2013/12/15

Prolog for IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI

Included in the BD "LIVE - LEGEND I, D, Z, APOCALYPSE -" (released on 2013 Nov. 20).

Before BABYMETAL sing "IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI", SU-METAL's narration is always playbacked. In most concerts the narration is the same, but the special narration was playbacked in 'Legend "Z"' (2013 February 1st).

Prologue for "IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI"   (usual)

Why do people hurt each other?
For whom do they hurt each other?
I don't want to see your tearful face anymore.

So we stand up.
In my dream the Fox told me
we should run about with all our might.
In my dream a long-haired young man told me
"Wall of Death".

If you show us the true courage,
we will tell you the true Metal.
"Bullying, No, Absolutely"


Prologue for "IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI"   in Legend "Z"

We've got the new life.
But the life can't last forever.
Not to forget this moment now,
we continue to sing.

We don't want to see your sorrowful, tearful face anymore.
We in your heart are always with you.
So we sing together.
"Bullying, No, Absolutely"


Prologue for "IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI"   (English version)

Why do people hurt each other?
Who do they hurt them for?
More than ever I do not want to see you cry anymore

So, let's stand together
In a dream THE BIG FOX taught us
You should never give up
and run the race as hard as possible
In a dream the METAL MASTER taught us
WALL OF DEATH

If you show true courage
We will show you TRUE METAL
No more bullying, forever.



  ROMAJI TRANSCRIPTION AND NOTES ARE BELOW.


[i] About BABYMETAL's "Wall of Death"

BABYMETAL often say their "Wall of Death" (= WoD) means that YUIMETAL and MOAMETAL run across on the stage in the introduction of "IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI" e.g. [ HotWave '13 Jun. 19 ], but in the metal scene, WoD means the hard rushing of the audience divided in two. Recently the latter type occurs in BABYMETAL's concerts, since more metalheads come to the concert than before.

WoD is dangerous and such actions are forbidden (at least "formally forbidden") in most concerts, but the phrase "If you show me the true courage..." seems to instigate the audience to do WoD, and actually this narration afford time preparing for WoD starting with the guitar riff. I am afraid that WoD causes a severe accident in BABYMETAL's concert. I want to say, in the first place, WoD do nothing against the bullying.

[ii] About the Extension of BABYMETAL's Activity

BABYMETAL started as one of the sub groups of Sakura Gakuin. The members of Sakura Gakuin, as its rule, leave the group when they graduate from junior high school. 2013 March is the time for SU-METAL, and their management office Amuse Inc. announced nothing about it, so, until the end of the concert 'Legend "Z"', BABYMETAL's fans were afraid that BABYMETAL may disband.

"The new life" here narrated means the extension of BABYMETAL's activity. Amuse Inc. announced the "limited-time" extension, but the deadline has not announced as yet.

[iii] About the English Version of the Prologue

In the concert on 2015 Jan. 10th at Makuhari Messe (Chiba, Japan), the English version of the prologue was playbacked and displayed on the screen. It was the same as that for the world tour 2014 (thanks to Anonymous san on comment on 2014 Aug. 30th). There are some substantial differences between the English version and my translation (see the notes #1 #3 #4 below). I don't know whether 'he' intended to express something slightly different in English or I simply missed what 'he' expressed in Japanese.


Prologue for "IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI"   (usual)

Romaji TranscriptionEnglish TranslationNotes
 
Naze hito wa kizutsuke au no? Why do people hurt each other?
Dare no tame ni kizutsuke au no? For whom do we hurt each other?
Moo ima ijo kore ijo kimi no nakigao wa mitaku-nai yo. I don't want to see your tearful face anymore.
 
Dakara watashitachi wa tachiagaru. So we stand up.1
Yume no naka de Kitsune san ga oshiete kureta, In my dream the Fox told me2
omoikkiri kakekko o suru to ii yo-tte. we should run about with all our might.[i],3
Yume no naka de ron-ge no oniisan ga oshiete kureta, In my dream a long-haired young man told me4
"wooru obu desu". "Wall of Death".[i]
 
Honto no yuuki misete kuretara If you show us the true courage,5,6
honmono no metaru oshiete ageru yo. we will tell you the true Metal.6
"IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI" "Bullying, No, Absolutely"
 

Prologue for "IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI"   in Legend "Z"

Romaji TranscriptionEnglish TranslationNotes
 
Watashitachi wa aratana inochi o te ni ireta. We've got the new life.[ii]
Dakedo eien-ni wa tsuzuka-nai inochi. But the life can't last forever.
Ima kono shunkan o wasure-nai tame Not to forget now this moment,
watashitachi wa utai tuzukeru. we continue to sing.
 
