I was BLOWN AWAY by this theme. It's absolutely crazy in all of the best ways! Which of the One Piece openings has been your favorite over the years?? Also, we've just added 48hrs to the Black Friday sale, so if you were considering picking up the entire course library at our biggest discount ever, this will be your last chance to do that!! As always, your support means the world to me, so thank you. cornellmusicacademy.com/blackfriday
"We Are" is of course a classic, but I love "We Go" equally if not more; the ending bridge/coda section is awesome plus I think you'd love the solos in the full version of the song!
On the Cornell Music Academy, is it a digital purchase only or are there physical books? For something normally valued at $700, I couldn't imagine not having that be included.
The theme for Ghost of Tsushima is amazing the way it goes back and forth between instruments that eventually start to work together. It sounds like what's going on with the main character as you play. Please do a video for it.
Well if he was just teaching the notes he would basically be a synthesia youtube channel 😂 But I get what you're saying, he's an amazing teacher indeed :)
@@opensocietyenjoyer What bar for education is higher than answering who, what, when, where, and why all in under 15 minutes? After watching the video, I know who wrote the song, when it was written, where it's from, what notes are used in the song, and why each note is used. And the video took one quarter the length of a single music class session to do it.
What I love about "We Are!" is that the whole song's composition just feels like expectation. All the chords feel like they're leading somewhere, and I'm just CHOMPING AT THE BIT to get where it's leading me.
I just got my sister into the anime after getting her on the bandwagon with the live action. While I was drinking in the victory of adding more to my love and cause I realized right? We're just finishing Alabasta? I am openly catching her humming tidbits of We Are! around the house. I am so happy I exist for this.
I personally think that he goes into too many sidetracks, and it makes it very hard to see (and worse, hear) any of his points. Sometimes I wondered whether there was a point to what he was saying or he just wanted to show his musical theory knowledge. This is my first video of his, so maybe this chaos is his style, but I am not surprised that it gets confusing to people.
@@dragonfruitreal Not really The Peak is pretty good as the arc-ending song that it is, but as for overall theme goodness, the We Are - We Go - Over The Top trio still trumps it
"We Are" is the perfect introduction to One Piece. It's adventurous and so full of energy! "We Go" is the returning opening after the timeskip and my favourite theme! It captures the same spirit of "We Are" in a completely different way.
I'll happily skip any other theme than we are, listened to them all and the other themes just didn't sit with me, but we are is always a win and I'd never skip
Hearing those wild drums at the opening of the song REALLY gives me "Drums of Liberation" vibes, a theme that only debuted in the anime THIS LAST YEAR, 24 years later! One Piece don't miss, and One Piece don't forget!
As someone who’s up to date on One Piece, hearing the OG first opening always makes me tear up a little bit. It’s such a good song and it’s so nostalgic 😭
I would ascend to the highest realm if you covered "Overtaken" from the OST of this show. The direction the bass goes at the melody's new section/start of the melody's climax is maybe the best I've heard in music in general.
I know like laughing and giggling and even some full blown WOOs. Completely indicative of the fun exciting adventure that is One Piece. Also my same reaction as I read this masterpiece story unfold 😭🥹
Japanese sound design is insane. They have stuff from insane game music to crazy anemie themes. Love that you're checking this out, keep pumping out the awesome content.
Just hearing you describe it, I think it matches the series itself perfectly. You're progressing from chord to chord (island to island), and you don't always know where you're gonna' end up, but it's always fun and exciting. Hiroshi Kitadana knew what they were doing when writing the perfect anthem for One Piece.
We gotta thank the legend Kouhei Tanaka for the composition and Takayuki Negishi for the arrangement, as well as Shoko Fujibayashi for such memorable lyrics
The best thing about your channel, is that you cover such a wide range of music, from Gershwin to Undertale to One Piece. It's perfect, as it appeals to a large audience, and also gets them interested in the other music you analyze too!
This song is so good it became the motif for the entire show! Time to say goodbye and sail off to a new adventure? This song kicks in without fail. Time to make the big bad look like a chump and swat them away like a fly after everything they put our heroes through? this song. Even when it normally wouldnt make sense for this song to work so well, it carries with it the weight of the journey and ALWAYS, without a doubt, makes the audience erupt in cheer.
Ah yes, the minor 251 or as gospel kats know it the 736. A lot of the Japanese go to chord progressions have roots in jazz but the instrumentation and catchy melodies make it “poppy” and accessible for broad audience. Great stuff!
The opposite idea is extremely common in Central American and Caribbean folk music too. You develop your first verse in the minor key, then go 473 to fall into major. Also part of a very popular bolero run that would go: iv VII III VI ii° V i - then you hit them with the I dominant major to repeat. So it happens that most 20th century boleros also have their roots in 30s big band and developed from there right along jazz.
The call back to this theme in the resolution scene with Sanji and Luffy during the Whole Cake arc hit like a Tsunami. Just elevated the whole thing from epic to legendary. The manga is amazing. But the soundtrack work in the anime is like adding just the right wine to an amazing meal. Elevates and gives it so much more impact.
What I think would be insanely fun is for Charles to grab opening cinematics from an Anime that he has never seen or heard of and have him write the opening to it. I'd be really curious what he would come up with when it's him using his knowledge about music and composition instead of diving into someone else's work (which is always fun to watch in its own right).
6:27 the Dm7b5 -> G7 -> Cm always struck this sense of nostalgia and comfort in me, I stands out to to me in a way I don't really understand and I love it so much
it's the highest selling graphic novel, of all time. even surpassing shakespeare and stephen king😅so im prettyyyy sure its mainstream, maybe just not in places you've seen before
I like that there are people pretending not to get what you mean. Yes, it's a top seller, record-breaker, but could you mention it in an office on those dreaded water fountain conversations? Come on, we have major movies releasing all over the world, a live-action at Netflix, even the anime is getting special treatment and there's also a remake on the way, it DEFINITELY feels different this time.
