chemicalpictures

That's true. 2017 vk has been pretty average, so far. The only release I believe is an actual stand out was ORCALADE's debut. Solid as fuck.
 
on unpopular opinions: DADAROMA gets more praise than they deserve. For each killer song, they have 5 or 6 that are forgettable at best. And its a shame, cuz I really liked Crazy Shampoo and NAINE...

That's true. 2017 vk has been pretty average, so far. The only release I believe is an actual stand out was ORCALADE's debut. Solid as fuck.
 
on unpopular opinions: DADAROMA gets more praise than they deserve. For each killer song, they have 5 or 6 that are forgettable at best. And its a shame, cuz I really liked Crazy Shampoo and NAINE...

D.I.D's Akane is a terrible vocalist especially when he attempts high notes. The super unnatural sounding pitch correction doesn't make it any better, making  it incredibly hard for me to enjoy their great instrumentals.
 
/edit: Just to be fair, his screams and mid-range singing are alright.

@efuru@Original Saku@The Moon@gekiai@BrenGun@237Q@Masaki89 hey everyone, just as a head-up, @plastic_rainbowalready created the first thread for analysis, and you can check it here! We've been having a really interesting discussion, and I would love to hear your thoughts aswell!

@efuru@Original Saku@The Moon@gekiai@BrenGun@237Q@Masaki89 hey everyone, just as a head-up, @plastic_rainbowalready created the first thread for analysis, and you can check it here! We've been having a really interesting discussion, and I would love to hear your thoughts aswell!

Hope this gets shared somehow. I freaking love LOST NUMBER, would be great to see a re-recorded version

@Zeus
In the PV there's also a scene when the main guy stares at his phone screen before meeting his partner, to which what looks like a chat board of some sort (since there are more than two names on display).

 
There's mention from one person (who goes by Mr. Nameless) about wanting to die and wanting someone to kill him; the biggest text here, pictured below, saying 'please kill me'. This person is offering himself for slaughter and someone else on the board (most likely the main character) must've read this and decided to grant his wish. It's still a little ambiguous who is who in the chat board, but this is another alignment with the article and seems almost like more than a coincidence to me. You could very well be right!

@efuru@Original Saku@The Moon@gekiai@BrenGun@237Q@Masaki89 hey everyone, just as a head-up, @plastic_rainbowalready created the first thread for analysis, and you can check it here! We've been having a really interesting discussion, and I would love to hear your thoughts aswell!

@efuru@Original Saku@The Moon@gekiai@BrenGun@237Q@Masaki89 hey everyone, just as a head-up, @plastic_rainbowalready created the first thread for analysis, and you can check it here! We've been having a really interesting discussion, and I would love to hear your thoughts aswell!

I moved this topic into the Lyrics section to give this part of the board some more love. With more high quality discussion topics like these, this subforum will sprout to life in no time!
 
I'm going to go in a slightly different direction with this conversation to give those who haven't taken Humanities classes something to chew on. Reading these lyrics reminded me of this news story from a few years ago. I will provide the text in case the article disappears in the future, as news articles are wont to do.
 
 
The parts in bold line up with segments of the lyrics too well - mixed with a bit of Chiaki's imagination and artistic freedom of course. I don't believe the main character has hang ups or regrets as much as he gets off on killing and eating men, and now he's found someone that he wants to eat him. I point to the lyric I'll have dinner with "me" and you and I am interpreting "me" as if he is offering himself for dinner.

The second thing I thought of was that this main character must have killed and eaten before and that his constant cannibalism led to development of gastric ulcers. The inclusion of "Gastric Ulcer" in the title was a way of hinting at cannibalism without directly stating it, and possibly was a way to get around Japanese censors. I agree on the interpretation of "Rousseau's Illusion" everyone has given so far. I also think the "you" in the lyrics are ambiguous. When I read the first passage, what comes to mind is a deranged man talking to his carved up lover in a freezer. When it switches into the next paragraph, the "you" is now us. Chiaki is Brandes, we are Meiwes.
 

HOLY CRAP thank you for the responses! You guys are awesome!!
I did not take any philosophy classes so thank you @chemicalpictures and @hiroki for your thorough explanations about Rousseau. Thanks for linking the interview too, hiroki, I shall read the whole thing later.
 
