Red

Romaji and English translation of the song Red from the album TOXIC and the single Red by the GazettE.

Lyrics originally sung in English are in italics , and words or phrases I felt were implied are in [brackets] in the translation.

I also (usually) put repeats of chorus/verses/stanzas in [brackets] if they’re not written that way in the original lyrics for ease of singing along.

If he writes a word in the lyrics but doesn’t sing it, I put it in light grey to make it easier to skip when singing along.

I usually romajize katakana characters in CAPITALS, and keep punctuation and line spacing as close to the original booklet as possible. If you see me putting spaces before punctuation at the end of a sentence or writing things in mixed-case capitals, that’s because it’s how it was in the booklet.

Any comments I had during the romajization/translation process will be included as footnotes so as not to disturb the flow of the song. They’re not required reading, but Ruki does some pretty nifty things with his lyrics/kanji choices, or sometimes there’s further explanations about words or phrases in there.

Red: Romaji

Anata wo fukaku shiruhodo ni
Anata ga wakara naku naru

“Akai ito” nado mienai kuseni
Shinjiteta no wa modorenai kara

Dakishimete uso wo shitteitai no ni oboreru kokoro kakusenai
Kuchibiru ni shizumu anata no netsu ni mitasarete yuku modorenai imasara

Furidashita ame no naka de
Kasamo sasezu ni furueteru
Kodoku wo shiru no ga kowai kara
Anata motome te ta

“Akai ito” nado mienai kuseni
Motomeau no wa modorenai kara

Dakishimete uso wo shitteita no ni oboreru kokoro kakusenai
Kuchibiru ni shizumu anata no netsu ni mitasarete yuku modorenai no imasara

Tameiki majiri no kotoba ni unazuki gaesu
“Kake chigau koto de mata futari wa warai aeru sa”
I want to believe it

“Akai ito” nado mienai kuseni
Shinjiteta no wa modorenai kara

Subete ni owari ga aruto suru nara
Futari wa kitto eien de…
Tashikana mono nado nai to iu nara
Futari no asu wo chikaeru yo

Dakishimete uso wo shitteita no ni oboreru kokoro kakusenai
Kuchibiru ni shizumu anata no netsu ni mitasarete yuku modorenai no imasara

Red: Translation

You will never realize
Just how deeply I understand you

Just because you can’t see the “red thread of fate¹”
We can’t go back to what we’d believed in

I’m holding you close though I know it’s a lie; I can’t hide the fact that I’ve lost my heart to you
I’ll satisfy myself with the warmth of your lips against mine but it’s too late we can’t go back

In the rain that began to fall
I’m trembling but don’t open my umbrella
Because I’m afraid of feeling the loneliness
You wished for

Just because you can’t see the “red thread of fate”
We can’t go back to wanting each other

“If our paths ever cross again, the two of us will be able to smile together”
Your words turn into a sigh, and I can only nod in response
I want to believe it

Just because you can’t see the “red thread of fate”
We can’t go back to what we’d believed in

Even if it’s true that everything must have an end
[I was sure] the two of us would last forever…
Even if you say ‘nothing is ever certain’
I would have sworn on our future

There’s a belief in many Asian cultures of a “red thread of fate” that connects two lovers fated to be together – this is an (invisible) red thread/string with one end tied to each of their pinky fingers.

It seems in this song that his girlfriend believes in the red thread, but doesn’t think he’s her “fated” match (i.e., he’s not tied to her by this thread), so she’s ending the relationship.

In the PV, she’s actually bound up in red string, tying up her hands, arms, even her eyes, as if to say she’s so intent on this “red thread of fate” that she’s become so entangled in it and enslaved to it and blinded by it that she risks losing a great relationship with someone who knows and understands and loves her because she can’t shake her obsession with it.