I’ve been getting more YouTube suggestion for Japanese City Pop lately and I had the pleasure of hearing Flyday Chinatown for the first time. People in the comments seem to have very different claims as to the meaning of the song, and I have found many of the English translations available are incredibly different. I will add my own interpretation, which is based off of some Japanese listeners’ interpretations of the song.
Title: フレスベルグの少女〜風花雪月〜 (The Young Girl of Hraesvelg ~Fuukasetsugestu~)
Vocals: キャロ (Caro)
Release Date: Jul 26, 2019
WARNING: Explanations of this song contain major spoilers for Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I was gifted this game by my coworker and holy crap, this game played with my emotions in a way I would have never expected. After finishing all possible routes of the game, I’m honestly shocked at how masterfully this game manages so much foreshadowing without giving it all away. Do yourself a favor and don’t spoil this game if you haven’t played it yet.
Title: 大橋純子 – テレフォン・ナンバー
Album: Tea for Tears
Release Date: Jun 2010
I heard this “Awoo 56709” song while browsing through silly memes. I didn’t expect it to have Japanese lyrics in the beginning, but just the sense of longing in the first verse was enough to spark my curiosity in this old classic. After finding the lyrics, I felt the song really connected with my mood, so I had to share it.
Title: 三羽烏漢唄/Sanbagarasu Otoko Uta (Song of the Three Men)
Game: Granblue Fantasy
Vocal: 藤原啓治 (Fujiwara Keiji as Eugen)
小山力也 (Koyama Rikiya as Soriz)
安元洋貴 (Yasumoto Hiroki as Jin)
Arrangement: 山崎淳 (Yamazaki Jun)
Release Date: Jun 22, 2016
I’ve played Granblue with the sound off ever since I started (to save data). Drum Master was released recently and the boards were filled with Soiya jokes. I finally turned the sound on and the sleeping man within me was awakened…
The term 三羽烏 means a triumvirate, lit. Three Crows. It describes any three people who excel in any field, commonly used in sports. These three characters are the triumvirate of Granblue’s men!
Title: 迷子のかいじゅう/Maigo no Kaiju (The Little Lost Creature)
Anime: 小林さんちのメイドラゴン (Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid)
Vocal: 長縄まりあ (Maria Naganawa)
Arrangement: Arte Refact
Release Date: Mar 15, 2017
It’s been a while since I last translated something, but I recently watched all the episodes of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and noticed that my listening comprehension was at the point where I could understand large sections of it without needing any subs at all. Coincidentally, there is a character song album that doesn’t to have been translated by anyone at this point in time. The show brought me a warm feeling that I hadn’t felt in a while, so this translation is something that I wanted to do naturally.
A Kaijū (怪獣) is often translated as “monster”, although it means “mysterious beast”. The most famous Kaijū is Godzilla, although the word can mean all different creatures. As Kanna’s character song, I felt creature was a more appropriate word than monster, carrying less of the negative annotations,.
