Decided to do this one after all. This is the ED to the second film of the animated film series Kara no Kyoukai – the Garden of Sinners. It is a pretty nice song on its own, but it only truly resonates when savored in its intended context – as a curtain-closer to the second film. So if you haven’t watched it yet, I highly, highly recommend you go do so. Yes, watch all seven films. You won’t regret it.
Anyway here it is, “Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete yuku”, or “You return it to light”. Quite possibly a love song at its core. A dreamy song that traverses a spectral path from shimmering melancholy to triumphant catharsis. As usual, hit F8 to listen to it while it’s up, and hit the jump for a picture, romaji lyrics, and translations.
Lyrics
Atataka na kaze no naka de
Dareka ga yonderu
Kurayami o oshimu you ni
Yoake ga hajimaruAshita wa kitto
Kirei na sora ni
Gin-iro no niji ga kakaru deshouKonna ni kanashii keshiki o
Kimi ga hikari ni kaete yuku
Chiisana namida no tsubusae
Houseki no you ni ochiteku
Mirai no naka eKokoro ni wa himitsu ga aru
Sore demo furetakute
Fureaeba kowarete yuku
Tamerai wa rasen no naka eHashi o watatta kawa no mukou made
Ashita wa kitto
Mahiru no naka de
Haru wa amaku fukaku kaoru no deshou
Yume kara samete
Hito wa nani o sagasu noKonna ni akarui sekai e
Kimi ga watashi o tsurete yuku
Mabushisa ni mada tachi sukumu
Senaka o sotto dakishimeruShinjiru koto no hakanasa o
Kimi ga hikari ni kaete yuku
Mezameta asa ni wa namida ga
Houseki no you ni ochiteku
Mirai no naka e
Translation
Within the warm wind
Someone is calling
Seemingly reluctant to part the darkness
The dawn beginsSurely, tomorrow
Upon the beautiful sky
Shall hang a silver-colored rainbowThis scenery so sorrowful
You return it to light
Even the little drops of tears
Fall, like jewels
Into the futureWithin the heart lives a secret
And yet you wanted to touch it
Should the touch land, it will shatter
Hesitation descends into the spiralOver the bridge you crossed to the other side of the river
Surely tomorrow..
Within the noon daylight
Spring will be sweetly and deeply scented, right?
Waking from a dream
What are people searching for?Into such a brilliant world
You’ve taken me
And as I am still petrified by the brightness
You gently held me from behindThe transcience of believing
You return it to light
As I awake to the morning, my tears
Fall, like jewels
Into the future.
Romaji Lyrics from Gendou Anime Music.
Translation by me, referencing translations at Gendou Anime Music.
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dai1313
Wow, this song IS amazing.
So beautiful.
It makes me want to learn Japanese just so I can sing along.
Jason "moofang"
Heh well I used to sing along without knowing Japanese xD that’s what the romaji lyrics are for :P
dai1313
I am not good at making the sounds. ;_;
Well, this song is low tempo, so it might be doable – but I feel like I am butchering the song and that makes me feel bad.
Despite the fact that no one is listening.
Jason "moofang"
Ah, well it probably takes some practice to get the unusual intonations and such right lol. You just gotta become shameless when no one is around and work on it xD
Keiri
Touching on a sentence from your previous post… What? You skipped the ending before? How could you??? Ahaha just kidding. It’s only me being the Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina faggert that I am. XD
Anyway, I must agree from a more objective point of view, “Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete iku” is a magnificent song and its beauty is evident in its lyrics, music and vocal performances by the singers. It strongly echoes the events that happened in the second KnK movie, especially with regards to the interactions between Shiki and Mikiya when we take their personalities, backgrounds and relationship dynamics into account. Apart from Kajiura working wonders in producing a song like this from the lyrics and composition perspectives, I really appreciate that she even goes to the length of thinking about which of her vocalists perform which parts of her songs, and instructing them on how to best perform the songs while making full use of the quality and strength of each of their voices (You’d notice in Kalafina, there are three distinctive tones and timbres to their voices. Used to be four before one of the members left the group after the fifth KnK movie). The result? Beautiful, powerful and/or emotional themes every single time (Again, that’s probably just me talking as a fag for their music).
Oh, just a quick question regarding your translation… I’m curious about why you translated “kaete” as “return” instead of “turn/change/transform” when the kanji used is “変えて”? I presume it’s related to the story and interactions between Shiki and Mikiya? :)
Jason "moofang"
I was watching it with a housemate who always complains when I try to sit through OPs and EDs xP don’t kill mi!!
For what it’s worth I also thought the arrangement of which vocalist did which part was really nice and well done. I could only distinguish two different voices though, not counting the background choral parts. All the same the Kalafina vocalists are really good and well suited to the kinds of songs here (less so, I thought, for songs like the Sora no Woto OP, even though that wasn’t exactly bad either).
It was a mistake xD Somehow when I heard the song for the first few times my brain kept on registering the kanji as 帰 instead of 変, even though I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the former used as 帰て. I eventually decided that I liked how “return” sounded in that context though, so I kept it. Combination of lousy moonspeak knowledge and poetic license? :P
dai1313
I was watching it with a housemate who always complains when I try to sit through OPs and EDs xP don’t kill mi!!
My sister does that too, when we are watching anime she will literally pull over the keyboard and start tapping the right arrow key to skip the OP and ED.
It pisses me off! It’s my damn keyboard – she should show some respect. Grrr…
Jason "moofang"
Fellow mplayer user amirite? *high five*
When I watch with my housemate in my room I usually sit in front of the computer, so he usually only complains xP
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