Best of Animenz Compilation - 32 Most EPIC Moments in 11-min [3-Year Anniv. SPECIAL]
1293 years ago today I released Unravel from Tokyo Ghoul, marking the beginning of my journey into @Animenzzz arrangements. As of this writing I’ve recorded 72 of his great music (out of 161), averaging 24 a year (26.5/yr from Jan 2023), pretty much one every 2 weeks. With this anniversary I thought to hand pick the absolute favorite moments from the different categories (Arpeggios, Jumps, Runs, Themes, and Finales) and compile them into one single video.
I would like to dedicate this video to my mom for this Mother’s Day. Without her, I probably wouldn’t be able to play like this today. If you’d like my piano origin story, keep reading to the end.
SPOILER ALERT: There are a few scenes from my not-yet-released videos as of 5/11/2025, most notably the finale at the end from Owari no Sekai Kara, which I think is the absolute most majestic one from all of Animenz.
Everything all started back in the first COVID lockdown when I was bored out of my mind staying home. I uploaded a couple of Final Fantasy pieces I enjoyed, this led to full albums, then complete SquareEnix Piano Collections (Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, NieR). Right when I was about to run out of things to record, YouTube recommended Unravel to me for the first time. That was one life-changing event! Like most, I was immediately hooked. After recording it, learning that it's the most difficult piece from Animenz, I figured tackling the rest should be doable. So here I am. 72 pieces later, I'm now a firm believer in anime music even though I’ve only watched a few. I do aim to eventually cover most, if not all of his arrangements. At one every 2 weeks, it's going to take maybe another 3.5 years.
2 weeks is not nearly enough time to really learn or memorize any piece at this difficulty level (for me anyway). My goal is to keep this channel as entertaining as possible by favoring quantity over quality. Each of my videos is pretty much at the point where I just finish learning the “notes”, before really digging into interpretation side of things, etc. I never do any MIDI editing such as correcting mistakes or making arpeggios buttery-smooth. And evidently I don't like dressing up or wearing socks. I believe this "regular Joe" approach should give people hope on what can be achieved at an ameateur level.
I took piano lessons from age 13 to 18, self-taught before and after. I had a number of competition wins under my belt (including at the national level), performance with orchestra, radio appearance; everything was gearing me toward a professional classical music career. But I decided to go into Electrical Engineering instead. So from university until the first COVID lockdown, I had a huge gap (2 decades) in terms of playing piano, or lack thereof. I don't think I can ever catch up to my younger self, especially my stamina, and metronome use, which is now nearly non-existent. But as is, I probably enjoy playing piano now more than if I were to pursue music professionally. (b/c no metronome?)
Before all this, back to the very beginning, when I was 4 or 5, when I listened to my sister play the piano, somehow I could immediately play back with my right hand without ever learning. But I didn’t want to play the LH, which I thought was pointless at the time (it’s not melody). My mom didn’t know how to play the piano. Yet she somehow learned a basic tune playing with both hands and demonstrated to me that LH is also needed. I was convinced. That’s pretty much the origin of the me today. Greatest mom ever (except for being too naggy 😅).
Enough typing. That's it for story time with Richard Yang. I will probably do a story video in the future on how I ended up learning how to read sheet music.
0:00 Best Arpeggios (6pcs)
1:44 Best Jumps (9pcs)
3:54 Best Runs (3pcs)
4:44 Best Themes (6pcs)
6:46 Best Finales (8pcs)
FAQ:
Q: What’s your Garritan CFX setting?
A: Default Classic with Concert Hall reverb. No other tweaks. When I first started, I tried @rach3master’s settings but found them a bit too dreamy. I like the sound that can be reproduced in real life (ie Yamaha CFX in a concert hall).
Q: How do I learn to sight read?
A: In my Piano Lessons playlist (sorted alphabetically), go to the first “How to Sight Read…” video. That and the 3 following are it. I stopped doing more due to low popularity.
Q: Have you played ___?
A: See my Animenz playlist. And if you become a channel member, you get access to my WIP playlist with everything in the pipeline.
Q: How big are your hands
A: 8th, can barely reach 9th. Revealed here: • Can Small Hands Play Animenz?! Piano ...
Q: Why bare feet?
A: Do you like playing piano with gloves on? Same idea.
Q: Why don’t you play on the acoustic grand?
A: I don’t want to invest in nor do I know anything about recording music other than using my iPhone. My older videos you’ll hear that ff=ff, pp=p=mp=mf=f
Q: What’s your favorite other than Animenz?
A: On Yamaha N1X, • Musique pour la tristesse de Xion ~ K...
On my grand, • Omnis Lacrima ~ Rulings and Revelatio...