Team B - "Boku no sakura"

Again, a request. I'm starting my full stage project after this ^_^v

"Boku no sakura" (My cherry blossoms)
(from Team B 3rd stage "Pajama drive")
Team B (full team)

words: Akimoto Yasushi
music: Kashiwara Nobuhiko
point of view: male
theme: sakura song
original lyrics


listen to Boku no sakura

Tracing again the white lines on the field ¹
I have run under the sun
Throughout the days of my youth

Your path goes on straight
The wind that blows for a second
Goes beyond our memories
Carrying dust with it

What was I fighting against
When I said "I don't want to lose to anyone"?

I couldn't reach the goal I was aiming to
So I started walking
You, my seniors who ran before me
And wiped with the back of your hands
The tears you shed on the road to your dreams
The cherry blossoms that watched us go away
When our shadows were long ²
Have fallen, leaving only their branches
They will bloom again next year

When the cheers for the soccer club had died out
I watched the sun set
That summer's loneliness

I was troubled
And I had stopped in front of the curve of my dreams
That time, you patted me on my shoulders
And surpassed me

Your back told me
That every person runs with a different pace

The blue sky was waiting
At the goal I was aiming for
Who will cut the tape at the finish line first
Doesn't really matter
During the graduation season
Wind blows inside my heart
Today's cherry blossoms will go their separate ways
Somewhere, I'm thinking of you

I couldn't reach the goal I was aiming to
So I started walking
You, my seniors who ran before me
And wiped with the back of your hands
The tears you shed on the road to your dreams
Our long shadows

Notes
¹ One of the duties of a high school sports club's junior members is to trace the white lines on the field using a cart full of chalk powder.
² "Long shadows" means late afternoon or sunset, when the sun is low and thus it casts long shadows on the ground. So, it means that the club members practiced for a long time after the school lessons.

Comment
One of AKB's many "sakura songs", school-themed songs set in April, the month when cherry blossoms bloom and school graduations take place.
This time the first-person character, a boy in a school's soccer team, reminisces about his club seniors who have graduated, and whom he is grateful to for teaching him to never give up. A really classic sakura song.
If you like the genre, I plan on having a "sakura special" in late March ^__^

Team B - "Team B Oshi"

Team B's newest team song (or should we say, New Team B's first team song), "Team B oshi", was the highest ranking theatre song on this year's AX Request Hour, as high as fifth most voted song (out of more than three hundred eligible songs)!
It's a fun, uptempo, a little messy but very exciting song. Team B is my least favourite team, yet I really love this song.

"Team B Oshi" (Team B fan)
(from Team B 5th stage "Theatre no megami")
Team B (full team)

words: Akimoto Yasushi
music: Yoshino Takao
point of view: female
theme: team song
original lyrics


listen to Team B Oshi on youtube

From today you're a Harukyan fan, look, it's Team B
(amazingly cute!)
From today you're a Maachan fan, look, it's Team B
(Maachan? "What?!")
From today you're a Tomoomi fan, look, it's Team B
(Chiyuu, Chiyuu, Chiyuu!)
From today you're a Yukirin fan, look, it's Team B
(I will send you in a daze!)

A! K! B! 48! Say B!
A! K! B! 48! B, B, B, B!

What do you think of our live show? What do you think?
We're so close, you're all "Oh my God!", aren't you?
What do you think of our singing and dancing? What do you think?
This is the notorious AKB!

Since there's so many girls you can't choose, can you?
Cheer for only one of us!

Ready, steady, go!

From today you're a Kitarie fan, look, it's Team B
(you still don't get it?)
From today you're a Kanachan fan, look, it's Team B
("So cute!" "I know")
From today you're a Komorin fan, look, it's Team B
(Hello there)
From today you're a Amina fan, look, it's Team B
(Hey, can you give me half of it?)

What do you think of us compared to the other teams? What do you think?
We're the cutest and just the best, aren't we?
What do you think of our messy speeches? What do you think?
This is AKB, anything can happen!

If my performance charms you
I don't mind if you switch your favourite for me

One, two, yahoo!

From today you're a Suuchan fan, look, it's Team B
(Suu melody!)
From today you're a Nacchi fan, look, it's Team B
(1+2= N Nacchi!)
From today you're a Mariyannu fan, look, it's Team B
(The 3 o'clock snack is Mariyannu!)
From today you're a Chikarina fan, look, it's Team B
(Mow mow meh!)