This turned out to be a lot more complex than I thought, but also very interesting! I like the idea of the raw state of human beings, the savage, the love of the self, and self-love. I think it ties well into the 'mirror', or the true state of things. Whatever shows up on the mirror, or whatever is inside the mirror world, is Boy B/self-love, the hidden and raw self. Which is why the lyrics say at the end that the 'near future' is basically the boy already disappearing 'into the mirror'. You can't escape the true/natural state of things despite masking yourself with another side. And yes, I think this is what Chiaki means when disputing Rousseau's philosophy of the good nature of humans, and thus calls it 'Rousseau's Illusion'.
 
@jaymee I can very much agree with the idea of capgras delusion and how his dark side is replaced with an imposter/his love interest. Maybe that's why the 'seemingly' potential love interest is a male and not a female (in conventional terms anyway). That takes away the homosexuality undertones then. The other males in the PV is basically his other self in the form of another man. And if we take it further, that one imposter (the second man) ends up killing the real one instead, rather than the real one killing the imposter, as he did with the previous one. This means that his evil side, the raw self, wins and leads back to the idea of disappearing 'into the mirror' where the true state of things lie.
 
I think we've all touched up on some similar concepts here and there. This is a good discussion so far~

Oh boy, we are in for a ride!
 
To start, the title immediately got my attention. I think you are right on point when talking about Rousseau, and this brings me years back to my classes on the history of philosophy.
 
There's a philosophycal concept called 'State of Nature', coined by Thomas Hobbes, which in simplifying terms describes that humans living in a natural state, without being under a common acknowledged leader (governments or a king for example) will be in a state of constant every man for himself, and everyone against everyone. You can conclude that the raw state of a human being is someone egoistical, unpredictable, maybe violent and by all means, alone, distrustful.
 
Rousseau disputes that conclusion, and affirms that a Natural Human is neither a good or bad in modern society terms, he is simply a man of sensations, feelings and needs. In other words, that human is not intentional evil, he is simply unaware of such concepts. He will fill his basic desires (food, taking care of himself, reproducing). He is not hostile towards other human beings, he simply lacks the reason for society or rules.
 
If Chiaki is indeed talking about Jean Jacques Rousseau, we could assume that he does think Hobbes is correct, and Rousseau would be naive to think a human is not crude as described by Hobbes. I wanna hear more thoughts on this.
 
As such, I would interpret the PV as a person in its natural state described by Hobbes bounded by the rules of society, rebelling and discovering his raw state as a human:
 
- Using lipstick, which can be seen as an act of transgression/experimentation/reaching his true self and being chastised by his mother, the ruling figure;
- Killing butterflies, which may indicates his further urge as an evil, emotionless being, being again hold back by the figure of authority;
- Killing his partner, the ultimate transgression, and maybe eating his corpse, satisfying his most basic, raw needs as a human;
 
The scene of him puking after killing his partner and reminiscing his mother could indicate confusion between following his urges and the guilt of his despicable acts. And yet, he couln't help but trying to do it again. This sentiment is widely seen in movies or profiles of serial killers and psychopaths, which we could say are indeed "savage" human being, as their disdain for society rules.
 
Regarding the butterfly, I think @plastic_rainboware mostly right!
 
Some thoughts Genius-style:
 
"I want to destroy the murky future / I rub my hand over my aching stomach": I think there's a guilt theme to be explored here. the boy do what he does, he cannot help it, but he is filled with guilty. He wants it to stop, but he can't/won't do it alone. To end his life and erase his existence, commiting the same hideous acts as he did.
 
"I made a wish when I first met you / If possible, I want you to kill me gently / And save me from this world, without leaving any of my bones": The boy wants someone to kill him. He wants to find someone who is able to do it. If not, he will kill that someone and look for another person who is able to do it.
 
"Surely, you'll be boy A a few days later / Our "secret" with a best-before date": I believe this would mean that if the person does no kill him, the "deadline expires", the boy will kill person B and eat him, like he did with boy A.
 
