Waratte Waratte / 笑って笑って

Waratte Waratte / 笑って笑って : “Laughing, smiling”

waratte / 笑って

“laughing” or “smiling”. This is the conjunctive form of the root warau / 笑う (“to smile” or “to laugh”).

“Waratte Waratte” was one of the first 14 Oku Hanako songs that I heard. It has a pronounced pentatonic sound and is easy to listen to. As always, she sings it with a genuine passion.

I didn’t know it when I first heard this song, but Waratte Waratte is actually another one of her indies songs that has been arranged, resung, and made into its own single, like Chiisana Hoshi / 小さな星. I find this version is better sung than the indies version, but the indies version has a certain “closeness” to it that the single version doesn’t have. This song is beautiful, including the lyrics, and yes, I have a translation for the lyrics.

ライセンス・奥華子「笑って笑って」.wmv by amaike yukino [YouTube]

Sorry for the lack of content in this post; I’m feeling way too sleepy. I’ll redo this post sometime in the next few days and I’ll post something to let you know when I’ve done so. So much for that. I don’t know what to say. Perhaps I’m still tired. Forget it. I’ll give a better opinion on the indies version. It seems once I write something down, it’s more difficult to change it.

YouTube user airuland875 opening her copy of Kimi to Boku no Michi

I mentioned in my Kimi to Boku no Michi / 君と僕の道 release post that I expected YouTube user airuland875 to post a video of her opening her copy of Kimi to Boku no Michi and showing us the contents soon. It’s finally up!

So for those of us who can’t get a physical copy of the album for one reason or another, here you are:

奥華子さん 7thアルバム 君と僕の道 開封動画 by airuland875 [YouTube]

Ah, a copy of Hanako to Yorimichi / 華子と寄り道 ! Also, those are some really nice photos in the booklet.

More videos of airuland875 opening Oku Hanako releases:

• Band Live Tour’11 “Cinderella”/CONCERT TOUR’12 Hikigatari ~5th Letter~ / バンドライブツアー’11 “シンデレラ”/CONCERT TOUR’12 弾き語り～5th Letter～
• Fuyu Hanabi / 冬花火

Birthday

Birthday

Today is Oku Hanako’s birthday! She was born in 1978, which means she turns 36 today (pretty hard to believe, isn’t it?).

If you’re ever looking for a legitimate excuse to listen to her songs exclusively all day, today’s your chance.

You just knew I had to post this song today, didn’t you? Well, it is quite fitting.
Birthday is the title track of her 2009 album. It’s a fun song; I’d even describe it as “bouncy“, especially with what the strings do.

So here we go, let’s let Oku-san sing herself a happy birthday:

Birthday – Oku Hanako by Zorana Ivory [YouTube]

Aaah! I fall for her “sou”s every time….

Happy birthday, Oku Hanako! We love you and hope you have many more years to come.

Kimi to Boku no Michi released!

Kimi to Boku no Michi / 君と僕の道 has been released! It was released a few hours ago, actually, because of time zone differences.

Kimi to Boku no Michi (CD+DVD)

Kimi to Boku no Michi (CD only)

1. Kioku / 記憶 (“memory”)
2. Period / PIRIODO / ピリオド
3. blue green
4. Fuyu Hanabi / 冬花火 (“winter fireworks”)
5. Maboroshi no Hibi / 幻の日々 (“everyday dream”)
6. Aimai na Kuchibiru / 曖昧な唇 (“vague lips”)
7. 10 Nen / 10年 (“year 10”)
8. Anata to Denwa / あなたと電話 (“phone call with you”)
9. Wedding Dress
10. Shiwakucha / しわくちゃ (“wrinkled”)
11. HIKARI (“light”)
12. Mirai Chizu / 未来地図 (“future map”)
13. Michi / 道 (“road”)

Chocolate / チョコレート

Chocolate / CHOKORĒTO / チョコレート

2014-08-05: Added translation

A little fun song before Oku Hanako’s birthday next week. I’m sure she’s hoping for a little chocolate, too.

It’s a cute love song, with some clever metaphors. I don’t have much to say, but enjoy!

チョコレート (Chocolate) – Hanako Oku [zing.vn]

That melodica in the interlude is a nice touch.

Oh, so cute! I don’t know, does this beat TAKOYAKI as her cutest song?

Theme changed on official site [2014-03-08]

It’s been a while since they’ve changed the whole look on Oku Hanako’s official site. The last time they changed the whole theme was sometime between June 23, 2012 and November 3, 2012. Here’s what it looks like now:

okuhanako.com homepage, 2014-03-10

Of course they used that image; after all, it is really cute….

The navigation grid on the left has a new entry: Oku Hanako’s official fan site, announced on her blog on January 25, 2014.

I was considering changing the background color of Thoughts on Oku Hanako to a similar red colour, but I couldn’t find one that I liked, and for the one that I did like, the text was hard to read. If anyone can come up with a suitable colour, please drop me a comment.

Lost Time / ロスタイム

Lost Time / ROSUTAIMU / ロスタイム

2015-03-20: Added translation

Yes, that’s “loss”, not “lost”; if I’m not mistaken, “lost” is transliterated in katakana as ROSUTO / ロスト . Since it’s “loss”, the title should be interpreted similarly to “a time for loss”. Unfortunately, the machine translation is way too jumbled for me to figure out what it’s about, so I can’t give any meaning to the title. As Rosanne pointed out in her post, it actually is “Lost Time”.

“Lost Time” is the opening track for Oku Hanako’s 2012 album, “good-bye”, and it’s not a bad choice at all. Considering the rest of the tracks on the album, I’d say “Loss Time” can be taken as an average of sorts: walking pace with a light-but-not-too-light arrangement. In my opinion, it’s probably one of her most pleasurable songs to listen to.

ロスタイム (Loss Time) – Hanako Oku [zing.vn]

I’m here with my hands pressed up against my headphones, speechless in awe of how beautiful the song is. I’m here debating whether I should listen to it again; it’s so good that I want to, but it ended on such a satisfying note that I don’t want to ruin it (not that this is the first time I’ve listened to it).

Just leave me here to sigh in peace….

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I find almost every album of hers has a song which is predictive of the overall feel of her following album. Although I closely associate “Loss Time” with “good-bye”, having heard Fuyu Hanabi / 冬花火 and Anata to Denwa / あなたと電話 from her latest single, I think this song might just be that predictive song on the album (the two songs on the single will also be included in her next album).