Yes, Shimomura is playing the piano here. She’s a classically trained (i.e. operatically trained) pianist and has been playing since she was 4-5 years old.
As a professional German I can confirm this indeed means "night wing" Shimomura's instrument of choice is the piano so it's very likely she recorded this herself. Before FFXV released Square Enix streamed an orchestral performance of XV music and she actually joined the orchestra to play the piano on Apocalypsis Noctis. This track is from an optional endgame boss battle. It kinda feels very different from the ones from the previous KH games which were all very fast paced. This has more of a "grand" feeling to it. Still haven't gotten around to fighting this boss myself yet but apparently he is tough as hell lmao Definitely safe to say this is her baby, I think Shimomura's themes make up pretty much 50% of the magic and whimsy of Kingdom Hearts for me! Up until KH2 it was pretty much just Shimomura on the OST but starting with Birth By Sleep, Takeharu Ishimoto and Tsuyoshi Sekito joined as co-composers. KHIII had a ton of different composers and arrangers working on its OST with Shimomura still being the main composer. III had a bunch of people from FFVII Remake involved as well, like Shotaro Shima and Yoshitaka Suzuki as well as Yasunori Nishiki of Octopath fame (think he only did one track though, "Forza Finale")
Having beaten the boss in question, I can say with certainty that it is definitely still very fast paced, but unlike some earlier in the series, it's not unfair in design.
Also fun to mention is that Flügel can also mean piano. I am certain they chose the title because of "Night Wing(s), but its kind of funny that the piano is so prominent in a song also called Night Piano
Quick note: While it IS true that the in-game tracks leading up to BBS were all her, Sachiko Miyano was in charge of the orchestral version of each opening theme and Nachtflügel was made in collaboration with her orchestra. It makes the song feel that much more special than it already is.
I truly think Shimomura should be remembered with Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi, hundreds of years from now, she's truly one of the greatest composers of all time
IIRC, Shimomura actually became the first female composer on the Top 100 list from a major classical music radio station. Granted, internet polling was involved, so that gave the KH fandom a bit more of an opportunity to push for her inclusion, but it was still pretty cool regardless!
11:30 Kingdom Hearts IS Yoko Shimomura. From the begining, and (I hope so) until the end ! She worked on a lot of other huge stuff, but KH is most likely the most persistent & durable work she experienced.
13:30 Dude WTF it's true... You absolutely need to see all the mains cinematics intros in order ! 1 2 BbS 3D 0.2 3 (already done but...) Then try to guess what could be the global story it could be fun x)
The best part about this boss theme, aside from Yoko unleashing her piano greatness in full force, is that the player gets to hear this countless times. Both because the associated boss battle is very long, and because they'll likely die to said boss... hundreds of times. Almost quite literally. It's also really nice that the theme, despite being grandiose, is calmer overall than most battle tracks, because the fight definitely encourages playing it cool under intense pressure and studying the enemy's movements carefully. It's honestly what kept me calm even after multiple deaths with little progress made, and made the eventual victory all the more sweet. It's a nice integration of music with gameplay, in a fairly subtle way. Hearing about how much you enjoy the piano runs makes me think of another recent Kingdom Hearts theme that I think will make for an interesting reaction someday. The piano there is also insane... in a very manic and demented sort of way. I have a feeling KH fans here already know exactly what I'm talking about.
For context for those that don't know, this theme is played in the game when you fight the (as of writing this) hardest boss in the entire KH series... which is quite the accomplishment considering how hard some bosses in this series are. As of right now, not much is known about the character this theme plays for other than he is basically the original Noctis that Nomura wanted to feature in Final Fantasy Versus XIII (later made into Final Fantasy XV) Although it is as of yet unconfirmed, it is highly believed that this character; Yozora, is going to play a more prominent role in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 4
aaah thank you for reacting to my request!! This track, in my opinion, is one of the best demonstrations of Yoko Shimomuras writing skills for piano and orchestra. I'm not sure who actually performed the piano part, but I'm positive it's something she herself could play, I've seen her play live and she's got some mad skills. Since I'm a piano guy myself, maybe you understand now why this piece in particular spoke to me, lol. According to an interview from 2009, Shimomuras work on Kingdom Hearts is the most special to her and her favorite composition of her own is "Dearly Beloved", the ever-recurring main title theme. So you were pretty on the money about the way there's a different feeling, some sort of "magic" to KHs soundtrack in comparison to her other works... although that interview is almost 14 years old at this point, so that could've changed. But I'm rambling again as usual and I could talk about this track for hours, so for now: Thanks again for giving it a listen, I really enjoyed the vid!
