Hellos and welcome, dear readers!
It's been a while now since the English cover video has been posted, but I've finally written up the English explanation for the English translation of the lyrics for Shield Hero ending song, "kimino namae".
English Cover Video
Anime: The Rising of the Shield Hero
Song: Kimino Namae (Your Name) by Chiai Fujikawa
Gt/Arr/Mix: _Soma
English Lyrics & Vocal: Taka Pen
Thoughts
I actually knew about this song when I saw the anime a few years back. I used to read the story online years ago before it got comicalized and all that. At that time, the concept of the story was relatively new, and I was actually able to more or less tolerate the harem situation. Normally they drive me nuts. lol
The story had left a favorable impression on me out of all the male oriented narou stories. (Not exactly sure what this particular genre is called in English.)
So when I saw that they made an anime, of course I checked it out and the ending theme was cool so I tried to memorize it. That was a few years back, I think.
And now that I started doing English covers, I decided to do this one. And yes, I know there's already a pretty good number of English versions out there, but I figured I'd thrown in my two cents out there as well. :)
Explanation of My Translyrics
So here goes my explanation for the translyrics I did.
I list the lyrics in the following order:
- Original lyrics in Japanese
- Original lyrics in roma-ji (I do the roma-ji so they might be kind of random)
- My English translated lyrics
Followed by any explanation/excuses I feel necessary to explain my thought processes. lol
キミの名前
kimi no namae
Your Name
The title was at the same time straight forward and a bit complicated because you have that all too famous movie with a very similar name. lol
But I just stuck with the direct translation, "Your Name" since there really wasn't much I could do. At least, nothing I can think of!
抜け殻みたいな空に
何を見ていた
目覚めた理由ですら
分からなかった
nukegara mitaina sora ni
nani wo mite ita
mezameta riyuu desura
wakaranakatta
In a sky as empty as a shell
What could I’ve been looking for
Not even the reason that I woke up
Was I able to see
I spent a whole lot more time than I expected on the first line here. lol
Literal translation would be: In a sky that looks like an empty shell
But this had too many syllables to fit in, so I fiddled around with phrases and word orders to try to keep the meaning of the line while trying to cut down on the number of syllables to fit the melody.
The next line, I've seen translated online as "what were you looking at" but this part actually means "what was I looking at."
I can see where the confusion might happen because in Japanese, you get to leave off the subject and the listener just has to know based on the context who or what the subject is, and here, there's no subject.
Had the original line been "何を見ていたの nani wo mite ita no" then there's a chance I might have translated as "what were you looking at" because when you're asking a question to yourself, you normally don't put a "no" at the end of this kind of phrase. You use "no" at the end if you're asking someone else.
Also, the part that follows, "I didn't even know what woke me up" obviously is about "me" and not "you" so that's another context clue that tells you that the question was a self relfective one, not directed at another person.
So anyway, I kind of got carried away, but aside from rephrasing a bit to fit the melody, this part is pretty much direct translation.
I've given up on rhyming as my main purpose is to translate as closely as possible to the original meaning and not create my own lyrics.
信じることに 酷く
怯えていた
だってぜんぶ 捨てたんだ
shinjiru koto ni hidoku
obiete ita
datte zenbu sutetanda
Trying to place my trust in people I
Was ever so afraid
Because I threw all of it away
Literal translation:
I was so afraid of trusting
Because I threw everything away
Because the Japanese lyrics have 25 syllables in this section and the simple literal translation would be only 14 syllables, I kind of embellished to add 11 syllables. lol
And the word orders are switched around to try to keep them as similar as possible to the Japanese phrase orders. Of course, this isn't always possible, so it's not 100% the same.
For example, the last part, "I threw all of it away," if I had wanted to keep the Japanese word order, it should have been "all, I threw away" which I guess I could technically do in English, and claim poetic license. Just that it unfortunately didn't fit in well with the melody. And my goal isn't just to translate literally, but also to make it sound more or less natural when sung in English.
こんな世界ならもう
消えてしまえと
憎んでいたんだ
張り裂けそうだよ
信じても？
konna sekai nara mou
kiete simae to
nikunde itanda
harisakesou dayo
shinjitemo?
In such a world like this, then
Please make it all disappear
I so much hated everything
I feel my heart’s about to break
If I even trust
I think this part was pretty straight forward and mostly very direct translations with a bit of word order shuffling and a bit of embellishment in the latter part.
One thing that I did spend a bit of extra time on was the last line, "信じても？ shinjitemo?" This could be interpreted in one of two ways:
- Can I trust in you?
