Girls Dead Monster – Highest Life [eng translation]

I love the songs from Angel Beats performed by Girls Dead Monster and Highest Life is one of my favorite, if not the most favorite. I knew the lyrics are very touching so I thought I would give it a shot translating. Little did I realize then how deep the lyrics were and that they told a deep story about sorrow and hope. Therefore, it took quite some time to get the translation done as I had to understand the story it unfolds first. Only then could I try to convey that story in English while clinging to what I consider the right interpretation of the original text. Translating songs can be very tricky as they can include many metaphors and nebulous indications that tend to get lost in translation very easily. So much for my blabbering. Now, listen to the song and read the translation.

Teardrops rolling down my cheeks, I collapsed on my blanket
“Why has it turned out this way?”
All of a sudden, it came

When I made my way up, the world around me felt a bit good
That’s why I recklessly climbed over tall walls
and felt as if everyone looked up at me; that’s more like me

I like playing Clapton’s songs from his Cream days
on nights when I can’t sleep
Down to the crossroads!

Since I felt it might be nice to try living,
I was born, right?
“I’m really glad; people are very nice”
I’m pointing my compass towards a place where I could think that

Of course I cry when I’m sad
It’s lonely being alone
But that’s just what it means to be a human, right?
Oh, my guitar, carry the beats!

When I made my way up, the world around me felt a bit good
That’s why I recklessly climbed over tall walls
and felt as if everyone looked up at me; won’t you try it too?
When you are glad that you could live
it feels the best
Even when tears are falling down our cheeks; even when we cry in pain
Even then we can go forward again
Goodbye and thank you

LaLaLaLa Happy life! Go!
LaLaLaLa Take me with you!
LaLaLaLa Highest life! Go!
LaLaLaLa Go with me!

Romaji:

Boroboro no mama de moufu ni taore
Doushite konna ni muki ni natteru n darou
Futo yogitta

Nobotte mita toki hirogaru sekai wa chiisai hodo kimochi ii
Dakara mubou na hodo takai kabe ga ii
Daremo ga miageru you na sono hou ga atashirashii

Nakanaka netsukenai yoru wa
KURIIMU no koro no KURAPUTON wo hiitari suru no ga suki
Down to the crossroads!

Ikite mite mo ii sou omoetara kara
Umaretekita hazu desho?
Yappa yokatta na hito tte utsukushii na sou omoeru basho ni ima
KONPASU wo awaseteru

Sorya kanashii toki wa naku yo
Hitoribocchi wa sabishii yo
Demo ne ningen tte sonna mon da yo?
Oh, my guitar hibike!

Nobotte mita toki hirogaru sekai wa chiisai hodo kimochi ii
Dakara mubou na hodo takai hou ga ii
Daremo ga miageru you na kimi mo dou?
Ikite yokatta na sou omoeta nara
Saikou ni kimochi ii
Boroboro ni naitemo Mogaite sakendemo
Soredemo atashitachi wa mata arukidaseru nda ne
Sayonara to, arigatou

LaLaLaLa Happy life! Go!
LaLaLaLa Take me with you!
LaLaLaLa Highest life! Go!
LaLaLaLa Go with me!

Kanji:

ぼろぼろのままで毛布に倒れ
どうしてこんなにむきになってるんだろう
ふとよぎった

登ってみたとき広がる世界は小さいほど気持ちいい
だから無謀なほど高い壁がいい
誰もが見上げるような　そのほうがあたしらしい

なかなか寝つけない夜は
クリームの頃のクラプトンを弾いたりするのが好き
Down to the crossroads!

生きてみてもいい　そう思えたらから
生まれてきたはずでしょ？
やっぱよかったな　人って美しいな　そう思える場所に今
コンパスを合わせてる

そりゃ悲しい時は泣くよ
ひとりぼっちは寂しいよ
でもね人間ってそんなもんだよ？
Oh,my guitar　響け！

登ってみたとき広がる世界は小さいほど気持ちいい
だから無謀なほど高いほうがいい
誰もが見上げるような　きみもどう？
生きてよかったな　そう思えたなら
最高に気持ちいい
ぼろぼろに泣いても　もがいて叫んでも
それでもあたしたちはまた歩き出せるんだね
さよならと、ありがとう

LaLaLaLa Happy life! Go!
LaLaLaLa Take me with you!
LaLaLaLa Highest life! Go!
LaLaLaLa Go with me!