There're 4 pianists performing for KH3: Haruki Mino(美野 春樹), Yui Morishita(森下 唯), Hiroyuki Nakayama(中山 博之), Yuki Kishida(岸田 勇気). I can't confirm who performed this song, but I would guess it's Yui Morishita. He also performed piano in KH 20th Anniversary event.
In 2017 I went to a Kingdom Hearts anniversary anniversary concert in 2017 and Yoko actually made a surprise appearance at the end and played piano on a few songs. The series director, Tetsuya Nomura, was also there to present a new trailer of KH 3. The whole thing was a great experience!
This is a very late comment but I have to ask: was this at the first world tour concert at the Dolby theater in Hollywood, CA? If so I was there too and it was magical!
My favorite thing about Yozora (besides his design and this theme) is how he was "The Original Noctis". A lot of traits Yozora has were supposed to be for Noctis before...plans changed. So, I am hoping Yozora reaches his maximum potential. Not just for his sake, but for Noctis' too.
Noctis Lucis Caelum could be somewhat translated to "Sky of night's light"... Yozora means "Night Sky", right? That and Verum Rex referring to Noctis being the heir to the throne at FFXV... love how all those references connect so nicely
Things that you said that would trigger a reaction to anyone who knows what the track is about: "Two songs simultaneously playing" "Overwhelming" "Unpluging from reality"
This track actually has a 3 minute long music intro, which then immediately transitions to this track. Basically, you watch the cutscene for three or so minutes and then there's a seamless transition to the boss fight and this track. I think you are missing a LOT without listening the intro, though the only version I was able to find with it is if you look up "Yozora theme". There's a 30 minute video titled "Yozora theme + intro" or something like it.
"Sounds like it's 2 songs playing at the same time" makes a lot of sense actually Sora and Yozora are protagonists of 2 different stories in different realities This theme is used for Yozora secret boss fight And after you finish the fight they both say the same phrase, except one of them starts it and the other finishes it, while meeting in the middle, implying Sora went to Yozora's world and vice versa? (this is KH so I don't really know)
I think what you're hearing with Shimomura in KH might be the sort of identification with a fictional work that only comes with being involved in it for 20+ years. In a way, she's more identified with KH than Uematsu is with FF, since KH has been a single story the entire time rather than a series of different stories. At this point, Sora might as well be her child, lol.
I am genuinely excited for you to hear this. It is truly an outstanding track and my favorite within the game tied only with the game's version of Dearly Beloved
Shimomura absolutely brought her A-game to the first Kingdom Hearts and every one since. Destati, the first of her pieces we hear is otherworldly and I adore Nachtflugel. I actually get space opera vibes from it. There are other great composers involved in KH however, including Kaoru Wada, best known for the music of Inuyasha and D. Gray Man.
While this is a _very_ Yoko Shimomura-sounding track, it was also co-arranged and orchestrated by Sachiko Miyano. Miyano is a an extremely prominent but unknown orchestrator in the video game industry. I say "unknown" because orchestrators are usually underappreciated, to the point where no one knows who they are and what they do, like how people don't know Miyano worked on this track. Miyano is the best orchestrator that I know of and she blends in with Shimomura's music very well. To answer your questions about the performers, we have a list of 4 pianists (Haruki Mino, Yui Morishita, Hiroyuki Nakayama, Yuki Kishida) for the KH3 OST recording production, but we don't have info on who played for which track specifically. No doubt they're all talented pianists. In fact, all 4 of them work as arrangers too. The orchestra would be the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, which is a big deal.
I don't know if she played this but I do know that Yoko does play the piano. Also, this music comes from a boss fight. You have to finish 13 insanely hard superbosses and then you fight this guy as an even harder superboss.
