Reflecting Nine

I love the melody and tuning of Yukari in this song, but I am not sure about my translation. So, I must ask that this translation be taken with a grain of salt.

Lyrics, Composition, & Arrangement: Flying Giraffe (フライングジラフ)
Song: Yukari Yuzuki
NicoNico Link
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( Pigeon Hotel )

This is the last of the requested LIQ translations I will be doing. It appears to have a similar dating sim gone dark theme as the previous.

Lyrics, Composition, & Arrangement: LIQ
Song: Miku Hatsune (Append)
NicoNico Link
YouTube Link
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( SICKthty [9] victim consciousness )

(Luna; へっどふぉん) ウェイバーホイッスル [Way Bar Whistle]

Spontaneous short translation.

Lyrics, Composition, and Arrangement: Headfone (へっどふぉん)
Song: Luna Amane
NicoNico Link
YouTube Link
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( Way Bar Whistle )

My friend Amy requested a few LIQ translations. The original title for this song is French for "Reason for Existence." It's about a man playing a dating sim... with a dark side?

Lyrics, Composition, & Arrangement: LIQ
Song: Miku Hatsune (Append: Dark, Solid)
NicoNico Link
YouTube Link
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( Яaison D'etre )

This is actually a cover of a Miku Hatsune song done by Boron. His version has the addition of rap lyrics. Therefore, I'm placing Boron as the singer, but I'll still label this song with the Vocaloid and Miku tags.

Lyrics, Composition, & Arrangement: Nashimoto-P (梨本Ｐ)
Song: Boron (ぼろん); Miku Hatsune (original)
NicoNico Link
YouTube Link
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( I Haven't Gone All Out Yet )

I believe I have just translated a song about getting high on drugs...

Lyrics, Composition, & Arrangement: niki
Song: Lily
NicoNico Link
YouTube Link
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( HYBRID )

Lyrics, Composition, & Arrangement: Yuuyu (ゆうゆ)
Song: Rin Kagamine
NicoNico Link
YouTube Link
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( Endroll A )

Lyrics, Composition, & Arrangement: Hikari Shuuyou (光収容)
Song: Rin Kagamine
NicoNico Link
YouTube Link
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( Gloomy Days )

This is a calming song that appears to be about the aftermath of a lover's squabble.

I am a little confused as to who is the producer for this song. The uploader was kermit, but the name kermit doesn't appear in the PV. I'm sticking with kermit for now.

Lyrics: Koyuki (こゆき)
Music: coolguitar
Uploader: kermit
Song: Gumi
NicoNico Link
YouTube Link
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( Midnight Cookies )

Instead of posting a translation to a song or going through and sorting through pictures and art to post, I thought I would share something I learned in my Japanese Drama and Lyric class.

In songs, the gender of the protagonist can be found through the pronouns used along with word choice and sentence ending particles. The singer does not always share the same gender as the protagonist. A female voice can sing through the perspective of a male protagonist. Similarly, a male voice can sing through the perspective of a female protagonist. This has been in practice for a long time in Japan (since Enka), and it's quite natural for the singer and protagonist to not share the same gender. It only takes one look at the Utatte Mita song cover scene in Nico Nico Douga to see this in action. Some may change the pronouns to create a male perspective, but others leave them as is.

The change of pronouns used in songs occurred over time as women gained more power and respect, and men could be seen as softer or gentler. Women also became more independent and was a new market to sell songs to. For the hip hop genre, the men are outside the norm, using "ore" once more yet also "anata."

In the US, I've noticed that the singer and protagonist generally share the same gender when using first and second person pronouns. However, if third person pronouns are used, then the protagonist can be a different gender. That isn't to say there aren't crossovers, but I haven't heard as many and would be surprised to hear one. However, it wasn't until someone commented to me that the "flipped perspective" in the Vocaloid songs must be a trend that the difference between the two cultures was truly present to me. For someone who doesn't know about the singer-protagonist difference, it would seem like something new and different when really it's not.

This is also why I make an effort to guess the perspective of the song because it can change the meaning in those romantic songs at times.

Here is a Google Spreadsheet that breaks down the changes. I would have made the table in this page, but I have yet to learn the CSS for it.