#image from toki self help song

[icronic-kiris]

Drawings inspired by this image from Metalocalypse.

Ik toki has abs but I cant draw them so imagine he does lmao 🤕

[forgiveness-in-the-misery]

Toki’s Psychological State Through the Seasons

Toki is by far for me personally the most interesting member of Dethklok; I know to some degree he’s deemed as a potentially over hyped character by fans and even the show itself, but there’s countless reasons why people cling onto that character, and they’re good reasons. Even if said reasons just come down to “I think he’s neat.” that’s valid.

For me I am so fascinated with his character development, personality, and the varied chunks of background information we get about him throughout the series. A big part of this character is that when you look at him in season one compared to season four he is very different or at least he appears to be much different. Season one does establish that Toki does have a childish personality, his bedroom looks more like a room for a kid than one for a guy in his 20s. Season one establishes those basic facts about him that do heavily carry out through the show, but also increase as the show goes on.

Toki goes from immature but not overly immature to....a complete fucking wreck by the finale of season four (before Doomstar) and the reason for it is simple; it’s trauma.

Toki starts to act differently in season one after the Dethfamily episode; he spends practically that entire episode in a catatonic state, his parents always looming nearby like figures of danger and doom. After this we do get to him being bitter about being seen as immature and seen as the kid of the band (despite the fact he was barely 16 when he joined Dethklok) and when a charity informs him that a dying girl wants to meet him he turns into a complete prick. He finally comes out of that when he sees a video the kid made of herself singing a song about death and hatred, with that scene we see a small flashback of Toki’s childhood; him about the little girl’s age standing out in the snow staring up at his parents looking confused and a moment later he’s being smacked across the face. 

We could already gather beforehand when we found out he came from a very devout religious sect outside of Lillehammer that his childhood was sketchy, plus how he locked up when around his parents, but seeing the flashback of him being hit as a little boy.....Answers the obvious question of “did they beat him?”

Season one is the least eventful of the seasons. Season two is when shit begins changing drastically.

Season two Toki receives a call to inform him that his father has cancer and is on his death bed, the family and the church wants him to return to Norway to see his father. He acts completely fine about this initially, the phone conversation and the way he announces his father’s terminal illness to the band is as if somebody just asked to borrow his car. When it gets close to time to actually go and when they are in Norway it’s different though; he becomes anxious and clearly uncomfortable, in Norway he stays in town mostly, stalling around places he went to as a kid and a teenager before he ran off to America. 

He does handle his father’s dying well once he finally convinces himself to go inside his house and see him then follow through with his father’s dying request to carry him up to his old childhood home (which goes wrong because his friend’s are dicks.) 

I am not going to go into personal detail at all and my situation was nothing like Toki’s (it’s incredibly rare to hear situations like that anymore), but Toki handling his father’s passing freakishly well kind of was a red flag for me, because I know from my own experiences that when you find out something complicated like a terminal illness or the death of your abusive parent theres’ a chance you may respond way too calmly to it, and then later down the line days or months or years later something will trigger a big reaction to it. Which is what happens.

After handling his dad’s death well we get the most iconic scene involving Toki at that point and honestly still the most iconic; he beats a man to death with his bare hands. The thing that triggers this is a hallucinated image of a rabbit, an animal he associates both with his father and his childhood, the image of it triggers him to fly into an insanely feral blind rage taking it out on a guy who had been annoying him all night. Toki has always throughout the entire series shown signs of being a tad violent, but never THAT bad. Sure he shot down a plane and had accidentally caused a death or twenty (the whole band is, it’s part of the sacrifices to the Gods deal) but we had never seen him before or after that moment beat somebody to death. That is new and it came from a place of pent up....shit. Shit he never worked through and even after that continued to not work through.

Because after this we lead into him worsening further; he begins drinking. A lot. The band consist of dudes with addiction issues, mainly alcohol, but Toki never seemed to drink quite as much as them until after he went feral on that straight edge guy. 

Toki deals with his childhood trauma in several ways:

He drinks. A lot.

He focuses on fantasy and daydreams to keep himself from focusing on his past.

He spends a lot of time with Dr. Rockso who takes advantage of his kindness often, he also spends gross amounts of money bailing his clown buddy out of jail. Constantly.

He occasionally gets violent, but never to the point of manslaughter.

