音の帯〜Phonon Belt

If I recall correctly, Mr. Hirasawa mentioned somewhere that he had a moment in Thailand where he saw many elegant SP-2s (the male-to-female transgender women he's friends with) walking through the neon-lit back alleys of a city in Thailand one night. The whole atmosphere was so surreal that he thought he was in a sci-fi movie where beautiful androids roam about a futuristic artificial city or something. (If I find the source I will link to it here later.) My impression is that this is (roughly) the concept behind the Sim City album from 1995, which is HEAVILY influenced by Mr. Hirasawa's post-1994 impressions of Thailand.

So let's take a look at this song from Sim City (and the later tribute album Switched-On Lotus. It seems to be about Malaysian androids who are too beautiful and too powerful to resist...

平沢進 - "Archetype Engine"
( Japanese lyrics. )


( Romaji lyrics )


Hirasawa Susumu - "Archetype Engine"
( My English translation. )

Translation Notes: ( Sorry these are so long... )

I am sort of settling into my new location and will hopefully have time to translate a bit again.

Having recently acquired two Hirasawa DVDs and the SP-2 book, I have been in a delirious state of Hirasawa Delight for the past week.

The aforementioned book is quite fascinating so far. It's a loose collection of SP-2 anecdotes and Mr. Hirasawa's reactions to them and their unique circumstances, plus the random photos of his SP-2 friends. It contains some new material as well as some of Mr. Hirasawa's previous writings from his blog and his fan club magazine. Much of the text has been edited for clarity, meaning there is a bit less of the usual superdense "Hirasawa Style" and a bit more information in the form of footnotes and such. I think I will try to translate at least the rather detailed introduction as well as his recounting of the very first time he saw an SP-2 woman in Thailand. (This will take me some time, though, as it's always harder to work with text in non-electronic form.)

Anyway, just thought I'd share. I will post translations sporadically as the mood strikes. :)

Alright, before I neglect this journal for a bit due to RL concerns, I will leave you with one dense translation that I've been kicking around for a long time, and one more silly Twitter translation in the next post. ^_^

"The Westward of Time" was one of the first Hirasawa songs I fell in love with and remains one of my absolute favorites.♥

平沢進 - 「時間の西方」
( Japanese lyrics. )


Hirasawa Susumu - "Jikan no Seihou"
( Romaji lyrics. )


Hirasawa Susumu - "The Westward of Time"
( Attempted English translation. )


Translation Notes:( Read more... )

I can't find the lyrics for P-Model's "Sophisticated" (which happen to be in English), so I am going to write down what I hear. (Corrections are always welcome.) This song is awesome, both for it's extremely socially critical content and the GLORIOUS little electronic blips and squeaks and clicks, which are particularly awesome when you listen to this song with headphones.

P-Model - "Sophisticated"

Sophisticated, the supermarket
Sophisticated, the apartment
Sophisticated, the fried chicken*
Sophisticated, the make-up hanging up

Sophisticated, the speaking thinking
Sophisticated, the masturbation
Sophisticated, the Japanese girls
Sophisticated, the Japanese boys

Sophisticated  television image
Sophisticated, the school boys' deaths**
Sophisticated, the music play
Sophisticated, the foreign language song

(repeat all)

Translation Notes: ( Read more... )