Requested by Quwanti. The title is long enough as it is in Japanese, so I’ll translate it here instead of the usual title spot. It does give a small clue as to what’s going on in the song, though.
“Self talking, or perhaps, a ballad by trash known as a witch alluding to the whereabouts of her soul”
If there’s a doujinshi to go along with this, like there is for the Tshirt Cat n_tegral songs, then I wish I could read it to get some good context.
Notes: A lot of these words have double meanings (by which I mean the singer sings something different from what’s written), so I tried to accommodate that by combining words, sort of. In one instance, world is sung and illusion is written, so I wrote illusionary world. Same thing for heart and mirror, but the best adjective for heart was cardiac. It sounds somewhat bad, but I can’t think of any better way. Sometimes, “you” is sung as “me,” and vice versa, so I simply wrote that as “our.”
On another note, “to be or not to be” is a very loose translation of its line, I will admit, but I find it very fitting and overall conveys the same meaning.
★ Title: セルフ・トーキング 或いは 魔女というガラクタによる魂の在り処への言及のバラード
☆ Album: 喜劇機械 もしくは、ジェーン・ドゥ達によるパラード
★ Album Artist: 凋叶棕
☆ Vocals: Meramipop (めらみぽっぷ)
★ Lyrics and arrangment: RD-Sounds
☆ Original Titles: The Centennial Festival for Magical Girls (魔法少女達の百年祭)
★ Website: http://www.rd-sounds.com/
・http://rinrin.saiin.net/~vitasexusalice/ma/index2.html
あるいは生きて あるいは事切れて
もとは全て一つのものが
arui wa ikite arui wa koto kirete
moto wa subete hitotsu no mono ga
To be or not to be?
All that once was one,
ありとあらゆる暴虐の果てに
幾多の欠片に別たれた
ari to arayuru bougyaku no hate ni
ikuta no kakera ni wakatareta
at the end of all conceivable tyranny,
has been split into countless fragments
「私の姿は」
「見知らぬ誰かが」
「恣意的に歪め」
「その快楽の為」
「手慰み程度にも」
「興味本位にも」
「私は生まれて」
「anata no sugata wa」
「mi shiranu dare ka ga」
「shiiteki ni yugame」
「sono kairaku no tame」
「te nagusami teido ni mo」
「kyoumi honi ni mo」
「anata wa umarete」
“Our figures”
“Someone unfamiliar”
“Arbitrarily distorts”
“For the pleasure of it”
“So much as to keep themselves occupied”
“To sate their curiousity”
“We are born”
ーー消費されていく。
ーーshouhi sarete iku.
ーーand are expended.
鏡の中にいる。
鏡に映されている。
鏡に囚われている。
kagami no naka ni iru.
kagami ni utsusareteiru.
kagami ni torawareteiru.
Living inside the mirror.
Reflected in the mirror.
Trapped in the mirror.
醜く歪む その全てを忌避して
ただ純粋なものを求め
minikuku yugamu sono subete o kihi shite
tada junsui na mono o motome
Avoiding everything that twists hideously
Only seeking that which is pure
そうしていつか 辿り着く幻想
それは全てが美しい
soushite itsu ka tadori tsuku sekai
sore wa subete ga utsukushii
In doing so, the illusionary world I’ll someday reach
Everything in it is beautiful
「世界の姿は」「世界の姿が」
「sekai no sugata wa」 「sekai no sugata ga」
“The world’s form is ” “what the world’s form shows:”
「貴方を通して」「見せている幻」
「anata o tooshite」「miseteiru maboroshi」
“An illusion” “shown through you”
「鏡に映した」「貴方の幻想は」
「kagami ni utsushita」「anata no sekai wa」
“Your illusionary world” “projected in the mirror”
ーーさぞかし魅力的に映るでしょうね
ーーsazokashi suteki ni utsuru deshou ne
ーーcertainly it’s captivating, is it not?