Journey Through the Decade of Anime Characters

Figure.fm user Bayonette came up with a nice idea: go through the decade and choose your favorite character in each year. You can make your list, too. Here’s the template you need. There are 8 rules you have to follow, which may make it a bit nerve-wrecking for you ^^ :

1. Pick a girl, then put in her respected fiscal year for which the character appeared. The fiscal year in Japan is April – December, plus January – March of the succeeding year. Example is fiscal year 2000, which starts at April 2000 and ends to March 2001

2. Your picked character from an anime series, must have ended within the fiscal year. Example is Sonsaku Hakufu from Ikki Tousen, aired from July to October 2003.

3. A character from an anime series that ended beyond a certain fiscal year is not eligible Example is Chidori Kaname from Full Metal Panic!; Ineligible in 2001, but eligible in 2002 because it ends on June 2002.

4. Sequels are not allowed unless a certain character appeared first. However, you must pick one character as a representative from that anime series. Example is Signum from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s, aired from October to December 2005.

5. Two or more character from the same series, but appeared in different fiscal years is not allowed! Example is Nagi Sanzenin and Sonia Shaflnarz from Hayate the Combat Butler. Nagi’s appearance is on 2007, while Sonia’s appearance is on 2009. Therefore, you must select one that will represent and leave one out!

6. Two or more different characters, but same voice actor is not allowed. That means, no Haruhi Suzumiya and Konata Izumi (voiced by Aya Hirano) on your chart!

7. No OVAs nor Movies, just TV Anime…

8. Remember, you have ten spaces to fill out!

Set out on your journey and make your own list. If you’re registered on figure.fm, you can put it there. And if you wanted, you can put a link to your post here in the comments.

It took me a lot of time to put it together. But it was worth it. However, the rule about same seiyuu not being able to appear more than once frustrates me as I wasn’t able to pick Kawasumi Mai for 2001, because I’d already used Yukarin for 2006.

2000 – Aoyama Motoko (Love Hina) ; That was rather easy
2001 – Minase Nayuki (Kanon) ; Like I said, I would like to choose Mai instead
2002 – Teletha Testarossa (Full Metal Panic!) ; I was deciding between Tessa and Eclair from Kiddy Grade
2003 – Shirakawa Kotori (D.C. Da Capo) ; This was a fierce showdown between Harada Risa from D.N.Angel and Kotori, from which Kotori has emerged victorious, but it was the hardest decision of all. Still, I like Kotori the least out of these 10 girls.
2004 – Fate Testarossa (Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha) ; This was easy
2005 – Alice Carroll (ARIA) ; Even Shana was defeated. She had bad luck that she competed in this year. In 5 other years, I would pick her, but not in 2005.
2006 – Furude Rika (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni) ; Looking back at the anime series from 2006, it was the best anime year ever together with 2007
2007 – Sakagami Tomoyo (CLANNAD) ; Katsura Hinagiku came up second but I had hard time deciding between these two.
2008 – Aisaka Taiga (Toradora!) – If not Shana, then at least Taiga. But I prefer it the other way round.
2009 – Akiyama Mio (K-ON!) – Followed by Azusa and Shiina Mafuyu.

Angel Beats BD/DVD vol.7 to include a special episode

The seventh DVD/Bluray volume of anime Angel Beats! featuring episode 13 will also include a special unaired episode. Furthermore, an extra DVD with making-of and a booklet will be included.

Angel Beats! vol.7 is going to be released on December 22 at the price of 6,300 yen, including tax. If you were interested, you can order it here.

DFC Saturday #20

Erica Hartmann and Francesca Lucchini by unknown artist

This is already the 20th instalment of DFC Saturday gallery series and I’m glad there are quite a lot of people who like it. I feel that the number 20 is rather special as it means that this series has been here for 20 weeks already. The next milestone is of course 50. But that’ll take some more time to reach ^^ So much for milestones. Now, without any further ado, enjoy the usual dose of 10 pictures.

