It is a dark song but with lyrics that reflect our current way of culture I feel with social norms and all sorts of other issues it seems like a lot of people could relate to this song, at least I can I tend to act different than who I truly am around people due to the fear of being judged by others for the way I am and it shouldn't be that way Edit: Something I forgot to note that with a lot of people who do what I do with acting different can go through a Identidy crisis and end up forgetting about things that really make them happy and do things they don't really like it truly is sad how relatable this can be for so many people and is, in a way, a comfort in the same way
i totally agree with this and can relate to what you are saying. this song comforted me because it created a sense of acknowledgment that i dont get from hardly anywhere else. when this song was released, my mental health was very very low so i found it difficult to aee the beauty in life. hearing this song allowed me to see that emotions like these may be painful, but they are nonetheless part of our lives. honestly was great song to sulk to lol. harumaki gohan never fails to impress.
I highly recommend playing the accompanying game GenEi AP: Empty Heart (it’s translated and available on both apple and android). It has a much more clearly light/happy ending (I personally find the ending of this song quite light and hopeful too, but like all artistic expression it depends a lot on the kind of headspace you’re in when you consume it)
@@tropiice8508 glad that you found a comfort in the song I do myself as well but not for any super serious reasons just have a hard time being myself around other people and put on a "mirage" I recommend third heart as well another great song
The music would have been really good on it's own, but when paired with the MV, it's honestly sublime. The cute, simplified style works every time, and the color scheme is dynamic and stylish. Harumaki Gohan's Miku is really expressive while still maintaining that cute "anime girl" quality. Amazing work. ♡
Extremely touched by this song, and of course all the songs in the upcoming album. But music aside, I want to share my thoughts on the lyrics and the scenes they portray. The song, to me, contains some of Harumaki Gohan's bleakest and most condensed lyrics, charting Mikage's gradual nervous breakdown. After the introduction of its motif, "Who are you? Who am I?", the song manages to cover 3 broad sections in 3 minutes: a chronological passing through from self-loathing and deceit, to paranoia and desperation, and finally at regret and defeat. Below is a personal take on the song, gone through section by section. Skip to the end for a tl;dr. *VERSE 1* In the first third, Mikage states that Spica and her are two different people. Being different, she will never know what Spica really thinks; and ergo, she can never actually know *who* Spica is. Spica is an alien, an "Other". Then she responds to this fact by saying she wishes she didn't know how she herself felt. That is, she wishes to become an alien/an "Other" to herself. But then she adds that she's not thinking this way to make up for the former fact that Spica is an "Other", indicating (if taken at face value) that this is not the primary trigger. She has always felt uncomfortable in her own skin, divorced from herself. *BRIDGE 1* Now Mikage reveals that Spica had once told her to "share her true feelings/thoughts" with her. But this is impossible, going by her previous logic that the "Other" is essentially unknowable. So in a statement of some self-loathing, she reflects that she is not as "enlightened" as everyone else. She can't do it. Maybe everyone else can do it, but she can't. And at last, the shift comes. She knows she will regret it and that she shouldn't do it, but she creates a "mirage": an illusion of herself. That is, she creates the "Other" to herself. *CHORUS 1* This causes her to lose sight of herself. The motif comes again, "Who are you? Who am I?" And now she asks, "Where is the real me?" She reports that her answers to this are vague and fuzzy. But this is to be expected, since she had made a stranger of herself. She can no longer know who she is, why she does what she does, what she thinks, what she feels. After all, she is free to make up whatever she likes about herself - - free to conjure any mirage, and free to believe in any one of them at her convenience. *REFRAIN 1* So in the refrain, after having created the mirages to separate from herself, she now says that "she has become the mirage" itself, a thin wispy outline of the person she thinks she should be. When there is no standard for truth, delusion becomes preferable for its palatability. *VERSE 2* Here, she reports that the "third shadow" has run away. She had once built up the mirages to assert control over herself and her identity. But having lost herself in the mirage, the freedom she gains now becomes paralysing. She has lost something important to her, but she can't even recognise what it is; it is just a third-person object now. It belongs to the "Other". Having lost sight of herself, she says that "having two eyes aren't enough for her". But then, she insists that this isn't because "the third shadow" has run away. In her paranoia, she chooses to double down on her facade. *BRIDGE 2* Lost in a web of her own confusion, she no longer knows who she is or what she should be. But she knows some things for sure. The real things that can never be fake, never a mirage. She knows she wants to "draw a picture of nighttime in Spica's eyes" so that she can "slumber in it". She memorised every bit of the back view of Spica's hair and neck as it roils in the wind. She will never forget it. All these things are real. And in a world full of "Other"s, of mirages, of fakes, Mikage tries to cling on to what is real. But who is Mikage to herself? An "Other". She had gotten what she wished for. *CHORUS 2* And now she is completely isolated, and she loses touch with reality. She asks Spica to hear her out, hear what she has to say. She says that *she* is the *real* Mikage. The person Spica has known this whole time was never Mikage. It was just a mirage, a fake Mikage. She disavows the person she used to be in a plea to be recognised for the person she is now, whoever she is. *REFRAIN 2* But the person she once was was the one who knew Spica, who loved Spica, and who presumably Spica loved. If that person is fake, then everything is fake. Mikage now accuses Spica of being a fake, a mirage too. *CHORUS 3* And then, after its too late to turn back, Mikage finally receives clarity. Her search for her ideal "true self", her attempt to change the parts of herself she didn't like and make them an "Other" - - her intolerance of herself - - had led her on a wild goose chase that destroyed any sense of the "real her" if there ever was one. She had constructed all her mirages as she attempted to be something *more* . But this venture was futile. Because of what she did to herself, there are no more "true feelings" left to share because there is no more "true self". She asks one last time, "Who are you? Who am I?" at all the mirages, ephemeral and hollow. *CHORUS 4* Now she turns the question back to the listener. "Who do you think I really am?" Realising that in a bitter irony, even the mirages she believed herself to be were in the end just mirages, she loses what's left of the dreams she had come so far for. She falls back into the refrain: "I've become a mirage. I've become a mirage." *tl;dr* : Mikage is the envy phantom who, as it were, having been disappointed by life, aimed to find hope in constructed mirages and by doing so connect to others in her life. But having lost herself in her mirages, she loses her way in life, and she can now do nothing but stare longingly across the bridge of broken dreams. Curiously, I think you can draw many parallels between the contents of the song and depersonalisation/derealisation disorder. Of course, this may simply be an interesting observation, but DPDR is fairly common a mental disorder. Perhaps it or similar experiences have played their part unknowingly to this album.
