MoonJumper

MoonJumper

Vocals: めらみぽっぷ (Meramipop)
Lyrics: RD-Sounds
Arranged by: RD-Sounds
Album: UROBOROS 5 [Official site]
Circle: 凋叶棕 (Diao ye zong)
Event: C89
Original themes: Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon [狂気の瞳 ~ Invisible Full Moon]
The Rabbit Has Landed [兎は舞い降りた]

Requested by: Eiki

Update (2 January 2017): This track also appears in Diao ye zong’s C91 album, Tsutae (伝), under the title 狂言「跳ね玉兎」 [Kyougen: MoonJumper]. The lyrics are exactly the same, and unfortunately, the missing lines are still missing. At (1:50), an extra part is added: “Mayday, mayday, emergency!”

Update (22 August 2018): Minor alteration to the 4th-last stanza (with thanks to Linkhyrule5 for pointing out the error!)

This track starts with a fairy tale:

What did the moon rabbits see and jump to?
They landed on the ground, though it was impure.
Someday, surely,
Everything will become a fairy tale.

And then it continues on from there. For a change, RD decided to write all of the lyrics in Hiragana, avoiding Kanji completely. This means we don’t get his tendency to hide hidden meanings in the Kanji… but he decided to omit about 4 lines worth of material from the booklet instead. I should have tried to transcribe it, but it was taking so long to work through this one that I decided to cut my losses and not worry about it.

As a whole, it seems to chart Seiran and Ringo’s journey to Gensokyo. But since Reisen’s theme is arranged, it’s possible that it includes her, too…


非公式の英訳/Unofficial translation

The moon rabbits sing:
“Come, come!”
They must be in a dream,
Dreaming without end. Come, come!

The asagi-coloured rabbit jumped. (1)

She searched for a new dwelling.

Well now, the place she ended up in was quite terrifying.

Still, even so, she could not draw back.

She could not turn back from this path.
Did she know? Did she not?
Lightly, lightly, her feet kicked the ground.
Even if, say, she would become impure as a result,
She faced the moon and jumped – moon jumper!

The moon rabbits sing:
“Come, come!”
They must be in a dream,
Dreaming without end in this land of dreams. (2)

The moon rabbits sing:
“Come, come!” They make a fuss.
They ride upon our waves
And cross, cross – they travel far away.

The tachibana-coloured rabbit jumped. (3)

She searched for the truth, for reality.

But what she saw… was quite suspicious.

And she took something quite terrifying in her hands.

She could not turn back from this path.
She knew. She knew.
Lightly, lightly, her feet kicked the ground.
Even if she would become impure as a result,
She faced the moon and jumped – moon jumper!

The moon rabbits sing:
“Come, come!” If they are singing,
Then surely they must be in a dream,
Dreaming without end. Meanwhile…

The moon rabbits sing:
“Come, come!” They make a fuss.
And whilst knowing nothing,
They sing in the distance, far away.

Whilst dreaming,
Play! Play!

And with the impure ones,
Play! Play!

Whilst looking far away,
Play! Play!

And with those who do not die,
Play! Play!

The moon rabbits sing:
“Come, come!”
Surely, both must be in a dream.
Dreaming without end – forever…

The moon rabbits, even now
Are dreaming in some place or other.
If, say, they are in an endless dream,
They will dream forever if they do not wake up.

Usually, there is nothing amiss in the world.
The moon, over yonder, also exists without changing.
Even so, having said that,
What did the rabbits see and jump to – moon jumper?


Translator’s note

(1) Asagi (浅葱色) is a traditional Japanese colour. Its blueish-green hue can be seen as a symbol of Seiran.

(2) かいあん (槐安, kaian) refers to a traditional tale – a lot like Alice in Wonderland – in which a man falls asleep at the base of a tree, and is whisked off to a distant kingdom. The phrase is commonly used to refer to transient things, or dreams, as a metaphor.

(3) Tachibana (橘) is a type of mandarin/orange. It’s orange hue can be seen as a symbol of Ringo (or, possibly, Reisen).


