What happens when Greece meets Japan? No, I'm not talking about the disaster at the last World Cup (FYI 0-0 and not because both sides had an impeccable defense).
What happens when a Japanese songwriter takes on a Greek fable?
Here we have two cultures, both illustrious in their imagination, as evidenced (at the very least) by ancient Greek mythology, drama and literature on the other hand, and modern Japanese manga, animation and games on the other. Though these two cultures are separated by thousands of years in time and thousands of miles in space, when they happen to come together, what is the result?
This magnificent result! ZankyouP-san has subjected Aesop's fable of the boy who cried wolf to a twist typical of modern Japanese storylines where by the end everything is seen in an entirely different light.
Add a haunting triple time melody by Kid-san, and beautiful instrumentation by HzEdge-san, and awesome Len tuning, and I have to stop talking or I'll bore you to death about how much I love this song!
Actually I won't stop just yet, because I want to add a personal note. Being of Greek ancestry and having become interested in the Japanese language since high school, I found this combination close to my heart. I'm so happy that a Greek story has seen new life with such beautiful development.
Alright I'll stop now. I subbed オオカミ少年の最後の嘘 (Wolf Boy's Last Lie). Anyway, don't mind me. Just enjoy the song. My running commentary below has spoilers so please hear the song before you read further!
Here are some detailed comments about the lyrics. For brevity, only my translation is listed. See Len's Lyrics for the original Japanese.
The sun rises in the west, a sheep flew in the sky.
Steeped in lies as I was, people looked down on me.
We're introduced to the liar as told in the story.
Ah, things don't go your way
because everything in the world's a lie.
I'm not certain whether this is a general statement about the boy's view of life or a specific incident in the song.
"A wolf's coming!" I lie and laugh.
I make fun of how people are foolishly wondering what to do.
This presents the story in Aesop's fable.
"A wolf's coming!" To a remote village like this,
even though I hope you all get eaten.
This adds further developments not in the original story: the setting is a remote village not frequented by wolves, and the boy's disdain for the villagers.
I first lied just to make you laugh,
at least that's what I thought.
We are now introduced to a new character, someone the boy wants to entertain. We also start to see the motive behind the boy's behaviour. Let's take it for now that "you" is a girl.
Where the wolf lives,
could it possibly be in my mind?
A doubt is expressed about whether the wolf is real. Therefore, there is a possibility that it is real.
"A wolf's coming!" I laugh at the truth,
even though the tasty sheep are you lot.
"A wolf's coming!" No-one believes it, right,
even though you're all going to die very soon.
As in the original story, the wolf arrives for real. The danger, however, is racheted up: it's not just sheep, it's the people themselves whose lives are in jeopardy.
――It's come. As a punishment, is one person enough?
This line develops further ZankyouP-san's twist to the plot of the story. If the wolf only gets one person, it might be satisfied and leave the rest of the villagers safe. If such fate was deserved for some reason, maybe that would be a satisfactory way to deal with the danger.
"The wolf has come!" In the waves of panicked people
I gently thrust you away from behind.
"Run away ahead of me. I'll soon catch up.
The new character again appears. This time, the boy is making sure that she gets away safely.
That was the boy's last lie.
The lie is that he will catch up. The truth is, he will never catch up. It was indeed the last lie he ever told. Why does he die? He will be the victim who will, as punishment for taunting the villagers, and to protect the girl, offer himself to the deadly, ravenous wolf.
I've loved you for a long time.
That was the boy's ……
Finally the motive behind the boy's behaviour has been explicitly disclosed. He made up the lies about the wolf to entertain a girl he loves. A simple addition of a romantic element and the whole plot is twisted around. The original fable does not offer any redeeming elements about the boy. This twist does. Behind the his nasty actions lay, at least, a partially good motive.
Further, the boy is willing to sacrifice his life for the one he loves. His self-sacrifice also atones for the harm he has done. The boy has more good in him than bad after all, it seems. In addition, that the boy is used to lying made it easier for him to tell the girl that he'll catch up―if he hadn't lied to her, the girl may have forced him to come with her or may have refused to leave him, putting herself in danger and potentially ruining the boy's plan.
So everything fits in so nicely. Nice job, ZankyouP-san! And that haunting melody, especially the flute! Nice job, all of you!
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