Seasons three and four are when we get fully introduced to Toki acting like a kid more than a guy in his 20s and it makes sense. Toki didn’t have a childhood; we learn that his parents essentially made him into a slave at a young age having him do pointless “chores” like sweeping snow during a storm, carrying stacks of wood much too heavy for a small child, etc. and when he failed to work quickly enough or failed a task they punished him. They punished him by locking him in a shed, they punished him by chaining him up like an animal, they punished him by smacking him, by beating him with a bull whip, and worst of all (who knew it could get worse) they would force him to stay for long periods of times in a deep hole dug into the ground. A hole where he hid a clown doll made of twigs and straw, the only friend he had as a little kid.

From all that we can gather through the show he didn’t exactly have a social life of any kind until his teens, the older he became the braver I think he became, and that was responded to with worse violence from his parents. I think the statement in season one about a vision of father killing son wasn’t totally off, I think if Toki had never run away from Norway that his father would have murdered him. I think his parents knew somehow that he isn’t entirely human, they knew he was something else, and I do think his parents had plans to kill him before he could become “too powerful”. 

That aside though.....Once we the audience as well as his friends find out far more details about his horrifying childhood Toki changes. A lot. He’d already been immature and a tad bit off but he regresses further after that, more prone to depression and outbursts, clinginess, and a need to feel like he’s loved by pretty much anybody.

This is a dude who is about my age that came to the horrid realization that any person or animal he loves will die because that’s his “gift”, the gift of death. He works his ass off to repress and rationalize a brutally nightmarish childhood, and the guys he’s in a band with who he loves and sees as his family....are dicks. We know that when he joined Dethklok before they got famous that they were all close, but when they began becoming popular and became immensely wealthy the others became more focused on self indulgence and power, less focused on this still a child who desperately just wanted a family.

I think a key factor with Toki being the way he is comes down to the band’s “no caring” rule. A rule that only existed because of Magnus. Toki is the baby in a group of people who have known each other for a good while, people who came to an agreement to not give a shit about each other for a reason they never explained to him because it’s too painful for them to think about. I think he always tried to live by that rule of not caring, he tried to bury all the shit wrong with himself the best that he could but he was never good at it. It’s also clear they all care about each other and they definitely care about Toki; Nathan and Skwisgaar often being the most protective of him. 

In season four aka the season where the show becomes less of a comedy and more of a drama with stunning animation. Toki is immensely more immature and awkward, he’s clingy with the band especially where Skwisgaar is regarded. Near the end of season four he’s completely fucked up; he splits his time between Rockso (his comfort object) and Magnus (a father figure to replace Nathan) in the dinner episode which has so much going on in it. So much. Toki is at his lowest point in the series; he shows up late, drunk as fucking hell, shirtless, and covered in bruises and cuts. Rockso is with him and when Charles tries to tell him Rockso shouldn’t be there Toki goes into a full fucking anxiety attack until Charles tells him it’s fine to have the clown there. Toki’s heavily dependent on Rockso by that point; his found family is quickly falling to shit. God knows what kind of shit Magnus might have been feeding him about the band at that point. 

Toki’s entire thing from day one/the pilot of the series is that he just wants a family. When he feels like he doesn’t belong in the one that he found and was taken in by he searches for family in other places, when he can’t handle the memories of his childhood he spirals hard. I understand that the guys didn’t really know how to handle it after they heard about Toki’s childhood so I can’t fault them completely for just.....shoving him off onto Rockso after that, but I still think they should have tried to be there for him more so, more directly. I think an outlet that isn’t a drug addled clown might have helped him in some way, I think if when he’d been a teenager if one of them had found out about his upbringing and just pointed out “that isn’t okay, at all.” then things might have panned out differently. 

Mental regression isn’t uncommon when it comes down to victims of trauma caused by extreme abuse. Especially considering his trauma all occurred basically from the get go; he was a child slave, the closest I would guess he ever got to having a childhood when he was a kid was seeing other kids childhoods. Going into town and seeing kids playing, sneaking into birthday parties just to be around other kids his age, etc. and he definitely was childish as a teenager, but I think he tried to bury that side of himself when his bandmates started teasing him or pointing out how unmetal it all is.....But then a douche bag journalist brought his parents to America, a little girl died, his abusive father died horribly (as he should) in front of him, he beat a man to death (allegedly), etc. 