Kanashi-soona kimi no nakigao wa
    moo mitaku-nai yo.
We don't want to see
    your sorrowful, tearful face anymore.
Kimi no kokoro no naka no watashitachi wa itsumo iru yo. We in your heart are always with you.7
Dakara isshoni utau-nda. So we sing together.
"IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI". "Bullying, No, Absolutely"
 

Notes

  1. The English line is "Let's stand together". If taking "watashitachi" as inclusive 'we', the Japanese line can have such a meaning though it doesn't have a typical form of suggestion.
  2. "Sama" and "san" are the honorifics, and "san" is lower in rank. I always translate "Kitsune sama" to "the Fox God", and here "Kitsune san" to "the Fox", but probably both refer to the same entity.
  3. The English line is "You should never give up and run the race as hard as possible", but the Japanese line have no elements for "never give up". Though "kakekko" literally means a running race, I translate it to "run about" because Yui & Moa don't seem to compete and the word "race" seems unfit to "anti-bullying", but I may be wrong.
  4. "Ron-ge" = "rongu" + "ke" = "long" + "hair". This is a rather casual expression but "oniisan" is a kind of polite form, so I changed the translation from "long-haired guy" to "long-haired young man" (on 2015 Mar. 22nd).
        It refers to some metalhead. In the English version, it is "the METAL MASTER", which refer to some great Metal musician(s).
  5. Since omitting "o" is rare in the standard Japanese ("honto no yuuki (o) misete kuretara"), it reminds me of the lyrics of an ending theme of "Dragon Ball": "I will give you the romantic (things), if you show me the true courage".
  6. The Japanese lines have no grammatical object & subject. I changed the supplementary ones from "me" & "I" to "us" & "we" (on 2015 Mar. 22nd). I'm sorry for drawn by the lyrics of the anime song.
  7. "We (who are) in your heart" (= Kimi no kokoro no naka no watashitachi) is the subject of the sentence.

21 comments :

  1. Thanks!! You helped me a lot!! Your blog is EVERYTHING I'm looking for!! I'm a BABYMETAL fan from Brazil since 2012 :D Thanks again.
    #GUROMETAL

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    Replies
    1. I wish the fans over the world know the meanings of BABYMETAL's songs and BABYMETAL notice that at their concert outside of Japan.

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  2. I'm a metalhead but have never actually seen a moshpit, thought of it as more of a punk thing. Perhaps here in Finland we value our personal space! There is an etiquette of helping people who fall, but I absolutely agree with you on your thoughts about WoD.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comment. The producer and the fans who do moshing and WoD seem to like rather punkish metal (metalcore? nu-metal? I don't know).

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    2. I see what you mean, the more "angrier" metal styles. Looks like the producer wishes to reference to various heavy music subculture themes, and indeed YUIMETAL and MOAMETAL dash towards each other in the beginning of the song. Their substitution of headbanging with a more neck-friendly version was a great move, also much more cuter to boot!
      On recent "History of BABYMETAL" DVD we can see WoD, which seems to end up rather more a big group hug! I feel there's a healthy amount of self-irony within us metal fans, especially us of the bit aged variety.
      Anyway, thank you for your detailed translations!
      Praise the Fox God!

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    3. Yes. In the interview of Hotwave #2, BABYMETAL said Mosh'sh (= mosshusshu) is a safe, enjoyable, friendly "oshikura manjuu".

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  3. Looks like the intro was revised again for the World Tour this year, as well as the artRAVE performances.

    Why do people hurt each other?
    Who do they hurt them for?
    More than ever I do not want see you cry anymore

    So, let`s stand together
    In a dream THE BIG FOX taught us
    You should never give up
    And run the race as hard as possible
    In a dream the METAL MASTER taught us
    WALL OF DEATH

    If you show true courage
    We will show TRUE METAL
    No more bullying, forever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your transcription.

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    2. By the way, it's in English unlike the other intros.

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    3. I am not sure whether 'he' simply forgot quotation marks "You should never give up...", or 'he' switched from addressing to BABYMETAL to addressing to the audience, or 'he' meant so from the beginning and I missed 'his' intention.
      "Kakekko" literally means a running race, but Yui & Moa didn't seem to compete for something, so I took it as to run around, but I might have mistaken 'his' intention.

      Delete
  4. I love your website! Keep it up! :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love your website! Keep it up! :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. You misspelled "BABYEMTAL" at the top.

    ReplyDelete
  7. And "IJIME, DAME, ZETTA".

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  8. Hi Du-Enki,

    more typo-reports: in the IDZ prologue from legend Z, you have the line "Kimi no kanashi-soona nakigao wa", but listening to it while reading your transcription, I've noticed the girl (Moa, I believe) says the sentence changing the order, like this: "kanashi-soona kimi no nakigao wa". Or this is what I hear ;)
    On the other hand, in the "Prologue for "Onedari DaiSakusen" in Legend "Z"" th last line has "[b]Onadari[/b] DaiSakusen", it should be "onedari".

    I can't thank you enough for these transcriptions...

    Saludos,

    Fernando :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for correcting. I've fixed them. And I think it is narrated by Miss Suzuka.

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    2. You're right, in the Legend Z prologue for IDZ it's Su-Metal the one speaking. I mixed it with the other intros in Legends I & D (by Moa-Metal, I believe)

      F :)

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    3. I think the prologue for "IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI" in Legend "I" & "D" is also narrated by Miss Suzuka. The voice sounds younger than that of Legend "Z", but it is because it was recorded much earlier.

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  9. Thank you so much !!!! I'm an italian Babymetal's fan of the last hour, but I'm already totally addicted to them. And one of the things I was looking for was the text of the speech before "Ijime..." Awesome!!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for comment. I'm glad it helps you.

      Delete