With Kazui's third and final album on the way, I wanted to take the time to pick apart deco*27's songs to figure out which of his works would be best for Kazui's next cover song. Using his first two cover songs as reference for what we'd most likely see in the next, I've made a list on ten (plus one bonus) songs that could be good candidates, in order of what I think would be least to most satisfying if chosen.
When looking at themes that are important to Kazui's character as well as themes that are featured in Coward Montblanc and Neo-Neon, the commonalities I've found are themes of being dissatisfied in their relationships, feelings of being stagnant, possessing a negative self-image, being filled with regret and being a liar. Both covers also have Kazui speaking a line about death in a dramatic/serious way. Other themes I'll be looking out for that are present in Kazui's story but are in either only one or neither of these songs are: cowardliness/weakness, indecisiveness, dreams/hope, guilt, both genuinely caring for someone and manipulating them, expectations and grief. I'll also be assuming that there will be no songs covered that another prisoner has already covered nor any songs that are album-only, as that has been the case so far. Without further ado, let's get into it :]
10) Cosmic Rendezvous
Translation used
"Here, take all of my oxygen, so in exchange, please please wake up" "My tears blur the images, and I wonder, is this how memories fade? Will I ever get over you? What would you wish for, I wonder?" "The time I’ll spend with somebody else, it’s basically all dead rubber. The disease that kills euphoria and butterflies, only you know the cure" and more, it's a song of grief, there's not much else I can add. The problem with starting with the songs that work least is there's not much to say... the line of "So sorry for leaving you solo" is also in a good position for Kazui's dramatic death line atleast, as it's the part of the song in which the protagonist's girlfriend dies.
Cosmic Rendezvous is a song about a man struggling to come to terms with his girlfriend's terminal illness, and the sorrow that follows her death. It's a song focused on regret and grief, which greatly works with Kazui's similar feelings, but also unfortunately means the rest of his feelings get neglected. We could count the lines "Everything I thought I did for you, it was actually all for me. To realise that now, I mean, how thick am I?" towards his complex relationship with Hinako, as well as a display of his self-hate, and the line "But seriously, what's up with my wish not coming true, fxxk" as counting towards his themes of dreams, but outside of that there's not much except for lines upon lines of grief.
9) Poison Apple
Translation used
Apples! It's the apple song! Apple song for the apple man! Despite it being so low on the list I feel like there's still a high chance of it being used purely because of how recent the song is, since the creators unfortunately seem to prefer using newer songs over older ones. Outside of apples though, personally I find this song to be lacking compared to others in terms of Kazui themes.
The entire song is filled with the protagonist singing of her dislike of her partner, with lines such as "your tear-stained face, it kinda tickles me the right way" and "You’re see-through, your loneliness is so obvious, kinda pathetic" which works towards one side of Kazui's relationship of Hinako, him not being romantically interested in her and him using her for his own gain, but greatly neglects the side of him that genuinely cared for her and feels grief over her. The protagonist is using her partner in an attempt to try and find a romance that 'tastes good' to her until she realises how futile it is and moves on, singing "Every time I bite into it, it disappears, just like love" and "Even if I peel away the skin of regret, romance with you has no flavor", which is similar to Kazui's goals with Hinako. But unfortunately, outside of that, there's not much more to comment on. She sings of using smoking as a way to deal with her pains, as Kazui does, but I feel like I'm grasping at straws for parallels. More importantly, it's lacking that death line that I'm looking for.
8) Fakery Tale
Translation used
When I first decided to make this list, I figured this song would make top 3, but it's ran into the same problem that Cosmic Rendezvous has. It's a song focused on grief and regrets, but not much else. Our protagonist is unable to move on, spending each of her nights drowing in regret over the past and the loss of her partner. She sings "I want to forget it all and go back, I beg of you" and "Another night where sleep doesn't come, a night where even if I close my eyes, I won't wake up in tomorrow. It will keep me locked away in yesterday" which ties in nicely with Kazui's past feelings of being stuck in his life and current feelings of grief, as well as with Coward Montblanc and Neo-Neon's themes of being stagnant in their relationships.
The line "If it all became a lie, that would be just fine" works with Kazui's overall lying and self-deceit, and seems to draw a parallel to Coward Montblanc's line "While quelling my doubts by thinking, 'even the truth is okay,' I was wishing for it all to be a lie". I also feel that the line "Quite unlike a fairytale, it has already been tainted through and through", while not explicitly about death, would be an alright choice for Kazui's serious death line, given the positing of it in the song and how the overall theme of the song is death.
