more song sharing

[insaneneko]

I'm sharing more songs by Utada Hikaru because everyone should experience her wonderful music. These are again random samplings:

Sakura Drops
[Lyrics and translation]

I associate this song very closely with a PoT fanfic of the same name...^_^;

Deep River
[Lyrics and translation]

I hesitated to include this because petronia included it in her Mirage of Blaze FST, but...it's such a nice song. Oh, and another thing, I am not that impressed with the translation, but...it's such a nice song...really, it is.

Distance
Final Distance
[Lyrics and translation]

The two songs have the same lyrics and melody, but are two very different songs. Distance came out first...listen to that one first, then listen to Final Distance. Oh, boy, are they different. :D

As I was digging through my music collection, I listened to the following two Onitsuka Chihiro songs, and they have now been assigned as Mirage of Blaze Naoe songs in my head. ^_^; Regardless of any perceived association with the story, they are both lovely ballads, and the singer has a very nice voice.

Infection by Onitsuka Chihiro (.m4a song)
[Lyrics and translation]

Just plain Naoe. Poor boy. You can't escape. You must keep pursuing your glittering master/tempter/beloved/tormentor...

This foolish disease of mine
Only grows worse and worse

The fragments of my heart, exploded and strewn
The fragments, the fragments, all around me

Since when have I
Become this weak?

Ryuuseigun by Onitsuka Chihiro (.m4a song)
[Lyrics and translation]

First off, I want to say I absolutely love this song. I was very obsessed with it a couple of weeks back..I thought this reflected Naoe's plaintive insistence that all he needs is Takaya. He tells Takaya, who keeps trying to run away so that he doesn't kill Naoe with his poisoned body, that he needs Takaya's presence to exist. I love the passion with which he tells Takaya that even if his poison does kill him, he'll just possess another body...he'll go through every body on earth in order to be with him because without him the world is meaningless...

Your calling voice always turns into sadness
Just proving to me that I am this ugly
But I still need it

If I can't touch you, it's the same as if I didn't exist

And I really should get back to doing all the things I should be doing...

Comments

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

Yes, Onitsuka Chihiro is amazing. All of her albums are totally worth owning.

Obviously the author named that fic Sakura Drops with that song in mind. It just fits too perfectly. I mean, just the first verse:

koi wo shite owari wo tsuge
chikau koto ha : kore ga saigo no HEARTBREAK
sakura sae kaze no naka de yurete
yagate hana wo sakasu yo

I love Deep River the more I listen to it, and I've always loved Final Distance. Ah, such lovely songs...

[mitethe.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. When you posted the song I had a feeling the writer might have based it on that; English fic writers do it all the time after all.

Deep River and Final Distance are gorgeous...I enjoy these slow ballads a lot more than the more pop-ish songs of hers I've heard before.

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

Funny how I've never come across may songfics. It's so prevalent in English...but then, there are a lot noticable diffferences in the English and Japanese fandoms that I'm into, so what's another one? At least the Japanese aren't into mpreg (I find it too odd...though I'm sure there are good mpreg fics out there, too many seem to be an excuse to be very domestic and sappy...).

Yeah, I love her ballads. I do like the pop stuff as well, but my favorites are definitely the slow, pretty songs.

[mitethe.livejournal.com]

No, you're right - I've seen only a few fanfics where the writer says she's been inspired by a song and has perhaps used its title but I can't recall coming across any actual songfics in the English fanfic sense of the term.

I think mpreg isn't popular in JFandom because there's not the same stigma attached to turning the characters into girls as there is in WFandom. So they just turn them into girls and then impregnate them. :P

Hmm, another big difference is the almost non-existence of crossovers. In fact, when I accidently stumbled across an Initial D/TeniPuri Keisuka/Ryouma crossover a while back I keeled over in shock - not just because of the WTF pairing but the fact that there existed a crossover at all. It was the first one I'd come across in my 2-3 years of Japanese fanfic reading. O_O

No fiction archives either, which is an aspect of WFandom (particularly slash fandom which is where I originally came from) I kinda miss...But the amazingly detailed search engines make up for it.
And the lack of WFandom style meta. You get plenty of character/plot thoughts and analysis but those happen on individual sites/diaries rather than as a fandom-wide participation thing. (Personally, I like the lack of vitriolic fandom bitching and suspect it's probably a cultural difference in discourse.)

Nowadays I prefer hanging around JFandom...it's both saner and more insane than WFandom. *grin*

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

I don't bother reading stories where they change the sex of the characters. It's so bamn prevalent, but I keep thinking, WHY BOTHER? Though...I was a bit intrigued when one Hikago author I liked wrote a yuri with Akira and Hikaru as girls...never did get around to reading it, then her stinkin' site closed. :P

I don't know if I've ever come across a cross-over, myself. I don't read them so I didn't really miss their presence. And Keisuke/Ryoma is truly a WTF pairing. How...odd.

I kind of miss archives, but admittedly archives have their own problems (like wading through tons of crap). I am so thoroughly used to the Japanese style of fandom that English fandom is a bit of a novelty. I'm glad they don't have the wank and trolling that seems to afflict the English ones. ^_^; They probably get together and chat when they see each other at doujinshi events or something, though. *sigh*

[mitethe.livejournal.com]

I agree, I'm not really sure what's the point of changing one character's gender to make it a straight couple. That AkiHika yuri one sounds fun though...if you're going to change their gender then apply it to both characters! ^_^

I've seen a few crossovers in fanart gags and such, like if the seiyuu voices a number of different characters, but never in fanfic until that weird Initial D/TeniPuri crossover. I didn't bookmark the site but it was a really random story about Keisuke tracking Ryouma down to return his misplaced cap or something. O_o

I started off in Slash fandom so I was used to huge, organised archives with search functions that made finding stuff easier...and less risk of having an individual site shut down and the content erased forever. But I like visiting individual Japanese sites too because it's more personalised and there's stuff other than fanfic there. Oh boy, despite the insane ideas they dream up JFandom is usually a thousand times more civilised and sane than WFandom (at least in my experience). I do wonder how much discussion takes place offline because DJ events and fan get-togethers are so frequent.

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

Thinking seriously about a Keisuke/Ryoma pairing...those two are such nuts about their respective passions (and a good number of years apart), how would they find common ground?

I really do try to save fics and art when I stumble across a good site, but it's so hard to keep up and keep organized...and of course the site always shuts down (without warning) when I slack off...

[mitethe.livejournal.com]

I can't even fanthom Keisuke/Ryouma...they live in such completely different universes my mind can't compute sticking them into the same story IC or OOC.

Hear you on organising things. And I reallyreallyreally wish site owners would at least give a few weeks warning before closing. *sigh*

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

I've had the misfortune of visiting a site whose closure was announced ahead of time days after the stated date...and that drives me batty too. I don't check all of my bookmarked sites every several weeks, after all...

[mitethe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that seriously sucks. >_