About the Spica phantom part: The game reveals that Mikage has been creating phantoms of *Spica* too, so the mirage thing didn't stop at just Mikage. She isn't accusing Spica of being a phantom, she literally made mirages of Spica so that she would be ideal for Mikage. But other than that, this is an incredible analysis!
I wanted to add to this, the third shadow running away is likely a reference to the Third Heart. In Japanese culture, your third 'face' is the face you'll never show anyone, the truest reflection of who you are. Mikage is lamenting that she's lost that, and she no longer has control over showing it anymore. In the Third Heart, she bemoans that it's now watching her rather than being a part of her.
Add to this, the "third shadow" can be referenced to the third hearth and the repetition in the lyrics, "Who are you? Who am I?" "Who are you? Who am I?" But there were no three repetitions, always two, cause "the third shadow ran away" and because of the third heart. (Sorry for my poor English, i hope you understand what i mean)
Here's a list of all the possible parallels to Aster I could find! If you find any more, feel free to tell me! 0:28 - Any scene with the blue liquid is similar to the whole pink poison thing in Aster. 1:02 - The smiley faces in EVERYTHING are pretty reminscent of Drink-Kuns. 1:28 - The most obvious one. An exact parallel to the scene in Aster where a third eye opens on MC's back. 2:01 - I'll explain this one in a bit. 2:20 - Okay, now I have to get into the lore. Aster is a VR video game where people could adopt virtual children and raise them, but when the game died, the children were left alone. The game was also overrun with viruses over time, even though a security program called the Doctor was supposed to protect them. After one of these viruses killed her best friend, MC, a virtual girl, got mad. She shot the Doctor, then shot up the rest of the game whole drinking poison, and finally laid down to die. In this scene, bright yellow pixels are floating everywhere, and the sky is glitching. This also explains previous parallel, which is similar to MC laying down to die. Additionally, not only was the Aster world often showcased in advertising for the game, it's one of the first worlds Mikage visits!
ok heres my interpretation! after a few days of letting it simmer (i am probably missing some things it is literally 2:45 AM as im writing this RIP) so i think what we have going on here is 3 types of mikage in the firefly outfit, the faceless ones that look kind of dead, the 'regular' looking one, and the one that has some sort of transparency and water spilled on her. (and of course, we also have the real world looking mikage in her school unifrom. although, im actually not sure if she's real, or if she's some form of self reflection. you can see the sky/clouds glitch behind her, and the whole thing appears very dreamlike, with her friends almost appearing ethereal because of the light emitting from them...) the first might be faces of hers that haven't worked out, that weren't liked enough, that made mistakes, etc. so she had no use for them (it seems their flowers wilt when that happens, and that results in... whatever state they're in. the flower might also represent public image, as regular mikage has a scene of making sure the flower is alright). the regular one is her current state, or her current face, although from the lyrics i think she can't really tell the difference. and the transparent one, the one deepest down (as evident from the fact she gets a vase dropped on her and also hides in the flower, as well as might be referred to as 'the third shadow') is the 'real' one. her true self that she's looking for. the reasoning behind this is: - regular mikage witnesses a vase dropping on someone quite a distance away from her. then, cut to mikage soaked in water. i think this is representative of the fact we're looking at two different characters, and it also might work into the fact that the true mikage is very deep down, considering the vase drops beneath the level regular mikage is at. - at the 'the third shadow has run away' part we see regular mikage looking somewhere between unconcerned to maybe bothered, after which - cut to a slightly transparent mikage running away and tripping. this is likely a reference to what the third heart plays on - the third face being the truest form of one's self in japanese terms. the fact mikage has a transparency here and is also soaked in water helps to see where she appears later in the song. - we see a transparent-like hand reach out from within the flower at the beginning-ish of the song, as well as transparent hands replace real world mikage's hands later on. i assume this is the same mikage as the soaked in water one, due to the previous point, and it also illustrates more of how she's connected to mikage and also how deep within her conscioussness she is. - on top of all that, after she's presumably caught running away, the true mikage (she has water on her and transparency around her arms most noticeably) is tied up in vines and surrounded by faceless mikages. i think this might represent that while she does want to know what the real 'her' is, she's afraid of finding out or letting it show for the same reason she started making facades in the first place. cross-referencing fireflies never came and the third heart, she wants to become what other people want. she doesn't want others to see her badly in any way, so she molds her own personality, mannerisms and so on to fit in. the last point i made is basically how i see this entire song. she was so caught up making facades, that when she got some real friends, she actually wanted to be real around them. to be her true self for once, not afraid of them hating her for it. but it was far too late at that point. she had already forgotten what she was really like, basically fusing with her fabricated self. maybe partly really forgetting, maybe partly because she just can't let herself be real (as seen as her true self being tied up) or doesn't know how to allow herself that kind of freedom. if im right i really hope she gets a better ending than nana and lili did D:... leave it to harumaki gohan to write heartbreaking bangers.
