Ai no Mugen vs Kao: A Brief Look at The 'You' Inside the Mirror
Different post from my usual IDV-posting, but I finally got around to listening to the new Mugendai Mewtype album 'Progress Sign' and I'm so hyped about it. Day by day, I'm getting more and more excited for the release of the YMMT anime, I swear.
The first three songs on the tracklist are new songs, and the rest have already been released before. The new songs are as follows:
アイの夢限 (Ai no Mugen) // Love's Dream Limit
どんがらがっしゃん (Dongaragasshan)
みゅーたんとミュータント (Mewtan to Myuutanto) // Mewtan and Mutant
Of the new songs, Mewtan to Myuutanto is my favorite. I love the tone of Miyako's synthy keyboard and as always YUNO CARRIES SO HARD with that BASS LINE. And Nono's and Ritsu's guitars really pop off in the chorus which I love. I need more standout songs with them. Also, I just love when YMMT has their rap verses and their group callouts. YMMT really leans into the dreamy cyber/virtual idol sound with Mewtan to Myuutanto and it is going on loop for the rest of the year (at least when I'm not stuck trying to arrange other music TT).
Dongaragasshan is also really fun! I feel a lot of Hello, Happy World energy with this one (probably with all the brass instruments), but my favorite part of that song has to be Nono's little tongue-twister verse.
But what I'm really here to talk about is Ai no Mugen because that song really isn't helping Arale beat the Uika/Hatsune sister theory. And there's a connection between the lyrics of Ai no Mugen and Kao (Alter Ego), namely the theme of mirrors and self worth.
So let's talk about it!
Disclaimer: I'm working with Google Translate and what very little Japanese vocabulary I've learned from listening to music and reading other's translations for the Ai no Mugen translation. My New Year's Resolution is to sit down and commit to learning Japanese, but for now, while it's not ideal, the vast majority of the translations for Ai no Mugen is auto translated with minor edits. If anyone has input on translations, let me know.
Mirrors, You, and The World in Lyrics of Kao
I won't spend too long talking about Kao because it's very on the nose about what it's about once you've watching the Mujica anime. But I will point out a few key lines from the official translation:
Lifting my chin just a little, the reflection in the mirror
A different face that looks just the same
The mirror is used as something that reveals truths and lies, in the lyrics of the song and in the music video for Kao. In the MV, Doloris finds some kind of peace once she defeats/kill/destroys the unmasked Uika/Hatsune that has been taunting her-- which only turns out to be a mirror. The 'different face that looks just the same' refers to how similar Hatsune and Uika look.
A heartless algorithm to drift through
But something's missing, though I do not-not know
Computer or scientific elements like 'algorithms' or 'programs' also get referred to in other songs, namely Symbol III: ▽ (Water).
Translation by nenosuns.
Octogram Dance also includes a reference to The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells in the 'Welcome to the house of pain' line. It's a 1896 science fiction novel about a mad scientist who performs surgical experiments on animals to make them more 'human-like', attempting to recreate human society on an isolated island. Very much it's own mirror to the state of the band and their little 'religion'.
While these references to science might seem like a bit of an interesting counter to the religious themes that appear through Ave Mujica's themeing, it should be noted that scientific thought was key to the Victorian gothic era.
It is still obviously distanced from YMMT's much more modern cyber/Vtuber/'virtual idol' theme, but most of these lines about science are tied to the world or some kind of place/state to exist in, which is interesting to think about in how the virtual world has been represented in the YMMT anime opening as an actual place the girls are transported to (by UFO lol).
And there's also the tag line in Arale's profile description: "Let's create a new world… together with everyone!" That sounds a bit familiar to Mujica and Sakiko in particular...
i'm a pretender hater, hater, hate the fake
I'll expose the you inside the mirror
The theme of Kao or Alter Ego is the complexities of finding and establishing one's 'true self' or 'identity' when you are the pretender or the fake.
The lyrics have a very triumphant, borderline arrogant tone in the way it refers to the self and the 'you inside the mirror'. Is Hatsune sane? "I'm sane." Her "days of deception [are] played out smoothly".
Having received acceptance from the person she values most- Sakiko, the person who was the original Uika's friend- for having stolen her sister's identity, it all appears that the pretender has successfully taken on the title of 'the real one', the 'winner', and that person who exists in the mirror- be it Hatsune Misumi or the "real" Uika is the loser.
