Baku baku starts off in a similar vein to Mindset, with a punchy bass groove and frenetic pace. ‘Baku baku’ means ‘pounding’ or ‘thumping’ (e.g. of one’s heart). It can also be a somewhat onomatopoeic description of scarfing down food, though that’s probably not what the band is going for. Unlike mindset, the tone of this song is upbeat. It seems to be a celebration of self belief in the face of doubters and hardship. The band has had their share of challenges over the years, so it’s good to see them writing something that’s somewhere between playful and triumphant. The thing I really like about this MV is they all seem so damn happy.
To the lyrics:
破れた布と才覚
破れた — yabureta — past tense of yabureru — to break/tear/rend
布 — nuno — cloth
才覚 — saikaku — quick wits, resourcefulness
Ripped clothes and a rapier wit
I’m waxing lyrical here. A more literal translation would be ‘ripped fabric and resourcefulness’.
土砂降ってばっかの日々
土砂 — dosha — earth, sediment
降って — futte — falling
ばっか — bakka — a contraction of ‘bakari’ — only x, nothing but x. The stress on the double-k gives it emphasis that makes it more like ‘x to the exclusion of absolutely everything else’
日々 — hibi — days
Days of nothing but falling debris. The MV went with ‘the days are full of downpours’, which is fine, but I wonder if I’m reading too much into it if I went with something like ‘the world falling down around my ears’
もう最後のチャンスだって
もう — mou — already
最後 — saigo — last
チャンス — chansu — chance
だって — datte — often used to report something said by someone else ‘they say’
They say it’s already my last chance
何を伝えよう
何 — nani — what
伝えよう — tsutaeyou — tsutaeru is ‘to convey’ or ‘to tell’. The ‘you’ on the end makes it volitional. The lack of ‘ka’ on the end of the sentence gives me the impression the question is rhetorical.
What shall I tell them?
So your first verse is
Ragged clothes and a rapier wit
The world falling down around my ears
They say this is already my last chance
What shall I tell them?
1人でいい、たった1人で
1人で — hitori de— by oneself, alone
いい — ii — good, fine
たった 一人— tatta hitori — all by myself
hitori de ii, tatta hitori de
I’m fine on my own, just me
誰かきっと見ててくれる
誰か — dareka — somebody
きっと — kitto — for sure
見ててくれる — mite-te kureru — a compound of mite (look), ite (be) and kureru (bestow upon, take the trouble to do). Altogether you get ‘take the trouble to keep an eye on (me)’.
I’m fine on my own, just me
I’m sure someone will keep an eye on me.
ONE SOUL 不乱 Run 止まれない
不乱 — furan — this is an interesting one. Had to go to the dictionary and the results were slightly contradictory. Most sources gave me something like ‘unperturbed’, which makes sense given the kanji are 不 — fu — (not/un) and 乱 — ran — riot, rebellion, disturb. A couple of sources also gave me ‘uncontrolled’, which I’d have tended to discount, except for the play on words with ‘run’ and the word following.
止まれない — tomarenai — can’t stop (as in ‘I am incapable of stopping’).
So let’s go with ‘unperturbed’, which seems to be the more accepted definition of furan, but you could be forgiven for swapping it out with ‘uncontrolled’.
One soul. Unperturbed. Run. I can’t stop
ここを選んだんだ
ここ — koko — here
選んだんだ — eranda nda — eranda is the past tense of erabu — to choose. ‘nda’ is a contraction of ‘no desu’, which gives the sentence the sense of explaining how something is. ‘Here is (the place) I chose’. ‘koko wo eranda’ would give you the same thing, but it would be a matter-of-fact statement and not an explanation.
Why not！ もう BakuBaku と
Interesting that they went with baku baku in English.
High になった 無敵スターモード
になった — ni natta — have become
無敵 —muteki — invincible, peerless, unrivalled (Literally ‘no enemy’)
スターモード — suta-mo-do — star mode
Why not! My heart is already thumping and I’m high now. Invincible star mode.
どんな未来を描くの？
どんな — donna — what sort of
未来 — mirai — future
描く — egaku — draw (a picture)
You could go with something like ‘how do you picture the future?’, but egaku means to draw. It feels to me like it has more agency than just imagining something, so let’s go with
What sort of future will you carve out?
足跡はない Step by Step
足跡 — ashi ato — footprints
ない — nai — none, not
The literal translation is ‘there are no footprints’. I might go with something like ‘we’re off the map’ or ‘we’re in uncharted waters’, but that doesn’t work quite as well with ‘step by step’, so the literal translation probably works best.