ok so basically what i was able to get from one blurry image in the artbook (that we still don't have a translation for but tick's taking their time) is that the normal-looking mikage is actually mikage's true self, and is the "third heart watching from afar". mikage has literally gone so far with the phantom thing that her true self lives on a completely different plane of existence. how did she manage to mess her life up *this* bad bro
i saw somebody say that "harumaki gohan's art style comforts them" so here are timestamps for all of the creepy scenes in this mv 0:27 1:08 1:28 1:50 (what da chibikages doin???) 2:08 2:58
3:12 kinda the same as the last one but I think it's more creepier also thx for this comment and u also know what comment you're talking about (I think) hopefully after 4 months you are reading this and you came back to this masterpiece
Honestly, this is just beautiful in every sense...! The animation is pretty and eye-catching, and the music is both catchy and pleasing. Harumaki Gohan never disappoints. ❤️💙
I will never tire of saying it, Harumaki you are amazing! Your music is beautiful and unique. There will never be anyone who can imitate you. Thank you for sharing your great music and your wonderful world with us!
I love it! The after images of the girl when the song is talking about mirages is really cool. And this song is connected to the Third Heart, right? Interesting!
@@NJackie personally I like to think that Fireflies Never Came is after Third Heart, as Mikage (the girl) probably have come terms with slightly opening herself after her more negative thoughts in Third Heart and thus can start having real friends. It might all go side by side though. Relationship and human feelings are complex and goes across time and I think Harumakigohan shows it wonderfully in these songs. Also I was just reminded in another comment that Mikage actually also appeared in the Nilfruits collab song Unmei/Fate, though that one feels more like a spin off to Mikage's stories. 🤔
3:27
御影ちゃんが、このまま花をつまみ続けたら「キライ」になることを悟ってこれ以上花占いを進めないところがめっちゃ好き
みかげちゃんこんなにいっぱいいるなら1人くらい貰ってもばれへんか…
幻影で草
家族といる時の自分、仲の良い子といるときの自分、つかずはなれずの人といるときの自分、私の中には何人もの人がいて本当の私が分からない…それも含めて全部私なのかな
1:50から1:56まで右手が見えてないじゃないですか、これ、多分蛍はいなかったでスピカちゃんに引っ張られた方の手だと思うんですよね。
で、アートブックでも「なんか仲直りしたっぽいから良っかぁ」のところでも見えてないのは多分右手で、電車に三人で乗ってる一枚絵のところで隠れてるのも多分右手。
追記 0:33のとこも見えてないですね
更に追記 1:47ここもじゃんん
長文失礼しました🙇
はるまきごはんさんは世界観がはっきりしている中でも、新曲を出す度に「音」を通し独自の新境地を追求している感じが伝わってきます。ただただ魅力的。
それ〜！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！めちゃ共感しました
「あなたにとって 本当の心はどれがよかったの？」が切ない、みかげが一番見せたい心をいつか見せることができますように
一見、何も考えてないように見える大人しい子って、びっくりするくらい色んなこと考えてるんだよね。みかげもそうなのかな？
みかげの場合、何を考えているかを考えていそうだ
繊細故に友達であっても臆病になってしまう不器用な感情をどうしてここまで的確に具現化できるのだろう…刺さって仕方がない
0:12 ロゴが「3ク 影」になった
3＝み
3影＝みかげ
3ク＝ミク＝初音ミク
みかげちゃんは初音ミクさんに似ている。
毎回も相手（ボカロPさん）の行動によって（合わせて）、「新しい自分」が現れた。
同じ存在のはずだったのに、「自分」がだんだん「複数」になった……
もしかして、これを示すためのロゴデザインなのかな？凄すぎる！！
幻影 / はるまきごはん feat.初音ミク
【歌詞】
あなたはだれ？ わたしはだれ？
あなたはわたしではないから
考えていることわからなくて当然
わたし、わたしの気持ちなんてわかんなくて良かった
その代わりじゃないけど
その代わりじゃないけど
本当の言葉で話してって気軽に言うけどね
誰かと違ってそんな賢明に出来てはないからね
後悔するってわかっている
わかってるけど
わたし 影を作っている
あなたはだれ？ わたしはだれ？
本当の心は何処に在るの
あなたはだれ？ わたしはだれ？
ぼんやり頭は考えた
Living dark.
わたしは幻の影になったの
Living dark.
