• This article mostly concerns the Hypnosis Mic song United Emceez, the drama track When 6 Colours Combine, [] Begins and spoilers up to that point in the overall storyline of that series. This is part 1 of a 2 part article – part 2 will be available here when it is ready.
• I’ve changed my notation style since the last time I translated an article of this nature, so hopefully this will be easier to follow.
• You can find the interview on Bookwalker if you pay to read/purchase the magazine (unlimited ownership is about 800 JPY, while a subscription to various magazines for several months is about 700 JPY/month).
• If it seems like I’ve made a mistake somewhere, contact me and I’ll see if you’re right.
• There aren’t any places you can crosscheck this to my knowledge.

Highlights:

• insight into character’s minds, Ramuda clones and what Machee Def was thinking when he wrote the lyrics
• Jakurai smacking someone’s butt

Yellow intro text (middle, pg. 84): The grudge from that day. The past that cannot be forgotten. The regret that could not be said. Each division’s leader moves forward, holding on to their respective pasts!

White intro text (bottom right, pg. 84): Each division’s leaders used to form 3 teams called Naughty Busters, Mad Comic Dialogue and Kuujaku Posse. After Kuko Harai and Sasara Nurude left the team, the remaining 4 formed The Dirty Dawg. After The Dirty Dawg was disbanded, each leader formed their own current team. No matter how you looked at it, this wasn’t going to be pretty – there was discord between Ichiro Yamada and Samatoki Aohitsugi, Ramuda Amemura and Jakurai Jinguji, Ichiro and Kuko and Samatoki and Sasara. The drama track When 6 Colours Combine, [] Begins, which comes with the new song Bonds of Friendship Born of Bonds of Pain, depicts them after the 2nd Division Rap Battle (henceforth “2nd DRB”). The 6 people, who know they have complicated backgrounds and fight in spite of holding on to their complex thoughts, are passionate. We welcome Machee Def, who wrote the rap lyrics for this battle which shows them fighting together, for this issue and the next.

Yellow series intro text (bottom left, pg. 84): Hypnosis Mic – Division Rap Battle | Homepage: http://hypnosismic.com/ | Twitter: @hypnosismic

Ichiro Yamada (top middle, red): The leader of Ikebukuro Division, Buster Bros!!!. Runs Odd Jobs Yamada. Originally living in an orphanage, he moved away from there at the age of 14 to live with his younger brothers Jiro and Saburo.

Samatoki Aohitsugi (top middle, blue): The leader of Yokohama Division, Mad Trigger Crew. Wakagashira of the yakuza Katen group. He reunites with his little sister Nemu after she joins the Party of Words and understands she is staying in the Party of her own volition.

Sasara Nurude (top right, orange): The leader of Osaka Division, Dotsuitare Honpo. Stand-up comedian. Formerly went to Tokyo to look for a partner and found Samatoki. In private, he says rapid-fire daggy jokes.

Kuko Harai (bottom left, purple): The leader of Nagoya Division, Bad Ass Temple. Monk. When he left his hometown to break free from it and went to what is now Ikebukuro Division, he met Ichiro. He often says his own version of teachings.

Jakurai Jinguji (top right, grey): The leader of Shinjuku Division, Matenrou. Doctor. Knows about the truth regarding the True Hypnosis Mic and Ramuda’s circumstances, among other things, and wants to save Ramuda.

Ramuda Amemura (middle right, yellow): The leader of Shibuya Division, Fling Posse, who won the 2nd DRB. Designer. Actually a clone made by Chuohku. His body is failing him, so now his life is in danger.

Lyrics by Machee Def (top left)

Machee Def: rapper, lyricist, rap instructor / born in Tokyo / former stand-up comedian. Wrote lyrics and supervised raps for the insert songs for various Hypnosis Mic – Division Rap Battle and Hypnosis Mic – Alternative Rap Battle works, as well as handling rap guidance on the drama Black School Rules.