Mirrors, 'You', and The Future in Ai no Mugen
I always think about how Arale's eyebrows are always fixed in that worried expression tbh...
The lyrics of Ai no Mugen actually open with and constantly refer back to mirrors, opening with:
One morning, the mirror asked:
Where exactly do I begin and where do I end?
It's as if I'm cloaked in an ugly yesterday,
Or as if yesterday is cloaking me.
Side note: the pronoun 'boku' (僕) is used throughout the song, which is what Arale uses to refer to herself. (Something also interesting is that the stage character Doloris specifically also refers to herself with 'boku').
This opening verse quite plainly mirrors the opening of Kao with the mirror lines. But rather than the mirror being the passive object being examined, the mirror becomes the subject personified with Arale narrating it's question: "Where exactly do I begin and where do I end?" With this being the way this song opens, I've taken to interpreting this song as the mirror or the person inside of the mirror ('you') responding to the singer of Kao. And looking at more of these lyrics, they actually do poke a bit at Doloris's feelings.
The chorus of the song begins to poke more at the themes of self-loathing but also directs it towards the recipient of this song:
I hate myself!
You probably hate yourself too!
So let's look into each other's eyes,
At this life reflected in our eyes.
Can we forgive it? Can we love it?
I'll open my eyes.
There's something so touching about these particular lyrics and how they contrast Hatsune's self-loathing. And if we take Arale as Hatsune's sister, then it makes these lines about 'forgiveness' and 'love' all the more touching considering the last time they spoke to each other was an argument over their (step-)father's death.
Hatsune is consumed by self-loathing and guilt, and seeks external acceptance and validation. It is only when she's achieved that that she feels confident, happy, and at peace. I also think about the Ave Mujica masks and the act of putting on these theatrical plays as a means of avoiding the truth and not really facing the future head on.
But with Arale's proposition here, she suggests that she- the mirror- and the recipient of this song look directly at each other and engage in forgiveness and love for the lives they have lived and will live. Rather than looking to external validation, Arale suggests that this has to be found in themselves, despite the self-hatred.
Why, why can't I go alone?
The reflection in the mirror doesn't give me an answer.
I don't want to accept that I was born
to be hurt and to hurt others.
More mirrors, but also the idea of being hurt and hurting others is a theme I've seen come up in other songs before (I'm thinking about Kashika by Loin, commissioned for Vivid Bad Squad of PJSK). This theme emerges as being a natural part of life - we say or do things that hurt others and others will do the same to us. This verse then becomes a lot more existential in its rejection of this kind of existence. But what other existence could there be? Maybe it all just ties back to that love and self-acceptance.
The next chorus is also a bit on the nose:
君と僕が似ているのは
声や顔や過去じゃなくて
眩しくてよく見えなかった
未来のほうだったね
What you and I have in common
It isn’t our voices, our faces, our past,
It was the future
So bright I couldn’t see it clearly.
顔 or 'kao' is in these lines: 声や顔や過去じゃなくて. Google opted to translate it as 'faces' and it works best here, though it can also be translated as 'looks' or 'features'. ('Alter Ego' is just the English translated title anyway).
This is the part where I go insane and say "THE THEORY!! THE THEORY!!" because it is emphasized that Hatsune and Uika look incredibly similar to each other, and that is how Hatsune was able to get away with meeting Sakiko under the moonlight.
There are a few different ways of reading these lines, but as I see it, 'What you and I have in common' could be what they have as similarities or share. While I would say Arale Nakamachi and the actor Sasaki Rico have different voice qualities, the shared past isn't necessarily how similar the events they experienced are, but the fact they have this shared history.
And once again, we have a reference to the future and how bright is it.
And then we have this rap verse:
Midnight, a disguised ecosystem
Appearing as a minor character at one end?
The person I was back then was just a facade
Everyone else was being their true selves
Because I'm uglier than someone else, because I don't fit in, I'm tired of all that
Let's not put it off until next time, let's have a real conversation
This is what really interests me as it goes back to a few ideas.
'Midnight': the cover of darkness (connection to Hatsune and Sakiko's meeting)
'minor character' -> YMMT's debut song Mugen My World has a line that repeats: "モブじゃない", "Mobu janai!", or "Not a background character!"