わたしは幻の影になったの
三番目の影が走り去って行った
わたし、瞳はふたつなんてものじゃ足りなかった
その代わりじゃないけど
その代わりじゃないけど
あなたの瞳に夜を描いて眠って欲しかった
揺らめく後ろの髪の輪郭を全部覚えていた
後悔するってわかっている
わかってるけど
また影を作っている
話をきいて 話をきいて
本当のわたしはここに居るよ
あなたはずっと あなたはずっと
わたしの影と遊んでいる
Living dark.
あなたも幻の影よ
Living dark.
あなたも幻の影よ
影よ 影よ
わたしのせいで わたしのせいで
本当の言葉が消えてしまうから
あなたはだれ？ わたしはだれ？
幽(かそけ)し影に尋ねていた
あなたにとって あなたにとって
本当の心はどれがよかったの？
幻想のわたしも意外と
紙一影
Living dark.
わたしは幻の影になったの
Living dark.
わたしは幻の影になったの
※幽(かそけ)し影：今にも消えそうな影のこと
ありがとうございます！
*圧倒的感謝*
ありがとうございます♪
2:57 のところの歌詞
「幻想のわたしも意外と、紙一影」
「幻」から始まる、「影」で終わるのは凄すぎない！？
今回の新曲も最高でした、はるまきごはん先生いつもありがとうございます！！！ずっと応援しています。
紙一重じゃなくて紙一影になってるのは好き
02:08 ﾋﾞﾋﾞﾝﾊﾞｯ!
3:05 あたりで自分でもさらにピントをわざとぼかして「living dark」でピント合わせるのエモくて楽しい
あんた天才か………
楽しみ方のプロおるやん...
目を細めるのね。(エ_エ)
どこで「幽し」なんて語彙を身につけるんだよ...
間違いなくスルメ曲で震えた…
最初は今までの素朴な楽曲とは打って変わった独特な曲調で正直ハマるかどうかよく分からなかったけど、やっぱり結局気付いたら頭の中で流れてる……こわ……すご………
音楽のことは全く詳しくないど素人意見だけど、きっと音作りが天才的なんだろうなぁ…
歌詞ももちろん凝ってて素敵なんだけど、何よりこの絶対頭に残るサウンドを毎曲毎曲作れるのが凄すぎる。本当に曲を作る度音楽のことをひたむきに考えているからこそこういうことが出来るんだろうな…心から尊敬してます。
聴けば聴くほど味が出る曲って意味でスルメ曲ってこと！？？
センスの塊じゃないですか….
気分が弾むようなかわいらしい声で、
ゆっくりと恐怖を炙りだしてくる
ごはんの描く世界観が大好き
1:02とか1:59みたいな、はるまきごはんさんの曲の"た行"が"つぁ"みたいになるところほんとにすこ。。
つぁ行すき
幻想的で新しい雰囲気なのに、何処か懐しさや安心できるところがほんとに大好き
歌詞
あなたはだれ？
わたしはだれ？
あなたはわたしではないから
考えていることわからなくて当然
わたし、わたしの気持ちなんてわかんなくて良かった
その代わりじゃないけど その代わりじゃないけど
本当の言葉で話してって気軽に言うけどね
誰かと違ってそんな賢明に出来てはないからね
後悔するってわかっている わかってるけど
わたし 影を作っている
あなたはだれ？ わたしはだれ？
本当の心は何処に在るの
あなたはだれ？ わたしはだれ？
ぼんやり頭は考えた
Living dark.
わたしは幻の影になったの
Living dark.
わたしは幻の影になったの
三番目の影が走り去って行った
わたし、瞳はふたつなんてものじゃ足りなかった
その代わりじゃないけど その代わりじゃないけど
あなたの瞳に夜を描いて眠って欲しかった
揺らめく後ろの髪の輪郭を全部覚えていた
後悔するってわかっている わかってるけど
また影を作っている
話をきいて 話をきいて
本当のわたしはここに居るよ
あなたはずっと あなたはずっと
わたしの影と遊んでいる
Living dark.
あなたも幻の影よ 影よ
Living dark.
あなたも幻の影よ 影よ
影よ 影よ
わたしのせいで わたしのせいで
本当の言葉が消えてしまうから
あなたはだれ？ わたしはだれ？
幽し影に尋ねていた
あなたにとって あなたにとって
本当の心はどれがよかったの？
幻想のわたしも意外と
紙一影
Living dark.
わたしは幻の影になったの
Living dark.
わたしは幻の影になったの
1:30ここの髪の毛が透けてるとこ好き
はるまきごはんさんの
液体状の闇みたいな歌好きです
本当の自分を表に出すって難しいよな
そうやって自分を作っていくうちに自分を見失っていく感じ、めちゃくちゃわかる
「どこにあるの↑お↓お↑」とか「ここにいるよ↑お↓お↑」みたいに最後音を繰り返すところ、声が重なったエコーみたいで好き
This song feels so dark, not so much bittersweet like the Futarino songs, but just very dark, and almost feels lost.
