Learn Japanese With Janne Da Arc with these 18 Song Recommendations (Full Translations Included!)

"Curse" is Janne Da Arc at their most shameless. The singer opens by brushing someone off: "だから別に大丈夫だって" [So I said I'm fine], then "戯言は聞き飽きてきた早く消えろよ" [I'm sick of your nonsense, just get lost]. He even admits his only goal was physical, and pretty bluntly: "目的は粘膜とのハデなカラミアイ" [The goal was a wild tangle of skin on skin]. Then the twist lands. Some time after he threw his "toy" away, something goes wrong: "そして発動したあなたの呪い" [And then your curse kicked in]. 発動 is the word you'd use for a spell or a special move being triggered in a game, which is a fun choice here.

The curse is that nobody else satisfies him anymore. "あなたの感触じゃなきゃ 呪い解けない" [If it's not your touch, the curse won't break]. The middle of the song gets moody and smoky: "歪む煙乾いたノド" [Warped smoke, a dry throat], rolling dice to kill time, and a fortune reading where "不吉なカード 二度も並んだ" [the unlucky card came up twice]. Underneath the swagger he keeps confessing "今でも想うあなたを" [I still think of you], and the bright memories of the past make the present look even darker. The last line, "そして発動したヤリ足りない" [And it kicked in: I haven't had enough], uses ヤル, crude slang for sex, so treat that one as a word to recognise rather than repeat. Honestly, the whole thing is a bit much, and that is exactly why it's fun.

This is a pick-up artist's victory lap, sung by a guy who is proud of being a heartbreaker. He calls himself a magician, "俺は魔法使い" [I'm a wizard], and the spell he casts is seduction. He smiles, strokes her hair, kisses her, and the whole time he's thinking "『バカな奴 その気になって』" [what a fool, getting her hopes up].

The fun part is the wordplay. He opens with a kanji lesson: look at the character 恋 (romantic love) and "ほら'下'に'心'があるだろ?" [see, there's 心, heart, at the bottom]. The joke is that 下心 means a hidden, usually sexual, motive. Later he does it with the alphabet: right after 'H' comes 'I'. In Japanese slang エッチ ("H") means sex, and 'I' sounds like 愛 (ai, love). So when he says "「今君に'アイ'を捧げる」" [now I offer you my 'love'], he means the letter, not the feeling.

It is not a kind song, and it doesn't pretend to be. "後で泣こうが 俺には関係ない" [if you cry later, that's not my problem], and "朝になれば 消えるだけ" [come morning, I just disappear]. His parting advice is blunt: "傷ついて 何かを学べ" [get hurt and learn something]. Useful words to grab here: 仮面 (mask), 魔法 (magic) and 騙す (to trick).

FAKE is a song about losing at gambling and knowing full well you'll be back tomorrow. Janne Da Arc set it inside the narrator's head, where an angel and a devil are fighting, and the angel is hopeless at it: "あいかわらず天使は弱くて" (as always, the angel is weak). The devil holds out a hand, he takes it, and he admits he can't even count how many times he's been made a fool of: "バカを見る" is an idiom that means getting burned or ending up the fool, not literally "seeing an idiot".

The gambling details are specific and pretty funny. He bets on the dice: "ダイスが3の目なら" (if the dice come up three), then he'll call you an angel. The "銀の戦士達" (silver warriors) disappearing one by one are almost certainly his pachinko balls or coins running out, and under the flashy neon he mutters "「時間よ戻れ」" (time, go back). Luck itself becomes a woman he can't quit, "極上の麻薬みたい" (like the finest drug). My favourite line is the punchline aimed at her: "しっぽが隠れてないよ" (your tail is showing). Her devil's tail is sticking out, so she's "まがい者の天使様" (a fake angel), which is where the title comes from. He sees right through her, and he still can't stop: "やめられない" (I can't quit).

Janne Da Arc's "Explosion" starts out as pure rage. The singer has been lied to and dumped, "欺かれて '見捨てられて'" [deceived, "abandoned"], until his heart and even his face are twisted out of shape. The anger rises "紅蓮の炎 湧き上がる様に" [like crimson flames welling up], and the first verse goes dark fast: "同じ苦しみを味あわせてやる" [I'll make you taste the same pain]. Then comes the bully's logic, "目障りなら '壊せばいい'" [if it's in your way, "just smash it"], and a flat refusal to talk anything through. The English shouts in the chorus ("Don't stop fury", "P.A.I.N?") make it sound like a fight breaking out mid-song.

