Title: ワタシケンシ (I am Kenshi)
Circle: 森羅万象 (ShinRa-Bansho)
Vocal: あやぽんず＊ (Ayaponzu*)
Lyrics: azuki
Arrangement: kaztora
Release Date: Dec 30, 2018

It took 7 years for me to find a Youmu arrange that I like, and it turned out to be one of the longest and most lyrically advanced song I’ve ever come across.  This song relies a lot on wordplay like homophones in order to drive the story’s narrative.  I don’t think I’ve figured it all out yet, but I gave it a shot and I’ll come revisit this translation down the line later once I’m more fluent.  The song appears to be about Youmu’s journey to finding out her true self.  She started by waiting for others to tell her what she is, but discovered that it was up to her to determine her own identity out of other things that sound similar.

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Title: Twosome
Circle: はちみつれもん (Hachimitsu-Lemon)
Vocal: ゆーな (Yuuna)
Lyrics: あいざわ (Aizawa)
Arrangement: CleanTears
Release Date: October 14, 2018

There haven’t been too many arranges recently where I get the urge to translate it myself.   That’s not to say Touhou music quality or quantity has dropped recently, I think arranges in general have been getting more creative and 2018 has been a pretty good year.  However, my exposure to Touhou music in my daily life has dropped since the heydays of 2012.  My shelves are lined with untouched albums that I just don’t have the time to listen to due to life and work, and all of my translation requests lately have come from my viewers.  But every now and then, I come across something posted by Nitori, Alice, or Mayumi and I know exactly what album to buy next time I’m in Japan.  I have to admit my latest guilty pleasure of the Yorigami Sister’s theme, Egoist Flowers (and I love Shion’s character too), so Light Night Beat 8 is definitely going on that list.  Thanks to Mr. Deagle for supplying me with the lyrics.

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Title:  ジキルの愛情実証実験 (Jekyll’s Love Verification Test)
Circle: Pizuya’s Cell
Vocal: 普透明度 (Futoumeido)
Lyrics: 虎ヶ咲まなみ (Tora Saki Manami)
Arrangement: pizuya, yuta, hellnian
Release Date: Dec 29, 2016 (C91)
Requested By: Ihsan Bintang Ariaji

A very quick-paced, darker rendition of Hangover of Bedfellows Dreaming Differently.  It’s quite dense in terms of lyrics per bar and transforms the song quite liberally by only preserving the first note of each bar in the main riff and changing up how the song reaches the next bar.  I noticed this trend of transformation happens a lot more as Touhou Circles get older and feel the need to separate with the original composition which bothers some fans.  However, some of my favorite arranges significantly deviate from the original so I actually welcome the change (I feel Hangover of Bedfellows Dreaming Differently is a little harder to arrange in the first place).

The song itself is about someone who constantly fears that her lover doesn’t truly love her back and puts them through tests that she herself knows are cruel and terrible.  The lyrics of the song are joy to read like most songs from Pizuya, which is a bit of a shame due to how crowded they feel in the song.  I also started to mark syllable emphasis in the romaji.

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