It is a dark song but with lyrics that reflect our current way of culture I feel with social norms and all sorts of other issues it seems like a lot of people could relate to this song, at least I can I tend to act different than who I truly am around people due to the fear of being judged by others for the way I am and it shouldn't be that way
Edit: Something I forgot to note that with a lot of people who do what I do with acting different can go through a Identidy crisis and end up forgetting about things that really make them happy and do things they don't really like it truly is sad how relatable this can be for so many people and is, in a way, a comfort in the same way
i totally agree with this and can relate to what you are saying. this song comforted me because it created a sense of acknowledgment that i dont get from hardly anywhere else. when this song was released, my mental health was very very low so i found it difficult to aee the beauty in life. hearing this song allowed me to see that emotions like these may be painful, but they are nonetheless part of our lives. honestly was great song to sulk to lol. harumaki gohan never fails to impress.
I highly recommend playing the accompanying game GenEi AP: Empty Heart (it’s translated and available on both apple and android). It has a much more clearly light/happy ending (I personally find the ending of this song quite light and hopeful too, but like all artistic expression it depends a lot on the kind of headspace you’re in when you consume it)
@@tropiice8508 glad that you found a comfort in the song I do myself as well but not for any super serious reasons just have a hard time being myself around other people and put on a "mirage" I recommend third heart as well another great song
I AM INSANE FOR THIS SONG, THIS DESIGN, THIS EVERYTHING !!!!!
語尾の「〜ね」の語感がやっぱり好きです
う〜うう う〜う〜のところも、紙一影〜えええええ〜のところも好き
はるまきさんVocalではやくききたい
はるまきごはんさん特有のリズム感と1人で曲を作ったとは思えない所…最高です。
あと3:02の紙一影の影の音程凄い好きです
The music would have been really good on it's own, but when paired with the MV, it's honestly sublime. The cute, simplified style works every time, and the color scheme is dynamic and stylish. Harumaki Gohan's Miku is really expressive while still maintaining that cute "anime girl" quality. Amazing work. ♡
何度聴いても「あなたの瞳に夜を描いて眠って欲しかった 揺らめく後ろの髪の輪郭を全部覚えていた」でみかげちゃん恋しすぎだろ……ってなる
人の気持ちをしるたびに自分の気持ちを閉じ込めて、そしていろんな自分を見ている感覚になる
そんな閉じ込めた気持ちも寄り添っているようで胸が暖かくなる
おそらく「三番目の影」の子がみかげの本当の気持ちなのかもしれないけど、周りに合わせるため、自分を隠すため、「あの子」に嫌われないために作り上げた偽りの気持ち(おそらくこれが他の影の子たち)と区別がつかないね
まあ前提も含めて全部想像でしかないんですけど…
0:50はるまきごはんさんとこのミクの「た」を「っつぁ」って感じに発音するの好き
Extremely touched by this song, and of course all the songs in the upcoming album. But music aside, I want to share my thoughts on the lyrics and the scenes they portray. The song, to me, contains some of Harumaki Gohan's bleakest and most condensed lyrics, charting Mikage's gradual nervous breakdown.
After the introduction of its motif, "Who are you? Who am I?", the song manages to cover 3 broad sections in 3 minutes: a chronological passing through from self-loathing and deceit, to paranoia and desperation, and finally at regret and defeat.
Below is a personal take on the song, gone through section by section. Skip to the end for a tl;dr.
*VERSE 1*
In the first third, Mikage states that Spica and her are two different people. Being different, she will never know what Spica really thinks; and ergo, she can never actually know *who* Spica is. Spica is an alien, an "Other".
Then she responds to this fact by saying she wishes she didn't know how she herself felt. That is, she wishes to become an alien/an "Other" to herself.
But then she adds that she's not thinking this way to make up for the former fact that Spica is an "Other", indicating (if taken at face value) that this is not the primary trigger. She has always felt uncomfortable in her own skin, divorced from herself.
*BRIDGE 1*
Now Mikage reveals that Spica had once told her to "share her true feelings/thoughts" with her.
But this is impossible, going by her previous logic that the "Other" is essentially unknowable.
So in a statement of some self-loathing, she reflects that she is not as "enlightened" as everyone else. She can't do it. Maybe everyone else can do it, but she can't.
And at last, the shift comes.
She knows she will regret it and that she shouldn't do it, but she creates a "mirage": an illusion of herself. That is, she creates the "Other" to herself.
*CHORUS 1*
This causes her to lose sight of herself. The motif comes again, "Who are you? Who am I?"
And now she asks, "Where is the real me?" She reports that her answers to this are vague and fuzzy.
But this is to be expected, since she had made a stranger of herself. She can no longer know who she is, why she does what she does, what she thinks, what she feels. After all, she is free to make up whatever she likes about herself - - free to conjure any mirage, and free to believe in any one of them at her convenience.
*REFRAIN 1*
So in the refrain, after having created the mirages to separate from herself, she now says that "she has become the mirage" itself, a thin wispy outline of the person she thinks she should be. When there is no standard for truth, delusion becomes preferable for its palatability.
*VERSE 2*
Here, she reports that the "third shadow" has run away.
She had once built up the mirages to assert control over herself and her identity. But having lost herself in the mirage, the freedom she gains now becomes paralysing. She has lost something important to her, but she can't even recognise what it is; it is just a third-person object now. It belongs to the "Other".
Having lost sight of herself, she says that "having two eyes aren't enough for her". But then, she insists that this isn't because "the third shadow" has run away. In her paranoia, she chooses to double down on her facade.
*BRIDGE 2*
Lost in a web of her own confusion, she no longer knows who she is or what she should be.
