木下百花 (Kinoshita Momoka) – 少しだけ、美しく (Sukoshi dake, utsukushiku) Translation

Kanji

Translation

Title: Just a bit, beautifully

Unable to even hear my voice

I check the pulse in my wrist

I’m alive, I’m alive

It’s just the same me as always

Clinged to my sentimental brain

are the memories reflecting on the window of the dark room

I can’t say it out loudly*

but I feel like tomorrow it will be different

Just a bit, beautifully, I want to live and be**

My voice reaching no one,

unable to find even a single answer

I’ll search, I’ll search

Ah, you just want me to notice?

The words you said on that day

I hate them, but they felt kind and I cry

No matter where I am, it’s always turns out the same

I couldn’t stand it no more and our feelings didn’t match***

I just don’t want to be

a mistake for you

I can’t say it out loudly*

but I feel like tomorrow it will be different

Just a bit, beautifully, I want to live and be**

I can’t meet you but,

my voice won’t even reach you, but

Just a bit, beautifully, I want to live and be**

Notes and Other

*=the phrasing here suggests that the main character can’t really force herself to put it in words.

**= the whole sentence here is segmented in smaller parts, giving more emphasys on each of them. As a consequence, the expression “ikiteitaiyo” (I want to keep living), sounds more like “ikite, itai yo” (I want to live and be).

***= “girigiri” actually indicates a grinding sound generated by two things that don’t really match, so I preferred to go for a more straightforward translation.

怪盗戦隊ヌスムンジャー (Kaito Sentai Nusumunjaa) – 国立少年 – 国立キッド (Kokuritsu Shounen – Kunitachi Kiddo) Translation

Kanji: taken from the video

Translation

Title: National Boy – Kunitachi Kid*

 

It is located between the stations of Kokubunji and Tachigawa

 

The former building of the southern exit has been tore down for some other construction

 

You all don’t know about Kunitachi, right?

But I know a lot about it

Its super secret gourmet spots

I’ll tell you about them, okay?

 

McDonald’s, Gusto, Hanamaru Udon,

Saizerya, Saizerya, Saizerya, Matsuya,

Royal Host, Mos Burger,

Subway, Subway, McDonald’s

 

Tally’s Coffee, Excelsior,

Starbucks, Starbucks, Saizerya, McDonald’s

Comeda Coffee, Doutour Coffee,

Matsuya, Subway, McDonald’s

 

From Shinjuku you can easily access Kunitachi in 30 minutes!

 

You want to know about the surroundings of Kunitachi too?

I know a lot about the surroundings too

Its super secret gourmet spots

I’ll tell you about them, okay?

 

Johnathan’s, CocoIchiban’ya, Yumeya,

Ringer Hut, Saizerya, McDonald’s

Lotteria, Hanamaru Udon,

Subway, Subway, McDonald’s

 

Kunitachi’s McDonald’s shop

Olimpic Area’s McDonald’s shop

Itsukaichi’s McDonald’s shop

On the main road, on the main road, Kitamachi shop

 

Even if it is the sacred place of the anime “Wolf Children Ame and Yuki”

Nobody knows about Kunitachi

In the end, there’s just a bunch of McDonald’s!

 

Now, there’s nothing more to sing

about Kunitachi-related stuff

Since there’s still the last part of the song

I’m short of words!

 

“I’ll just mix up some of the original lyrics and sing!”

 

Now ride on the wind and burn this love

Make it bloom, make it bloom!

Turn back, may good luck be with you

McDonald’s, McDonald’s, run to it

 

To the night where you dance in the sky and bloom again

Abandon yourself to it, abandon yourself to it, abandon yourself to it

I look back and gaze at you

McDonald’s, McDonald’s, I’m going to McDonald’s

 

Ah, if only I didn’t try to compose a song

with only facts about Kunitachi…

There’s nothing more to sing

 

Who, who was the prick

who said that he was going to write a song about Kunitachi

To refresh my mind

McDonald’s, McDonald’s, I’m going to McDonald’s

 

Notes and Other

*= “Kunitachi” happens to be another way to read the word for “National” and it’s a name of place: that’s it, that’s the whole pun on which this song is built.

You know when a song is so stupid it’s actually genius? I think that’s the case. The song is a “cover” of R-Shitei “Kokuritsu Shounen”, but they volountarly mistook the reading of the words in order to turn into a song about food shops in a city called Kunitachi. Yes, those names are all chain food shops. That’s it.