Oh boy, where to begin... Well, first of all, your pronunciation was pretty decent. Not perfect, cause the "ü" sound is kind of difficult, but pretty good. Something which I think you might have been told about when you did Forza Finale, but I'll repeat it: all of the song titles for KH are titled in the language you see. Back when the series began, Yoko realized that something would be lost if she titled the music in Japanese and then it got translated, so she specifically titled the music not in Japanese. Most are in English, but some are in a few other languages. But it gets even more interesting than that. By far the most used non-English language is Italian. MANY song titles in KH are in Italian. However, all of the Italian-titled songs share a deeper connection. They're all tied to either Darkness (which is probably one of the biggest themes in the series), or in particular, the main villain of the series through KH3. They also often (though not always) share many motifs, especially from the song Destati. Yoko is actually a master of motifs in Kingdom Hearts (if I were to recommend that you play KH, it would be so you could discover her usage of motifs in the series. It's very difficult to recommend the series though, even as a major fan). I bring all of this up because this is the first song she's titled in German, and so the possibilities and possible implications it might have for things going forward is incredibly exciting. It's not a guarantee because she did previously title one song in French (Musique pour la tristesse de Xion - the theme song for a character called Xion, which is also the major motif for Vector to the Heavens), so it's possible this is just a one off German title. But given some other context, it's likely to be the beginning of something big. As some other people have said, this song is a boss battle theme for the superboss of the Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC. Before it released, the boss was described as being "so hard it will make you cry"... The description is fairly apt, though unlike some other superbosses in the series, it's very well designed.... At any rate, KH superbosses are usually previews for major characters in future games. However, as KH3 is the last major game released, we don't know the future implications. Here's some things we do know: -this character is from a "Realm of Unreality" - what exactly this means is hard to explain exactly because Kingdom Hearts lore is... extensive, to say the least, but it's interesting because your description of this song as being particularly fantastical or unreal bears some real merit -when you meet this character, the main character Sora recognizes them as someone by the name "_____" (I'm blanking the name to avoid spoilers for other people). However, that person replies something along the lines of "You know _____?", in a way which implies that they know a person named "______", but it is not them... Which makes it interesting that you say this song almost sounds like two songs put together... It's not something I'd ever considered, but there is merit for that being the case. This comment is probably long enough as it is, but I'll leave with a couple of thoughts. -Yoko does play piano. She is very talented on the keys. At Kingdom Hearts orchestra concerts in which she is in attendance, she usually plays piano for at least one song; I got to see her do this at a concert a few years ago, and I even got to meet her as I purchased a VIP ticket. Definite highlight of my life. All that said, while I'm not 100% certain, I do not believe it is her playing on this recording. I have no doubt she is capable, but I expect the performer is the same pianist for the rest of the orchestrated soundtracks. -Kingdom Hearts is definitely Yoko's baby. It's the series that's given her the recognition it deserves, and being a long form narrative, has allowed her to do incredible things such as her usage of motifs that I talked about earlier. And if I'm trying to be objective, it is her best work. But at least on an individual game level, my favorite of her soundtracks is for another game entirely. One which I'm fairly certain you haven't reacted to yet. A game called Legend of Mana. I love that soundtrack to hell and back and for an individual game soundtrack, not given the context of a long form narrative series, I think it's her masterpiece personally
This song is breathtaking and to think that my music journey with Yoko Shimomuta started with Street Fighter 2. I remember listening to the Street Fighter 2 Soundtrack while going to school in the 90’s and now I can enjoy her music with Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts. She is just amazing.
Utada Hikaru is the singe for OP, Yoko does most KH ost but Ishimoto from the world ends with you also helps (Enter the darkness is made by him) and theres other composers too.
This track was so great and moving, quite different from anything else she made for the soundtrack I would say though, that she was also experimenting things with XV. I think people might ask for the most epic and dramatic tracks they heard in the OST but with a game like KH3, FFXV, these OSTs are long and have tons of variety XV even went on with the bossa nova vibe, jazz, blues, it's really diverse Anyway, great reaction as always
I've heard of Kingdom hearts and I have done a few armature voice acting projects related to it. I haven't really heard much from the series. Very dramatic and that piano flourish was great and gives me some Final Fantasy vibes. This goes from wholesome sounding to more intense feelings with some emotion, the tone changes are masterful here. I couldn't really say where this plays but the comments say it's a boss theme which is interesting since parts of this in my mind wouldn't fit a boss theme. I haven't played it though so I shouldn't definitively say it doesn't fit. This piece sounds complex, I can feel the music theory go way over my head lol.
