The second song that Mafuyu brings to life with lyrics in Given is Yoru ga Akeru, and in the movie, is a crucial part of the plot.

I have only seen the movie with English subtitles once, and I have largely avoided looking at subtitles on videos on YouTube, but in that one time with English subtitles, it bothered me enough to try my own hand at translating this song.

Lyrics are much harder than other types of translations, much like poetry.

This song in particular is hard, because it has to apply equally to Mafuyu, Ugetsu, Akihiko, and Haruki. It’s hard because in Japanese, the title 夜が明ける is only ever stated one way, (literal translation: “the night will become light”); but in English, there are so many different ways to say this, and none fit the Japanese exactly. “Dawn will break” is the obvious one, with some wording variation, but to have the verb be “break” instead of “become light” is, I think, quite an atmosphere change.

That said, because “dawn will break” is such a common phrase in English, it is also unnatural to not use that phrase at all.

In summary, I fiddled around and have a translation that I’m not really happy with but I’ll never be happy with it and @magicpotatoobsession expressed that she would like it if I shared it anyway, so here it is.

Right from the get-go, I refuse to translate the title.

When I translate lyrics, I do tend to try to make them fit to the music, to an extent. And that is what I’ve done here. In a world where this is actually sung, though, I wouldn’t translate the crucial Yoru ga Akeru portion at all, at least in certain parts. (It’s repeated enough throughout the song that it could be bilingual in a lot of cases, once in English and once in Japanese or vice versa.)

Anyway, on to the horribly inadequate translation.

Yoru ga Akeru

Even sleepless nights end with the dawn
The darkness turns to light that holds my gaze

The stubborn, unchanging white wall of my room
Is dyed in morning light; the clock ticks time onward
Step by step, I’m being carried away from that dear season
That I shared with you; and I can’t tell which of us is left behind

I’d much rather stay drifting right here
In darkness

Even sleepless nights end with the dawn
The darkness turns to light that holds my gaze
There are things that change
There are things that end
There are things beginning
I can live on, even though you’re gone
And listen, that’s the saddest part to me
But see, night’s about to end in dawn
Dawn’s about to break

The blooming of the spring;
The withering of autumn;
Yet there will always be new seeds ready to sprout and grow again

Don’t focus on what was, focus on what will be
I know, I do

Even sleepless nights end with the dawn
Every hand we hold we must eventually let go
I can lose my way; can cry my soul to bits;
But one day the tears will end
I can live on, even though you’re gone but I
Am desperate to see you, even though your love is gone
Look at the sky, the dawn will end the night,
Dawn is almost here

Wishes we carry that no one can say yet whether they will come true—
These are what we have named “Hope”.

Even though you’re gone, the night will end in dawn
Our hands have let go, but there will be another to hold
It’s at the end of a long night that we come to know the light
That keeps me living through this terrible fear
The sun will rise, and I’ll walk on from here.
Look at the sky, the dawn will end the night,
And it’ll be okay

Look at the sky
It’s almost here
The night will end in dawn

So about Hanaoka’s hair salon.

It’s called Hair Salon Harusame.

春雨 means vermicelli.

It also combines characters from Haruki’s (春樹) name, as well as Ugetsu’s (雨月).

Haruki, Ugetsu, and Haruki’s hair.

Hanaoka is the keeper of Akihiko’s greatest loves.

EDITED TO INCLUDE: 春雨 does in fact also mean spring rain, the literal and more poetic meaning of those two characters.

However, I live a food-centric life, and I see 春雨 and I think vermicelli. The translations reflect my personal biases too; this is in the nature of translations too, and I’m embracing it.  

Including this for accuracy, but I would also like to point out…“Salon Spring Rain” isn’t quite accurate either. The word is more common as vermicelli now, and the use of spring rain is more from older poetry or literature.

It is all three at once: poetic and silly and meaningful.

It’s great.

I saw this once and could not unsee it.

Ultimate spoiler for Given vol. 4.

No translation because the words aren’t what are important.

We go from a scene of Akihiko taking Haruki’s hair—which he has just accidentally burned while lighting a cigarette—between his fingers, commenting on how he is growing it out so long. Haruki pulls away with such ferocity that it shocks Akihiko (who knows about Haruki’s feelings for him but not the emotion that he has put into his hair). Haruki contemplates that he has to cut his hair later…

AND WE CUT, to Yayoi chopping off her hair because Akihiko has—subtextually—rejected her.

It is so perfect.

This transition was different in the anime because they consolidated so many of the Akiharu scenes into ep 5, and I lament the loss of this foreshadowing.

(Also by the way, fun to contemplate how all of Akihiko’s rejections are subtext. But a meta for another day, when I have more time.)

Mix 14 & 15 – taking challenges and choosing own path

Hello,

sorry I was meaning to write it back in February but i was preoccupied with real life stuff and I didn’t feel like writing… I am fine though^^ I hope that everybody is healthy and doing well <3

(Since spoilers for mix_16 are out – just wanted to say that I don’t really intend to cover that chapter. Honestly, nothing new of substance was there and I nearly dozed off reading summary xD)

So long overdue – my little digest of mix 14 and 15. I pretty liked both chapters and for me the strongest point is obviously Uenoyama. I feel like I became Uechi stan in Ugetsu’s absence lol xD

I really admire his determination and dedication at pursing what he wants and thinking thoroughly about this whole situation from different angles – considering what is good for him, trying to figure out Mafuyu’s perspective. Despite being disheartened by his refusal of ticket – Ueno is still and worrying about Mafuyu the most and is not blaming him but trying to understand.

