My life in Japanese

I decided to post this in honor of Anime Boston. It is a list of songs that remind me of specific years of my life and each of them is in Japanese.

I remember the first time I ever got into anything Japanese besides a video game. At the time I hadn't even considered liking "Anime" or "Manga". Then one day, I was sitting next to Lindsey, a girl I'd been in school with for most of my life, and finally asked her what she kept reading during class.

She was more than happy to enlighten me.

Within a few days I was allowed to borrow the manga Inuyasha and had read volumes 1-3 in a matter of a week. It took some getting use to but soon it became natural to read the pictures backwards, turn the pages from left to right, and the most confusing part of all: who was a boy and who was a girl.

After I had read those volumes I asked for the rest. Lindsey didn't have the rest of the Manga but said that she had more of the story as an anime. So I brought the illegal first box set home of the Japanese with Chinese or English subtitles and began my adventure into anime. And that's how it started.

Now for the main event: THE LIST!!!

1. Change the World - Inuyasha

This reminds me a lot of early high school, for obvious reasons. It started it all!

2. Every Heart - Inuyasha

Also reminds me of early high school, but also of my early attempts at understanding what love is. Lots of philosophical debates with myself and not a lot of work on school.

3. Shinjitsu no Uta - Inuyasha

Last Inuyasha I promise! This is a part of me coming out of the "shell" of my mind and venturing, if only briefly, into letting people know a little about myself. I was very shy and didn't let anyone know much about me... because I didn't want to know myself.

4. Obsession - .Hack//SIGN

You knew it was coming if you know me. .Hack is my FAVORITE Anime and was one of the first ones I got my hands on. If there was a universe I wish I could dive into, this would probably be it. This reminds me of late nights watching .Hack when I should have been doing school work and wishing I could play FFXI.

5. Reckless Fire - Scryed

Scryed is interesting because I never fully watched the anime nor fully read the manga, yet I respect it. It was my first impulse buy anime and I learned my lesson: research before you watch! This reminds me of not wanting to be in school, yet stuck to working when I had time off. Isn't it weird what songs remind you of? Inevitably this reminds me of my friends, who I never could see often.

6. Tooku Made - Do As Infinity (artist)

OMG! Just an artist no anime?! Well if you count Vampire Hunter D: Blood Lust which I didn't even see until college years... then yes it was! I finally learned how to master the art of the internet search engine and found out many things I wanted to know! This reminds me of Dole Comics, the one thing about High School that made it bearable for me in later years.

7. Sanctuary - Kingdom Hearts II

Now we're really getting off the beaten path... a game! Not just any game though, this one is practically legendary! This reminds me of the end of high school and the fresh start awaiting me in college... but the results were far worst than expected... good thing this is a nice song anyways!

8. Silly-Go-Round - .Hack//Roots

Finally at college now, and look! .Hack is back for more hacking action! G.U. was just being released and I was on fire with eagerness. I got my hands on the new anime for the series, Roots, and started downloading the subbed episodes every week or so when they were released in Japan. This reminds me of struggling to survive first year at college, dealing with Prout: Part 2, and everything else that caused the rapture later on.

9. Inner Universe - Ghost in the Shell: SAC

We're getting closer to the present. I got into this new anime called Ghost in the Shell that I downloaded every few days to occupy myself. It really kept me going when I needed it. Now it's sophmore year in college and I've transfered away from my problems and found myself alone. I became depressed and withdrawn, talked to no more than a few people and my professors, lost around 35 pounds, and finally had the time to reflect on myself. This is when the rapture happened that changed my life forever and I decided to take my life by the reins.

10. Rise - Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd GIG

After finishing season one of Ghost in the Shell, I got season 2. After my rapture, I began to rebuild everything about myself. It was kinda like in YuGiOh! where YuGi mind crushes Kaiba and he has to put everything back together. Good song nonetheless.

11. Oblivious - Kalafina

Now we're just about to present time. This song is from a popular anime in Japan translated to The Garden of Sinners. I didn't find out about the anime until I had the band so that doesn't count!!! This song reminds me of things that haven't even begun to heal yet.

12. Sprinter - Kalafina

This song gives me hope for the next day, week, month ahead. Simple as that.


Some might ask "Do I know any Japanese?" "Do I know what these songs mean?" "Did you look up the lyrical translations to understand the song better?" and I say it doesn't matter at all. Like Plato said before me (in common words) "Words take away from a piece of art because they limit the choices an artist has to describe or integrate an emotion into the artwork." I don't entirely agree with this, but I can argue that without the english filling my ears I can feel a deeper connection to a song and the emotion it is trying to convey. Maybe that's just me. In any case, I can still sing as loud as I can in Japanese without knowing what I'm saying... as long as it sounds in tune with the song!

... ok I thought I just typed "Thong" in place of song but I didn't... I must be tired. I'll post again soon!