And finally, here’s the final song from the Angelo album “FAUST“. This song reveals the ending of the story, it’s the 10th song in the album and the title is “STOP THE TIME, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL“. Song composition by Karyu and all lyrics by Kirito.
Kanji:
花は咲き誇る 生命は繋がりゆく
いくつも矛盾を抱えて誰もが明日を自ら選ぶ
想定外の出来事に 人はただ翻弄されて
立ち尽くしては 救いを乞う
「神は応えない 観ているだけ」
なぜ耐えているの 涙は零すのに
今にも崩れてしまいそうな身体 だけど揺るがない視線
誘惑を差し出せば 容易く堕とせるかと
欲しがるまま 全て与えた
「君は目をそらさず 何かを待つ」
なぜ信じているの 無力を嘆くのに
祈りは虚しく空に消えてしまう だけど途切れない想い
空を切り裂く魂の光 時を飛び越えて
記憶をこの場に残して 何度も繰り返し引き寄せ逢う
もう手を離そう 自由に飛べばいい
予測のできない明日こそ 価値がある
シナリオは捨てた 見せてもらおうか 愚かで美しい果てを
It’s never ending cycle…
It’s never ending and return to the start.
Romaji:
Hana wa sakihokoru inochi wa tsunagari yuku
Ikutsumo mujun wo kakaete dare mo ga asu wo mizukara erabu
Souteigai no dekigoto ni hito wa tada honrou sarete
Tachitsukushite wa sukui wo kou
“Kami wa kotaenai mite iru dake”
Naze taete iru no namida wa kobosu no ni
Ima ni mo kuzurete shimaisou na karada dakedo yuruganai shisen
Yuuwaku wo sashidaseba tayasuku otoseru ka to
Hoshigaru mama subete ataeta
“Kimi wa me wo sorasazu nani ka wo matsu”
Naze shinjite iru no muryoku wo nageku no ni
Inori wa munashiku sora ni kiete shimau dakedo togirenai omoi
Sora wo kirisaku tamashii no hikari toki wo tobikoete
Kioku wo kono ba ni nokoshite nandomo kurikaeshi hikiyose au
Mou te wo hanasou jiyuu ni tobeba ii
Yosoku no dekinai asu koso kachi ga aru
SHINARIO wa suteta misete moraou ka oroka de utsukushii hate wo
It’s never ending cycle…
It’s never ending and return to the start.
Translation:
Flowers bloom in all their glory and life continues being connected
Regardless of how many contradictions each is carrying, everyone chooses their tomorrow on their own
People are just at the mercy of unexpected events
Standing there stunned and then asking for salvation
“god doesn’t answer, he just keeps on watching”
Why do you continue enduring? Even though you are shedding tears
A body that will end up collapsing at any time soon, however its line of vision doesn’t waver
If I present you with temptation, then it should be very easy to fall
All the things you wished for in the way you wanted; I gave them all to you
“Without looking away, you are waiting for something”
Why do you continue on believing? Even though you regret your powerlessness
The prayers end up vanishing fruitlessly into the air, however the expectations are not interrupted
The light of the soul that slashes through the sky jumps across the time
Leaving the memories behind in this place and pulling the cycle closer many times over
It’s already time to let go of the hand, you can fly freely
The unpredictable tomorrow definitely has merit
The script is discarded, now would you like to show me the foolish and beautiful final stage
It’s never ending cycle…
It’s never ending and return to the start.
Translation notes: as Kirito explained in the Youtube video about the FAUST album concept, this song is from the point of view of the non-human character in the story (the god Mephisto) and the song explains what it means to be human and we get the answer.
The song starts by describing beautifully how everything is connected in this life cycle that advances as flowers bloom, and then it tell us that each person is responsible for their decisions in life, but since humans are exposed to all kinds of unexpected events that happen in life, when they are in peril, the first thing they do is ask for salvation and in quotes we see the usual complaining said by humans when god doesn’t answer their prayers.
Then we see the Mephisto’s reactions to the events of this story, he doesn’t understand why humans keep on enduring even when they are sad, and even if they are weak, they are capable of continue working toward their objective, Mephisto doesn’t understand how or why the human doesn’t fall completely into temptation even if he gave him everything he wanted to Faust and he also doesn’t understand why he continues on believing, even if they regret it later, even if prayers end up in nothing, the hopes and dreams always remain. This is clearly the answer, of what it means to be human.
We already knew the lyrics are from Mephisto’s perspective because Kirito explained it, however the way we realize this through context in the lyrics is in the portion of 「欲しがるまま全て与えた」here the adjective 「欲しい」which means to want something, is expressed in the 「欲しがる」form which is used to refer to something that someone who is not the speaker wants; and then 「全て与えた」 means “I gave everything”, so the only one in the position to bestow things that someone else wants is the god in this story, Mephisto, there are some other lines that give the hint as well, but this is the definite one.
Another interesting line is a 3 verb compound, which doesn’t exist officially, but sometimes it can be used in writings such as songs, etc. to express complex actions, in this case we have 「引き寄せる逢う」so here the compound verb is「引き寄せる」that includes the verbs 「引く」which means to pull, and 「寄せる」which means to come closer or bring near; so when you combine them, the meaning transforms into pulling something closer, and then Kirito added the verb 「逢う」this means “to meet” however when used with this particular kanji, the nuance is usually for something bad to happen, for example like saying “meeting a bad outcome”, so it’s used for this kind of meanings. And in this portion, he says that the 「繰り返し」is the thing that is drawing closer and meeting a bad outcome; so I think this portion means that eventually all cycles will end, because life is not forever, but the way you go toward this ending, is what the humans have the power to alter, through their life choices.
Then we see that the god acknowledges this effort, and tells the human that it’s okay to let go of the hand, and encourages him to fly freely, at this point what I can interpret, is that Mephisto is impressed by how amazing humans are, or at least the humans of this particular cycle, and he also acknowledges that the unpredictable future can be interesting too.
Then the song ends with Mephisto inviting Faust to show him what kind of foolish ending he will come up with? after the script was thrown away. I think this is a brilliant way to end the story, with this kind of somehow open ending, sending a clear message that we humans have the power to create our own story through our choices; and even if we did many mistakes before, we can start over and rebuild our lives through different choices. This album has a very beautiful message, and as Kirito explained, the message is harsh but positive.
Thanks for reading!
JAPAN MUSIC SEKAI ~ Jrock & Jpop talk ~ 