TACTICS

COVER SONG

Music, lyrics, images used in this clip, and all other credits are copyright properties of their respective owners. I do not own any part of them except for my own vocals of course :)

SONG INFORMATIONS

Original Artist: The Yellow Monkey
Available on: Tactics (Single), Rurouni Kenshin OST 1, Rurouni Kenshin Best Theme Collection (Album), Rurouni Kenshin OP/ED Theme Collection (Album), Rurouni Kenshin Complete CD Box
Taken From: Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Romantan (1st Ending Theme)
Copyright Property: BMG
Cover Recording Date: 2012-01-16 17:58

LYRICS

Gira tto shita kimi no me ni Doki tto shita hirusagari
Shakki tto shita ore no karada marude tamesareteru you ni
Tsun tto shita kimi to kuuki ni zoku tto shita koigokoro wa
Zara tto shita suna wo kami sareru ga mama yoru ni naru

The early afternoon was reflected in your glittering eyes
I prepared my body so that it was completely tested
My shivering love feeling, angry with you and the environment,
Bites the rough sand while night starts, having no resistance of it

Soro soro jiman no kuchibiru de WAIN wo nomasete kurenai ka
Mangetsu no yoru ni musubareta otoko to onna wa eien sa

Wouldn’t you let me drink wine with these proud lips?

In a full moon night, man and woman where linked together

Hageshiku LADY AH GIVE ME YOUR LOVE
Ayashiku LADY I NEED YOUR LOVE
Tama ni miseru samishige na me ga uso ka hontou ka wakaranai
Sunao ni LADY AH GIVE ME YOUR LOVE
Kanjite mite LADY I NEED YOUR LOVE
Kimi no shigusa ni furimawasarete muchuu no ai wa ore no naka de odoru

Violently lady, ah gimme your love!

Doubtfully lady, I need your love!

Her lonely eyes she sometimes shows, I don’t know if they are true or false

Obediently lady, ah gimme your love!

Try to feel it lady, I need your love

I’m being manipulated by your actions, and blind love dances inside me

Sara tto shita kami wo toki tsuya tto shita hada wo yose
Kotoba-asobi wo suru you ni kimi wa ore wo moteasobu

You comb your straight hair and put your bright skin next to mine,

and you play with me as you play with words

Kakehiki wa tsuyoi kimi no naka Ayamachi wa yowai ore no naka
Suki na dake tanoshimeba ii sa Otoko to onna wa eien sa

Tactics are strong inside you and faults are weak inside me

Enjoy yourself all what you want, because it will be man and woman forever

Hageshiku LADY AH GIVE ME YOUR LOVE
Ayashiku LADY I NEED YOUR LOVE
Tama ni miseru yasashii egao ga uso ka hontou ka wakaranai
Sunao ni LADY AH GIVE ME YOUR LOVE
Kanjite mite LADY I NEED YOUR LOVE
Kimi no shigusa de ore wo koroshite sono isshun ga nani yori shiawase sa

Violently lady, ah gimme your love!

Doubtfully lady, I need your love!

Her tender smile she sometimes shows, I don’t know if it is true or false

Obediently lady, ah gimme your love!

Try to feel it lady, I need your love!

You kill me with your actions, and that moment makes me happier than anything else

Yami no naka odoru dakishimete odoru
Nando demo odoru eien ni odoru
Eien ni odoru eien ni odoru……

We’ll dance in the darkness and very tightly

We’ll dance many times and we’ll dance forever

We’ll dance forever, we’ll dance forever

NOTE: Lyrics and translation from... Okay, I don't know where, cause it's been sitting on my PC for ages XD. I didn't make any correction on this one cause it's already mostly acceptable... 

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

WHITE DAY!

Precisely 1 month after the lovey dovey romantic day called Valentine, it's now all boys' turns to reply their feelings, if it's a mutual, to the 'only one'. A trend started in Fukuoka Japan where males have to do their social obligation to the females who gave them something during February 14th. March 14th marked the 'pay-back' time, it's usually in form of white things, such as white chocolate, or marshmallow -which is why it is also called Marshmallow Day. White day is a...

Hold on...! What's the DATE today?!