Though you don't typically take requests from the comments, I feel the subtlety from the tracks "stranded beyond" and to a lesser extent "Edge of existence" from KH3 definitely need to be looked at. Strong piano work and a lot of similar subtlety. However, the most impressive piano work is hands down "Master of masters". All of the above are worth a look.
Nomura: "Guys I wanna do Versus XIII." Square: "No, you gotta do Kingdom Hearts." Nomura: "Can I do both?" Square: "No." Nomura: "Okay." *does them both anyway like a boss*
I actually didn't know the name of Yozora's theme so I was really confused about what this was gonna be. Good choice though whoever requested it. Also, Touhou doesn't have trumpets? Someone get this man phantom ensemble asap.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Yes, Shimomura is playing the piano here. She’s a classically trained (i.e. operatically trained) pianist and has been playing since she was 4-5 years old.
As a professional German I can confirm this indeed means "night wing"
Shimomura's instrument of choice is the piano so it's very likely she recorded this herself. Before FFXV released Square Enix streamed an orchestral performance of XV music and she actually joined the orchestra to play the piano on Apocalypsis Noctis.
This track is from an optional endgame boss battle. It kinda feels very different from the ones from the previous KH games which were all very fast paced. This has more of a "grand" feeling to it. Still haven't gotten around to fighting this boss myself yet but apparently he is tough as hell lmao
Definitely safe to say this is her baby, I think Shimomura's themes make up pretty much 50% of the magic and whimsy of Kingdom Hearts for me!
Up until KH2 it was pretty much just Shimomura on the OST but starting with Birth By Sleep, Takeharu Ishimoto and Tsuyoshi Sekito joined as co-composers. KHIII had a ton of different composers and arrangers working on its OST with Shimomura still being the main composer. III had a bunch of people from FFVII Remake involved as well, like Shotaro Shima and Yoshitaka Suzuki as well as Yasunori Nishiki of Octopath fame (think he only did one track though, "Forza Finale")
Having beaten the boss in question, I can say with certainty that it is definitely still very fast paced, but unlike some earlier in the series, it's not unfair in design.
Nishiki working on Forza Finale makes so much sense now
Also fun to mention is that Flügel can also mean piano. I am certain they chose the title because of "Night Wing(s), but its kind of funny that the piano is so prominent in a song also called Night Piano
@@Silphiroth they are having fun not only musically but also with the naming 😌
Quick note: While it IS true that the in-game tracks leading up to BBS were all her, Sachiko Miyano was in charge of the orchestral version of each opening theme and Nachtflügel was made in collaboration with her orchestra. It makes the song feel that much more special than it already is.
My favorite thing about Yozora is that he canonically exists as a fictional character in the Toy Story universe
I truly think Shimomura should be remembered with Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi, hundreds of years from now, she's truly one of the greatest composers of all time
I agree, 100% ^^ She has so many cool and special-feeling songs, she's amazing!
IIRC, Shimomura actually became the first female composer on the Top 100 list from a major classical music radio station. Granted, internet polling was involved, so that gave the KH fandom a bit more of an opportunity to push for her inclusion, but it was still pretty cool regardless!
Sonon joined the chat the composer for ff16
i really think she's wonderful as well
She's pretty damn top level she's just as respected as the glorious Yoko Kanno
11:30 Kingdom Hearts IS Yoko Shimomura. From the begining, and (I hope so) until the end !
She worked on a lot of other huge stuff, but KH is most likely the most persistent & durable work she experienced.
13:30 Dude WTF it's true...
You absolutely need to see all the mains cinematics intros in order !
1
2
BbS
3D
0.2
3 (already done but...)
Then try to guess what could be the global story it could be fun x)
The best part about this boss theme, aside from Yoko unleashing her piano greatness in full force, is that the player gets to hear this countless times. Both because the associated boss battle is very long, and because they'll likely die to said boss... hundreds of times. Almost quite literally.
It's also really nice that the theme, despite being grandiose, is calmer overall than most battle tracks, because the fight definitely encourages playing it cool under intense pressure and studying the enemy's movements carefully. It's honestly what kept me calm even after multiple deaths with little progress made, and made the eventual victory all the more sweet. It's a nice integration of music with gameplay, in a fairly subtle way.
Hearing about how much you enjoy the piano runs makes me think of another recent Kingdom Hearts theme that I think will make for an interesting reaction someday. The piano there is also insane... in a very manic and demented sort of way. I have a feeling KH fans here already know exactly what I'm talking about.