He spent a lot of years away from all the trauma and the death and the bull shit then suddenly it started piling on top of him again and his escapism was fantasy, clinging onto a junkie clown, partaking in childish hobbies.....because why not? 

Each member of the band suffered some messed up shit when they were kids and it shows in different ways, this is Toki’s way of dealing with it....or not. I’m not entirely sure what his psychological state would be post Doomstar; the way he bounces back from immense trauma makes me think that he would be okay given some time and that’s a safe assumption to make, especially now that his bandmates/family will be there for him the way he needs them to be.

I want to tag @theidiotwiththepaintedface who hopefully will enjoy this painfully long deep dive into a character’s psychology lol.

[kinogane]

So the ending theme of the Nekomonogatari (White) arc of Monogatari Series: Second Season is a song called アイヲウタエ or “Ai wo Utae” (lit. "Song of Love") by Luna Haruna. The full version was released as a single on July 24, 2013, after the third episode of Nekomonogatari (White), which means that the 90-second-long ED version of “Ai wo Utae” was available before the approximately four-minute-long full version. That the ED version was out before the single is not weird in the slightest (in fact, it's probably just sensible marketing), nor is the ED version being a shorter, edited version of the full song, since devoting four minutes of a roughly thirty-minute-long episode to just the ending sequence and credits doesn't really make sense.

Most TV edits of songs usually cut the song down into one verse-chorus sequence alongside anything else from the song that helps with flow and pacing, like intros and outros. For instance, the TV edit used for the previous arc's ending, “kieru daydream” by Marina Kawano, is essentially the full version up to the first chorus with the outro edited in for a sense of closure, probably helped by the last chorus in the full version just being the first chorus with a different inflection.

But for whatever reason, the Monogatari series likes making especially creative edits when it comes to their ending themes. (The opening themes are largely (entirely?) image songs sung by the relevant VA, so on some level they're likely composed with the TV edit in mind.)

The TV edit of “Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari” by supercell and Nagi Yanagi, used as the ending theme of Bakemonogatari, starts with the intro instrumental of the full version, before jumping to the second verse (”Are ga DENEBU ARUTAIRU BEGA”/...), then loops back to the first pre-chorus (”Makkura na sekai kara miageta”/...) and chorus (”Itsu kara darō, kimi no koto o”/...).

The TV edit of the next ending theme, “Naisho no Hanashi” by ClariS for Nisemonogatari, starts with the intro of the full version (the count-in) before jumping to the third verse (”Sakki kara ano seifuku no ko ga”/...), then loops back to the first pre-chorus (”Zutto atashi ga kono mama”/...) and continues into the first chorus (”Sono toki ni nattatte osoindakara”/...), and then switches the last two lines of the chorus to the last two lines of the second chorus (”Really, you are easy”/...) then jumps to the outro.

So the structure of the TV edit of Ai wo Utae, going from the intro (”Shinzou ni awasete”/...) to the first verse (”Heibon na kin'youbi”/...) to the first pre-chorus (”Kimi no me ga oyoidara”/...) and chorus (”Honto wa ne, zutto kimi to”/...) then jumping to the last post-chorus (”Me to me wo awasetara”/...), largely isn't all that special in the context of Monogatari ending theme TV edits.

Except for the part where the instrumental accompanying the last post-chorus in the TV edit is not the instrumental accompanying the last post-chorus in the full song (and in fact, might not even exist in the full song at all?), and instead transitions into the last lines of the first post-chorus as the vocals fade out.

There is no structural equivalent of this edit in the full song. That's all sufficiently weird enough for me to ruminate on, but I'm willing to guess that TV edit-specific instrumentals or structural changes aren't unheard of, since I just haven't watched many shows.

No, the reason I can't get this specific TV edit out of my head is that the additional lines from the first post-chorus basically recontextualize the entire song and give it a dramatically different tone.

(Everything from this point onward is lyrical analysis, which is going to be unavoidably dodgy since I'm working from volunteer translations.)

Changing and rearranging the lyrics is inevitably going to modify the feeling the song invokes, even if the effect is very slight. Even something as simple as cutting off the second half can lead to very different meanings, depending on what the cut lyrics do in the song's progression, be it further clarify, reframe, or even refute earlier lyrics. But by and large the changes made to the lyrics in the TV edits of theme songs are relatively minor; they may change the reading of some lyrics, but the broad strokes are the same. “kieru daydream” is about a bitter inability to move on and heal, “Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari” is about a hidden longing from long ago, and “Naisho no Hanashi” is about a particularly jealous longing, all fitting to various degrees for the main character(s) of the corresponding arc. (Exhaustingly so, in the case of the Araragi sisters.)

