Official PV for Nikki released!

Without further ado, check out the newest PV for Rabbit's first single "Nikki"!

Your thoughts? :)

LOVE COOK - a review

In 2005 Ai Otsuka released her third studio album – “LOVE COOK”. Its release, on December 14, 2005, was preceded by three singles featured on the LP: “SMILY / Biidama”, “Neko ni Fuusen” and “Planetarium”. The album was available in four versions: regular CD only and regular CD+DVD (the same cover) and two limited editions: CD + illustration book and CD + Photobook.

I’m a happy owner of the edition with the illustration book :) The book is about an adventure of LOVE-chan which Ai drew and wrote herself. You can see the pages photographed by me here.

“LOVE COOK” is Otsuka's best-selling album (835,333 copies sold) and one of the most popular ones (around a year on Oricon Top 300), but... is it really deserved? Let's have a closer look :)

I was kind of confused after listening to this album for the first time. Literally: I didn't know whether I liked it or not. In terms of individual songs, I was generally impressed, but when it comes to the whole... not really. Unlike “LOVE JAM” or even “LOVE PUNCH”, “LOVE COOK” doesn't seem to be cohesive at all. It starts flawlessly, but the rest is generally quite forgettable (as for Ai-chin), excluding some randomly placed brilliant songs. This album is simply uneven: some songs could be tagged as "epic", others as "anything but epic", the rest as "generic". If I was to say which album contains Ai's the least successful songs, I would say "LOVE COOK". However, since it features also several perfect wins, it is by no means a bad album.

Let's rate the songs now, as I said earlier that individual approach works better for “LOVE COOK” :) Rating will be done in frying pans, because of that:

Each song can score max. 5 frying pans. Let's go!

5:09am

Ai should do intros, if they are to sound like “5:09am”. Definitely it is one of her best songs in terms of vocal performance. Her powerful, loud and emotional voice here gives me goosebumps every time I listen to this. Ai needs to do more rock (but not in the cutesy rendition like in “Happy Days” or “Do Positive”).

Five frying pans out of five for a great opening to the album.

Haneari Tamago

After a strong rock intro, Ai sings a beautiful ballad which belongs to my best favourites (along with “Kumuriuta”). The melody is simply breathtaking and Ai's delicate, crystal clear voice fits it perfectly. It's a shame that it didn't become a single. I'm sure it could have been a success comparable to ”Ren'ai Shashin” and another #1 on Oricon...

Six frying pans out of... oh, wait. OK, so five it is... :)

Biidama

This track and the subsequent one are two main songs from the double A-side single "SMILY / Biidama". It's one of Ai's biggest successes, as the songs topped the Oricon charts and sold very well. “Biidama” is a cute mid-tempo song with nasal vocal (which seems to be extremely popular in Japan). What I particularly like in it is Ai's funny dancing in the PV and the carefree happiness which takes you over while listening to this song :) Moreover, the jazz arrangement used in Ai am BEST Tour is pure love :3

Four decent frying pans out of five.

SMILY

I hate to say that, but I really dislike this song. Even though I'm a loyal and dedicated fan of Ai-chin, I can't stand it. I'm not saying that it's bad, because it reached #1 for a reason, but the level of cutesy and upbeatness in it is over the top... even for me :P

Three frying pans for the number one. If it wasn't for that, only two pans would be granted.

U-Boat

This is one of the few forgettable and generic songs that Ai has ever made. It's similar to “SMILY”, but more moderate. However, the two songs are so close to each other (in sound and in placement), so you can only remember the exaggerate” SMILY”, so “U-Boat” goes on unnoticed... The PV, even though it's happy and full of summer energy, is also nothing very special.

Three and a half, because of the moderation and because the summery happiness is good.

Neko ni Fuusen

Strange as it sounds, this song, being fairly average, became a single and sold quite well, moreover, I like it very much :) Is it because of the feline theme? The song is dominated by acoustic guitar and Ai's sweet nasal vocal (so that she even sounds like a cat). What I don't like in it is the PV, which features digitally created cats. The cats are stiff as if they had advanced rigor mortis, so a hint for the animation director: work harder! :P

Four frying pans, because of my personal bias :)

Cherish

After a slight drop in quality of music, we're reaching the brilliance again. “Cherish” was featured on a tribute album “LOVE for NANA" and due to its huge popularity, also on “AI am BEST” compilation, even though it never was a single. This is a little dark rock song with a painful message that love is more about suffering than happiness. The lyrics are so different in comparison to other Otsuka's texts, that they really deserve some attention. The song is so good that it's a shame that Ai doesn't seem to follow this musical path anymore. As I said before, a little bit more of serious rock in Ai's discography would be awesome.