But she knows some things for sure. The real things that can never be fake, never a mirage.
She knows she wants to "draw a picture of nighttime in Spica's eyes" so that she can "slumber in it".
She memorised every bit of the back view of Spica's hair and neck as it roils in the wind. She will never forget it.
All these things are real.
And in a world full of "Other"s, of mirages, of fakes, Mikage tries to cling on to what is real.
But who is Mikage to herself? An "Other". She had gotten what she wished for.
*CHORUS 2*
And now she is completely isolated, and she loses touch with reality.
She asks Spica to hear her out, hear what she has to say.
She says that *she* is the *real* Mikage.
The person Spica has known this whole time was never Mikage. It was just a mirage, a fake Mikage.
She disavows the person she used to be in a plea to be recognised for the person she is now, whoever she is.
*REFRAIN 2*
But the person she once was was the one who knew Spica, who loved Spica, and who presumably Spica loved.
If that person is fake, then everything is fake.
Mikage now accuses Spica of being a fake, a mirage too.
*CHORUS 3*
And then, after its too late to turn back, Mikage finally receives clarity.
Her search for her ideal "true self", her attempt to change the parts of herself she didn't like and make them an "Other" - - her intolerance of herself - - had led her on a wild goose chase that destroyed any sense of the "real her" if there ever was one. She had constructed all her mirages as she attempted to be something *more* . But this venture was futile.
Because of what she did to herself, there are no more "true feelings" left to share because there is no more "true self".
She asks one last time, "Who are you? Who am I?" at all the mirages, ephemeral and hollow.
*CHORUS 4*
Now she turns the question back to the listener.
"Who do you think I really am?"
Realising that in a bitter irony, even the mirages she believed herself to be were in the end just mirages, she loses what's left of the dreams she had come so far for.
She falls back into the refrain: "I've become a mirage. I've become a mirage."
*tl;dr* : Mikage is the envy phantom who, as it were, having been disappointed by life, aimed to find hope in constructed mirages and by doing so connect to others in her life. But having lost herself in her mirages, she loses her way in life, and she can now do nothing but stare longingly across the bridge of broken dreams.
Curiously, I think you can draw many parallels between the contents of the song and depersonalisation/derealisation disorder. Of course, this may simply be an interesting observation, but DPDR is fairly common a mental disorder. Perhaps it or similar experiences have played their part unknowingly to this album.
dang this needs more attention, nice breakdown of the song
Great analysis!!
About the Spica phantom part: The game reveals that Mikage has been creating phantoms of *Spica* too, so the mirage thing didn't stop at just Mikage. She isn't accusing Spica of being a phantom, she literally made mirages of Spica so that she would be ideal for Mikage. But other than that, this is an incredible analysis!
I wanted to add to this, the third shadow running away is likely a reference to the Third Heart. In Japanese culture, your third 'face' is the face you'll never show anyone, the truest reflection of who you are. Mikage is lamenting that she's lost that, and she no longer has control over showing it anymore. In the Third Heart, she bemoans that it's now watching her rather than being a part of her.
Add to this, the "third shadow" can be referenced to the third hearth and the repetition in the lyrics, "Who are you? Who am I?" "Who are you? Who am I?" But there were no three repetitions, always two, cause "the third shadow ran away" and because of the third heart.
(Sorry for my poor English, i hope you understand what i mean)
「あなたは誰 私は誰」のところで合せ鏡にどんどん女の子が映っていって、より誰か分からなくなっていく感じが好き。
Here's a list of all the possible parallels to Aster I could find! If you find any more, feel free to tell me!
0:28 - Any scene with the blue liquid is similar to the whole pink poison thing in Aster.
1:02 - The smiley faces in EVERYTHING are pretty reminscent of Drink-Kuns.
1:28 - The most obvious one. An exact parallel to the scene in Aster where a third eye opens on MC's back.
2:01 - I'll explain this one in a bit.
2:20 - Okay, now I have to get into the lore. Aster is a VR video game where people could adopt virtual children and raise them, but when the game died, the children were left alone. The game was also overrun with viruses over time, even though a security program called the Doctor was supposed to protect them. After one of these viruses killed her best friend, MC, a virtual girl, got mad. She shot the Doctor, then shot up the rest of the game whole drinking poison, and finally laid down to die. In this scene, bright yellow pixels are floating everywhere, and the sky is glitching. This also explains previous parallel, which is similar to MC laying down to die.
Additionally, not only was the Aster world often showcased in advertising for the game, it's one of the first worlds Mikage visits!
2:21 綺麗な背景の光で影になってて素敵。
はるまきさんの悲しげで美しい曲が幻想的な映像にマッチしてて見入りました！
*マッハさん発見*
みかげちゃんかわいいし、MVの背景が好きすぎる…淡い空の感じ綺麗すぎる。新曲、アルバム、短編ゲーム、ワンマン、全部めちゃくちゃ嬉しいです！ありがとうございます😭
I'm convinced that he is literally unable to release a single bad song
Same
He is truly in his own dimension, in every sense
The scenery you provide with your work is just insane.
日が傾きはじめた、夕方に聴きたくなる曲。
聴けば聴くほど新しい発見があって、はるまきごはんさんのことが分からなくなる
アルバム注文しました~😭高校受験の時に聴き始めて、もう今は大学生です！！はるまきごはんさんの曲は全部私の青春そのものだなと思います サウンドも色彩もはるまきごはんさんの創り上げる世界全て大好きです😭😭ライブも絶対行きたい❗️❗️❗️
I just realize Mirage actually looks like a firefly now. Just look at the back of her clothes.
