Yuko Ando, singer and songwriter well-known to anime fans for 6th Attack on Titan ED (titled “Shogeki/Shock“), revealed that her latest album contains 2 more songs that were inspired by the popular series. The two songs are “Goodbye Halo” and “Mori no Kora/Children of the Forest“. The artist also talked about the missing line from the “Shogeki“.
Yuko Ando’s latest album “Kongtong Recordings” came out in November 2021, but at the time there was no indication that the songs in question were connected to the Attack on Titan universe. However, the artist now admits that she wrote them after reading the manga and that the connection is “obvious from the lyrics”. As many fans pointed out, “Goodbye Halo” is about Mikasa and Eren. The song talks about a couple “stepping on the rhythm of time and dancing to freedom” all while being led towards a “predetermined end”.
Actually, I was thinking of creating a darker song at the beginning.
Yuko Ando, Kyodo Osaka Interview
The last song of the album ‘Shock/Shogeki’ is the ending theme song of the ‘Attack on Titan: Final Season Part 1’. When the last volume of the Attack on Titan series was published I felt that I wanted to create a song that will show the real ending of the story. Then I created the “Goodbye Halo”. So when I started making “All the little things” [the first track on the album] I was thinking of keeping the same tone of self-refelection that “Goodbye Halo” has.
Song “Children of the Forest/Mori no Kora” shares a title with the 72nd episode/111th chapter of the Attack on Titan series. Lyrics mainly consist out of questions: “What was the last thing you said?… If it’s a mistake, what difference does it make?… Will we ever get out of the woods?… Whose name did you call last?“.
Yuko Ando’s latest album can be streamed and purchased online.
The single and the music video for “Shogeki/Shock” were out in full on February 3, 2021, halfway through the Attack on Titan: Final Season Part 1 run. However, with the release of “Kongtong Recordings,” an album version of the song showed up. After reading the ending of the manga Yuko Ando went back and recorded the song again, adding an additional line at the end and extending the track by 30 seconds. The official music video doesn’t have the extra line, although it is included in the description. However, the extended version that is available on the Spotify release of the album does. Spoilers ahead!
The missing line from “Shogeki” is: “Bring the time back one second, to before he disappeared” and can be heard at the very end of the song:
You can find Yuko Ando on her official website, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Source: E-mail correspondence/Press release
Featured image: Attack on Titan: Final Season Part 1 ED, ©Hajime Isayama, Kodansha/”ATTACK ON TITAN” The Final Season Production Committee