Drama TrackWhen 6 Colours Combine, [] Begins

Lyric 1 – Ichiro, Samatoki, Jakurai

Diagram 1 romaji:

Yo, Ramuda no kuro-n? Kishoku warii magai mon. Ese yarou ni nouten kara raimu tatakikomu.

Tsura to nari dake wa maa nitennaa. Demo me no okumirya ichimokuzen da.

Anatatachi ni tsumi wa nai tada no ayatsuri ningen ni suginai daga sono maiku wa fukanzen de futsuriai

Yamenasai orokana koui wa

Maiku watasuka

Itaime miru ka

Saa docchi da?

From the beginning of the drama track When 6 Colours Combine, [] Begins, each division’s leader is embroiled in antagonism with each other. After the conversation each division has at the early stage of the track, the leaders have a development where they talk with each other and reminisce. Honobono Keitoin can be said to be moving behind-the-scenes, behind that kind of tiny movement where the past bonds come undone…This time, this drama track’s middle part depicts a battle story.

First, it’s Ichiro, Samatoki and Jakurai’s lyrics. After the final round, Samatoki approaches Ichiro about the story he heard about the former Ramuda Amemura and Jakurai appears. 3 clone Ramudas appear when Jakurai is about to explain about the True Hypnosis Mic. Jakurai reveals Ramuda is a clone and he knows about the danger of the True Hypnosis Mic, but when Samatoki hears about the story from Ramuda, he only half-believes it, because all he could hear was what he had heard from Ichiro. These lyrics are an attack Ichiro, Samatoki and Jakurai release against the 3 clones.

Actually, these lyrics were all thought up from Jakurai’s 4 verses from the start. This is because Ichiro and Samatoki know Ramuda is a clone, but don’t know there are multiple clones. They suddenly recognise this, but multiple clones messes things up. How would they attack in the middle of that chaos? “Jakurai should be the main fighter,” I thought, but doing that makes the concept of having 3 people fight weak and unbalanced. The current version is the result of tweaking the quantity of the rap to show this.

Well, let’s look at their lyrics. Ichiro and Samatoki are responsible for 2 verses each of the front half. Look at diagram 1’s lyric breakdown – each verse has 4 beats and showing what words map to what beats. Ichiro’s magaimon [AAIO] and tatakikomu [AAIO(M)] rhyme, as do Samatoki’s tennaa (in nitennaa) [ENAA] and ryouzenda [ENAA]. This is how you rhyme properly. I think there are characteristics to each character’s rhyming schemes – particularly Ichiro’s has a lot of these rhymes and I feel he suits them well. By the way, the mu in tatakikomu becomes unvoiced.

In comparison, Samatoki also has some of these proper rhymes, but his rhythm doesn’t fit as neatly. A point about his rap is that it’s loose at points. If you look at the lyric breakdown, there is an N at the start of the 4th beat, see? In the proper rhyming scheme, the ze in ryouzen should be the start of a beat, but it’s not. Starting the beat with an N and bridging the verses like this makes it sound loose and cool. Also, tsura to nari dake wa is shortened to tsura to nari dakya. Shortening words like this makes it feel a bit like the rapper is performing a tongue-twister, rattling on and on. By doing that, it illustrates the division between Ichiro and Samatoki.

On the other hand, Jakurai’s lyrics in the 5th verse cram 6 sounds into 1 verse and that’s a division of lyrics like poetic rap. Tsumi wa nai [UIAAI], suginai [UIAI] and futsuriai [UIAI] don’t perfectly rhyme, but you can hear the same UIAI vowel sounds, right? Having the same vowel sounds scattered around make it like a prayer – I think it sounds like chanting. Jakurai’s part also has the characteristic of finding common ground of rhyming with the other verses. The ai in futsuriai carries over to the next verse and it alters the proper rhyming scheme.