Five out of five, because it's a widely recognised pinnacle of this album and I share this opinion.

Ramen Sanpun Cooking

Yeah, a typical Ai-chan's prank - when the emotions are high, she suddenly brings us down to earth with something like “Ramen Sanpun Cooking”... Although Ai's fans prefer “SMILY” over this one, I like it better for a reason I can’t explain :P This song is weird and basically about nothing lyrical (cooking a soup?) which makes it a song which you react to with a confused grin and... rarely come back to. At least this is what I do. Generally, from all these jolly prank songs (e.g. “Katorisenkou”, “Mousou Chop”, “Babashi”, etc.) this one is the weakest.

Three frying pans. Enough to do some cooking :)

Tokyo Midnight

Ai-chan decided to do some jazz and appeal to the more mature audience with new classy sound... The effect is quite good, however, it’s evident that these were Ai’s first steps in this kind of music. Luckily, Ai is a good musical learner, so the next steps were far more successful which is best expressed in her fifth album “LOVE LETTER” :)

However, I give only three and a half, because we demand more from jazz than from pop.

Planetarium

This song is probably the fans’ favourite of all time. Most listeners admit that it’s one of the most beautiful ballads that Ai has ever sung, equally with” Daisuki dayo”. I agree that it’s a great song, but “Planetarium” isn’t my personal favourite (because it’s “Haneari Tamago” which blows my mind, of course). I love the imagery of this song, the PV and the starry cover of the single :)

Five frying pans are truly deserved.

Birthday Song

A song that all Ai-chan’s fans know from LOVE is BORN concerts :) I don’t listen to it very often, but it is one of the most adorable songs from Ai and I love every performance of it (especially the birthday cake part :D).

Four and a half for the unforgettable sentimental pleasure :)

LOVE MUSiC

Even if the content of “LOVE COOK” isn’t always very impressive, at least it is properly framed: both the opening and ending sound great. The flawless start demands an appropriate ending :) Luckily, it was achieved, because ”LOVE MUSiC” gently wraps up the album, settling the listener down. “LOVE MUSiC” is a sweet ballad – simple in melody, but rich in meaning. The PV for this song reflect the message of the lyrics. No words needed.

Five neat frying pans for a perfect ending!

We have reviewed the album thoroughly, so let’s now summarise what has been said:

It seems that “LOVE COOK” is a pretty nice album after all. Definitely it isn’t her best, but still it’s quite enjoyable. I think that it sold so well because of catchy singles and various tie-ins, not because of the extraordinary quality of the whole material. It’s a pity that all B-sides from the singles from 2005 are better than some album tracks (brilliant “Natsuzora” or “drop.”). Nevertheless, LOVE COOK is a nice title to have in the library for every J-pop fan. It contains a few tracks like “Planetarium”, ”Cherish”, “LOVE MUSiC” or “5:09am” which are always good to come back to.

Support Ai by buying this album:

YesAsia | CDJapan | Amazon.jp

A new frosty layout / Pocket PV

Today I felt like re-designing my layout :) The idea came to my mind when I was listening to "Pocket". The song fitted very well in this situation, mostly because it's so cold in Poland right now that I can't think about going out without having cold chills on my back :P

How do you like the new frosty layout? :) I think it looks very nice and it fits current weather (at least in my country).

The funny thing is that I didn't mean to make the colours and the general graphics so cold, even frostbitten xD It just turned out at the end, when I finished and evaluated the design. It's all because of listening to "Pocket" and watching the PV today :)

Speaking of which:

As I said some time ago, Ai-chin can even make the winter look brighter :)

I love xxx PV and... PV :)

Hello! I have a great news for you - the official PV for 'I love xxx' is available to see now, here you are:



It's cute, isn't it? :) Even though I wanted to see Ai herself in the video, I like it. It seems that Ai-chin is now into kind of conceptual videos, more than ones centered on her... Well, it's always a kind of breaking the routine ^^

And here you have Minna no Uta version - it's a sweet animation :)

LOVE.IT!

'Para para para para...' - I can't get this melody out of my head... It's pulsating and vibrating deep down in my brain, driving me crazy! Attention - the new Ai Otsuka's mini album called 'LOVE.IT' is highly addictive!

