#i was curious about what sumi's name meant so i went to google

[tired-needs-sleep]

sara profusely denying they have a crush while hasumi gives a very knowing look at her trainer

[vstranslations]

Lyric analysis for Ainijou

translated from [this page!]

This person does a nice breakdown of what they think the title and lyrics mean. If you liked the song, check this out too :)

Meaning of the song title, “Ainijou”

Just what does “ainijou” mean?

If we focus on interpreting only the “ai” part, I think that “ainijou” can be taken in 2 ways. One in interpretation is to take “ai” as in “ai iro” (indigo), making it into “ai iro no nijou” (indigo squared). This indigo color could be some darkness within the singer. Indigo also carries the image of twilight/dusk-type darkness (like that interpreted in her other song Umiyuri Kaiteitan), so“ai iro no nijou” comes to mean a very deep darkness.

Another interpretation of it is taking “ai” to be the imaginary number “i” you learn in high school math -- then “ainijou” is “i squared”. So basically you can see this as meaning -1. It’s a well-known property that two -1’s multiply together to get 1. To link the song to this, our main character (me/I) is a -1. If “you” in this song is also a -1, then the message of “ainjou” (i^2) comes to be: since I lost you, I realized that you and me together were “1” (=I could live happily). Someone like me who can’t function alone is like a -1 (i^2).

I personally think the latter fits better, so I’ll be using that interpretation.

An unchanged landscape in the early afternoon Underneath the overpass, i squared; as I lay down a single clap is ringing out for my blank life Today, too, my empty self had sung

Hiiraigi’s interpretation

(Ever since you left) I can’t find the will to do anything. As I’m left sprawled out under the overpass on this afternoon that hasn’t changed things for the better, I am i squared. In an empty life such as this, only the sound of my heart rings out. That’s how this empty self of mine lives.

About the “ever since you left” part: While “you” hasn’t yet appeared in the song and it isn’t written in these lyrics that “you” is gone, I’m putting them in for convenience since we know they come up later.

About the “single clap”: I feel like the interpretation of this can vary a lot from person to person. For me, I see it as no matter how empty your life is, your heart continues beating as long as you’re alive, making the drum of your pulse – that is the sound of the applause.

Just as I always do, I write the main character’s plot down in my notebook A stopped gas line, world affairs, and the news are all other people’s problems Even this life, you see, is like the ink on the page

By the time I become an adult, the dreams I’ve kept to myself all this time will be forgotten

Hiiraigi’s interpretation

As if nothing had changed from before you were gone, I step into my own little world and keep crafting stories about us. I care about the you that exists within me much more than stopped gas or water lines or world affairs. Just like me with this story I’m putting together, don’t we all live to protect something?

The future I imagined with you when you were alive looks more and more impossible as I get older.

The word “plot” that appears here refers to the plot that drives stories, novels, movies, etc. From that, I’m interpreting “writing the plot” as “putting together a story”.

About “Even this life, you see, is like the ink on the page”: in the music video it depicts ink being used to write a story, so I interpret the lyric about ink to mean the creation of a story. For the main character, creating this story together with “you” is to help protect their precious memories of “you”. This can be seen as meaning “Don’t we live to protect something?”

Even as I just look up to the clouds and my field of view once again drifts away, flowers swim in the distant night I gazed up at so much that I mistake it for springtime As if I’m only going to lose sight of you…

Hiiraigi’s interpretation

As I just lay sprawled under the overpass, looking at the clouds, I can’t move forward at all. I end up wondering if my beautiful hope that I mistake for a lovely spring flower is somewhere in the distant night sky. Though in reality, I’ve lost sight of you.

What exactly does “flowers swimming” mean? I looked it up on Google, but only a manga called Swimming with Flowers appeared, and nothing related to the meaning of this phrase. Since I still don’t know what it means, I’m going to break it down into “flowers” and “swimming” and make a guess as to what they mean together.

“Flower” can mean things like “being beautiful (like a flower)” or refer to a flowering plant. “Flower” in the aforementioned lyrics must certainly mean the former definition, being beautiful (like a flower). The word “springtime” does later come up though, so if you were to interpret it as meaning a flowering plant, it would surely seem to indicate a spring flower.

