An anime's success depends on various factors, such as the story, animation, and OST. When all these elements come together perfectly, an anime can capture the audience's hearts and become a cultural phenomenon. This is what happened with a massive hit anime Attack on Titan. With its amazing score by Hiroyuki Sawano and genius pianist Animenz have given the world a beautiful gift in form of this music.
Hiroyuki Sawano: The Mastermind Behind Epic Anime Soundtracks and Video Game Music
Hiroyuki Sawano is a Japanese composer, arranger, musician, and sound producer, best known for his work on anime soundtracks and video game soundtracks. He was born on September 12, 1980, in Tokyo, Japan. Sawano started his music career in the early 2000s, primarily working on television dramas and commercials. However, he gained widespread recognition in the anime industry for his work on the soundtracks of several popular anime series, such as Attack on Titan, Blue Exorcist, Guilty Crown, and Aldnoah.Zero. He has also worked on the music for various video games, including Xenoblade Chronicles X, Nier: Automata, and Granblue Fantasy. Sawano's music style is characterized by its powerful and epic sound, often incorporating orchestral elements, electronic beats, and rock music. He is also known for his use of vocalists and choirs in his compositions, which gives his music a unique and distinct sound.
Call of Silence: The Hauntingly Beautiful Song from Attack on Titan's Second Season
Call of Silence is a song composed by Hiroyuki Sawano and performed by Gemie. It was featured in the second season of the popular anime series Attack on Titan (also known as AOT). Attack on Titan is set in a world where humanity lives in cities surrounded by massive walls to protect themselves from humanoid giants known as Titans. The story follows a group of young soldiers who join the fight against the Titans after the Titans breach their home city. Ymir Fritz was one of the most essential characters in AOT because she is the origin of the Titans or not (spoilers). Call of Silence is a song from the second season that played at the reveal of Ymir's story.
The song is known for its haunting and emotional melody, which perfectly captures the atmosphere of the series. The lyrics of Call of Silence speak of a longing for peace and understanding in a world full of chaos and violence. The title itself refers to the idea of a voiceless cry for help that goes unheard, a theme that is central to the Attack on Titan story.
The song has received widespread praise from fans and critics alike, with many noting its emotional impact and the powerful vocals of Gemie. Sawano's use of orchestral instrumentation and electronic beats creates a grandiose and epic sound that has become a hallmark of his music.
Call of Silence by Hiroyuki Sawano
Call of Silence
from Anime Attack on Titan Season 2 OST
- Artist: Hiroyuki Sawano
- Released: June 7, 2017
- Lyrist: Kanon Yamamoto (cAnON) & 澤野 弘之 (Hiroyuki Sawano)
- Vocal: Gemie
- Composer/ Arranger: Hiroyuki Sawano
- Track: 5
- CD: 1
- Label: Pony Canyon
- Genre: J-Pop, Anime OST
- Key: F# minor
- Length: 2'58"
Animenz Piano Sheet: The Popular Pianist Behind Anime Piano Arrangements on YouTube
Animenz Piano Sheet is a Japanese-based pianist who joined YouTube on January 14th 2010. With over two million subscribers and almost half a billion total views, Animenz Piano Sheet
is one the popular pianist who does Anime piano arrangements. Animenz Piano Sheet (will be referred to as Animenz) does piano arrangements on amines like Demon Slayer, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Ghibli studio amines and many more. Animenz’s most viewed song is a piano cover of the anime Tokyo Ghoul called "Unravel – Tokyo Ghoul OP [Piano]" posted on February 15, 2015, with over ninety million views. Animenz always adds his own take to the song and makes it his own. He brings anime songs into classical music, so as to live and be appreciated for a long time. Animenz uses Steinway D-274 Grand Piano. Animenz also has a second channel called “Animenz Second Channel” where he plays songs with different techniques and other arrangements.
Call of Silence by Animenz
Animenz's rendition of Call of Silence - the perfect accompaniment to Ymir Fritz's story
This emotional song is played in one of the crucial scenes of AOT, hence making the song very important for all AOT as well as Hiroyuki Sawano’s fans. There are many covers but nobody does cover the song like Animenz. This song was posted on Animenz’s channel on August 27th 2022 where the song has over 600 thousand views.
The original song is in F# minor key with the tempo of the song being 124 BPM. Animenz’s arrangement of the song has a key signature of F# minor with a 4/4-time signature. The tempo of the song is a bit slower than the original song with 62 BPM. This song in the anime is played when Ymir Fritz, a Titan when she wakes up as a human, in a desert, and her staring a starry night, finally being free and her having to feel the sense of being reborn. This song captures this sad yet beautiful story. With the original song, Hiroyuki Sawano wanted to capture this feeling of freedom, seeing the path, being human, and sad yet getting closure are emotions you will feel while hearing the song. This song is an alternate version of another AOT OST called Call my name.