Then the song turns on that anger, and this is the fun part. "弱い犬ほどよく吠えるから" [the weaker the dog, the louder it barks] is a real Japanese proverb, close to "all bark and no bite". The chorus mocks someone who confuses "'反抗'と'主張'" ["rebellion" and "making a point"] and asks "いつまで ガキのままでいるの?" [how long are you going to stay a brat?]. ガキ is rough slang for a kid, and キレる / ブチギレ mean snapping or totally losing it, so "闇雲にブチギレパフォーマンス" [a blind, blow-your-top performance] is a pretty savage jab at tantrums staged for attention. The wordplay "ハッタリキメmotion" [a bluffing, posing motion] squeezes "emotion" into "motion" for show. It ends on a surprisingly kind note: stop dragging old wounds around and use that same energy to "消せない 炎を飛び越えろ!" [leap over the flames you can't put out!].

Janne Da Arc sing to someone still hurting after a breakup they never saw coming ("「まさか」の別れから" [since that "no way" goodbye]). They have grown timid, run from lonely nights and tried to lose themselves in the city. The song's sharpest line pins down what the loneliness really is: "一人が淋しいわけじゃなくて / 一人と思う事が淋しい" [it isn't being alone that's lonely / it's thinking you're alone].

From there the singer turns the hurt into a reason to move. Their days are "世界に1つの物語" [a story unlike any other in the world], and grief that won't fade will one day become "逃げない強さ" [the strength not to run]. The chorus is the invitation in the title: "旅立とう 地図にない場所へ" [let's set out for a place that isn't on any map]. Leave the extra baggage behind today, look up at the sun like "瓦礫に咲く花" [a flower blooming in rubble], and trust that once the rain you hate has stopped, you can start walking again.

This is a goodnight song, sung straight to someone at the end of a long day. It opens with "今日は疲れたね" (You're tired today, huh) and then notices something nice: "でもどこかうれしそうだね" (but you somehow look happy). The singer wants the story, "きかせてよ" (tell me about it), and guesses the reason: you were a little kinder than usual today and feel shy about it, "優しくなれた自分に テレながら" (blushing at the self who managed to be kind). テレる means to feel embarrassed in a sweet, bashful way, and it is a lovely word to learn. That good mood spreads until even "道ばたに咲いた小さな花まで" (even the little flowers blooming by the roadside) look beautiful.

The second verse flips it. Now the day went badly: "イヤな事でもあったの? 話してよ" (Did something bad happen? Talk to me). The person is crying over a self they dislike, and the singer does not try to fix it. Instead you get the gentlest line in the song, "誰も強くなんかない" (nobody is really strong), followed by the promise that tomorrow you can be "素敵な自分" (a wonderful you). The chorus is a bedtime ritual: let the night melt the day away, "夢で逢おうね" (let's meet in our dreams), and show me a good smile tomorrow too. My favourite bit is the second chorus, where the singer says "頬濡らしたままでもいいから" (it's okay even if your cheeks are still wet) before "もう、おやすみ" (now, good night). It is soft to the point of being a bit sugary, but it is also really useful Japanese: casual endings like ね and よ, and phrases you would actually say to someone you care about.

Janne Da Arc throw a party here and refuse to let anyone sit it out. "Easy Funky Crazy" opens like a host working the room: "しばらく 調子はどうだい?" (Long time, how are you doing?), then straight to "堅くなるなよ 好きなだけ狂え!" (Don't be so stiff, go as crazy as you like!). The whole song is an invitation to dump your problems for one night. Money and stress, he says, are not things you should bottle up: "金とストレスは / 溜め込むモンじゃない" (Money and stress / aren't things to hoard). Forget the person you can't stand, forget today, forget tomorrow, and "魂を解放しろよ" (set your soul free).

It gets cheekier as it goes, and it's pretty blunt about it. "アスピリンをくれ!" (Give me aspirin!) is a funny touch in the middle of a song about being in a "トランス状態" (trance state), and "裸になれ" (get naked) leaves little to the imagination. Learner tip: イカす is old-school slang for "cool" or "slick", while イカれる means "to go crazy", so "イカれちまおうぜ!" (Let's go crazy!) is the band's closing offer. And the last word belongs to the stage: "まだLIVEは終わらない" (The live show isn't over yet), with ライブ meaning a concert in Japanese.

"AGE" is Janne Da Arc picking a fight with growing up. The singer opens by telling someone to stop lecturing him from on high: お説教はやめてくれ (stop the sermon), and then shrugs it off with 俺はバカだからわからない (I'm an idiot, so I don't get it). 屁理屈 (herikutsu) is a great word to learn here: it means hair-splitting, quibbling logic, the kind of argument that is technically clever and totally useless.