Brief summary: 'LOVE.IT' sounds roughly like a cute little rabbit thrown into a rose abyss of the matrix which had been multiplied by pink candyfloss connected with an insane melody from an ancient console game (ancient = somewhere around 80's).

No, it wasn't seriously.

Now it's seriously.

There's not much to review, because the album consists of only 6 songs, from which 2 were previously released on singles. Nevertheless, for Ai Otsuka's fans, this is an entirely new sensation. 'LOVE.IT' doesn't sound like Ai at all. Her electronically modified voice here is something different from the voice we are familiar with, which makes us think that it's not Ai who sings. One of the things that can help us recognise the vocalist is the energy that flows out of the songs. They are fast and energetic, yet more insane than 'Sakuranbo' or 'PonPon' (yes, that's possible). However, I wouldn't say that the material is similar to previous Otsuka's records, because it belongs to a special category: the one owned by a widely known to all Ai's fans rabbit - Love-chan. The whole album is devoted to it (her?). Since Ai still treats her little usagi as a living person, we can assume that it's not Ai-chin who sings all these songs, but it's Love-chan. Ai only helped her to write the music or lyrics or something :P Yes, being a Otsuka's fan means that you have to imagine those things! Where would be the MAGIC otherwise?...

What I like the most about the album is the free flow of the songs. All the numbers are connected into a pleasant whole, moreover, you can't really mark the moment where 'MOONLIGHT' ends and 'RED EYE' begins. At least I couldn't. I listened to this without realizing that those are 2 separate songs. What is even more cool, 'MOONLIGHT' and 'RED EYE' together create an extraordinary, relaxing mood which lasts to the very last seconds. I love it! When I need to forget about everything, I play the two and close my eyes. It always works. Have you ever paid attention to those cute piano tunes in 'RED EYE'? It seemed to be impossible to include classical instruments on the album like that and make it sound brilliant together. Yet it was possible... BRAVO, AI-CHIN! (sorry, Love-chan... :D)

If you want me to give you a special evidence that "LOVE.IT.' is worth listening, then be aware that from my experience 'MAGIC' works as the best alarm clock in the whole world. Nothing can wake you up so effectively without making you feel like throwing the clock out of the window :D Believe me, since this tune serves as my alarm, I wake up every morning with the energy and smile (however, realizing that I'm still in this DAMN dormitory spoils it a little bit, but don't worry - it's only my case :P). Can be anything better on Earth? :)

In this player you can listen to samples from "LOVE.IT". Enjoy!

 

'aisu x time' - lyrics, translation and video

At the meantime, I decided to upload kanji, romaji and the English translation of the latest hot song by our sweet Ai-chin - 'aisu x time'. This song is a new version of 'One x Time' which appeared on Ai's album 'Love Letter'. The single was recorded with Su from the Japanese hip-hop group Rip Slyme.

Here you are: the lyrics. In case of any trouble with displaying kanji, click here.

'aisu x time' - kanji

今から言う言葉が合図になったら

興味深い時間の始まり

キズがそっと癒えるようなキス

うしろめたいが

何度も　愛の花びらに触れたい。

全て秘密　次はいつ会えるかな?と　鼻と鼻のキス

君は「witch」

wow wowつかんだリネン

食いちぎるオレの理念

消去ばかりのEメール

暗黙の偽善のラブゲーム…

指先から見えたのは

柔らかい唇

それを右にそれを左に

それを上に　上に

目が合ったので

それをさらに上に　上に

おでこにキスをした

まるで　針のない　時計

ah ah 遊びだした指先が、湧き出す想いとからまる

真ん中　下へ　真ん中　下へ　すべるように　ように

君と目が合うたび　小さなベロを出し、さらに。。。

下に　下に　這うようにキスした

重なる　一瞬の　時計

君の瞳の中の星　見つめていたら

心に魔法をかけてみたくなった

今から言う言葉が合図になったら

興味深い時間の始まり

君の瞳の中の星　見つめていたら

心に魔法をかけてみたくなった

今から言う言葉が合図になったら

興味深い時間の始まり

本当の言葉は言えない

本当の言葉は聞けない

吹き続く風に炎が

消えるのがこわくて

本当の事は見えない

本当の事は知らない

心が求め合うんだ

もっと深く。。。

溶けるように　重なる

また　離れていく

二人が刻んでゆく

One×Time

'aisu x time' - romaji:

Ai Otsuka: italics
Su: normal font 

Ima kara iu kotoba ga aizu ni nattara
Kyoumi fukai jikan no hajimari

Kizu ga sotto ieru you na kisu
Ushirometai ga
Nando mo ai no hanabira ni furetai.
Subete himitsu tsugi wa itsu aeru kana? To hana to hana no kisu
Kimi wa ｢witch｣
wow wow Tsukanda rinen
Kuichigiru ore no rinen
Shoukyo bakari no E mēru
Anmoku no guzen no rabu gēmu...