The full version of “Ai wo Utae” can be split into three parts, each punctuated by the post-chorus. After the intro (”Following my heart/I'll say out my true feelings/In my own way, now”), the first part establishes the nature of the singer's problem, mainly their inability to properly act upon their feelings, and the negativity that follows as a result. The chorus consists of a theoretical confession that affirms the singer's determination but is cast aside, noting in the post-chorus that they "can't say anything thoughtlessly" and metaphorically hitting the reset button. The second part largely grapples with the frustration and difficulty of feeling and expressing love, culminating in an inner lash out and rejection that goes away when the singer realizes that will not help their predicament. The third part starts with the bridge, in which the singer appears to steel themself as they are about to confess, which continues into the pre-chorus and chorus where the singer is directly addressing their crush, ending with the post-chorus with references to eyes meeting and no more fear.

It's a song broadly about the emotional hardship of falling in love, coming to terms with it, and confronting it head on. It ends on a hopeful note. The parallels to Hanekawa's arc in Nekomonogatari (White) are fairly self-evident.

The TV edit's changes to the first part make it seem like the confession in the chorus is happening in the moment with the addition of the last post-chorus above, before the original post-chorus chimes in.

This suggests that the confession in the lines of the post-chorus, which appeared to be actually happening in the full version, was instead an extension of the theoretical confession of the chorus that the singer hits the reset button on. It’s a stinger that pulls the rug out from under the previous buildup and suggests an emotional stagnancy that makes the TV edit a song about the inability to follow through with your feelings.

I don’t really know what to make of this change and my subsequent read of it. I wouldn’t be all that surprised to find out that other TV edits exist that change the song to this extent. But it’s the only one I’ve seen so far, and I just think it’s really, really weird. Weird enough to compel me to splice those last lines of the TV edit onto the full song because I hate happy endings, I guess

[thirty-second-notes]

Hello there. I don't know if you all check this inbox, and this is a long shot...But I want to find some good soundtracks to listen to, and you three have good taste. If you have one, could you share a list of your music collections or some general recs?

Hi, thanks for keeping in touch! We stopped posting right when we went off to college, and since then, we haven’t really had the time to upload anything to Tumblr. That, and tumblr’s file size & FLAC restrictions make it a bit of pain to upload anything efficiently... Anyhoo. Happy to share my album collection! This list is a little bit of a mess, and seems to be organized half alphabetically and half in the order in which I added them to my hard drive, since I just pulled the folder list off my computer. I’ve bolded the albums that I really enjoy in their entirety and I tried my damndest not to highlight half the list. But just send me (EpsilonGenocide) a message if you wanted recs for a specific sound that you’re looking for. Hope this helps!  EpsilonGenocide’s Album List:

Square Enix Acoustic Arrange

Square Enix Jazz - FINAL FANTASY-

Square Enix Jazz Final Fantasy VII

SQUARE ENIX JAZZ Vol.2

Steins;Gate ELITE Original Soundtrack

Steins;Gate Symphonic Reunion

Sword of the Stranger Original Soundtrack

Symphonic Fantasies - music from SQUARE ENIX

Symphonic Odysseys Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu

The Epic of Zektbach -Piano Collection-

The Epic of Zektbach -Ristaccia-

The Last of Us (Original Soundtrack)

The Last Of Us Volume 2 (Left Behind OST)

The Last Story Original Soundtrack

The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild Original Soundtrack (Disc 1-5)

The Wolverine [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

The world! EVAngelion JAZZ night =The Tokyo III Jazz club=

Transistor Original Soundtrack

Uncharted 2 - Among Thieves [Original Video Game Soundtrack]

Undertale

Undertale (Arrangement) (Determination)

Valkyria Chronicles Original Soundtrack

Valkyria Chronicles Piano Pieces

Violin de Hiitemita ep2 ~ Maou no Gyakushuu

WALL-E

Wind - Inuyasha Kokyo Renka - Symphonic Theme Collection

Wind Ensemble ''Dragon Quest'' Part.I

X'mas Collections II music from SQUARE ENIX

5 Centimeters Per Second Original Soundtrack

A New World Intimate Music From FINAL FANTASY

A New World Intimate Music from FINAL FANTASY Volume II

Angel Beats Piano Arrange Holy

Angel Beats!