Then the bravado cracks. He admits he has lost 出口と武器 (the exit and my weapons), and that lately he has even gotten good at fake smiles, 作り笑い. Back when he was fearless he had nothing to lose; now that he knows the fear of losing, he is at a fork in the road, 分かれ道. The chorus is his answer: ジャッジをくだせ (hand down the verdict), stop lying to your own heart, and if it's worthless, すべて捨ててしまえ (throw it all away). If people laugh and call him a brat, ガキ (a rude word for a kid), then fine: 大人にならなくていい (I don't have to become an adult).

My favourite image is the self-roast in the second verse: 角の丸い棘 (a thorn with its corners rounded off) can't pierce anything. That's him looking at his old rebellious self and admitting it has gone soft. The ending swings hopeful, lighting the contradictions he can't understand on fire until they turn into きらめく星のかけら (glittering fragments of stars).

"WILD FANG" is Janne Da Arc yelling at you to stop being polite. The chorus opens with "研ぎ澄まされた爪を立て" (raise your sharpened claws) and "今輝くために その牙を剥け" (bare those fangs so you can shine now), and the whole song treats your hidden 野性 (wild nature) as something everyone carries: "誰も皆 胸の奥に 眠る'野性'を宿してる" (everyone holds a sleeping wildness deep in their chest). The verses go after fake smiles and going along with the crowd. "右にならえ" is the classroom command "right, dress!" used when lining up, so "右にならえそれでいいの?" (just copy the person on your right, is that really fine?) is a jab at conformity, followed by "それじゃただの機械じゃない?" (doesn't that make you just a machine?).

The second half gets blunter, and honestly a bit much in the best way. "できるできないじゃなくて やるかどうかただそれだけ" (it's not about can or can't, only whether you do it) is pure pep talk, and then the singer tells you to "月に吠えろ!" (howl at the moon!) and "野蛮に踊れ" (dance like a savage). He has no patience for anyone scared of pain: "甘えているガキはお家へ帰れ" (spoiled brats can go home), where ガキ is rough slang for a kid and 甘える means leaning on others like a pampered child. Watch for 我無者羅, an unusual kanji spelling of がむしゃら (recklessly, with everything you've got). The odd comfort line keeps coming back too: "試練は乗り越えられない人に 襲いかかりはしない" (trials don't attack people who can't overcome them).

"Destination" by Janne Da Arc is a song about running flat out toward something you can't even see yet. It opens in a trap: "時の迷路は容赦なく" [the maze of time shows no mercy] keeps leading a lost child further astray. The scenery is all wreckage, "砕けたガラス 錆びた空" [shattered glass, a rusted sky], but look closer and there's "瓦礫に咲いている花" [a flower blooming in the rubble]. That one flower is the whole song's mood in miniature.

Then the chorus kicks the door in. "加速し続け 高鳴る胸" [I keep accelerating, my heart pounding] and "壊れてもイイ 視界は闇" [it's fine if I break, my view is pure darkness]. Note the katakana イイ in place of the usual いい: it's the same word for "good" or "fine", just written with more attitude. He's half blind, heading into a "向かい風" [headwind], and still begs "もう誰も止めないで" [nobody stop me anymore]. The second verse is darker. Dreamers end up "生きゆくために夢を削り" [whittling down their dreams just to stay alive], and the city is cold and lifeless. The last thing before the chorus returns is a question he can't answer: "何のため?誰のため?" [for what? for whom?]. I like that the song never answers it. It just floors the accelerator again.

"仮面" means "mask", and Janne Da Arc open by handing you a whole rack of them: "歓喜の仮面" (the mask of joy) worn "孤独を避けるため" (to avoid loneliness), "怒りの仮面" (the mask of anger) worn "弱い心守るため" (to protect a weak heart), and finally "笑顔の仮面" (the mask of a smile), right before the singer admits "僕はなぜか 泣いている" (for some reason, I'm crying). That is the twist of the song in one line: the happiest-looking mask is the one he cries behind. He lists his survival rules too, "声を殺して 耳をふさいで" (holding my voice back, covering my ears), and promises himself that if he just goes along with people he will "嫌われない" (not be disliked). Nice grammar tip here: "声を殺す" literally means "to kill your voice", but it just means keeping quiet so nobody hears you.

Then someone knocks: "胸の扉を叩いた" (knocked on the door of my heart). Their message is the heart of the song: "一人では何も出来ない" (alone, you can't do anything) is "'弱さ'じゃなく" (not 'weakness') but "'生きている意味'" (the meaning of being alive). The middle verse gets bleak, with his chest turned to "乾いた砂" (dry sand) and "息が出来ない でも外せない" (I can't breathe, but I can't take it off). By the end the other person does it for him: "仮面を外してくれた" (took the mask off for me). It is a bit earnest, sure, but the line "間違いは過ちじゃない" (a mistake isn't a sin) is a lovely thing to learn, because both words translate as "mistake" in a dictionary, and the song uses 過ち for the heavier, moral kind.

