少女革命ウテナ
アドゥレセンス黙示録 薔薇卵蘇生録ソフィア -中世よ甦れ!-
Shoujo Kakumei Utena
Bara Tamago Sosei Roku Sofia -Chuusei yo Yomigaere!-
Revival Record of the Rose Egg SOFIA
-Middle Ages Revive!-
  ORIGINAL
少女革命ウテナ
アドゥレセンス黙示録 薔薇卵蘇生録ソフィア
-中世よ甦れ!-
Release Date: 6-25-99 (June 25th, 1999)
Catalog Number(s): KICA-467
Price: ¥3,059
Released by: KING Records Co., Ltd.

  REMASTER
少女革命ウテナ コンプリートCD-BOX
DISK8 - アドゥレセンス黙示録
薔薇卵蘇生録ソフィア
-中世よ甦れ!-
Release Date: 8-27-08 (August 27th, 2008)
Catalog Number(s): KICA-920〜928
Price: ¥12,000
Released by: KING Records Co., Ltd.

This album is billed as "Theatrical Commemorative II, Ikuhara Selection 2" in the COMPLETE CD-BOX. It was released in conjunction with the previous album, OST 6, Advent of Nirvanic Beauty ~Androgynous Me~, as hype for the upcoming movie, Adolescence Apocalypse.

It is entirely new content by J.A. Seazer, with the original iteration of the two duel songs used in the film here: Revive! Infinite History of the [Middle Ages] is the first published version of Saionji's duel, and Shura -Flesh Constellation in the αψζ Nebula- is Juri's. (They take place in this order, though the tracklist here places the latter first.) The first track, Revival Record of the Rose Egg, is an instrumental piece that is used during the opening credits of the film.

How much one likes this album depends entirely on how much they like J.A. Seazer's work. Aside from the above mentioned songs, none of these are used in any of the Utena content that exists right now, they are only here. This being fine by me, I love this album and it's often one of my go-tos. Some of these songs certainly feel like duels, but most are not franetic enough, though they are dramatic and bizarre in the best possible way. Astragalus Earth Backgammon and The Oceanic Moon Dies in Indigo are a couple of the stand-outs, and the ridiculously long, slow, eerie, We Who Have Cast Ourselves Aside Become Fallen Angels strikes me as something that could have replaced Missing Link if the lyrics had suited the events more. This version of Juri's duel is the better one. It just is.


A note: The titles I use for the 'main' tracklist below are a combination of the different translations available based on my limited capacity to judge accuracy, and my not limited capacity to go with the ones that seem like better song titles. In so far as any song title will make sense when it's Seazer we're talking about.

The "Comparison" options when available are side by side multiple translations, romantization, and Japanese, depending on availability. They're an awesome and surprising resource, and I hope you check them out.

[Japanese Tracklist]   [Tracklist Comparisons]
少女革命ウテナ アドゥレセンス黙示録
薔薇卵蘇生録ソフィア
-中世よ甦れ!-
Japanese Tracklist

01. 薔薇卵蘇生録
02. アストラガルス地球双六
03. 歴史望楼「文字砂漠」
04. プチ万象の生命弧独史
05. 世界露壇の揺籠で
-イン・ザ・ハンズ・オブ・ザ・ワールド- マ)

06. 水滴すなわち万有始源
07. 海月藍に死す
08. 絶対媚惑「タ・エロティカ」
09. デフォルメ・デジャヴュ
10. 追想の変身譜《荒野より》

11. シュラ-肉体星座αψζ星雲-
12. われら自らを棄てた堕天使なり
13. 甦れ!無窮の歴史「中世よ」


01. Revival Record of the Rose Egg  [3:51]
02. Astragalus Earth Backgammon [4:31]
[Verthandi]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
Astragalous Earthly Backgammon
Translation by Verthandi

Earthly backgammon; by ship, on foot, by car
The Holy Repose; the transmigration of the dice
Earthly backgammon; sea, land, mountain source
The Holy Beginning; the chance transmigration of the soul

Earthly backgammon; by ship, on foot, by car
The Holy Repose; the transmigration of the dice
Earthly backgammon; sea, land, mountain source
The Holy Beginning; the chance transmigration of the soul

Earthly backgammon; persecution and famine
Dissipation, massacre; the dice vanish in darkness
Earthly backgammon; empire and pestilence
The Holy Devil; the Last Judgment of the dice

The original nature of the gods; the flame of ekpirosis
"Although we are made to burn, even still, even still,
We will live, we will live for the sake of the world"