"To destroy the murky future/ Sin will melt sin away": To avoid him keeping doing what he does, someone will kill him. His sins will be stopped by other people's sins;
 
"We, who loved solitude, are already inside a dream / "Into the mirror" / "Inside the mirror."": they, the psychopaths, do not see the world the same way as we do, they are already living in a different world, yet the same. like a mirror.
 
I think there's more to be said, but that gives a general idea. Or we could all be tripping balls, and Chiaki was just being gross for the shock value or something else. who knows...

I think the main “guy” in the song has two versions of himself. One is the cannibal/killer/homosexual, and the other is his “normal” side, Boy A.
 
I think he is in conflict with himself, where he does not want to be the cannibal/killer/homosexual, but can’t help himself. This side of him/conflict with himself is always there, “in the room”, even when he wants to be “normal” with another man/love interest. He wants to tell the man/love interest about this side of him and the impending danger it will put them in. However, eventually his secret will come out (“the best before” date), as he cannot fight off his dark side.
 
I also believe he somehow wants his love interest or their relationship to help fight off/kill this side of him (inside the mirror), and accept his homosexuality so that he will be saved and may live normally without this other self. But it seems like at the end, although he has hope that he can somehow overcome this side of himself, they are both sucked into the mirror (the dark side of him). 
 
In that case, "sin will wash sin away" could be the hope that love could lead to self-acceptance, like the "sin" of homosexuality will wash away his other cannibal/killer sins.
But then eventually "sin will wash sin away" changes to mean that he has washed away his "sin" of homosexuality by killing another homosexual person (a metaphor for killing his dark, homosexual side).
 
I have a feeling that Rousseau’s illusion may refer to Rousseau’s philosophy that everything in love is an illusion.
But I find it interesting that although there isn't set term like "Rousseau's illusion" in Japanese, there is a term called "sojii illusion", which means capgras delusion. In capgras delusion, a person believes someone has been replaced by an identical-looking imposter. Combining both could have been a deliberate play on words.
 
I think Rousseau's illusion fits with the first part of the song, where he believes love will fix everything, but in the end he falls prey to a form of capgras delusion, where he sees the dark side of himself replaced with an imposter/his love interest.
 
(Also just incase it comes across as unclear, I don't personally believe homosexuality is a sin, but it seems like the main guy in the video has been conditioned to believe it is.)
 
 

Probably already an overstated point for some of us, but just in case we get the inevitable "BUT... did the writer/lyricist mean/intend this??" objection (thankfully we haven't) - there's a landmark essay called "The Intentional Fallacy" by Wimsatt and Beardsley that has argued quite persuasively that it's immaterial what the author had meant to say. All we have at our disposal is the text, and what matters are the various readings the text opens itself to and makes possible as it circulates across different times, spaces, languages. We're not interested in (and can never be) plumbing the depths of the author's consciousness, so that's not the point of exercises like this  But if we really want to, we can satisfy ourselves with knowing that the band had knowingly alluded to Jean-Jacques Rousseau  
 
As for the song itself: while I generally don’t have much of an intuition for this kind of lyrics (I’m sure most MH people have more meaningful things to say on the lyrics directly), I found a ton of interesting ideas in the previous posts that I feel I can say something about so allow me to briefly chip in with some of my thoughts. More than a detailed reading of the lyrics per se it's kind of a running “commentary” with some indications along the way (hopefully) on why/how these ideas might hook on to the lyrics.
 
I'll limit myself to making one longer comment and a shorter one. My longer point reads more like an extended footnote to @chemicalpictures's post so I'll put it under spoiler tags:
 
 
And the shorter remark: I was going to comment on the ‘doppelganger’ effect in the lyrics (everyone who has said something so far has noticed a kind of echo, repetition, or doubling that takes place in the lyrics) but this post is long enough so I'll keep it to a few words:
 