There are no footprints, step by step
毒づいた言葉 歓声にして
毒づいた言葉 — dokudzuita kotoba — poisonous words, curses
歓声 — kansei — cheer, shout out (with pleasure). The kanji are literally ‘delight’ and ‘voice’ side by side.
にして — ni shite — ‘x ni shite’ turn into X. You could also translate this as ‘decide to X’, but that would likely change the meaning to ‘swear for the fun of it’, which is probably not what they’re going for.
Turn your curses into cheers
その先へ 往け！ケセラセラ！
その先 — sono saki — ahead/in front of there
往け！ — ike! — go! (imperative)
ケセラセラ！ — keserasera — que sera sera
Go beyond! Que sera sera!
Go beyond is quite literal. You could throw something a little more idiomatic like ‘swing for the fences’ or ‘go for broke’.
さぁ水面下じわじわっと実行 You ready？
さぁ — sa~ — well then, right then, let’s see
水面下 — suimenka — literally ‘underwater’, but metaphorically below the surface or ‘behind the scenes’
じわじわっと — jiwajiawa~tto — bit-by-bit, steadily
実行 — jikkou — implementation (of a plan), getting it done
This one made me scratch my head a bit, until I realised they probably don’t mean ‘underwater’ literally. The MV translation is quite literal — they’ve gone with ‘execute slowly and steadily underwater’ which was pretty much what I first came up with and then discarded as nonsensical. My read is underwater is idiomatic of getting something done beneath the surface. I’m going with
Well then, let’s quietly get this done. You ready?
現状維持でいいじゃん？ Shut！ Shut！ Up！！
現状維持 — genshou iji — lit. ‘status quo maintenance’
いいじゃん — ii jan — is alright — very colloquial
You’re okay with the status quo? Shut shut up!
夢中にハート Clash
夢中 — muchu — absorbed in, obsessed with, entranced by
ハート — ha-to — heart
In this case the particle に indicates the state something is in, so ‘heart in the state of obsession’.
My obsessive heart clashes
貴重なお時間ご意見どうも
貴重 — kichou — precious, valuable
お時間 — o-jikan —(honorific) time
ご意見 — go-iken — (honorific) opinion
どうも — doumo — thanks
Thanks for your valuable time and opinion.
Fair to say this is dripping with sarcasm. It works more effectively in Japanese as the very polite honorifics precede a quite casual ‘thanks’.
I THINK！ 努力とセンス飼い慣らせば
努力 — doryoku — exertion, effort
センス — sensu — sense
飼い慣らせば — kainaraseba — kainarasu is to tame or domesticate. This is the potential form so ‘if/when you tame x’.
In this case, they could mean tame both effort and senses, or just senses. Probably makes sense that it’s the latter and ‘doryoku’ stands alone.
I think! If you work hard and tame your senses
握ったマイク
握った — nigitta — past tense of nigiru, to grab
マイク — maiku — microphone
The mic you grabbed
ステージ超え響いて
ステージ — sute-ji — stage
超え — goe — exceeding, beyond
響いて — hibiite — reverberating, echoing
Echoing beyond the stage
幻想を現実に
幻想 — gensou — fantasy
現実 — genjitsu — reality
Turn fantasy into reality
Putting that all together:
I think if you work hard and tame your senses
That mic you grabbed (can) echo beyond the stage
(and) turn fantasy into reality
ONE SOUL 不乱 Run 止まらない
刺激的なエキス
A slight change in that first line, swapping tomarenai (can’t stop) for tomaranai (won’t stop/don’t stop).
刺激的 — shigekiteki — provocative(ness). That’s a bit of a mouthful in English, so perhaps something like ‘stimulation’. Depends a bit on what they mean by provocative.
エキス — ekisu — extract, essence
One soul. Unperturbed. Run. I won’t stop.
The essence of stimulation
Why not！ もう BakuBaku と
ムキになった 超えたい
ムキになった — muki ni natta — past tense of become serious or resolute. It can also mean to get worked up about something, take (a joke) seriously.
超えたい — koetai — want to go beyond
I’m determined now. I want to go beyond.
どんな未来を描くの？
足跡はない Step by Step
What future will you carve out?