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Comments

17 responses to “MoonJumper”

  1. linkhyrule5 Avatar
    linkhyrule5

    Actually, if you’re still curious, I found someone with the full lyrics (… plausibly, anyway :V) with a bit of searching: https://xyion.wordpress.com/2017/01/02/%E8%B7%B3%E3%81%AD%E7%8E%89%E5%85%8E/

    Like

  2. linkhyrule5 Avatar
    linkhyrule5

    I believe that last “Play! Play!” is しなない=死なない, making it “Play with the ones that do not die.”

    Together with Reisen’s theme and the usual (narrative) themes of impurity=mortality with regards to the moon, I suspect that the darker undertone of this song is fundamentally about moon rabbits giving up their immortality by/when coming to Earth. Seiran may have been sent unknowing, but Reisen as an war veteran definitely knew. (And either way, they’ll live forever in the dream that is Gensoukyou.)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. linkhyrule5 Avatar
      linkhyrule5

      Oh, I couldn’t make out most of the background lines, but I could’ve sworn the very first one has 赤い and 白黒の鬼、緑の鬼 in it. I’m sure our human protagonists would appreciate being called “oni” by the rabbits :V.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. linkhyrule5 Avatar
      linkhyrule5

      Er, not the first, the third. (First is something something 落ちる and… maybe 永夜?

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      1. releska Avatar

        Thank you for pointing that out, and thank you for sharing your interpretation, too! (^_^) In the end, I misread しなない as しらない – I now realise the important role kanji plays in preventing those sorts of errors.

        Like

  3. MoonJumper | Moon Avatar

    […] translated by Releska Vietnamese translated by […]

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  4. Moon Rabbit Avatar

    I might not be getting it, but I’m struggling to hear Reisen’s theme in this track, I think I can hear it in the first verse, but not entirely sure.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. releska Avatar

      I can’t really hear it either… Having another listen, though, I think he uses the start of the chorus of Reisen’s theme at about 1:41 [near the end of this song’s chorus]

      It’s hard to hear it as Reisen’s theme because it isn’t where we expect it to be, but if you listen to it by itself it’s a bit easier to hear

      Like

  5. Quwanti Avatar
    Quwanti

    Is it alright with you if I slightly alter some lines in the subbed video? It’s a bit because of personal preference.

    Also, in the line “よいも さめねば えいえんに”, Merami also sings “なか”, which I assume RD just forgot to add to the line. Does that alter the sentence?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. releska Avatar

      If they’re only minor changes, I don’t mind!

      And if I’m right in thinking that you’re talking about the second-last stanza, I think the なか is part of the second-last line, though it sounds like it belongs in the last line (It makes more sense where it is now).

      Like

      1. Quwanti Avatar
        Quwanti

        Ah, for some reason I totally skipped over the line before that which in fact includes the なか…

        Like

  6. DastyEnoch Avatar
    DastyEnoch

    As any RD Sounds songs with a cutesy-overtone and a Lalala solo in the end, this one too seems to have some wicked implications. Maybe ‘taking something terrifying to their hands’ and ‘play play’ means striking those of Gensokyo down? Maybe with Seiran’s mocchi mallet.

    By the way, the omitted lines you’re talking about are those sang by the background singer? ‘Cause I noticed they weren’t listed either.

    Nonetheless thank you for the translation!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. releska Avatar

      That’s a convincing interpretation! Given that it starts with a fairy-tale, that wouldn’t surprise me. After all, most fairy-tales are actually quite dark beneath their cute overtones…

      And yeah, the omitted lines are the ones sung by the background singer. They go by so quickly that it was a struggle to try and write them down. The first time seems to say something about ‘exterminating demons,’ and the second time mentions an amanojaku, and how the wheel of fate turns round and round. My hope is that RD republishes this song in his next album with the full lyrics.

      Like

      1. DastyEnoch Avatar
        DastyEnoch

        Plus we all know how most RD sounds songs go, be they cute or not! Hahahah

        I just can’t wait to see what he’s got in store for the other songs from LoLK in his next album. Makes me excited for his next release too!

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Nguyễn Đức Trọng Avatar

    Yayyyy!
    Thank you Releska *3*

    Liked by 1 person

  8. fuyuko Avatar

    To see an RD song all-hiragana surprised me! There were some lines I didn’t really understand before this, thank you for the translation 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. releska Avatar

      You’re welcome! 🙂

      Like


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