{"id":15996,"date":"2022-09-26T14:36:15","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T19:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/?p=15996"},"modified":"2022-10-28T11:15:16","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T16:15:16","slug":"flowering-by-tk-from-a-story-about-grief-and-mourning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/2022\/09\/26\/flowering-by-tk-from-a-story-about-grief-and-mourning\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Flowering&#8221; by TK from \u51db\u3068\u3057\u3066\u6642\u96e8: A Story About Grief and Mourning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Flowering\u00a0<\/em>is one of my favorite albums of all time. Toru Kitajima, from J-Rock band \u51db\u3068\u3057\u3066\u6642\u96e8 (Rin Toshite Sigure), is, in my opinion, one of the greatest Japanese lyricists and musicians of the modern era. Best known for &#8220;Unravel&#8221; the first opening theme for the\u00a0<em>Tokyo Ghoul <\/em>anime, he writes songs about the human condition, and what makes someone human.<\/p>\n<p>The first song in\u00a0<em>Flowering\u00a0<\/em>is &#8220;Flower&#8221; (linked below)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Flower\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Uw0dbmE69Vk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0&#8220;Flower&#8221; portrays the initial loss. It is a very reminiscent song, with lyrics such as (loosely translated, not perfect) &#8220;My past brightened when I met you&#8221; and &#8220;I live in a colorful dream-world I don&#8217;t want to end&#8221;. This song also, as shown in the second line quoted, deals with the denial stage of grief. Overall, this is my second-favorite song in the entire album.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Next, we have &#8220;Abnormal Trick&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Abnormal Trick\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/itCNXMgQdOM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Abnormal Trick&#8221; delves deeper into denial. The mourner does not want to accept the truth. This is shown with lyrics such as &#8220;Still hiding? What looked like secrets (don&#8217;t change) have pierced me&#8221; and &#8220;You can&#8217;t wake me up, me up\/although someday I won&#8217;t be blamed for my sins,\/Will I exist within?&#8221; . It, however, begins to fade into a form of acceptance with the line &#8220;Like a fool, I can&#8217;t change\/Are the wonders destroyed by the unchangeable me still here? I want to see\/I can&#8217;t wake me up, me up, me up&#8221; as the mourner begins to wish for freedom from their self-imposed catatonic state.<\/p>\n<p>After this, comes the song &#8220;Haze&#8221; (linked below is the\u00a0<em>Egomaniac Feedback\u00a0<\/em>version, though it&#8217;s the same song.)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"haze\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yq0tMsUvYQk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This song is about the hatred towards the world can feel when grieving. It showcases a sense of apathy. This can be found as early as the first stanza:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ll-0-1\">Somebody&#8217;s tears that fell from the sky<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-2\">I don&#8217;t have any kindness to give to anyone<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-3\">If you were to be consumed by darkness<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-4\">Will a millimeter of me even glow?<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-5\">Smile<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>This stanza seems to portray a sense of both derealization and apathy. It is likely that the tears referenced are the singers own, and the line &#8220;I don&#8217;t have any kindness to give anyone&#8221; speaks for itself in terms of portraying apathy. It also delves into how people who are grieving feel like they&#8217;re losing everything around them. This is shown in the third stanza:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ll-2-1\">Becoming lost while reminiscing<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-2-2\">Losing everything that I touch<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-2-3\">Everything is becoming shrouded by fog; I won&#8217;t hide anymore<\/div>\n<p>However, the song shines a bit of hope with the fifth stanza, as TK sings:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ll-4-1\">There is no way I can change the world<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-4-2\">But I can cut through the darkness<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This portrays a sense of willpower. Even though one cannot regain what is lost, you can move forward with your life and be happy again.<\/p>\n<p>After this comes the song &#8220;Phase to Phrase&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Phase to Phrase\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ANWp7UlqIo4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This song portrays a sense of fault within the singer, and the idea that they are the reason everything is out of control. This is emphasized with the lyrics of the song:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ll-0-1\">A rotating phrase, I counted the motion<span class=\"line-number\">1<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-2\">It&#8217;s close enough to start pretending<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-3\">There&#8217;s no turning back from lies<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-4\">I become the disorder that draws close<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-5\">Nobody wants themselves to be