| Final Fantasy – Suteki Da Ne (Isn't It Beautiful) (English) (Final Fantasy X) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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The song as a whole is the female herorine Yuna's thoughts as of that moment in the game's narrative- given in the form of a metaphor heavy song. In context, it plays when Yuna and Tidus have their only 'alone time' and romantic get together, and is the fulfilment of the growing feelings they have for each other. One thing about FFX, is that much of the game's story is actually about Yuna, not the main protagonist Tidus, and thus she has her own unique perspective of events and her role in them. Namely, she sees herself as the tragic heroine who must sacrifice herself to bring peace to her people and live up to a family reputation- and this is an attitude she has grown up with all her life. AT this point in the story, she is conflicted: She has finally met someone who makes life worth living, and desires much with him- and yet at the same time is determined to see through her self-sacrificial pilgrimage to the end, and the song highlights her internal struggles with the choice between seeking happiness with Tidus, and seeking her duty with her pilgrimage. The first verse mainly a description of the setting, and the joy that she has with Tidus, "Suteki da ne" means "Isn't it wonderful?" as in "Even in spite of what has happened, Isn't it wonderful?" The second verse, with a cold pause in the middle, reflect her deccision/ realization that any happines with Tidus is an illusion- she has only one course of action to take, and that is to complete her pilgrimage and die. The dramatic irony being, that Tidus himself is actually an illusion! (of sorts) In the end, the Suteki Da Ne is "Isn't it wonderful, that even though we will not get much time together, that we met at all, and that we at least have and eventually, had, this time together?", a much more sorrowful and tragic take on their romance. The symbolism and metaphor of the song is very closely entwined with the the overal symbolism and themes of the story. The speaker, Yuna, "feels the night all around me", which is a triple metaphor, as it is night time during the song, the world is in a state of darkness and suffering (A night), and alludes to the symbolism of Yuna, Tidus, and all the other characters in the story as being planets- As seen by their emblems and sigils, Yuna represents the Moon, Tidus represents the Sun, and the various party members and villains represent the orbiting planets. THis is further alluded to with several mentionings of Moon, in which Yuna refers to herself, and the stars, which represent the people of Spira. Some of the metaphors reference the greater plot as a whole: The clouds of the third line, that "carry the holding future" represent Yevon, as the "voice that we all recognize",, which holds Yuna's future, the pilgrimage, but also in dramatic Irony, Yevon also plots and controls the entirety of the world's future. THe stars shedding tears represent the people of Spira, which is best seen as a world of tragedy and loss- people die in a cycle from the Monster called SIN, and Tidus and Yuna visibly see the suffering of the people through out the course of their journey, which gives Yuna extra determination to commit to self sacrifice to create peace. Yuna feels the night all around her. The chorus straight up spits out Yuna's desires- she wants to be with Tidus, and see his Zanarkand, and be his lover, but at the same time, compares her experiences and desires with him "as if from a dream.", highlighting Tidus's dream existence as well as her belief in it's impossiblity to be with him. The second verse, Yuna, not affected by Wind, a metaphor for change used in the first verse, is forced to accept the stark reality she has chosen for herself: SHe has to die for peace in Spira, and that her time with Tidus and her hopes to be with him have to be nothing more than a "Gentle Illusion." THe clouds again, with their hold on the future, prevent Yuna from being with Tidus, and she belives in the impossiblity of reaching them, highlightng the feelings of powerlessness the characters have in the face of Sin and the Spira cycle of death- the events that shatter her belief in having no choice but to follow Yevon have not occurred yet at this point in the story, so to her living with Tidus is impossible. THe moon is full of light/night, as if love from your heart- Tidus represents the sun, who shines light upon the moon, and the Moon reflects that light- thus the full moon of the song, Yuna, is full of Tidus's love. In spite of this, she describes it as a "Far away reflections", showing that there is too great a distance between Tidus and herself, despite how close they physically are. The stars, originally meaning the people of spira, now represent her tears and sadness at not being able to be with Tidus, and she "wipes her dreams off the nighttime" ultimately throwing away any notion about running away with TIdus, and commiting herself fully to the Pilgrimage. The final chorus is but a last confirmation that she still loves Tidus, and would love with all her heart go with him and see his Zanarkand, but that the touch and feel of being together with him that night, would just be "the touch of memory" come the next morning, she would awake "as from a dream." Yuna ultimately decides that she can't live with Tidus, and thus must leave him and the world by following through with her Pilgrimage, something she knew from the very beginning would end with her death. Yuna does not have a deathwish, but instead has been raised all her life to believe in following tradition, ceremony, and duty before all other things, and ends up holding them up even in the face of true love. Suteki Da Ne is ultimately a tragic romance song, sung before the heroine is certain she is on the final steps of her life, and that there is no turning back now. Too bad FF-X2 has songs that are nowhere near as connected to the narative as this one.... |
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| Yoko Kanno – Monochrome Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Though it can apply to the Schizo guy, the song as a whole really apply to Major, and her love interest, Kuze. The mechanical/techno stucco background of the song expresses their "mechanical" nature and their emotional state- though capable of love, and a wide range of emotions, both are more or less 'emotionless' . Motoko typically keeps a straight face and often feigns emotions to get an edge, and we never exactly know what she is thinking or feeling. The major, despite looking more human than the Tachikomas and Batou, is quite clearly a machine from her cold personality. Kuze himself is displayed as being almost a distaff counterpart, being also entirely cybernetic, but literally having a face devoid/incapable of expressing emotion- Motoko has trouble or won't show her feelings, while Kuze literally can't, and we see the comparison. The two both believe in the power of the "cyber ocean", Motoko in movie and in show prone to weighing her own existence versus that of the whole collective consciousness found in human technological networks, and Kuze ends up leading his refugees to refuge within that "ocean" to escape the world. Kuze disappears within it, and by the SAC movie, Motoko is drifting in and out of that ocean. Motoko in the show and movie sutfers the paradox of being a very self-contained person who is constantly connected to a greater network, trying to find a balance between herself and the greater consciousness hence her philosophical bent. The "who taught you emotions?" is a jab at her and Kuze's difficulty expessing themselves beyond their role and function in events., and their ultimate fate is to ultimately become more than themselves and wander the 'network of human consciousness, which is truly deep and infinite. |
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| Yoko Kanno – Where Does This Ocean Go? Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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The song is sung as if from the perspective of a child. The song is not about death, it's about life outside of our life, the world outside of our existence. The song is about what is observed, but not interacted with: the I and My pops up twice, but the rest of the song is what is seen and heard. Our lives are like islands, we live within the shell, but what lies beyond our lives? There's these strange people around us who we can see and hear, but can never really know, and places and people beyond them, each islands and continents to themselves beyond the watery borders of our own lives. Where does this ocean go? The speaker endeavours to "fly" to attempt to escape from herself, not by dying, but to explore the greater world around her and the people in it, worlds unto themselves. To pair it up with Ghost in the Shell's themes, Motoko considered the 'net the sum of humanity's ideas and consciousness, and considered it (indeed) vast and infinite. In the movie and in anime, she does venture off on her own to explore it, breaking out of her life and experiences and transcending her own body. |
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