7) Ghost Rule
Translation used
And finally we have moved out of the category of songs that largely only really focus on one theme of Kazui's character and onto a song with TWO focused themes!!! Ghost Rule is a song about a liar whose guilt has caught up to them, and they beg for punishment for all they've done. Sounds like a very familiar charming man, right?
Our protagonist began her lies to cover up her weaknesses, regrets and feelings of self hatred, shown in lines such as "The bad thing about regret is that you start to realize that if you can fool someone completely, then you're 'innocent'" "Choosing to act cowardly, unfairly? No big deal, a prayer or two can take care of that" "Wishing for what I lacked, I came face to face with a version of 'me' that was nothing like myself" until eventually she become someone unrecognisable, and now is desperate to be exposed in an attempt to allieviate her guilt, begging "Bring down the gavel and seal my fate, I who've chosen to act spoiled to the end" and "Expose me for what I really am, for this world is about to meet its end", which is all very resemblant of Kazui's story and developments. While no other person is mentioned in this song, I feel the confession of manipulation and guilt is enough to qualify towards showing both sides Kazui's relationship to Hinako.
Although the protagonist's feelings and wants remain the same through the song, I wouldn't say it qualifies for being in a stagnant place in life, as this point of view she has seems to be the endpoint of long repressed feelings, rather than a continuation of them. She's figured out what she truly desires and is determined to face the consequences of her actions, confessing until the end of the song. There's not much talk of any explicit dissatisfaction in her relationships outside of her guilt for them not being truly 'real' and once again there's no line focusing on death for Kazui to say.
6) Pseudo-Hope Syndrome
Translation used
Pseudo-Hope Syndrome is a song about two people in an overly dependent relationship. They comfort eachother's pains, but allow that comfort to turn into enabling their worst sides, rather than encouraging any positive growth in eachother, and eventually our protagonist realises how they're both only hurting eachother and ends the relationship. The concept of "psuedo-hope" feels like a quite fitting way to describe Kazui's relationship, relying on a fake belief that everything will work out 'as it should' instead of facing the reality he's in.
There's two lines in particular that stand out to me in this song. "I finally understood the pain when we held each other and it makes me not want to know myself" is a good show of Kazui's dissatisfaction in his marriage and of his own self-deceit, but more interestingly it feels very similar to his own line in Half "So many things I wish I hadn't known, I'm just a coward". The second line being "I will be more responsible so please don’t abandon me" which similarly reminds me of Kazui's belief that the difference between an adult and a child is 'responsibilty'. Kazui's relationship with Hinako is constantly tied with him becoming a 'responsible adult', pursuing the relationship he doesn't personally want but knows he's expected to have. He chases after her because that's what he's been told he's supposed to do, and Kazui doesn't feel strong enough to face the potential backlash and 'abandonment' he might face if he were to go after the life he truly wants.
Outside of those lines, the song would do a good job of showing off Kazui's lies and manipulation, as well as his regret and guilt. "I can’t even remember how many pinky promises I made with you. Oh no, I can’t move anymore, how many pinkies do I have to cut off?" and "Pieces of our broken hearts scattered in my path I don’t know if I can forgive myself" are both lines that perfectly highlight this conflict he's in, looking back on a lifetime of lies and being unable to cope. Though the song itself isn't very idle, having our protagonist realise the problems in her relationship and having her end the relationship, she does sing in that first line of this paragraph of how she's been trapped in her relationship, repeating mistakes and never improving. We also have lines such as "I struggled and slowly but steadily started to drown into negativity" and "Please don’t tell anyone, weakness becomes strength when it is hidden away" again showing her lies and self-deceit, as well as her dislike of herself, which works well with Kazui.
5) Theory Of Negativity
Translation used
Theory Of Negativity is about a suicidal girl searching for her true self and a reason to live, unable to properly convey these feelings to the people around her. I hadn't considered this song as a potential cover song for Kazui before since I hoped Muu would cover it (and imo she still should have), but since that's been debunked I've relooked at it and found it suprisingly fitting for Kazui as well.
Both Kazui and our protagonist dislike who they currently are "If we’re simply fighting over what’s right, then there’s no chance of winning. I’m not anything special" "'I want to change’ is the only wish I want granted" but can't get these feelings across to others, both due to them hiding it and the people they're trying to connect with genuinely not being able to correctly understand what they want, seen in lines like "As long as people have secrets to hide, I’m invincible. I can be a good girl through the tears I shed" "If turning a blind eye is an act of kindness, then where is the place that I belong?" "'Hey, aren’t we kinda the same?' That's something I just can’t believe" "don’t say 'I understand.' You don’t understand a thing." While both of them are pained at others' lack of understanding, they themselves seem quite at lost and indecisive on what it is that they actually want "This is a battle of suffering from bothersomeness and curiosity" "I talk about my painful strength that curses yesterday and my delightful weakness that longs for tomorrow" and "'Shall I just die'—even while making wishes like this, I accidentally said 'I want to live.'"