In Rousseau’s philosophy, he makes a distinction between what he calls amour de soi (love of the self) and amour-propre (self-love). “Love of the self” is a regard for self-preservation independent of what other people might think or feel about me, while “self-love” is a ‘corrupted’ version which arose because we desire other people to see us in a particular way. This is related to the whole "passage from savagery to civilization" narrative that the Enlightenment was obsessed with (for Rousseau, “self-love” only emerged in a “civilized” society where we're compelled to enter into social/political relationships with other people) – but more important for our purposes is how this “self-love” operates on the basis of a kind of split subjectivity. What I mean is that Rousseau’s “self-love” assumes not one but two “I”, one that other people see and we want to make look good, and a more interior/primitive “I” behind the screen that’s making this judgment in advance and dressing up the first "I", as it were. In Chiaki’s lyrics we find a series of echoes: “デキタ。” (in Katakana) becoming “できた。” (Hiragana) – a repetition but in a different script – almost like a different (/same?) person repeating the same words. Also, the line “僕は「僕」と君とディナー” is precisely this doubling of the self that Rousseau’s “self-love” gestures towards: an (authentic) I, and a (spectral) “I” that exists as a second-order construction in language, set typographically here in quotation marks.
 

Oh boy, we are in for a ride!
 
To start, the title immediately got my attention. I think you are right on point when talking about Rousseau, and this brings me years back to my classes on the history of philosophy.
 
There's a philosophycal concept called 'State of Nature', coined by Thomas Hobbes, which in simplifying terms describes that humans living in a natural state, without being under a common acknowledged leader (governments or a king for example) will be in a state of constant every man for himself, and everyone against everyone. You can conclude that the raw state of a human being is someone egoistical, unpredictable, maybe violent and by all means, alone, distrustful.
 
Rousseau disputes that conclusion, and affirms that a Natural Human is neither a good or bad in modern society terms, he is simply a man of sensations, feelings and needs. In other words, that human is not intentional evil, he is simply unaware of such concepts. He will fill his basic desires (food, taking care of himself, reproducing). He is not hostile towards other human beings, he simply lacks the reason for society or rules.
 
If Chiaki is indeed talking about Jean Jacques Rousseau, we could assume that he does think Hobbes is correct, and Rousseau would be naive to think a human is not crude as described by Hobbes. I wanna hear more thoughts on this.
 
As such, I would interpret the PV as a person in its natural state described by Hobbes bounded by the rules of society, rebelling and discovering his raw state as a human:
 
- Using lipstick, which can be seen as an act of transgression/experimentation/reaching his true self and being chastised by his mother, the ruling figure;
- Killing butterflies, which may indicates his further urge as an evil, emotionless being, being again hold back by the figure of authority;
- Killing his partner, the ultimate transgression, and maybe eating his corpse, satisfying his most basic, raw needs as a human;
 
The scene of him puking after killing his partner and reminiscing his mother could indicate confusion between following his urges and the guilt of his despicable acts. And yet, he couln't help but trying to do it again. This sentiment is widely seen in movies or profiles of serial killers and psychopaths, which we could say are indeed "savage" human being, as their disdain for society rules.
 
Regarding the butterfly, I think @plastic_rainboware mostly right!
 
Some thoughts Genius-style:
 
"I want to destroy the murky future / I rub my hand over my aching stomach": I think there's a guilt theme to be explored here. the boy do what he does, he cannot help it, but he is filled with guilty. He wants it to stop, but he can't/won't do it alone. To end his life and erase his existence, commiting the same hideous acts as he did.
 
"I made a wish when I first met you / If possible, I want you to kill me gently / And save me from this world, without leaving any of my bones": The boy wants someone to kill him. He wants to find someone who is able to do it. If not, he will kill that someone and look for another person who is able to do it.
 
"Surely, you'll be boy A a few days later / Our "secret" with a best-before date": I believe this would mean that if the person does no kill him, the "deadline expires", the boy will kill person B and eat him, like he did with boy A.
 
"To destroy the murky future/ Sin will melt sin away": To avoid him keeping doing what he does, someone will kill him. His sins will be stopped by other people's sins;
 
"We, who loved solitude, are already inside a dream / "Into the mirror" / "Inside the mirror."": they, the psychopaths, do not see the world the same way as we do, they are already living in a different world, yet the same. like a mirror.
 
I think there's more to be said, but that gives a general idea. Or we could all be tripping balls, and Chiaki was just being gross for the shock value or something else. who knows...

Oh boy, we are in for a ride!
 
