These are my English lyrics for Grown Empathy from Utapri

Original translation: llamalikesarah {https://llamalikesarah.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/utapri-grown-empathy/} 

Download Lyrics 

Inside of me this strange shadow’s
Hiding behind its dark eyes, so
Until you see what you’re doing
You’ll never be able to move forward

Once you have accepted your past
Overcome it all and looked past
A new path for us will
Appear right here until
You can see your heart has been reborn

I can feel it now, feel it all around
I know that this strong power
Can strike your heart forever (so good)
Can put a smile on your face, too (so fun)
Then we’ll break into a song that’s just for you

Get ready! Start shouting!
Right here is the beginning!
Take my hand, I’ll lead
You beyond all of these powerful feelings
Determined, start shouting!
Wipe away, all the tears, you are crying
Our voices harmonize
And soon we will become dyed in the, color of
Grown empathy

An important person to me
That I don’t want to keep hurting
The strength to protect you each day
I will take it and beat weakness, too

So keep listening to my soul
Feel my warm heartbeat, don’t let go
Together you and me
Are in deep like a sea
Protecting us in all that we do

So let’s start somehow, together right now
Our thoughts can begin crossing
As we both can start laughing (so cute)
Wink to all of our rivals (so cool)
Soon they can’t wait for all our song’s arrivals

Get ready! Start going!
The future is beginning!
Never stop shouting
There’s no need to be scared if you keep moving
Through the sky, start going!
Spread your wings, get ready, to start flying
As the sounds harmonize
We’ll make a hope that is dyed in the, color of
Grown empathy

I can do it now!
You can change your world!

Know that your, bright smile is connected, to this happiness
I won’t allow, half-hearted looks now, so you should keep, smiling
Come (right now)
Are you serious? Look up (hey)
I know that we both can make it, too
It will be, the best present I can ever give to you

Get ready! Start shouting!
Right here is the beginning!
Take my hand, I’ll lead
You beyond all of these powerful feelings
Determined, start shouting!
Wipe away, all the tears, you are crying
Our voices harmonize
And soon we will become dyed in the, color of
Grown empathy

————————————————–

Notes:
In the chorus, the “the” before “color of grown empathy” is supposed to be said like “thee”

Smol Nacchan I did for a dear friend of mine over Twitter

Wanted to cheer her up by adding a squid toy

Love letter project ♡

Sooo to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Shining live, I put together a project! I basically got a bunch of people to write a love letter for their favourite boy. Things like, why they like them, how they got to like them and what they like about them were all accepted!

The event was supposed to have 2 fans for each boy but unfortunately I was unable to get two for some of the boys. 

Under the cut will be the love letters for all of Class A!!! Please enjoy~ And thank you for all the people who participated in the event and taking the time to write the love letters out. 

CLASS A

OTOYA ITTOKI

From@ponzu-penzui:

Hello world! My nickname is Yuki, and I’m here to tell you about the sunshine boy that is Otoya Ittoki. The redhead of the series, Otoya is your seemingly a-typical sunshine in a mascot boy character. But, as we all know with these types, the sunshine isn’t as, well, sunshine as they seem. Or, if you didn’t know, well… spoiler alert I guess. Go watch the anime, or play the otome games, then come back here. Anyways, let’s get started on our journey, shall we? Through the rabbithole that got me here in the first place!

Otoya immediately became my best boy the second I saw him. I’m not quite sure what immediately got me at first, whether it be his red hair and eyes, his voice, or his immediate friendliness, but here we are. I should also mention that UtaPri was my first idol anime, so I was completely unaware what was going to hit me later. And, if you’ve watched the entire anime, you know where I’m going.

Season 4 was an emotional wreck. I cried at least twice. Did I have a newfound appreciation for Otoya after all that heartache? Definitely. Without spoilers, it was incredibly painful for me to watch, but I don’t regret it.

After watching the anime, I soon found out about the existence of Shining Live. So, with no other UtaPri content to binge, I started to play SL in late 2018. After playing for a little more than a year, I tiered in my first Otoya event (Heartwarming Snow Festival), and achieved my first top 200. Ever since then, I’ve tiered in every Otoya event, getting top 200, then top 100.

But, why do I like Otoya Ittoki even to this day? Well, I guess this is the time where I say that, after a certain point, I started to see bits of myself in Otoya. This led me to start to RP him, and, as you probably know if you’ve ever roleplayed a character before, I started to look at the miniscule amount of translated game content (many thanks to the Ohayaho Translation Team) for, well, more content. And content I did receive. Long story short, this only served to solidify Otoya as my favorite boy of not only UtaPri, but from all anime/manga/game content I’ve ever seen/watched. His cheerfulness may have been the first thing that got me in this rabbithole, but his backstory and how he managed to grow up pulled me in even further. And, I don’t think I will or want to get out anytime soon.

Next one from; Anon

As much as we all know our Otoya for how sweet and kind he is, there is so much more to him than just a precious smile. He is uplifting, cheerful towards everyone he meets. He has empathy and goes out of his way to make sure his friends are happy. Even so, Otoya has feelings that aren’t always happiness and smiles. He can feel sad and angry just like anyone else.

The reason I care and love Otoya so much is because he has shown me that I don’t have to always put on a smile. It’s nice to show off your pearly whites, but sometimes, it’s okay to be sad too. There are times in everyone’s life when they feel out of place and that they don’t belong. Otoya also felt this way and that’s perfectly okay. He’s still being the best idol he can be: The idol that Otoya loves the most.