 

Diaura – マリンスノウ (Marin Snow) Translation

Kanji

Translation

I’m pointing to the far horizon of my lost memories

from the depth of a sea that no one knows

I covered my ears from the sound of my steps

and when I closed my eyes I already forgot

In that moment the seasons passed by

as if they wanted to hurry my coward heart

One day, that sadness, like snowflakes,

will fall down and pile up and it will be beautiful…

Marine snow

organizes a bit more this world

and even as just a part of it, I want to exist in it

Oh small light hidden by the swirling dance of the sand

stay* there, without changing, forever

If you remembered a moment of pain

you’ll forget something

Melting into the breathtaking view

I close my eyes and my consciousness plunges deep down

Marine snow

organizes a bit more this world

and even as just a part of it, I want to exist in it

Oh small light hidden by the swirling dance of the sand

stay* there, without changing, forever

Hey, look, the world

isn’t even close to being completely polluted

it’s just a bit too murky

It’s not a farewell

because I’ll keep living even if we don’t exchange any promise

Marine snow

organizes a bit more this world

and even as just a part of it, I want to exist in it

Oh small light hidden by the swirling dance of the sand

stay* there, without changing, forever

The way you are

Beautiful as you are

Notes and Other

*=here yo-ka uses a verb that only refers to people even though the subject is the marine snow: this probably means that the marine snow is just an image linked to a person.

The snow by the sea is generally destined to melt away in a few second, unable to pile up because of the salt in the air: this is the general concept of the song. In the same way that the snow doesn’t stick to the ground, the protagonist can’t completely remember a person from the past, no matter if that person was as beautiful as the snow by the sea. The main character seems to accept this reality, but still hopes that one day the snow will finally pile up.

生憎の雨 (Ainiku no Ame) – 嘔吐 (Outo) Translation

Kanji: Taken from the video

Translation

Title: Vomiting*

If you found out about that dry throbbing sensation**

and you threw it all out, wouldn’t it be better?

It would definitely be so, wouldn’t it?

Unclear thing have been washed away in a swirl

it has always been like that, right?

It has definitely been like that, hasn’t it?

Everybody vomit*

Who is dreaming

Who is trying to wake them up

Who is awakening

Who is stretching their back***

If you feel sick when thinking about a past to which you can’t return

you are better off craving**** soft dreams

Stuck with that feeling of unsatisfaction

I’m stimulating the back of my throat*****

If you found out about that dry throbbing sensation**

and you threw it all out, wouldn’t it be better?

It would definitely be so, wouldn’t it?

Unclear thing have been washed away in a swirl

it has always been like that, right?

It has definitely been like that, hasn’t it?

In the parallel world

we are reaching the center of the swirl

This crooked line of existece,

break it

Water closet now!!

What did you search for

What did you try to leave

If you want to run away from the feeling of self-loathing

that won’t forgive you, why don’t you kneel down******?

That garbage disguised with a sweet flavour

makes me feel sick in my chest

Even if we are regretting our ruined voices now

it’s not like we hate someone, right?

We are not doing this for someone, right?

Our frozen timelines and hands of the clock

are overlapping now, look,

I vomited

In the parallel world

we are reaching the center of the swirl

This crooked line of existece,

vomit it

It’s about to come out, isn’t it?

So disgusting

that it’s about to come out, isn’t it?

Gagging noises

Notes and Other

Words in Italic are in English in the original lyrics.

*= Mamo sings this word as the sound for vomiting (something like “oeh” in Japanese).

**= he’s most likely talking about the gagging sensation.

***= since all of these expression are linked to sleeping or waking up, this one probably refers to someone’s act of stretching their back right after waking up.

****= this word has the figurative meaning of “craving”, but can also have the more direct meaning of “devouring greedily”, creating a pun in line with the theme of the song.

*****= he’s talking about putting two finger in someone’s throat to make them throw up.

******=probably referring to the act of getting on your knees to the lean over the toilet and throw up.

This song is the new work of Mamo, ex-vocalist of R-Shitei. If you happen to know the band and follow them on Twitter, you probably already know how close they are to the “menhera culture”, a big trend (but perhaps id best defined as social phenomenon) in Japan which includes people who suffer of psychological traumas (or claim to do so), inducing them to take on selh-harming actions: wrist cutting, social seclusion, anorexia, bulimia and so on. The last one in particular is recently getting traction and so Mamo played on this concept to create this song about the liberatory sensation of throwing up not food, but this world that seems stuck (in our throat), giving us an inplacable nausea. With his words Mamo invites the listener to throw up and get rid of it by flushing in the toilet, so to be free from the horrible feeling of unsatisfaction.