"In The Story" plays like the prologue to a dark fantasy game. It opens in a world with no morning, "朝のない闇の世界" (a world of darkness with no morning), where people have been robbed of "自由と眠り" (freedom and sleep), and every dream gets drowned out by "不協和音" (dissonance, literally "discordant sound"). Music is the thread through the whole thing: a frozen melody, then "破滅のメロディー" (the melody of ruin), and at the very end a call to play "五つのメロディー" (five melodies).

The second verse gets surprisingly direct about the planet. "化学に呪われた風" (wind cursed by chemicals) and "異臭放つ腐る海" (a rotting sea giving off a foul smell) describe a wrecked earth, the price of having "快楽選んだ" (chosen pleasure). Then the singer turns to you: "今君の住む世界も" (the world you live in now, too). The chorus is the hopeful part. History keeps coming round, "めぐりめぐる歴史", and he hands it "そっと君だけに" (quietly, to you alone), because "誰も皆 小さな天才" (everyone is a little genius).

Useful for learners: "君にだけにしかできない" (something only you can do) shows the "しか + negative" pattern, which means "only" even though the verb is negative. The song ends on a cliffhanger, with you standing on a hill "歩き出そうとしている" (just about to start walking).

"ナイフ" (Knife) is a breakup song where the narrator has decided she is not going to cry quietly about it. It opens on a late night in the rain, with her using the rain to hide her tears, and then turns straight to the man who lied to her: "嘘をつくあなたは何を守るつもり" (You who lie, what are you trying to protect?). He thought she would never notice, and she is furious that he took her for a child: "子供だからって馬鹿にしないで" (Don't make a fool of me just because I'm young).

The hook is where the song gets its edge. She gathers up "殺意にも似た愛情" (a love that looks a lot like murderous intent) and promises "裏切りのお返しは高くつくよ" (paying back betrayal is going to cost you). The knife of the title never quite gets used: she says she needs "ナイフ納める場所" (a place to put the knife away), and that she could finish him off any time ("とどめはいつでも刺せるわ"). It is melodramatic in the best visual-kei way. And then the last lines flip it all: before ending things on a rainy night just like the one they met on, she asks for one more night to have him all to herself, "独り占めさせて" (let me have you to myself). Useful words to grab here: 裏切り (betrayal), 約束 (promise), and 許せない (I can't forgive).

This is a Janne Da Arc song that keeps its voice low and lets the grief do the talking. It opens with a wish: "そっと 風にのって" [gently, riding the wind], the singer wants to send "白い花と 祈りを" [white flowers and a prayer] somewhere far away. Then the picture gets dark fast. There is "暗い海を漂う 少年" [a boy drifting on a dark sea], and the waves sing a lullaby that puts the whole town to sleep. That lullaby is not a comforting one. It is the sea swallowing everything: "夢も想い出も" [dreams and memories] and "願いさえも‥呑み込まれ" [even wishes, swallowed up].

The middle of the song is the hardest part. Even if children's smiles come back to this town one day, "あの子はもう還らない" [that child will never come back]. The verb 還る is a nice one to learn here: it means to return, often with a sense of going back home, and the song uses it again at the end when it asks for wind strong enough that the child's soul can rise and "空へ還れる様に" [return to the sky]. The parents get one blunt line each. The father waits for night so he can be alone and cry quietly, and the mother runs "海へ" [to the sea] chasing her child. The singer also promises "12月の空 忘れはしないから" [I will never forget that December sky], so the loss is tied to one specific month. It ends small, almost whispered: "届きます様に" [may it reach you], a set phrase for sending a hope or prayer to someone. Learn that one, you will hear it everywhere.

"Vanity" by Janne Da Arc is a song about loving someone who belongs to somebody else, sung by the person stuck in the middle. The narrator knows this woman through nights together, and he admits that in bed he gets "少しだけ意地悪になる" [a little bit mean]. He also tells us straight out why he never asks about the rest of her life: he is "現実 から逃げているだけ" [just running away from reality], because he can already see how it ends. His wish is simple and a bit desperate: "朝が来なければいいのに" [I wish the morning would never come].

