Showing posts with label solitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solitude. Show all posts

Kayo Aiko's First single...

was released on December 10, 2003.  The title is 瞳の中の迷宮. It's pronounced 'Hitomi no Naka no Meikyuu', and can be translated as 'The Maze in Your Eyes'. The c/w track is titled 'solitude'.

The PV is a making-of style, featuring shots of Aiko messing around backstage, carrying an umbrella in the rain, being made-up on the set, and a closeup shot of her lip-synching the song.  Some of the shots are professional but others show a candid side of her which of course is very, very cute.  She was 17 when this was filmed.

I believe that her parents are shown in the video;  one shot shows a woman carrying some items a few steps behind her, backstage.  Another very quick shot shows what appears to be that same woman on one side of Aiko, and a really handsome guy on the other side (which could be her father *or* older brother, I don't know for sure).  They look like proud family members, they bear a resemblance to Aiko, and why would the video include a closeup shot of random people at this important moment unless they were proud family members?

The single was featured as the opening theme of the anime 'Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito' (Yami, Hat, and Traveller's Book). Aiko voiced the character 'Reira', some sources I've seen refer to her as 'Layla Mars'. I can't confirm this from the show; Aiko's character is only referred to as 'Reira'.  According to the translator's notes, the Reira character was not in the video game but was created specifically for the TV series.

Aiko's character appears in episodes 10 and 11 of the 13-episode series.   A synopsis of this series follows:

Hatsumi is a mysterious and flawlessly beautiful young blond librarian who has the power to 'travel through' books. She can live in a book's 'world' with that book's characters, but whenever she has a 16th birthday, she disappears and leaves the characters behind.

One of the characters left behind was Hatsuki, who fell in love with her and now is obsessively trying to track her down, but is always one step behind.

When Hatsuki arrives in a new book, the characters will always give some clue as to what Hatsumi (the one being chased) was doing while she lived in that book. Because she is so beautiful and because there are always mysterious circumstances surrounding her arrival and sudden departure, Hatsumi becomes a legend in every world she visits.

In one of the stories, Hatsumi suddenly arrives as 'Rurau' on a giant spaceship which is full of children travelling on a 200-year journey towards a new home planet. She then leaves just as suddenly, floating out into space all by herself.

Some years later, Reira (Aiko) is a child travelling on that spaceship as it reaches the new home planet. She admires Rurau's legend and wonders what it would be like to float off into the loneliness of space like Rurau once did.

The ship is controlled by an omnipotent computer which acts as the parental figure of Reira and all the children on the ship. The adults on the ship all died a decade ago but remain in their beds, decaying, while the ship's computer simulates their voices.

An emergency is called and Reira bravely volunteers to fix a CO2 tank outside the ship. However, she accidentally severs the tether line and floats off just like Rurau.

Instead of disappearing or dying a horrible death, her boy-crush Ramuro uses a jet-pack to save her and they fly back to the ship together. There they are readying shuttles which will land on the new planet, called 'Rurau', a name picked by Reira.

As a housewarming gift, Reira gets vials of DNA taken from Earth animals, so that they can be recreated on the new planet.

I've suspended my disbelief about everything else, but I have a hard time believing that Aiko could clone animals. You never know, I guess.

Subtitled videos of this series, including the opening which uses the single, are available at youTube and probably elsewhere.

The series has a decidedly mature tone and is centered around a lesbian relationship. It's not violent but there are some conflicts. Throughout, there are many shots of ideally-drawn women's bodies with the least amount of clothing possible.

Even Aiko's character lays in bed with a sheet barely draped over her. I won't give away how the series ends, and I haven't watched it recently enough to be confident in teling you about it anyway. But if Hatsuki finally succeeds in finding Hatsumi, you'd really want to watch what happens next, in excruciating detail. They don't show it to you, but after 7 hours of this series, you can imagine it.

