Beautiful Day

Performed by: Sakakibara Yui
Lyrics: Sakakibara Yui
Music: Kagurazaka Naoki
Relation to anime: Used as opening song to Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru, also known as Otome wa Onee-sama ni Koishiteru

The lyrics can be found here, in full, including english translation.

..

The opening to Beautiful Day should be a ringtone, i think. That chiming sound is perfect for a phone….. Apart from the obvious melody there is also a counter-melody by some lovely fake strings. This uses simple descending harmonic progressions that are coincidentally, also very catchy. Less is more! ahem.

After about four bars, the rest of the backing arrives, with a charming ascending (vaguely) scale on some synthesized instrument. Another boppy song! but it’s so CUTE.

Anata o mitsuketa Sore dake de It’s beautiful day
Konna mainichi ga zutto tsuzukeba ii no ni…!
I found you, and just with that, It’s a beautiful day
Even though I’d like the every days like these to continue…!

AHHHHHHHH. SO CUTE. Especially the strange english in the second line of the translation. Was it intentional, do you think? Yui’s voice is somewhat reminiscent of Nino from ROUND TABLE feat. Nino. Actually, Beautiful Day has the same beat as Chobits’ Let Me Be With You, but there’s more…..fake backing, if you like, to Beautiful Day. I think it’s catchier.

Oh, some guitar. This song is very…punchy. Lots of the lyrics, especially the chorus, are reinforced with punchy backing bits. The voice on its own isn’t really that punchy. At least, it’s not sustained punchiness. Not like…..ICHIKO.

Mezamashi no mae ni Me ga sameta Good morning
Yake ni niyakechau Nee Kitaishichatteru
I woke up before my alarm clock, Good morning
I’ll get awfully foppish; hey, I’m expecting you

I always wondered how people with voices like this – that is, not very strong ones. um. maybe her voice is strong. it just sounds…..small, and cute, in this song. – managed to become singers. Or, indeed, why they wanted to. I mean, Yui’s voice is not obviously good, not like..Maaya’s, but she really makes the best of it through her execution. And it’s obvious that she is a proper singer. Confusing.

For once, I actually really like the english pronunciation in this song. Especially the…”it’s a beautiful day-yay!”. Even when the words are unrecognisable, for example, “Good morning”. I honestly thought this was “kutamori”. I guess this mistake would only have been made by a person who does not understand japanese, since I doubt that “kutamori” is a japanese word. So a japanese person would take the word in context and therefore decide that it was English/some foreign language.
..that being said, that “Good morning” is really random.
(Also, what does ‘foppish’ mean? hmm…)

Kyou koso yuuki dashite Ieru ka na “How are you?” dakedo
I wonder if indeed today I’ll show courage and be able to say, “How are you?”, but-

Okay. *rethinks* I think that Yui does have a good voice. Sort of. Her tone is meant to be like that. And execution is really what counts. I have never heard any bad execution in any songs. (except New Future by Changin’ My Life..right at the end. that was quite painful. what was she thinking??) And also, she is in tune right through the whole thing, and she is always in control of her voice. That is what makes a good singer! She is suited to her genre!
The lyrics are also quite good. How…surprising.

Anata o mitsuketa Sore dake de It’s beautiful day
Konna mainichi ga zutto tsuzukeba ii no ni…!
I found you, and just with that, It’s a beautiful day
Even though I’d like the every days like these to continue…!

And, it’s the start again. This format is the same as First Kiss by ICHIKO, with part of the chorus being used for the start of the song, then an instrumental interlude, and then the verse starts. The use of the words “beautiful day” is also quite similar to the use of “kiss” in First Kiss, although, in First Kiss there’s also that delightful rhyming scheme. >_> I guess of the random english words planted around the lyrics of Beautiful Day are quite similar to that also. They just…don’t rhyme, and are random.