seen<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-6\">Nobody wants themselves to be known<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-7\">There&#8217;s no pain, nor sadness, and yet, and yet<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-8\">What they don&#8217;t want others to know are frozen inside<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-9\">What they don&#8217;t want others to know are killed inside<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-10\">But then it all may disappear<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-11\">Everybody could become, everybody could become, and yet, and yet<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-12\">I become disorder<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The singer says that everybody could become anything, and, despite his efforts, he becomes a chaos he cannot control. I believe that this is the peak of the self-loathing that can occur with grief. This song represents the upmost limit of his hatred for himself.<\/p>\n<p>Next comes one of my favorite songs, &#8220;White Silence&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"White Silence\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BkrICLDQ3T4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This is the softest lyrical song in the album. It features Shione Yukawa for a portion of the song. This song is from a different perspective than the rest of the album, and is from the POV of the deceased. The song urges the mourner to move on. Showcased in the lyrics:<\/p>\n<div class=\"ll-4-3\">Remember them, the words you&#8217;ve forgotten<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-4-4\">Don&#8217;t look for me, because I&#8217;m no longer here<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-4-5\">I&#8217;ve been swept away<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>This is a stark contrast from the rest of the album, as oftentimes the singer refers to &#8220;you&#8221; in reference to being lost, instead of &#8220;I&#8221;. This song represents a transition into the next stage of the song, and the mourners life.<\/p>\n<p>After this is &#8220;12th Laser&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"12th Laser\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ciZYx6659bg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This song seems to be looking back on the previous songs. Once again in the perspective of the mourner, the song portrays the helplessness they felt when the person they are mourning first died. This is the first case of healing being shown.<\/p>\n<p>Example lyrics for this are:<\/p>\n<p>My heart couldn&#8217;t understand, a picture drawn by my left hand<br \/>The unconveyable color of sadness<br \/>A laser of memories beyond is shining through<br \/>I could not escape<\/p>\n<p>The first stanza (shown above) portrays the idea that they were trapped, and &#8220;could not escape&#8221;. The thing keeping them trapped was their inability to allow themselves to heal and move on.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Film a Moment&#8221; the fifth song in the album, is another song that focuses on looking back.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Film a Moment\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y8X4YyOlgys?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It both looks back on the time when the deceased was still alive, and once again at the period of time that the mourner was at their worst. It discusses the way that time had felt like it stopped. The song also portrays the struggle between wanting to remember the precious moments forever and wanting to forget them completely. This is shown in the lyrics:<\/p>\n<div class=\"par\">\n<div class=\"ll-6-1\">The you that I long for isn&#8217;t there<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-6-2\">Perhaps there are no such miracles<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-6-3\">film A moment, Fill the moment, Kill the moment<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"emptyline\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"par\">\n<div class=\"ll-7-1\">The world I hold in my hands is expressionless and silent<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-7-2\">I want to see what lies beyond. Could I kill the future?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"emptyline\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"par\">\n<div class=\"ll-8-1\">A finger, a dimly lit ghost of what&#8217;s left of you, turning red<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-8-2\">If only I could steal the future you have filmed<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-8-3\">Gently the secret signal floats away. You are laughing<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"emptyline\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"par\">\n<div class=\"ll-9-1\">Without emotion, blatant fiction<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-9-2\">If only the future could be stolen<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"emptyline\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"par\">\n<div class=\"ll-10-1\">Memories are shining through, we met in a dream<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-10-2\">Shining through, we met in a dream<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-10-3\">And so, I wrote my name<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"emptyline\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"par\">\n<div class=\"ll-11-1\">I have become like time, will someone restore me?<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-11-2\">Is that what I want?