'solitude' translation

A post on yahoo!answers gave me the gumption to do a full translation of this song;  had I been a little more savvy, I'd have noticed that the answer was 'closed'.  No worries, though, it's here for posterity.  A few disclaimers and it's on with the show (you can always skip this introduction and just scroll down to the song).

First, I'm only guessing that Aiko sings this to someone in particular in first person, though it seems highly likely.  My verb forms aren't very precise, and it's possible that I'm waay off the mark on some of this.  However, the romaji is correct, disregarding the spaces between some words (and it can vary sometimes, depending on the translator.)

I try to make my translations follow the original text as closely as possible, so that the English wording is aligned with the Japanese wording.  I never combine two lines to make a more fluid sentence structure.  Because of this, however, it's easier to pick out the source word(s) and come up with a more precise meaning on your own.

The romaji is a modified Hepburn style which should make sense to beginners and experts alike.  The perfectionist in me wants to have it in 'kunrei-shiki' style so that it can be back-translated, but it's harder to sing along with.  So all my romaji will be in this style, for future reference.  I won't be mentioning this again in future posts, but just so you know.

Last, unless it infringes on other applicable laws, I hereby release the romaji and translation to the public domain, to be used in any way, by anyone, for any purpose.  If you repost, please also provide the songwriter credits.  Thanks!

solitude
(romaji/translation)
as sung by Kayo Aiko
lyrics (Japanese): Kenn Kato
composer: Y@suo Ohtani
arranger: ats-
chorus arrangement: YAS KITAJIMA

aitakute (i miss you)
aenakute (i want to be with you)
nantonaku uwa no sora de (for some reason i'm preoccupied)
kizuitara muishikini anata wo omotteru (before I know it i'm unconsciously thinking about you)

sou kitto (yes, undoubtedly)
mou zutto (the whole time)
kotae nara wakatteru yo (i know the answer)
sore na no ni akirame kirenai kute, gomen ne (despite that, i must apologize)

hito wa naze todokanai hodo (how can a person not reach their limit)
oikakeru no kana (i wonder if i'm getting through)
saki ni nagedashita no wa (before i throw it all away)
kono watashi, sore na no ni naze (me, despite all, how can i?)

deaeta hi no yasashisa mo (we meet on days with gentleness)
kasaneaeta nukumori mo (overlapping with warmth)
motomerareru yorokobi mo (i'm wanting joy)
maboroshi ni wa omoenakutte (this vision is unlikely)

uso da toka (a lie such as this)
himitsu toka (a secret such as this)
shinjirukoto mo wasurete (i believe i'll forget)
otagai ni samete risuru you ni natte ta (it reaches the point where we blame each other)

hito wa naze fuan ni naru to (why do people get nervous)
shibari tagaru kana? (wanting to tie together, i wonder?)
sore ga touzakeru koto (i guess staying away is a fact)
shirinagara tomerarenai ne (i can understand, but it doesn't end)

jiyuu toka kodoku da toka (if it pleases you, have solitude) ["kodoku"="solitude"]
naimono ne dari de kawaru (it's asking too much for change)
honto wa dochira mo onaji (really, we're both the same)
sou kokoro wa wagamama da ne (because our hearts are selfish)

wakare no hi no samishii sa mou (the days we're apart are sad)
kizutsukeau kanashimi mo (this wound is sorrowful)
kuyami kirenai itami mo (condolence can't be hurtful)
futari dakedo shirushi ni naru (the two of us will get a sign)

hitotsu hitotsu omoide wo dakishime (one by one i hold the memories close)
aruite iku kara (we walk along)
warainagara furimukeru toki ga (we are smiling, the time to turn around)
kuru you ni... (so that it becomes)
zutto... (always)

deaeta hi no yasashisa mo (we meet on days with gentleness)
kasaneaeta nukumori mo (overlapping with warmth)
motomerareru yorokobi mo (i'm wanting joy)
maboroshi ni wa omoenakutte (this vision is unlikely)