To start, the title immediately got my attention. I think you are right on point when talking about Rousseau, and this brings me years back to my classes on the history of philosophy.
 
There's a philosophycal concept called 'State of Nature', coined by Thomas Hobbes, which in simplifying terms describes that humans living in a natural state, without being under a common acknowledged leader (governments or a king for example) will be in a state of constant every man for himself, and everyone against everyone. You can conclude that the raw state of a human being is someone egoistical, unpredictable, maybe violent and by all means, alone, distrustful.
 
Rousseau disputes that conclusion, and affirms that a Natural Human is neither a good or bad in modern society terms, he is simply a man of sensations, feelings and needs. In other words, that human is not intentional evil, he is simply unaware of such concepts. He will fill his basic desires (food, taking care of himself, reproducing). He is not hostile towards other human beings, he simply lacks the reason for society or rules.
 
If Chiaki is indeed talking about Jean Jacques Rousseau, we could assume that he does think Hobbes is correct, and Rousseau would be naive to think a human is not crude as described by Hobbes. I wanna hear more thoughts on this.
 
As such, I would interpret the PV as a person in its natural state described by Hobbes bounded by the rules of society, rebelling and discovering his raw state as a human:
 
- Using lipstick, which can be seen as an act of transgression/experimentation/reaching his true self and being chastised by his mother, the ruling figure;
- Killing butterflies, which may indicates his further urge as an evil, emotionless being, being again hold back by the figure of authority;
- Killing his partner, the ultimate transgression, and maybe eating his corpse, satisfying his most basic, raw needs as a human;
 
The scene of him puking after killing his partner and reminiscing his mother could indicate confusion between following his urges and the guilt of his despicable acts. And yet, he couln't help but trying to do it again. This sentiment is widely seen in movies or profiles of serial killers and psychopaths, which we could say are indeed "savage" human being, as their disdain for society rules.
 
Regarding the butterfly, I think @plastic_rainboware mostly right!
 
Some thoughts Genius-style:
 
"I want to destroy the murky future / I rub my hand over my aching stomach": I think there's a guilt theme to be explored here. the boy do what he does, he cannot help it, but he is filled with guilty. He wants it to stop, but he can't/won't do it alone. To end his life and erase his existence, commiting the same hideous acts as he did.
 
"I made a wish when I first met you / If possible, I want you to kill me gently / And save me from this world, without leaving any of my bones": The boy wants someone to kill him. He wants to find someone who is able to do it. If not, he will kill that someone and look for another person who is able to do it.
 
"Surely, you'll be boy A a few days later / Our "secret" with a best-before date": I believe this would mean that if the person does no kill him, the "deadline expires", the boy will kill person B and eat him, like he did with boy A.
 
"To destroy the murky future/ Sin will melt sin away": To avoid him keeping doing what he does, someone will kill him. His sins will be stopped by other people's sins;
 
"We, who loved solitude, are already inside a dream / "Into the mirror" / "Inside the mirror."": they, the psychopaths, do not see the world the same way as we do, they are already living in a different world, yet the same. like a mirror.
 
I think there's more to be said, but that gives a general idea. Or we could all be tripping balls, and Chiaki was just being gross for the shock value or something else. who knows...

Oh boy, we are in for a ride!
 
To start, the title immediately got my attention. I think you are right on point when talking about Rousseau, and this brings me years back to my classes on the history of philosophy.
 
There's a philosophycal concept called 'State of Nature', coined by Thomas Hobbes, which in simplifying terms describes that humans living in a natural state, without being under a common acknowledged leader (governments or a king for example) will be in a state of constant every man for himself, and everyone against everyone. You can conclude that the raw state of a human being is someone egoistical, unpredictable, maybe violent and by all means, alone, distrustful.
 
Rousseau disputes that conclusion, and affirms that a Natural Human is neither a good or bad in modern society terms, he is simply a man of sensations, feelings and needs. In other words, that human is not intentional evil, he is simply unaware of such concepts. He will fill his basic desires (food, taking care of himself, reproducing). He is not hostile towards other human beings, he simply lacks the reason for society or rules.
 