Hmm... Master of Masters? That's what comes to mind when you say manic and demented (piano)
@@ALeafOnTheWind42 Yep!
MoM's theme reminds me so much of Drakengard 1 and 3 Growing Wings/Exhausted. Broken, deranged, depressed, yet still going on
It took me 3 days to beat Yozora😂
Ahh yes Noctis's theme
I hope Kingdom Hearts 4 has Yozora from FFXV.
@@fissilewhistlehe definitely will be :) . Ain’t no way they tease him like that and not go full on versus 13 KH
For context for those that don't know, this theme is played in the game when you fight the (as of writing this) hardest boss in the entire KH series... which is quite the accomplishment considering how hard some bosses in this series are.
As of right now, not much is known about the character this theme plays for other than he is basically the original Noctis that Nomura wanted to feature in Final Fantasy Versus XIII (later made into Final Fantasy XV)
Although it is as of yet unconfirmed, it is highly believed that this character; Yozora, is going to play a more prominent role in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 4
aaah thank you for reacting to my request!!
This track, in my opinion, is one of the best demonstrations of Yoko Shimomuras writing skills for piano and orchestra. I'm not sure who actually performed the piano part, but I'm positive it's something she herself could play, I've seen her play live and she's got some mad skills. Since I'm a piano guy myself, maybe you understand now why this piece in particular spoke to me, lol.
According to an interview from 2009, Shimomuras work on Kingdom Hearts is the most special to her and her favorite composition of her own is "Dearly Beloved", the ever-recurring main title theme. So you were pretty on the money about the way there's a different feeling, some sort of "magic" to KHs soundtrack in comparison to her other works... although that interview is almost 14 years old at this point, so that could've changed.
But I'm rambling again as usual and I could talk about this track for hours, so for now: Thanks again for giving it a listen, I really enjoyed the vid!
There're 4 pianists performing for KH3: Haruki Mino(美野 春樹), Yui Morishita(森下 唯), Hiroyuki Nakayama(中山 博之), Yuki Kishida(岸田 勇気).
I can't confirm who performed this song, but I would guess it's Yui Morishita. He also performed piano in KH 20th Anniversary event.
In 2017 I went to a Kingdom Hearts anniversary anniversary concert in 2017 and Yoko actually made a surprise appearance at the end and played piano on a few songs. The series director, Tetsuya Nomura, was also there to present a new trailer of KH 3. The whole thing was a great experience!
That sounds amazing! I would cry if I saw Yoko in real life
This is a very late comment but I have to ask: was this at the first world tour concert at the Dolby theater in Hollywood, CA? If so I was there too and it was magical!
My favorite thing about Yozora (besides his design and this theme) is how he was "The Original Noctis". A lot of traits Yozora has were supposed to be for Noctis before...plans changed. So, I am hoping Yozora reaches his maximum potential. Not just for his sake, but for Noctis' too.
Noctis Lucis Caelum could be somewhat translated to "Sky of night's light"... Yozora means "Night Sky", right? That and Verum Rex referring to Noctis being the heir to the throne at FFXV... love how all those references connect so nicely
"This might be the most crazy piano yet."
Wait until you listen to "Master of Masters" hehe (also Yoko, also KH3)
Things that you said that would trigger a reaction to anyone who knows what the track is about:
"Two songs simultaneously playing"
"Overwhelming"
"Unpluging from reality"
This track actually has a 3 minute long music intro, which then immediately transitions to this track. Basically, you watch the cutscene for three or so minutes and then there's a seamless transition to the boss fight and this track. I think you are missing a LOT without listening the intro, though the only version I was able to find with it is if you look up "Yozora theme". There's a 30 minute video titled "Yozora theme + intro" or something like it.
"Sounds like it's 2 songs playing at the same time" makes a lot of sense actually
Sora and Yozora are protagonists of 2 different stories in different realities
This theme is used for Yozora secret boss fight
And after you finish the fight they both say the same phrase, except one of them starts it and the other finishes it, while meeting in the middle, implying Sora went to Yozora's world and vice versa? (this is KH so I don't really know)
Sora is Sky
Yazora is Night Sky
@216 Yozora also calls back to Noctis full name: Noctis (of night) Lucis (of light) Caelum (Sky)
YOOOO, I just recently beat this boss after like 4-6 hours total of attempts so I'm super hyped for this reaction
If you listen carefully you can hear Somnus teasing on the piano and the violin.
