Sheet music → mymusic.st/animenzzz/61268
This piano arrangement of 「Avid」 is directly inspired by episode 22 of the anime series. It has probably one of the most beautiful cinematography I have ever seen in a TV anime and the emotional rollercoaster was simply overwhelming. The final two episodes of Eighty Six was delayed for three months but in exchange we got a cinema-level of anime production - absolutely worth it.
The official name for the OST used in ep 22 is called 「Voices of the Chord」and it’s basically an orchestral version of the ED song 「Avid」. My piano arrangement is based on the full size of 「Avid」but I adopted a slow tempo based on the orchestra version and have modified the flow of the music a little bit to make it more cinematic, including a key change in 4:08. I also used many orchestration methods in this piano arrangements to fully capture the beauty of episode 22.
① New pedaling technique
Fitting to the lyrics of 「Avid」("it calls, it calls"), I let the piano "resonate" its sound a bit more than usual by mostly using half pedal during the performance and releasing the sustain pedal very slowly for longer notes. This creates a very interesting "mixed harmonic", which slowly clears up by itself until only a very few notes remain. It can be heard in 1:47, 4:04, and 5:02.
② "Emptiness" in the music
Since the main character Shinei has earned the title of "grim reaper" during his long duty on the battlefield, I cannot possibly imagine the amount of loneliness he is feeling, especially if he is being left behind again. The second verse in 1:49 reflects the emptiness of Shinei's mind and the melody is split up into tiny fragments, never reaching its full melody.
③ The "miracle" in the flower field
[ep. 22 spoilers]
In one of the final scenes of the anime, Shinei has accepted his fate and the music in 3:38 suddenly drops to a bare minimum, slowly diminishing until almost nothing is left in 4:01. Then, the key change in 4:08 happens: This is the moment where Major Milize steps into the battlefield and Shinei's destiny is changed forever. The landscape suddenly changes from a blue sea of Insects into a beautiful red flowerbed.
The miracle must be dramatically celebrated at the climax. The left hand is hitting the lower bass notes for the first time to achieve an enormous orchestral sound while the right hand is playing a secondary melody (consisting of thirds and fourths) to represent the red spider lilies dancing in the wind. This is the moment I was waiting for in the anime. This is the moment why I live for Anime and Anime music. And this is why anime is simply the best art.
[/ep. 22 spoilers]
Alright, thank you for reading this week’s "Animenz explains!" It has been a really, really long time since I was that moved by an anime episode and I hope I can experience more moments like this again in the future. A moment where "everything just feels right".
Thank you for watching my piano arrangement and see you in the next video again!
Animenz
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🎹Piano arrangement by Animenz
Original Song: Avid (ED) / Voices of the Chord (OST)
Anime: 86 (Eighty-Six)
Published by: Sacra Music (2021)
Composed by: Hiroyuki Sawano
Performed by: mizuki [nZk] / Gemie
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#eightysix #avid #hiroyukisawano