1. あの日見渡した渚を 今も思い出すんだ

Romaji: Ano hi miwatashita nagisa o / ima mo omoidasu n da

Cultural Nuance: I still vividly recall the scenery of the coastline we gazed at together on that summer day.

🗣 Japanese Insight: The word "Nagisa" (渚) is a poetic term referring to the water's edge or the beach where waves wash ashore. This opening line serves as a signal for the story to drift from the "present" back into "past memories." Along with specific fragments like words carved in the sand and the sight of your back, a strong sense of nostalgia (hiraeth) is quietly introduced over the piano intro. This is not just a description of a landscape; it is a symbol of "that day" which remains in the protagonist's heart like an indelible scar.

2. 寄り返す波が 足元をよぎり何かを攫う

Romaji: Yorikaesu nami ga / ashimoto o yogiri nanika o sarau

Cultural Nuance: As the waves crash and recede, they pass over my feet and steal away something precious in an instant.

🗣 Japanese Insight: "Sarau" (攫う) means to snatch or carry something away by taking advantage of a momentary opening. It describes the waves erasing words written in the sand or unspoken feelings without mercy. This line overlaps the film’s theme of "a reality that cannot be redone" with the "unstoppable flow of time" symbolized by the waves. It creates a sense of "Mujo" (impermanence)—the feeling that even as you try to grasp something, time relentlessly takes it away.

3. パッと光って咲いた 花火を見ていた

Romaji: Patto hikatte saita / hanabi o mite ita

Cultural Nuance: Fireworks opened in the night sky with a sudden flash. The two of them were simply staring at that momentary brilliance.

🗣 Japanese Insight: The onomatopoeia "Patto" (パッと) refers to something suddenly shining or appearing in an instant. It perfectly symbolizes the explosive beauty and subsequent fleetingness of fireworks. While the word "Saita" (咲いた - bloomed) is usually used for flowers, in Japan, the way fireworks open in the sky is often compared to a "large flower." By repeating this phrase in the chorus, a vivid summer scene is burned into the listener's mind, expressing the paradoxical beauty of a "momentary eternity."

4. 「あと何度君と同じ花火を見られるかな」って

Romaji: "Ato nando kimi to onaji hanabi o mirareru kana" tte

Cultural Nuance: An innocent yet heartbreaking question: "How many more times will we be able to watch the fireworks together like this?"

🗣 Japanese Insight: The Japanese phrase "Ato nando" (あとなんど) carries a painful premonition that an end will eventually come. Nazuna, who is facing a sudden transfer to another school, and Norimichi, who learns this fact during the loop and struggles to take her away, project their cruel future—of soon being unable to see each other—onto the fireworks, which vanish so quickly. The boy's inner struggle—asking himself "What can I do for her right now?" as she asks about the future with a smile—symbolizes the purity and helplessness of youth.

5. 焦燥 最終列車の音

Romaji: Shousou / saishuu ressha no oto

Cultural Nuance: Irritation and anxiety. And the sound of the last train, announcing the end of this day.

🗣 Japanese Insight: "Shousou" (焦燥) is a formal word meaning to feel rushed or irritated because things are not going as planned. As DAOKO’s transparent voice and Yonezu’s powerful vocals layer and reach an emotional peak, the sound of the "Saishuu ressha" (最終列車 - last train) suddenly forces reality back upon them. This is a metaphor for a heartless time limit—the end of a childish elopement or the conclusion of the magical time known as summer vacation. Even if one repeats "what if," the premonition of the inevitable end is concentrated in these two terms.

6. はっと息を飲めば 消えちゃいそうな光が

Romaji: Hatto iki o nomeba / kiechaisou na hikari ga

Cultural Nuance: A light so delicate and fleeting that it feels like it might disappear the moment I hold my breath in surprise.

🗣 Japanese Insight: "Hatto" (はっと) is an onomatopoeia for a moment when one's movement stops due to surprise or realization. Combined with the idiom "Iki o nomu" (息を飲む - to gasp or hold one's breath in awe), it emphasizes the extreme beauty and fragility of the light (the fireworks or the memory of first love). As the lyric continues with "It surely still lived in my chest," it shows that the brilliance that should have vanished that day continues to live on in the protagonist's heart—a description of a light that brings pain because it cannot be forgotten.

7. 静かに消えた 離さないで もう少しだけ

Romaji: Shizukan ni kieta / hanasanaide / mou sukoshi dake

Cultural Nuance: The fireworks faded away in silence. But the heart is screaming, "Please don't let go," "Just stay like this for a little longer."

🗣 Japanese Insight: Turning from the climax of the chorus toward silence, this phrase beautifully depicts the "shadow after the firework fades." The plea "Hanasanaide" (Don't let go) and DAOKO’s overlapping "Hanarenaide" (Don't leave) highlight the earnest sense of distance where they can almost reach each other but not quite. In the darkness that follows a flash of light, the obsession to remain connected and stop time completes the song's intense sentimentality.

🎤 Emotional Summary

DAOKO × Kenshi Yonezu’s "Uchiage Hanabi" is a song that encapsulates an instantaneous explosion (light) and the eternal silence that follows (shadow).

Fireworks that bloom "Patto" and vanish "Patto" are beautiful precisely because they are fleeting—much like the summer escape of a boy and girl—making them impossible to forget. Like waves that repeat, every time we hear this song, we are pulled back to the shore we looked out upon that day, and to that summer where we repeated the "what if" over and over again.