There isn't one specific person the protagonist is reaching out to, but her conflict with the group of people she talks with highlights not only Kazui's feelings towards Hinako but also the other people dear to him, those feelings being very conflicting. She sings of her dislike of them "It’s not like you’d ever understand, so I’ll just keep my mouth shut and make a fool of you" and "but even you have a ton of weak points" yet also clearly shows a dependence on their view of her, repeatedly reaching out to them despite disliking their responses to it and saying "‘I hate you’ the words dig into my field of vision so much that they hurt" and "The more I wish 'I want to live,' the more I want you to forgive me for thinking 'I want to die.'" The song being focused on a girl's suicidal thoughts mean there's plenty talk of death, but the specific line that would most likely be chosen for Kazui to speak would probably be the final time she sings "Shall I just die". So far the death line has come at the end of the bridge after a good amount of buildup, so having it come at the start of the bridge could be an interesting difference!
4) Relationship Scramble
Translation used
Relationship Scramble is a song of a man repeatedly having short-lived relationships with various women in an attempt to distract himself from the grief he feels over his girlfriend's suicide. When he looks back on their relationship, he can only ruminate over the mistakes he made and the worst things he said to her, and so he continously tries to replace the love he lost with women he doesn't really care for, both as an unhealthy coping mechanism and as a tragic attempt to spite her for all the newfound pain he feels. It's a song I see brought up often in discussions of Kazui cover songs, and for good reason!
Hinako easily fits into both the role of our protagonist's girlfriend and his fake loves, since for Kazui she was used to cover up the true love he had for another and her own suicide is something Kazui is tormented with grief and guilt over, and so lyrics used to describe the protagonist's feelings towards both will be used as Kazui's feelings towards Hinako. Our protagonist doesn't shy away from his own manipulation, singing "I’ll hide my true greed and thrust false love forward" and "It’s precisely your vagueness that I love" while at the same time wrangling with his newfound grief with lines such as "I’m measuring the love I lack and getting a bit of an ache in my chest" "This pain is so great it’s lingering even now" and "my love for you is the only thing that won't fade away. It just won't. Though time might pass and I might love someone else, it'll be evolving and breathing inside my heart"
Expectations of love are a core part of the song, as the main character searches for an ideal relationship that will never exist "Fall in love with me, and do everything in the right order" "Searching for legitimacy cost me so much that I fell apart", something he himself is clearly aware of yet is unable to pull away from "we’ll end up love’s prisoners, hurt each other, and say farewell no matter what, won’t we?" "Isn’t that wasteful? We just can’t say goodbye, so let’s get even more scrambled", the song ending with the protagonist refusing to accept his guilt and continuing down this self-destructive path he's own, highlighting the song's feelings of stagnancy. That last quote also bears similarity to Neo-Neon's own line "It’s all a waste if the end comes, I can’t say it even if it kills me"
3) New World Guide
Translation used
New World Guide, also know as The Guide, is a song of someone stuck in life, unsatisified with who they are as they look back on a life of regret and failed dreams. Another views them as a 'guide', continuously coming to them for help with their own life, despite our protagonist's discomfort with this role and want to pull away from it. If Es were to get another cover song, this song would be my hope for it, but since a second cover isn't confirmed and there are other songs that could also work, it's definitely worth acknowledging here!
"I’m breathing and carrying my inerasable self-denial. I’m inferior. I’m in the shadows" "I’m sick of it. I’m worried about it. My heart can’t be satisfied" the protagonist's negative self-view is immediately made clear at the start of the song. They sing of their past dreams through the lense of someone who can only regret their failure to make them a reality "Jokes are only being turned into hope" "Even when I dream everything's blurry, do something about that negative outlook. It was a life of me wanting to try my best, it was a life I wanted to have with you". Though they cover these feelings up with lies "Kicking away my favorite reward, wearing a mask and humbly singing 'No no!'" "I want to try winning. I want to be laughing. Of course, that’s a lie", their true feelings are to leave the life they're living behind "Shouldn’t we hurry up, hurry up and try ending it with us?" "Grant my wish, I wonder if I finally want to disappear", the parallels to Kazui's own character being obvious. That last line would also be an extremely good candidate for Kazui's death line, being a line with a good buildup to it and coming right before the climax of the song.
