Late as usual! But then it was pretty damn hard to finally decide on the Anisong of the Season this time round, actually.
I nearly gave it to “Brave Song”, the Angel Beats ED. I really like Listen!’s tune and I adore the awesome animation sequence that accompanies it, but Brave Song was itself a pretty great song and it had this really amazing resonance with Angel Beats and its themes that gave it an evocative, emotive power, something Listen! doesn’t quite enjoy as much with K-ON!! IMO. Ultimately though, it was the lyrics and lyrical arrangement that clinched it when I looked them up for this post.
Brave Song has great lyrics, but I really like the musical, rock spirit of Listen!’s. If you have not been paying attention to what Mio was singing in those ED’s I invite you to give my translation below a taste-over and see if you agree with me. The rhythmic way some words are slurred and hop-scotched over and the unstoppered gush during the chorus was great, and Yoko Hikasa just blitzing through the whole thing was fantastic. KyoAni’s composers sure know how to make Mio sound awesome.
… try and ignore the Engrish bits though, as usual ;)
Speaking of Angel Beats, that was quite the disappointment :( In a bizarre coincidence I had been doing a rewatch of Munto with a friend and at the end of Angel Beats I found that I had mostly similar complaints for both shows – not enough build-up and flesh-out, rushed pacing, bad endings. Just… wasted potential. Maybe I should do a rant-post on Angel Beats sometime.
Back on topic, I present you my chosen Anisong of the Season – Listen! ED to K-ON!!. The full version too for extra awesome. Hit the jump as usual for romaji lyrics and translations, and hit F8 to hear the track while it’s up.
(btw, did you see that new K-ON!! ED? I’m not sure I like the idea of giving away two Anisong of the Season awards to K-ON!!, but if an outstanding rival doesn’t appear soon…)
Lyrics
IT’S DEEP DEEP kokoro no oku fukaku
nani mo hibikanakatta SANKUCHUARI ni
HEAT HEAT hi ga tsuichatta kara modorenai
IT’S SHOCK SHOCK shougeki hasshin shite
doko made mo nee issho ni ikou yo tte
ROCK ROCK oto no arashi tsunami sasoiauotoshita PIKKU oreta SUTIKKU
zenzen mondai nai
onaji SAUNDO no naka ni iru sore ga jitsu wa kisekiWE’LL SING utau yo kanjiru sono mama
donna ni chiisakute mo sekai de hitotsu no uta
kyou shinde mo kuyamanai tte kurai
zenryoku de ikitai nda
hanate PASSIONATE
watashitachi no kore ga PRECIOUS HEART BEAT
utau yoNON SWEET SWEET amai kotoba yori
honne ga kokochi ii desho TOUCH OF MIND sou
WIT WIT kikasete tanoshiku ne zutto itsumo
NON STOP STOP umareru omoi wa
hikari yori saki wo isoideru kara
ROCK ROCK oto de tsukamaete tsutaenakyahashiru RIZUMU kurutta CHUUNINGU
zenbu souteinai
onaji yume eranderu sore ga asu e no PAWAAWE’LL SHOUT sakebu yo away na SUTEEJI demo
donna ni kowakute mo hitorikiri ja nai kara
mikansei datte kamawanai
honki kanadetai nda
todoke TRUTHFULNESS
yatto aeta ne kore ga TREASURE HEART BEATWE WANT TO KNOW… TO LIVE… TO LOVE…
kazoekirenai inori
koe ni shite hane ni shite CAN FLY HIGHWE’LL SING utau yo kanjiru sono mama
donna ni chiisakute mo sekai de hitotsu no uta
kyou shinde mo kuyamanai tte kurai
zenryoku de ikitai nda
hanate PASSIONATE
watashitachi no kore ga PRECIOUS HEART BEAT
utau yo TREASURE HEART BEAT
LISTEN
Translation
It’s deep deep, deep in my heart
A sanctuary where nothing made a sound
heat heat, the fire caught, and there was no turning back
It’s shock shock, shock that I send out
“Hey, let’s go everywhere together” said
rock rock, a storm of sound, a tsunami, to each otherA dropped pick! A broken stick!
No problems at all.
We’re within the same sound, and that’s the real miracleWe’ll sing! We’ll sing! As far as our feelings take us
No matter how small we are, this is that one song in the world!
That death today brings me no regrets
I want to live with all my might
Release it, passionate
This is our Precious Heart Beat!
We’ll sing!Non sweet, sweet, beyond just sweet words,
Does your true nature not feel better? Touch of Mind, yes
wit wit, tell it and relish it! always and forever
Non stop stop, the feelings born of this
they rush, faster than light,
rock rock, gotta capture them in sound and pass them onA running rhythm! A frenzied tune!
They’re all in the plan.
Choosing that same dream, and that’s the power that leads to tomorrowWe’ll shout! We’ll shout! Even on a foreign stage
Because no matter how afraid we are, we’re not alone
Even if it’s incomplete I don’t mind
I want to play my heart out
Reach out, truthfulness
We finally found it, this is our Treasure Heart BeatWe want to know! To live! To love!
Those innumerable ceaseless prayers
Turn them to voice! Turn them to wings! Can Fly High ~~We’ll sing! We’ll sing! As far as our feelings take us
No matter how small we are, this is that one song in the world
That death today brings me no regrets
I want to live with all my might
Release it, passionate
This is our Precious Heart Beat!
We’ll sing!
