25 comments on “What does this one lyric in “Memory Seishun no Hikari” mean?

    • >Henkka

      The people in the thread looked to you like they thought option 2 was a female-specific way of feeling?

      They were talking about it based on the premise that the “watashi = I” in the lyrics is a woman. That’s only because of the way of speaking in the lyrics. Like, the “nee”, “wa” and “de shou” at the end of the sentences, or an expeassion like “dakareta = be hugged (into someone’s chest)”. These are the words used only (or mostly) by women in Japanese. And if the person in the lyrics was a man he would have used “ore” or “boku”, instead of “watashi” in a love song like this.

      In short, it’s obvious that the speaker in the lyrics is a woman, unless the person is a gay (Gay people use women language in Japan). Plus, this song is made for a female idol group, you know. So, I think it’s only natural that the people in the thread thought this was a song about women’s feelings, whether it’s option 1 or 2.

      • I’m not confused about the protagonist’s gender. You may have misunderstood the premise of the thread, or just my ending comment. (Which is alright, mistakes happen.) The question isn’t in regards to the protagonist’s gender — pretty much everyone is in agreement that, regardless of anything said in the thread, the protagonist in the lyrics is a female. When I said option 2 was a “girl thing,” I said it after seeing a number of self-professed males in the thread leaning towards option 1, and a number of self-professed females leaning towards option 2.

        • Yea, I’m talking about your ending comment. You said “But one thing that did surprise me when I saw people talking about it in the thread: option 2 is apparently a girl thing! That’s what they claim! What the hell?”

          What made you think so?

          I think nobody in the thread saying something like option 2 (= feeling that way, in general) is a girl thing. They were talking about how the person in the lyrics felt, not about women in general, except a few comments like 77.

          Sorry, it’s not that I’m nitpiking or anything. I was just wondering why you felt like “what the hell?”

          • No worries, I get the feeling you’re not a troll or anything. You just genuinely didn’t see where I was getting at with my comment. Put simply, what I meant with the “girl thing” was that, as some people in the thread noticed, the majority of women who had their say in the matter seemed to be leaning towards option 2.

            Just to clarify, my ending comment was (as they often are) very tongue-in-cheek — the “what the hell?!” wasn’t genuine, and I obviously don’t think it’s very good relationship practice for anyone to wish bad things upon your ex-lovers. (I’m not a fucking lunatic. Or so I like to think.)

            • Thanks for the explanation. Tongue-in-cheek is ok. I like your style. It makes the thread even funnier. I just couldn’t follow your logic which made you think like “option 2 is apparently a girl thing. That’s what they claim.” Now it makes some sense.

        • But, just to confuse things further, wouldn’t the song still make sense if the person who the memo was written to was also a female?

  1. I like this one best.

    8: 名無し募集中。。。 2016/05/27(金) 17:00:44.73 0
    I just thought it to mean her saying: “I want me to always remain someone special in your heart.” So it’s neither 1 or 2. Though I guess if I had to be pick one, 2 would be closer.

  2. lol I always thought it was something completely different- and far more direct.
    I took it as her saying to not build the new relationship the same way he did with her, as in not go to the same date spots, move at the same pace, etc.
    Not meaning he shouldn’t love her as much, but just differently.

  3. Well, as a female, I think it’s option 2. As someone who recently experienced a break-up, it would hurt for me to see my old boyfriend treating other women like he used to treat me. But, also, this is inevitable, you can’t demand something like that. After all, even your ex has the right to be happy. Also, I thinks it’s probably something like “I want this relationship to be unique from all the others for the both of us”. It makes a lot of sense. You want those memories to be special and irreplaceable. Something like that.

  4. imagining I was the guy receiving the letter I’d assume that she meant option 2… and I think that’s the most important part here… the girl might have intended the letter to be ambiguous… even if she meant to say option 1 the guy wouldn’t understand it that way… know what I mean? XD

  5. I also always thought it would be 2, but the arguments for 1 are good, too. I like to believe it’s a mix out of both.

    Whatever it was supposed to mean, this song is the greatest masterpiece out of all H!P songs.

  6. I never ever thought of option 1! I’m amazed someone came up with this idea…
    I always tought that song was about a girl giving a “good-bye” letter to her ex, who know have a new girlfriend, as she releases they won’t get back together.

    And that one lyric meant “don’t love the same thing you loved about me in her, don’t go to the same places, do the same activities, same type of dates…” and
    ” You can tear up the memo and throw it away
    But please read it all the way to the end”
    meant “I don’t care what you do to the memo as long as you get to know those feeling I wan’t able to tell you face to face before”

  7. I do think it’s a bit of both, along with what mimi and Enjinks said. “Love her better, because no one deserves the pain you put me through, but don’t love her more, because selfishly I don’t think I could handle if if I weren’t special to you at all.” She’s in a transitionary stage where she can’t hold any ill-will towards the new girlfriend, but she still wants the boyfriend to love her a little bit–eventually she’ll be okay with him throwing away the memory of her, but until then she wants him to hold onto a little piece of her.

  8. The definitive answer is that she is pretending to mean option 1, but she secretly feels option 2.

  9. This was interesting to read. I’m a female and I think it is option 2.

    I hope you’ll translate more threads like this.

  10. I’ve never really had any much interest with such old momusu songs until maasaku sang it. The song is so beautiful and great, and a guy wrote it.

    It had always been option 2 for me. Girls would love to believe that they are the most special. Not to mention to the guy she loved the most. Especially >105

  11. Which is Asuka? The one who got bullied by Nachi and the others

    As for the question. No 2

  12. I voted for option 2!! option 1 is good but the impression i get from the lyrics is a girl that ones to move on but she still has lingering feelings for him so she wants to think that at least she was as special for him as he was for her

  13. If it’s 1, then what does the “but” mean?

    “I’m leaving my memories behind, but
    Don’t love your new girlfriend
    In the same way you loved me”

Leave a Reply to Henkka Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *