Dice was the first Bandmaid song I listened to. Heavy drum and bass intro — immediately hooked. I was thrown back in time to the sort of rock I grew up listening to. AC/DC, Motorhead, Rollins Band. (I did go through a slightly embarrassing phase of only listening to U2, and interestingly there’s a bit of the Edge’s style in Kanami’s playing. Very pronounced in Onset, but I’m unlikely to be breaking down the lyrics to that one any time soon). I immediately dived into their discography hoping this wasn’t an outlier and down the rabbit hole I went.
Dice is a really solid intro to the Band’s discography. It’s clever in that it sort of sucks you into thinking you’ll get your well worn (verse/chorus)x2/guitar solo/bridge/chorus/outro pattern, but turns that on it’s head with truckloads of attitude and some really interesting compositional choices. I’ll leave it for this guy to break that stuff down. Far more qualified than I am.
Let’s take a look at the lyrics.
You should be knowing the situation you got
Right off the bat with the kazari eigo (decorative English). Noteworthy really because of the compression of ‘situation’ into three-ish syllables. If you want to turn ‘situation’ into katakana, it actually works out to six syllables: セィーチューエーイーショーン, and the Japanese (joutai) works out to 4, so they really wanted this English in there.
後戻りなどもうできないよ
後戻り — ato modori — going back
など — nado — ‘and such like’, ‘etc’.
もう できないよ — mou dekinai yo — ‘mou’ can have different meanings, but here you can think of it as ‘already’ with a sense of something that is now final. ‘dekinai’ means ‘not possible’ or ‘cannot be done’. Atomodori nado mou dekinai yo. There’s no turning back now.
社会も 価値も 時間も
社会も — shakai mo — ‘mo’ means ‘as well as’. It can serve as ‘and’ or ‘or’ depending on the context. ‘shakai’ means ‘society’. Given the importance of relationships in Japan, my read on this is the impression that something has happened that will change how this person will be viewed by those around them.
価値も — kachi — value
時間も — jikan — time
You should know your situation. There’s no going back now; your relationships, your value or your time.
You cried out in a loud voice. 待ってなんてくれないよ
待って — matte — wait
なんて — nante — ‘something like’. In this case, there’s a sense of derision. ‘matte nante’ — something like waiting?
くれないよ — kurenai yo — I won’t give you / I won’t do x for you. Technically speaking, ‘I’ is implied. It could just as easily be ‘they’ or ‘nobody’, but ‘I’ makes the most sense to me here.
You cried out in a loud voice, I won’t wait for you.
無情で 無感情 悲しい 現実さ
無情で 無感情 — mujou de mukanjou — heartless indifference
悲しい — kanashii — sad, sorrowful
現実 — genjitsu — reality
This heartless indifference is the sad reality.
Why don’t you give it a shot?
よく見る話さ Everybody 小さい頭で考えてんだって
よく — yoku — ‘well’ or ‘frequent’
見る — miru — see
話し — hanashi — story, but can also be ‘talk’ or ‘chatter’ (as a noun).
yoku miru hanashi sa — this is a phrase that means ‘you know how it goes’, or ‘it’s always the same old story’
小さい — chiisai — small, tiny
頭 — atama — head, mind, brain
考えて — kangaete — think
んだって — n datte — In this case it’s used to express an opinion and is a pattern that repeats itself a couple of times in this song. It can also be used to quote information or an explanation ‘they said’, ‘they explained’.
It’s the same old story; everybody thinking with their tiny little minds.
利害の一致がどうあれ答えは一緒さ Ready？
利害 — rigai — (one’s) interests
一致 — icchi — alignment, unity
どうあれ — without regard to (the preceding thing)
答え — kotae — reply, response
一緒 — issho — the same
Regardless of how it aligns with your interests, the answer is the same. Ready?
いいよ
Let’s come back here. Welcome to my home！
いいよ — ii yo — ok then
飴と鞭 どちらが Do you like？？
飴と鞭 — ame to muchi — candy (or the) whip — a Japanese idiomatic expression akin to ‘carrot or stick’. (Let’s not get hung up on the English version being bastardised from ‘carrot on a stick’ ) the Japanese version is pretty clear.
どちら — dochira — which
Which do you like? Candy or the whip?
決まったら Rise up！！
決まったら — kimattara — if/when (you’ve) decided, Rise up (further interpretation of this line left as an exercise for the reader)
ここらで Bye Bye？？
Call me Call me Call me Call me
ここら — kokora — about here
Is this where we say ‘bye bye’? Call me…
約束できないけど
約束 — yakusoku — promise
できない — dekinai (we’ve seen this)
けど — kedo — (short for keredomo) means ‘although’ or ‘however’
Although I can’t promise,
きっと無いよりは Enjoy time
きっと — for certain
無いより — nai yori — more than nothing
It’s surely better than nothing. Enjoy (your) time.
なんでも！っていかないけど
なんでも！ — nandemo — anything (you like)
って — tte — to say
いかない — ikanai — won’t go
I won’t go so far as to say ‘anything goes’, but
出来るかぎり Try my best！！
May I take your order？
出来る — dekiru — can do, possible
かぎり —to the extent of, within the limits of
If I can make it happen, I’ll try my best
May I take your order？
My mind cannot erase the heartache
誰だってそう なにかを背負い
誰だってそう — dare datte sou — It the same for everyone
なにか — nanika — something
背負い — seoi — carry on one’s back
It’s the same for everyone. We all carry something on our back.