This music and your channel both mean so much to me! AHHHHH!! Another song to check out isn't We Are, but also Bink's Sake. It was written by Oda originally and is used throughout the show at different tempii to convey wildly different emotions, it's glorious
I'm honestly crying. I love One Piece, I watched the first 140ish episodes in my mother tongue (no more have been translated) when I was little and then I started watching the anime in Japanese. The feeling of hearing the opening every time I got back from school was priceless. It was the best moment of the day. The first three openings have a special place in my heart.
It’s composed by Kohei Tanaka who’s already a legendary anime composer by the time he did this for One Piece, so I highly recommend people check out all his other work! (Gunbuster, Sakura Taisen)
Nice! I was looking for someone to namedrop the composer. Just wanted to add he composed Jojo's first OP (Sono Chi no Sadame) and a personal favorite the Gatekeepers' OP.
Dude, One Piece music is so good. There's a super important song in the series called "Binks Sake." I did a solo bass arrangement of it. It's this upbeat, Piratey, classical swing to it. So good
I grew up learning piano and music theory, and this video tickled me! So much fun to watch you break down this song. Melodically speaking, We Are, Share The World, We Go, Hope, Kokoro no Chizu, Over The Top, and Dreaming On are my favorite One Piece openings. But One Piece has some amazing OSTs- To the Grand Line is so masterfully written and gives me chills every time. The way the music swells- and the different sections are so well done.
The full version of the song is incredible, right after the end there's an amazing solo and the crazy harmonies are present throughout the entire song. Awesome stuff
This is a wild chord progression! I love hearing Japanese guitarists play melodies that outline progressions such as this - completely different to mainstream Western harmony!
the whole idea of "where are we going next?" in the melody is so perfect for what the show is, the melody of the theme song is a reflection of the adventure and feeling of being excited about finding out where we're going next in the show and that's just so cool omg PLUS that feeling of knowing we're going to resolve to certain chord but getting there in an unexpected way just like how we know Luffy is going to become the King of the Pirates but we don't know how just AAAA geeking out
I’m 30 years old and love anime, but have never been able to get into One Piece. My friends have showed me many fights and scenes, and they never motivated me to watch the show. A few months ago I decided to give it a try and THIS opening is what hooked me! Its AMAZING! I’ve heard so many banger anime openings, but this one is in a class all of its own and shows why One Piece is one of the pillars of anime. “Come aboard and bring alooonnng, all your hopes and dreeaaammss! Together we will find every thing that we’re looking fooooorrrr!!” 😂😂😆😁🙌🏾
The fights arnt even the highlight of the series anyway, often the who, where and why they are fighting is crazier then the fights themselves. Its strong points are the character and world building. Its rly a show where almost every sentence and even facial gesture often is important because u get to know the characters so so well you can feel and guess their next action, so just seeing them fight out of context, when the stakes are often very important, it isnt amazing most the time cuz the fights often arnt super amazing. The world is gigantic, its not earth, it doesn't play by the rules of earth all the time, so maximum suspension of disbelief. Which hearing how detailed and long it is, is for sure intimidating. The live action is very good if u wanted to dip your toe in the water. Its different but resolves events the same for the most part.
@@fivedudes awesome explanation of the show and thanks for explaining it all to me. What you said makes a lot of sense. My roommate in college always tried showing me the latest and greatest fight from the show and I’d always say “it’s cool bro. But it’s just not hitting for me”. In the time since then I’ve watched and come to love Hunter x Hunter. It’s very similar to how you describe One Piece. Less emphasis on flashy epic fights, and more on what everything means. I’m excited for this journey 😁
One Piece is, despite my attempts, is still not my favorite. There are other animes that trip my trigger more. However, there are indeed characters in One Piece that I get a kick out of. Sanji, Roronoa Zoro, and Tony-Tony Chopper are my three favorites. As for the music, "Binks' Sake" is one of the main songs that got me learning Japanese, even just on the phonetic level, so I can't diss One Piece altogether. 😅
I've been watching/reading One Piece for like 17 years. It's insane how I can listen to the songs or OST and get hit by insane emotions of nostalgia and childhood hunger for adventure. What a gift this story about a boy with a silly hat truly is.
The whole OST is superb. I would love to see an analysis on how tracks like To the Grand Line!, The Greatest in the World is Oden, sound so adventurous, tracks like Difficult and Overtaken sound so tense and anything else that catches your fancy.
the's why "We Are!" by Hirsohi Kitadani is still the best One Piece's opening of untill this day (1088 episodes for godsake), heck, they even used it again as the opening for the celebration of the 1000th episodes with updated opening video, it's the one that started all the adventures (anime of course), the "Romance Dawn"
The emotions in the writing are so true to the story too. The excitement the danger the love the sincerity the joy the anticipation of more it’s just ahhh it’s all setting up an amazing story this theme is so important to the anime and geez, I love one piece
If you enjoyed this theme, the OST is full of incredible music. Some of my personal favorites are Over the Top and To the Grand Line. Highly recommend the series for so many reasons, but the music was the first thing that got me hooked
Man, watching you teach theory the way you do really reinvigorates my perspective on it. I've been playing mostly self-taught for 20 years, no "real" theory and no desire to learn. Just play by relative pitch, and learn techniques along the way. But watching you absolutely extract the emotions of one of the most memorable songs to me and name them in ways I've never heard, that are easy to understand no less, gives me a whole new ideation as to what I can use theory for personally. Awesome video.
One time years ago I asked my good friends if it was just me or was this particular opening just incredibly awesome. They told me it was whatever, and that it was just me. So for all these years I thought I was just weird for liking it so much and just kept it to myself. It's really nice to know other people appreciate it as much as I do!!!
@@JoshKurien well none of those friends watched One Piece, is the thing. Nowadays, I have friends that watch it, and they like the theme; but those older friends didn't care for it.
We actually just played an arrangement of this for tuba/euphonium ensemble at Auburn! One of the people in the ensemble arranged it with 4 euph parts and 3 tuba parts. It was so fun to play!