Yubisaki kara mieta no wa
Yawarakai kuchibiru
Sore o migi ni sore o hidari ni
Sore o ue ni ue ni
Me ga atta no de
Sore o sara ni ue ni ue ni
Odeko ni kisu o shita

Marude hari no nai tokei

ah ah Asobi dashita yubisaki ga, waki dasu omoi tokaramaru

Mannaka shita e mannaka shita e suberu you ni you ni 

Kimi to me ga au tabi chiisana bero o dashi, sarani...

Shita ni shita ni hau you ni kisu shita 

Kasanaru isshun no tokei 

Kimi no me no naka no hoshi mitsumete itara
Kokoro ni mahou o kakete mitaku natta
Ima kara iu kotoba ga aizu ni nattara
Kyoumi fukai jikan no hajimari

Kimi no me no naka no hoshi mitsumete itara
Kokoro ni mahou o kakete mitaku natta
Ima kara iu kotoba ga aizu ni nattara
Kyoumi fukai jikan no hajimari

Hontou no kotoba wa ienai
Hontou no kotoba wa kikenai
Fukitsuzuku kaze ni honoo ga
Kieru no ga kowakute

Hontou no kotoba wa mienai
Hontou no kotoba wa shiranai
Kokoro ga motome aun da
Motto fukaku...

Tokeru you ni kasanaru
Mata hanareteiku
Futari ga kizande yuku
One×Time

'aisu x time' - English translation:

If the words I’m about to say become a sign
Then the fun time is about to start

Kiss my wounds, so that they will heal soon
Even when you feel guilty from time to time
I want to touch these petals of love again and again.
Can we see each other again, even though our secrets are so serious? 　 Kiss my nose again and again
You are a "witch"
wow wow, I burrow in your underwear
You are completely at a loss because of me
Your mails drive me insane
Your quiet Love Game is a hypocrisy・・・

Seeing your soft lips
From the edge of my fingertips
To the right of that, to the left of that
To something above that, above that
Our eyes met
Then suddenly above that again, again
I left a kiss on your forehead

A clock that is entirely without hands

Ah Ah, this game of our fingers brings back memories which drive me crazy

Below the centre, below the centre 　 so that it slips, it slips

Show me your tongue if we look in the eyes of each other...

Then suddenly below that, below that 　 you trailed a series of kisses

The moment the clock’s hands overlap

If I gaze at the star within your eyes
It makes me wanna cast a spell on your heart
If the words I’m about to say become a sign
Then the fun time is about to start

If I gaze at the star within your eyes
It makes me wanna cast a spell on your heart
If the words I’m about to say become a sign
Then the fun time is about to start

You can’t say words which are true
You can’t hear words which are true
This flame is burning against a strong wind
and is on the point of dying

You can’t see things which are true
You can’t recognize things which are true
Our hearts need each other
Deeper and deeper...

Overlapping in a way that it thaws
Again, they separate
We embrace each other
One×Time

credit: Crystallas @ Channel-Ai

At the end, I have a small surprise for you - the hottest videoclip that Ai has ever shot :) Enjoy!

'LOVE JAM' - Review

Have you even been in a situation in which you weren’t able to state clearly your feelings? Like you couldn’t definitely say whether you liked something or not. When you felt that it was a must to make up your mind, you would rather say that you hated it than to admit dishonestly that it was fabulously excellent. When it comes to me, this kind of irritating confusion happened to me at least twice. This second time got me a few weeks ago. I can remember the disturbing feeling of uncertainty that filled my mind and delicate whispers of the little white-winged LOVE-chan on my shoulder telling me to finally decide... Willing or not, I had to face it.