This is really a beautiful piece of music!
the best part, for me, is how it starts VERY disney like, and it slowly transition into a full ff esque theme, before going back a bit, and forth.
8:40 who’s gonna tell him it’s unreality now
I think what you're hearing with Shimomura in KH might be the sort of identification with a fictional work that only comes with being involved in it for 20+ years. In a way, she's more identified with KH than Uematsu is with FF, since KH has been a single story the entire time rather than a series of different stories. At this point, Sora might as well be her child, lol.
I am genuinely excited for you to hear this. It is truly an outstanding track and my favorite within the game tied only with the game's version of Dearly Beloved
Shimomura absolutely brought her A-game to the first Kingdom Hearts and every one since. Destati, the first of her pieces we hear is otherworldly and I adore Nachtflugel. I actually get space opera vibes from it. There are other great composers involved in KH however, including Kaoru Wada, best known for the music of Inuyasha and D. Gray Man.
While this is a _very_ Yoko Shimomura-sounding track, it was also co-arranged and orchestrated by Sachiko Miyano. Miyano is a an extremely prominent but unknown orchestrator in the video game industry. I say "unknown" because orchestrators are usually underappreciated, to the point where no one knows who they are and what they do, like how people don't know Miyano worked on this track. Miyano is the best orchestrator that I know of and she blends in with Shimomura's music very well.
To answer your questions about the performers, we have a list of 4 pianists (Haruki Mino, Yui Morishita, Hiroyuki Nakayama, Yuki Kishida) for the KH3 OST recording production, but we don't have info on who played for which track specifically. No doubt they're all talented pianists. In fact, all 4 of them work as arrangers too. The orchestra would be the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, which is a big deal.
clicked on an hour long version of this song while studying and you can imagine my surprise when after a little while i heard silence
I don't know if she played this but I do know that Yoko does play the piano.
Also, this music comes from a boss fight. You have to finish 13 insanely hard superbosses and then you fight this guy as an even harder superboss.
Oh boy, where to begin... Well, first of all, your pronunciation was pretty decent. Not perfect, cause the "ü" sound is kind of difficult, but pretty good.
Something which I think you might have been told about when you did Forza Finale, but I'll repeat it: all of the song titles for KH are titled in the language you see. Back when the series began, Yoko realized that something would be lost if she titled the music in Japanese and then it got translated, so she specifically titled the music not in Japanese. Most are in English, but some are in a few other languages.
But it gets even more interesting than that. By far the most used non-English language is Italian. MANY song titles in KH are in Italian. However, all of the Italian-titled songs share a deeper connection. They're all tied to either Darkness (which is probably one of the biggest themes in the series), or in particular, the main villain of the series through KH3. They also often (though not always) share many motifs, especially from the song Destati. Yoko is actually a master of motifs in Kingdom Hearts (if I were to recommend that you play KH, it would be so you could discover her usage of motifs in the series. It's very difficult to recommend the series though, even as a major fan).
I bring all of this up because this is the first song she's titled in German, and so the possibilities and possible implications it might have for things going forward is incredibly exciting. It's not a guarantee because she did previously title one song in French (Musique pour la tristesse de Xion - the theme song for a character called Xion, which is also the major motif for Vector to the Heavens), so it's possible this is just a one off German title. But given some other context, it's likely to be the beginning of something big.
As some other people have said, this song is a boss battle theme for the superboss of the Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC. Before it released, the boss was described as being "so hard it will make you cry"... The description is fairly apt, though unlike some other superbosses in the series, it's very well designed.... At any rate, KH superbosses are usually previews for major characters in future games. However, as KH3 is the last major game released, we don't know the future implications. Here's some things we do know:
-this character is from a "Realm of Unreality" - what exactly this means is hard to explain exactly because Kingdom Hearts lore is... extensive, to say the least, but it's interesting because your description of this song as being particularly fantastical or unreal bears some real merit
-when you meet this character, the main character Sora recognizes them as someone by the name "_____" (I'm blanking the name to avoid spoilers for other people). However, that person replies something along the lines of "You know _____?", in a way which implies that they know a person named "______", but it is not them... Which makes it interesting that you say this song almost sounds like two songs put together... It's not something I'd ever considered, but there is merit for that being the case.
