HANAICHI MONNME

DESCRIPTION

CAST

REVIEWS

• 

  Douzeries

  100/100
  Lyrical genius, brillant imagery and a blast to listen to, one of Zutomayo's best songs

  First and foremost, I want to say that I'm no professional musician or anything close to that, I like to sing and I learned the very basics of piano but that's about it. So, this musical review is purely written from a consumer point of view. I might seem like a baby trying to formulate sentences while gesticulating with its hands to actual connoisseurs of the field. But, I'll try my best to be as clear as possible and explain why I love this song.

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  Nooticing: Right off the bat, the lyrics start with 'I wish it was always midnight, I said at 5 A.M' which is a pun since the group's name litteraly translates to 'I wish it was always midnight' so she litteraly says 'Zutto mayonaka de iinoni' (which is the full name of ZUTOMAYO )

  'Hanaichi Monme' somehow feels different from other ZUTOMAYO's songs.

  __But first, what's a song, according to me?__

  Doujin songs, which are basically japanese indie songs, usually are derivative of pop, rock, techno or trance music. A subcategory of doujin songs are musics are thematically driven by feelings such as fear and angst. Known singers like Yorushika or Minami express these feelings with somber or sad songs. ZUTOMAYO belongs to this branch but their way of dealing with the themes seem much more ardent than others I've seen. Their musics are extremely fast paced, loud and energetic. It doesn't feel sad at all, in fact the intensity of the songs almost make you feel like ACA-Ne (the main singer and lyricist) tries exceedingly hard to escape from all that frustration and conflicts displayed in the lyrics with her voice. Even before documenting myself, always have been a symbol of freedom and 'breaking-through' for me, analyzing the lyrics only solidified my opinions.

  To illustrate what I mean, I'll take 'DNA' as an example. It talks about the fear of living the same thing on repeat and the numbness that accompanies routine.
  -> 'The more I repat the actions, the more they become distant to me.'
  ->The notion of 'living on reflex'
  -> & we can see the character doing the same chores with robotic movments again and again in the MV.

  However, despite the song delving into the MC's insecurities, the music is so 'hyper' that rather than it feeling like a dwelling for these insecurities, it feels like an emancipation from them. 's songs are like a refusal of fatality. Which makes Hanaichi Monme all the more surprising.

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  __Why is this song different?__

  Instead of denying life's fatalities, this song accepts them and even find comfort within these.

  __'I can't escape routine anymore I want to quit, can't quit, as hard as it is It's dumb to try to please everyone'__

  This bit is interesting phonetically speaking because the sound 'ai' is hammered multiples times, it feels heavy which matches with the lyrics. 'ruutiin kara mou... nukedasenAI, yametAI, yamerarenAI, kurushii hodo, gokigen nante ukagatte baka janAI'

  __'The things I make already exist/ The songs I sing already exist'__

  I was surprised when I first read this because it sounds extremely cynical. Not only does ACA-Ne possibly talks about her quitting music but she also says she and what she creates are nothing special.

  The lines 'Don't expect a special character', 'I don't expect a special future before death' come solidifying this idea. This is all the more shocking coming from since she, as I said, has always been one to deny fatality. This clashes with the very image I had of the band.

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  __Then, why is this a good song?__

  This time, the MC/ACA-Ne can't escape from fatalities (death, routine, not being special, disappointment). The emancipation doesn't come from running away from those but accepting & finding meaning in them.

  __'I want meaning Hanaichi Monme, even though I know I won't get it'__ of the first chorus clashes with __'I'm so happy I lost, Hanaichi Monme'__ of the third chorus

  Hana Ichi Monme is a playground game. Children move along a song and when it's finished, the leaders of both team do a janken (rock paper scissor). The winner discuss with its team which member they want to take from the other team and announce it by saying 'Ano ko ga hoshii' which translates to 'We want that kid'. 'I want meaning' is a wordplay here because she says 'Imi ga hoshii', replacing 'that kid' by 'meaning'.

  There's another worldplay in the third corus because children will say 'We're so happy we won'/'We're so upset we lost' depending on the situation. mixes both sentences and say 'I'm so happy I lost'. That means she lost the game and didn't get 'meaning'. But it's okay because she accepts fatality.

  'My T shirt is all wrinked' is a line that appears often in the song. To me, it symbolizes authenticity and simplicity. There is a whole 'bridge' of the song dedicated to the simple joys of life, chilling with someone else and enjoying the moment while preparing for tomorrow -> 'I set the noisy alarm and say Goodnight'

  It's like has recognized the things she can't change but they're not to run away from. They're to accept. Even if you can't get what you want, even if you don't become a special character, as long as you live a healthy life, it'll be okay.

  __Nights waking early, it's not good to work too hard, I hope to stay healthy'__

  The song ends with this line. It's very mature and different from the rest of her works. Noticing 's growth in ideology and mentality thanks to her songs is a beautiful thing. is a great band and I hope this review did justice to their song.

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  About the MV, I think the green persona with a lab coat represents 's serious side and the purple one represent her creative/wilder side. There's a conflict between them and they hurt eachother, but they still need eachother to be happy. I won't delve too much into this because I haven't really searched into it, to me the general meaning is more important than the specifics of the stories although they are important too.

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