‘LOVE JAM’!... First time, it left me puzzled and amazed – starting from the booklet. The cover – it sure is unusual. You can see it here. Nothing but a cute Japanese girl with her face decorated with spots of colourful jam all over her cheeks and nose. One might say: ‘Delicious!’, meaning not only the funny side of this make-up. Personally, I find it not only original and amusing, but also subtly suggestive, especially with some of her lyrics ('Kuroge Wagyuu Joushio Tan Yaki 735 Yen' for example). However, Ai’s sensual hints in her looks and in her lyrics aren’t serious and nasty – they are more about fun and innocent enjoyment. Moreover, they don’t appear often, I would say that they are a kind of little sweet enhancement to her music, which fits her perfectly. Ai is definitely an attractive girl, who likes to highlight her natural feminine charm, but it’s not enough for her. When she feels like it, she can wear comfortable loose clothes with heavy boots and she still looks cool. Both styles make a wonderful combination, which we can admire looking at her ‘LOVE JAM’ photos.

Ai-chan being super cute...

 

...and less cute :P But still she looks much better in those clothes than Avril Lavigne...

 
Let’s move on to the music now. What’s striking about Ai’s second album is the diversity. I guess this was the main factor that put me off at the very beginning. I just imagined that a CD must be consistent within a genre, which means no experiments. Apparently, I haven’t known enough albums to judge that yet. It seems that mixing rock, j-rock, pop, j-pop, electro and moving ballads can give a surprisingly nice effect. It was hard to chew over at the very first listening, but in time, all pieces together created a wonderful whole.

The album starts with two energetic j-rock songs (‘Superman’ and ‘Happy Days’). The first one always puts me in a good mood, even though I can’t stand Ai’s EngRish attempts in it (to my great surprise, ‘I see love you’ as I heard, turned out to be ‘I think I love you’...), while the second song is really hard for me to listen. ‘Happy Days’ was released as a single, but I think that there were better songs on the album than this one. Since this piece was recorded in an extremely kawaii j-rock style, it can’t be called the most mature Ai’s song. On the CD there is one similar number - totally insane ‘Pon Pon’. It’s such a weird song that it’s inexplicably fascinating. I’d rather not to wonder what mental state brought that to be :P No, it’s a joke...

Promotional photo from 'Happy Days' single

‘LOVE JAM’ is not only about j-rock and j-pop. Luckily, Ai gave us a beautiful bunch of great love songs with a deep message. Believe me or not, she is able to change your mood – from fresh and playful to nostalgic and loving – without noticing. She punched us with two upbeat numbers at the beginning, then she performed slower and more classical ‘Strawberry Jam’ to finally strike with the wonderful love ballad called ‘Daisuki dayo’. It was the song that opened the career’s doors to Ai. She won the Avex Trax audition with this piece and I think that she fully deserved it. People say that this touching song about a died boyfriend belongs to her top-class numbers. The other outstanding ballad included on ‘Love Jam’ is truly original and extraordinarily mature ‘Kingyo Hanabi’. It takes your breath away just from the first piano notes and keeps you speechless to the very end. It’s one of the songs that are called masterpieces from the first listening. This song was so popular in Japan that there was not only a regular videoclip shot, but also a short movie, with the plot based on 'Kingyo Hanabi' lyrics. You can find it on the ‘LOVE JAM’ DVD additional disc.

I could talk hours and hours about the rest of the album, but I’m afraid it would be too boring :) I want to mention about 2 more songs that I find especially interesting – first of those is ‘Sensu’. Slow, but with a catchy melody, relaxing and beautiful... I love it. The second song is ‘Mousou Chop’, which is crazy, but not as much as ‘Pon Pon’, luckily... :) Nobody could stand two similarly weird songs on the one CD. ‘Mousou’ is a kind of an experiment, because this song is totally different from the rest. I like to think about this songs as 'R2-D2 song' xD It starts from electronically distorted sounds and leads us to Ai’s voice, but... sounding like an astromechanical robot! Surprisingly, this effect isn’t bad, however, I’d rather listen to Ai’s natural sweet voice. In spite of that, I like the chorus, as it feels like recorded in the space.

Now that I made up my mind, I can say strongly that ‘LOVE JAM’ will become one of my favourite albums of all times. Mostly, it’s because it’s freshness and energy that it gives me everytime I listen to it. Even though I thought that I wouldn’t listen to it again at the beginning, I’m very glad that I decided to do this. Definitely, it was worth trying. They say that many masterpieces are appreciated only after a very long time... I find it true. At this moment the end of this review has come... and I can’t wait to play ‘LOVE JAM’ out loudly! :) ‘Daaaaaisuki yo...’

