(no subject)

[xdany87]

! SPOILER WARNING - OVA 'Alien Nine' !

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While watching the four episodes of Alien Nine, I grew more and more irritated and somewhat enraged - not to mention physically sick - at how disgusting, brutal, cruel and unfair everything goes against Yuri, Kumi and Kasumi. Sixth graders having to go against actually menacing and dangerous aliens like it's the most normal thing in the world - I can truly understand Yuri not wanting to do this at all. Anyway, as I said, I grew more irritated and enraged from episode to episode - until the last one. And especially its ending.

One scene there left me speechless, only thinking: "What-? No! How-? Why did-? How did she-?", not even finishing each sentence fragment. Those who have seen the OVA will probably have understood what I mean the second I mentioned the last episode's ending: Kumi, dead, lying in her own blood, a, to me, horrifying expression left on her face. Just what has happened there? Who killed her? Why? It didn't make any sense!

The next day, I pretty much instantly went on the 'net to find an answer to that - spoilers be damned, because I knew that, anime-wise, Alien Nine was over, for more than eight years already at that. Which is when I found something unexpected: http://www.alien9.crossrealms.net/ - a fansite that's actually active to this day, even mentioning the very recent ANN 'Buried Treasure' article that made me check the series out in the first place. I don't want to sound like an advertisement, but this site has quite a bit of information, artwork, etc. about the Alien Nine anime, and the - actually over ten years old - manga that it was based on. Among the features is quite a big Q & A concering some confusing or unclear aspects of both, anime and manga - one question being: 'What happened to Kumi at the end of the Alien Nine anime?'.

Well, the result of watching Alien Nine and especially finding this fansite: I've ordered the first volume of the manga from Amazon and I'm trying to track down the other volumes somehow (for resonable prices, that is). Even better would be getting a seller on Amazon UK or so to somehow ship the Ultimate Collection to me, which contains the OVA and all regular volumes of the manga. It's also available on Amazon Germany, but only for insane prices beyond the 100 € mark, while the UK has it for £23.95 - this is a situation where I really wish I had a credit card or something.

Finally, while both, the anime's opening and half of the soundtrack, are very ironic because they just sound so upbeat and like the complete opposite of the series, the ending theme - rebirth by en avant - is a beautiful song, even though its' lyrics are also a bit ironic in comparison to the story. And since I couldn't find a proper romanization of the Japanese lyrics anywhere (not AnimeLyrics, not even on above fansite), I went ahead, dragged the Japanese kana/kanji ones out of some Chinese forum, double-checked them against the song and did the romanization myself:

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en avant - rebirth (Alien Nine ED)

ときどき このからだが
よろこびなのか 哀しみなのか
わからなくなる
鏡の向こう側は
真実なのか　ただの光か
わからなくなる
  Tokidoki  kono karada ga
  Yorokobi na no ka  kanashimi na no ka
  Wakaranaku naru
  Kagami no mukou kawa wa
  Shinjitsu na no ka  tada no hikari ka
  Wakaranaku naru

愛してること
どうやって証明してくれるの？
『愛し続けることでしか僕を見せられない』と
つぶやく背中...
  Aishiteru koto
  Douyatte shoumei shitekureru no?
  'Aishi tsudukeru koto deshika boku wo miserarenai' to
  Tsubuyaku senaka...

すこし　本物の心が見えた気がした
  Sukoshi  honmono no kokoro ga mieta kigashita

いつでも　希望だけが
消し去られては　産み出されては
輝きになる
眠りの向こう岸に　今
見え隱れする　幸せの色
さわりたくなる
  Itsudemo  kibou dake ga
  Keshisararete wa  umidasarete wa
  Kagayaki ni naru
  Nemuri no mukou kishi ni  ima
  Miekakure suru  shiawase no iro
  Sawaritaku naru

感じてること
どうやって證明すればいいの？
『感じてるまま　君のこと全部さらけ出してみて』
ささやく瞳
  Kanjiteru koto
  Douyatte shoumei sureba ii no?
  'Kanjiteru mama  kimi no koto zenbu sarake dashitemite'
  Sasayaku hitomi

弱い生き物の強さが見えた気がした
  Yowai ikimono no tsuyosa ga mieta kigashita

愛してること
どうやって証明してくれるの？
『愛し続けることでしか僕を見せられない』と
つぶやく背中...
  Aishiteru koto
  Douyatte shoumei shitekureru no?
  'Aishi tsudukeru koto deshika boku wo miserarenai' to
  Tsubuyaku senaka...

すこし　本物の心が見えた気がした
  Sukoshi  honmono no kokoro ga mieta kigashita

(Here's hoping that I didn't introduce too many mistakes there...)