 2013 attendee!

Until we meet again,

xds

Piano Cover: Aku no Hana (Saeki's Theme)

Man, I'm getting really bad at posting these updates when I should.

SO MUCH MOE CAN'T HANDLE

If the spring 2013 anime season had a drama queen, it would undoubtedly be Aku no Hana. There was a ton of controversy surrounding the show, not the least of which concerned the radical shift in art style between the manga source material and the anime. Plenty of people were turned off by the more realistic, rotoscoped style, and to be honest, it certainly took a bit of getting used to. Still, I found Aku no Hana a legitimately compelling show (if a bit over-artistic at times), and it was one of my favorites of the season.

The music in Aku no Hana is some of the best I've heard. The most memorable song in the series is certainly the exceptionally haunting ending theme, but the opening themes (also named "Aku no Hana") are quite creative as well. There are four openings in total, and each is a variation upon the same basic theme and sung from the perspective of one of the main characters. This sort of self-referential music really appeals to me, and I decided I'd cover one of the opening themes. My favorite was Saeki's version, so I chose that for my cover. Enjoy!

Aku no Hana (OP #3, Saeki's Theme): Piano Cover



Artist: Uchujin
Date Completed: 2013-06-05
Software: Audacity, Sony Vegas
Number of Takes: 10ish
Instrumentation: Piano

Anyway, if you're an anime fan willing to try something unique, or you're just tired of all that moemoe stuff floating around, you owe it to yourself to try out Aku no Hana. At the very least it's very unique, and who knows: maybe you'll end up really enjoying it too. :)

More piano covers soon! Hopefully on-schedule this time!

See ya,

xds

Piano Cover: Sora to Kimi no Message (Suisei no Gargantia)

Wayyyy overdue post. I'll keep this one short then.

Seems like a fair fight.

The spring 2013 anime season has been quite an exciting one, complete with heavyweights (Shingeki no Kyojin), controversial shows (Aku no Hana), beloved sequels (Nyaruko) and more. One of the shows that fascinated me from the beginning was Suisei no Gargantia, the newest project by Gen Urobuchi. I've always had an interest in his work, and Gargantia looked to be surprisingly lighthearted compared to his other work. Unfortunately I've lost a bit of interest since then and fallen behind, but I still really enjoyed the music. So here's my piano version of the ending song, "Sora to Kimi no Message" by Choucho:

Sora to Kimi no Message (Suisei no Gargantia): Piano Cover



Artist: ChouCho
Date Completed: 2013-04-11
Software: Audacity, Sony Vegas
Number of Takes: I don't even remember
Instrumentation: Piano

That's all for this post. Expect another post or two as this season comes to a close.

Bye now,

xds

Concert Review: Kalafina @ Anime Central 2013

This past weekend was Anime Central in Chicago, the third-largest anime convention in the United States. This year, Anime Central hosted a very special guest: Kalafina! While members of Kalafina have performed once before in the United States (Anime Expo in 2011), Anime Central 2013 marked the first time that the entire Kalafina band has performed in the U.S. I was fortunate enough to attend this wonderful performance.



Like perhaps many others, I was initially drawn to Kalafina via their lovely ED "Magia" from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. Shortly thereafter, I watched Kara no Kyoukai and was further drawn in by their ending songs for the seven films. Before the concert, I decided to familiarize myself with some more of Kalafina's work, including songs from Kuroshitsuji, Fate/Zero, and the new Madoka movie. I'm really glad I did, as my familiarity with Kalafina's works really enhanced my enjoyment of the concert (compared to, say, the KOTOKO concert last year).

There are some groups who sound amazing in recordings, but rather lackluster in live performances. Kalafina is not one of these groups. I was constantly blown away by how terrific Kalafina's singing was, especially with the ridiculously long (16 songs!) setlist they went through. Kalafina's pitches were flawless, and the live performances sounded nearly identical to the recorded material; rarely was even a single note out of place. Major props to the singers and to the five talented band members (seriously though, that keyboardist was sick).



Compared to KOTOKO's performance, Kalafina's exuded a different type of energy. While the KOTOKO performance was full of vibrancy and lots of jumping up-and-down, Kalafina's performance demonstrated a much more deliberate, orchestrated style of energy. In fact, "orchestrated" is an appropriate adjective for Kalafina's performance as a whole; the entire performance was a carefully crafted piece of artwork full of poses, gestures, and sound. That brings me to my only gripe (if it can even be considered as such): that the performance was a little too perfect. For me, one of the appeals for seeing artists perform live is to see how they deviate from the source material. Kalafina's performance was faithful nearly note-for-note to the original source material, and while that's certainly a good thing, I would have enjoyed seeing Kalafina interpret the music a little more loosely.

