When you 're are Kira: Light: Hahaha I am Kira Like if u can relate!
Death Note's second opening is called "What's up, people?!" and it is by Maximum the Hormone. The song in question is a fast-paced metal song, which really caught me by surprise the first time I heard it; I didn't expect it at the time for an anime like Death Note. However, in retrospect, its inclusion makes sense and fits tonally with the chaotic mind games of the second half of the story. But that story and my reaction to the intro itself isn't what I'm here to talk to you about today. For, you see, I have noticed something about this song. Something of grave importance. Viz translated this song for their English subtitled release of the show, a translation which nowadays is very commonly found on English streaming platforms and home video releases. Their translation is generally more literal than fan translations I have seen, which takes more liberties to explain the meaning (e.g. "easy easy banzai" vs. "hurray, you're so useful"). However, one thing bothers me about these subtitles. You see, at the very end of the song, after the clamorous instrumentals and shouts of "What's up, people?!", one of the vocalists yells something. What is this something? Nobody can quite tell, for it is incredibly quick, with a loud and busy instrumental behind it, and in a scratchy, metal-y voice. I can't imagine anyone could figure out what the vocalist was trying to say, or even what language it was in for that matter. Thus, in essentially every fan translation I have seen, it is left untranslated. Yet not the Viz translation. There, this last shout is taken to mean "Are you worried?". This bothers me. It matches up thematically with the rest of the lyrics, and yet... There's so much wrong with this prospect. The singer speaks for about four seconds, and they're not exactly taking their time. It feels like they say much too much for a short sentence like that, even with differences in language density taken into account. In addition, how did the translator know that this was the translation? Did they get the official lyrics from the band? Did they make an educated guess? Were they just really good at understanding scratchy vocals in metal songs? Will we ever know the answer? I know not. Because even the official lyric sheet for this song, released by Maximum the Hormone themselves, does not contain this final phrase. It is entirely unaccounted for in every version and translation of the lyrics that I have encountered, except for this one ubiquitous release. This fact has haunted me from when I first watched Death Note in April of 2019 to this very day, and I have a feeling that it will continue to haunt me for as long as I live. If you, the reader, happen to have a solution to this mystery, please come forward so that I may live in pain and frustration no longer. Thank you.