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Out of the North Original Soundtrack

Baccano!

Brave [Original Score]

Child of Light

Children of the Sea Original Soundtrack

CHRONO Orchestral Arrangement BOX

Cowboy Bebop Original Soundtrack 1

Cowboy Bebop Original Soundtrack 2 - No Disc

Cowboy Bebop Original Soundtrack 3 - BLUE

Deemo Original Soundtrack

Demon's Souls Original Soundtrack

Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3

Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2 (Disk 1 & 2)

Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 1

Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 4 ~Isoge! Shōnen Tanteidan~

Don't Starve

Dragon Quest IX Hoshizora no Mamoribito Symphonic Suite

Dragon Quest Solo Guitar Collections

Durarara!! Original Soundtrack Vol.01 Psychedelic Dreams

Durarara!! Original Soundtrack Vol. 02 Psychadelic Dreams

Koukyoushihen Eureka Seven Pocket ga Niji de Ippai MUSIC COLLECTION PSALMS OF PLANETS (Disc 1-3)

Eureka seveN OST 1

Eureka seveN OST 2 (Disc 1 & 2)

Evangelion Piano Burst ~ Kakusei ~

Final Fantasy 4 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 5 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 6 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 7 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 8 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 9 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 10 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 10-2 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 11 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 12 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 13 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 14 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 14 Piano Collections

Final Fantasy 15 Piano Collections Moonlit Melodies

Distant Worlds I - Music From FINAL FANTASY

Distant Worlds II - More Music From FINAL FANTASY

Distant Worlds III more music from FINAL FANTASY

Distant Worlds IV more music from FINAL FANTASY

Distant Worlds V more music from FINAL FANTASY

Distant Worlds & A New World Collection Music from Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy Guitar Solo Collections

Final Fantasy Piano Opera I-II-III

Final Fantasy Piano Opera IV-V-VI

Final Fantasy Piano Opera IV-V-VI

Final Fantasy Piano Opera VII-VIII-IX

Final Fantasy Piano Opera VII-VIII-IX

Final Fantasy Type-0 Original Soundtrack

Final Fantasy VII Compilation Best Selection (Disc 1 - 4)

Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack

Final Fantasy XIV Band & Piano Arrangement Album (Disc 1 -  2)

Final Fantasy XIV Field Tracks

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (Volumes 1 - 3)

Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki Original Soundtrack

The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Central Band - Premium Wind Ensemble Collection of GHIBLI

Ghibli Jazz ALL THAT JAZZ

Ghost of Tsushima

Gladiator [Music from the Motion Picture]

Gravity Daze Original Soundtrack

Henry Mancini - Pink Guitar

Hollow Knight Original Soundtrack

How to Train Your Dragon Soundtrack (2010) 

ICO ~Melody in the Mist~ Original Soundtrack

Inuyasha Original Soundtrack Collection (Volumes 1-3)

Journey

Kimi no Na wa

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance Original Soundtrack

Kingdom Hearts Music Selection (1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX)

Kingdom Hearts Piano Collections

Kingdom Hearts Piano Collections Field & Battle

Kingdom Hearts World of Tres

Labyrinth no Kanata Original Soundtrack

Last Ranker Limited Soundtrack -Piano Trio Arrange-

Les Misérables

Lost Odyssey Original Soundtrack

Mai Hime Original Soundtracl (Volume 1 & 2)

Mai-HiME Unmei no Keitouju ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - last moment

Mai-HiME Best Collection

Monster Hunter The Jazz

Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch - Original Soundtrack

NieR Automata Piano Collections

NieR Gestalt & Replicant 15 Nightmares & Arrange Tracks

NieR Gestalt & Replicant Original Soundtrack

NieR Gestalt & Replicant Piano Collections

NieR Orchestral Arrangement Album

Nobuo Uematsu Solo Works

Octopath Traveler 16bit Arrangements

Octopath Traveler Arrangements Break & Boost - Extend -

Octopath Traveler Original Soundtrack (Disc 1 - 4)

