現 / Utsutsu / Reality
Mikazuki x Yamanbagiri duet from Katsugeki Touken Ranbu
Lyrics Translation
三日月：ふいに振り返る
我が名を呼ぶ声
朧夜の記憶
頬を白く染める月は 誰がため
満ち欠ける？
引力 導かれるままに重なる縁
Mikazuki: Suddenly I look back
There’s a voice calling my name
The memory of a misty moonlit night
The moon that dyes your cheeks white
For whom is it waxing and waning?
As if guided by gravity, our destinies intertwine
山姥切：幾重にも鍵を掛けた感情を
いま解き放て
錆びた心に眩し光
差し込むとき動き出す
Yamanbagiri: Now set free the feelings
that were locked away over and over
They come alive when dazzling light (1)
Shines in my rusted heart
２人：｢さぁ、いざ参らん｣
其れでも
戦うことは生きることと知って
己の虚実を
咽び泣く誰かの哀しみを知って
Mikazuki: Reality shatters the dream
Both: “Come, let’s go.”
Nevertheless
Knowing that fighting is what it means to live
Our truths and lies
Knowing the sorrow of someone choked with tears
Yamanbagiri: Even if the circumstances that burden us differ
Our hearts share a faithful vow
Mikazuki: For the future we must protect
Both: We’ll risk everything
三日月：息を潜め待つ夜明けは
終焉の始まり
静寂
引き裂かれるときを誘うしらべ
Mikazuki: The dawn that waits to stifle your breath
Is the beginning of the end
Silence
Is the melody that beckons you to be torn apart
山姥切：壊れそうな胸抑えて 忠誠を
いま呼び覚ませ
凍てついた心が求めるのは
ただ在りし日の平穏
Yamanbagiri: Now awaken my loyalty
As you pin down this broken-looking chest (2)
What my frozen heart desires
Is merely the tranquility of the past
三日月：吹き荒れる風 応えは無くて
指標 失くした 我が旅路
Mikazuki: Even so, we’re moving forward
Both: Even if we fall with the blossoms
Mikazuki: In the raging gale there is no answer
My journey has lost its guiding signal
Yamanbagiri: Heaping loneliness on top of isolation
For each and every desire
Both: Thus the time has come
“Come, let’s go.”
２人：いつか…
其れでも
戦うことは生きることと知って
己の真実を、
掛け替えのない日々の歓びを知って
Mikazuki: Wishing for the day when you can love everything seen in these eyes
Yamanbagiri: Wishing for the day when the tears you spilled countless times have dried,
Both: Someday…
Nevertheless
Knowing that fighting is what it means to live
My reality,
Knowing the joy of each irreplaceable day
Yamanbagiri: Even if we have to part
You’ll be deep inside my heart
Mikazuki: We’ll meet again, won’t we?
Both: At the end of this world
Mikazuki: For the future we must protect
Both: We’ll risk everything
The language in this song is so vague it’s a nightmare trying to make it coherent in English grammar. I’ve been sitting on this doc for months because there’s a lot of ways to translate the same phrases with different subjects/possessive pronouns. In most cases, what I decided to do was just to go with the most romantic interpretation possible (I never said I was unbiased, did I?). But there are two cases that I will draw attention to because admittedly they are very very loose translations.
(1) I’m assuming the subject of this line (‘They’) is the feelings mentioned in the previous line. Since this line in Japanese doesn’t have a subject at all, it relies on context to convey its meaning so theoretically it could be referring to anything including Yamanbagiri himself, the dazzling light, Mikazuki’s dick, etc.
(2) There aren’t any possessive pronouns in this line. Who’s pinning whose chest? I made an assumption and if you want to disagree, you wouldn’t be wrong. Technically this could be any combination of, ‘Awaken (your/my/his/her/their) loyalty, as (you/I/he/she/they) (pin down/hold back) (your/my/his/her/their) broken-looking chest’.