3:50 When I was about 6 and had me one of those plinky plonky toy pianos, I figured out pretty quick that 3 keys in various combos made for some amazing sounds. (And this is also how I know for a fact that the "sound" of horror music is _not_ learned-some of those 3-key sounds are chilling.) I never had any musical training but I did eventually figure out the trick illustrated here, with having the "bass" note in disagreement with the three-note combo and how it left things "unresolved".
It makes me sad. My music education never progressed past like... 1st or 2nd grade, learning do re mi fa so la ti do, the symbols for quarter/half notes and rests, and doing some really basic stuff with one of 25-30 recorders assigned to the class. We also covered the 3 basic time signatures - 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4, but it wasn't really covering time signatures as much as going "Can you do THIS with the beat? If so, it's 2/4. If not, try this other thing to see if it's 3/4 or 4/4." Like learning how to count from 1-10 but not how to extend that up to 20, or up to 100/1000/10,000. I tried my best, as I did with all classes. I didn't really enjoy it. It was the only class where I got a "P" for partial credit (elementary school report cards used a 3 rank system for no/partial/full credit - basically A / C / F scale), and I could just feel the disappointment in the teacher's voice when she listened to me try to play. Even now, I can't identify time signatures for the life of me. ua-cam.com/video/6O8fDfDkyH4/v-deo.html sounds like it's 14/8 to my brain. Sometimes It sounds like I can count 9 quarter beats, sometimes 12, rarely 13,, which is the accurate time signature. Mother 3 combos were basically button mashing until I got a beat that seemed to work. Of course, I've forgotten what little I learned about reading sheet music as a child. I think part of the problem is that I can't make out song lyrics all that well, and nearly all the music we get exposed to in pop culture over the last 60-100 years is lyrical in nature. My dad has the same problem with understanding lyrics. The last concert I attended was probably Raffi, when I was a little kid. I'm 35 now. I suppose this is how non-nerds feel after being pushed through the system in things like Math, physics, and astronomy. There's a whole world out there full of wonder and they just never got the foundation to appreciate it. :( They were more concerned about having us perform Fifty Nifty and Summertime for our parents than actually giving us a foundation in music
Composed by Kouhei Tanaka, who in my opinion is one of the greatest composers alive right now. He also did the music for Sakura Wars (with full theatre shows, including pop, musical theatre, operettas), Gunbuster, the op for Overman King Gainer, GaoGaiGar, and one of the opening themes for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. He is a genre chameleon, you should check out more of his works!
Tanaka is verry good but sawano is the goat. The ost from one piece aren't even in the top 50! Aot alone has such extraordinary music that every ost in one piece put together is no match for any ost in aot fairy tail or Naruto and I say that as a fan of one piece! Nobody can compete with the best composer in history Hiroyuki Sawano, I invite you to listen to his unicorn project on mobile suit Gundam, his work on kabaneri guilty crown or 86! You'll see that the music for One Piece is nothing compared to King Sawano. You can't even compare one piece to 6 good ost! Overtaken or the very very strongest are really not crazy and yet very well known for not much! Just take bauklotze or barricades, they're just 1000 times better, not to mention vogel im kafig you see Big girl. Apetitan Call of silence Ninelie Otherwise any music by takanashi kajuira or sagisu.
What I love about channels like this, as someone that knows close to nothing about the technical side of writing music, is how clearly it explains music concepts and how passionate the hosts are about the topic. Seeing Charles' reaction to every new part of the music made me smile. "We Are!" always brings me back to watching One Piece for the first time, so to have an explanation as to why and how the track works the way it does gives me a new appreciation for the song. Hoping you cover more One Piece openings (and/or endings)!
You should 1 million% check out Risk of Rain 2's OST. It has tons of cool time signatures, polyrhythms, and chord changes. Especially "…con lentitud poderosa" which is a direct homage to Prelude in E Minor (Op. 28 No. 4), but every song on that soundtrack is absolutely incredible.
Even tho this was only the theme for the first “season”, they know when to just hit you with it again at the perfect moments. Like at the end of the Arabasta arc, or when Nami figures out how to keep the ship stable as they propel to the Sky Islands. (I hope there’s more. I’m new to the series and I’m still in Skypia)
Haha yea you got some amazing, goosebump inducing moments where it pops in to look forward too! So many epic moments where they just knew exactly what music was needed.
7:00-7:03 sounds like the chord in Zelda: Ocarina of Time The beginning of the Great Fairy music. Anyone else hear that? Was this already said in the comments?
The excitement in this video is infectious, perfect attitude for a One Piece opening! Personal favourites for me among the OPs are The Peak, Fight Together, One Day, Hands Up, and Kokoro no Chizu.
You should really check out the other two openings Hiroshi Kitadani has done called "We Go" and "Over the Top". They could all be on the same album but "We Go" and "Over the Top" are even more frenetic, fast-paced, and exciting than "We Are". I would love to see you do a video about One Piece’s OSTs. Especially Mother Sea, To the Grand Line, The Very Very Strongest, Difficult, and Overtaken. As well as all of the character themes used for the eyecatchers. To the Grand Line and Mother Sea always makes me cry.
WOW this channel is on a roll!!! I've always loved the One Piece OG theme for decades at this point but I never had the musical know-how to truly dissect it like you can, so I really appreciate Charles for breaking it down in small bits!! Epic content as always 😍
Just got done watching the video, loved it! Most of your videos are on songs I didn't know about, and those are cool since I like hearing you explain stuff. But sometimes you release videos like this where you just help me appreciate songs that I already love so much more, and that's just a great feeling
Thank you for educating us non-musicians/hobby musicians about the complexity and true beauty of songs like this one. People listen to this and just think "Heck yeah, it's catchy!" without realizing how genius the composer actually is. This isn't "Pop music-style" catchiness. This is "Deep music theory knowledge and utilization" catchiness.
I can't handle how excited you get over interesting movements and I want you to know it's infectious. Every time I watch a video of yours it makes me pull out my keyboard
This intro is of course a leitmotif to the whole show and the melody and chord-progressions are sprinkled throughout the soundtrack, most obviously in the tracks "Mother Sea" and "Set Sail".