Let’s talk about the content of the lyrics. As said earlier, Ichiro and Samatoki are holding their mics in surprise at the current circumstances. With 3 of the same face lined up in front of them, even Ichiro and Samatoki should be afraid. However, they must stand and fight. Ichiro and Samatoki’s lyrics uphold this kind of mentality, so you can feel they’re not as excessive as always and they have become aware their opponents are a threat. Straight after Ichiro says Kishoku warii magai mon, Samatoki continues with Demo me no okumirya ichimokuzen da, even though the person in front of him looks like Ramuda. I chose these words for Samatoki because he sees two-faced people for his job, so he can judge just from looking at someone whether they are real or fake.

Then there are Jakurai’s lyrics. I wrote this with a mental image of Jakurai standing imposingly with Ichiro and Samatoki nearby. After Ichiro and Samatoki are threatened, Jakurai understands the circumstances and tells the clones, who have no will of their own, Anatatachi ni tsumi wa nai. Ichiro and Samatoki plus Jakurai see things differently – rather, Jakurai sees things from the position of a god. After talking as if warning them, Jakurai-sensei steps back and at the end, Ichiro and Samatoki find themselves confronting the clones’ words straight-on. Those lyrics form that kind of mental image.

These lyrics are, despite the situation, heartwarming because Ichiro and Samatoki are able to fight together, even though they are fighting like cats and dogs. If you could see the gap between Ichiro and Samatoki and Jakurai, I would be happy. If their opponents weren’t clones, those opponents would be knocked out in one go by a critical hit, but that wasn’t so…

Lyric 2 – Clone Ramuda x3

1. Ahhaha, bokutachi ga magaimon te seiki kai?
2. Teka jibun ga nanimono ka nante kyoumi nai
3. Dewa mimi kara ojamashima-su

All. Guccha gucha ni shite nou wo hakai daa

Even after receiving Ichiro, Samatoki and Jakurai’s attack, the clones are only knocked down to some degree. The clones’ minds have been tampered with so the attack is not very effective…it’s frightening. Even though up until this point clones have appeared, this time they are being portrayed by Ramuda’s voice actor Shirai-san – how he was able to portray separate clones was amazing every time.

You could say the clones’ feelings have been restrained, so the clones take Ichiro, Samatoki and Jakurai’s words as a surprise as well. Speaking of which, here the 1st clone returns the word magaimono which Ichiro used when he says bokutachi ga magaimon te seiki kai. If it’s coming from a clone, it makes you question whether Ramuda or even we are the same as these clones in being fakes [magaimono]. Then the 2nd clone builds upon that by saying no one ever cared about their identity.

That’s right. I was thinking how Ramuda has certain quirks with his language. He’s cute but occasionally he’ll be poisonous – he engages you with very bitter words, just by being sweet (LOL). I’ve written the 3rd clone – the last of this 3 man group’s lyrics – as demonstrating that kind of Ramuda language…mimi kara ojamashima-su makes you think “He’s such a nice kid because he gave his greeting!” The ears are the entrance of what they fear, but the destination is their brain and the grotesquerie is that their brain will be messed up [guccha gucha]. With Ramuda saying that in his cute voice, this gives the impression of a dark fantasy.

The emphasis of this rap’s beat becomes a swing style, even though a moment ago, it had the right amount of sounds. That’s why the singing also has junsoku inserted so mimi kara ojamashima-su went to mimikkara ojjamashima-su, a long sound was added and the ends of the sounds were lengthened so nanimonoka nante became nanimono-ka to match the swing style. It was as if he was jumping around and singing with a euphoric atmosphere – these additions were added all at once.

I would like you to pay special attention to the rhyme between ojamashima-su and nou wo hakai daa. Ojamashima-su has an extra small tsu added to it to make it ojjamashima-su and the final su is barely pronounced. Nou wo hakai daa was sung like no- hakai da-. If pronounced like that, ojamashima-su‘s vowels become O(-)AAIA(-) and nou wo hakai daa becomes O(small tsu)AAIA(-). If you just look at the vowels of the letters, the words will rhyme better without the small tsu, but in terms of the singing scheme, the position of the sokuon and long sounds can make it easier to sound better.

