Kagerou Daze (song)

Heat Haze Daze (カゲロウデイズ Kagerō Deizu) is the third song of the series.

Background

 * Kagerou Daze was uploaded on September 30, 2011, and quickly gained views, becoming Jin's most popular song, and in turn the most popular song in the series. It has reached over 6,000,000 views on Nico Nico Douga. It also gave the Project its name.


 * The story behind the song revolves around a boy, Hibiya, and a girl, Hiyori. On August 15th, the two of them are spending time together in a park. Hiyori has a cat on her lap, when all of a sudden the cat runs away and the girl tries to get it back. Hibiya witnesses Hiyori running out into the street to retrieve the black cat and getting hit by a truck. The heat apparently mocks him in his daze, and he blacks out. Following, he wakes up on August 14th and goes to meet Hiyori again, where he tells her about his strange dream that took place in the park they were walking in. Hibiya suggests that they go home together, but just as Hiyori steps in front of him, a pole falls from the sky and pierces through her. The heat once again laughs at him. Before he blacks out, he notices Hiyori seeming to be smiling as she dies.


 * This process repeats for decades, the same two days happening over and over. Finally, Hibiya decides to take action and pushes Hiyori out of the way of the truck, so that he is killed himself, thinking it would stop the loop from repeating. In the end, it shows Hiyori was also caught in the loop. It turns out that she had been trying to save Hibiya from death as well, so the cycle still continues on.

Trivia

 * Heat Haze is a type of inferior mirage experienced when viewing objects through a layer of heated air.
 * There is another translation of this song, "Kagerou Days"; however, the more common official translation for the song's title is "Kagerou Daze".
 * Wannyanpu's fanmade PV is so popular, that for a time the extent people were confused with Hiyori's official appearance and Wannyanpu's fanmade version of her. Wannyanpu only joined the official producer team after the release of this fan made video.
 * Incidentally, the Never-Ending World that Azami created is also known under the name Heat Haze.
 * The black cat in this song was revealed to be Kano, who used his eye ability to make himself appear as a cat.
 * In Wannyanpu's fanmade PV of the song, the truck says Jin and it features an Actor-and Ene doll at the end of the video.

Lyrics & Translation

 * -|Japanese Lyrics=


 * -|English Translation=

On August 15th, 12:30 in the afternoon, The weather was incredibly nice And amidst the sickening rays of the dazzling sun I spoke with you, for I had nothing else to do

"Well, y’know, I kind of hate summer", You boldly murmured while petting a cat Ah, you pursued that cat as it ran away from you And what jumped out Was the traffic light that changed to a glaring red

Suddenly, a truck came out of nowhere and struck you as you screamed Your scent, now mingled with sprayed blood, choked me In the haze of lies, the haze of heat laughed, "This is all real!" With that, like a cricket’s sound being disturbed, the light blue of summer darkened away

I woke up upon my bed to the sound of a ticking clock What time is it now?

On August 14th, sometime past 12 in the morning I recalled the sound of an awfully annoying cricket But, y’know, it’s a little strange. Yesterday, in a dream, I saw us walking in this same exact park "Why don’t we go home now?" The second you stepped off the pathway, everyone surrounding us Turned their heads up to the sky and opened their mouths

From the sky, down dropped an iron pole That pierced your body straight through The sound of wind-chimes and your ripping screams filled the spaces between the park trees In this unnatural scene, The shimmering heat laughed, "This is the real thing!" As my vision blurred away, I glanced at your profile, and thought I saw you smiling

Countless times have had me black out In the laughing heat like this This cycle has repeated for decades I realized that a long time ago

In this kind of clichéd story, There must only be one ending. Beyond this repeating summer day, it has to exist.

Suddenly, I pushed you aside and jumped into the street; At that moment, the truck slammed into me Your eyes and my twisted body were like hazy reflections of the blood that sprayed everywhere If that praiseful heat haze laughed, “Serves you right!” again Then this would be what you’d call a normal summer day. But all of that ended today.

On August 14th, a girl awoke upon her bed And she said, "I failed this time, too..." as she cradled a single cat.