Of Orcs and Men Original Game Soundtrack

Okami Original Soundtrack

Okami Goju no Onchou

Okami Henkyokushuu Vol.1 Retro

Okami Henkyokushuu Vol.2 Jazz

Okami Henkyokushuu Vol.3 Lounge

Okami Henkyokushuu Vol.4 Healing

Okami Piano Arrange

Ori and the Blind Forest (Additional Soundtrack)

Pandora Hearts Original Soundtrack (Volume 1 & 2)

Piano Pieces ''SF2'' Rhapsody on a Theme of SaGa FRONTIER 2

Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides

Princess Mononoke - Symphonic Suite

Radiata Stories Arrange Album

ReBirth Seiken Densetsu

Relaxing Piano - Hayao Miyazaki Collection

Rogue Galaxy

Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange

Romeo x Juliet Original Soundtrack

Senjou no Valkyria Original Soundtrack

Senjou no Valkyria Original Soundtrack/Scans

Somali and the Forest Spirit Original Soundtrack (Disc 1 & 2)

Soul Calibur V Original Soundtrack

Assassin's Creed Odyssey Original Game Soundtrack

Dragon Age Origins Original Videogame Score

FIRE EMBLEM PREMIUM ARRANGE II

Ace Attorney Investigations Miles Edgeworth 2 Orchestra Arrangement Collection ~Performed Turnabout~

Legend of Mana Arrangement Album Promise

Legend of Mana Arrangement Album Promise/Scans

Monster Hunter Guitar Arrange ~ BlackLute

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Meets Again ~Orchestra & Jazz~

The Legend of Zelda Concert 2018

Spirited Away Suite

Fire Emblem Three Houses Sound Selection

FIRE EMBLEM PREMIUM ARRANGE

FIRE EMBLEM PREMIUM ARRANGE/Scans

Howl's Moving Castle Soundtrack

Joe Hisaishi in Budokan ~25 Years With Miyazaki Animation~

My Neighbor Totoro Image Song Collection

Princess Mononoke Soundtrack

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya Soundtrack

Spirited Away Soundtrack

GRANBLUE FANTASY Piano Collection

GRANBLUE FANTASY Piano Collections II

GRANBLUE FANTASY ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS Chaos

GRANBLUE FANTASY ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS Fate

GRANBLUE FANTASY ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS Promise

GRANBLUE FANTASY ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS Lyria

Grandia Original Soundtrack

The Dragon Knights ~GRANBLUE FANTASY~

Kiki's Delivery Service Original Soundtrack Collection

Laputa Castle in the Sky Soundtrack ~The Mystery of the Levitation Stone~

Porco Rosso Original Soundtrack

Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ Original Soundtrack

NausicaÑ of the Valley of the Wind Soundtrack ~Towards the Faraway Land~

[koinodancesite]

“The Vision”

Coupled with “Utakata Saturday Night” and “Tokyo Toyuu Katasumi”

Release date: May 11, 2016

Oricon Weekly placement: 2nd

Members: Akane Haga, Ayumi Ishida, Erina Ikuta, Haruka Kudo, Haruna Iikubo, Haruna Ogata, Kanon Suzuki, Maria Makino, Masaki Sato, Miki Nonaka, Mizuki Fukumura, Sakura Oda

Morning Musume take a second to breathe in “The Vision.” While the idols spent much of the past few years restlessly working their issues out to a set of equally busy, demanding beats, the production of “The Vision” sits in stasis. The music is mostly accompanied by a sole grand piano, which gets spliced and diced in the usual way a Kaoru Ookubo production does. Like the recent “Imakokokara,” also arranged by Ookubo, the song features an abundance of negative space -- perhaps the most minimal Morning Musume single to date.

Removing so much energy and momentum from the music is a risky move in retrospect. Since the Colorful era, Morning Musume have used the intensity of the beats to amplify their personalities and messages into something larger than life. This isn’t their first time stripping away sounds: “Toki Wo Koe, Sora Wo Koe” is the obvious precursor here in terms of production style as well as a display of a much softer side. But their more vulnerable moments, like “Yuugure Wa Ameagari” and “Oh My Wish,” was still supported by dense, dramatic music. The rush from the synths kicked in a sense of urgency and aided the storytelling about moving forward.

Morning Musume, however, is as resourceful of their production in “The Vision” as much as the spectacle-filled EDM songs. The minimal, pensive music encourages patience, and the group basks in this sense of comfort as though they can stop thinking about the ticking clock for at least a second. The lyrics are usual Morning Musume-isms, with a look into a perfectionist’s mind in the middle of self-critique. But the idols deliver it with a sigh of relief, their errors treated more as just a natural outcome. “Just do better next time,” the song seems to say.

The overall tenderness of “The Vision” helps make the chorus come across as a more convincing sentiment. The titular message is really easier said than done: “if I could draw the image in my mind/ I might be able to grab it: my vision.” Tsunku also includes his two cents to continue Morning Musume’s decades-long promotion for the good of all mankind: “Enjoying life is a duty for all humans/ Having bad thoughts won’t benefit anyone, so let’s smile.” But the stakes in “The Vision” feel much lower in subscribing to this mindset, thanks to the disarming feel of the production. There’s nothing much to lose to participate, so why not believe in it?

[7]

[rubyjcat]

Shuta Sueyoshi / 「秒針 Re:time」”Byoushin Re:time”  - English Translation

末吉秀太 – 秒針 Re:time Romaji: Byoushin Re:time Eng Name: Second Hand Re:time

Release date: 2017/10/27 Album: Jack In the Box Language: Japanese

Official Music Video 🕟 iTunes

Source: Info, Kanji & Romaji Japanese Lyrics

Japanese Romaji (modified)

yaburi totta NOTTO no haji tsuzutta negai kawaranaide kawaranaide kono mama de isasete demo tokei no hari wa dandan to toki wo kizami bokura no omoi made kaete shimatta nee

kimi ga tsuita chiisana uso hontou no imi to yasashisa ni kizukenai boku wa yowa sugite chiguhagu ZURE-teku futari no kokoro CHIKUTAKU tokei wa kawarazu susumi

kimi no KAKERA atsumeta GOMI-bako kakae ugokenai aa

sayonara mada saigo ni kureta namida to egao ga mabuta kogashiteru semete byoushin Re:time kimi ga afureta heya ni kagi wo kakete

waraiatte kaita rakugaki ni nomikonda kotoba akikan ni tsumekonda boku no tameiki haa

kirai girai kirai da konna jibun ga KIRA KIRA egao wa mahou no you ni

kimi wo noseta hibi wa POKETTO ni toki wa ugokidasu aa

kono mama tada kokoro wo tsumuide eranda mirai wa mada kasumu you de tokete nijinde iku sora ni kakureta hoshi ni negai wo kakete

sayonara mada saigo ni kureta namida to egao ga mabuta kogashiteru semete byoushin Re:time kimi ga afureta heya ni

kono mama tada kokoro wo tsumuide eranda mirai wa mada kasumu you de tokete nijinde iku sora ni kakureta hoshi ni negai wo kakete

English Translation

Tore out the ends of the notebook     the wish I spelled out "Do not change, do not change Let it stay this way" But the clock hands gradually tick with time Until our feelings completely changed, right?

You told a small lie     I could not recognize the truth’s meaning and gentleness     I am too weak Mismatched     two hearts are being out of sync Tick Tock     the clock does not progress

The dustbin that accumulated your fragments By holding onto you I can’t move     ahh

Goodbyes were still given in the end Your tears and smiles are burning my eyelids At least the second hand     Re:time You overflowed the room I locked away

Laughed and drew graffiti Swallowed my words Squeezed out from the empty cans My sigh (hah)

I hate, I hate, I hate myself like this Sparkling, sparkling, your smiling face is like magic

I placed you into my pocket day after day Time will start to move     ahh

Just like this, my heart spins The future I chose has yet to appear blurry It is dissolving, and continues flowing I make a wish upon a star hidden in the sky

Goodbyes were still given in the end Your tears and smiles are burning my eyelids At least the second hand     Re:time You overflowed the room

Just like this, my heart spins The future I chose has yet to appear blurry It is dissolving, and continues flowing I make a wish upon a star hidden in the sky

Image Ver.

Translation Notes:

Feel free to use it (credit would be appreciated). This is a fanmade, manually translated version. ^.^ Found a mistake? Let me know??