A! K! B! 48! Say B!
A! K! B! 48! B, B, B, B!

I will be happy
If you fall in love with me and cheer for me

Here we go again!

From today you're a Nacchan fan, look, it's Team B
(Nacchan!)
From today you're a Yukachan fan, look, it's Team B
(Octopus dumplings!)
From today you're a Myao fan, look, it's Team B
(One, two, three, duh!)
From today you're a Mayuyu fan, look, it's Team B
(Let's go!)

We are running for our dreams with all our might
Please, come see the growing up Team B
No matter how much we sell, we'll always be singing here
So all in all, everyone is a Team B fan, right?
Right? Yes!

Comment
Earworm, brainwashing technique, much has been said about "Team B Oshi". It's a fun and addicting song guaranteed to make the audience go wild.
"Oshi" (推し) is a term peculiar to the AKB48 fandom; it comes from the verb osu 推す, to support, and means "supporting a member as your number one". Therefore, one's number one favourite girl is called one's oshimen (推しメン), a combination between oshi and menbaa, the Japanese for "member".

Each of the 16 Team B members are introduced by their nickname, and then she says her catchphrase or some other representative phrase. I will explain them here one by one.

- Harukyan (Ishida Haruka) (amazingly cute!) → "amazingly cute" (超絶可愛い, chouzetsu kawaii) is a staple part of the in-song cheers. If Harukyan were to sing two solo lines, the fans would go "(first line) Harukyan! (second line) chouzetsu kawaii, Harukyan!"
- Maachan (Oku Manami) (Maachan? "What?!") → girls call out to Maachan and she replies "What?" in a half-bothered tone. It's an inside joke that Maachan never looks excited during shows.
- Tomoomi (Kasai Tomomi) (Chiyuu, Chiyuu, Chiyuu!) → Chiyuu is one of Tomoomi's nicknames. It takes its origin from the fact that when she speaks she tends to put "~chiyuu" at the end of sentences quite a lot. It doesn't have a real meaning.
- Yukirin (Kashiwagi Yuki) (I will send you in a daze!) → It's a part of the self-introduction catchphrase she used at the start of B5th. "Awake or asleep, Yukirin world! I will send you in a daze!". I hear she has changed it now.
- Kitarie (Kitahara Rie) (you still don't get it?) → Kitarie's impersonation of Yankumi, the high school teacher from the drama series Gokusen. "You still don't get it?" ("まだわかんねえのか？") is one of Yankumi's famous lines.
- Kanachan (Kobayashi Kana) ("So cute!" "I know") → Kana is known for being particularly silly and for having huge self confidence. Here's why she goes "I know!" triumphantly.
- Komorin (Komori Mika) ("Hello there") → She doesn't say "こんにちは konnichiwa", the Japanese for "hello / good morning), but actually she says "コニチハ konichiwa" with one N. It's a gag by a Japanese comedian, Kokado Kentaro of the duo Lotti.
- Amina (Sato Amina) (Hey, can you give me half of it?) → Amina is a well known sweets lover, and whenever she sees some other AKB member eating sweets or candy she'll ask to share it with her.
- Suuchan (Sato Sumire) (Suu melody!) → Sumire is a big fan of the Sanrio character My Melody, so she made up a new nickname for herself inspired by My Melody.
- Nacchi (Sato Natsuki) (1+2= N Nacchi!) → A part of her self-introduction catchphrase. She sticks out the index finger of her right hand for "1" and makes a kind of a peace sign for "2", and when joined together, the fingers form an N, her initial. If you watch the video I linked to you will understand it more clearly than from this explanation.
- Mariyannu (Suzuki Mariya) (The 3 o'clock snack is Mariyannu!) → this line, too, is a part of her self-introduction catchphrase and comes from a long-running advertising for a cake manufacturing company, Bunmeido, whose jingle was "Castela number one, telephone number two, the three o'clock snack is Bunmeido". Here is a post from an English language food blog run by a Japanese lady, about castela cake and Bunmeido, and in case you're curious here is the old CM.
- Chikarina (Chikano Rina) (Mow mow meh!) → Chikarina, together with Team K's Fujie Rina, is the spokesgirl for milk company Mother Farm. The "mow mow meh" line comes from the CM.
- Nacchan (Hirajima Natsumi) (Nacchan!) → They just call out her name.
- Yukachan (Masuda Yuka) (Octopus dumplings!) → Octopus dumplings, or takoyaki in Japanese, are a famous speciality of Yuka's hometown, Osaka. She loves them so much she even mentions them in her self-introduction catchphrase.
- Myao (Miyazaki Miho) (One, two, three, duh!) → Myao is a fan of the legendary prowrestler Antonio Inoki. "Ichi, ni, san, daa!" is one of his famous phrases.
- Mayuyu (Watanabe Mayu) (Let's go!) → this comes from the lyrics of the unit Mayu leads, Watarirouka Hashiritai's first single, "Hatsukoi dash".

