2016/04/01

META! Meta Tarô

Released on 2016 Apr. 1st, included in "METAL RESISTANCE".
Lyric: KxBxMETAL, RYUMETAL / Music: RYUMETAL / Arr.: tatsuo, RYUMETAL

META! Meta Tarô

Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, you are the hero.
With the Metal heart, you're going to be reborn.
Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, together boys and girls.
He's everybody's hero, META! Meta Taroh!

[[M! E! T! A!]]

Long ago, long long ago, far away,
in a clear planet in the galaxy, he was born.
It's the period of war.  Winners enjoy Heaven.
We always lose and our life is hell.
Now we will say farewell to those days.
Now let's stand up!

Can you hear the voice from inside of you?
Can you hear the voices of your comrades?

  [[Hit it away, Meta Taroh!]]

Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, you are the hero.
With the Metal power, you're going to be reborn.
Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, together boys and girls.
He's everybody's hero, META! Meta Taroh!

[[M! E! T! A!]]

  [Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, Metata, Metata, Meta Taroh.
   Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, Metata, Metata, Meta Taroh.
   Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, Metata, Metata, Meta Taroh.
   Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, Metata, Meta...]

Can you hear the voices of your comrades?
Call the hero up from your heart!

Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, you're the Metal hero.
If Metal music sounds, we are friends.
Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, together boys and girls.
Everybody, let's sing together! META! Meta Taroh!
He's everybody's hero, Meta Taroh.



  ROMAJI LYRIC AND NOTES ARE BELOW.


[i] About Meta Tarô & Ultraman Tarô

Some lyrics of this song seem to have references to "Ultraman" series, Japanese SFX TV drama series of giant heroes. "Ultraman Tarô" is the 5th series broadcast in 1973.

Ultra Family live in "Hikari no Kuni" (= Country of Light), a planet 300 million light-years away. Ultra Brothers are about 10000-20000 year old. Some Ultramen disguise themselves as human and other Ultramen have merged with some human to revive him/her. There are also Ultramen who had been human and became Ultraman. Anyway, on this Earth, an Ultraman lives as human in peacetime and changes into Ultraman when a crisis comes.

Throughout all series, in some episodes, obvious invaders appear, but in other episodes, monsters (= kaijû; lit. strange beasts) are something like a bear or an elephant straying into a village. In some episodes, Ultramen try to drive them away alive.

"太郎" (tarô) or "○太郎" (xxxtarô) is a traditional popular male name in Japan (usually given to the first-born son). Ultraman Tarô was popular to elementary schoolboys, but I feel this song is rather like the theme song of Anpanman who is a hero popular to much younger kids.


META! Meta Tarô

Romaji LyricEnglish TranslationNotes
 
Meta Taroo Meta Taroo kimi wa hiiroo saa. Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, you are the hero.
Metaru no haato de umare-kawaru no saa. With the Metal heart, you're going to be reborn.1
Meta Taroo Meta Taroo
    TOGETHER BOYS AND GIRLS.
Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, together boys and girls.
Minna no hiiroo META! Meta Taroo! He's everybody's hero, META! Meta Taroh!2
 
[[M! E! T! A!]] [[M! E! T! A!]]
 
Zutto mukashi motto mukashi haruka kanata Long ago, long long ago, far away,[i],Y
ginga-kei no sunda hoshi de umare mashita. in a clear planet in the galaxy, he was born.[i],M
Toki wa sengoku. Kateba tengoku. It's the period of war.  Winners enjoy heaven.3,4,S
Make-ppanashi na bokura wa jigoku. We always lose and our life is hell.MY
Sonna hibi wa koko de sarabai. Now we will say farewell to those days.5,S
Saa tachiagaroo yo! Now let's stand up!
 
Kimi ni kikoete iru ka? kokoro no koe? Can you hear the voice from inside of you?6,S
Kimi ni todoite iru ka? nakama no koe? Can you hear the voices of your comrades?6,S
 
  [[Buttobase Meta Taroo!]]   [[Hit it away, Meta Taroh!]]7
 
Meta Taroo Meta Taroo kimi wa hiiroo saa. Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, you are the hero.
Metaru no pawaa de umare-kawaru no saa. With the Metal power, you're going to be reborn.1
Meta Taroo Meta Taroo
    TOGETHER BOYS AND GIRLS.
Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, together boys and girls.
Minna no hiiroo META! Meta Taroo! He's everybody's hero, META! Meta Taroh!
 
[[M! E! T! A!]] [[M! E! T! A!]]
 
