Kurenai (くれない) is the theme song of Fatal Frame II: Deep Crimson Butterfly for the Nintendo Wii. It replaces Chou (蝶) as the song played during the ending credits. The song is performed by Tsukiko Amano, released in her latest full album, Ten no Ki (天の樹).
Contents
Lyrics[]
Japanese[]
それぞれの正しさ振り翳すように人は群れを成す
食み出すもの刈る取る鋏を携え わたしを捕らえる
狂いはじめてた ぬくもりの香り
揺さぶられた わたしを笑い
'君は消えてゆく 闇夜の隙間に 'わたしの身代わりに
朱く 朱く 永遠に刻み付いた
君とわたしをひとつ束ねた残骸
今も同じ永遠を泳ぎながら
わたしを待つの ちぎれた翼で 大空を舞って
どれだけ目が醒めたら 明日の麓へ君を連れ出せる
どれだけ罰を拭う 愛を奏でたら わたしは戻れる
追いつきたかった 掴まえたかった 君とふたり 歩きたかった
君は逃げてゆく 閉ざした扉をいくつもすり抜けて
燻るほど 染まりゆく朱い罪を 優しい傷を
わたしは抱いてゆきたい
今も同じ永遠を泳いでいる
君の翼に わたしの両手を 繋ぎ合わせて
わたしは生きてく 翼をもがれた 飛べない蝶のまま
朱く 朱く 永遠に刻み付いた
君とわたしをひとつ束ねた残骸
燻るほど 染まりゆく朱い罪を 優しい傷を
わたしは抱いてゆきたい
今も同じ永遠を泳ぎながら
わたしを待つの ちぎれた翼で 大空を舞って
Translation[]
As if each proclaiming justice, people have flocked together,
wielding scissors like culling the excessive, and captured me.
The once warm fragrance turned to madness, laughing at the intimidated me.
You are disapperaing into the gaps of the dark night, substituting me.
Engraved into a crimson, crimson eternity,
the remains that binds you and I as one,
even now, while also drifting in the eternity waiting for me, with broken wings,
dancing in the big sky.
How long must I remain awake, to take you to the foothills of the morning sun?
How much punishment must I wipe away, how much love to emote, for me to return?
I wanted to follow, I wanted to catch up, I wanted to walk together with you.
Yet you ran away, slipping through the myriads of closed doors.
The steeping crimson sin, as if smoldering, the gentle wound,
I want to go embrace them.
Even now, while also drifting in eternity, tether your wings together with my two hands.
I will live on, like a flightless butterfly with its wings torn off.
Engraved into a crimson, crimson eternity,
the remains that binds you and I as one.
The steeping crimson sin, as if smoldering, the gengle wound,
I want to go embrace them.
Even now, while also drifting in the eternity waiting for me,
with broken wings, dancing in the sky.
Interview with Tsukiko Amano[]
In an interview from Shinku no Chou's official guidebook, it was stated the following:
What Tsukiko Amano Put Into "Kurenai"[]
Amano: When "Chou" was created the game's title was "Akai Chou" (紅い蝶 / Crimson Butterfly), so I took the "Chou" (蝶 / butterfly) character from that. At the time when I received the offer to do a song for this game, the subtitle was still "Akai Chou", so I thought about taking the "Crimson" character (紅) from that, but since I don't particularly personally like that kanji character, and because there is already a famous song by the same name, I wrote it using hiragana. I haven't used hiragana for the titles of many of my songs, and I thought that using the old "wi" (ゐ) character would, rather than make it sound old-fashioned, have a nice feeling to it. -With regards to being offered the chance to do a new image song, given the existence of "Chou", did you feel as though there was any pressure or burden from it?
In "Chou", not once did I sing "crimson", and in the song the protagonist flies away, so I ended up at the answer, "Well then, this time I should sing it from the perspective of the one who couldn't fly." -What kind of finishing touches did you give to the song to make it match the image of Mio and Mayu as sisters?
-Were you conscious of your choice of words as you did so?
With "Kurenai", the want for people who hadn't played the game to be able to enjoy it too wasn't on my mind as much, and I really was a little conscious of wanting it to say things to people who had played it. -When you were creating "Kurenai", what was your favourite, or most concentrated-upon, phrase?
Maybe it's not quite something I necessarily focused on, but I remember struggling with the "watashi no migawari ni" ("as my substitute") part of the B melody, and right until the end I wasn't sure whether to use that or "okizari ni" ("abandoning me"). I kept writing "okizari ni", erasing it and writing in "migawari ni", over and over. In the game, the definition of twin sisters is repeatedly reversed and changed. This image remained with me strongly, so I thought that writing "migawari ni" would really convey something to people who had played the game. However, what I wanted to say was about disappearing for your own sake, and "migawari ni" felt a little forced (laughs). -Was there anything like, for example, a keyword you used when you were writing the lyrics?
-Were there any lyrics you had to drop because they got too close to the game's core?
-Unexpectedly, the development team had also noticed the same "hand" keyword. You said you participated in the English translation of "Kurenai" yourself, didn't you?
For example, the "hamidasu mono karitoru hasami wo tazusae" part. This has the meaning of "people who stand out and are criticised and punished." The kind of nuance I wanted in the English translation was "why are they knocked down?" which I had trouble with. I thought that the "karitori mono" part should be "lay us down" or "cut us down", and went back and forth about it many times with Nintendo of Europe's staff. "Lay us down" has a the image of a crushing/suppressing feeling, and after taking the advice that it had more an image of "exclusive and limited" and "pushed aside" I thought "cut us down" might be closer and went with that. -It's difficult getting not only the representation right but also taking into account the cultural differences. Did you think the completed translation was just about perfect?
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them properly in Japanese, and I couldn't work out how to tell Nintendo of Europe's staff to please make it rhythmical, which is perhaps a regret of mine. -Conversely, was there anything you felt the translation staff did that matched your intentions perfectly?
Amano: The part that goes "kimi wa nigete yuku tozashita tobira wo ikutsu mo surinukete" was translated as "I see the doors closing behind you, I rush to make it there in time", which is precisely what I was going for. So much so that I automatically replied in comment, "That's so moving!" (laughs). It represented the "even though I tell you not to go when it seems as though we will be separated, I can never keep up with you" image that I was going for really well. Maybe that's how Mayu feels in the actual game, too. I used that as a hint, but the translation team really understood that and how well they understood impacted me deeply. I was so happy that everything I wanted to say had been conveyed, even the metaphors. -How many revisions were there before the English translation was actually completed?
-Huh? The entire translation was finished in four days?
-Please tell us about the English title, "Crimson".
-Could you please tell us what part of the English lyrics left the deepest impression on you?
-Which of the endings in Shinku no Chou is your favourite?
-Thinking about it, it does seem as though the lyrics were made to follow along with the details of the game.
-This game will be the fourth you have provided an image song for - it seems as though amongst the fans the image is increasingly popular that "Zero = Ms. Amano". What do you think about this?
But even still, when I got the offer to do "Kurenai" for this game, I was absolutely thrilled to be able to be involved with this series again. I felt so strongly towards fans who had come to like me through playing these games. From the start I've been involved in the crafting aspect of things, so I can oversee my own works. The pride I take in my work really lit a fire under me when I received the "Kurenai" offer, and I couldn't really find the words, couldn't think of an image tune, which made me feel stressed, but even then I went about creating it thinking, "Ah, what fun work." -I believe there were many fans who, when the announcement about Shinku no Chou was made, thought, "I wonder if Ms. Amano will sing for this game too?"
-Then finally, please leave a message for the readers.
-Thank you for your time. |