The lifespan of earth; ancient document of prophecy
All the elements in creation; the apocalypse of nature
All things are all one
That is,
"We Are, Ours, We Become, Sufficient in Ourselves, As We Are"
One thing, one being, one eye, in one move, one-fold
One adult, one father, one brother

That is, namely:
The name of the sea: I
The name of the land: I
The name of the heavens: I
Our name: I
I, I, I, I, I, I

I am Sophia, I, I, I am Sophia
I, I am Sophia, I am Sophia, I am Sophia
I am So, I am Phi, I am A
I am Sophia, I-so-I-phi-I-a
I am Sophia, Sophia is me


[Ayu Ohseki]
Astragalus Earth Backgammon
Translation by Ayu Ohseki

Earth backgammon: by boat, by foot, by car 
Holy repose: the dice's circle of 
Earth backgammon: by sea, by land, by river 
Holy throw: the dice's transmigration

The Book of Daniel, apocalypse: the Eternal Book, recurrence
"I live not for myself, myself 
 I live for the world, the world"

Earth backgammon: persecutory famine 
Lewdness, massacre: the dice's darkness 
Earth backgammon: imperial pestilence 
The Holy Devil is the dice's judgement

The true nature of the Gods, the flames of ekpyrosis 
"Even if I am burnt to nothing at all, at all 
 I live for the world, the world"

Earth's life span, ancient prophecy 
The elements of all creation, natural revelation 
All things are but one 
That is 
"My, mine, that is me, that which is me, that is called me" 
One thing, one person, one's person, one's effort, one day 
One self, one being, one human 

That is namely 
The name of the sea: myself 
The name of the land: myself 
The name of the heavens: myself 
The name of me: myself 
Myself myself , Myself myself, Myself myself

Myself Sophia, Myself myself myself Sophia
Myself myself Sophia , Myself Sophia myself
Sophia Myse So lf my Phi self A,
Myself Sophia, My So se Phi lf A,
I am Sophia, Sophia is me



03. Historical Watchtower [Desert of Letters] [5:59]
[Verthandi]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
Historical Watchtower [Desert of Letters]
Translation by Verthandi

White rose, red rose; symbol and characters
Virgin; books of the martyr, namely, letters
White rose, red rose; symbol and characters
Virgin; books of the martyr, namely, letters

Ah, the many immortal objects of study
The ficticious book: "Physiogolous"
Our faulty reality runs rampant: nesting, burning,
Dying, it revives even still, letters.

Heretical child; strange land; miraculous creation
Nonsense, countersense; exceedingly Mysterious, letters
Ah, enigmatic stories
Solinus and Pliny's "Historical Records"

Legend; adventure; myth; narrative
Illusion; fancy; the secular school, namely, letters
Succubus; Incubus
XX form; XY variation, letters

Ah, Fovel's tales and
Van Sant's "Magic Mirror"
Ah, Homer's "Odyssey" and
Mandival's counternatural legends


[Ayu Ohseki]
History Watchtower "Desert of Letters"
Translation by Ayu Ohseki

White rose, red rose, symbol, characteristic
Virgin, The Book of Martyrs, in other words, letters
Complicated and elaborate symbols, characteristics
Simplicity, purity, cruciform, in other words letters

Complicated and elaborate symbols, characteristics
Simplicity, purity, cruciform, in other words letters
My unreality, domination, burn the nest-building
Even in death is there rebirth, letters

Enfant terrible, strange land, miraculous creation
No meaning, non-meaning, extremely mystical, letters
Ah, Collection of Curiosities
Solinus and Pliny the Elder's "Natural History"

Legends, mysteries, myths, narratives
Illusions, fantasies, worldly studies, in other words letters
Succubus, incubus
XX form, XY variation, letters

Ah, Roman de Fauvel
Vincent's "Mirror of History"
Ah, Homer's "Odyssey"
Mandeville's "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville"



04. The Solitary History of Life in a Petite Universe [5:52]
[Verthandi]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
The Solitary Existance of the Petite Universe:
A History
Translation by Verthandi

A small existance at the bottom of a hermetic dish;
Kushpadme, the dragon's child;
The natural magic in hereditary ages.
"I am here.
For smallness,
I am here."

Prehistoric appendix of destiny;
Mystification's child
Repeating the birth of life.
"I am here.
For subtlety,
I am here."

Design and Eccentricity and
Mutation and Frenzied work
Unknowing, Immoral
Uncalculated, Unrefined

The cave, Rudolph Labyrintos
In the domain of pure thought.
The cave, Rudolph Labyrintos
In the domain of poetic creation.
The cave, Rudolph Labyrintos
In the domain of failed experiments.
The cave, Rudolph Labyrintos
In the domain of silent mentality.