ザアザア (XaaXaa) – うそつき (Usotsuki) Translation

Kanji: taken from the video

Translation

Title: Liar

 

Ah, this world seems so stupid

Everyone’s smile passes by me and I’m alone

When will the rain end?

Even so, right now I’m of the colour of the rain

that keeps falling down* so strongly

that I can’t even hear the happiness and all the rest

 

Liar, you said you’ll always stand by me

Liar, you said you’ll never go anywhere

Liar, your face, your voice, everything of yours

are all those of a liar, a liar, a liar

 

Today too, I’m walking without opening my umbrella

will you have pity of me?

 

In silence, under the sky it stopped crying**,

even though I wanted it to wash everything away

My distorted face shows throw the window

It hurts, it hurts, it’s painful…

 

Cold drops caress my cheeks

wouldn’t it be better if everything just stopped existing?

I’ll break, I’ll break everything and become crazy

until I won’t be able to remember your face

 

Liar, you said you’ll always stand by me

Liar, you said you’ll never go anywhere

Liar, your face, your voice, everything of yours

are all those of a liar, a liar, a liar

 

Notes and Other

*= here they used the same onomatopeia of their band’s name (zaa zaa), which is the sound of a very heavy rain. Just a fun fact for you.

**= just to be clear, the one who stopped crying is the sky, meaning that it stopped raining.

Classic song from XaaXaa. Sometimes I feel like I couldn’t completely convey all the meaning in some lines, but in many points in the lyrics the band tie the image of the rain to the crying face of the main character. The rest is pretty much self-explanatory.

菅田将暉 (Suda Masaki) – 虹 (Niji) Translation

Kanji

Translation

Title: Rainbow

It’s ok to cry!

I’ve been saved by these simple words!

Thank you so much

It might be embarassing, it might be random

but every time I think of you the future shimmers

It’s fine for us to be the way we are together!

Let’s find our sunny spot and have fun!

You are watering the plant on the balcony

and at your feet there’s a small rainbow, hey

I’ll always be by your side, so you be by my side

Let’s give our all in order not to be separated

Our eyes are entagled tightly as if they couldn’t be untied

because I won’t let go of your hand that I holding tightly

My mom’s kindness and my dad’s crybaby side

are the same as ours, the future is so dear

It’s fine even if you don’t dream big!

You should be yourself!

When you are alone and lost

remember those days, ah

I want you to leave to me half of your sad nights

and in the happy days I want to laugh with you to my heart’s content

There really is no word to match it, uh?

Is that because I felt your warmth?

Since I always laugh about my family and friend

and even about myself, I can also cry about it

In the sky completely clear, something sparkled like a single drop

I’ve always been looking for a word other than “thanks”

I’ll always be by your side, so you be by my side

Let’s give our all in order not to be separated

Our eyes are entagled tightly as if they couldn’t be untied

because I won’t let go of your hand that I holding tightly

I won’t let go

ザアザア (XaaXaa) – 冷凍人間 (Reitou Ningen) Translation

Kanji: taken from the video

Translation

Title: Frozen Human

 

For who, for what do you live for?

That meaning

That reason

I don’t know it, I don’t get it

This me

is of no use

 

I was scared, I used to cry, it was cold

and I slowly closed my eyes

In that moment

the you who appeared

with red eyes,

who are you?

You gave colours to me

 

This frozen world,

no more

I’ll be afraid of it

The one who melts the freezing night,

who is it? Who is it? Who is it?

 

I want to live!

I long for it!

With my eyes

I want to see more of what’s to come

I can’t cry!

Like this

I want to keep living!

I want to live what’s next to come

 

It really was like this

I used to run away

Since when, from where?

In that moment

the you who appeared

with red eyes,

who are you?

I don’t want it to end

 

In this frozen world,

so many times

I’m out of breath

and I can’t see anything, but

it’s fine

let’s go on, let’s go on, let’s go on

 

You changed me

You changed everything

Even this me who used to be closed in himself

I won’t hesitate no more

Whatever will happen

in the end this life is just something that I borrowed*

I used to shiver, always, even now

I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared

No, that’s not it, I’m trembling with excitement,

laugh, laugh, laugh!

