I tried to translate "Mekurume" (Sublime) by Frog96!! (Idolm@ster Gakuen)
フロクロさんの「メクルメ」の拙訳でございます！
Translated Lyrics:
Leaf through it, Gaze into it, Softly chant it Touch it, It falls apart, It unfurls a bit It falls away, It ever wavers, Something flashes to mind Consciousness revolves, Wondrousness sleeps
That is The Sublime ¹
Ever deluging radio waves ² Preliminary match, Experimentation in a miniature garden (aah…) The repetitive sine wave ³ Is softly lowering the numerals With a worldview that towers over skylines The reverberating cries of a newborn
Lead me out of this puritanical cage!
After all My sweet sweet melted delusions are insoluble This old old ripened instinct won't splay from me But I want to expose my deep deep hidden urges
So it's Bright ⁴ Fervent Painful Faraway
I'm growing sick of waiting and waiting For seasons I'm left wanting something more All alone here Spring, Summer, Autumn I journeyed through them again With growing somnolence, ⁵ another world Waiting for its eclosion, β(beta)! ⁶
Still without seeing, somehow I'd like to commune again Standing up my nails against the window Intoning Even a shattered mirror is precious The world / My self Which one appears to be broken?
It's a lovely exile colony, isn't it? Here is the blank white planet (aah…) My right handed sketch is ⁷ A potential for a new interpretation Even commonplace worldviews The cross-section of their shapes are to be questioned Shed and emerge from within your narrow skin
More distant the body as it moves You blur and cascade and settle but If you became positively vacuous You could still link with your open palms
Y'know
I sang to defy the beat of my heart I danced to defy the beat of my heart I laughed to defy the beat of my heart I screamed to defy the beat of my heart ⁸
Indivisibly Because I want to melt alongside you Trace the lie with your finger Look over your shoulder Whenever you blink The scenery like the rise and fall of breath Is another world I was waiting for my eclosion…
The seasons said They grew tired of waiting Now a drawn out din The unfastening secret of Philosophia ⁹ Spring, Summer, Autumn I journeyed through them again Piercing my retinas, a whole new world Leaving the chrysalis/Unfurling in a flower is a galaxy Scents, forms, light, Everything that touches me echoes Fluttering Even the returning cascades are resplendent The world / My self Sounds like we can have stories left to share
Translation Notes:
A Philosophical or Literary term that implies a kind of overwhelming splendor or dazzling-ness that is beyond normal human means, has been in use since Ancient Greece (See Translators Comments)
Radio Waves, or Denpa, is a style of Japanese Literature but also a characterization term discussing someone who is out of touch with reality, as in, it has a similar affect to "Tinfoil Hat" or someone who believes they hear voices from electromagnetic radiation. The singer, Shinosawa Hiro may be described as "denpa"
Sine waves can be used to describe the frequency of Radio Waves
Literally translates to, Blue, though has a youthful connotation so bright seems to fit better
Somnolence is often a symptom of an underlying condition or a result of someone's physical health. Hiro responds to the question of "How do you spend your off days?" with "Just recovering. I'm doing my best not to die." Her general constitution & sleep nature suggests this sort of underlying need for sleep at all times
Beta, the Greek Letter, is borrowed from the Phonetian word *bayt; meaning, "dwelling, house", the Beta here might suggest an emergence from one's home & perhaps calls upon a sort of Shut-in or cut off from reality imagery
Hiro is left handed, this refers to how she is navigating the idol world, something which she finds herself not apt for which is akin to using one's non-dominant hand to draw. Yet, she sees the potential in practicing what one is not good at.
This stanza may represent each of the potential stats for training in Idolmaster Gakuen; respectively, Vocals, Dance, and Visuals. Shinosawa, the singer, believes she is not particularly talented in any of these fields, though she trains to "defy" that expectation that she is no good at being an idol
The Ancient Greek word that "Philosophy" is derived from; meaning, "The love of wisdom"
Translator's Comments:
This song depicts a sort of interplay between the speaker's dreamlike innerworld & perception in contrast to the strange reality they find themselves in. The song also discusses the great joys & wisdom of experiencing things in the world & the mysteriousness of knowledge. The singer leaves their body & enters, not the real world, but another fantastical world through their daydreaming fantasy. There's a distinct throughline of engaging with Hiro's weak physical condition, & her dissociation from that within this song. "Mekurume" is translated here as The Sublime which is an Ancient Greek philosophic term (Popularized in Modern Literary Criticism by Emanuel Kant) which describes when things are so vast & beyond human perception that they are overwhelmingly dazzling. The name "Mekurume" is a shortening of 目くるめく (mekurumeku) which is a verb which means "To dazzle, to blilnd", though, is a kind of confusion or overwhelming produced by vision or fatigue. Such is a common symptom of Hiro's physical condition. Yet, the Sublime fits this meaning as well, as it is the visual perception of things considered "Sublime"; for example, the vastness of the universe, or the beauty of a mountain range which surpasses the horizon, illicit the same sort of "Mekurumeku" sort of feeling. This in tandem with the Ancient Greek references throughout the text suggest a meaning like "The Sublime".
to speak uncritically, Hiro is such a silly denpa girl i love her this song fits her eerie vibe perfectly !! thank you Furokuro-san!!
in a personal comment! i drew a little fanart for Hiro's birthday on my other account @syaruru so if you're at all interested i'll be reblogging it & the whole nine yards but happy birthday hiro wahoo!!