Yup, you're right... eventhough it might still be White Day in some countries, in my timeframe it's already a day late hahaha. Which means, that this post is NOT meant to celebrate White Day, but instead... BLACK DAY! In fact, it's never meant to go up on March 14th. Okay... that's not true, I had actually planned to do it yesterday, but then things happened here and there (Doh, the internet) so it got delayed, under my own healthy conscience. Then again, I guess it was meant to be for a nice guy like me, cause let's face it, I didn't get anything during Valentine, why should I give anything in return when I didn't have anyone to do so XD. Not that I'm actually celebrating, just stating here for fun, but let's see if I'm still in the same condition later on  Singles Day (I predicted it will be though).

Black Day is a South Korean festive, celebrated as a local reply to S.A.D. that fell on February 15th (or prior to Feb 14th). It's quite a local celebration, so don't feel like a caveman if you haven't ever heard about it, it's probably still new to your knowledge. Hey, look on the bright side, I even discovered that this day existed just YESTERDAY XD. Not only that, I also learnt about SAD only last month during my Google Search for Valentine's tradition, so yeah we're both caveman for sure. I do, however, enjoy the cling of Black Day a lot better than White's, cause black is my color indeed...

Beside Black Day, today marks another festive day in the world as well, but this time, it's a more widely known due to its historical event. The Ides of March, is a festive to celebrate the God of War (no, not Kratos... T.T, but the myth God Ares / Mars) and it's usually celebrated by military parade. Yes, and if you've read the wiki link about the particular day, you'd realized that today is the anniversary of Caesar's death as well. You haven't heard about Caesar? What are you, somekind of hermit dwelling on a cave? Caesar is a one of the surgical procedure to deliver a baby!!!! Okay, I was trying to make a joke, but I think it kinda fell flat T_T, but hey, if you still haven't figure out who the hell he was, please click on the link and read it on Wiki.    

So, today's post is for the celebration of those 3 festives: White Day, Black Day, and Ides of March. How should I combine all these 3 different events? Simple! By singing a love song, sang from a single guy's perspective, coming from an old series about an ex-manslayer, who has retired from the bloody war. PERFECT!

My cover song for today, came from another nostalgic series from the past. The battle and adventure of the reverse sword dweller, the Sakabatou. This is a story (fictional) of a remnant of the Bakumatsu war, who tried to live his peaceful days, to forget and re-lived his new life apart from his dark past as the legendary assassin Hitokiri Battousai. Of course -as in any manga/anime story would evolved- his dark past was way too dark to close that enemies from the past, or descendands of them, eventually are coming one by one to disrupt his day. Yup, it's that awesome story of Himura, as in the one and only Rurouni Kenshin or globally recognized as Samurai X (due to the X mark on Kenshin's face).

The manga spawned from 1994 to 1999, while the anime ran for almost 3 years (1996-1998). I was very much new to anime back then, and if I recall correctly, Rurouni Kenshin is one of the major factor that brought new life to anime in my country (upon its first appearance in the first Anime-Manga magazine ever released here). I was only a young boy back then, I haven't even finished high school during the time it was aired. The show was highly wanted though, and I could remember my cousins always booked the airing time and watch it religiously. Well, for me personally -as with the case of most shounen shows- (meh you've probably seen this coming anyway if you've read my previous posts of the theme) I've watched and enjoyed some of the early episodes, but then got lazy and never touch it again afterwards. This is the 1st anime that taught me about FILLER EPISODES though, cause I went confused when they started airing story that were NOT on the manga. Oh yeah, this is also the first anime that taught me that female seiyuu could voice a guy as well.

Conclusion? For me the series is over-rated, seriously. The manga was good, I love the character design and all, (much better than the anime) but the overall hype was a bit way too much. It's like people (at least in this country) haven't had a decent anime in the past and praised it so highly, too highly, that some of my friends almost hated me upon hearing I didn't watch it anymore... Oucch. I must agree though, that it has became an important part of the past and the japanese animation industry in this country. So, eventhough not too much, I was excited when the news spread out last year (during the 15th anniversary) about the upcoming Live Action Movie. Unlike the live adaptation of a certain favorite game of mine that looked horrible due to the casting, this one looks very promising with all the fitting cast because it stays true to the original. Just visit the site I linked, and you can watch the trailer in its HD glory. Let's just hope the actual movie is much better than the trailer, cause well, you know the law: good trailer okay movie-okay trailer awesome movie.

On to the song. This song became a big hit upon its release on 1996, and from the very first time I heard it, it has became one of my favorite Rurouni Kenshin songs of all time. It is performed by the now-disbanded J-Rock band, The Yellow Monkey, who led a spectaculars line of rising star musicians to be featured in the Rurouni world such as L'Arc-en-Ciel, Judy & Mary, T.M.Revolution and others. Most of them are now huge names in Japan's music industry, either in the same group, or a separated solo after disbanded. 