Treasure Heart Beat!
Listen!!
Romaji Lyrics taken from Gendou’s Anime Music.
Translation adapted by me from Gendou’s Anime Music.
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dai1313
YES. I freaking love this song!
I haven’t seen any anime recently but now I really want to see that new ED.
I has a question for you, d you think this ED is better than Don’t Say Lazy?
Jason "moofang"
I thought it parred DSL the first time I heard it. But I think DSL had somewhat awkward lyrics, while Listen!’s are, as above noted, GAR. So… yes, Listen! is better ;)
Dustin
BOOOOOO!!! Brave Song should have totally one this. You were fooled by Mio’s wink. I’m convinced it fried your brain leaving you in a state that would allow you to pick this over Brave Song.
I guess I’m just a sucker for some awesome piano, but at the same time, Brave Song meant so much to me and this song was fun a couple of times and then just kind of died. I think we can pull meaning out of just about anything hence we can fall in love with just about any music.
I want a revote!
Dustin
Oh wow! won instead of one on the first line there.
Jason "moofang"
Aaagh! You returned from Hiatus-land just to destroy my insidious K-ON-praising attempts? Looks like you weren’t kidding about your RSS K-ON alarms Dustin :D
Jokes aside, it was a hair-breadth decision. In fact if it had been between the TV versions of both songs Brave Song would’ve won it. Personally I thought Brave Song’s first verse was really powerful, but the rest of the song didn’t quite maintain that crescendo, while with Listen I felt the full version was a good step up from the TV version, and the final line “Listen!” just felt a lot more awesome after we’ve been through the whole thing.
Ok, I guess I kinda like rock music and the guitar solo in the middle there was pretty sick, so that might have added to the brain-frying effect (after Mio’s wink wreaked its havoc of course ;) )
Btw, sorry I don’t yet have a mechanism to allow post-submit comment editting. I looked around a bit for a plugin once, but the stuff I found were either non-free, or involved a lot of laborous set-up that I wasn’t quite up to at the time…
Dustin
I suppose given the full songs you make a fair point. I was considering just the T.V. Versions…
As for the K-ON! Or !! Detector: It’s still working perfectly and reminds me to keep on your case. Actually this season of K-ON!! Hasn’t been too bad. I think it’s a combination of increased Azu-nyan time and Yui actually having to study. They even spend a fair amount of time watching her study. There still really isn’t enough music but I guess they’re being faithful to the manga somewhat. I like the stark contrast between this and the adaptation of the seitokai 4koma. You can totally tell seitokai is 3 panels than a punchline while Kyoto, dare I say it, actually makes each episode kind of weave together and even weave into a whole. I still feel like K-on isn’t incredibly entertaining, but it’s definitely in my top 3 of stuff I’m watching this season (I guess that doesn’t say much does it).
Oh, even though I’ve been laying low I still get to read your and blogsuki on the busride home. I appreciate the distraction and entertainment. Keep it up, I’m debating my return all the time.
Jason "moofang"
Yeah you’re right about the weaving together thing. From what I’ve been hearing the source material for K-ON isn’t much to talk about, so my guess is the Kyoto folks decided it’s a better idea to pad the anime with slice-of-life “filler” connectives instead of trying to build the show on discrete 4-koma punchlines. That goes right up my alley, but then we already know that :)
A good number of people I’m sure, including I, would be glad to have you back if and when you find the time. In the meantime you might consider trying out microblogging. Wait, on second thought scratch that – I hear it increases the chances of hiatus permanence :P
Keiri
I thought “Brave Song” was more than a worthy contender but in the end, I too picked “Listen!” over it by a tiny margin. My reason is shamelessly superficial – I found Tada Aoi’s voice boring, no offense to her fans ^_^;. And I think a couple of you already know (and probably have rolled eyes over) the fact that I’m a hopeless audio slave whenever it comes to Pikasha Youko’s singing. So yes, sue me XD. I know I should take the other elements like the meaning of the lyrics into account but my ears are that shallow. Heck, if somebody like Kaneda Tomoko or Fukui Yukari performed “Brave Song” in place of Tada, I would have ripped my ears off the instant I hear them sing. :P
Anyway and although… If Lia had performed “Brave Song” instead, then I might just have picked it over “Listen!”. :)
Dustin
Psht,
Jason getting me to blog again. I guess it really is only as hard as powering through a post (Though that can still be difficult and time consuming). I gave microblogging a pass. Normally when I want to say something I want to say something substantial. I want to write full arguments not just comments :).
Thanks for the push though, hopefully I’ll keep it up. I hope microbloggin doesn’t cause you to hiatus though :(. I’ll be having some very boring bus rides home.
Dustin
Jason!! I’m running out of sql database space :(. Do you know any good free stuff where I can get more than 20mb for free?
Jason "moofang"
@ Keiri: I absolutely agree about Youko’s singing (though I don’t at all know why she’s Pikasha :P ) Mio needs to sing more songs in the show, no offence to Toyosaki Aki.
@ Dustin: Glad to see you back and around! Though I shall have to squeeze out time to read those 3000-word post of yours soon :P and for me microblogging isn’t quite the same as regular blogging. I think of it as a raw first impression thing. It’s also handy for quick link sharing and such.
And no, I don’t know any free sql space :( I’ve pretty much myself decided that there is no future with free hosting. Maybe pushing out images and such to external services like imageshack might help give you back some space?
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