擬声語 Onomatopoeia

Have you heard of Herta's "Kuru Kuru" from the game Honkai Star Rail? Do you wonder what it means? It simply means "spinning around". In the English dub of the game, Herta's "Kuru kuru" was translated into "twirly twirl"!

Basically, onomatopoeia are words that represent sounds.  

にこーにこーに!

This is Nico Yazawa's catchphrase, a character from the anime "Love Live". This is a pun consisting of her name "にこ (nico) " and "ニコニコ" which means "smiling". Her catchphrase would usually be accompanied by a smile.

In this case, ニコニコ is the onomatopoeia.

When Iago is enabled, an icon of the Iago bird will appear at the bottom left of the Youtube video, There will be kanji, romaji and english subtitles for videos. Here is an example of when Iago is enabled.

When the cursor hovers over a word, the video will stop and the meaning of the word will appear above. This made learning the words more convenient and efficient as I don't have to keep switching tabs to search the words up on Jisho.org. I would only use Jisho.org for additional information.

Not only Iago made language learning more fun, but I was able to delve into more cultural elements of Japan.

For the protagonist in Under Kids, her canon name is Anzu, though the TUYU fandom also sometimes refer to her as Anda, presumely from the word "Under" in the song title.

Source

Throughout the video, it is clear that Anzu suffered from depression, with hints from 手頃な刃に市販薬も大量に & 刻むだけね, which suggests that she had self-harmed by cutting herself with a knife.

In chorus 1, where お前らのせいだ came, the video shifted to her parents, hinting Anzu blamed her parents for giving birth to her. Anzu stood together with a group of girls wearing variants of seifukus, meaning she is banding together with teenagers that are outcasts like her.

In pre-chorus 1, Anzu was found out about the founder of the outcasts group through social media. Influenced by them, she bought a seifuku (presumly to fit in). Here, ランドセル was used, which is a hard-covered bagpack used by Japanese elementary school students, though the bag Anzu used ldoes not resemble a randoseru. Perhaps this hints at Anzu not wanting to grow up.

In chorus 2, Anzu talks about how although her body is getting destroyed, she still have to earn money, hence the motifs of money constantly appearing in the video. She also view herself as a bargain, hinting she have low self-esteem and see herself as someone of no value/worthless. She also seems to be struggling with relationship problems, having plans to meet up with a boy but getting ghosted as the boy told her he have work but then Anzu saw him talking to another girl.

In post-chorus 2, Anzu desperately sought approval (presumely from her peers or the world) and don’t even mind it if it is fake - 誰でもいい 嘘でもいいから認めて. She simply wanted anyone's attention.

In verse 2, Anzu was getting corned by a man, and she had a forced smile and sweating. It seems that she willingly gets close to guys just to be loved, hence the continuous mention of her not knowing what love was, whether familial or romantically.

In 1:37, Anzu was reprimanded by parents for scoring an 87 on her test. Assuming the total score is 100, 87 out of 100 is a pretty good score, it seems like her parents are putting pressure on her to get even better grades which might be one of the reasons Anzu suffers from depression and hates her parents.

Right after, Anzu was seen desperately reaching out for a stuff teddy bear flying away from her them. This could mean Anzu is growing up and feel these “childish” things are going out of reach but she still has not outgrown them. 

She was also seen befriending a girl in twin pigtails. Her friend was then bullied by a group of girls, as shown when she found her shoes and locker doodled on with insults. Anzu was seen trying to confront the presumed bullies, but her friend instead joined the bullies, leaving her alone.

In post-chorus 3, 他人の数で誤魔化したって – Anzu realised that even though it felt that she knows the 'outcasts' online are the same as her, she is ultimately alone and found it hard to find the love that she seeks. She felt trapped, feeling like the internet is the only place she belongs.

そうやって一生 行き詰りながら生きて has the same tune to a previous TUYU song - I'm getting on the bus to the other world, see ya! And Anzu was even in the same T-pose as Anoyo in the song.

あぁ 絶望だって失望だってとうに廃ってるよ has the same tune to a chorus in Compared Child with Anzu in her seifuku and Anzu with glasses in the same poses as Bera and Kura from. 

Throughout the video, Anzu emphasized on how having fun is all that matters, which in the end she encourages the listener to continue enjoying themselves as she thinks that the world will end eventually.

In the music video, Anzu chose a seifuku. Nachatte seifuku fashion is a popular fashion sub-culture originating from Japan. It is an affordable fashion trend. It has many variants, ranging from the normal sailor uniform or with more colored variation.

Anzu’s seifuku bears notable features of a seifuk: a blouse with a sailor collar, with a ribbon and pleated skirt. The one Anzu chose leans more towards fashionable instead of the traditional uniform – her seifuku having a broader collar with frills and motifs of pink crosses, with off-shoulder sleeves.

In Singapore, students see school holidays as a respite from their restrictive uniforms. However, Japanese people have rather special feelings about school uniforms. Japanese people view their school uniform as a symbol of their youth and the passing of time.

For Japanese girls, the tradition of wearing school uniform tradition started around 1900, which consists of a kimono and hakama.  Interestingly, even before school uniforms were officially introduced, school girls themselves took the initiative and kept asking their schools to make the hakama a rule. It seems that from the very start, young Japanese girls were very vocal about school uniforms and the freedom to express themselves. As such, seifuku has also become a symbol of freedom in Japan.

Source 

In the music video, Anzu mentioned putting on a Randoseru.

Randoseru is a firm-sided backpack made of leather, most commonly used in Japan by elementary schoolchildren. It is traditionally in the color red, but more colorful variation has become trendy in the Japan.

Coming back to Anzu, is it ironic how athough Anzu mentioned putting on a randoseru, the bag she wore throughout the music video does not bear resemblance to a randoseru. It does not have a firm side, nor does it have a long flap on the outer side. 

Thus, I wonder whether this minor detail implies how she doesn't want to grow up, wishing to stay for simpler days like an elementary schooler who doesn't have responsibilities like earning money.

Unlike Anzu, I never felt the desire to fit in, but I never felt that I belonged somewhere either. As such, I seek comfort in spending time on online forums as the ability to talk about a shared interests with other anonymous users gives me a sense of belonging. 

~

My favourite part of this song would be the outro - "せいぜい今楽しんでね?" Anzu thinks that humanity will perish eventually so we should enjoy ourselves while we have the chance. Oddly enough, a mindset of mine is that I think that living has no meaning so we should just do whatever we wish to if it makes us happy. Nevertheless, I think my key takeaway from this song is that we should cherish our life, as life is short. As such, we should take the chance to do the things we like and wear the things we want regardless of what others think.