Next, for “swimming”, besides the first thing you all would think of, where you move your legs/hands in water to propel yourself forward, it can also mean to wander all over the world. If you interpret “swimming” as this, then “flowers swimming” means to wander gracefully all over the world (like a flower). To make this fit a little nicer to the song, “wandering all over the world” = “living a normal life” – this is what the main character wishes to do, and so it becomes such a beautiful wish that they mistake it for a beautiful flower.

I looked down so I wouldn’t trip Life is so utterly made up of compromises I have no trust in my heart, in fate, in love songs, or in life They’re all worthless if you can’t sell them, anyway

In the created reality of this dream I purposely let show, I lay sprawled out, waiting for time to be up

Hiiraigi’s interpretation

Rather than raise myself up by looking ahead, I look down in hopes of achieving stability. It seems like life is composed of compromises. I became aware that if such a life, my heart, my fate, and love songs all have no value, then everything is pointless.

Inside the dream I purposely created to escape from reality, I lay sprawled out, waiting to forget about you

In the first half of this, they’re singing about the sense of value of the main character’s life, which is that a life with no value is pointless. For the main character who lost their precious person (“you”), even if the process (the days spent with “you”) was good, if the results (the present day) are not, then you end up thinking your life is worthless.

“Time running out” once again shows up in this part of the song. This phrase is referring to something’s efficacy passing a specified time limit, but just what exactly is the main character waiting to run out?

I felt that the main character themselves is waiting for to be able to accept a reality in which “you” are gone. In other words, they’re saying “I want to forget you”. As to why I thought this, (it’s vaguely sung about earlier on, but) it’s because I felt that within the main character they know they have to move on.

I just stared at the far off vision of you that I saw in the darkness of my closed eyes Flowers swim in the fading night as in my notes To me, they again merge into one

Hiiraigi’s interpretation

As I look at the nonexistent future with you from behind my eyelids, I keep writing the story of my usual life that happens when the night comes to a close. I realized I could again see a single path

Yet again the singer includes a made-up word – “yoru sumi” [lit. corner of the night -- translated as a part of “fading night”]. Just as before, I’m going to break it up into “night” and “corner” and think about the meaning of them.

I think it’s okay to interpret “night” here to mean basically the same thing as just plain old nighttime. Moving on to “corner”, the Japanese dictionary defines it as meaning things like recess, nook, or the end/edge. So in other words, you can see “corner of the night” as meaning “the end of the night”. Because of this, I went and interpreted it as when the night comes to a close.

Life is a series of compromises I’ve known that since long ago Elma, it’s you; you, and only you, are my music

This poem only has 80 words left in it, because your life’s value is based on how you end it

Hiiraigi’s interpretation

The fact that life is made up of compromises is something I’ve known since long before. Elma, you are my everything. Everything about the value of your life is decided by how you end it.

The part that catches your attention the most is Elma, isn’t it? I was curious what Elma meant and so I looked it up, but it doesn’t seem like it has a meaning. It may have no meaning, but it appears that it’s used as a foreign [Western] name for a person. So, I’m going to interpret it as a name (though elma also means apple in Turkish, but that has no relevance here, now does it?).

If we see it as a person’s name, then for the rest of the lyrics Elma becomes the “you” from earlier. By the way, if you count down the remaining words in the song from where it says “80”, it really is 80.

I can picture just and only you as even the indigo in my vision is blurred Flowers swim in the distant night that I gazed up at Two layers of indigo are covering my eyes

It’s just that, it’s just that… In the distant sky that I gazed up upon, you enjoyed the cool air as if you were simply swimming in the night

Hiiraigi’s interpretation

I simply want to continue imagining about you and only you. I look up to the distant sky as tears well up in my eyes. I felt as if you were swimming in that distant sky above me, cooling yourself off.

The indigo mentioned in “the indigo in my vision” is the sky the main character is looking at. But why is the sky blurry? That’s probably because they’re crying.

After that part it says “Two layers of indigo [ainijou] are covering my eyes”, and I couldn’t help but think this title drop meant the indigo of their tears plus the indigo of the sky. I hope that maybe interpreting the lyrics in all these different ways gives some proof as to how truly deep they are.