Her name is Mikage
Okay, the fact that "Mikage" and "Mirage" are only one letter removed from each other is REALLY fascinating to me
Living dark.めっちゃすき
I feel like this is one of your best songs yet! I love the art for the MV and the beat is so good too!
みかげちゃんの秘密が分かるのかと期待していたけど、更に謎が深まったｗｗｗ
はるまきさん、ほんと好き
どっかで本音とは、建前と本音の間に揺蕩う何かって聞いてなる程！ってなった記憶ある
曲もすごいけど、アニメーションの色合いもめちゃくちゃ良いな
青と赤だから映えててきれいでかっこいい
サビの裏で鳴ってるパーカッションが色気ありすぎて最高です
ok heres my interpretation! after a few days of letting it simmer
(i am probably missing some things it is literally 2:45 AM as im writing this RIP)
so i think what we have going on here is 3 types of mikage in the firefly outfit, the faceless ones that look kind of dead, the 'regular' looking one, and the one that has some sort of transparency and water spilled on her.
(and of course, we also have the real world looking mikage in her school unifrom. although, im actually not sure if she's real, or if she's some form of self reflection. you can see the sky/clouds glitch behind her, and the whole thing appears very dreamlike, with her friends almost appearing ethereal because of the light emitting from them...)
the first might be faces of hers that haven't worked out, that weren't liked enough, that made mistakes, etc. so she had no use for them (it seems their flowers wilt when that happens, and that results in... whatever state they're in. the flower might also represent public image, as regular mikage has a scene of making sure the flower is alright). the regular one is her current state, or her current face, although from the lyrics i think she can't really tell the difference. and the transparent one, the one deepest down (as evident from the fact she gets a vase dropped on her and also hides in the flower, as well as might be referred to as 'the third shadow') is the 'real' one. her true self that she's looking for.
the reasoning behind this is:
- regular mikage witnesses a vase dropping on someone quite a distance away from her. then, cut to mikage soaked in water. i think this is representative of the fact we're looking at two different characters, and it also might work into the fact that the true mikage is very deep down, considering the vase drops beneath the level regular mikage is at.
- at the 'the third shadow has run away' part we see regular mikage looking somewhere between unconcerned to maybe bothered, after which - cut to a slightly transparent mikage running away and tripping. this is likely a reference to what the third heart plays on - the third face being the truest form of one's self in japanese terms.
the fact mikage has a transparency here and is also soaked in water helps to see where she appears later in the song.
- we see a transparent-like hand reach out from within the flower at the beginning-ish of the song, as well as transparent hands replace real world mikage's hands later on. i assume this is the same mikage as the soaked in water one, due to the previous point, and it also illustrates more of how she's connected to mikage and also how deep within her conscioussness she is.
- on top of all that, after she's presumably caught running away, the true mikage (she has water on her and transparency around her arms most noticeably) is tied up in vines and surrounded by faceless mikages. i think this might represent that while she does want to know what the real 'her' is, she's afraid of finding out or letting it show for the same reason she started making facades in the first place.
cross-referencing fireflies never came and the third heart, she wants to become what other people want. she doesn't want others to see her badly in any way, so she molds her own personality, mannerisms and so on to fit in.
the last point i made is basically how i see this entire song.
she was so caught up making facades, that when she got some real friends, she actually wanted to be real around them. to be her true self for once, not afraid of them hating her for it. but it was far too late at that point. she had already forgotten what she was really like, basically fusing with her fabricated self. maybe partly really forgetting, maybe partly because she just can't let herself be real (as seen as her true self being tied up) or doesn't know how to allow herself that kind of freedom.
if im right i really hope she gets a better ending than nana and lili did D:... leave it to harumaki gohan to write heartbreaking bangers.
ok so basically what i was able to get from one blurry image in the artbook (that we still don't have a translation for but tick's taking their time) is that the normal-looking mikage is actually mikage's true self, and is the "third heart watching from afar". mikage has literally gone so far with the phantom thing that her true self lives on a completely different plane of existence. how did she manage to mess her life up *this* bad bro
@@amethyst4578 high definition of a bruh moment.
「ぼんやり頭は考えた」がどうしても
「こんなに答えは簡単さ」に聞こえる
i saw somebody say that "harumaki gohan's art style comforts them" so here are timestamps for all of the creepy scenes in this mv
0:27
1:08
1:28
1:50 (what da chibikages doin???)
2:08
2:58
3:12 kinda the same as the last one but I think it's more creepier also thx for this comment and u also know what comment you're talking about (I think) hopefully after 4 months you are reading this and you came back to this masterpiece
抑圧によって分裂した複数の自我。どれが本当でどうあるべきなのか分からない。内部の混乱そして疲弊 0:54
Honestly, this is just beautiful in every sense...! The animation is pretty and eye-catching, and the music is both catchy and pleasing. Harumaki Gohan never disappoints. ❤️💙
黒背景に翅のあるみかげちゃんと赤い花っていう内面世界感好き…
2:40 ここほんとしんどい
1:25 三番目の影...みかげ！？
2:35 i love it here i love it harumakigohan is god
この曲、常にミクの声が重なって聞こえていて好き
はるまきごはんさんの作る曲は東方ボーカルみたいな懐かしさがあるよね
対談インタビュー見たら彼が当時好きでよく聞いてたみたいで嬉しい
今回はいつもより色使いが艶やかな感じで、曲も映像も過去最高に好きです…!
