SPECIALZ - Jujutsu Kaisen S2 OP2 [Piano] /King Gnu

U R MY SPECIAL.
This is my piano arrangement of SPECIALZ by King Gnu, the 2nd OP of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Shibuya Incident Arc was really peak anime in 2023 – and I absolutely enjoyed the crazy ride.

SPECIALZ is a very dark piece and the aggressive hammering beat is essentially creating an atmosphere of a “death march” for all the characters in Jujutsu Kaisen. I tried my best to translate the “hammering” of the original song as good as possible on the piano, but I also added a few additional melody layers in 0:35, 1:56 and 2:28 to contrast the peaceful side of the music.

① Iguchi-san vs Tsuneta-san (the two vocalists of King Gnu)
I decided to use different voice ranges for the main melody because each range has a different voice characteristic. The voice of Iguchi-san has been assigned to the higher range (0:50) while Tsuneta-san is covering the lower range (0:54). I kept the voice splitting fairly consistent for both the verse and the chorus to create a duet between these voices on the piano. It’s also more interesting to play too.

② Cursed by a Hammer
If you have watched the Music Video of SPECIALZ you’d probably notice many scenes featuring people doing a hammering motion in a monotone rhythm. I tried to do the same for the piano and the constant left hand jumping in the verse (0:19) and in the chorus (0:50) is basically mirroring the hammering beats of the music. There are also a few times, where I have to use unusual hand splitting to continue the hammering beats such as in 2:36.

③ The mystery bass
When arranging this piece, I was not sure if the chord progression in 1:48 is D7–A7–D7 or D7-F#m-E . But I decided to keep the A7 chord for this arrangement after all because it’s more similar to the chord progressions in classical music.

I also did a “Shibuya Crossing” (aka Hand Crossing) on the piano in 0:35 and 2:36. And after the Shibuya incident, not only Shibuya but whole Tokyo is in a great danger now. I really hope that MAPPA will start producing Season 3 soon!

Alright, that would be everything!

Thank you so much for your support in the year 2023! All of you are very special(z) to me.
And thanks to the active anime piano community, I will continue doing my best!
Please look forward to the new projects I will be working on in the year 2024.
See you again in my next video!

WE R SPECIAL.

Animenz
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Sheet music download link:
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Original Song: SPECIALZ
Anime: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2
Published by: Sony Music LAbels Inc. (2023)
Composed by: Daiki Tsuneta
Performed by: King Gnu

Piano arrangement by Animenz
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Twitter:
Instagram:
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Official Website:
Animenz Sheet Music Book
Digital Sheet Music:
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#jjk #jujutsukaisen #kinggnu #specialz

[Animenzzz]

Thank you for listening to all my anime piano arrangements in 2023! See you again in my next videos in 2024!
And remember: YOU ARE MY SPECIAL

Happy New Year! 🎆🎆🎆

[PMTojoHideki]

As the strongest pianist, Animenz fought the piano, the king of instruments. He Began to stretch his fingers. The piano shrunk back in fear then, Animenz said : "Stand proud, you are STRONG.✍️✍️🔥🔥🔥

[hypercrack]

"Are you the strongest because your Animenz, or are you Animenz because you're the strongest?"

[jtriste]

“If I had to arrange a song as unique as this, it might be a little draining”
“But would you choke?”
“Nah, I’d perform”
You’re sick! Thank you for all of these bangers over the years man!

[KidSkullv]

i dare you to play this in shibuya station

[zengarang]

What a groovy way to end 2023!

A couple of creative choices really leveled up the musicality for me on this one:

0:35: The melody jumps back and forth across the rolling left hand, using the right hand (!) to hit the bass line
2:20 The walking bass absent of any ornaments brings a calm resolution to the prior build up
2:28 The melody again jumps in between each hand, gently layered underneath the bass and harmonies

Happy new year!

[ReveriesOnPiano]

Wow… The repetition of those notes at 0:12 really imitates King Gnu.

[logikxtr]

WERE MAKING IT OUT OF SHIBUYA WITH THIS ONE 🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥






just kidding bruh aint nobody making it out

[PianoTraveller]

What a nice way to end 2023 and have a happy new year Animenz!
Not gonna lie, 0:10, that repeated notes imitating the lower voice vibrationsof the original was very unexpected, .
And have to say, out of all your arrangements, the detail is more well shown in this arrangement. For example, the multiple voices in 0:40, the accented strong beat in the choruses, the sudden silence in 2:20, the groovy 2:27, the emphasised "WE R SPECIAL" in the end, really shows your improvement throughout your piano arranging career.

[gleesinnpiano]

This arrangement highlights what I love so much about King Gnu in the first place. I love when your right hand changes octaves depending on which singer is singing the melody. Love the contrast between their two voices

[sebastianchung]

Person watching: “Can someone play this song?”

Animenz: “Nah I’d Win”

[natsuki]

King Gnu🎤👑
Animenz🎹👑
🎶U R MY SPECIAL🔁

[Maxaman]

Anybody still waiting for his new video like me a true fan😅😊

[erckupazo]

A piece fitting for jogoat. When jogoat said Sukuna was strong it truly was an incredible moment.

[Bakugouuu]

“the next station is shibuya” YOU ARE MY SPECIAL 🗣️🗣️

[Hereson]

Excellent arrangement, love how you transcribed the guitar riff parts.

Thank you for a year full of Animenz' arrangements, please spoil us even more next year haha. Happy 2024! 🙂

[kotor]

While it's rare for Animenz to cover 2 openings from the same season

We knew JJK's openings were too good to not be covered by animenz

[rfccmnm]

YOU ARE MY SPECIALZ!!!!

Thank you so much Animez for covering this piece!!!!
I’ve been waiting for this FOREVER!
JJK S2 has been a legend and also the openings!!!!
Everyone, have a happy new year!
❤❤❤❤❤

[boredPianoAdv]

Hand crossing at 0:35 was way too cool, made me so happy to see/hear haha

[szlojanerik]

this video deserves much much more likes then it has now