The original One Piece opening is a masterpiece! I totally agree!! I'm also here to let Charles know, to please check out: Anomalie - Velours i think you would like it, and there is A LOT to break down! Cya in the next video where i'm gonna suggest this song again :)
BTW please please please check out the Katamari Damacy franchise soundtrack, it´s absolutely quirky, diverse, a freaking masterpiece. One of the best game soundtracks ever!
Wow, you're posting this when I just started my first One Piece binge two weeks ago This is an awesome coincidence (January 26, 2024) Edit: I've caught up about a week ago and I even caught up to the manga today. I've laughed... and OH god, I have cried (a lot). Safe to say that I'm fully converted to being a One Piece fan for life. I even watched the Live Action and it's surprisingly one of the better Live Action adaptations out there. It was filled with a lot of love both from the actors, Oda himself, and even the og Japanese voice actors.
this song makes me cry like a baby and i thoroughly enjoyed hearing the harmonies fleshed out so beautiful where i could really savor and feel tham. thank you
That opening is sooo great! It just screams adventure Maybe you could also have a look at the bink's sake theme, and see if its a good topic for another video ^^ As always thanks for the awesome content
0:54 We've been GNOMED!!! Cringey jokes aside, this theme is SO good and I think so many people that don't watch One Piece gloss over it because other themes sound more epic or intense. Definitely my two favorite themes are "Over the Top" and "The Peak" (Both from the best arc in the anime, Wano). They are completely different from each other, one being more intense with the other more relaxed, but both are absolutlely amazing.
You should also react to the insert song also in One Piece called "Overtaken." It's a bit more on percussions and brass instruments. I hope you like that as well.
I was BLOWN AWAY by this theme. It's absolutely crazy in all of the best ways! Which of the One Piece openings has been your favorite over the years?? Also, we've just added 48hrs to the Black Friday sale, so if you were considering picking up the entire course library at our biggest discount ever, this will be your last chance to do that!! As always, your support means the world to me, so thank you. cornellmusicacademy.com/blackfriday
"We Are" is of course a classic, but I love "We Go" equally if not more; the ending bridge/coda section is awesome plus I think you'd love the solos in the full version of the song!
On the Cornell Music Academy, is it a digital purchase only or are there physical books? For something normally valued at $700, I couldn't imagine not having that be included.
The theme for Ghost of Tsushima is amazing the way it goes back and forth between instruments that eventually start to work together. It sounds like what's going on with the main character as you play. Please do a video for it.
Share the world (opening 10) is amazing imo
"We are Hope" is my favorite theme. "Fight together" is also a big favorite of mine
You don't just teach the notes, you actually teach why they are the way they are, that's really valuable
Well if he was just teaching the notes he would basically be a synthesia youtube channel 😂
But I get what you're saying, he's an amazing teacher indeed :)
@@propulseurcheval that's most channels though (it also has its value)
Isn’t music theory just so freaking neat?!
what an incredibly low bar
@@opensocietyenjoyer What bar for education is higher than answering who, what, when, where, and why all in under 15 minutes? After watching the video, I know who wrote the song, when it was written, where it's from, what notes are used in the song, and why each note is used. And the video took one quarter the length of a single music class session to do it.
What I love about "We Are!" is that the whole song's composition just feels like expectation. All the chords feel like they're leading somewhere, and I'm just CHOMPING AT THE BIT to get where it's leading me.
I just got my sister into the anime after getting her on the bandwagon with the live action. While I was drinking in the victory of adding more to my love and cause I realized right? We're just finishing Alabasta? I am openly catching her humming tidbits of We Are! around the house.
I am so happy I exist for this.
If he keeps with one piece, binks sake should be next
"Are ya winning son!"
"WE ARE!" 8D
Much like the story itself, funnily enough!
Never ceases to hype me up anytime I hear it
Hiroshi Kitadani also did two other openings for One Piece, "We Go" and "Over the Top", and they're also crazy good.
im seeing a pattern of making the openings for milestones in the series
I think I could be wrong but didn't he also do "we can"?
@@Makealah i think so yea
ahhh, no wonder over the top was such a banger. so hype. thank you for the info.
and they even played over the top in the last Wano Episode yesterday
Me watching this pretending i know what he is talking about with a consistent head nod
You too?
I personally think that he goes into too many sidetracks, and it makes it very hard to see (and worse, hear) any of his points.
Sometimes I wondered whether there was a point to what he was saying or he just wanted to show his musical theory knowledge.
This is my first video of his, so maybe this chaos is his style, but I am not surprised that it gets confusing to people.
REAL
I feel seen
@@JackDespero I believe this is a music teaching channel... He goes in depth to teach people why the notes are important, not just teaching the notes.
"We Are", "We Go" and "Over the Top" always give me goosebumps whenever they use their motifs in the show aside from the opening.
luffy vs kaido 🔥
Got chills during that Gear 5 Over the Top moment. @@djsjdh-hoahdi
the newest opening "The Peak" i'd say is almost if not equal to those 3 and the visuals for it are unbelievably good as well
@@dragonfruitreal Not really
The Peak is pretty good as the arc-ending song that it is, but as for overall theme goodness, the We Are - We Go - Over The Top trio still trumps it
"To the grandline" and whitebeard"s theme are also epic masterpieces🤌
This music playing at the end of the Alabasta arc while the crew just stands there ignoring the cannon balls was amazing and still gets me fired up.
"We Are" is the perfect introduction to One Piece. It's adventurous and so full of energy!
"We Go" is the returning opening after the timeskip and my favourite theme! It captures the same spirit of "We Are" in a completely different way.
and "Over The Top" is just AMAZING
"We Go" is so freaking good, I completely agree with you
The two greatest openings. Instantly amazing, memorized, and make me laugh so hard I cry. Every. Single. Time.
We Go is definitely my favourite, I smile at the first note.
When I started watching it really did feel super welcoming
If you skip this opening theme you're dead inside. IT´S SO PERFECT!