はるまきごはんさんの作品は可愛らしくてポップなのに神聖な雰囲気がある所が大好き…
3:04 紙一影の『え』…大好き…
わかりみの嵐で心臓が三つじゃ足りない…
「わたし、わたしの気持ちなんてわかんなくて良かった。その代わりじゃないけど、その代わりじゃないけど」
って、「その代わりじゃないけど、あなたの気持ちが知りたかった」って続く気がする。
お金無くてアルバム買えなかったから本当のことは分からないけど、もしそうならなんというか、苦しいよね。
大好き
I will never tire of saying it, Harumaki you are amazing! Your music is beautiful and unique. There will never be anyone who can imitate you. Thank you for sharing your great music and your wonderful world with us!
はるまきごはんさんが創り出す世界が不思議で少し寂しくて大好きです！！
投稿本当に嬉しいです
曲のメリハリがすごいかっこいい
毎回思うんだけど、どの曲を聞いても同じ作者が作ったとは思えない楽曲のテイストでほんとに飽きない、そこにさらに世界観が加わってくるもんですからもう…
ごちそうさまです…！
はぁ....ミクのハモリが綺麗すぎて限界化しそう....
0:36
ここの歌詞みかげちゃんが劣等感抱えてる感じがめっちゃ出てる
て、天才……それも努力している天才だ、凄まじい
藍色と桃色のコントラストがめちゃ綺麗…
when she was like [uWu] but then she was all [uWuWuWuWu] I really felt that
3:00
you did it, you won the harumaki gohan fandom
I love it! The after images of the girl when the song is talking about mirages is really cool. And this song is connected to the Third Heart, right? Interesting!
and 2:37 are the friends from fireflies never came T.T trying so desperately to make sense of this
It's the same girl from Third Heart and Firefly, yeah!
@@NJackie personally I like to think that Fireflies Never Came is after Third Heart, as Mikage (the girl) probably have come terms with slightly opening herself after her more negative thoughts in Third Heart and thus can start having real friends. It might all go side by side though. Relationship and human feelings are complex and goes across time and I think Harumakigohan shows it wonderfully in these songs.
Also I was just reminded in another comment that Mikage actually also appeared in the Nilfruits collab song Unmei/Fate, though that one feels more like a spin off to Mikage's stories. 🤔
@@NJackie Envy Phantom is the new album. This song is called Mirage. The order is Mirage --> Fireflies Never Came --> The Third Heart.
The character’s name is mikage
I played this in my headphones as my dentist drilled my teeth thank you sincerely
カッコよさがかわいい絵柄と同居してんの好き
聞けば聞くほどハマっていく
はっきりしない部分好き、なんとなく凝縮したい
それはそれとして3:04のとこ最高
what a banger with another amazing MV!!
love the SMOOTH uuuuu melody like at 1:05 of miku
MVかわいすぎやろ
beautiful
長文注意⚠
みかげちゃんの気持ちとはきっと重ならないけど、ずっと大好きだった(多分恋愛じゃない)友達と卒業で別れることになった時と心情が似てるというか…
私は大好きだったけど、その友達は私のことはどうでもいい存在だろうし、別れの日に素直に「大好き」って言えなかった。「後悔するってわかっている わかっているけど」って歌詞で涙腺に来てしまった。。
美しいけど、綺麗だけれどどうしようもなく悲しい気持ちがこの雰囲気に思い出されたってだけです。長文すみません💦
幻影APすごかった。
幻影の最初の文字めっちゃ好き
I just found this, this is the first song I've heard from you. I'm obsessed, keep it up!
Como me encanta Harumaki Gohan, merecen tener mas repercusión
ギター良いいいいいいいいいいいいい！！！！
始まり方最高すぎる
映像綺麗すぎてすごい.......
言い表せない心の奥の美しさと怖さが詰まりに詰まって出来たのがはるまきごはんさんの世界だと思ってる
ラストの明るい色味で描かれてるみかげちゃんが、MV視聴後に陽性残像として視覚に残ったのに感動しました…。今回も最高です！
はたして、影を作っていたのはみかげだけだったんだろうか
this song is so beautiful, so is the music video, when i saw it this morning i literally speedran getting dressed to go and watch it on my computer
聞けば聞くほどめっちゃ綺麗な曲に思えてくる、最高
そんで実際そう
久しぶりにはるまきごはんさんのツイート見てゲームやって来ました。曲ももう1回全部聴いてきた。みかげちゃん好き
うわ、はるまきごはんさんを見つけて本当によかった…
曲も歌詞も映像も全部美しすぎて最高で、綺麗な絵柄も雰囲気とよく合っていると思います…
相変わらず大好きです。ありがとうございます！
Harumaki always makes my day
1:08 ビビンバ
今回はいつになくオシャレだね
HARUMAKI GOHAN MAKING AN ABSOLUTE BANGER YET AGAIN.... thank you!!!
the melody sounds so much like a touhou song in a good way
すごいなあ、ニヤニヤしちゃう