There are no footprints. Step by step
歓声響き流した涙
歓声 — kansei — cheer
響き — hibiki — echo, reverberate
流した — nagashita — past tense of nagasu — to flow
涙 — namida — tears
Reverberating cheers, flowing tears
届いてたんだこの声
届いてたんだ — todoiteta nda — todoku means ‘convey’ or ‘carry’. This is past tense of the te-form ‘carry-ing’. Again the addition of ‘nda’ on the end implies emphasis or explanation.
この声 — kono koe — this voice
This is what I was bringing. This voice.
前例ない唯一無二の
前例ない — zenrei nai — No precedent
唯一無二の — yui itsu mu ni — one and only — yui itsu on its own is ‘unique’. ‘mu ni’ is literally ‘no two’, or matchless/peerless.
No precedent. One of a kind.
存在が今輝き出した
存在 — sonzai — existence
今 — ima — now
輝き出した — kagayaki dashita — kagayaku means to sparkle or dazzle. ‘dasu’ is to put forth or to produce. As an addition to another verb like in this case it gives a sense of something energetically bursting forth.
Now existence shines like a star burst
ねぇ何回だって喝采を
生み出して
ねぇ — ne~ — hey
何回 — nankai — how many times
だって — datte — emphasises the thing that precedes it. How many times or possibly ‘no matter how many times’
喝采 — kassai — cheers, applause
生み出して
生み出して — umidashite — create, bring forth, give birth to
Hey, no matter how many times I created applause,
And seemingly mid-phrase we move into a sort of slow bridge.
諦められなかった
諦められなかった — akiramerarenakatta — ‘was unable to give up’ negative passive past tense of akirameru — to give up
I couldn’t give up
夢に見たステージで浴びた光を
夢に見たステージで浴びた光を
The stage I saw in my dreams, awash with light
“止める”と同じ数の“続ける”を選んだんだ
“止める”と同じ数の“続ける”を選んだんだ
As many times as I heard ‘stop’, I chose ‘continue’.
笑ってあがくよ
笑って — waratte — smiling, laughing
あがく — agaku — struggle, strive
Struggling on with a smile
Because just a bridge would be too simple, let’s do that thing Gachapin likes to do and add some interesting backing lyrics to layer underneath the lead.
現状維持でいいじゃん？ Shut！ Shut！ Up！！
不安定なピッチ不確かな言葉が頭を Break
不安定 — fuantei — unstable, insecure
ピッチ — picchi — pitch
不確か — futashika — uncertain, unreliable
言葉 — kotoba — word(s)
頭を Break — atama wo break — breaks my brain
You’re okay with the status quo? Shut Shut Up!
Insecure pitch and unreliable words break my brain
I THINK！ 否定的論争結果発表、投げられた理想を Shut Out、
否定的 — hiteiteki — contradictory, negative
論争 — ronsou — debate, dispute, controversy
結果発表 — kekka happyou — announcement of results
投げられた — nagerareta — was thrown — passive past tense of nageru — to throw
理想を Shut Out — risou wo shut out — shut out (one’s) ideals
I think the results of negative controversy are announced. Shut out the ideals thrown at you.
もういいよだって
もういいよ — mou ii yo — that’s enough, drop it, leave it alone
だって — datte — they said/I heard, but also ‘after all’ or ‘because’.
You’ve done enough.
ここで息をするため
ここで — koko de — here
息をする — iki wo suru — breathe
ため — tame — for the purpose of
To breathe here
馬鹿になって生きてんだ
馬鹿 — baka — stupid
になって — becoming
生きてんだ — ikite nda — living — contraction of ikiteru (living) and the contraction ‘nda’.
Living like an idiot
This made me chuckle. I get the sense they’ve arrived at a place where, whilst they take their music seriously, they know how to laugh at themselves.
毒づいた言葉 歓声にして
その先へ 往け！ケセラセラ
どんな未来を描くの？
Turn those poisonous words into cheers
Go beyond! Que sera sera
What future will you carve out?
1人じゃない何にも怖くはないよ
1人じゃない — hitori janai — you’re not alone
何にも — nani mo — nothing
怖くはない — kowaku wa nai —not scary
I’m not alone. There’s nothing to be afraid of.
ずっとベストアンサー繰り返していく
ずっと — the whole time, continuously, always
ベストアンサーbesuto ansa- — best answer
繰り返していく — kurikaeshite iku
(I’ll) go on repeating the best answer
音を止めないよ
音 — oto — sound
止めない — tomenai — don’t/wont stop
Don’t stop the music
The more I listen to this track, the more I like it. This is a showcase of the band, comfortable in their own skin and owning their space. The Gachapin girls living their best life. I’m here for it.