'The person I was back then was just a facade': this suggests that at one point in time, the singer/Arale herself had a period of time where she put up some kind of front. This obviously ties to Hatsune. It could also be tied to the 'emotional fragility' in Arale's profile description.
'Because I'm uglier than someone else, because I don't fit in, I'm tired of all that': There's a recurring theme in YMMT songs about wild dreams, not fitting into social standards, rejecting the world as it is and it's standards, and living in an escapist world/finding your true self. The 'I'm tired of all that' echoes that sentiment.
'Let's not put it off until next time, let's have a real conversation': suggests a shift from uncertainty and facades/pretense to something more genuine and true
This rap verse packs so much into it, but I think it does say a lot about YMMT's themes and the lines it plays with around virtual/real worlds, identity, and fitting into (or not fitting into) society.
I won't speak much on the next verse, but it also refers to open eyes and an shimmering and infinite future.
I hate myself!
You probably hate yourself too!
So let's look into each other's eyes,
At this life reflected in our gaze,
I want to forgive it, I want to love it,
I'll open my eyes.
Which turns from a question of the possibility to forgive and love to a desire to forgive and love, and taking of the action of opening one's eyes and facing the future.
And also:
ある朝、鏡に語り掛ける
「どこまでもが僕等だ」と
One morning, I tell the mirror,
"Everywhere, it's us."
In contrast to Kao's final line "I'll expose the you inside the mirror" which is more aggressive in tone, Ai no Mugen ends with something more (and is generally a lot more) optimistic, hopeful, and kind. In response to that mirror that doesn't completely answer the singer's questions about where she "begins and ends", the singer says they together are everywhere, or that they are infinite.
Connections to the Sisters Theory
Arale and Uika's 2025 birthday art by canvas2929.
I lost a lot of steam towards the end, it's almost 2am, whoops. I'm not very tapped into the fandom enough here on Tumblr or Twitter, so I really don't have a sense of what folks' opinions are on the "Arale is 'The Real Uika'" theory or how many people are even tapped into it. I think there are a few gaps in the theory, particularly with the age difference between the two girls. But personally, I think it's really interesting how these two songs both involve mirrors, self-perception/self-worth, and address a certain 'you', but in very different ways.
In Kao, Uika has reached the point of finding acceptance from the person she most desperately wanted it from. Her past remains buried and she - the pretender- will continue pretending well into the future, having successfully 'won' this stolen identity. Lyrically and in the song MV, she 'kills' the 'you' in the mirror that symbolizes her "real" identity as Hatsune. It's a triumphant and victory song that is almost mocking or threatening the 'you' in the mirror, as if daring this 'loser' to come out and claim otherwise.
In Ai no Mugen, Arale shares that self-loathing with the person the song is addressing, and it is evident they have some history. But she opens up about her regrets, her questions about her existence, identity, and the pain she brings others and has experienced herself, and in the end, she chooses to open her eyes, look to the future, and embrace herself (and the audience) with love and forgiveness for their past.
I really think that Kao and Ai no Mugen are songs that are meant to parallel/mirror each other, or that Ai no Mugen is a response to Kao. Even if Doloris hasn't reached complete acceptance of herself and still relies on Sakiko to forgive her "sins" of identity theft, to validate her existence and self-worth, Arale still expresses that whatever has happened in the past, you have to forgive and love yourself and move into that infinite future.
If you read all of this, hello! Thank you for reading! I don't often post about Bandori-- I am a new gen Bandori fan (started dabbling in it with Morfonica/RAS's releases, but didn't get totally into it until MyGo/Ave Mujica). But I wanted to share some thoughts because unfortunately YMMT's content isn't totally accessible, and I don't see a lot of love for them. So I'm giving them the treatment I give for Identity V music (and honestly this is probably a better place for me to share music/lyric analysis lol).
Again, these translations are very rudimentary and mostly Google Translate generated, so if you have input on those, let me know! And if you have further input on the theory/analysis side of things, please share! I love having these kinds of convos and hearing different perspectives. Otherwise, have a lovely day/night/when you are! 📢🌟
Honestly the main reason I want to study Japanese at the moment is to one day reach the point where I can watch Yumemita streams and understand a decent chunk of them. Then maybe one day translate older untranslated YMMT materials into English because they are not appreciated enough TT.