Animenz being an amazing pianist had a lot to his version of Call of silence. He has divided the song into 4 sections that he called Silence, Rebirth, ThanksAT and Faraway.
Silence:
Start of the song; called Silence starts off similarly to the original song. It starts off slower than the original composition. It has much less dynamic and fast movements. After a thirty-nine seconds intro of the song, he takes a second pause and goes to the next section of silence. Around the same time in the original song as well there is a pause before starting the lyrics. Then starting the verse, keeping close to the original and keeping it simple. The song in mid of a min thirteen seconds feels like the song has lost its direction and can’t understand where the song moving. The song even feels a bit offbeat. Then the song picks up the tempo and the song is building tension. While listening you will feel that you are wondering what will happen next. The atmosphere build is tense and then with that, you enter the next section.
Rebirth:
As the name, this is rebirth, this is the chorus of the original song. Where the line is sung.
“You will know you’re reborn tonight”
In Animenz’s the song has an impact, with a bam the song gets louder there is ff that is fortissimo (playing the piano louder). Where his left hand started with the lower octave and then came to the centre was for the tension was built. Where in the original there are other instruments, the lack of other instruments made each note of the piano clearer from the original song. The song moves from deeper bass, where the left hand is playing lower octaves and the right hand is playing notes.
The notes the right hand is playing is giving a sparkling effect to the song. This is very similar to the anime where Ymir Fritz sees the starry sky, glowing, shining and showing her a path. This touch of Animenz’s was beautifully added. This while playing the main melody gives out the orchestral feel, which was amazingly added by Animenz. Throughout this section you can hear the song call of silence where the right hand is playing with the melody from high to mid, that was a good touch to the song.
Slowly coming towards the end of the original song. Around three-fourths of this section the original song ends, and from here on Animenz extends the song to give his grand conclusion to the song. Hence, he plays the melody of the verse from the first section before going to the next part, which was added so as to have a bigger finale of the song. This part sure gives the feeling that Ymir Fritz is feeling that she has been reborn.
ThanksAT:
Animenz added the song ThanksAT also known as T-KT, which is from Attack on Titan OST from season 3, which is also a Hiroyuki Sawano composition. This is a song in S3 plays where all Titans want is freedom. Which also mirrors perfectly with Ymir Fritz as well. The transition from rebirth to this section is seamless.
This part starts with the notes playing faster in the right hand like rolling notes, which is great and symbolizes similar to the movements of Titan like they are approaching somewhere. This section is quick and hand movements are dynamic. These rapid hand movements also symbolize how Ymir Fritz is sitting alone in the desert, wondering what is happening and watching the beautiful night sky full of stars and aurora with beautiful colours, feeling helplessly watching the time around her pass. In anime, Wit and Mappa studios did incredible work and here to visualize the song with emotion Animenz didn’t fail us. His hand and finger movements are so wonderfully played, it is a treat for eyes and ears.
Then again there is a pause, where his left hand is at the lower end of the octave and Animenz then starts to play the rebirth melody. This is also the most replayed part of this song from a YouTube video. Arpeggios here are clean and the exquisite hand movements where they are happily dancing on the keys are the highlight of the song. The right hand is playing the melody and the left hand is adding deeper layers to the song. The high and low arpeggios were magical. Animenz also through this part feels that here is where Ymir Fritz finally granted her freedom. Then again, the song slows down with the call of silence with a beautiful arpeggio which was absolutely soothing. Again, with a slow pause at the start of the epilogue.
Faraway:
The final minute of the song, where the whole song is, is the final section of the song. It is slow, when the left hand is playing the notes the right hand is playing higher octave keys. This is giving a magical, sparking effect. After such a dynamic song, there is peace and calm. Especially the decreasing notes from high to low octave that was played were apt for the atmosphere. Finally, ends the song with a beautiful ending note and Animenz slowly backs his hands from the keys. The slower notes have the sadness, the longingness and Ymir Fritz’s story slowly coming to an end. Her story had a sad ending, but she was able to see her path, see this beautiful night, could feel freedom and slowly fades to the end. Animenz perfectly balanced his arrangement to the song and Ymir Fritz’s story.
Attack on Titan starts off as a light anime, but with every episode, it will take you on a journey of various deeply and intricately built characters. And music scores for this anime absolutely did justice to the heaviness of the anime. Animenz elevated an already great song to the next level and through this song, it is a masterpiece. You will defiantly shed a tear or two. This is why Animenz's arrangement of Call of Silence is a must-listen for AOT fans.
If you love this arrangement, you can check the arrangement here. There are other Animenz arrangements which are definitely worth checking out.
If you like this song or any other song, there are many more sheet music you can find on MyMusicSheet or mymusicsheet.com
Until next time, Happy Music!
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