[Utada Hikaru] Midsummer Rain Shower ♪٩(✿′ᗜ‵✿)۶♪ the 53rd thread

[Kacku]

Originally Posted by tenshi no hane

Are you guys reading the onehallyu translation? 'Cause it has mistakes.

I also made my own, if anyone is interested. Ayu and Hikki's lyrics are always the most interesting to translate. They write proper sentences.

真夏の通り雨 translation:

Spoiler:

I wake from the middle of a dream
and close my eyes again, but I can’t slip back into it
The world that looked so vivid a moment ago, is now an illusion

I was sweaty but you softly pulled me close
and etched many first-times into me

How much longer until I no longer feel sad
when I reach my hand out to the rustling green leaves
and I remember you?
I want you to tell me

I’m not alone today
I guess I’m pretty happy
So, I tell myself that it’s enough this way

But I would stop being myself
if I’d forget the days when, out of breath from the unwinnable fight,
I was consumed with love for you
Tell me, what’s the right way to say goodbye to someone?

When I reach my hand out to someone
and I remember you
I’m flooded with things
that I want to tell you now

Trees sprout, days pass
I want to express my unchanged feelings
We have the freedom to become free
They stand still, the shadows of those who’ve come to say goodbye

Memories roughly grab hold of me suddenly
and don’t let go
I love you, even more deeply than before
Endless midsummer rain shower

I wake from the middle of a dream
and close my eyes again, but I can’t slip back into it
The future you were in until a moment ago
Visit, tomorrow

To the never-ending, never-ending rain
an incurable, incurable thirst

Thank you for the translation. These lyrics are just amazing. They bring back some raw feelings about a death in my own family, so just reading the translation without hearing the song reduced me to a sobbing mess (and re-reading just now did it again). The way she puts the loss and grief into words is just... wow. (And you obviously translated it really well, tenshi no hane, thank you so much!)

That said, I actually prefer Hanataba out of these two songs. It's certainly the more conventional song, but I like that it's catchier, and Hikki's voice is just such a delight, she's pouring so much warmth and sweetness into this song. Manatsu leaves me wishing there was a little something more in the song, but I'm not sure what exactly I'm missing (Some breathing room between the stanzas? Some more emotion in Hikki's vocals? Something more in the arrangement?). The ending is my favourite part of the song, so haunting. The arrangements in both songs are great.