The timbre of the flageolet
Secondhand, as it becomes melting air.
"I am here,
A breath in a water droplet-theater
As I turn to vapor in this petite opera."
Solitude!
Yes!
Solitude, solitude, solitude, solitude......


[Ayu Ohseki]
The Solitary History of Life in a
Petite Universe
Translation by Ayu Ohseki

A tiny existence at the bottom of a retort
Couspeau Deum, child of the dragon
The natural magic of atavism
"I am here
I am slight, therefore
I am here"

A prehistoric destiny appendix
Child of mystification
The birth of a lifetime repeats
"I am here
I am subtle, therefore
I am here"

Partiality, and Strange habits, and
A mutation, and Running wild, and
Ignorance, Immorality
Unfeeling, Uncultured

Rudolph Grotto Labyrinthos
In the realm of pure thought
Rudolph Grotto Labyrinthos
In the realm of poetic creation
Rudolph Grotto Labyrinthos
In the realm of misbegotten experiments
Rudolph Grotto Labyrinthos
In the realm of psychological silence

As I extend over and dissolve into
The tone of a flageolet, and become the air
"I am here
As I become the breath of the waterdrop theatre
The steam of the petite opera"
Solitude
Yes
Solitude, solitude, solitude, solitude......


05. Cradled in the Grave of the World -In the Hands of the World- [6:08]
[Verthandi]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
Cradled in the Grave of the World
- In the Hands of the World
Translation by Verthandi

Why a fate of love and hatred?
Why a destiny of massacre, cruelty?
Providence does not now reveal its face
In the Hands of the World

Why a fate of love and hatred?
Why a destiny of massacre, cruelty?
Providence does not now reveal its face
In the Hands of the World

Why a fate of love and hatred?
Why a destiny of massacre, cruelty?
Providence does not now reveal its face
In the Hands of the World

Why a fate of love and hatred?
Why a destiny of massacre, cruelty?
Providence does not now reveal its face
In the Hands of the World

Why the lost nature of fate?
Why the temporal desert of destiny?
Providence does not now reveal its face
In the Hands of the World

The cradle of breath; all Creation, distant
In time's unceasing stream
Motion, flow; namely stillness
Although we breath in the stream of time

Ah, in the Hands of the World
We the lonely, how many millions
Only for that time,
Only for that moment,
We wait;
As we wait,
We are waiting
In the Hands of the World
In the Hands of the World


[Ayu Ohseki]
In the Cradle of the World Terrace
--In the Hands of the World--
Translation by Ayu Ohseki

Why the love and hatred of fate?
Why the slaughter and cruelty of destiny?
Heaven's decree has yet to show its form
In the hands of the world

Why the christening as family of fate?
Why the absence and isolation of destiny?
Heaven's decree has yet to show its form
In the hands of the world

Shouldering a destiny harsher than death
In the flow of time unable to come to a halt
You are I are already the everything of nothing
Regardless, we are in the flow of breathing time

Why the birth and prodigality of fate?
Why the life on death's door of destiny?
Heaven's decree has yet to show its form
In the hands of the world

Why the lost nature of fate?
Why the temporal desert of destiny?
Heaven's decree has yet to show its form
In the hands of the world

The cradle of breath, All Things over a long distance
In the flow of time unable to come to a halt
Movement, circulation, in other words, inaction
Regardless, we are in the flow of breathing time

Ah, over the world's palms
We are isolated and among several millions
Only that time
Only that moment
Only just waiting for it
Only while waiting for it
Only waiting for it
In the hands of the world
In the hands of the world




06. A Waterdrop, Namely, the Origin of All Things [5:38]
[Ayu Ohseki]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
A Waterdrop, Namely, the Origin of All Things
Translation by Ayu Ohseki

Don ki dijii dandan
Don ki dijii dandan
A labyrinth of invisible time
Several nonexistent futures
The "Rose Garden" solves the riddle
In the words that bring meaning to time

Bring oblivion again to ignorance!
So the meaning of the Nirvanic echo whispers
Escape not to meaningless immortality
Drink the truth, be drunk on wisdom

Don ki dijii dandan
Don ki dijii dandan
Time is always at a standstill
If you attain transcendance, then you will know
The locked-away words to all things, it's said
Net-mesh time is at a standstill

Bring oblivion again to ignorance!
So the time of the Nirvanic echo whispers
Even in cold desert raindrops
May you expose your body to the feeling of ecstasy