I'll happily skip any other theme than we are, listened to them all and the other themes just didn't sit with me, but we are is always a win and I'd never skip
@AJ-lq3jz Kokoro no Chizu is legitimately one of the best openings
@@Rinz-Aidey
@@royalfun1031 eh I don't know, We Go is really close though
but if you don’t skip as a new audience, you’d be dead outside before you can finish the series
Hearing those wild drums at the opening of the song REALLY gives me "Drums of Liberation" vibes, a theme that only debuted in the anime THIS LAST YEAR, 24 years later! One Piece don't miss, and One Piece don't forget!
I thought the same thing, it blows my mind how many little bits or foreshadowing are hiding right under our noses.
I literally said “oh hi, I’m foreshadowing the Drums of Liberation in the first FIVE SECONDS of the show… 25 years ago?!”
Oda is a menace.
One Piece has so many interesting pieces of music to be explored, I hope this becomes a series
One Piece honestly has one of the BEST OSTS in anime😭
You are forgetting the songs in OP FILM RED...they are all masterpieces!
If he wants it to, he most definitely can! To OSTs to themes to even other openings! Tons of possibilities.
So Pandaman even appears in One Piece-related content outside of the main series?😲
Sw
As someone who’s up to date on One Piece, hearing the OG first opening always makes me tear up a little bit. It’s such a good song and it’s so nostalgic 😭
i reckon the WANO theme song is the best - I find it the most emotionally uplifting
I feel almost the same
I would ascend to the highest realm if you covered "Overtaken" from the OST of this show. The direction the bass goes at the melody's new section/start of the melody's climax is maybe the best I've heard in music in general.
Yes.
I just cannot agree more with you. "Overtaken" is just amazing.....
This needs to happen
All the OST is fire, the marine admiral theme also goes hard
@@filipemartinho1753 "Marine no Seibutsu"?
The amount of enthusiasm that you show while explaining this song's structure is enchanting to me, I love One Piece so much
I know like laughing and giggling and even some full blown WOOs. Completely indicative of the fun exciting adventure that is One Piece. Also my same reaction as I read this masterpiece story unfold 😭🥹
Japanese sound design is insane. They have stuff from insane game music to crazy anemie themes. Love that you're checking this out, keep pumping out the awesome content.
anemie?
@@MW-bs1nb enemy probably
@@MW-bs1nbanemone probably
Amine, probably.
Amino acid’s probably
Just hearing you describe it, I think it matches the series itself perfectly. You're progressing from chord to chord (island to island), and you don't always know where you're gonna' end up, but it's always fun and exciting. Hiroshi Kitadana knew what they were doing when writing the perfect anthem for One Piece.
We gotta thank the legend Kouhei Tanaka for the composition and Takayuki Negishi for the arrangement, as well as Shoko Fujibayashi for such memorable lyrics
Underrated comment
That's every song
The best thing about your channel, is that you cover such a wide range of music, from Gershwin to Undertale to One Piece. It's perfect, as it appeals to a large audience, and also gets them interested in the other music you analyze too!
I also love when he finds an excuse to talk about great classic jazz musicians, like the video on kids on the slope
ADMIRAL AOKIJI!
This song is so good it became the motif for the entire show! Time to say goodbye and sail off to a new adventure? This song kicks in without fail. Time to make the big bad look like a chump and swat them away like a fly after everything they put our heroes through? this song. Even when it normally wouldnt make sense for this song to work so well, it carries with it the weight of the journey and ALWAYS, without a doubt, makes the audience erupt in cheer.
I'm crying because finally someone reacts the same way I do to this song EVERY TIME!!! Jeez!!!
Ah yes, the minor 251 or as gospel kats know it the 736. A lot of the Japanese go to chord progressions have roots in jazz but the instrumentation and catchy melodies make it “poppy” and accessible for broad audience. Great stuff!
The opposite idea is extremely common in Central American and Caribbean folk music too. You develop your first verse in the minor key, then go 473 to fall into major. Also part of a very popular bolero run that would go: iv VII III VI ii° V i - then you hit them with the I dominant major to repeat. So it happens that most 20th century boleros also have their roots in 30s big band and developed from there right along jazz.
❤❤❤
The call back to this theme in the resolution scene with Sanji and Luffy during the Whole Cake arc hit like a Tsunami. Just elevated the whole thing from epic to legendary. The manga is amazing. But the soundtrack work in the anime is like adding just the right wine to an amazing meal. Elevates and gives it so much more impact.
What I think would be insanely fun is for Charles to grab opening cinematics from an Anime that he has never seen or heard of and have him write the opening to it. I'd be really curious what he would come up with when it's him using his knowledge about music and composition instead of diving into someone else's work (which is always fun to watch in its own right).
True. I’ve never heard anything he’s written. Would be sick
this opening literally gave me tears of joy multiple times. it's so so good.
6:27 the Dm7b5 -> G7 -> Cm always struck this sense of nostalgia and comfort in me, I stands out to to me in a way I don't really understand and I love it so much
12:03 sounds like” just the 2 of us” by Washington Grover it’s actually crazy how it matches up so well
"I see the crystal raindrops fall"
10:39 as well
I love how One Piece is becoming mainstream now. So many people are discovering this masterpiece
its main stream from 2019
😐
Lol what, its a maintream for many years, its a record holding anime, one of the most popular series in history.
it's the highest selling graphic novel, of all time. even surpassing shakespeare and stephen king😅so im prettyyyy sure its mainstream, maybe just not in places you've seen before
one piece is apart of the big 3, its been mainstream for many many years
I like that there are people pretending not to get what you mean.
Yes, it's a top seller, record-breaker, but could you mention it in an office on those dreaded water fountain conversations?
Come on, we have major movies releasing all over the world, a live-action at Netflix, even the anime is getting special treatment and there's also a remake on the way, it DEFINITELY feels different this time.
This music and your channel both mean so much to me! AHHHHH!! Another song to check out isn't We Are, but also Bink's Sake. It was written by Oda originally and is used throughout the show at different tempii to convey wildly different emotions, it's glorious
That's not right, Oda wrote the lyrics for Bink's Sake but the melody was written by Kohei Tanaka.
