Lucky Star music discussion (OP/ED & OST, etc.)

[AVPlaya]

Spoiler Tag removed!

Alright folks, Here's my translation of the lyrics to the world-shattering ED song, "Ore no Wasuremono":

『俺の忘れ物』　作詞・作曲／白石みのる　歌／白石みのる

"My Forgotten Item"
music/lyrics by Shiraishi Minoru
performed by Shiraishi Minoru

（意味なく手拍子）
(Meaningless hand-clapping)

ＷＡＷＡＷＡ
ＷＡＷＡＷＡ
ＷＡＷＡＷＡ・・・

ＷＡＷＡＷＡ忘れ物　俺の忘れ物
wawawasure mono, ore no wasure mono

"wawa the forgotten item... the forgotten item of mine"

あの日あの時置き去りにした　記憶のかけら
ano hi ano toki okizari ni shita, kioku no kakera

"the fragment of memory I have left behind on that day, that time."

消えちまったのさ　あの娘とともに
kiechimatta no sa, ano ko totomoni

"It has already disappeared, together with that girl;"

赤い夕日がやけにまぶしい　恋の城ヶ島
akai yuuhi ga yakeni mabushii, koi no jogashima

"The red setting sun looked especially dazzeling, (on) the Jogashima* of Love"

(Ballon from guy: It's so noisy (here)).
(Ballon from girl: "Don't look at me")

馬鹿な奴だと　笑っておくれ
baga na yatsu dato waratte okure

"If (I'm) a stupid guy, then go ahead and laugh"

(Guy seiyuu started to laugh)
(Arrow: The couple who easily agreed to act as a couple)

それが俺には　お似合いさ
sore ga ore ni wa, oiai sa

"Then to me it is fitting"

(FX: Zabbaan! (sound of wave crashing into reef)
(Flashing Text: "The wall/barrier impossible to cross")

だけど　ルルルル～　ルルルル～ルルル～ル～
dakedo rurururu~ rurururu~ rururu~ ru~

"However.... rurururu...."

(Flashing Text: "The wall/barrier impossible to cross")

時にはやさしく　抱いてくれ
toki ni yasashiku, daite kure

"Sometimes (you) need to be gentle, (oh) hug me!"

(Text as Shiraishi jumps off: "Shiraishi, you're kidding?!")
(Text as Shraishi climbs back up: "Gutless...")

*Jogashima Island is a popular vacation spot an hour from Yokohama. The last island on the Miura Peninsula, it's famous for its fishing tours and rocky beaches. Needless to say, the ED MV is filmed at Jogashima.

The floating text is a parody of nicovideo video site, where users get to comment on the video itself.

Many of you may not know, but the song is in the old fashioned "ENKA" style popular amoung the aging Japanese. The sea background of the "MV" is a typical Japanese motif of "A man's power and determination". Such a motif is common for many, many Japanese shows and parodies. It would have been perfect if Shiraishi is in a traditional loin cloth singing with tears in his eye with a brilliant, "Yamato-dama" sunset above the raging sea. Oh! the wonder of burning youth! The lyrics Shiraishi composed is a very typical Enka lyric, filled with sadness, regret, and even an attempted suicide at the end. Bravo.

EDIT: Okay I'm gonna show y'all what ENKA is all about. Here's a great medley of great Enka singers that have appeared on NHK's Kouhaku. You don't have to like it, but Enka is a HUGE part of Japanese culture. Wanna impress your Japanese friends in Japan? Sing an Enka song in Karaoke. They will stop seeing you as gaijin like, forever.

[Crisu]

Fantastic. Thanks very much for the analysis!

Enka sounds really pretty. I like it. ...But that's probably because I'm Asian, and I'm used to hearing this kind of stuff all the time when I was younger (though in Vietnamese). :P

The ED to the last episode should be one of the L*S girls doing Shiraishi's song.

[katsumi]

A big thank you AVPlaya for the translation & information on Enka.

So do I understand right, unlike the other EDs this one is a complete (Shiraishi)Original?