Team B - "Junjou shugi"

A B3 unit. Because B3 is a really good stage, because I'd like to celebrate SKE Team E who have just debuted with their version of this stage, and cause Haachan is one of my dearest oshimen. XD

"Junjou shugi" (Policy of purity)
(from Team B 3rd stage "Pajama drive")
Team B (Katayama Haruka, Nito Moeno, Matsuoka Yuki)

words: Akimoto Yasushi
music: Kusano Yoshihiro
point of view: female first person, female language
theme: love song
original lyrics


listen to Junjou shugi on youtube

Sorry, but I believe in purity
I have sworn on it
Even if you embrace me, it won't work
I can't kiss you

Love is always a shooting star
It suddenly appears and suddenly disappears
Rather than talking a thousand words,
Give me time to stare into each other's eyes

I believe in purity, my guard is perfect
I'm protecting it
Try your luck with someone else
Sorry, but I believe in purity
I have sworn on it
Even if you embrace me, it won't work
I can't kiss you
I'm sorry

Dad used to tell me "Tease them"
You'll see right away if they lie or they're sincere
Until the day when I hand you the keys,
Rather than opening at today's knock

My heart is cowardly, I believe in pure love
I never want to get hurt
If we're together, you must believe in pure love, too
Just a little, I slip through your arms and runaway
Understand my childishness

I believe in purity, my guard is perfect
I'm protecting it
Try your luck with someone else
Sorry, but I believe in purity
I have sworn on it
Even if you embrace me, it won't work
I can't kiss you
I'm sorry

Comment
I don't have much to comment on this. The lyrics are really easy, without hidden or obscure references.
My only comment is linguistic. The word "主義" (literally meaning policy, belief, principle) is often used as a suffix with the same meaning English sees in the suffix "-ism" (examples: 共産主義 = communism, 超現実主義 = surrealism, etc). So to be completely correct I would have needed to translate "Sorry, but I'm a pure-heartist". I don't have enough courage to use neologisms in my translations, so I loosened it while keeping the translation as close as possible to the original.

Team B - "Itoshiki Natasha"

Here's the song that got the silver medal in the poll: Team B unit song "Itoshiki Natasha".


"Itoshiki Natasha" (My dear Natasha)
(from Team B 4th stage "Idol no yoake")
Team B (Sashihara Rino [centre], Katayama Haruka, Tanabe Miku)

words: Akimoto Yasushi
music: Yoshino Takao
point of view: non specified in the verse, male first person and language in the chorus
theme: love song
original lyrics


listen to Itoshiki Natasha on youtube

Aiming for the distant Siberia
There was a man who smuggled himself on a freight ship

On the soil of the tundra even dreams freeze
He can't even see any future in this sky

The meaning of keeping walking over iced snow
looking for his most beloved woman

Natasha, how many times
Do I have to call out your name for it to reach you?
You should be there, beyond the wall of despair
Ah- love is my only reason to live

How much time has passed?
The never changing scenery is closing in the colour of his loneliness

He wanted to know the tears
That lie inside a speechless kindness

Has he forgotten how to put an end to something
Because of his footsteps and of the words brought by the wind?
His love lies at the furthest end

Natasha, my memories
See an illusion of you
This eternal Winter deludes my heart
Ah- love will be tomorrow's miracle

Even if I, dead tired, should collapse on the road
And lose my life I wouldn't have any regrets

Natasha, how many times
Do I have to call out your name for it to reach you?
You should be there, beyond the wall of despair
Ah- love is my only reason to live

Comment
"Itoshiki Natasha", music-wise, is a classic rock, powerful song. The lyrics tell the story of a man, presumably Japanese, who crosses over to Siberia to look for his lost Russian love, Natasha. It has the feel of a novel set in the XVIII or XIX century: the main character smuggles on a freight and gets to Siberia as a clandestine, and he keeps walking from town to town, in freezing weather, under snow storms, looking for the slightest hints (the "words brought by the wind"), without ever giving up his quest for his dear Natasha. The verses in the second part of the song seem to hint that he will never find her - but it's only the memory of Natasha, his illusion of her, that gives him the strenght to go on living.