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The song feels almost like a blur, both musically and lyrically. The singer portrays a desperateness to become &#8220;whole&#8221; again; a desire to finally move on from their grief. However, they struggle to balance the happy memories and their future. This is what causes that &#8220;time freeze&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The 8th song, &#8220;Daylily&#8221;, has no lyrics.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Daylily\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6ao48Erb0go?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The daylily flower is a flower of many meanings, but the one most thematically correct would most likely be &#8220;forgetfulness and loss of memory&#8221;. It is a decision to forget everything and move on that way. A &#8220;bad&#8221; ending, though it&#8217;s not entirely over yet. It&#8217;s merely a step in the process.<\/p>\n<p>After this comes the song &#8220;Fourth&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Fourth\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eEbsF5CzrXY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This song is filled with a sense of yearning. The singer shows their desire to talk to the person they lost again, to experience the good times. The lyrics show this:<\/p>\n<div class=\"par\">\n<div class=\"ll-0-1\">The sound of your footsteps echoed inside of me<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-0-2\">What I found was something you hid at night &#8211; a secret song<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"emptyline\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"par\">\n<div class=\"ll-1-1\">Wishes made again and again in the night, can you see them?<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-1-2\">Inside the night, you wouldn&#8217;t stop&#8230;letting go<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"emptyline\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"par\">\n<div class=\"ll-2-1\">The sound of the night&#8217;s wind&#8230;was so faint<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-2-2\">Still unknown, the immeasurable light<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-2-3\">Find it<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-2-4\">The light in those hands<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"emptyline\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"par\">\n<div class=\"ll-3-1\">Listen to the sound that could be seen in those eyes<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-3-2\">Tell me what could be seen in those eyes<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"emptyline\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"par\">\n<div class=\"ll-4-1\">These tears may go away if we can meet in the sorrowful night<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-4-2\">The light that you carry All of it, all of it, all of it, all of it<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-4-3\">Gather it&#8230;in those hands<\/div>\n<div class=\"ll-4-4\">Thereby the stars, are you smiling?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It is not desperate or rushed. It is filled with a sense of acceptance and finality. The singer understands that they cannot regain what is lost, but they have finally accepted it. They&#8217;ve realized that moving on is not forgetting, but living on in their name. It is bittersweet, filled with a sense of joy, yet also an understanding that it&#8217;s all over.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, &#8220;Sound_am326 (Secret Track)&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sound_am326 (Secret Track)\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/A3nKHMRppJc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Once again a song with no lyrics, it is instead filled with acoustic guitar and piano. Reminiscent of all of the previous songs, namely &#8220;White Silence&#8221;, it represents a finality. It was made to be the closing track for the album, and fills that role excellently. It portrays all of the difficult feelings of mourning and moving on without a single word being sung.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This is, as I&#8217;ve stated before, one of my favorite albums of all time. Toru Kitajima did a phenomenal job with the composition and portrays the story of a person in mourning wonderfully. The title is very fitting, as the album tells a sort of &#8220;coming of age&#8221; story about accepting ones emotions and learning to feel again after a severe loss.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you all for reading! Next time, I&#8217;ll be covering the album <em>White Noise<\/em>, and the story it tells.<\/p>\n<p>All translations initially found on <a href=\"https:\/\/lyricstranslate.com\/\">Lyrics Translations (lyricstranslate.com)<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Flowering\u00a0is one of my favorite albums of all time. Toru Kitajima, from J-Rock band \u51db\u3068\u3057\u3066\u6642\u96e8 (Rin Toshite Sigure), is, in my opinion, one of the greatest Japanese lyricists and musicians of the modern era. Best known for &#8220;Unravel&#8221; the first opening theme for the\u00a0Tokyo Ghoul anime, he writes songs about the human condition, and what &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/2022\/09\/26\/flowering-by-tk-from-a-story-about-grief-and-mourning\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8220;Flowering&#8221; by TK from \u51db\u3068\u3057\u3066\u6642\u96e8: A Story About Grief and Mourning&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,5,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15996"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16071,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15996\/revisions\/16071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}