[AVPlaya]

Originally Posted by katsumi

A big thank you AVPlaya for the translation & information on Enka.

So do I understand right, unlike the other EDs this one is a complete (Shiraishi)Original?

Yes, Shiraishi wrote it himself. He probably dreamt it up as a joke, and the guys just took it and run with it. Lucky Star is a big inside joke for KyoAni and we're just there along for the ride.

Originally Posted by Crisu

Fantastic. Thanks very much for the analysis!

Enka sounds really pretty. I like it. ...But that's probably because I'm Asian, and I'm used to hearing this kind of stuff all the time when I was younger (though in Vietnamese). :P

The ED to the last episode should be one of the L*S girls doing Shiraishi's song.

That's quite interesting.. there are Enka-like songs even in Vietnam? Enka-style songs are popular in Korea and Taiwan due to past Japanese occupation; old folks are always listening to then, most of them translated directly from Japanese enka songs. I didn't know even Vietnam has them too... thank you for letting me know.

You both are very welcome.

[Crisu]

Originally Posted by AVPlaya

That's quite interesting.. there are Enka-like songs even in Vietnam?

Ah, what I said was probably misleading. I don't think it's called Enka in Vietnam, or if there exactly is any actual "enka" at all. But listening to that music reminded me of Vietnamese music that sounds very similar in style. There's one style called "cai luong," and those songs also have sad and depressed lyrics, mostly inspired from struggles during the Vietnam War.

[Konata-chan]

Originally Posted by AVPlaya

EDIT: Okay I'm gonna show y'all what ENKA is all about. Here's a great medley of great Enka singers that have appeared on NHK's Kouhaku. You don't have to like it, but Enka is a HUGE part of Japanese culture. Wanna impress your Japanese friends in Japan? Sing an Enka song in Karaoke. They will stop seeing you as gaijin like, forever.

Spoiler:

That first enka piece sounds very familiar to me... Saburo Kitajima? The only reason I know about enka is because I took a class on Japanese popular music a few months ago.

[Cyber_chaotic]

Originally Posted by AVPlaya

Spoiler for ED for #13 Lyrics:

Is it just me or have i heard this ending 'song' somewhere b4?
One of the eps in Haruhi.............

The ep where Kyon saved by Yuki from Ryoko..........and just after Yuki re-materialises the room, Taniguchi happens to walk in singing that exact same song.....only the first couple of words though....(funny how Taniguchi and Shiraishi are the same VA.....Shiraishi.)

Has anyone else noticed this or am i just hearing things?

[Ascaloth]

@Cyber_chaotic,

You haven't been following the thread, have you?

No, you are not hearing things; this ED IS a parody of that particular SHnY scene, written and sung by Shiraishi Minoru, Akira's floormat in Lucky Channel, AND the actual VA for Taniguchi.

I wonder how many times one of us or other has to repeat this.

[AVPlaya]

Originally Posted by Konata-chan

That first enka piece sounds very familiar to me... Saburo Kitajima? The only reason I know about enka is because I took a class on Japanese popular music a few months ago.

The first song was by a female artist named Sakamoto Fuyumi; one of the most famous female enka singer. It's easy to mistaken one enka song from another... if you listen enough you'll find a formula to most of the enka songs, especially the "hook" at the end. But that's what people liked and they've been singing it for centries.

Kitajima-sama is probably the most famous and senior of male enka artists; I tried to find a clip of him in fact, but I can't find a good one. This is the best I've found on YoUTsuBe, a Kouhaku performance (Kouhaku is almost the only time you'll ever get to see enka on prime time anymore... kinda sad):

As you can see the sound and video quality is quite terrible. Might give people bad first impression of enka. Don't mistaken me for some Enka expert.. just heard enough to know one song from another.

Originally Posted by Ascaloth

I wonder how many times one of us or other has to repeat this.