Besides, it’s good that he is not pressuring Mafuyu too much – but simply leaving ticket for him to reconsider. Like giving Mafuyu space and waiting for him to take action.

In the end despite all uncertainty he is trying to figure out best way to go for everyone– and being really sincere and passionate about it.

I liked that he decided to pursue his both his dreams&music and Mafuyu. That he is not letting himself down the fact that Mafuyu refused to go to his performance with SYH. Letting go of his guilt for not playing with Given and taking this chance to perform with seriousness and dedication – as well as hoping that his music will speak to Mafuyu.

Then we see effect of his decision in mix 15 – Uenoyama has such different attitude during SYH practice – more determined and sconfident – he finally feels more like member of SYH and he isthinking what’s the best for this group. It is really cool how atmosphere changed when he stated that he wanted to change music section to make Hiiragi stand out – both Hiiragi and Shizu are pretty affected and impressed by that.

Honestly, I wanted such bonding scene like that for a while I like funny Hiiragi-Ueno bickering but is great that finally we got emotional scene between all three of them. I like how Hiiragi is flustered at Uenoyama’s praise and how softly Shizu looks at them. And then Hiiragi wanted Uenoyama to meet their manager, which sounds quite serious. Finally all of them feel like equals, like a team.

Okay so let’s move to some reservations *sigh*

Still, imo there is not enough POV of Mafuyu. He feels too much like side-character in this arc. Frankly when I saw mix 15 teaser I thought “oh finally we will get more of Mafuyu’s side” but then… none :/

We know that he is afraid that situation from past will repeat and feels isolated from others and has doubts about his future. But frankly I am not liking how most of Mafuyu’s POV about his worries and future feels somewhat detached from Uenoyama. It feels unbalanced to me, how on one side we got Uenoyama worrying and thinking about Mafuyu almost all the time, and almost nothing on the latter side.

Even though it is not on purpose, story-wise it just doesn’t feels like Mafuyu is taking Uenoyama into account. Ofc I don’t mean that choosing future must depend from your loved one, just it is a bit weird to me how it is not even remotely considered in relation to that. I also disliked that after Mafuyu refused ticket to SYH concert, there is no indication that he might thought that his refusal could hurt Uenoyama at all. Like not the slightest of considering latter’s perspective, only his own.

Ofc it is not that I am doubting his love for Ritsuka – just imo story would be more smoother if there was something like that he is acknowledging to himself that he put distance between them too or admitting to struggle between wanting to confide and how hard is expressing his feelings to Uenoyama. More fleshing out his internal struggles would be better, just it feels that story is conveying that not enough for me.

Also it is not that i want to slander Mafuyu - I know that situation is hard for him and trauma triggered him – but still as reader it is somehow frustrating to see not him really trying and just avoiding everything. Character development doesn’t have to be linear, but it just feel like regressing too much, especially how last arc he tried to clear misunderstanding with Uenoyama pretty fast when he realized something was wrong. Just it feels too much like repetition that he is learning the same things as in first arc.

Ofc if this will be referenced and will have some payoff in final – I will change my opinion, but still imo I would prefer to have more insight on Mafuyu step by step than cramming it into final chapters.

What’s giving me hope that it will be solved properly – it is scene between Mafuyu and Itaya. I really liked conversation between them - imo Itaya is really great and funny background character and whole scene neatly fitted narrative about uncertainty what to do in the future and choosing what to pursue in life. And also how it was about being brave and going after challenging hard choice.

I hope that it will be Mafuyu’s choice as well – to open about his feelings and fears to Uenoyama and move forward with their relationship.

And go after music as well – after all it is not music’s fault per se that what happened with Yuki. Imo Mafuyu needs to stop seeing music in good/bad thing in his life, as he named it in back in first arc and move beyond that. After all he loved music from very start – humming melodies and so on – but wasn’t acting on that and just had been waiting for Yuki to include him. Imo it would be good if Mafuyu realized that music has potential to be his future – even though there is some heavy emotional baggage and path with challenges ahead.

That he will follow his passion for music actively and don’t let his fears get ahead of him. After all, it is normal to be insecure about future, but still there would be help and reassurance from friends and loved ones if you open about your troubles.

Honestly, I just want Mafuyu to go for SYH performance and realize that new song is basically love letter for him from Ueno and then seeing that his fears about being left alone again are unfounded. And then kissing Ueno after that at backstage xD

So wrapping all up,

Recently out of curiosity I checked whether there is some deeper meaning to silk worms mentioned at chapter cover (Mafuyu compared ticket to them). What was the most interesting was these fragments from dreams interpretation:

To see silkworm in your dream may represent that you will emerge into the daylight, begin to enjoy prosperity, you will be relaxed or overcome the stressful period.

To see that you catch a silk worm in your dream may indicate that you will reach a happy ending by making an effort in an environment which you are excluded and you become alone. You will struggle with strong-minded and you will be appreciated.

[source]

Whether it is coincidence or not – I hope it will be outcome of this arc for Mafuyu – that after this period of self-isolation and regression, he will emerge to light and make effort to open to people close to him and choose path for himself.

So that’s all for now^^ As always thanks for reading <3