Anime Piano

As literal as it sounds, Anime Piano is anime paino- a deviant of the classical music we all are familiar with. Simply put, it's a genre where pianists transcribe music scores from anime theme songs/sound tracks and practice them on the piano. Pianists that take on this challenge of having to write their own scores and share them on YouTube is just a minority, but Animenz and Ishter-kun are undoubtedly the kings of Anime music.

Wings of freedom 

If you ask about both Animenz and Ishter-kun, the answer is definitely in this video.

Animenz and Ishter-kun live miles apart and yet they came up with a way to practice with such accuracy over this complex transcription. As if that wasn't impressive enough, they completely killed the tiny performance and their popularity shot rocket high, raising even more awareness to this underrated genre.

With their rising popularity, both of them came together to hold their first concert ever, in Singapore last year.(Which was incredible)

From the success of last year's [Attack on Piano] concert, Animenz returned this year for yet another anime piano concert. Of course I had to attend.

The list of songs this year were completely different from last year's and although the songs played last year was much more exciting, I enjoyed this year's no less. What I(and the audience) did not expect was the appearance of the old classics- Pokemon, Digimon and Drangonball Z theme songs. The list of songs were not published before the performance unlike last year's so the sound of the whole audience gasping in shock and excitement was not at all an unpleasant experience.

The ticket

The opening of the concert was done by a fourteen year old. If that wasn't amazing, I don't know what is. What he played was a full version of a very recent anime theme song, which goes for sure that he wouldn't have had enough time to practice and yet he managed to blast through it. Sure, he did make plenty of mistakes even a complete dummy at music like me could make out, but I doubt most of the people in the audience could go through the same experience with the huge pressure and nerves at just fourteen.(In your face, Mr. nitpicker in the seat below mine)

Right after the opening came Animenz himself. The concert this time stars only him so I could only imagine him playing more than thirty songs straight with just one interval and not faint.
The last song was sung by all three invited singers and I could not emphasize how amazing it sounded.

Photography was, of course, strictly prohibited so here are some of his transcriptions on YouTube.

Guren no Yumiya

I would say this is one of the most popular songs he has ever played; From the anime Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan. I doubt I need to say any more.

Nagi no Asukara Medley

Definitely my favourite transcription with his innovation in differing from the original melody and especially adding in the 'underwater' element seeing as it is a seaside story. I love how he transitions the four completely different songs into a smooth sail of tranquility to excitement; From the anime Nagi no Asukara

Owari no sekai kara

(From a world that has ended)

This was never in the list, but of course us fans roared for an encore. He decided on this (what i call 'explosive' in the last quarter) song which he said was one of his most special transcriptions. He played on even though he was exhausted to the point of feeling faint and wow, I could say this piece was the most impressive one played that night. The original song does not lose in any way and I highly recommend it.

He loved the standing ovation we gave to him last year, so we decided to double that this year.

Of course, Ister-kun deserves some love too.

The two of them, in a tight hug after the performance.

Guren no Yumiya

Yes, it's the same song. Just look at how a song can change when looked at in a different perspective.

Lacie

I could not NOT share this. From my favourite manga(don't even look at the anime unless you're looking at soundtracks), Pandora Hearts.

Unravel

There's nothing to not like about the lyrics to this song. From the anime Tokyo Ghoul

Attack on Piano 2013

Part 2 of last year's concert. Absolutely glorious. Warning: it's a long video.

One thing I do wish to point out is that the audience in both last and this year's concerts were disappointing. They talked through the songs played, which is a definite sign of disrespect and that bothers me a lot. I wished we could have welcomed and given them an even better experience. Although the ones that are most infuriated by it are the keyboard warriors from overseas. To experience the same situation after a year just shows how we haven't learnt.