Daybreak's Bell - L'arc~en~ciel

I was searching for English translation of Daybreak's Bell (Gundam 00's Op) and I realized that the most wide-spread version is done by some beginner Japanese student translating with a Japanese-English dictionary.

There's a mistake even in the first line of that translation. "Hey, haven’t you seen another shape besides this one?" That's not how you translate "ねえ こんな形の出逢いしかなかったの?"

Yes, 形 can mean "shape" in some situation, but not in this case, according to my research.

Here's my understanding of what the lyrics are really about:



Daybreak's Bell

Hey, can we only meet under these circumstances? How sad.
I don't want you to kill or be killed.
I beg of you...
Even destiny have been swallowed by the seemingly sinking sea.

Let this wish ride the wind and ring the daybreak's bell
Like a bird,
MY WISHES OVER THEIR AIRSPACE*
Let it cross endless wave,
To protect you, who stand to face tomorrow
MY LIFE I TRADE IN FOR YOUR PAIN
End the fighting

Hey, why do people keep making the same mistakes?
I dislike this unevolving blood that flows in everyone's veins.

On this Earth that belongs to no one, we use fire to impede one another.

If a perfect cloudless future arrives one day,
Then even weapons can be overgrown with flowers.**
MY WISH OVER THEIR AIRSPACE
Someone shake and awake me from this nightmare.
If my wish can come true,
MY LIFE I TRADE IN FOR YOUR PAIN
How long must I pray [for my wish] to reach the heavens?

At the moment, the daybreak glow shines on the endless sea and I.

Let my wish ride the wind and ring the daybreak's bell
Like a bird,
MY WISH OVER THEIR AIRSPACE
Let it cross endless wave,
To protect you, who stand to face tomorrow
MY LIFE I TRADE IN FOR YOUR PAIN

Let unwaving*** wings take these thoughts
And fly toward that sky.

No one can shoot down that future.





*I have no control over the Engrish. I wonder what they actually meant. They can either mean "my wish is over the airspace" or "my wishes are over the airspace" or "my wishes are flying through the airspace"...
**A more direct translation of this line would be "even flowers can grow out of weapons"
***it actually said "unturning" in the song but unturning wings don't really make sense, so I choose to translate that as resolute and without regret, thus unwavering.

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The Smart People Around Me

It's hard to ignore smart presence when you sit right next to them or just a few seats away. That's why it's hard to ignore how smart some people are in university. Seeing them makes me question what exactly can I accomplish when I have to compete with brilliant people like them.

In deed how can I compete at all? They are obviously smart to another level.

But then I remember Mr. President and suddenly I feel strangely encouraged.

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Back-logged Post about Life illustrated by Photo

Here's a short update on life in general with random pictures I took. I will make a few posts later on a few things I wanted to go deeper in.

Since my first post there had be several sabotage with the Engeneering E.

This one is done by Ski & Board.

But this one, done by unknown students... is much more impressive. They even got a bike rack up onto the block! Unfortunately, because this is really sabotage, what you see here was taken off within half a day.

Our Honda Civic 1997 was brought into the shop right after we bought our car for gear box problems.

And here's our... courtesy car [that I had promptly nicked named 'a piece of junk']?


My father's birthday came and went. Last week, almost a month after his actual birthday, I took him out for dinner to Little Sheep Hot-pot. This is what the soup looks like. The spicy side is really funny and I enjoyed watching my father eat food too spicy for him.

I am still working at the same place doing paper work. (This is actually not my own picture, but I think it demonstrates the point well enough.)

And in the morning I have to line up for bus... which really suck.

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David Beckham Game

I hope I spelled his name right. I really am not a huge Beckham fan, but he came to Vancouver and my friend happened to have an extra ticket... so I tagged along.

The game itself was nothing spectacular. The streaker who ran around the field may actually be the most entertaining part of the game. I have definately seen better games on TV before, plus, Beckham is like 10x better a player than most players on the field. That's pretty sad, since Beckham is seriously getting old and he is injured.

Nevertheless, it was fun seeing a celebrity. At least now I can brag that I have actually seen David Backham live.

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Way to Kill Sympathy

They call it Trek Park. I call it junk yard.

My sentiments actually leaned toward them in September but by the end of October all that was gone.

Seriously, you can only save the knoll if you can show with action that you ACTUALLY care about the environment around the knoll.

Leaving random couches and trash around after the protest just isn't it. T_T

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Guess what I saw...

Guess what I saw a couple of weeks ago at the Japanese book store?!



IT'S AKIZUKI-SAMA! ZOMG!!!!!

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Why I think there's more to Gurren Lagann

The show ended last Sat. The ending is not horrible.

Although it seems like it tied everything up on the surface with the epilogue... I think there's a big possibility that we will see more Simon and Co. in their former glory.

Something about the epilogue just didn't feel right to me.

What stuck out in the show for me is how Simon is able to repeatedly change impossibility into possibility. As he said very confidently in an earlier episode, "If it's not 0% then it's 100% to me."

That is the show's reoccuring theme but the ending seems to compromise that. Having Simon to just travel alone forever (and never visiting his old friends other than those who are dead?!) makes him seem too resign for his own character. And to make it worse, he just had to say something along the line of, "Who do you think I am?! I am... it's not important." That just kills all the "garness" that he processed throughout the last 1/4 of the show. Where is that Kamina's spirit?!

What I thought may be clues of a possible continuation are:

1. Viral is heading to a galatic peace conference, if things are really as peaceful as they implies in the epilogue, you don't need a peace conference.
2. In the opening squence, Boota was an adult, but in the show, when Boota took on human form he was just a kid.
3. What Simon said in the epilouge about the stars clearly mirrors what was said by "Simon" in the opening sequence.
4. One of Simon's eyes in the epilogue looks very special and I don't think it means he is blind.

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