- Even if I believed
"Can I trust in you" fits the melody pretty okay, except I didn't like stretching out the "trust" part, and I preferred to leave some ambiguity for this part, and "Can I trust in you" definitely doesn't leave much room for another meaning.
So I went with "if I even trust then..." leaving the phrase unfinished so the listener can fill in the blank.
ほら キミの声が
僕を救うよ
何度も呼び覚ますよ
キミが教えてくれた想い
boku wo sukuu yo
nando mo yobi samasu yo
kimi ga oshiete kureta omoi
You see, your voice is the one
That reaches me and saves me
Repeatedly keeps waking me up
You’re the one who taught me all that I know, how to feel
I was so tempted to go with "voila" for "ほら hora" lol
It sounds similar and has somewhat of a similar meaning...! but that would've sounded way too comical here, so I went with "you see."
Aside from that phrase, everything else was a matter of adding syllables without deviating too much from the original meaning.
I mean really. What can you do. Look at the difference in syllables here:
- original: 君の声が僕を救うよ - kimi no koe ga boku wo sukuu yo = 13 syllables
- literal translation: Your voice saves me = 4 syllables
You can stretch out the words only so much without sounding pretty silly. lol
So I had to extrapolate and add a whole bunch of meanings:
- kimi no koe ga = your voice => your voice is the one
- boku wo sukuu yo = saves me => that reaches me and saves me
I figured since "your voice" is "waking me up" then it must be have the power to reach "me" otherwise it wouldn't be able to "save me" so I went with the voice reaching "me" to "save me."
I'm assuming the song is about Raphtalia, and Naofumi saving her from the dark place she was in literally and figuratively. Of course, it could go both ways, with Raphtalia's sincerity reaching Naofumi in times of his darkness. So it made sense to me that the voice would be able to "reach" in order to "save."
The latter half of this stanza is pretty much straight forward, and I didn't have to do too much shifting word orders or embellishing, thankfully.
そう 何度だって
キミの名前を
叫ぶよ
強くその手を握って
もう離さない決して
どんな未来も
キミとなら逃げない
sou nando datte
kimi no namae wo
sakebu yo
tsuyoku sono te wo nigitte
mou hanasanai kesshite
donna mirai mo
kimi to nara nige nai
So, over and over
Your name precious to me
I’ll shout it out
Strongly, while I hold onto your hand
I’ll hang on tight forever
Come whatever future may
If I’m with you I won’t run away
Okay, "そう sou" doesn't exactly mean "so" but it sounds good, and it doesn't deviate too much from the original meaning. Direct translation to the word "sou" is probably something like "yes" but the nuance here in the song would be something to the effect "yes, and so" so personally I think having "so" here isn't too far off the mark.
And then comes the most important part, "きみの名前 kimi no namae" which unfortunately I had to embellish because I couldn't very well make that part "yooooour naaaaaame" because of the lack of syllables... so I did what I did, "your name precious to me" because I felt that's how Raphtalia felt about Naofumi's name. Besides which, you wouldn't repeatedly call out someone's name if that person and the name weren't precious to you.
The rest of the part was a matter of switching word orders around to try to follow the original Japanese word orders as well as fitting into the melody.
流れる雲にあの日
重ねていた
守れなかった約束
噛みしめては
nagareru kumo ni anohi
kasanete ita
mamorenakatta yakusoku
kami shimetewa
In the clouds flowing past I see that day
To me they overlap
Promises I wasn’t able to keep
Kept on chewing at me
Mostly straight forward part here. Just flipped some word orders and subject/objects around to fit the melody and English.
- 重ねていた kasanete ita = I was overlapping => to me they overlap
- 噛み締めては kami shimetewa = I was chewing on them => kept on chewing at me
The 1st one I changed it around because in English it sounded awkward to say "I was overlapping".
And the 2nd one I flipped it more for sound than the meaning. I could have kept it "I was chewing on them" but it just didn't quite sound good, so I switched it to "kept on chewing at me".
疑うことで 自分
誤魔化してた
涙ももう 枯れ果てて
utagau koto de jibun
gomakashiteta
namida mo mou kare hate te
By not believing anything was I
Pretending not to see
Even the tears they have dried up completely
Here, I did take some poetic license and flipped the setence into a question format, "was I pretending not to see" when the original lyrics would mean something like "I was lying to myself".
Hard to explain it, this felt more suited to be a self-reflective question here, not because I feel that's how it should be, but because I feel that the original lyrics contain some nuance to that effect.