Below is the setlist for Kalafina's Anime Central performance. (I actually took notes this time, so it's accurate!) Click the little "x" to the left of each song to check it out on Last.FM.

[x] Oblivious
[x] Consolation
[x] Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa
[x] Red Moon
[x] Magia (the crowd went wild here)
[x] Hikari no Senritsu
[x] Door
[x] Mirai (Mami's theme from Madoka)
[x] Aria
[x] Signal
[x] Obbligato
[x] Ongaku
[x] The Whole Sky
[x] To the Beginning
[x] Hikarifuru
[x] Yume no Daichi

Every three songs or so, the three singers took a break to chat with the audience. I was pleasantly surprised by how interactive they were; while they did read from an English script (not always successfully, in Keiko's case), they interacted quite a bit with the audience, gauging our familiarity with the songs, pointing out cosplayers, and asking for restaurant suggestions. Also, Keiko's English was so cute gahhhh X_x

Oh, and random tidbits from the between-performance sessions:

-Keiko's speaking voice is surprisingly high, given her low singing voice.
-Hikaru is afraid of heights.
-Wakana likes dinosaurs.
-Keiko's favorite character is Rider (Fate/Zero).
-Hikaru's favorite character is Saber (Fate/Zero).
-Wakana's favorite character is Mami! (Madoka Magica)
-The audience suggested "hot dogs" as a food of interest for Chicago. Really?



For more Kalafina and pictures from Anime Central, check out their blog here. (I'm somewhere in that picture above! :D)

I had an absolutely wonderful time at Kalafina's performance at Anime Central, and I'd recommend any fan of their music to see them perform live if they get a chance. Sadly, I wasn't able to meet them at Anime Central this time, but perhaps I'll have the opportunity to hear them perform again in the future. I'd attend again without any hesitation. :)

'Til next time,

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Piano Cover: Osmotic Pressure Symphony (Sasami-san@Ganbaranai)

In all honesty, the Winter 2013 anime season was a pretty disappointing one for me; I didn't truly love any of the shows I watched (apart from the carryovers from the previous season), and ended up dropping a number of the new shows. One show I did stick with, however, was Sasami-san@Ganbaranai, a SHAFT show with very SHAFT characteristics. I won't try to describe the show here, because it rather defies description, but suffice it to say I found it fairly entertaining, and definitely better than the other Winter '13 shows I watched. And admittedly, I did appreciate their choice of voice actresses for the Yagami sisters. :P

Translation: Welcome to your doom. (not really)

Sasami-san had a pretty unique running gag with its closing credits: different characters took turns attempting to sing the ED (badly), but we didn't get to hear the full song in all its glory (and correctness) until the last episode of the show. It was worth the wait, though; I really enjoyed the catchy, upbeat piece full of neat modulations and applied chords. I decided to start this new season off with a cover of this song, "Osmotic Pressure Symphony." Enjoy!

Osmotic Pressure Symphony (Sasami-san): Piano Cover



Artist: Kana Asumi
Date Completed: 2013-04-07
Software: Audacity, Sony Vegas
Number of Takes: 20ish
Instrumentation: Piano

New anime season is underway, so look forward to some more covers coming soon!

'Til then,

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Piano Cover: Zutto Be With You (Nyaruko-san)

Okay, this post is nearly two months late, but better late than never, right? Right...?

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, a comedy/parody show which aired roughly this time last year, is one of my favorite guilty-pleasure animes. Actually, I don't feel all that guilty about it; despite the silly premise (it stars a number of Lovecraftian monsters who happen to take the form of cute girls) and occasional fanservice, it still made me laugh harder than many other comedies I've watched. And that's with me not even understanding nearly all of the references. The sequel's slated to air very soon, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Warning: Lovecraftian monsters are not actually this cute in real life.

My "Zutto Be With You" cover came into being because I was looking for something "romantic" to cover for Valentine's Day, much like my "Vidro Moyou" cover. While Nyaruko-san's OP might have more personality, I really liked the sweet, catchy melody of the ED. Plus, the singer might have one of the cutest voices I've heard in anime music, for serious.

Anyway, here's the cover!

Zutto Be With You (Haiyore! Nyaruko-san): Piano Cover



Artist: RAMM
Date Completed: 2013-02-11
Software: Audacity, Sony Vegas
Number of Takes: Yeeeaaahhh...
Instrumentation: Piano

Not much more to say here, but hope you enjoy this cover, despite it not being particularly current. The new season of anime's coming out very soon, so expect to hear more from me very soon! And yes, one of the songs from Nyaruko v2 is bound to be high on my list. :)

Now to save up for a Nyaruko figure...

Best,

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