@@Omar-nv3wg Thanks for the correction, glad to be reinformed!
I'm honestly crying. I love One Piece, I watched the first 140ish episodes in my mother tongue (no more have been translated) when I was little and then I started watching the anime in Japanese. The feeling of hearing the opening every time I got back from school was priceless. It was the best moment of the day. The first three openings have a special place in my heart.
It’s composed by Kohei Tanaka who’s already a legendary anime composer by the time he did this for One Piece, so I highly recommend people check out all his other work! (Gunbuster, Sakura Taisen)
Nice! I was looking for someone to namedrop the composer.
Just wanted to add he composed Jojo's first OP (Sono Chi no Sadame) and a personal favorite the Gatekeepers' OP.
The opening of Sakura taisen games are massive banger
Also Overman King Gainer
It is sort of facepalm inducing how the whole composition is attributed to the singer.
i understand maybe 30% of what you're saying, but seeing someone else geek out and breakdown something i also love makes me happy
Dude, One Piece music is so good. There's a super important song in the series called "Binks Sake." I did a solo bass arrangement of it. It's this upbeat, Piratey, classical swing to it. So good
Gather up all of your crew, it's time to sail for Binks brew
Yo ho ho ho
I grew up learning piano and music theory, and this video tickled me! So much fun to watch you break down this song. Melodically speaking, We Are, Share The World, We Go, Hope, Kokoro no Chizu, Over The Top, and Dreaming On are my favorite One Piece openings. But One Piece has some amazing OSTs- To the Grand Line is so masterfully written and gives me chills every time. The way the music swells- and the different sections are so well done.
YES I LOVE TO THE GRAND LINE its so under appreciated compared to some other songs from the show
The full version of the song is incredible, right after the end there's an amazing solo and the crazy harmonies are present throughout the entire song. Awesome stuff
The guitar and saxophone solo are so epic!!!
"This soundtrack is just an absolute joy to listen to"
I completely agree. And the anime episodes are also about the joy of adventuring.
This is a wild chord progression! I love hearing Japanese guitarists play melodies that outline progressions such as this - completely different to mainstream Western harmony!
the whole idea of "where are we going next?" in the melody is so perfect for what the show is, the melody of the theme song is a reflection of the adventure and feeling of being excited about finding out where we're going next in the show and that's just so cool omg PLUS that feeling of knowing we're going to resolve to certain chord but getting there in an unexpected way just like how we know Luffy is going to become the King of the Pirates but we don't know how just AAAA geeking out
I’m 30 years old and love anime, but have never been able to get into One Piece. My friends have showed me many fights and scenes, and they never motivated me to watch the show. A few months ago I decided to give it a try and THIS opening is what hooked me! Its AMAZING! I’ve heard so many banger anime openings, but this one is in a class all of its own and shows why One Piece is one of the pillars of anime.
“Come aboard and bring alooonnng, all your hopes and dreeaaammss! Together we will find every thing that we’re looking fooooorrrr!!” 😂😂😆😁🙌🏾
Hey… there’s always room for you. If you wanna be my friend 😃
The fights arnt even the highlight of the series anyway, often the who, where and why they are fighting is crazier then the fights themselves. Its strong points are the character and world building. Its rly a show where almost every sentence and even facial gesture often is important because u get to know the characters so so well you can feel and guess their next action, so just seeing them fight out of context, when the stakes are often very important, it isnt amazing most the time cuz the fights often arnt super amazing. The world is gigantic, its not earth, it doesn't play by the rules of earth all the time, so maximum suspension of disbelief. Which hearing how detailed and long it is, is for sure intimidating. The live action is very good if u wanted to dip your toe in the water. Its different but resolves events the same for the most part.
@@merryMellody 😂 I love it lol. Nice one 💪🏾👍🏾
@@fivedudes awesome explanation of the show and thanks for explaining it all to me. What you said makes a lot of sense. My roommate in college always tried showing me the latest and greatest fight from the show and I’d always say “it’s cool bro. But it’s just not hitting for me”. In the time since then I’ve watched and come to love Hunter x Hunter. It’s very similar to how you describe One Piece. Less emphasis on flashy epic fights, and more on what everything means. I’m excited for this journey 😁
One Piece is, despite my attempts, is still not my favorite. There are other animes that trip my trigger more. However, there are indeed characters in One Piece that I get a kick out of. Sanji, Roronoa Zoro, and Tony-Tony Chopper are my three favorites. As for the music, "Binks' Sake" is one of the main songs that got me learning Japanese, even just on the phonetic level, so I can't diss One Piece altogether. 😅
I'm so happy One Piece is finally getting the love it truly deserves. Thank you for the video!
Bro I listen to this theme when I work out. I love this song
I've been watching/reading One Piece for like 17 years. It's insane how I can listen to the songs or OST and get hit by insane emotions of nostalgia and childhood hunger for adventure. What a gift this story about a boy with a silly hat truly is.
One piece is a mater piece but osts are not woderful !
Good but not woderful
You can legit see how much he just loves music through these videos, regardless of the language or culture!
13:28 is my fav part. Gives me chills every time
Indeed! Specially when Luffy sings "Poketto ni roman" in the mugiwara version 🥰
The whole OST is superb. I would love to see an analysis on how tracks like
To the Grand Line!, The Greatest in the World is Oden, sound so adventurous,
tracks like Difficult and Overtaken sound so tense and anything else that catches your fancy.
the's why "We Are!" by Hirsohi Kitadani is still the best One Piece's opening of untill this day (1088 episodes for godsake), heck, they even used it again as the opening for the celebration of the 1000th episodes with updated opening video, it's the one that started all the adventures (anime of course), the "Romance Dawn"
I have absolutely no idea what you are on about but your enthusiasm and positive energy made me feel happy 😂
I get such feels whenever I listen to it, nostalgia, hype, confidence, comfort... Everything
The opening is what made me love this show. Absolutely stunning song
The emotions in the writing are so true to the story too. The excitement the danger the love the sincerity the joy the anticipation of more it’s just ahhh it’s all setting up an amazing story this theme is so important to the anime and geez, I love one piece
If you enjoyed this theme, the OST is full of incredible music. Some of my personal favorites are Over the Top and To the Grand Line. Highly recommend the series for so many reasons, but the music was the first thing that got me hooked
Man, watching you teach theory the way you do really reinvigorates my perspective on it. I've been playing mostly self-taught for 20 years, no "real" theory and no desire to learn. Just play by relative pitch, and learn techniques along the way.