Don't be so hard on him... many people didn't see the billion wawawa parodies on youtube or nicovideo. I should have posted that info but I guess I'd just assumed Haruhi fans already know all about Mr.Wawawasuremono. Bad assumption.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Not only do we have yet another weird and wonderful Shiraishi Minoru ED for ep14, but we have a bit more info about hte first set of EDs.

On a radio show last Saturday, Tsukasa's seiyuu, Fukuhara Kaori, said that they did all the songs in one take, making it like a real karaoke session. The full versions on the soon-to-be-released CD can be previewed on YouTube. Links from my blog post here. Hirano Aya previously said that she was asked (at the last minute) to do her songs exactly like the originals, in terms of breathing and phrasing.

[Konata-chan]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Not only do we have yet another weird and wonderful Shiraishi Minoru ED for ep14, but we have a bit more info about hte first set of EDs.

On a radio show last Saturday, Tsukasa's seiyuu, Fukuhara Kaori, said that they did all the songs in one take, making it like a real karaoke session. The full versions on the soon-to-be-released CD can be previewed on YouTube. Links from my blog post here. Hirano Aya previously said that she was asked (at the last minute) to do her songs exactly like the originals, in terms of breathing and phrasing.

The karaoke songs are great! My only regret is that the session is overwhelmed by Aya Hirano singing. I wish all the girls had an equal amount of time singing. Miyuki and Tsukasa each did one song and a duet, Kagami did 2 and a duet with Konata, and Konata did... the rest. As much as I love Konata, all the girls need more love.

[QBnoYouko]

Valentine Kiss would sound much better if Konata wasn't backup. As much as I love Aaya, I really wanted to hear Kaori.

I did like how she handled MONKEY MAGIC though.

[AVPlaya]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

The full versions on the soon-to-be-released CD can be previewed on YouTube. Links from my blog post here. Hirano Aya previously said that she was asked (at the last minute) to do her songs exactly like the originals, in terms of breathing and phrasing.

Ah, Thanks for the links! It really feels like karaoke session and the singer's an untrained amateur.

When they said originals, do they mean like ED original, or the original singer of the songs? I find the Tsukasa's Valentine Kiss is really similar to Kokusyo Sayuri's version. I really enjoyed Kona's background though... feels like a real karaoke session. Kona's engrish and "rap" in Monkey Magic is beyond comparison... I LOL so hard. Don't think you'll survive too well in gaijin-land, Kona-chan. "Kagamin~~ Kagamin~~~"

I wasn't going to, but I think this CD is a GET.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by QBnoYouko

Valentine Kiss would sound much better if Konata wasn't backup. As much as I love Aaya, I really wanted to hear Kaori.

I did like how she handled MONKEY MAGIC though.

You mean not doing it?

About the endings, I agree that other characters need to do more songs (that is if the Karaoke hasn't been cancelled out by Minoru now), but I doubt it's going to happen. When you've got Aya Hirano, someone so insanely popular with moe otakus that anything she does is enough to bolster waves of popular support for you, you're going to want to use her as much as possible. It's basically the Zeon Zum Deikun defence from Gundam, when in doubt invoke the person most popular in the culture you are aiming to please and you can probably get people to start chanting "Sieg Lucky Star".

[Kaoru Chujo]

1. As Kaioshin says, they're probably just going with the "insanely popular" Hirano Aya. But I'd have preferred to hear more of the others, too.

2. It's hard to say if Aya is that popular with moe-ota, since there is a constant undercurrent of hatred for her among some people on 2channel.

3. I'd also have preferred to hear Fukuhara Kaori straight on "Valentine Day Kiss", but Aya was hilarious behind her.

4. AVPlaya, I think they just did them all once (really) and just cut them short for the TV ED. Here's the interview with Aaya on the official site. They ask her about the songs and she says the director told her at the recording session that since Konata is an otaku, she should imitate the original breathing, timing and vibrato exactly. Since she had already rehearsed her songs on her own, this made things difficult for her. She expresses nervousness about the result and apologizes in advance to the "anime song world."

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

2. It's hard to say if Aya is that popular with moe-ota, since there is a constant undercurrent of hatred for her among some people on 2channel.