歪められていく世界の端々から
誰もその本当の姿を知らない
歩み寄って作り上げた世界さえ
その心を映す限りには
全て歪ませて
yugamerarete iku sekai no hashibashi kara
dare mo sono hontou no sugata o shiranai
ayumi yotte tsukuri ageta sekai sae
sono kokoro o utsusu kagiri ni wa
subete yugamasete
From all ends of the world, being twisted,
there’s no one who knows its true form
Even the world itself, built through compromise,
as long as it projects your heart,
causes everything to distort
鏡の中にいる。
鏡に映されている。
鏡に囚われている。
kagami no naka ni iru.
kagami ni utsusareteiru.
kagami ni torawareteiru.
Living inside the mirror.
Reflected in the mirror.
Trapped in the mirror.
・・・きっと今も。
…kitto ima mo.
…Surely, even now.
数え切れない鏡に映る私の姿の私る映に鏡いなれ切え数
kazoekirenai kagami ni utsuru watashi no sugata
kazoekirenai kagami ni utsuru watashi no sugata
My countless figures reflected the mirror ɘʜƚ ni bɘƚɔɘlʇɘɿ ƨɘɿuǫiʇ ƨƨɘlƚnuoɔ yM
美しいその世界はその鏡の美しさゆえ
醜いその世界はその鏡の醜さゆえに
utsukushii sono sekai wa sono kokoro no utsukushisa yue
minikui sono sekai wa sono kokoro no minikusa yue ni
Your beautiful world is because of your cardiac mirror’s beauty
Your ugly world is because of your cardiac mirror’s ugliness
無為に生み出されては消えていくその世界に
魂なき私の嘆きが木霊する
mui ni umi dasarete wa kiete iku sono sekai ni
tamashii naki garakuta no nageki ga kodama suru
In those worlds, born only to fade away with no purpose,
as a soulless piece of trash, my lamentation echoes
何と醜い世界であることかと
己を生み出した創造者を呪っても
その心が投影しだす幻は
また一人新たな私を
産んでいく
nanto minikui sekai de aru koto ka to
onore o umi dashita higaisha o norottemo
sono kokoro ga utsushi dasu maboroshi wa
mata hitori arata na giseisha o
unde iku
How could this world be so ugly?
Even if I curse the suffering creator who bore me,
the illusion your heart projects
gives birth to yet another me
A new victim
この私の魂の在り処など
そんなものは在りなどしないと知っても
無為に生まれ無為に消されていくなら
せめてもの叛逆の願いを
私こそどうか
kono watashi no tamashii no arika nado
sonna mono wa ari nado shinai to shittemo
mui ni umare mui ni kesarete iku nara
semete mo no hangyaku no negai o
anata koso douka
The whereabouts of the soul of someone like me
Such a thing doesn’t exist, I know, but even so,
if we’re to be born and to be erased without purpose,
fulfill our minimal wishes for rebellion
Please, for us
救いの産声となれ。
この世界を逃げ避すのだ。
私は私に語り続けている。
sukui no ubugoe to nare.
kono sekai o nige dasu no da.
watashi wa watashi ni katari tsudzuketeiru.
Become the first cry of salvation.
We will escape this world.
I keep talking to myself.
鏡の中にいる。
鏡に映されている。
鏡に囚われている。
kagami no naka ni iru.
kagami ni utsusareteiru.
kagami ni torawareteiru.
Living inside the mirror.
Reflected in the mirror.
Trapped in the mirror.
・・・そして今も。
…soshite ima mo.
…and so still even now.
私が貴女貴女も私
或いはそこの彼女も私
watashi ga anata anata mo watashi
arui wa soko no kanojo mo watashi
I am you, and you are me
Perhaps that girl there is also me
Thanks for the translation ! You make a good work, like always ! You know, this sort of song is always a pain to translate, personnally (I know it), but I really love all the efforts your put on it. Even if there are some stanzas that you don’t translate exactly, I prefer to have a translation with sens than a litteral translation, just like you do. So, you make a good work ! By the way I don’t find this CD of RD-Sounds in the website. It’s a little CD of a special event ? I don’t see it in the website…
Good day, by the way !
Thanks! And you’re right, it’s not on his website. There is this though: http://rinrin.saiin.net/~vitasexusalice/ma/index2.html.
I should put that in the description.