If Chiaki is indeed talking about Jean Jacques Rousseau, we could assume that he does think Hobbes is correct, and Rousseau would be naive to think a human is not crude as described by Hobbes. I wanna hear more thoughts on this.
 
As such, I would interpret the PV as a person in its natural state described by Hobbes bounded by the rules of society, rebelling and discovering his raw state as a human:
 
- Using lipstick, which can be seen as an act of transgression/experimentation/reaching his true self and being chastised by his mother, the ruling figure;
- Killing butterflies, which may indicates his further urge as an evil, emotionless being, being again hold back by the figure of authority;
- Killing his partner, the ultimate transgression, and maybe eating his corpse, satisfying his most basic, raw needs as a human;
 
The scene of him puking after killing his partner and reminiscing his mother could indicate confusion between following his urges and the guilt of his despicable acts. And yet, he couln't help but trying to do it again. This sentiment is widely seen in movies or profiles of serial killers and psychopaths, which we could say are indeed "savage" human being, as their disdain for society rules.
 
Regarding the butterfly, I think @plastic_rainboware mostly right!
 
Some thoughts Genius-style:
 
"I want to destroy the murky future / I rub my hand over my aching stomach": I think there's a guilt theme to be explored here. the boy do what he does, he cannot help it, but he is filled with guilty. He wants it to stop, but he can't/won't do it alone. To end his life and erase his existence, commiting the same hideous acts as he did.
 
"I made a wish when I first met you / If possible, I want you to kill me gently / And save me from this world, without leaving any of my bones": The boy wants someone to kill him. He wants to find someone who is able to do it. If not, he will kill that someone and look for another person who is able to do it.
 
"Surely, you'll be boy A a few days later / Our "secret" with a best-before date": I believe this would mean that if the person does no kill him, the "deadline expires", the boy will kill person B and eat him, like he did with boy A.
 
"To destroy the murky future/ Sin will melt sin away": To avoid him keeping doing what he does, someone will kill him. His sins will be stopped by other people's sins;
 
"We, who loved solitude, are already inside a dream / "Into the mirror" / "Inside the mirror."": they, the psychopaths, do not see the world the same way as we do, they are already living in a different world, yet the same. like a mirror.
 
I think there's more to be said, but that gives a general idea. Or we could all be tripping balls, and Chiaki was just being gross for the shock value or something else. who knows...

Oh boy, we are in for a ride!
 
To start, the title immediately got my attention. I think you are right on point when talking about Rousseau, and this brings me years back to my classes on the history of philosophy.
 
There's a philosophycal concept called 'State of Nature', coined by Thomas Hobbes, which in simplifying terms describes that humans living in a natural state, without being under a common acknowledged leader (governments or a king for example) will be in a state of constant every man for himself, and everyone against everyone. You can conclude that the raw state of a human being is someone egoistical, unpredictable, maybe violent and by all means, alone, distrustful.
 
Rousseau disputes that conclusion, and affirms that a Natural Human is neither a good or bad in modern society terms, he is simply a man of sensations, feelings and needs. In other words, that human is not intentional evil, he is simply unaware of such concepts. He will fill his basic desires (food, taking care of himself, reproducing). He is not hostile towards other human beings, he simply lacks the reason for society or rules.
 
If Chiaki is indeed talking about Jean Jacques Rousseau, we could assume that he does think Hobbes is correct, and Rousseau would be naive to think a human is not crude as described by Hobbes. I wanna hear more thoughts on this.
 
As such, I would interpret the PV as a person in its natural state described by Hobbes bounded by the rules of society, rebelling and discovering his raw state as a human:
 
- Using lipstick, which can be seen as an act of transgression/experimentation/reaching his true self and being chastised by his mother, the ruling figure;
- Killing butterflies, which may indicates his further urge as an evil, emotionless being, being again hold back by the figure of authority;
- Killing his partner, the ultimate transgression, and maybe eating his corpse, satisfying his most basic, raw needs as a human;
 
The scene of him puking after killing his partner and reminiscing his mother could indicate confusion between following his urges and the guilt of his despicable acts. And yet, he couln't help but trying to do it again. This sentiment is widely seen in movies or profiles of serial killers and psychopaths, which we could say are indeed "savage" human being, as their disdain for society rules.
 
