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ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION · Bleach · Bleach OP 7
Tap words in the lyrics for meaning, then use Practice when the verse is in your ears.
Synced lyrics
senaka no kage ga nobikiru sono aima ni nigeru
I slip away in the gap before my shadow stretches all the way across my back.
'back-of shadow [subj] stretches-fully — in that interval — escape.' 延び切る uses the ~切る suffix for 'doing something thoroughly/to completion'. 合間 frames the narrow window of opportunity between two extended states.
The image is fleeing before one's own shadow fully forms — a striking figure for escaping before the weight of your past or self catches up with you.
hagareochita hane ni mo kizukazu ni tobu
Flying on, not even noticing the feathers that have peeled off and fallen.
'peeled-off-fallen wing [even to] without-noticing [adv] fly.' 気付かずに uses the classical ~ず negative form + に = 'without (doing)'.
An Icarus-like image: the protagonist is unaware of how much they are losing as they push onward. にも emphasises 'not even (to these)', stressing the obliviousness.
machikado amai nioi ryuuzen
A sweet smell on the street corner — mouth watering.
'Street-corner sweet smell — drooling.' A noun-phrase fragment — no verb, evoking a sensory snapshot.
流涎 is an unusually clinical/literary word for drooling, creating an uneasy contrast with the innocent 'sweet smell' — hinting the sweetness is predatory.
tooku mukou kara
From far, far away —
'Far the-other-side from —' A dangling phrase, preparing the next line's sound image.
dokoka de kiita you na nakigoe
An animal's cry that feels like one I've heard somewhere before.
'somewhere at heard like-that animal-cry.' 〜ような modifies 鳴き声 — 'a cry of the kind heard somewhere'. 鳴き声 is specifically an animal sound (cf. 泣き声 for a person crying).
The distinction between 鳴き声 (animal) and 泣き声 (human) is deliberately echoed two verses later with a near-identical phrase — the song pivots from animal to human grief without repeating any kanji.
yokaze ga hakobu awai kibou wo nosete
Carried on a faint hope the night wind is bringing —
'night-wind [subj] carries faint hope [obj] load-and' — the 〜て form leaves the sentence open, flowing into the next verse.
doko made ikeru ka
how far can we go?
'where-until can-go [question]?' The potential form 行ける (from 行く) asks about capability, not just intention.
sore wo kobamu you ni sekai wa yurete subete wo ubaisaru
As if to deny it, the world shakes and snatches everything away.
'that [obj] refuses like-that, world [topic] shakes — everything [obj] steal-and-leave.' 〜ように expresses manner ('as if doing'); 奪い去る is a compound verb: snatch (奪う) + go away (去る).
The compound 奪い去る is especially violent — not merely 'take' but 'take and vanish with it', emphasising both theft and loss of return.
yume nara sameta
If this was a dream, I've already woken from it.
'dream if-so, woke.' The conditional なら here frames it retrospectively — 'if (this was to be) a dream, (already) awoke.'
dakedo bokura wa mada nani mo shite inai
But we haven't done anything yet.
'but we [topic] still nothing not-doing.' まだ + 何も + negative = 'not yet anything'.
susume
Keep moving.
Single-word imperative. The command form of 進む (susumu, to advance). Terse, driving.
mahiru no taida wo tachikiru you na soburi de ukabu
Rising up with the air of someone breaking free from broad-daylight laziness.
'midday's laziness [obj] sever-like demeanor by float.' 〜ような素振りで = 'with the gesture/air of (doing)...'.
umareochita kumo made miorosu you ni tobu
Flying as if to look down even on the just-born clouds.
'born-fallen clouds even-as-far-as look-down as-if fly.' 生まれ落ちる is a literary compound (be born + fall), poetic for 'come into the world'.
生まれ落ちた雲 (just-born clouds) pairs with 剥がれ落ちた羽 (peeled-off fallen feathers) from verse 2 — both use 落ちる as a birth/death hinge. The song's arc: feathers fall, clouds rise.
machikado chi no nioi ryuusen
A streak of blood's smell on the street corner.
'Street-corner blood-of smell streamline.' Noun fragment, mirroring verse 3 but darker — 甘い匂い (sweet smell) becomes 血の匂い (blood smell).
The wordplay 流涎 (drool) → 流線 (streamline) reuses 流 (flow) but flips the object: saliva to a trail of blood. The song's inner turn from appetite to violence.
tooku mukou kara
From far, far away —
'Far the-other-side from —' A dangling phrase, preparing the next line's sound image.
dokoka de kiita you na nakigoe
A crying voice that feels like one I've heard before.
'somewhere at heard like-that crying-voice.' Identical structure to verse 5 but 鳴き声 (animal cry) swapped for 泣き声 (human weeping).
The animal cry has become human weeping — same sound, different species of grief. The orthography carries the shift; the syllables are identical.
dorodoro nagareru fukaku akai tsuki ga arawarete furareru sai
A deep red moon appears, thick and flowing — and the die is cast.
'thick-viscous flow, deeply red moon [subj] appears — rolled die.' 振られる采 is the passive of 采を振る (to roll a die), a literary rendering of Caesar's 'alea iacta est'.
振られる采 is a deliberately archaic rendering — a poetic nod to fate being decided irrevocably. Paired with the blood-red moon, the image is of reality tipping over into myth.
detarame na hibi wo tachikiritai
I want to cut loose from these nonsense days.
'haphazard-[na] days [obj] sever-want.' 〜たい = desiderative suffix on the verb stem.
nani kuwanu kao de owaranu you ni
— so that it doesn't end with us wearing innocent faces.
'nothing-eat-[neg] face by not-ending as-if.' 何食わぬ顔 literally 'a face as if having eaten nothing' = 'innocent face'. 終わらぬ uses the classical ~ぬ negative instead of modern ~ない.
何食わぬ顔 is a set idiom — pretending innocence after doing something. Pairing it with ように suggests a refusal to let complicity go unacknowledged.
yokaze ga hakobu awai kibou wo nosete
Carried on a faint hope the night wind is bringing —
'night-wind [subj] carries faint hope [obj] load-and' — the 〜て form leaves the sentence open, flowing into the next verse.
doko made ikeru ka
how far can we go?
'where-until can-go [question]?' The potential form 行ける (from 行く) asks about capability, not just intention.
sore wo kobamu you ni sekai wa yurete subete wo ubaisaru
As if to deny it, the world shakes and snatches everything away.
'that [obj] refuses like-that, world [topic] shakes — everything [obj] steal-and-leave.' 〜ように expresses manner ('as if doing'); 奪い去る is a compound verb: snatch (奪う) + go away (去る).
The compound 奪い去る is especially violent — not merely 'take' but 'take and vanish with it', emphasising both theft and loss of return.
yume nara sameta
If this was a dream, I've already woken from it.
'dream if-so, woke.' The conditional なら here frames it retrospectively — 'if (this was to be) a dream, (already) awoke.'
dakedo bokura wa mada nani mo shite inai
But we haven't done anything yet.
'but we [topic] still nothing not-doing.' まだ + 何も + negative = 'not yet anything'.
susume
Keep moving.
Single-word imperative. The command form of 進む (susumu, to advance). Terse, driving.