Love is War (song by Hatsune Miku)
"Love is War" (恋は戦争), known by its official English title as "EAGER LOVE REVENGE" was composed by ryo. It details the story about how Miku will fight for her crush. Due to the song's popularity, it has been translated into various languages, with some of the translations being officialized and included in various rhythm games that feature the song. It was the eighth song ever to enter the Hall of Legend, in November 2008.
Summary
Love is War was written by ryo with music arrangement by Yasuo Matsumoto.
On February 22, 2008, ryo uploaded the video Hatsune Miku sings the original song 'Love is War' to Nico Nico Douga. This was supercell's first song to be posted on the video platform since the band was formed. "When you can't give up, don't break down! That's not the right thing to do!" and "It may seem like an unbearable love, but you have no choice but to like it!" were the original ideas for the song. It was the first song in supercell's debut album.
Although the video was posted in late February, lyrics were started from New Year's Day and the song was already completed by early January. Shirou Miwa was in charge of the album's cover illustration and video. Miwa, who knew little about Hatsune Miku at the time of the production of the video, remarked, "Even though I'm an outsider to this fandom, I'm going to give drawing the idea a go." and that he would illustrate it differently from the typical cute Hatsune Miku that everyone was accustomed to. The resulting illustration would have fellow illustrator redjuice refer to it as "cool and black". Miwa had his comic DOGS/BULLETS&CARNAGE serialized in the Ultra Jump magazine.
This song created a popular aesthetic of Miku holding a megaphone as she sings, which can be found across many artworks. Generally, it is only associated with this song when she wears the black and green attire developed for it, but other versions and designs of her are often portrayed with a megaphone in place of a microphone. Good Smile Company has also released a deluxe figure based on this song’s image, with Miku (using her normal attire, rather than the black version) stands at the top of a tower of megaphones and screams into a handheld one.
The song reached over 1 million views by the end of 2008 and currently stands at over 4 million views on Nico Nico Douga.
Song Information
- ryo (music, lyrics)
- Hatsune Miku (vocal)
- Yasuo Matsumoto (arrangement)
- Shirou Miwa (illustration)
Lyrics
Published by イクシーミュージック 第一事業部 under JASRAC
JASRAC Works Code: 156-1818-8
| Kanji | Romaji | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 切なる恋 それは罪 | setsunaru koi sore wa tsumi | Ardent passion is a sin |
| 見せてあげる 私の想いを | misete ageru watashi no omoi o | I’ll show you my feelings |
Interpretation
The song is about one-sided love and all the things the protagonist is willing to go through to change that, starting with making her loved one notice her. At first, the protagonist finds herself at a loss, as even though the world around her went dark, she is still in love, and doesn’t know what to do. She can scream on a megaphone until it breaks, but no matter how far she goes, she’s still not within the sights of the person she desires. Love is a war, she declares, readying herself to do whatever it takes to win this battle, she even states being willing to raise her skirt just to get looked at.
There are many factors within the song where it can be inferred that what had made the world go dark for her was seeing that her crush had entered into a relationship. For instance, while it isn’t blatantly stated, she sees her crush being happy and can’t stand it, she declares this to be war, and it leads her to state that she’s still at a disadvantage even after raising her skirt. In this interpretation, the only thing that can make the world a brighter place for her is to be with her crush in the first place. The tone of the song itself is quite dark and thus the conclusion to the situation seems to be bittersweet.
Links
Hatsune Miku -「Love is War」Original Song - Nico Nico Douga
supercell - Wikipedia (Japan)
Love is War Hatsune Miku Wiki (atwiki)