The characteristic of these lyrics is that while the verses tell the story of the man in third person, the chorus switches to first person and have the man call out Natasha's name.
I also really like the Winter imagery with their strong relation to the unescapable loneliness of the man.

Not lyrics-wise, I think this is my favourite song from any Team B stage, ever (although none of the three members of this unit is in Team B anymore). One funny tidbit is that when Sashihara Rino, Katayama Haruka and Tanabe Miku took on "stage names" for this song: Dorian Sashihara, Divas Senorita Katayama and Glorious Tanabe, forming "Team Karyuudo" (Team Hunters). XD I think it started as a joke but then it stuck; if you watch the performance, you can hear the audience calling "Dorian", "Divas" and "Guro-chan" instead of the idols' real names.

Team B - "Kuchi utsushi no chocolate"

I don't know why of all songs I chose "Kuchi utsushi~" as my first unit song post, seeing that there are girls I like much more in teams I like much more. But after all, this blog is about songs and lyrics, not girls... And I love this song to bits.


"Kuchi utsushi no chocolate" (Mouth-to-mouth chocolate)
(from Team B 4th stage "Idol no yoake")
Team B (Kashiwagi Yuki [centre], Ota Aika, Hirajima Natsumi)

words: Akimoto Yasushi
music: Funta
point of view: female first person, female language
theme: sexy song
original lyrics


listen to Kuchi utsushi no chocolate on youtube

Pass chocolate from your mouth to mine
The usual kiss is boring
Twist it in forcefully...
Melt the chocolate with your tongue
I want to lick your love
Sticking our lips out...
We make a disgusting noise

We're free not to care about people looking, right?
If someone watches us I just become more daring
I climb on your lap in the middle of the open café
I'm a cute girl just like "Betty Blue"

Loving each other under the blue sky
Feels better than being naked

Pass chocolate from your mouth to mine
Embrace me from the side
As to kiss me deeply...
Chocolate, your bittersweet poison
Tastes so good
It'd be a shame to close my eyes
I want to trouble you as much as I can

I just want to be honest with my feelings
All human beings in the end can become animals
Even if I spill my cocoa cup
And it makes a stain on my uniform
I don't care about it
What's important is only the present

I can't even hear the sound of the helicopters
Flying above us
That's what love is

Pass chocolate from your mouth to mine
The usual kiss is boring
Twist it in forcefully...
Melt the chocolate with your tongue
I want to lick your love
Sticking our lips out...
We make a disgusting noise

From your mouth to mine
Embrace me from the side
As to kiss me deeply...
Chocolate, your bittersweet poison
Tastes so good
It'd be a shame to close my eyes
Your troubled face looks lovely, too

Comment
AKB48 has a few "naughty" songs, but I feel this is the naughtiest of them all because of both the literal meaning and the double meanings scattered through it. Add that the first person in this song is a high schooler (as the mention of the school uniform makes clear) and here's how "Kuchi utsushi~" is even more suggestive than songs with more risqué words and content.
Nonetheless, these lyrics are flawless in challenging a theme as delicate as the boldness of teenage and the first sexual fantasies. Teenage girls have as many of them as anyone else, and the chances of it being a daring high school girl's fantasy is very high. Looking at the literal meaning of these lyrics, the image of the girl boldly sitting on her embarassed boyfriend's lap and kissing him deeply just appears clearly in front of our eyes. Even details such as "Sticking our lips out / We make a disgusting noise" aren't avoided, giving the complete picture of the scene.

I am not going into detail about the blatantly clear double meanings associated with the words used especially in the chorus ("I want to lick your love", "Your bittersweet poison / Tastes so good"), which are not as important as the literal meaning but can't possibly be unintended, but there are two lines I would like to point out.

