Cinema 2024: What's Next for Ashuu

[lagoluna]

Late December Ashuu released this video looking back on all of their work from 2024 set to a piano medley with a short story overlayed on top. The main character of this video is Miki from Synthesized Future (Synthesize You)


here is a transcription of all the dialogue, time-stamped by song:

Cinema 2024 japanese

0:03 Synthesized Future (Synthesize You)

今日、わたしは妙な夢を見た
そこには大きいなポスターと、冷たい扉
夢の中でも不思議と五感は冴えていく
薄気味悪い場所だ、と思った
次の夢を見ようと目を閉じると
後ろから少年の声が聞こえた
「なにか忘れもの？」
気づけばここにいたんだ、と伝えると
彼はこう言った
「じきにこのシネマ２０２４は閉まる」

0:034 Diverging Present (Trust Me)

「僕についてきて」
そう言うと彼は歩き出し
わたしも彼のあとに続いた
彼はここに詳しいようだった
始まりの時からここにいて
多くの物語を見てきたと言う
わたしの家の近くに映画館はなかったので
どのポスターも知らないものばかりだ
いまいち反応の悪いわたしを見かねて
彼は得意げにこう言った
「このシネマ２０２４はね」
「ずいぶんと賑わっていたんだよ」
じゃあなぜ潰れてしまったの？
そう尋ねると少年は笑っていた

1:16 Conflicting Wishes (There’s Nobody)

どうやらこの映画館は潰れたわけではなく
場所を移すだけらしい
「……こういう小さな映画館は」
「いつ無くなってもおかしくないけどね」
彼は寂しそうに遠くの空を見ていた
その彼も長い廊下を歩いていくと
一枚のポスターに目が留まった
少女の感情は分からない
でもどこか悲しい印象を受けるのは
周りに咲く花のせいだろうか

1:48 Transmitted Love (Remember Me)

なんだかこの道がずっと続くように思えて
出口まであとどれくらいか尋ねてみた
少年は振り替えてこう答える
「案外終わりはあっけないものだよ」
「でも」
「終わることにすら気づかなければ」
「それは永遠と言えるかもね」
……煮え切れない答えだが
もうすぐ、と受け取ることにした
「うーん、ここにもいないか」

2:24 Observer (Stargazer)

だれか探してるの？と尋ねると
「僕の片割れをね」
「でもこの様子だと先に行ったみたいだ」
「見た目はよく似ているけど」
「せっかちなところは正反対だね」
彼はほかにも色んな人の話を聞かせてくれた
賑やかで楽しそうね、と言うと
彼は嬉しそうに笑っていた
「さあ、着いたよ」
「もうこの階には戻れないけど」
「忘れ物はない？」

3:00 Elevator

「ミキを見つけた時は驚いたけど」
「会えて嬉しいよ」
わたしを知ってる？
思わず彼にそう尋ねる
「君は有名人だからね」
「たくさん話したいことがあるんだけど」
「……もう時間みたいだ」
「僕は用があるから、先に行くよ」
「じゃあ、また」
「よいお年を、なんてね」
すると少年の姿は見えなくなって
エレベーターは止まった

3:32 New Poster

扉が開くと
そこにはポスターが飾られていた
薄暗い部屋を歩いて近づいてみると
そこには見知った顔がいた
……ずいぶんと早い再会だね
得意げな顔の少年に、そう呟いた
夢はここでおしまい

and below is my translation:

Cinema 2024 english

0:03 Synthesized Future (Synthesize You)

I had a strange dream last night
I was in a room full of giant posters and a door that was cold to the touch
My senses were strangely sharp for a dream
There’s something off about this place, I thought
I wanted to see different dream instead so I closed my eyes
Then I heard a boy’s voice calling out from behind
“Looking for something you forgot?”
I told him that I’d somehow ended up here without even realizing it
And he said to me
“This is Cinema 2024, it’s going to shut down soon”

0:034 Diverging Present (Trust Me)

“This way”
He said as he took off
I followed him closely
He seemed to know this building very well
As if he’d been there all his life
He said that he came here to see all sorts of stories
There weren’t any theaters close by where I lived
So I didn’t recognize any of the posters
Looking at them didn’t elicit any sort of feelings from me
He seemed a bit bothered and proudly announced
“Y’know Cinema 2024…”
“Used to be pretty popular, actually”
Then how come it was shutting down?
When I asked he just laughed

1:16 Conflicting Wishes (There’s Nobody)

Maybe it’s more accurate to say that it’s
Moving locations rather than shutting down
“If a small theater like this just disappeared one day”
“I don’t think anyone would notice”
He looked so forlorn as he said that, staring off into the distant clouds
We started walking down a long hallway
My eyes lingered on a certain poster that caught my attention
I don’t really understand the emotion on that girl’s face
But I felt a sadness emanating from it
Maybe it had to do with the field of flowers she was lying in

1:48 Transmitted Love (Remember Me)

It felt like this hallway would go on forever
I asked him how much further it was to the exit
“The hallway ends pretty abruptly”
“But you probably won’t notice until we’re already there”
“It’s basically infinite in that sense”
…What an unhelpful answer
Before I had realized it we were standing at the end
“Huh, looks like they’re not here either”

2:24 Observer (Stargazer)

I asked if he was looking for someone
“My other half”
“It looks like they must have gone on ahead”
“They look pretty similar to me”
“But they’re an impatient type, we’re opposites in that regard”
He went on to tell me stories about many other people in his life
He seemed so bright and lively as he laughed
“Well, we’re here”
“Once you leave this floor you can’t go back”
“You’re not forgetting anything, right?”

3:00 Elevator

“I was pretty surprised to run into the Miki here”
“I’m glad we met”
He knows who I am?
He replied immediately,
“You’re famous y’know”
“There’s a lot more I wish we could talk about”
“……But it looks like our time is up”
“I have somewhere I need to be, go on without me”
“See you soon”
“And happy new year”
as he said that he disappeared
The elevator came to a halt

3:32 New Poster

The doors opened
And on the far wall hung another poster
I walked across the dark room
Looking at it closely I saw a face I recognized
……I guess we met again much sooner than I thought,
I whispered to the boy with the proud face
And then the dream ended

I like how each little segment is subtly thematically related to the song playing, ie the idea of a small existence fading away without anyone there to notice in Conflicting Wishes (There's Nobody) or the idea of two conflicting halves of a person who come together to make a greater whole in Observer (Stargazer)... Regarding the Observer (Stargazer) segment more closely, since the ending reveals that our guide is played by Kagamine Len, it makes sense to assume that the 'other half' being referred to here is Kagamine Rin. Their relationship is still left vague here so whether she'll play a sister, lover, friend or some more complicated role in this upcoming work is unclear... I look forward to Ashuu's next release!

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this one's been sitting in my notes since the video was released basically ^_^; at least i remembered to post it before their next song came out... i feel like this is just an ashuu fan blog at this point