The detail that sticks is the ring. "左くすり指に" [on her left ring finger] sits "光る目ざわりな指輪" [a shining, eyesore of a ring], and because of it "Kissが苦い" [the kiss tastes bitter]. くすり指 literally means "medicine finger", the everyday Japanese word for the ring finger, so the line is clearly pointing at a wedding or engagement ring. Then he asks the question he hates asking: "今夜は彼の腕の中で夢を見るの?" [Will you dream in his arms tonight?]. He even wonders if she is just tired of "火遊び" [playing with fire], the Japanese idiom for a risky affair. My favourite moment is the last line, which is quietly brutal: "触れあう度に 君が遠くへ見える" [every time we touch, you look further away].

Janne Da Arc's "Lunatic Gate" is a song about a man who knows exactly what this relationship is and still can't walk away. He opens on her eyes, "冷めた君の瞳" (your cold eyes), which he says are "相変わらず無機質な宝石みたい" (as always, like an inorganic jewel). She looks down on men, yet she's very good at 上目使い (glancing up through her lashes, the cute upward look). When he starts talking about "僕の彼女～" (my girlfriend...), she pretends not to hear and "僕の口唇にかみついて来る" (bites at my lips). So he's not exactly faithful either. His big promise is to take her to the "Lunatic Gate" and "何か隠してるその扉 開いてみせて" (open that door you're hiding something behind). The gift scene is blunt and a bit much: he buys her a low-cut dress not "着せたいから" (because I want you to wear it) but because he wants to take it off her.

Then it turns. Seeing her outside in daylight throws him: "暗闇より 太陽の下の方が 似合いすぎてる君を 見つめられないのはなぜ?" (why can't I look at you, when you suit the sunlight far more than the dark?). He feels led into a ラビリンス (labyrinth) and steered by her "いたずらな" (mischievous) little gestures. She wakes up in his arms knowing it's a "つかみ所のない関係" (a relationship with nothing to hold on to), and he spots "乾いた涙の跡" (traces of dried tears) under her forced smile. His line "うまく嘘をついて" (lie better) is cold, and it's the best moment in the song, because he admits right after that he used to prefer nights alone and now finds himself "君の感触をさがしてた" (searching for the feel of you).

Janne Da Arc's "IMAGE Or...." is a singer fed up with people inventing his life for him. It opens on years of grinding, "道に迷いながら" (while losing my way) and "眠気殺した日々" (days spent killing off sleepiness), and all he got for it was "わずかな誇りと" (a little pride and) "ありえないウワサ" (unbelievable rumors).

The chorus is where he loses patience. "シャレにならない もう笑えない" (it's no joke, I can't laugh anymore). シャレにならない is a handy idiom: literally "it doesn't become a joke", meaning something has gone too far to be funny. He calls the whole thing "ふざけた伝言ゲーム" (a ridiculous game of telephone), using 伝言ゲーム, the Japanese name for the party game where a whispered message gets garbled down the line. Then he quotes half a proverb, "「火のない場所には、、、」" (where there's no fire...), the Japanese version of "no smoke without fire", and turns it on the gossipers: past a point, the rumors are "かなり有害な煙の様に、、、。" (like a pretty harmful smoke).

The second verse is aimed at fans who read his lyrics as diary entries. "こんな僕でもたまには" (even someone like me, sometimes) "愛を唄う事ぐらいある。" (sings about love now and then), so "すべてを詩とリンクさせないで" (don't link everything to my lyrics). The funny, honest twist comes in the bridge: he admits "なぜか五割ぐらいは、、、" (somehow about half of it) "的を射てる、、。" (hits the mark). 的を射る means to hit the target, the same as "spot on" in English. He ends up feeling like he's being "誘導尋問されてるみたい" (asked leading questions), a legal term for questions built to trap you into an answer.

"HEAVEN" is a love song that keeps sneaking death into the room, and somehow it stays sweet. It opens with the singer telling his partner to stop looking so sad and just wait, because he's coming to get her: "迎えに行くから" (I'm coming to pick you up). Then he kicks off from the scorching asphalt and asks, "このまま二人で 天国まで行こうか" (shall we just go, the two of us, all the way to heaven?). It works as a joyride and as something heavier, and the rest of the song leans into both.

The promises are huge. Being born in the same era as her is, he says, the whole reason he's alive, and even if they're reborn he'll find her again "同じ場所で" (in the same place). He wants to be the sun so she never wilts, which pairs nicely with the shy line "愛の言葉はテレるけど" (words of love embarrass me). テレる is the casual way of saying you feel bashful, the blushing kind of awkward. The ending goes darkest: if he could die holding her hand he wouldn't mind, because with her there "優しい死神がきて" (a gentle grim reaper would come) and let him go peacefully. 死神 literally means "death god", and making him gentle is the song's whole trick: as long as she's beside him, even the end doesn't scare him.