The cute and grotesque trio’s lyrics are a direct attack using the True Hypnosis Mic. Ichiro, Samatoki and Jakurai are not weak, but the strength of the attack from the True Hypnosis Mic makes them unable to face it head-on.

Lyric 3 – Kuko, Sasara and Ramuda

Kuko: Yo, imada dasanee kioku mo aru ga wasureru wake nee Naughty Busters

Sasara: Samatoki to Sasara de MCD moya no naka yuiitsu tashika na destiny

Ramuda: Kuujakutte kuuki yomenai Jakuraitte imi? Chigaudaro? Dattara hayakutate jijii!

All: Ano hi no hokorobi wa modoranai daga kono kusare en wa sonna yawa janai

In the nick of time, their former team members appeared! Their words could be said to pit them against their former team members, but the tension rose around them. Formerly, Ichiro and Kuko were Naughty Busters, Sasara and Samatoki were Mad Comic Dialogue and Ramuda and Jakurai used to be Kuujaku Posse. Jakurai-sensei didn’t use his knowledge of healing – he needed lyrics that sounded like he was spanking someone’s butt and could bestow power – so I wondered what the content of those lyrics would be and I ended up adding in lyrics about their old teams.

First of all, let’s look at the first 4 verses. I used the team name Naughty Busters as-is, but shortened Mad Comic Dialogue to MCD to emulate Mad Trigger Crew’s MTC. Kuko and Sasara’s hatred was born from the True Hypnosis Mic’s brainwashing and decided to break up with their partners due to this. They have memories of that day, but they don’t know why their memories are foggy around this particular incident. Even so, it was the truth that they had formed teams. In the manga and so on, the fun times they spent together were depicted and Kuko and Sasara haven’t forgotten those fun times, so that is expressed in their lyrics.

Then the 5th and 6th verses are Ramuda’s lyrics. I couldn’t use the full team name because “Kuujaku Posse” can’t be shortened, so I thought I could hide the team name in there, but it turned out to be surprisingly difficult! I used the kanji for kuujaku, got a sad feeling from it and pulled the emotion from Kuko and Sasara’s words. From the beginning, I thought [the concept of] “loneliness that could split space~” and so on would be good. Ramuda’s usually cute, but sometimes a cool Ramuda (Ramuda’s true self with the low voice – I’m not good at explaining so I’ll call him this from now on) appears, right? If it’s cool Ramuda, then even “lonely” might fit him. I thought of this, but it doesn’t match the developments that happen around this point in the storyline, right? Before the battle, Ramuda told Jakurai “Leave!” but he suddenly cooled down and yet threw out these words. That’s a bit weird. That’s why words like “wavering Jakurai!” make even less sense. Jakurai, to Ramuda, is meddling, so what’s Ramuda trying to instigate with these words of hatred? These two were friends somewhere down the line…speaking of which, I felt like the loneliness of kuujaku was the opposite and a bit joking! That’s why the line is Kuujakutte kuuki yomenai Jakuraitte imi? When I thought of this, I thought, “This is perfect!”…but what does everyone else think?

I chose kuuki wo yomenai to mean “I don’t want Jakurai to give into the True Hypnosis Mic! If that happens, then he won’t be reading the room!” At this part, the rai in Jakurai is shortened and Jakuraitte imi? and dattara hayakutate jijii! rhyme.

Straight after Kuko and Ichiro’s lyrics, Sasara’s “destiny” is a little clumsy, but at the same time it’s a cool and comical link. Then with Ramuda’s inciteful words, you can see his and Jakurai’s current relationship. It feels like there are 3 different approaches going on here, but these lyrics feel like a response to the previous ones.