 

This frozen world,

no more

I’ll be afraid of it

The one who melts the freezing night,

it’s me, it’s me, it’s me

 

Notes and Other

*=this word has a very specific nuance, underlining the fact that since something is borrowed, at a given time one will have to give it back. This image particularly exhalts the idea that life is something that can be taken from us in any moment, so we should make the most of it while we can.

Most of the information concerning the interpretation of the song can be found in the very straightforward that the band has published on their youtube channel (here).

According to the vocalist, the song was written during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time in which he felt like the world was frozen stuck. But rather than focusing on the image of “cold”, the song revolves on the idea that when something is frozen, it gets trapped in a sort of an unmovable state, where everything is preserved and nothing changes. While this image serves has the general context of the song, the story actually talks about how the main character gets unfrozen by someone in his life, freeing him from his state of immobility because of fear and anxiety.

This is actually something a bit uncommon in XaaXaa’s songs which usually rely more on sad/bad endings, underlying a general negativity in their vision of life. This may be interpreted as the start of a new trend in the band’s theme, but it might even be an exception (the track is actually a COVID song, so it would make sense). We’ll see how it goes, in the meanwhile, hope you enjoy!

Reol – Q? Translation

Kanji: taken from the video description

Why, right now, grasping your hands,
does that warmth you just noticed feels so nostalgic?
Why, looking at the rain of may* teasing the abyss,
do you feel like crying, at that sight you smiled at?

Call me with that voice of yours

I realized that that weakness that I couldn’t tell to anyone
is the stepping stone to stand up strong
It is different so that’s why it feels dear to me
I just want to understand, you and me

The more we keep on living, the more our scars increase
even so, we keep on searching for our own reason
And the more we continue, the more beautiful it gets
I want to understand now, I want to scream

I’m here, I’m here

You have paid for it
Try to catch me
Why did it turn out like this?

I’m here, I’m here

The glow overflowing with light, understand, resides on the verge of giving up on it,
To us who used to look down in it deceiveing ourself with our “at most,  moreover, possibly, consequently”
Time is something incredibly silent, to the point of being something scary
Our consciousness give up on it, as if it was some kind of punishment

Interruption, will you just accept the same colours**
and wound us in the past where you called out every thing that was different?
It’s inevitable, it showed with a resolution where I could even too much
I’ll put on my shoulder the weight of pain and love and I won’t be like you

This awareness of mine that I won’t explain to no one
I’ll hide it deep inside the concrete
It is different so that’s why it feels dear to me
I just want to long for this

Say, if only you could turn your sadness into gold
the figures drown by you would be superb

I’ll lose myself into the silence where I dance swaying and griefing
Even the camellia*** finally falls off
While griefing only punishment will torture us
Like walking in the white night****

We know it from our birth
We should wish the very best of everything
Even when it comes to our mistakes

The more we get to know
all that you couldn’t say to anyone, the younger we get
It is different so that’s why it feels dear to me
I just want to understand, you and me

The more we keep on living, the more our scars increase
May we tie knots***** as to overwrite them
and may them be beautiful
I want to understand now, I want to scream

Notes and Other

*=It’s the heavy rain at the beginning of the rainy season. In this context it suggest a situation of utter desperation.
**= In Japanese this word is full of many different meaning concerning one’s personality, attitude or even feelings. Since I didn’t want to pick a specific meaning (and it’s likely that the artist left the term vague to indicate all the possible meaning), I left the word as it is.
***= Differently from other flowers, when the camellia withers its petals fall all together instead of falling one by one. This peculiarity has made it that in Japanese culture this flower is related to the concept that the most beautiful things end abruptly.
****= as in the phenomenon that can be seen in the northern areas of Earth, where the night continues for several days.
*****=There’s no proper translation for this word that more precisely refers to the decorative knotson Japanese letters/cards which differ in form according to the occasion (graduation, marriageecc). The main point is that this kind of knot means that there’s something worth celebrating, indicate the act of “overwriting over the scars” as something to be remembered positively.

It’s not uncommon for anime openings (especially in the case of anime which are not huge hits) to go for an existential theme for the lyrics: this is a great of example of such. “Q?” means “question”, referring to the “raison d’etre”, that question of life that makes us walk forward in life. Through the
many metaphors which hopefully I managed to clear up in the notes, Reol points out how that question is “how can we be different”, no matter how painful the process to become so will be: pain and beauty are closely tied, but pain has a meaning only when we realize that is what is necessary to make a difference in the world.