From the first verse: "I'm a cute girl just like "Betty Blue"". If you don't know who Betty Blue is, just by looking at these lyrics you're bound to think it's a cute cartoon character or something of that kind. It's actually a character from a French movie produced in the '80s. Betty is a beautiful, fragile, mentally disturbed young girl, whose insatiable love for the movie's male main character brings her to obsession and nervous breakdown. Not really "a cute girl" as one could expect from such a pretty, cartoonish name. And I trust Akimoto's culture enough to think this was fully intented.

Then, from the second verse: "Even if I spill my cocoa cup / And it makes a stain on my uniform / I don't care about it". The imagery is rather simple, but subtle: the stain on her school uniform means a stain on her "pureness" (let's not forget that high school girls are often idolized as a symbol of pureness).

These are the reasons why I say that having young girls such as Yuki (18 at the time), Nacchan (17) and Aika (only 14!) sing this song makes "Kuchi utsushi~" even naughtier than SDN48's more explicit songs.
I love it nonetheless. If possible, I love it even more for the lack of hypocrisy and the tongue-in-cheek tone of the whole song.

Team B - "Shonichi"

As the last installment of the Team Songs series, let me introduce to you the legendary "Shonichi" by Team B.

"Shonichi" (Opening day)
(from Team B 3rd stage "Pajama drive" - AKB48 12nd single "Namida surprise" - AKB48 2nd album "Kamikyokutachi")
Team B (full team)

words: Akimoto Yasushi
music: Okada Mion
point of view: female first person, female language
theme: team song
original lyrics


listen to Shonichi

I'm standing on the stage I have always aspired to
Amidst the cheers and applauses
During those strict lessons I surpassed my limits
And here's today
When the curtain of chance opens

There were days when I was the only one who couldn't dance well
And I cried on my way home
There were days when I couldn't sing like I wanted
And I lost my confidence
My rivals always looked
So perfect to me

Your dream is a flower
That blooms slowly among your sweat
Your efforts will never betray you
Your dream is always waiting for you
Budding among your sweat
Until the day when, surely, your wish will come true

I didn't know that spotlights were so dazzling
Just like the morning sun breaking after a long night
I absolutely don't want to lose to my senpais
We wanted to build our own show

There have been days when I injured myself
And I cried, feeling frustrated for having to skip lessons
There have been days when I just gave up
Juggling between lessons and school
But I could always hear somewhere
Someone calling out for encores

Your dream is beyond the tears,
The flower of your smile after you've stopped crying
The buds of your efforts will eventually bloom
My dream is beyond the tears,
I believe in it without losing to rain and wind
Until the day when my prayers reach the clear sky

I'll dance
As if my life depended on it!
I'll sing
As if my life depended on it!
Without ever forgetting
My initial resolution
I'll pitch with all my might!

Your dream is a flower
That blooms slowly among your sweat
Your efforts will never betray you
Your dream is always waiting for you
Budding among your sweat
Until the day when, surely, your wish will come true

Comment
And here's Team B's arguably most important team song, "Shonichi".
The word "shonichi" is used for the first day of a show in theatre/music environments, and it all makes sense when we think this was the first song in Team B's first original stage, after performing "Seishun girls" (originally team K's second stage) and "Aitakatta" (team A's second stage). This was the first time the girls in team B could shine with songs tailored upon them.
The lyrics talk about the road to "Pajama drive", and are so perfect for Team B. Unlike Team A (who by then had only got a AKB48 theme song, and no team songs of their own) and Team K's "Korogaru ishi ni nare", Team B's first team song's lyrics adopt a softer, "real life" approach. Listening to them we can picture clearly in our mind the girls at rehearsals, doing their best, "climbing beyond their own walls" (the literal translation of 自分の壁乗り越えて I translated as "surpassing my limits", which is the meaning of this idiom), crying out of frustration for not being able to dance and sing as they wished, but still giving their utmost best thinking of the opening day.
The simple message "efforts will make your dream come true" is backed up by the fact that it parallels the girls' experiences. It has the strenght of an example, and the power to move. "I'll dance as if my life depended on it"... They didn't write it, but looking at them, you can feel how true it is.

This is just a beautiful song. It's no wonder that many A and K members have often said they can relate to it, too, as it describes feelings that they all have experienced during their career as AKB48 members. It's no wonder that it's a fan favourite, as well. In 2009's "Request Hour" (a yearly event in which fans get to vote for their favourite songs and the girls showcase the top 100 in a series of 4 concerts), "Shonichi" took the top spot - such is the power of this song.