wu tang clan bitches

@hikago, after listening to it more, the piano is there and I think it’s good. It underlies the entire melody.

@Ryan:
Which is why I wait for TAM… ;_;

Well considering I watched it once (on Youtube)…. it’s techneoclassical imo (jpop lol). Visuals are really awesome, but I don’t think the piano is the main instrument since its a vocal song; if the piano fades in and out of /existence/ it’s somewhat expected :<

Actually, that’s a good point – the gradual crescendo is a common pattern in modern music in general, but most J-pop (and especially the songs chosen for anime OPs) tend to start with a big intro, and then drop back a bit for the verse only to build back up to the chorus. I guess you could say that they generally want OPs to start with a “bang”. The way this song starts leave an impact in a different way (and makes the show seem more “thoughtful”, serious or whimsical, I guess). I guess I could see from the beginning how you might have expected something a bit more classical/instrument driven, but it turned out to be almost a bit more electronica. The piano is simply the lead accompaniment.

But yeah, I wasn’t too sure just how serious you were being, but I thought I’d offer a bit of a musical perspective anyway. :p I will at least say that it’s one of the more musically-interesting OP songs of this anime season, at least for doing something a bit differently in terms of the instrumentation.

Regardless, thanks for your opinion, you did bring up some valid points.

In the verse, you missed the other instruments: the driving bass, the synth, and the strings (well, which are also snyth). A bit of electric guitar gets added in the second half. And the piano isn’t so much off-key, as they’re passing notes that support/complement the (simple) melody. I think the balance between the melody and the off-beat keys is pretty critical — neither one is supposed to over-power the other, which is why the melody isn’t “stronger”.

The pre-chorus, where you said the “songs comes to its own” serves (as all pre-choruses do) as a transition. The piano doesn’t get drowned out in the chorus, it just starts playing rhythm as well as accents, so it’s supposed to be part of the “fill” rather than simply stand on its own. I think the mix here is actually quite good, as they gradually increase the prominence of the electric guitar to give the song a bit more of a driving feel.

Also, note the 3/4, 5/4 pattern in the intro that comes back at the end, which is what gives it that sort of mournful/melancholic sound.

So anyway, from a musical perspective, this is very much your usual modern J-pop/light rock piece (intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, all gradually building in intensity), with the piano serving as the main distinguishing feature. The mix is rather usual for the style of music. So I’m really not too sure why you felt trolled or what the supposed “controversy” is about, though of course liking any music is a matter of taste.