The role of the 'guide' is a good show of the expectations placed onto Kazui, constantly placed into the role of a protector and provider. Similar to Kazui, our protagonist does their best to live up to that expectation, even though this is a role that only causes them both pain, offering guidance and never turning the other away in the hopes that person will end it for them, singing "If you say 'Guide me' here, it’s fine if I ask what happened, right?" and "Doing things half-done is unsightly, shine with all your might" while simultaneously singing "Won't you please hurry up, hurry up and try ending it by yourself?" and "Won't you please hurry up, hurry up and try switching places with me?" They agonise over this discomfort with their relationship yet make no move to try to end it themself, instead trying to convince themself that everything is fine, despite it clearly never really working "One more step, one more step, until we start the trip a 'second time'" "Hey, how many times has it been? How many times is this? Actually, it might not be too bad. Ah, that’s right. Really, that’s right." "Saying countless times 'Guide me'". The song shows stagnancy by never really moves on from these feelings, the final line being our 'guide' begging "it’s one of my greatest wishes. Cut me off, cut me off"
2) Undead Alice
Translation used
Undead Alice is a song I intially picked out for this list more to make up numbers than any genuine belief it'd make a really good cover for Kazui, but after looking at it more it somehow ended up in my number 2 spot! The song features a long dead dependent relationship, the protagonist stuck between wanting to bring it back to life and wanting to finally let it go. They cling to each other despite the relationship losing the happiness it once had, it now only exisiting to trap and hurt both parties. Admittedly, it could also be a really good choice for Amane or Mikoto, but I think Kazui would be a very satisfying choice.
The entire song is focused on the protagonist's struggles with her relationship, so the themes of disatisfaction are baked into every word of the song. The complex, contradicting feelings she has towards her partner are very similar to Kazui's own feelings, looking back on her actions she thought she did for both of them only to now regretfully realise how she's only hurt the one she loves, shown in lines such as "the more my dreams shine, the more clouded you become" "I tried doing as if not to turn you bad, but I only bent you out of shape" and "I thought we would be able to keep dreaming together, just like this, but what did your smiling face look like again?" These complicated feelings are repeatedly tied to the idea of dreams, just as Kazui's feelings are, as the conflict between his dreams of being accepted as his true self and his dreams of being able to become 'normal' are also a large cause of the mental conflict he has in his marriage.
Her indecisiveness is also a constant presence through the song, having explict lyrics such as "The disease that makes me want to hide wanting to see you and the overflow of a LOW mood because I can’t see you" and "The instinct to want to be good and the desire for things that are bad end up becoming close, yeah, this is torture", but it's also clearly shown in the differing opinions she has within the song, saying "when it comes to love, the heavier the better, don't you think?" and "We froze our love to better preserve it, though I've asked you countless times, 'Should I warm it up?'" while at the same time wishing "Let’s bury this cowardly love here, let’s stop and forget all this" and "I'm starting to hate the butterflies in my stomach, so please die before I kill you". Focusing on that final line, it's a good candidate for Kazui's spoken death line, given it's positioning in the song, but some even more likely options are "Complicity has become a bad habit, so I'll go die before I kill myself" and especially "Please, slice open my chest and crush my love". A final line I'd like to point out is this line "Something like 'Somehow, we'll be able to laugh again one day' is mistaken, it’s incorrect", which bears resemblence to Half's line after Hinako's death, having Kazui desperately wishing "I’m sure nothing will change and we’ll laugh together and call each other stupid names"
1.5) Rabbit Hole
Translation used
LISTEN. I said I was doing a bonus song, here it is. Obviously, Yuno has covered this song for her third album, and even before that was announced I figured Kazui wouldn't cover it, but given how many posts I've seen of people wishing for him to cover it, I just wanted to see how well it'd hold up against the other songs after I've dissected it. Personally, if I were to pick a song from the TRANSFORM album for him to cover it'd be Sad Girl Sex, though it's not like I've done a deep dive of that song either... also apparently tumblr only lets you link 10 videos per post. It's Rabbit Hole okay you don't need me to link it, you know it already. Rabbit Hole is a song of a woman who, after falling in love with someone but finding herself uncomfortable with those feelings, decides to have as many casual hookups as possible to replace her feelings of loneliness.
Similar to the protagonist of Relationship Scramble, Rabbit Hole's protagonist isn't ashamed of her manipulation of others. She sings of her lies without hesitation "Why don’t you kiss up and shake your cottontail?" "Fake out! I like you!" and isn't afraid to express her dislike of the people she sleeps with "It’s not like you’re super-duper special" "It’s out of place, put away your jealousy. Thirsty? Ugh, so corny!" "You nincompoop! Such a pesky beast!" She's very much aware of what she's doing and why she's doing it "Love and super-like, the lines of separation are nil, nil" "If you get lonely, find anybody, just get lucky" "Fell in love with a meh and felt like dyin’, so I’m just smashin’ over here, OK?"
