DIR EN GREY - Vinushka [eng sub] LIVE HD

Watch the ANDROGYNOS performance of this song with improved subs:    • DIR EN GREY - Vinushka [eng sub] LIVE HD  

Dir en grey performing "Vinushka" live during their Tour18 Shinsekai at SHINKIBA STUDIO COAST.
What a powerful song and (fairly) big translation project. I'm happy to finally upload this! Please read the annotations as there are a lot of important additions this time.

Translation by me.



So while I was researching a specific word, I stumbled across someone's ameba blog. Her name appears to be Asuka-san and she writes interpretations of the songs she likes. Reading through her interpretation of Vinushka was extremely interesting and gave me so much insight and a much deeper understanding of the song.
If you can read her blog, please check it out: https://ameblo.jp/xxxxasukaxxxx/entry...
I will translate parts of her Vinushka blog entry in the annotations because they're so insightful and even if I am not going to translate her entire post, I want to share at least some things she said that strike me as very important. Of course there's also my normal translation annotations.

Asuka-san starts her post off by saying:
"Is what is generally considered bad really bad?
Is what is generally considered not bad really not bad?
I interpret this song as asking these questions in relation to the death penalty."


Annotations:

"My body is being burned by the gloom" - The word I translated as "gloom" here is more commonly translated as "shadow", however it refers to the kind of shadow that "hangs over someone's happiness", so the meaning really is rather close to "gloom".

"Ah, I only want to stay oblivious" - More literally, this would have to be "I just want to keep forgetting". However the infliction of the verb is most likely referring to the state of forgetting, which would be "not knowing", "wanting to be unaware", which would be "oblivion".

"Into the ant nest" - An ant "nest" is actually called a colony, however the original strongly gets across the image of a "nest", so I decided to keep it like that.

"Put tomorrow to sleep, the tranquility turns its face. Entrusting my body to the pointy sharp feelings" - Asuka-san interprets this line as follows:
"If he can forget the tomorrow (the future) of his execution even for one moment, he gains back the tranquility which he had lost.
However, there's nothing he can do but give up his body the way the people that ask for his death want it. Forgetting the horror of their intention to kill is difficult. Immediately his heart is filled again with the sorrow that won't let his heart rest."

"Indoctrination of Dogra Magra" - "Dogra Magra" is a Japanese mystery novel from the 20th century. It has also been adapted into a movie.

"I devote myself to the leading figures that well up" - Asuka-san writes:
"Leading actor = the story's main character.
The main character of this story about the death penalty is, at first glance, the prisoner on death row that is going to be executed, but it is actually not. "The intention to kill that asks for the death penalty" is actually at the heart of this story. The people that "well up", saying "Kill him! Kill him! It is only natural that someone like him dies!""

"Who is it that cannot forgive?", "I swear" - Asuka-san on her blog:
"Even if there's tons of people "welling up", since they're not actually all his victims, he is looking for who it actually is he should apologize to. Because he wants to "swear" to this person that he will never do it again, and because he wants them to know that he regrets his deed."

"I keep going with this karma" - "Going" as in "going through life", in this case "to live with something".

"I have already gazed at how the moon shines on the Vajra, so much I'm getting tired of it" - The Vajra is Indra's weapon in buddhism and a symbol for the indestructible truth. As a ritual object it symbolizes the indestructibility of diamond and the irresistible force of thunderbolt.

"The fleeting antithesis", "Immersed in the common thesis, bury the bones there" - Asuka-san explains:
""Thesis" means what has to be done, while "antithesis" is the opposite of that, so what must not be done. "The death penalty should be sought without hesitation" is their "common thesis". Opposing the death penalty therefore constitutes the "antithesis"."


Really makes you think, doesn't it? A song that will remain very impactful, I believe.


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I do not own Dir En Grey or any of their music or performances.
I translate for fun and wanted to share this translation.

Thank you for watching!