🕐 How fluent are you with Japanese?: Not fluent, though I started attempting to learn Japanese more seriously late this year, such as reading Kanji and radical searching. Resources used were a Kanji handbook, jisho.org, many websites explaining translation, grammar, conjugation, etc., and English translations of other Japanese lyrics. Inspirations include vgperson and of course, AAA :) Ok not absolutely qualified, well I did call it a fanmade translation

🕑 Difficulties?: I made LOTS of edits before finalizing this. Fun fact: I first started this translation on Nov 24, 2017. The parts I had trouble with include:

「tsuzutta negai」 as I initially thought it was “I wished to spell out” but realised tsuzutta “describes” the action of the noun negai (it’s called a relative clause verb or something). It may not always be the case though. A similar case appears with 「atsumeta gomibako」 and 「eranda mirai」. I included “I” in the respective phrases depending on the context.

「kogashiteru」 because I confused it for two different meanings (”yearn for, be in love” / “burn”) that share the same Kanji. It seems like “yearn for” would fit this kind of song better, but the conjugation I found for this was “te-form + iru”, and only kogashite + iru “to burn” fits this conjugation (as ”yearn for” would be kogarete + iru). It could be interpreted as “the images of you burning when I close my eyes (eyelids)”. It does seem to fit in with the previous phrase, showing how that painful memory of saying goodbye is recalled in the present. If it was “yearn for”, then I would translate it as “My/Your/The tears and smiles yearn (for) eyelids” which doesn’t make much sense.

「sayonara mada saigo ni kureta」. I got confused whether mada was positive (still) or negative (not yet) and also wondered if it affected the noun saigo or the verb kureta (or both). This one should be positive because the verb isn’t in negative form. Then there’s always the aspect of lack of pronouns. I would interpret it as “we”, but I ended up with not using pronouns here as it is ambiguous. Instead I pluralized “goodbye” which doesn’t necessaily have to mean “we”.

日本語はまだ話さないよ！

🕒 Why did you do this?: Because I wanted to ^.^ I love AAA and Shuuty is my favourite member of the band. After falling in love hearing this song, I simply wanted to know what he was singing about. ^^ I used to not care very much to learn the meaning of J-lyrics.

🕓 What do you think about Byoushin Re:time?: His voice melts me <3 It’s a beautiful yet simple song with a calm and heartwarming melody and emotive lyrics. Has a bit of a ‘winter feel’ to it (must be the strings). It turned out to be a sad yet hopeful song about coping with a (drama-free) breakup. I like its use of time stopping when dealing with the breakup and starting again when moving on.

秀太くん、美しい歌をくれてありがとうございます。

I am aware that there must be other people to compose, write lyrics and whatnot, but I don’t know who else helped make the song. Thanks avex for publishing?

Lyrics-wise, I like the wordplay parts. xD chiguhagu and CHIKUTAKU, kirai girai and KIRA KIRA, nomikonda and tsumekonda... and perhaps other less obvious ones.

Here’s my retelling of the story:

Two people are in a relationship (henceforth labelled X & Y). Our person, X, wanted their relationship with Y to stay as it is, but with time it was destined to be doomed. It started with a lie from Y meant to be harmless, but X couldn’t see past the “joke” (perhaps our person has low self-esteem). X and Y slowly became distant. Breakup ensues. X threw away the things reminding them of Y. But it’s hard to move on. Recalling the moment when they said goodbye is painful... when X closes their eyes, they can still see Y’s tears and smiles from that day. But all of it is now only of the past - the clock plays these memories over and over again [Re:time]. X locked away the place filled with memories of Y. That place happens to be the clock, so that’s why time has stopped. X is now sad and hates themself in their current state, which contrasts with X recalling how beautiful Y’s smile was. Since they can’t forget about Y just yet, they kept a memento of Y with them (maybe dug up from the trash), day after day... Time will start to move again as the memories become unlocked. X now keeps the memories of Y in their heart for the better instead of bringing about all the negatives. They can still see a future; the world goes on. All the memories are flowing out of the clock. They make a wish... Perhaps time will tell again if X and Y’s relationship really was not meant to be, or if they might actually reunite one day.

🕔 Are you gonna do anything else?: Yes. I translated this with intentions of doing an English cover (English translyrics = WIP). I’m gonna do it because I love the song and I don’t care if no one else has heard of the song !! (ง ≧o≦)ง For other translations, I only plan to translate and cover one more AAA song. Not sure yet about future singles (as there will always be other fans to translate). Regardless, I am not accepting requests.

読みました、ありがとうございます。