That has always kind of bothered me actually. While I may find the culture of Aya Hirano to be far to intense, bizarre and easily tappable, I can live with it is it isn't really hurting anyone so much as potentially annoying others, but I very much dislike the kind of counter-culture that exists to do nothing but spew bile at her. That kind of counter-culture serves no useful purpose. Why must there be a culture and a counter-culture, and why does one person have to be the brunt of the backlash against a culture surrounding them who really hasn't done anything to wrong the counter-culture directly. Why can't there just be rational support and criticism of her instead of opposite extremes. You've mentioned these nasty anti-threads before and I can only imagine what goes on in them, but even as large as they can possibly get, it's not like they can anti-buy her CD's or something, so in the long run they really don't matter until they start to outnumber her supporters.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

... You've mentioned these nasty anti-threads before and I can only imagine what goes on in them....

It's mainly at the level of "Hirano should die" or "Hirano is ugly," although there is the occasional sensible, if misguided, remark about her not being able to sing or act. Members of the clan will sometimes invade the main thread and post a block of 40-50 lines of "Hirano shineee" ("Hirano should die").

[AVPlaya]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

4. AVPlaya, I think they just did them all once (really) and just cut them short for the TV ED. Here's the interview with Aaya on the official site. They ask her about the songs and she says the director told her at the recording session that since Konata is an otaku, she should imitate the original breathing, timing and vibrato exactly. Since she had already rehearsed her songs on her own, this made things difficult for her. She expresses nervousness about the result and apologizes in advance to the "anime song world."

Yeah I got it now.. they're trying to imitate the otaku singing techniques. Normal people usually try to do their own version of a hit song, but the otaku will try to copy everything verbatim. Part of the joy of watching otakus sing. It would be difficult for a normal person like Aya (and a real singer no less) to transition to that.

I just heard the full version of Kona's "Kogarashi ni idakarete" and I love how she sings it in a serious "otaku" style at first and then go back to her Kona voice for the second half. Her real voice came out Hearing that song again made me realize why I love L*S so much... I really get to relive so many things when hearing that old KyonKyon song. How many people really remember how incredibly huge Koizumi Kyoko was and how big of an impact that hit created. The EDs really made me into L*S otaku for life.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

It's mainly at the level of "Hirano should die" or "Hirano is ugly," although there is the occasional sensible, if misguided, remark about her not being able to sing or act. Members of the clan will sometimes invade the main thread and post a block of 40-50 lines of "Hirano shineee" ("Hirano should die").

I admire your patient in reading through the anime 2ch threads. It's next to impossible to find real information there but you really get a ton of rumors and otaku attitude. Frankly I enjoy non-otaku 2ch forums like sports or food much more.

[Risaa]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

It's mainly at the level of "Hirano should die" or "Hirano is ugly," although there is the occasional sensible, if misguided, remark about her not being able to sing or act. Members of the clan will sometimes invade the main thread and post a block of 40-50 lines of "Hirano shineee" ("Hirano should die").

I didn't know it was like that! O_o; That's so immature, I should've known fans would be doing that. You sure have a lot of patience to tread through 2ch.

Just obtained the L*S End Theme Collection yesterday... I love it. It has made me realize how many more songs Kona/Hirano has than everyone else, and it kind of irks me a bit (as has been mentioned previously), but aside from that, it's nifty. XD

MONKEY MAGIC makes me laugh the most... It's not often you hear Kona having a hard time with an element of her otaku-dom.

[AVPlaya]

Originally Posted by Risaa

MONKEY MAGIC makes me laugh the most... It's not often you hear Kona having a hard time with an element of her otaku-dome.

Yeah, I love it too. She really SUCK at English and she's just dying out there. I love how she crys to Kagami for help at the very end... it's so precious. It's also true... most otakus are better at reading English than your average Japanese, but they can't pronouce it to save their life. If Kona meets another gaijin I still think she'd rather kick his or her ass rather than to suffer speaking Engrish again.