Itsuka kono omoi Todokimasu you ni
Sou negau mainichi sae mo Beautiful day!
As if my thoughts will reach you someday
Even the every days when I wish so are Beautiful days!

This is something that First Kiss doesn’t have! This cute..bridge thing, whatever it is. Actually, I think it’s part of the chorus.
AHHH. backing singers!! at least they’re doing what backing singers are meant to do, which is provide backing. Not like….Brand New Breeze. Oh, the pain.
The lyrics are starting to annoy me. “Even the every days when I wish so are Beautiful days!” Basically everything that centres around “you” – oh, sorry. every DAY that centres around “you” – is a Beautiful day, complete with capitalisation. It’s cute, but there isn’t much depth.

The guitar melody appears again. It’s…exactly the same, surprise, surprise.

Kawaranai keshiki Minareta hazu no Way home
Uindou no mae de Tsui Chekkushichatteru
The unchanging scenery on my Way home that I should be used to seeing
In front of my window, I’m suddenly checking it

Boppiness! Such a happy song.

Yappari jishin ga nai Karaburi Also today… Dakedo
I don’t have any self-confidence like I thought; it was a missed shot Also today… But-

Oh dear. The lyrics are actually starting to ring true with me. HOW SAD. I do, in fact, check the scenery, and it’s also incredibly difficult to say “how are you?”
Could it be that others ALSO experience this phenomenon? Oh no, surely not.

Anata o mitsumeru Sore dake de It’s beautiful day
Demo ashita koso kitto motto chikazukitai…!
I gaze at you, and just with that, It’s a beautiful day
But indeed tomorrow I’m sure that I’ll want to get closer to you…!

I begin to wonder what this song is really about, and also why it’s the ending song to an anime where the main character is, apparently, a boy. Although Mizuho acts entirely like a girl. I confess that I haven’t watched beyond episode 2, so don’t know if he has any…admirers who would gaze at him and sing about it being a Beautiful Day (Shion somehow just doesn’t fit), but really…
Oh actually, I am wrong. It’s his…little sister person who sings this, isn’t it? Ah, that makes sense.

Soshite narande kono michi o arukitai natte
Dakara makenai Jibun o migaite Beautiful day!
Then I’ll want to line up with you and walk on this road
So I won’t lose; I’ll improve myself, Beautiful day!

Why, why, why, did they cut the bridge? There are now four choruses instead. Half-choruses, or whatever they are. Oh well, I guess it makes for a big finish.
I’ve decided I don’t really like the bridge. The verse and half-choruses are more catchy. I especially like the verses, they’re done well.

It’s the guitar thing again! They tried to make it different, but it didn’t work, did it??? oh, I see. It was building up to one of those anti-climaxes, where there’s a crescendo and then it suddenly goes all soft.

Anata o mitsuketa Sore dake de It’s beautiful day
Konna mainichi ga zutto tsuzukeba ii no ni…!
I found you, and just with that, It’s a beautiful day
Even though I’d like the every days like these to continue…!

I always like it when there’s a section of a song where the backing is cut, or at least, replaced with something lighter, because it means that the voice is more audible. In this song it’s done quite well. I really did not like it in the full version of Brand New Breeze, where the first verse was done with a lighter backing. Maybe I’m used to the TV size version, but I just don’t think that it works very well.

Anata no tonari ni iretara More beautiful day
Sou ashita koso Yuuki o dashimasho! Say “hello!”
If I can be next to you, it’s an even More beautiful day
That’s right, indeed tomorrow I’ll show courage! Say “hello!”

Backing singers go “oooooh” and “aaaaah”. The lyrics here are so funny. “That’s right! indeed, tomorrow, I will show more courage! *breathes in deeply* HELLO.” And then she goes on to sing “Hello, hello! It’s a beautiful day, it’s a beautiful day-yay!” repeated a number of times. Oh yes, go on, show off. Show that…”you” person that you can say “hello”. It is, indeed, a beautiful day.