reversed songs

I felt like it's possible, but now I know it for sure: the intro of Susumu Hirasawa's 'Parade' is a reversed line from another song. People who know it are saying it's from 'Nurse Cafe'. I couldn't sit still and checked it by playing the song in reverse. It's really similar, though not absolutely authentic.

Speaking of reversed lines, there was one song that bothered me, but now that I've checked it, this case is not as interesting.  The song is 'Niji' - 虹 (A DAY IN JAPAN Version) - by Denki Groove where the intro is obviously a musical phrase turned backwards, but this part is simply the last lines of the chorus sung only by the girl.
くりかえす事もタマにある　ぼんやりとただ意味なく
遠く短い光から　水のしずくハネかえる
ゆっくり消える虹みたく トリコじかけになる

lyrics translation. 'Parade' by Susumu Hirasawa ~ is it translatable at all?

upd 16.03.16:
some mistakes corrected

Of course I know this song because of 'Paprika' - a movie which is one of a kind, unique and oh, RIP Satoshi-sama
Since the lyrics are absolutely impossible to hear throughout most of this song, I was rescued by animelyrics. However, translating was no less difficult. The first problem - phrases used here do not make a line of complete sentences which makes it difficult to read. Secondly, some words have different meanings and 'tis hard to guess what is implied. The favourite moment of mine is the 'kakenedo' word - an old-Japanese beautiful... hurdle. My 'grammar cyclopedia' does not provide any info for '-nedo' ending and my knowledge is too shallow. I used an article explaining a phrase つゆ忘るるにはあらねど here - thanks to the fact that on Weblio one can read every word and its ending explained in terms of grammar, I was able to draw an analogy with the word in the lyrics.
Therefore! my translation this time is only an attempt, only a guess. Still, I hope 'tis useful

Japanese

胸にエナジー　ケミカルの泡立ち
ハイヤーや古(ふる)タイヤや血や肉の通りを行(ゆ)き
あれがリバティー　ユートピアのパロディー
バイヤーやギガ・ムービーの絢爛の並木は晴れ

マイナーな欝は戯言(ざれごと)　バラ色は廉価
いわく幸せと知れ　持ちきれぬほど

瀕死のリテラシー　メカニカルに殺す
売人や吊るワイヤーやホルムアルデヒドの通り
乾くシナジー　合成スイートで湿し
高層のメガ神殿に狂乱のファンドの雨

「蒙昧」の文字は書けねど　未来は廉価
なべて迷信と笑え　因果のストーリー

さあ　異臭を放ち来る　キミの影を喰い
恐怖のパレードが来る　キミの名の下(もと)に

轟音のMC　シビリアンには致死量
廃人や売るダイアや血に堕ちた道理の通り
あれがリバティー　ユートピアのパロディー
頼みはＳＳＲＩ　さて流行のテラスでハイホー

マイナーな説はたわごと　享楽は廉価
努々省みるな　手遅れゆえ

さあ　異臭を放ち来る　キミの影を喰い
恐怖のパレードが来る　キミの名の下に
さあ　地を埋めつくすほど　キミの影が産む
狂気のパレードが来る　キミの名の下(もと)に


Translation

Energy in the heart, chemical foam,
I walk through a street of hired cars, old tyres, blood and meet
This is liberty, a parody on utopia
Gorgeous rows of trees [on the avenue of] buyers and Giga Movies, it’s a sunny day

Minor depressions are pranks, rose colour is low priced,
Therefore, rejoice – to the extent you can hardly bear

Dying literacy – we kill it mechanically
A street of traders, hanging wires and formaldehyde
Drying synergy – we moisten it with synthetic sweetness
In the mega-temple of skyscrapers a frenzy rain of funds falls

I cannot write the word ‘ignorance’, but the future is low-priced
Laugh that this is in general a superstition. A story of karma

See, giving an off-smell, eating your shadow
A parade of fear is coming, under your name

An MC of roar – it’s a lethal dose for a civilian
A street of the disabled, diamonds for sell and reason fallen into blood
This is liberty, a parody on utopia
What I ask for is SSRI. And now, hi-ho on the terrace of vogue

Minor theories are nonsense, pleasure is low-priced
On no account you should reflect, for it is too late

See, giving an off-smell, eating your shadow
A parade of fear is coming, under your name
See, it can cover everything around, your shadow produces it –
The parade of insanity is coming, under your name

_____

translator's notes

1. while searching for some words, I stumbled upon a blog where a person stated he (she?) thinks that exactly in the peaceful world one's heart can be in pain. probably this means that living in a modern welfare state can be not as great as it seems. this is only a personal opinion, but I cannot disagree that the lyrics imply something like that
2. some of the comparisons are really vivid, such as 'skyscraper' and 'temple'. others are not. I believe that 'rose colour' in the first verse means a bright future - or at least the ability to see it as such, as the following two verses have 'future' and 'pleasure' in similar contexts
3. I might be wrong but the line 'I cannot write the word 'ignorance'' may have two meanings here. not only 'ignorance' itself is important, but maybe also the fact that in Japanese the kanji for 'ignorance' - 蒙昧 - are difficult and not all people know them. well this is my speculation not yet proven by anything except the fact that my kanji dictionary tells me both kanji are rarely used
4. SSRI is an antidepressant. speaks for itself
5. not only 'kakenedo' sounds obsolete, but also the phrase 'on no account you should reflect for it is too late' is written unlike how they say it in oral everyday speech. I love it
6. and I also love it how every second phrase in each verse has a lot of 'ya' sounds, as they give a special feeling to the lyrics
7. and I also love that a lot of loan words are used. this is not a coincidence
8. 'Giga movies' must mean the adult videos produced by a company called Giga, if I am not mistaken. At least this is what a simple Google search told me. Search for any details at your own risk, it is 18+ in Japan and seems to be 21+ in other countries.