But watching you absolutely extract the emotions of one of the most memorable songs to me and name them in ways I've never heard, that are easy to understand no less, gives me a whole new ideation as to what I can use theory for personally. Awesome video.
7:43 reminded me of Sunday Morning by Maroon 5
One time years ago I asked my good friends if it was just me or was this particular opening just incredibly awesome. They told me it was whatever, and that it was just me. So for all these years I thought I was just weird for liking it so much and just kept it to myself. It's really nice to know other people appreciate it as much as I do!!!
What friends did you have?
Everyone I know that watches one piece also absolutely love this melody
@@JoshKurien well none of those friends watched One Piece, is the thing. Nowadays, I have friends that watch it, and they like the theme; but those older friends didn't care for it.
We actually just played an arrangement of this for tuba/euphonium ensemble at Auburn! One of the people in the ensemble arranged it with 4 euph parts and 3 tuba parts. It was so fun to play!
That sounds awesome
3:50 When I was about 6 and had me one of those plinky plonky toy pianos, I figured out pretty quick that 3 keys in various combos made for some amazing sounds. (And this is also how I know for a fact that the "sound" of horror music is _not_ learned-some of those 3-key sounds are chilling.) I never had any musical training but I did eventually figure out the trick illustrated here, with having the "bass" note in disagreement with the three-note combo and how it left things "unresolved".
I wish I could hear music like this. I feel like it would be the most euphoric thing hearing a great song every time.
It makes me sad. My music education never progressed past like... 1st or 2nd grade, learning do re mi fa so la ti do, the symbols for quarter/half notes and rests, and doing some really basic stuff with one of 25-30 recorders assigned to the class. We also covered the 3 basic time signatures - 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4, but it wasn't really covering time signatures as much as going "Can you do THIS with the beat? If so, it's 2/4. If not, try this other thing to see if it's 3/4 or 4/4." Like learning how to count from 1-10 but not how to extend that up to 20, or up to 100/1000/10,000.
I tried my best, as I did with all classes. I didn't really enjoy it. It was the only class where I got a "P" for partial credit (elementary school report cards used a 3 rank system for no/partial/full credit - basically A / C / F scale), and I could just feel the disappointment in the teacher's voice when she listened to me try to play.
Even now, I can't identify time signatures for the life of me. ua-cam.com/video/6O8fDfDkyH4/v-deo.html sounds like it's 14/8 to my brain. Sometimes It sounds like I can count 9 quarter beats, sometimes 12, rarely 13,, which is the accurate time signature. Mother 3 combos were basically button mashing until I got a beat that seemed to work.
Of course, I've forgotten what little I learned about reading sheet music as a child.
I think part of the problem is that I can't make out song lyrics all that well, and nearly all the music we get exposed to in pop culture over the last 60-100 years is lyrical in nature. My dad has the same problem with understanding lyrics. The last concert I attended was probably Raffi, when I was a little kid. I'm 35 now.
I suppose this is how non-nerds feel after being pushed through the system in things like Math, physics, and astronomy. There's a whole world out there full of wonder and they just never got the foundation to appreciate it. :(
They were more concerned about having us perform Fifty Nifty and Summertime for our parents than actually giving us a foundation in music
6:59 great fairy fountain jumpscare
Composed by Kouhei Tanaka, who in my opinion is one of the greatest composers alive right now. He also did the music for Sakura Wars (with full theatre shows, including pop, musical theatre, operettas), Gunbuster, the op for Overman King Gainer, GaoGaiGar, and one of the opening themes for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. He is a genre chameleon, you should check out more of his works!
Tanaka is verry good but sawano is the goat.
The ost from one piece aren't even in the top 50!
Aot alone has such extraordinary music that every ost in one piece put together is no match for any ost in aot fairy tail or Naruto and I say that as a fan of one piece!
Nobody can compete with the best composer in history Hiroyuki Sawano, I invite you to listen to his unicorn project on mobile suit Gundam, his work on kabaneri guilty crown or 86!
You'll see that the music for One Piece is nothing compared to King Sawano.
You can't even compare one piece to 6 good ost!
Overtaken or the very very strongest are really not crazy and yet very well known for not much!
Just take bauklotze or barricades, they're just 1000 times better, not to mention vogel im kafig you see Big girl.
Apetitan
Call of silence
Ninelie
Otherwise any music by takanashi kajuira or sagisu.
What I love about channels like this, as someone that knows close to nothing about the technical side of writing music, is how clearly it explains music concepts and how passionate the hosts are about the topic. Seeing Charles' reaction to every new part of the music made me smile. "We Are!" always brings me back to watching One Piece for the first time, so to have an explanation as to why and how the track works the way it does gives me a new appreciation for the song. Hoping you cover more One Piece openings (and/or endings)!
You should 1 million% check out Risk of Rain 2's OST. It has tons of cool time signatures, polyrhythms, and chord changes. Especially "…con lentitud poderosa" which is a direct homage to Prelude in E Minor (Op. 28 No. 4), but every song on that soundtrack is absolutely incredible.
Agreed, I’m surprised he has not done that yet
This guy is amazing, seeing someone actually having fun while teaching is the best way to learn! Earned my sub (:
Even tho this was only the theme for the first “season”, they know when to just hit you with it again at the perfect moments. Like at the end of the Arabasta arc, or when Nami figures out how to keep the ship stable as they propel to the Sky Islands. (I hope there’s more. I’m new to the series and I’m still in Skypia)
There will be more, and they'll hit harder each time it comes back ❤
I'm so happy for future you 😊
there's an epic moment in episode 1015 when we are! returns
Haha yea you got some amazing, goosebump inducing moments where it pops in to look forward too! So many epic moments where they just knew exactly what music was needed.