The last line was a pretty much straight forward direct translation.
繰り返される悪い
夢に溺れて
迷い込んだまま
見失いそうだよ
僕に今
kurikaesareru warui
yume ni oborete
mayoi konda mama
miushinai sou dayo
boku ni ima
Over and over the awful
Dreams drown and drag me down
This is where I am lost and trapped
I’m afraid I’ll lose sight of you
To that me right now
By this point I felt like I was over using the phrase "over and over" but I couldn't really think of another phrase that would fit the melody and still retain the meaning. In Japanese, it's not the same phrase that's repeated, but variations of "over and over".
However, I kind of like how the 2nd line came out. Again, I had to embellish here because literal translation would not have enough syllables to fille the melody line. Direct translation would have been "dreams drown me", three syllables, when I needed six.
I added "drag me down" because if something is making you drown, then it's likely that you're getting dragged into it, and plus, it completed the nice set of alliteration. I like alliterations. :)
Much of this stanza had lots of embellishments because direct translations had about half the syllables that were needed, but the meanings haven't been that changed. (At least, not in my mind...!)
そうキミの歌が
夜明けのように
じんわり光をくれた
塞ぎこんだ胸の奥に
yoake no you ni
jinwari hikari wo kureta
fusagi konda mune no oku ni
So, your melody
Just like the dawning sunrise
Slowly brought light into me
Into my heart that I have kept deep within
The first line, depending on the translator, someone might translate "キミの歌 kimi no uta" as "your song" and I might have done that too except again, that wouldn't give me enough syllables to fit the melody unless I wanted to sing "your soooooooooong" or something like that!
Everything else stuck pretty close to direct translation, with minor adjustment of phrases to fit the melody.
ちっぽけだけれど
確かな希望
確かな希望
僕にくれたから
もう迷わない 二度と
どんな未来も
キミとなら逃げない
chippoke dakeredo
tashika na kibou
tashika na kibou
boku ni kuretakara
mou mayowanai nido to
donna mirai mo
kimi to nara nigenai
It might be small and tiny
But true hope nonetheless
A shining bright true hope
That you handed to me
I won’t get lost no, never
Come whatever future may
If I’m with you I won’t run away
Here again, mostly direct translations with some embellishments due to lack of syllables.
The part that felt lacking the most in syllables was the "確かな希望 tashikana kibou" part that repeats twice. So I ended up trying to guess the meaning behind the repetition and expanded on that for the embellishments. The "tashikana kibou" by itself would be "certain hope" or "true hope" which doesn't help much when I needed seven syllables. lol
どこにいても
何度だって
キミの名前を
声が枯れるまで
doko ni itemo
nando datte
kimi no namae wo
koe ga kareru made
No matter where I am
Your name so dear to me
Until my voice is dried up
For this part, direct translation fit mostly well, so that was a huge relief! lol
Just the little embellishment to "your name" for the lack of syllables.
夜明け前に
虹を見たよ
嘘のない世界で
きみに もっともっと 愛を
yoake mae ni
niji wo mita yo
uso no nai sekai de
kimi ni motto motto ai wo
Before the sunrise
A rainbow I saw
In a world with no lies
For you, let there be love more and more
And for this part, half of it was just pretty much straight forward literal translation, and the other half, I had to fiddle around with the word orders.
Initially, I had "I saw a rainbow" for the second line, but when I was singing it, the sound to me wasn't quite right, so I flipped it and made it "A rainbow, I saw" which I know sounds really archaic, but it fit the melody line much better.
The last line was a bit of a struggle. I guess the literal translation for this part would be something like "let there be more and more love for you" which just wouldn't fit the melody. Bringing the "for you" to the top was easy enough, but singing "for you, let there be more and more love" got awkward, so I flipped some more and ended up with what I did, "for you, let there be love more and more" which in spoken English would sound pretty unnatural, so I claim poetic license...!! Although maybe I should start calling it archaic license, not poetic. lol
After this, the last two stanzas are a repeat, so I won't go into those. Suffice to say, I was relieved that they were a repeat so I didn't have to wrack my brains any further for embellishments. lol
And so, that's it for my very lengthy explanation/excuses for my translyrics for kimino namae! Maybe I should start separating these blog articles into sections instead of doing it in one go... Takes a pretty long time writing, and likely takes a very long time reading, if anyone's up to reading this far, that is...!
So anyway, thank you to anyone who made it this far! Hope to see you in my next cover video or blog article whichever may catch your fancy!
Taka, out!!