Sengoku Nadeko and Hachikuji Mayoi by yukian

picture by oza watto

picture by t.o.d

Amae Koromo by Tokumi Yuiko

98-tan by dd

Cirno by mocchi

Nana Asta Deviluke by unknown artist

Kagura by mattete koisanman

Inami Mahiru by tera zip

K-ON! After School Live!! PSP Game Trailer

K-ON! After School Live!! rhythm game by Sega follows in the footsteps of Sega’s Hatsune Miku Project DIVA game, which has proved successful. K-ON! After School Live!!’s playing system is basically the same, only the Vocaloid characters are replaced by the members of Houkago Tea Time band. Here comes a trailer in which you can see some bits from the actual game.

The game also offers a multiplayer mode which up to 5 players can join. Each of them plays as a different member of the band. Either Yui on lead guitar, Mio on bass, Azunyan on rhythm guitar, Tsumugi on keyboard, or Ritsu on drums.

K-ON! After School Live!! PSP game is scheduled to September 30 release. The price is 6,090 yen.

Sora no Woto Special Episode 7.5 Part A Streamed

The official website of anime Sora no Woto has begun streaming part A of unaired episode 7.5 that is only available on DVD/Bluray volume 4.

The video is 8 minutes long and starts with Kureha writing about a lamentable occurrence that she wants to prevent from repeating by leaving a secret message. Then, she reminisces about what happened. Yumina came over to the headquarters and was invited to have lunch with others. However, she flared up and began lecturing after Kureha poured some Calvados on roasting meat. Elsewhere in the base, Kanata went to tell Rio that lunch is ready and caught her off-guard. Rio had hard time concealing the Calvados production room from Kanata who got suspicious of her. Kanata desperately wanted to know what was behind the door and Phylicia came up with an idea. If Kanata wanted to know the secret, she would have to win at a battle.

The fourth volume of Sora no Woto was released yesterday and you can get it from CDJapan

Another unaired special episode will be included in volume 7, which ships on September 22.

Source: SaiAni.net

Mizuki Nana – Mysterion PV

Mizuki Nana’s new PV for her new song Mysterion has leaked on the Internet. Nana-chan looks absolutely wonderful in it! Some of her poses are indescribably sexy, there’s a nice cut showing her thigh ( ☆ v ☆ ), and the level of hawtness is over 9000 XD. The PV is not on YouTube, only on NND, so I hope you will be able to watch it. If anybody has a problem, write a comment and I’ll do my best so that even you can watch this ultimately amazing video with Nana-chan.

【ニコニコ動画】ミュステリオン フルPV

This song is on the album Impact Exciter which can be preordered at CDJapan. You can choose either the limited edition w/ DVD or the regular edition w/o DVD.

Strike Witches 2 Trailer

A trailer of the second season of ecchi anime with pantsu-clad soldiers, Strike Witches, has been streamed. Strike Witches 2 starts airing on July 7 and I hope it will be an enjoyable watch, as the first season was.

A bonus NSFW picture that I found very nice. Click to see or hide.

Hi-res version of the pic.

Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- 2nd Gameplay Videos

The release date of Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- 2nd PSP game is closing on us so it’s only natural there is more and more information and whatever appearing on the Internet. Here are a few gameplay videos. They are definitely worth watching, the more if you fancy seeing Miku with loose long hair and wings.

Song title: VOICE

Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- 2nd is going to be released on July 27 and you can preorder it at Play-Asia.

Source: Moetron

Kuwazugirai TV Show – Mizuki Nana vs. Jejung

Mizuki Nana appeared in the TV show Kuwazugirai, which is a very interesting Japanese TV show. There are two attendees and each of them has to choose 4 dishes, one of which they don’t like. They sit together at one table, eat the chosen dishes, and try to find out which of the 4 dishes the other person dislike. The one who doesn’t get it right has to decide on a batsu-geemu (punishment game) for himself or herself. In this instalment of Kuwazugirai, there were Mizuki Nana and singer-actor Jejung.

Well, Nana-chan doesn’t like the smell of celery and Jejung isn’t very fond of raw horse meat and sashimi (slices of raw meat, usually fish) in general.

EDIT: Unfortunately, the videos have been put down and are not available now. I will try to find them later.