MASATO HIJIRIKAWA

From Anon: 

Masato Hijirikawa. Why do I like Masato Hijirikawa? I like him to the point that it feels weird for me to even question why I do. He’s just- a good boy. A great boy. I love him. As a joke, I’d usually say that it was his weirdly pretty, bowl-cut hairstyle that drew me to him, or I’d say that he caught my interest when I read that he was “very good with his hands” (wink wonk) in his Shining Live description, and while both of these reasons are still true, it wasn’t until I started role playing him in an old server that I really started to appreciate his character more.

Masato, despite his aloof and almost “perfect” initial image, is a very relatable character. When he first arrived at Saotome (in-game) he wasn’t necessarily seen as someone with a lot of talent to become an idol, which he acknowledged with grace and worked hard to make up for. He’s humble despite his privileged upbringing and is incredibly self-aware of his flaws, which are sources of insecurity for him sometimes (a lot of times). Though it should be said that most of this insecurity stems from not having a lot of control over his early life, which is why it felt so gratifying to see him break free of his metaphorical chains to pursue his happiness without any doubts. He’s a hard worker and is willing to accept criticism with open arms, not only for himself but for the people around him. Despite his traditional upbringing and nature, he’s very receptive to change as long as it benefits both him and STARISH. He values the people he cares about more than anything, which is why he constantly strives to be a better version of himself every day, not only for himself but for the people around him.

Though his stoicism sometimes makes him seem plain or even “boring” to some people, he hides a warm, hidden passion within that’s just as bright as everyone else’s. Like the springtime bloom of cherry blossoms after winter, Masato shows his passion and love with no restraint to anyone who takes the time to understand him, and I can very much attest to this. I love him a lot and I hope to see more content of him, STARISH, and the others for more years to come.

NATSUKI SHINOMIYA

From uh….me:

HELLO I’m Z~ also known as the mod of the mikaze-discord/utapri-hcs tumblrs, as well as the organiser for the event! But enough about myself, let’s talk about Natsuki Shinomiya.

When I first watched the anime as a youngin, I had already known about the games and their plots but had decided to try out the anime as well since I had nothing better to do.

Natsuki was actually one of my least favourite characters in the anime just because of how they presented him. I just…didn’t care for him at all. He was just some random tall guy who loved hugs and almost murder…. Yeah.

I’m sure like most, I had a changing point. Originally, I was a Tokiya rper but…I was just unhappy with how my Tokiya was, I wasn’t as experienced in rping with that server being my first rp server i was ever in. I didn’t feel like I matched up with the others. I felt my Tokiya was just lacking something, substance maybe. Another person actually had a similar feeling and had changed their character from Camus to Syo and since we already had an Ai, I had just decided to go with the flow and complete the rest of the cute team. Best decision of my life. I’m so grateful for Natsuki and everything I associate him with. Without him, I probably wouldn’t have made my tumblrs, I wouldn’t have stayed in that server, I wouldn’t have gone looking for other servers to rp in. I don’t think I would be the same without Natsuki. I just find him so endearing now, he is just a lovable giant who happens to be able to be a disney princess. He is just so darn cute damn it. , just look at his Christmas card, his King card, quite literally just half his Shining live URs. Also, just like his songs just slap. Natsuki to me, is just serotonin. He gave me so many opportunities that I could have missed. I don’t even think I would have started this love letter project without him if I’m being completely honest. I genuinely enjoyed all the memories I made as Natsuki. Thank you to Natsuki and to the Mikaze-discord for basically starting me off.

From Luke:

Natsuki was actually the very first character I encountered before I got into utapri. A friend showed a photo of him and told me that I’d probably be into this guy. She sure was right! After installing shining live for the first time and having a familiar face on the screen, I grew curious of him each day and just had to find out why was so attracted to him. The fact that I’ve seen him so many times in the past was haunting me, telling me that this man actually watched me grow up from a distance without even knowing his name. It sounds weird but I find it rather comforting for someone who doesn’t want to be protected but isn’t strong enough to defend myself alone.

The thought of having him there was enough to get me through the day and gave me enough reason to wake up to the next. I admit I may have adapted some of his habits after looking after his account for a year but that isn’t a bad thing if it means that it would turn me into a much better person than I am now. I guess you could say we’ve grown together now in a sense, preserving the feelings and just living through the moment no matter how happy or sad it is. What’s important is that we’re not alone in all things we do and in everything we feel, there will always be someone there to keep us moving when we feel like giving up.

Natsuki: What kind of mythical creature would you want as a pet? I’d want a penguin.

Ai: Penguins are real.

Natsuki: That’s the spirit, Ai-chan!

Natsuki: They’re real to me too.

Natsuki: Ai-chan, look, I found all three differences!

Ai: Those are two completely different pictures.

Otoya:Hewwo.

Natsuki:Hihiiiiii~

Camus: Greetings, peasants.

Ai: Three kinds of people.

Cecil: I want pudding.

Ai: Four kinds of people.

Ranmaru: WHO THREW AWAY THE BANANA?

Ai: Five kinds of people.

Ranmaru: IT MAY BE BROWN BUT IT’S STILL PERFECT!!

Ai: What’s for dinner?

Syo, staring at the food Natsuki burnt: Regret.

Ai: Take on a few kouhais, he said. It’ll be fun, he said.

Syo: PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!

Cecil: IT’S TOO BIG TO SMOTHER! GET THE ANTI-FLAMETHROWER!

Syo: IT’S CALLED A FIRE EXTINGUISHER YOU-

Otoya, screaming as something explodes:

Natsuki:Teehee?

Ai, sighing: Don’t listen to Shining.