Regarding the butterfly, I think @plastic_rainboware mostly right!
 
Some thoughts Genius-style:
 
"I want to destroy the murky future / I rub my hand over my aching stomach": I think there's a guilt theme to be explored here. the boy do what he does, he cannot help it, but he is filled with guilty. He wants it to stop, but he can't/won't do it alone. To end his life and erase his existence, commiting the same hideous acts as he did.
 
"I made a wish when I first met you / If possible, I want you to kill me gently / And save me from this world, without leaving any of my bones": The boy wants someone to kill him. He wants to find someone who is able to do it. If not, he will kill that someone and look for another person who is able to do it.
 
"Surely, you'll be boy A a few days later / Our "secret" with a best-before date": I believe this would mean that if the person does no kill him, the "deadline expires", the boy will kill person B and eat him, like he did with boy A.
 
"To destroy the murky future/ Sin will melt sin away": To avoid him keeping doing what he does, someone will kill him. His sins will be stopped by other people's sins;
 
"We, who loved solitude, are already inside a dream / "Into the mirror" / "Inside the mirror."": they, the psychopaths, do not see the world the same way as we do, they are already living in a different world, yet the same. like a mirror.
 
I think there's more to be said, but that gives a general idea. Or we could all be tripping balls, and Chiaki was just being gross for the shock value or something else. who knows...

Hello all MH users! With the suggestion of @chemicalpictures, I bring you an analytical discussion of a song lyric I've chosen, along with its PV. Seems like this is the first time anyone has done this here so to get things pumping, and hopefully make this a success, I chose to pick a song from the increasingly popular band DEZERT. Being quite well-known for their food-related themes, as you can tell from their song titles and album titles, DEZERT do not only bring a dark and grimy atmosphere, but also present an unpleasant and repulsive feeling to your gut and mouth. If you ever took the time to read their lyrics you may never look at food the same way again. But hey, I love them for this.
 
@Zeus Let me know if there's a better section for this. Since I'm discussing about both lyric and PV I thought I'd put it in the general section instead.
 
Let's get right down to it and take a look at the original Japanese lyrics for the song, 胃潰瘍とルソーの錯覚  from their album タイトルなし(Title Nashi),  which was written by Chiaki, and then the translation, which was done by me.
 
Kanji: 胃潰瘍とルソーの錯覚  -taken from rocklyric
 
English: Gastric Ulcer and Rousseau's Illusion
 
胃潰瘍とルソーの錯覚 is a song about love and the fear of the truth and the future, written in a grotesque manner. Looking at the song title, 'gastric ulcer' ties into the food and cannibalistic theme, and after reviewing the lyrics and PV several times I've concluded that the gastric ulcer represents a kind of punishment for one's sins. A punishment for killing the ones you love and eating them to the bone, obviously. It is there as a reminder of your sins.
 
Another piece of information we get from the title is the name 'Rousseau'. Who could this Rousseau refer to and why did Chiaki choose to use this reference? (Unless the word ルソー means something else?) The first name that comes up on google is a philosopher named Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Apparently, he advocated freedom politically and made an influence during the French Revolution. I can see how 'freedom' may play a role in this, but am still puzzled as to why Chiaki would reference him specifically. If anyone is willing to dig further into this, please do.
 
Something else worth speculating is the way Chiaki divides the lyric into (A), (B), and (A.B), like a story with chapters. But then why (A.B) at the end? Maybe it's a middle section between A and B? It's possible, but I think A and B might refer to Boy A and Boy B (since he mentions 少年A under the (B) section), where as A.B refers to them both of them together at the end. If you have thoughts otherwise, please comment below~
 
I know there's still a lot to speculate about the lyrics, but let's get to the fun part and explore the peculiar PV. As if the lyrics were crazy enough, here we have additional themes like gender, homosexuality, and the butterfly motif. A young boy puts on lipstick, kills butterflies, and gets together with other males as he grows older......to kill them for their flesh and bones.
 