いきものがかり (Ikimonogakari) – きらきらにひかる (Kirakira ni Hikaru) Translation

Kanji
Translation
Title: Twinkling Shining


Don't leave yourself forgotten
in your sadness
Don't be alone,
hold someone
 
Those tears of your
twinkling they shine
and will connect us
so I'll entrust my wishes to my words
 
Since our hands touched there's a pain that won't vanish
Since we can't understand each other, we need to be determined
Our hearts will never become one
so I'll choose to stay by your side, just that
 
I look up at the night sky where the stars dance
and many wishes vanished
 
One day, please
someone help that voice
Until it will turn into kindness
and change the future
 
Those tears of your
twinkling they shine
and will connect us
so I'll entrust my wishes to my words
 
Righteousness will never save anyone
Even though there are so many feelings that we can't completely gather
mistakes of the past are the shine of humans
and us, different from one another, can only get closer to each other
I looked up at the night sky dawning
and many wishes were born
 
It's fine not to be smiling
It's fine not to be happy
Your life
is only yours to have
 
Hit by the wind,
gazing afar,
never stop
looking for love
 
Please, look up
 
I looked up at the night sky and whispered to it
make those many wishes shine
 
Even though we were born
tied by love
why do we
fall apart?
 
Don't leave alone
that you standing still
and twinkling shining
hold someone
 
Such, so many times,
Such, so many times,
I'll keep conveying it to you
It will be our bond
 
I'll keep conveying it to you
It will be our bond 

ポルカドットスティングレイ (Polkadot Stingray) – 化身 (Keshin) Translation

Kanji: taken from the comment section

Translation

Title: Incarnation

Your earphones are once again tangled

The end always comes abruptly

The reason why I can’t take my eyes off of you

is perhaps because you look so dangerous?

What is right? Is that the enemy of evil?

This is way far from something “dramatic”

yet the inside of my shell

is a promised Eden*

The fact that I’m still expecting something

does look stupid, doesn’t it?

Isn’t it for my own sake? Even now

That anti-gravity force that wavers my hair

is so beautiful that I want to cut it off

I want you

I love you

I hate you

But I need you

I hate you

I don’t know that, I don’t know anymore

The night is longer than you think

I hate you

Anti-gravity force? That’s not it, that’s a lie

All you need is Money

Don’t ask me any further

I don’t even know myself anymore

I wanted to stand in front of you with a laughing face

But my eyes reflecting the blue-light**

are looking for you, who I can’t see

and my BPM slowly sinks

Your earphones are once again tangled

That innocent excuse of your

I can’t think of that as a lie, can’t I?

It’s like a daydream in cinemascope***

Where are you looking

while acting like a fool?

My quotation marks trap you

the words “I love you”

to whom refers?

They are so selfish and come too late

I want you

I love you

I hate you

But I need you

I love you and I hate you

Leave me be already

I don’t see why I should call this “love”

I hate you

Tonight, I must run away

It hurts, it hurts, but

I couldn’t fly away

You are not as kind as you’d think

You say that you were expecting such

but for whose sake was it?

I hate you

At this point, you know,

there’s no need for you to be the hero of justice

That’s the lie of the dear you

I want you

I love you

I hate you

But I need you

I hate you

I understand that, I do understand

That face of yours is so pretty I would like to warp it

I hate you

Anti-gravity force? That’s not it, that’s a lie

All I need is you

I want to surrender already!

An incarnation of a face that resembles yours listens to laughing voice

Notes and Others

Words in Italic are in English in the original lyrics.

*=just an expression to indicate an ideal place, not to be taken literally.

**=it’s the kind of light coming from electronic devices. This detail is fundamental because it explains the whole context of the song, where the main character is looking at the face of a past lover from the phone, probably on some social media.

***=it’s an old technique used for films where basically the image gets stretched on the screen and during filming through lenses. Again, most likely here is not be taken literally, but rather as a way to convey of feeling like dreaming with open eyes and seeing things in a deformed shape (perhaps bigger).

With this new single Polkadot Stingray went back to their origins and brought back their classic theme of the conflicted relationship with a past lover. This time the main character is looking at their phone while searching for an image of the former partner. At the same time a miriad of flash thoughts cross (probably) her mind, still wondering why she can’t let go of the image of (probably) his face and yet again looking for it. The fact that the two seem incompatible (that’s the anti-gravity force thr song talks about) should be enough to keep them apart, but it just seems like a lie when the main character ends up wondering what is he doing right now.

In the end, the main character finds him, or rather his image (an incarnation of sort) and and laughs to it, perhaps mocking it, or maybe pitying herself for her internal conflict.