If you are interested in Ai Otsuka's music from her 'LOVE JAM' album, here you have a handful of videoclips from YouTube:

'Daisuki dayo' 



'Kuroge Wagyuu Joushio Tan Yaki 680 Yen'



The very last clip is the single version of the song, which seems to be better than the album version.
Read carefully the translation of the lyrics to see my point about Ai being suggestive and sexy :)

ネコに風船 ('Neko ni Fuusen') lyrics and video

I decided to post the lyrics of ネコに風船 as first, because it seems that this song is my favourite. I can't help the feeling that this song is about me :)
Here you are: kanji, romaji and English translation. I hope that you are able to display the Japanese characters correctly, if not, try to install fonts. You can find some help here.

ネコに風船

あたしのおうち 商店街の本屋の橫
每日 車と 变わらず たくさんの人たち流れる
氣づけば ネコと呼ばれて自分がネコだって 氣づいた
氣づけば ネコ科のなんとかってゆう種類に わけうれてた
あたしを見て にゃ–ぁおって言ってくる
バ力じゃない？ と言っても 通じなくて かわいいと╴瞬のもてはゃし

好きな卜キでかけて 好きな卜キに甘えて
精一杯 ただ 生きている 今 だからこそ
こんな暗い世界にも 小さな愛はたくさんある
いつだってそこにある 自分で見つけにいける距離

あたしのおうち 商店街の八百屋の隣
自分勝手な奴らが 每日 ゴミを捨てる
火のついた たばこ 踏んで あたしの火球は火傷
このゃろうって言っても 通じなくて 冷たい眼差しで見てくる

好きな卜キに泣いて 好きな卜キに安らいで
ツソプルなことだったはずが 難しかったりする
こんな悲しい世界にも 小さな愛はたくさんある
大きくなくていい ふくらんでゆく 赤い風船になる

淚は
淚の種のまま
咲がせてゃろう。

好きな卜キでかけて 好きな卜キに甘えて
精一杯 ただ 生きている 今 だからこそ
こんな暗い世界にも 小さな愛はたくさんある
いつだってそこにある 自分で見つけにいける距離
 
'Neko ni Fuusen' - romaji:

atashi no ouchi shoutengai no honyasan no yoko
mainichi kuruma to kawarazu takusan no hitotachi nagareru
kizukeba neko to yobarete jibun ga neko datte kizuita
kizukeba nekoka no nantoka tte iu shurui ni wakerareteta
atashi wo mite nya-a tte ittekuru
baka jyanai? to itte mo tsuujinakute kawaii to isshun no motehayashi

suki na toki dekakete suki na toki ni amaete
seiippai tada ikiteiru ima dakara koso
konna kurai sekai ni mo chiisa na ai ha takusan aru
itsu datte soko ni aru jib un de mitsuke ni ikeru kyori

atashi no ouchi shoutengai no yaoya no tonari
jibun katte na yatsura ga mainichi gomi wo suteru
hi no tsuita tabako funde atashi no niku?? ha kashou
kono yarou tte itte mo tsuujinakute tsumetai manazashi de mitekuru

suki na toki naite suki na toki ni yawaraide
shinpuru na koto datta hazu ga muzushikattari suru
kono kanashii sekai demo chiisa na ai ha takusan aru
ookikunakute ii fukurandeyuku akai fuusen ni naru

namida wa
namida no tane no mama
sakasete yarou


'Neko ni Fuusen' - English translation:

Everyday where I live - next to the streetside bookstore
Crowds of people and their cars go by as usual
It was when they called me a cat that I realized that I was a cat
They even had a name for the whatever breed of cat I am

They look at me and meow at me
'Are you stupid', I ask, but they don't understand me
'How cute!', they ignorantly praise

I come and go when I want to
I'm loving when I care to be
It's hard enough as it is, just struggling to get by
Even in a world as dark as this
There's a wide sprinkling of love out there
Love is there, always within reach, if you go and look for it

Where I live - next to the streetside grocer
Everyday those inconsiderate people litter their trash without a care

Accidentally stepping on their lit cigarettes, my paws get burnt
'Who do you think you are?', I complain, but they don't understand me
They just give me a cold, uncaring glance

I cry when I want to
I relax when I want to
It should have been simple enough to live this way
It's been harder than it seemed
Even in a world as dark as this
There's a wide sprinkling of love out there
It's fine that it's not much
In time, they'll collect and grow to become big red ballons

Tears...
Just like they are, tears are the seeds
Let them fall
Let them bloom

Written by Ai Otsuka.
I don't know the author of this translation, but if I get to know who they are, I will post this.

Here you have the video of 'Neko'.

Do you have the impression that those cats look a little bit funny? :D
I couldn't help laughing when I saw them flying with the ballons - stiff as dead :P