 
The PV follows well with the lyrics, but what intrigued me the most was the butterfly motif. We see the butterfly appear when the young boy plucks its wings and smiles, and in a few flickering screens of an injured butterfly throughout the PV. Then, at the very end we see it once more in the form of a tattoo on the left arm of the man who kills the boy (see pic below). What an ironic turn of events, seeing a butterfly, which you have mistreated in the past, the moment you die. However, since the butterfly has been depicted as being weak, being robbed of its ability to fly, I think it also serves as a representation of his weakness for not being able to face the truth and the future. In Japan, people also believe that butterflies carry souls to the dead, or represent souls of the dead, therefore adding to the irony of his fateful death.
 

 
I don't want to write too much so I'll leave the rest open for discussion! I'm sure there are deep-thinkers here who have something more interesting to share. Or if not, point out something you find interesting and analyze it, even if it's something little. It could mean something more than you think. For example, you think those wire mannequins in the PV might represent anything? Or maybe it's just a piece of decoration. For those who have knowledge in Japanese, please share thoughts about the original Japanese lyrics and other possible translations too. Have fun! ^^
 
Feel free to leave any critiques as well~

So I'm guessing millennial means vocalists that were active around 2005-present? Here are a few memorable ones for me that are lesser known.
 
Saki (active 2004-2010)
Bands: Clorican, ClearVeil
While he's not the best screamer, and may sometimes make you wonder: does this dude even know how to scream? (but ironically makes him memorable), his clean vocals are to die for. And even more, when he reaches those higher notes. I miss him so much and want him back.
 
Raya (active 2004-present)
Bands: L'eprica, ANGRAYSE, D'efend Chroma, Sierra de Cobre
If you like art-kei vocals, Raya is not to be missed. He's currently back with L'eprica members and plays with bands Emmuree, DISH, and Sioux, but still no sign of them releasing any new material. Still, I can only hope.
 
Amonn (active 2001-present?, but probably only became well-known with the band MELLO in 2006)
Bands: Diod'honneur, MELLO, Trompe l'oeil
Another art-kei vocalist that shouldn't be missed. Very deep and powerful vocals with amazing delivery. I haven't heard anything from his recent band Trompe l'oeil, but I hope they didn't completely disappear and are still active and planning something new.
 
Oh, and I voted for Ryoga. I don't know much about the other ones, but I'm growing to like Kazuki. I favor Tora over Ryuga so I didn't vote him. They're both great vocalists, but I've always thought Tora was more compelling and emotive.

Hello people!
 
I've always thought japanese lyrics are under explored by us western fans. So I thought of a  little fun way of incentivizing the community on giving their 2 cents and analysis on a weekly chosen song, like:
 
The week song + lyric is posted;
people give their analysis/thoughts on its meanings and intricacies;
other people like the comments they think are more accurate, or what they think is the best interpretation;
the person with the most well received analysis gets to choose the song for the next week;
 
Of course what is described above can be changed to better fit the board or the mods, which I believe would be ideal to handle the thread creation and such (maybe the ORZ could take turns on, or smh like that)
 
one barrier I can see is that, if the song does not have a translation available, could be hard for non speakers to be part of it... what do you guys think? any thoughts?

Surprisingly, no one mentioned the king of art-kei vocals yet, my boy temari:
 
 
I have a knack for vocalists who can actually pull off rap sections in vk songs without sounding like shit, so I'd like to mention Maru (ex-bis) and Yoshito (ex-xTRiPx) they also doesn't sound like your usual annoying high-pitched vocalists, having a more raspy tone, which is also a plus in my book:
 
 
On a more classic vk shouter note, I think Mikaru really deserves a mention. The guy is a beast, wish he'd stop wasting his talents in shit like glams:
 
 
last but not least, the one I think has the most range bar none on the scene. One of the few I actually believe had vocal training before starting a career, or something like that. Megamasso's Inzargi:
 
 

^Yess, that'd be great!!
 
I've been thinking about this a lot while at work and I think I'm more interested in doing a lyric + PV analysis in one, mainly because it gives more room for an analysis. If no one else is gonna take a stab at it soon, or wants to join with me, I'll see if I can whip something up of my own in the next week or so.

sounding much, much better than TDDD

I'd love to do this, but I'm literally in a upper-level Japanese course that's exactly this, only with poetry. Maybe I could help out once I'm done with that? : O