  [Meta Taroo Meta Taroo
      Metata Metata Meta Taro
  [Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh,
      Metata, Metata, Meta Taroh.
8,MY
   Meta Taroo Meta Taroo
      Metata Metata Meta Taro
   Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh,
      Metata, Metata, Meta Taroh.
MY
   Meta Taroo Meta Taroo
      Metata Metata Meta Taro
   Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh,
      Metata, Metata, Meta Taroh.
MY
   Meta Taroo Meta Taroo
      Metata Meta...]
   Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh,
      Metata, Meta...]
MY
 
Kimi ni todoite iru ka? nakama no koe? Can you hear the voices of your comrades?S
Kimi no kokoro no hiiroo yobidase! Call the hero up from your heart!1,S
 
Meta Taroo Meta Taroo metaru hiiroo saa. Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, you're the Metal hero.9
Metaru ga hibikeba bokura wa tomodachi sa. If Metal music sounds, we are friends.
Meta Taroo Meta Taroo
    TOGETHER BOYS AND GIRLS.
Meta Taroh, Meta Taroh, together boys and girls.
Minna de utaoo! META! Meta Taroo! Everybody, let's sing together! META! Meta Taroh!
Minna no hiiroo Meta Taroo! He's everybody's hero, Meta Taroh!
 

Notes

  1. The line marked with "Y" is sung by YUIMETAL, and "M" by MOAMETAL, and "S" by SU-METAL. Other lines (without brackets) are sung by all three members together. (Revised on 2017 Jan. 20.)
  2. In Ultraman series (see note [i]), an ordinary person is reborn to be an Ultraman in the first episode, and he/she changes into Ultraman in every episode. I'm not sure which change these lines refer to. (Added on 2016 Apr. 15.)
        In most hero's theme songs, such a rebirth is mentioned in the perfect form "umare-kawatta" and such a change in every episode is called "henshin". The original lines have only the present form "umare-kawaru" and an emphasizing phrase "no sa".
  3. Grammatically, there is/are only one/two noun clause/phrases: "Meta Taroh" (who is) "everybody's hero".
  4. "Sengoku" means Warring States (period). It refers to around 4th & 3rd centuries BCE of China or around 16th century of Japan, when the central government had lost control and the local lords battled each other to expand their territories.
  5. There is a saying "kateba tengoku makereba jigoku" which means "if one wins, (one's life shall be like) heaven, if one loses, (one's life shall be like) hell".
  6. "Sarabai" is the union of "saraba" & "bye-bye". The origin of this word seems to be "Sayonara March" (1984), the ending theme of a TV program for little children. Both "saraba" & "sayonara" mean "good-bye" or "farewell".
  7. Grammatically, "koe" (= voice(s) ) is the grammatical subject in both sentences: "Has the voice ... been heard by you?" and "Have the voices ... reached to you?"
  8. "Buttobase Meta Taroo!" is a parody of "Kattobase (person's name)!" (as Unknown san commented on 2016 Apr. 12). This is yelled out to cheer up the batter in a baseball game in Japan. Here "buttobase" may mean "hit the enemy away", but SU-METAL posed like a batter in the Wembley concert.
        Both "kat" and "but" are prefixes and "tobasu" (tobase) means "to make something fly". "Kattobasu" sounds somewhat refreshing and is used for smashing a clean hit, driving on a seaside road, etc. while "buttobasu" sounds somewhat heavily and is used for hitting a man away, etc.
  9. I'm sorry for having missed these whispers for a long time (added on 2017 Mar. 31).
  10. There is no grammatical subject, but I complement the sentence with "you" adjusting it to the corresponding lines above.

11 comments :

  1. Thanks for that translations. I was really curios about this song in particular because I could understand enough of it to know that it tells the story of Meta Taro. I thought it would be like the story of Momotaro.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i'm an Ultraman Fan and this is just awesome, knowing it's got a bit of reference to Taro... no wonder it sounded like it's a theme song from a 90's hero tv show revamped with distortions and heavy beats...

    thanks for the translations

    ReplyDelete
  3. [[Buttobase Meta Taroo!]]

    Kattobase [[Batter name]].
    It is heard as a chance theme to in batter in high school baseball and professional baseball in Japan.

    This shout is a tribute chance theme.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for comment.
      It is well known in Japan.

      Delete
  4. These are great! Thanks for the translations!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great job! Apparent from the lyric and your notes, this song is relatively for children who innocently believe in superheros in TV shows. So, even adult fans innocently dance.

    I'm truely afraid that people who don't know the meaning of it would loudly assert "it looks like Natis-style!" merely glancing its marching band-style choreography and then Babymetal would be forced to give up playing this song. It's terrible!

    Let's widely spread the information to newcomers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for comment.
      The choreography really resembles the Nazi salute. I too hope the giving up doesn't happen.

      Delete
    2. Du Enki-san, can you please explane, how and why 済んだ星 was replaced by "clear planet". What did you mean by that?

      Delete
    3. To Максим Некрасов san
      You took a wrong kanji. It's not "済んだ星" but "澄んだ星".
      "澄んだ" (verb: 澄む) originally means being transparent or without cloud, mist, etc. (of things) and derivatively means being honest or without prejudice, delusion, etc. (of minds). It may be better to take "澄んだ星" (= clear planet) mentally rather than physically because the phrase derived from "光の国" (Hikari no Kuni; the Country of Light), the planet where giant heroes "Ultraman Family" live.

      Delete
    4. Thank you for reply, I'm so sorry, that it's was a wrong kanji. I was just waste my (and your) time with this mistake. Thank you so much.

      Delete