悩み — nayami — troubles
悔やみ — kuyami — regrets
生きてく — ikiteku — continuing to live
If I was feeling poetic, I’d translate this as ‘It’s the same for us all. Carrying our worries and regrets, we carry on.
That carries us (ahaha :| ) neatly into an unexpected pre-chorus
I’ve got a feeling
無意味な時間は Nobody 夢でも何かに繋がってんだって
無意味な時間 — muimi na jikan — meaningless time. The literal translation of ‘muimi na jikan wa nobody’ is ‘as for meaningless time, nobody’. From that you can draw ‘Nobody’s time is meaningless’.
夢 — yume — dream(s)
でも — demo — even
何か — nanika — something
繋がって — tsunagatte — connected
Even dreams are connected to something.
間違い探しがどうとかどうでもいいから Ready？
間違い探し — machigai sagashi — literally ‘searching for mistakes’
どうとかどうでもいいから — dou toka dou demo ii kara — is a phrase that means the topic isn’t particularly meaningful. It’s a bit like saying ‘it’s neither here nor there’.
Back to our chorus
Seize the moment！
Let’s come back here
Welcome to my home！
甘さも苦さも Each one’s own
甘さ — amasa — sweetness
苦さ — nigasa — bitterness
遊びたい Childish
遊びたい — asobitai — want to play
You want to play? (that’s) childish
じゃあもう Bye Bye？？
Call me Call me Call me Call me
じゃあ — jaa — well then, so then
So then, is this ‘bye bye’ already? Call me…
強くいようと笑わないで涙もまた虹になる
強くいようと — tsoyoku iyou to — . iyou here is (I think) the volitional form of ‘iru’ — to be. The ‘to’ on the end is ‘if’. If (you’re) trying to be strong
笑わないで — warawanaide — don’t laugh/smile (i.e. don’t make light of it). If you’re trying to stand strong, don’t laugh it off.
涙 — namida — tears
また — mata — again
虹になる — niji ni naru — become a rainbow
Even tears can become a rainbow (again).
‘namida ga niji ni naru’ (tears becoming rainbows) is perhaps the most common Japanese lyrical trope behind ‘te to te wo tsunaide iku’ (going hand in hand). Keep an ear out for it if you listen to a lot of j-pop/j-rock. It’ll take about 5 minutes before you hear at least one of these.
ありふれた今日もきっと声を聞いてよ It will change
May I take your order？
ありふれた — arifureta — commonplace
今日 — kyou — today
(も — mo — as well, きっと — kitto — for certain)
声を聞いてよ — koe wo kiite yo — listen to (my/your) voice
The tears into rainbows thing is appears to be allegorical to the commonplace-ness of today changing if you listen to (your?) voice. Optimism and Inspiration from a narrator who otherwise seems to want to know whether to use fluffy manacles or regular ones.
Time for a couple of quickfire solos from Misa and Kanami.
And because you can’t have too many, another pre-chorus.
I’ve got a feeling
よく見る光景 The crowdそれぞれが好きにやってりゃいいじゃんって
調子に乗ってもいいけど波に遅れるな Ready？
よく見る光景 — yoku miru koukei — It’s a familiar scene
それぞれ — respectively
好きにやってりゃ — suki ni yatte rya — does what it likes. A more formal way to say that would be ‘suki ni natte yareba’.
いいじゃんって — ii jan tte — and that’s fine, right?
It’s a familiar sight. The crowd does whatever it likes, and that’s fine, right?
調子に乗ってもいいけど波に遅れるな Ready？
調子に乗ってもいい — choushi ni notte mo ii — it’s okay to get carried away
けど — kedo — but
波に遅れるな — nami ni okureru na — don’t miss the next wave. The ‘na’ on the end is an imperative. A command (not a suggestion).
Another chorus? Nope. A bridge.
One moment of pain
Ten moment of delight
理由探すよ 顔をあげて
理由 — riyuu — reason
探す — sagasu — search
顔をあげて — kao wo agete — lift your head (kao means face, but the meaning is the same)
One moment of pain, ten moments of delight, search for a reason. Raise your head.
さぁ始めよう
さぁ始めよう — sa, hajimeyou — right, let’s start
前進も後退も考え次第
前進 — zenshin — advancing
後退 — koutai — retreating
考え — kangae — thinking, perspective, judgement
次第 — jidai — depending on
Winning or losing 賽は投げられた
賽は投げられた — sai wa nagarareta —(literally) the die has been cast
Advance or retreat, it depends how you think. Winning or losing, the die has been cast.
不完全な現状も蹴散らせ Just for me
Seize the moment！
不完全 — fukanzen — incomplete, defective, broken
現状 —genjou — (current) state
蹴散らせ — kechirase — this is a compound of keru — to kick and chirasu — to scatter.
Kick away your broken reality. Just for me. Seize the moment!
This takes us back to a last chorus (same as the first), then outro and we’re done.
There’s not a lot of deep philosophy to this one. Lyrically it’s a bit of fun. The confidence and nonchalance and take-it-or-leave-it attitude and the music suit each other really well. It was my intro to the band and it’s a song that remains on heavy rotation in my playlist.