my humble opinion on... many things

thing #1

new Berserk

I was a small kid when I watched the TV series of 'Berserk'. and I loved it. yep, the me, who was some 15 (?) years old loved it very much

I should admit, the greatest object of my fascination was Griffit, who was obviously a bad guy - yep, he was... or... was he? no, for me, who was 15 (or not?) years old, Griffit WAS a bad guy. still I felt a great deal of interest and... pity? towards him

the other object of my fascination was Kaska. strong and proud women have always been one my favourite types of heroines

were I ignoring everything else? no way. I loved everything else as well. I loved that work for the very fact that it portrayed everything so that it stabbed me in the very heart, even things I disliked - violence, human weaknesses, dramatic stories

there was only one thing I ignored - the music by Susumu the Great Hirasawa - those times I could not allow myself downloading everything I wanted, and I only listened to several tracks. it turns out, I listened to the main ones that every fan knows - 'Gatts', 'Behelit' and 'Forces' and some others

now I read another studio made a new version of this masterpiece. I know already how much biased I am when it comes to remakes of 90s classic works. BUT. I was not wrong in my prediction. most people who watched it noted that it has less charm than the original TV, less credibility in terms of coherence with the manga, and everything that was changed - graphics, plot developments, seiyuus - did not add any good points to the new 'Berserk'

new approaches to classic artworks are always good. I should not shut my eyes to them! or so I thought

well. there ARE things that should rest in piece. I mean, things that should not be touched and remade - ever, by anyone. 'Rurouni Kenshin' is an example. 'Berserk' became another one

thing #2

Nisemonogatari

one day, when I become a REALLY fluent Japanese language speaker, I WILL sit down to read the whole bunch of '-gatari' ranobe. I will! I know it!

unfortunately, now I cannot. my Japanese is too poor to read them without looking up 90% of words in the dictionary. and when you have to do that, only a VERY interesting work can make you cling to it without dropping

'-gatari' novels are probably not THAT interesting. '-gatari' animes, though, are interesting enough for me to celebrate the fact that 'nisemonogatari' had already been aired in Japan and two more novels are currently in the process of creation

now that I recall watching 'Bakemonogatari', am I such a fan of the series? nope, I am not. I am just happy for the fact that stylish, cool and unique animes are not extinct. though we have no more 'classic' masterpieces like those of my beloved 90s, we can have something like '-gatari' to enjoy. hope the seiyuus, graphics and music are the same in the coming series. hope the coming ones will be the same interesting and strange - enough to keep me watching, even though I had no favourite character to wait for, and could not feel any sympathy towards anyone

thing #3

Sore de mo Sekai ga Mawatte Iru, Hanasaku Iroha and... Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuutsu

though my best source of info about anime is world-art.ru I like myanimelist for providing info which is absent in the Russian service. for example, recommendations

actually, 'recommendations' as phenomenon disappointed me greatly. things like 'similar artists' on Last.fm or JPopSuki hit the bull's eye once in a while, but their general helpfulness is doubtful, to put it mildly. generally, I have either to check out whether the recommendation is really based on something, or to search for additional info to make my request more precise

unlike those websites I mentioned, myanimelist does not give random recommendations - it allows users to write their own, and the most important part of them are the explanations of the recommendations given. those explanations allow to find specific info and understand WHY exactly the person thinks the two animes compared to be alike

this particular feature allowed me to find a few animes which are similar to 'Working!!'. oh, I should say 'Working!!' - while being far from an ideal - impressed me very much, so much that I cannot oust it from my head, and so I embarked on a search for a slice-of-life with a love-story that would remind me of Satou-Yachiyo, main characters of different types like Poplar, Kyouko and Aoi who would create constant turbulence, and beautiful everyday life in Japan

however, I only faced recommendations that emphasized the sides of 'Working!!' I did not pay much attention to - 'comedy', 'hilarious', 'strange people', etc. well, yes, I do like these things, but the setting decided everything, in the end. Mashimaro, or DRRR, or Azumanga will NEVER be in the same line with 'Working!!' - they have another style, another manner and probably - another aim?

some of the recommendations, however, were really relevant. out of them I picked up 'sore de mo sekai ga mawatte iru' which describes a cafe again, and also provides a good company of main characters, and 'Hanasaku Iroha' which impressed me already much with the graphics and interesting plot description

however, these two missed another important point. the only recommendation which highlighted my favourite couple - Satou-Yachiyo - was the one offering... 'Haruhi'. and I was like o___O

I mean, from everything I heard about this piece, there is NO WAY Satou-Yachiyo could resemble the main couple of 'Haruhi'. moreover, knowing how popular 'tis I already felt a kind of despise towards this, perhaps, good anime, so I firmly decided NOT to watch it EVER - so many unpopular things wait for me, huh?

still, if the person who recommended it saw some similar points... there might be... and I will never know if I don't check myself

mama mia... will I end up watching one of the most popular animes ever? noooo 嫌だ！！！　Ｔ＿Ｔ

p. s. - somebody, please find me an anime with a couple reminding of Satou-Yachiyo. I would do anything for you.... >____<