Rika character song! Probable spoilers!
Everyone knows Rika as the lovable innocent little girl, with an adorable tendency to call herself 僕 (boku, usually a boyish pronoun), end nearly every sentence with a (な)のです ((na) no desu), and say out loud the "sound effects" to a wide variety of actions, including her trademark にぱ～☆ (nipaa, a big grin). Nothing is ever that simple in Higurashi, though. Every so often, her voice dips from its usual cheery high pitch into a deeper melancholy, all the cutesy quirks vanish, and she says the most peculiar things. For instance, in 1978 during Hima tsubushi-hen (chapter 4), she speaks in this low voice and tells a junior police investigator from the capital about a series of mysterious deaths. Though an odd choice of topic for someone of her age (she's almost certainly not even ten at that point), what makes this truly strange is that none of the deaths have happened yet! The investigator doesn't know what to make of it, especially when he looks back on it years later and finds that every single death she predicted—including her own—happened as she described and when she described. Clearly, there's more to this girl than meets the eye.
In reality, the cutesy act Rika puts on is just that: an act designed to avoid disturbing those around her. She knows about things that haven't happened yet because, for her, they have already happened. Repeatedly. Living with the memories of countless tragedies and no closer to finding a way to keep them from happening all over again, she still seeks to overturn fate. And every time she lives out June 1983, she hopes that maybe this time, things will turn out differently.
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Vocals: Lyrics: Composition & Arrangement: |
古手梨花 (田村ゆかり) 江幡育子 大山 曜 |
Rika Furude (Yukari Tamura) Ikuko Ebata Yo Oyama |
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| Japanese | Romanization | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 春うらら 夢心地 なのに、せつないのです (みぃー) 胸の奥 決意を秘めて 微笑むのです (にぱ～☆) |
Haru urara yumegokochi na no ni, setsunai no desu (miii) Mune no oku ketsui wo himete hohoemu no desu (nipah☆) |
Mild spring, how dreamy. And yet, I am distressed. (miii) I tuck my resolve deep in my heart, and smile. (smile~☆) |
The parts in parentheses are not in the lyric booklet. |
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| Interlude ~20 seconds, bringing a drastic change of style. | ||
| 見える見える 知り尽くした屈辱 続く続く 果てしない回廊 |
Mieru mieru Shiri tsukushita kutsujoku Tsudzuku tsudzuku Hateshinai kairou |
I can see, I can see, Humiliation I know only too well. It goes on, it goes on, A corridor without end. |
| 嗚呼 赤い実を食べた鳥の嘆く声 そのクチもそのカラダも 罪色に染まる… |
Aa akai mi wo tabeta tori no nageku koe Sono KUCHI mo sono KARADA mo Tsumi iro ni somaru... |
Ah, the mournful cry of the bird that ate the red fruit. Its mouth, its body, They are stained the color of sin... |
| 真実はいつも無惨で 耳も目も ふさぎたくなる この唄が いつか届くと ほら 信じて 奇跡の 花咲かせましょう 乾いた地に |
Shinjitsu wa itsumo muzan de Mimi mo me mo fusagitaku naru Kono uta ga itsuka todoku to hora Shinjite kiseki no hana sakasemashou Kawaita chi ni |
Reality is always cruel; It makes me want to close off my ears and eyes. This song will reach some day, listen, Believe it, and let us make a miracle blossom as a flower In the parched earth. |
| Interlude ~18 seconds | ||
| 回る回る 歪み軋む歯車 落ちる落ちる ここからどこへと? |
Mawaru mawaru Yugami kishimu haguruma Ochiru ochiru Koko kara doko e to? |
Turning, turning, Warped creaking cogwheels. Falling, falling, From here, but to where? |
| 嗚呼 罪の実は熟れて夜に叫ぶ声 この羽もこの心も 咎色に染まる… |
Aa tsumi no mi wa urete yoru ni sakebu koe Kono hane mo kono kokoro mo Toga iro ni somaru... |
Ah, a cry in the night as the fruit of sin ripens. These wings, this heart, They are stained the color of guilt... |
| 穏やかな日々は幻? 誰も皆 滅びを招く 死の宿命1 いつか超えると ほら 信じて 今宵も 夢咲かせましょう 流れた血で |
Odayaka na hibi wa maboroshi? Dare mo mina horobi wo maneku Shi no sadame1 itsuka koeru to hora Shinjite koyoi mo yume sakasemashou Nagareta chi de |
Are peaceful days just a fantasy? Everyone, they all bring about ruin. We will overcome this fated1 death some day, listen, Believe it, and let us again tonight make dreams blossom With streaming blood. |
| Interlude ~32 seconds | ||
| 嗚呼 存在の理由問う声がめぐる あの月もあの誓いも 闇色に染まる… |
Aa sonzai no riyuu tou koe ga meguru Ano tsuki mo ano chikai mo Yami iro ni somaru... |
Ah, circling voices question the reason for existence. That moon, that vow, They are stained the color of darkness... |
| 真実はいつも無惨で 耳も目も ふさぎたくなる この唄が いつか届くと ほら 信じて 奇跡の 花咲かせましょう 乾いた地に 流れた血で |
Shinjitsu wa itsumo muzan de Mimi mo me mo fusagitaku naru Kono uta ga itsuka todoku to hora Shinjite kiseki no hana sakasemashou Kawaita chi ni Nagareta chi de |
Reality is always cruel; It makes me want to close off my ears and eyes. This song will reach some day, listen, Believe it, and let us make a miracle blossom as a flower In the parched earth With streaming blood. |
| Interlude ~6 seconds, reverting back to the original style. | ||
| 春うらら あたたかい なのにせつないのです (みぃー) 春がゆく 春がゆく やがて 刻 満つる |
Haru urara atatakaii na no ni, setsunai no desu (miii) Haru ga yuku haru ga yuku yagate toki mitsuru |
Mild spring, how warm. And yet, I am distressed. (miii) Spring passes, spring passes, and soon time runs out. |
The parts in parentheses are not in the lyric booklet. |
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1 The kanji 宿命 (shukumei, predestination, fate) are given the reading さだめ (sadame, rule, law, fate).