Damn i hope there's a video out there compiling every moment it's used
One of my favorite songs of all time. No other song takes me to the brink of crying tears of joy
Yes!! So excited that you're covering One Piece! You have to break down Binks no Sake next.
The chord around 9:30 sounds similar to one of Star Wars sequel trilogy themes! 😮
Man i would love to see you doing this with more of the one piece soundtrack. Not only openings but the cool themes inside the anime.
As a die hard one piece fan and a lover of music, I thoroughly enjoyed this
Yesss One Piece is soo good. Just as a story everyone should absolutely read it!
7:00-7:03 sounds like the chord in Zelda: Ocarina of Time The beginning of the Great Fairy music. Anyone else hear that? Was this already said in the comments?
ua-cam.com/video/id0kbyKCG8c/v-deo.htmlsi=lzvSc_lAoqVxXhp1
The excitement in this video is infectious, perfect attitude for a One Piece opening!
Personal favourites for me among the OPs are The Peak, Fight Together, One Day, Hands Up, and Kokoro no Chizu.
You should really check out the other two openings Hiroshi Kitadani has done called "We Go" and "Over the Top". They could all be on the same album but "We Go" and "Over the Top" are even more frenetic, fast-paced, and exciting than "We Are". I would love to see you do a video about One Piece’s OSTs. Especially Mother Sea, To the Grand Line, The Very Very Strongest, Difficult, and Overtaken. As well as all of the character themes used for the eyecatchers. To the Grand Line and Mother Sea always makes me cry.
Literally my childhood
WOW this channel is on a roll!!! I've always loved the One Piece OG theme for decades at this point but I never had the musical know-how to truly dissect it like you can, so I really appreciate Charles for breaking it down in small bits!! Epic content as always 😍
I love that "oh, I guess this is where we're going now" is a sentence that is also accurate to the journey this series takes xDD
Just got done watching the video, loved it!
Most of your videos are on songs I didn't know about, and those are cool since I like hearing you explain stuff.
But sometimes you release videos like this where you just help me appreciate songs that I already love so much more, and that's just a great feeling
10:38 I thought he was gonna play "stronger than you" for a sec 😂
If you think this song was a joy, you should meet the main character. He's a real joy boy
Underrated comment
No spoiler for non fan
Spoiler spoiler fruit random comment model
I see what you did there😂
He’s joy boy😢
I love how genuinely excited you are about music theory, makes me feel like im back in school geeking out
FINALLY! Having seen the other episodes from this anime analysis series, I was waiting for you to get to One Piece so I'm stoked it's finally here!!
Thank you for educating us non-musicians/hobby musicians about the complexity and true beauty of songs like this one. People listen to this and just think "Heck yeah, it's catchy!" without realizing how genius the composer actually is. This isn't "Pop music-style" catchiness. This is "Deep music theory knowledge and utilization" catchiness.
I would pay a dumb amount of money to hear you just play this theme jazzy af for like 20 minutes straight. Make that video please
Seconded, will contribute!
I can't handle how excited you get over interesting movements and I want you to know it's infectious. Every time I watch a video of yours it makes me pull out my keyboard
This intro is of course a leitmotif to the whole show and the melody and chord-progressions are sprinkled throughout the soundtrack, most obviously in the tracks "Mother Sea" and "Set Sail".
This intro always brings tears to my eyes 🥹
Every single piece of music in One Piece is a masterpiece
Definitely do Binks' Sake
I just realized that "Bink's Sake" uses the same chords as this first opening, its crazy
2:34 This chord succession is just pure serotonine
One Piece dropped a new opening a couple weeks ago with this same singer. It’s wild and exciting.
The original One Piece opening is a masterpiece! I totally agree!!
I'm also here to let Charles know, to please check out: Anomalie - Velours i think you would like it, and there is A LOT to break down!
Cya in the next video where i'm gonna suggest this song again :)
I knew what you ment immediatly i watched all of one piece i only missed a few of the filler episodes i even watched the new ones in egghead island
Now you have to do binks sake
Can we also talk about the fire vocals goddamn
BTW please please please check out the Katamari Damacy franchise soundtrack, it´s absolutely quirky, diverse, a freaking masterpiece. One of the best game soundtracks ever!
Honestly, this video just makes me wanna buy a keyboard and learn this piece and all of the progressions
Wow, you're posting this when I just started my first One Piece binge two weeks ago
This is an awesome coincidence
(January 26, 2024) Edit: I've caught up about a week ago and I even caught up to the manga today. I've laughed... and OH god, I have cried (a lot). Safe to say that I'm fully converted to being a One Piece fan for life. I even watched the Live Action and it's surprisingly one of the better Live Action adaptations out there. It was filled with a lot of love both from the actors, Oda himself, and even the og Japanese voice actors.
Good luck!
@@seanathanbeanathan thank you!!
I'm loving it so far
this song makes me cry like a baby and i thoroughly enjoyed hearing the harmonies fleshed out so beautiful where i could really savor and feel tham. thank you
That opening is sooo great! It just screams adventure
Maybe you could also have a look at the bink's sake theme, and see if its a good topic for another video ^^
As always thanks for the awesome content
This guy is just edging me when he doesn't let the intro verse finish
0:54 We've been GNOMED!!!
Cringey jokes aside, this theme is SO good and I think so many people that don't watch One Piece gloss over it because other themes sound more epic or intense. Definitely my two favorite themes are "Over the Top" and "The Peak" (Both from the best arc in the anime, Wano). They are completely different from each other, one being more intense with the other more relaxed, but both are absolutlely amazing.
One Piece has really great music! I'm here for more!
You should also react to the insert song also in One Piece called "Overtaken." It's a bit more on percussions and brass instruments. I hope you like that as well.
Overtaken and Three Towers are so good!