Then the final 2 verses. The only rhyme is ranai and janai. Although it strengthens the message, I think I’m hung up over how it weakens the rhyme. For example, if it wasn’t ano hi no hokorobi wa modoranai but rather modoranai, ano hi no hokorobi, then it would sound more poetic, but it would seemingly and unfortunately weaken the rhyme. Even if Ramuda holds hatred, even if he says cruel words, even if he lies, even if his feelings become bitter, everything he does becomes unravelled and disappears, yet it feels like Jakurai and his bonds haven’t broken. Then, you can say for sure the 3 of them are in unison here. This is especially true for Ramuda, who is alone and so cannot convey his feelings directly.

Speaking of which, the beat for this part’s rap is great. Endou. of Gesshoku Kaigi handled that beat and produces a wonderful sound every time. This part is particularly emotion-evoking! Furthermore, the story developments are paired with multifaceted sounds and the two work well together.

Like that, Ichiro, Samatoki and Jakurai heard the rap and stood up. At the same time, the Ramuda clone who had been using the True Hypnosis Mic died. Honobono Keitoin, who has been putting the clones to work, has broken the clone. She says, “It’s time for me to take my leave,” as if she’s about to go, but Ichiro stops her. When she says something unexpected, they cannot let her go. Like that, Honobono and the division leaders start a fight…This discussion continues in the next issue.

Yellow bubble: Finally, the 6 leaders fight together! Look forward to the next issue!

Pg. 86:

Hazy Memories

Before the Dirty Dawg was formed, Ramuda mindhacked Kuko and Sasara so Ichiro and Samatoki can be friends with him. The perpetrator was the clone Ramuda. As a result of that, Kuko and Ichiro and Sasara and Samatoki hold hatred for each other and break up. Ichiro and Samatoki are greatly hurt by it, but Kuko and Sasara can’t remember it well because of the mindhack.

Pg. 87:

Ramuda and Clones

Ramuda clones have no will of their own and only do as they’re ordered, but Ramuda has feelings like that of a human. Up to this point, Ramuda clones have been the only users of the True Hypnosis Mic, but Ramuda understands he too can use it. After the 2nd DRB, Ramuda tells Kuko and Sasara the truth and apologises, while Jakurai says he is exposing his true self by “wanting to live”.

Translator’s notes:

• Rhyme Anima+ ep. 2 chose not to translate the term wakagashira (literally “young head [of a yakuza group]”), so I didn’t translate it either. The original text said the Katen group was a “violent organisation”, which is a euphemism for “yakuza“.
• “…Ramuda’s circumstances…” – Ramuda is a clone etc..
• “Actually a clone made by Chuohku.” – Actually, he was made by Rei for Chuohku’s use, so it’s…half-correct(?)
• To the right of the section introducing Machee Def, there are 2 paragraphs explaining how the lyrics are written in this article. I have put Rhyme Strike-style square brackets throughout the text if they’re not already present so you can more clearly see how the rhymes work.
• “the former Ramuda Amemura” – This is the Ramuda we know, the one with the feelings.
• I did think of translating the verses or using the wiki translations of them, but since Machee Def makes reference to words within the original verses, I transcribed the romaji as a compromise.
• “If you look at the lyric breakdown, there is an N at the start of the 4th beat, see?” – The lyric breakdown says the 4th beat in Samatoki’s verse is the N sound in tennaa.
• “mimi kara ojamashima-su to mimikkara ojjamashima-su” – These repeated sounds are what is known as junsoku or the small tsu. I used the latter when the text referred to junsoku again later to make the sentences smoother.
• “After the 2nd DRB…” – This section actually had a typo in the original text.
• “cool Ramuda” – This is what is normally known as “dark Ramuda” in English fan parlance. It seems, based on the previous translation I did, no one has a consistent name for this side of him.
• “That’s why the line is Kuujakutte kuuki yomenai Jakuraitte imi?” – It literally translates to “Does kuujaku mean ‘Jakurai who can’t read the room’?” and is a joke on how “read the room” is kuuki wo yomu (with kuuki using the same kuu kanji as in “Kuujaku Posse”).
• “Endou.” – That full stop is part of his artist name.
• Parts of this translation were based upon the wiki translation of the drama track. Thank you to Ari (shinseimcd) for that translation.