I posted a translation of this song yesterday based on the lyrics as I heard them only, since official lyrics haven't been published online and my digital copy of The Only Garden and the "Existence" single didn't come with liner notes. Reader Silphion was gracious enough to show me the liner notes from his physical …
exist†trace – EXISTENCE (Kikitori ONLY)
UPDATE (4/11/2021) A million thanks to Silphion for showing me the liner notes! I wasn't too far off, but there are several things that I can correct now so I've made a separate post for the updated translation. I'm leaving this here because it's fun to see what I got right, wrong, and why. I'm …
SOLDIER Crew and A Whole Lotta Breakdance Research
Back in early February the world was blessed with what is, to me, the best remix of "One-Winged Angel" since "Advent: One-Winged Angel": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsxxnSOg554 When "The Prelude" comes in tho!!! When I read the line "Sephiroth and his entire gang show up with a boombox" I knew I had to draw it. Originally I thought …
Continue reading SOLDIER Crew and A Whole Lotta Breakdance Research
exist†trace – Umi no Shizuku
Happy March Igu Day! And Happy Birthday to Omi, as it's already the 20th in Japan! Well, it'll probably be the 20th here as well by the time I finish proofreading this and post it. (^o^;) Talk about cutting it close... Anyway, when I finished the songs on Twin Gate, I was excited to start …
exist†trace – “Owari no Nai Sekai”
March 7th is miko's birthday, as well as that of BUCK-TICK's Atsushi Sakurai. Might I suggest the song "Mortal" from his solo project The Mortal as an appropriate pairing for "Owari no Nai Sekai"? Anyway, this song isn't terribly appropriate for a birthday (which is why I'm somewhat superstitiously publishing it on the 6th instead), …
exist†trace – Blaze
Happy Igu Day! Today we come to "Blaze," which is one of Omi's songs. I realized reading over some of Omi's other songs that I've been inconsistent in how I handle cases of the written lyrics not matching the sung lyrics. Lately I write what's sung and add a footnote explaining what's written. For this …
Winter is a bright and shiny season.
I haven't counted the number of sunny days versus dark days in the winter. But I like winter, so maybe that's why I notice the sunny days more than the gloomy ones, and see winter as a bright and shiny season. When my cat SamSi was still alive, I would go outside with him to …
exist†trace – VANGUARD
One of the challenges of translating poetry versus prose is that when an artist takes poetic license in a unique way, the translator might not be able to figure out what the artist meant without asking the artist directly. In this case, the line "Burn that trembling voice" left me scratching my head. Though that …
exist†trace – RESONANCE
Dark though things are in the States right now, for what it's worth, Happy Igu Day! This track appears on both TWIN GATE and Ambivalent Symphony. Lyrics in Japanese can be found here on Rock Lyric. Below is the short version of the music video. Not gonna lie, I'm unsure about whether or not I've …
Cozyroth
I've always loved the track "On Our Way" from Final Fantasy VII but for some reason I'd come to associate it strictly with Icicle Inn. Maybe because I used to stay in the inn to let the inappropriately-dressed party warm up before going back out into the snowy mountains, so I'd hear the music there …