This comment is probably long enough as it is, but I'll leave with a couple of thoughts.
-Yoko does play piano. She is very talented on the keys. At Kingdom Hearts orchestra concerts in which she is in attendance, she usually plays piano for at least one song; I got to see her do this at a concert a few years ago, and I even got to meet her as I purchased a VIP ticket. Definite highlight of my life. All that said, while I'm not 100% certain, I do not believe it is her playing on this recording. I have no doubt she is capable, but I expect the performer is the same pianist for the rest of the orchestrated soundtracks.
-Kingdom Hearts is definitely Yoko's baby. It's the series that's given her the recognition it deserves, and being a long form narrative, has allowed her to do incredible things such as her usage of motifs that I talked about earlier. And if I'm trying to be objective, it is her best work. But at least on an individual game level, my favorite of her soundtracks is for another game entirely. One which I'm fairly certain you haven't reacted to yet. A game called Legend of Mana. I love that soundtrack to hell and back and for an individual game soundtrack, not given the context of a long form narrative series, I think it's her masterpiece personally
This song is breathtaking and to think that my music journey with Yoko Shimomuta started with Street Fighter 2. I remember listening to the Street Fighter 2 Soundtrack while going to school in the 90’s and now I can enjoy her music with Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts. She is just amazing.
Utada Hikaru is the singe for OP, Yoko does most KH ost but Ishimoto from the world ends with you also helps (Enter the darkness is made by him) and theres other composers too.
I love this theme for a secret boss
The best kh motif since dearly beloved
There is "Kingdom Hearts: Melody of memory" where it is a tribute to all of yoko's music in kingdom hearts.
I love the inspiration Yoko takes from Rachmaninoff in her music, it's just breathtaking!
This track was so great and moving, quite different from anything else she made for the soundtrack
I would say though, that she was also experimenting things with XV. I think people might ask for the most epic and dramatic tracks they heard in the OST but with a game like KH3, FFXV, these OSTs are long and have tons of variety
XV even went on with the bossa nova vibe, jazz, blues, it's really diverse
Anyway, great reaction as always
As a German I noticed you pronounced it at least once as "Nacktflügel" which would mean "Naked Wing" 😏
Superior version
If KH was M rated...
i feel like the reason this song is named nachtflügel is bc of “noct” which is noctis, and yozora is basically noctis lmao
I really want to see him react to fragments of sorrow
Oh yeah. That is totally Yoko. She is an accomplished pianist.
YESSSSS FINALLY!
I've heard of Kingdom hearts and I have done a few armature voice acting projects related to it. I haven't really heard much from the series.
Very dramatic and that piano flourish was great and gives me some Final Fantasy vibes. This goes from wholesome sounding to more intense feelings with some emotion, the tone changes are masterful here. I couldn't really say where this plays but the comments say it's a boss theme which is interesting since parts of this in my mind wouldn't fit a boss theme. I haven't played it though so I shouldn't definitively say it doesn't fit. This piece sounds complex, I can feel the music theory go way over my head lol.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE!!!!
I play too much FFXIV. My brain kept expecting it to transition to Torn from the Heavens after certain notes.
Should have listened to the buildup/intro before this, It Was Fate That Brought Us Here (female vocals)
You're not wrong Jessy, KH is Yoko's babies (so to speak). I believe KH brought her name as popular as today.
俺にはよくわからないんだ。
この世界が本当に本物なのか。
Though you don't typically take requests from the comments, I feel the subtlety from the tracks "stranded beyond" and to a lesser extent "Edge of existence" from KH3 definitely need to be looked at. Strong piano work and a lot of similar subtlety. However, the most impressive piano work is hands down "Master of masters". All of the above are worth a look.
He has reacted to stranded beyond but not the other 2 yet.
Oh yeah... ffxiii vs
Nomura: "Guys I wanna do Versus XIII."
Square: "No, you gotta do Kingdom Hearts."
Nomura: "Can I do both?"
Square: "No."
Nomura: "Okay." *does them both anyway like a boss*
This is such a beautiful piece. Too vad its connected to KH so ill never get to see it in the context of the game!
I actually didn't know the name of Yozora's theme so I was really confused about what this was gonna be. Good choice though whoever requested it.
Also, Touhou doesn't have trumpets? Someone get this man phantom ensemble asap.