She does, however, change her tune near the end of the song. Showing regret and more complex feelings towards the people she slept with then she previously did, she sings "Hey, sorry for calling you miserable. I wanna drink up, but I just can’t anymore" which feels similar to Kazui's own actions, going along with a faked love until it became obvious that doing so wouldn't fill him with real love and trying to pull away from it. The relationship between the person she apologises to changes after this point, having them go from "Little Miss Devotion" to "Little Miss Naughty" and her now saying they're "even-steven", yet the protagonist herself continues doing what she's been doing from the start despite her acknowledgement that it isn't doing her much good anymore, which feels good enough for showing stagnancy in her relationships. The final time she says "gonna be a smitten mitten till the day you die?" is in a good position for Kazui's death line, but at the same time it's kind of hard to imagine it being spoken seriously, given the overall tone of the song. In the end, it honestly wouldn't be that bad of a choice for his cover song, if it weren't already covered I'd probably put it after Ghost Rule on this list for how satisfying it's be.
1) We The Hostages
Translation used
And finally, we make it to the final song! A song that I personally would love for him to cover thanks to how perfectly it fits him. We The Hostages, also known as Hostage Exchange, showcases a once loving relationship that now only hurts both parties, the protagonist trying to finally break it off with their partner.
The dissatisfaction our protagonist has in their relationship is made abundantly clear with lines like "No matter how much you love me, all I do is get itchy" "Uncontrollably, we grew twisted as a result of holding hands" and "Perhaps I just don’t want to listen to our words of love" and they're very aware of the lies and manipulation they've weaved into their relationship "I only like your exterior. After all, I want to make you my servant" "All I do is lust, and each time I ‘viva’ too much" "I’ll make your past disappear. Serves you right!" "The memories I want to forget are hostages so I’m prepared so I can kill them at any moment" yet as the song progresses, the regret and self-hate they have born from these lies starts to reveal itself "I shed stereotypical tears of farewell. Why am I always so sly? Notice me. Notice me."
Themes of indecisiveness, stagnacy, guilt and genuine care for their partner are all tied together, as even though the song starts off as a breakup song, the protagonist begins to want to go back as the song nears it's end. With a sudden change they sing "I’m prepared so I can kill them at any moment. Still… If I can someday smile with you, then I guess that’s not too bad" and "I’m sorry. Trading in shame riddled with ‘corpses’ won’t suit" but unfortunately this regret comes too late, as they realise in the final lyric "After all, your heartbeat has definitely stopped." That final line would also be a good choice for Kazui's death line, though the lyric "If I can’t die, doesn’t that mean I’m already dead?" would also be a very satisfactory choice.
The previously mentioned lyric "I only like your exterior. After all, I want to make you my servant" is a perfect show of Kazui's reasons for going along with his relationship with Hinako, using her as a cover for his true love and to boost his social credibility, picking her to create a good image for himself rather than any genuine feelings towards her, and also ties into how we're shown their earliest interaction was mixed with lust (though I've talked about how that lust wasn't completely genuine here). Similarly, the lyric "Where did this dream go amiss? I can’t drag you along. I can’t drag you along, so let’s say goodbye" perfectly explains Kazui's reasons for bringing an end to his marriage, as he became more and more unable to deny that his dream of truly falling in love with her and living an acceptable life was impossible. His guilt surrounding dragging Hinako along became increasingly more crushing and his want to give into his true desires grew until he couldn't keep going and his only choice was to finally end it. As a final single lyric similarity, "I knew too much, so I wish to forget" parallels with Half's line "So many things I wish I hadn't known, I'm just a coward", adding more to how well this song would work as Kazui's final cover song.
In conclusion, there are plenty of song that could be chosen for Kazui to cover, all with their own merits and downsides, but coming out on top with 10/13 of the themes I was looking for fufilled as well as a good Half lyric, We The Hostages would personally be my choice for him to cover. Of course, any song here would still be a good choice, and no matter what song is chosen in the end, I'll just be happy to hear his voice again!
Here's a project I worked really hard on! A video about my ocs to the song 'Fakery Tale' (english cover by KoKo). This was one of my uni assignments for last semester, so it’s not quite as polished as I’d like it to be, but I am still very happy with the end result
I hope you all enjoy it!
Programs used
- Clip Studio Paint
- Adobe After Effects