The song is sultry and seductive in its own way, about a seemingly depressed guy who is crazy in love with a woman, and he realized that the woman, the LADY is toying with his feelings but he just couldn't stop. He is deeply madly in love, that this song felt like summoning an inner emotion of a man, who is 'addicted' to the opposite gender. Call it crazy, and I also sees it that way, but then again 'love is blind', especially for men, so I approved. Love is just like a war right? It requires tactics and strategies... but when the player is already struck by craze, things could go in the worst way. A former best friend once came to me crying so heavily for a girl that he was cheating with, and when I told the girl not to play with his heart, he went crazy and end our friendship (I never heard from him eversince). Another ones, did similar fashion where they chose to pursue love and forgot about (and ditched out) friendship, and where they are now? Back to single (lover-less + friend-less) and unheard anymore. Yeah, call it crazy, but this song is PICTURE PERFECT!  

For me, singing this song is like giving a speech about those men who went crazy over love, speaking about LOTS of them in my surrounding while at the same time mocking them for their own stupid ways. The lyrics, even if I didn't like it for the message, is smart and can be DIRTY if you put it on a darker perspective, but yeah I like it! As in terms of how it's related to Caesar, beside the war theme of the anime, and the fact that Kenshin is a fearless frontman soldier, the song speaks highly about the seduction of a woman that makes even a tough guy falls on his knees (like Kenshin to Kaoru perhaps?). A perfect depiction of Caesar's feeling when he went head over heels to a certain Egyptian Queen, during the last era of his life (which led to his and her greatest falls *cough cough*). Simply saying, eventhough I'm not a J-Rock type, (usually avoid them as far as I can) this song in particular intrigues me, especially with the lyrics and that cool guitar intro.

I can't believe that it took me 16 years to do a cover of this catchy song. Then again, I started doing fandub/covers in 2006, that alone was already 10 years apart hahaha, and the fact that it took me another 6 years in contemplating doubt if I could ever sing it with my vocal type and all. I decided to give it a shot on early January, and I nailed it perfectly (without the need of lower the key and all). Perhaps those 16 years, had made me fully mastered the melody and lyrics? I guess my vocal range and musical skill has improved through the years XD. The recording was severed by unpredictable noises though, so I had to re-done (for the better as well) the take a week later and finished it on January 16th. I got so excited during the recording that I ended so sweaty as hell, like most of my body liquid was drained, and I was down by cold the next day. Haha nope, I'm NOT kidding, it's true. I guess singing a Rock song with high spirit, all-out emotion, and full adrenalline is bad for my health... XD (it's worth the pain though)

This song was actually meant to go up as a Valentine mockery message XD. The result was too good for it, and I liked it so much that I eventually saved it and post another classic instead. Not that Unbalance was a bad song, (that was my personal favorite as well) but simply because this song acts perfectly as the answer to Unbalance rather than in reverse. See it this way: How to handle an 'unbalance love' that happened during Valentine? By arranging 'Tactics' to eventually get the love, right? Especially when you're madly deeply crazy in love with that person. Hahaha yup, the songs compliments each other, so, I decided to halt it for White Day as a 'revenge' to the Valentine's post XD.

Well, I hope you would like it the same way that I'm still crazy over it. I still can't believe I've managed to nail this song better than I predicted hahaha. This is one of my best works so far, and more than that, a spectacular nostalgic song to welcome the upcoming new live action incarnation of the series. And for those of you who are still struggling for love, don't forget to arrange a proper tactic to get it right, okay! It's a WAR... love's a battlefield! So get out there soldier and get the love... but just don't fall like Caesar did... ;). Hope you enjoy it! ^o^v

Thanks for listening, have an awesome White/Black/Ides of March day! >w< 

~Furede Riko

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved..." (Sun Tzu)

"One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority..." (Napoleon Bonaparte)

ORIGINAL SONG

Here's the live performance of the song, if you want to hear the studio/album version, you should easily find it anywhere on the web cause it's a classic.... ask Uncle Google, and he'll lend a hand ;D

The Yellow Monkey - Tactics (LIVE)

Hope you enjoy it! ^o^v

-oOo-

What's Next?
- ...Heads to the New World... with the Straw Hat's dream 9...