Don ki dijii dandan
Don ki dijii dandan
Those innumerable echoes
That resound in a limestone cavern
Are the origin of all life in the world
Riddles, secrets, the rise of the maze

Bring oblivion again to ignorance!
So the water of the Nirvanic echo whispers
The holy chaos of one's lifetime
Implies tradition, heredity

Don ki dijii dandan
A waterdrop, namely, the origin of all things
Don ki dijii dandan
A waterdrop, namely, the origin of all things
Don ki dijii dandan
A waterdrop, namely, the origin of all things
Don ki dijii dandan
A waterdrop, namely, the origin of all things



07. The Oceanic Moon Dies in Indigo [5:27]
[Verthandi]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
The Oceanic Moon Dies in Indigo
Translation by Verthandi

Distance, my journey to the next world
I become wind, I become breath, I become light and vapor,
Nocturnal sea, moon, and wave, I face those indigo depths

Shinigami, the mark of the shadow of death,
I become wind, I become breath, I become light and vapor
Nocturnal sea, moon, and wave, I face those indigo depths

Eating lotus did me no good
The shadow of Death drew nigh;
My transparent soul was subdued
Lost time from the depths of night
Surfaces terribly in the moonlight

Nostalgic, natural meditation
Metaphysical sensation
All things in nature, a meditation on Creation
Late at night, the moon in the sea
Panorama carnival

Wave moon, night moon, dream moon, time moon,
Wind moon, breath moon, drunken moon, dark moon
Full moon, half moon, red moon, blue moon
Lost moon, shadow moon, nil moon, anti-moon
Ah, the horned moon, the eclipse!
Moon moon moon moon moon moon moon moon
Moon moon moon moon moon moon moon moon

I always go far
The more rhapsodic, the more pure
I stand before the moon's forbidden door:
"Now, open!"
I become waves, I become darkness
I shine upon the sea, I become the moon

"I am the moon, I am made the moon,
the moon that rose over the sea.
Behind and above the maker of waves,
I was that moon."

Memento mori mento mori nto mori to mori mori ri, firefly moon
I contemplate my death
Memento mori mento mori nto mori to mori mori ri, noctiluca moon
Contemplate my death

"Stop, thou moon!"
Though I become the waves, it is an existance without existance
Though I become the sea, it is an existance without existance
Though I become the moon, it is an existance without existance
An existance without existance, An existance without existance
Existance without action, Existance without beginning
Existance without self, Existance without thought
Existance without climax, Existance without death

[Ayu Ohseki]
The Oceanic Moon Dies in Indigo
Translation by Ayu Ohseki

Perspective: the journey to the next world
I will become a breeze, I will become a breath
I will become a will-o'-wisp, The night ocean, moon, waves
I will head for that profound indigo

Thanatos: the seal of the shadow of death
I will become a breeze, I will become a breath
I will become a will-o'-wisp, The night ocean, moon, waves
I will head for that profound indigo

I idled my life away, but nonetheless
I was accompanied by a transparent soul
In the imminent shadow of death
Lost time floats up with more moonlit brilliance
Than the submarine depths of night

Nostalgic natural contemplation
Metaphysical sensation
All things in nature, universal meditation
The oceanic moon late at night
Panorama carnival

Wave moon, night moon, dream moon, time moon
Breeze moon, breath moon, drunk moon, Sheol moon
Full moon, half moon, red moon, blue moon
Lost moon, shadow moon, no moon, non-moon
Ah, crescent moon, lunar eclipse
Moon, moon, moon, moon, moon, moon, moon, moon
Moon, moon, moon, moon, moon, moon, moon, moon

I stand before
That ever-receding, forbidden lunar door
Which is so pure it is delusional
"Now, open the door!"
I will become the waves, I will become the darkness
I will illuminate the ocean, I will become the moon

"To lunify, to lunacize,
the moon rose over the ocean
It lunified overhead and from
behind the undulator"

Memento mori, mento mori, nto mori, to mori, mori, ri: firefly moon
I remember death
Memento mori, mento mori, nto mori, to mori, mori, ri: noctiluca moon
May I remember death

"Stop, Moon!"
Even if I become the waves, they too have in them nonexistent existence
Even if I become the ocean, it too has in it nonexistent existence
Even if I become the moon, it too has in it nonexistent existence
Nonexistent existence, Nonexistent existence
Inactive existence, Beginningless existence
Egoless existence, Emotionless existence
Unattainable existence, Deathless existence


08. Absolute Delusion [Das Erotica] [6:20]
[Verthandi]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
Absolute Delusion [Das Erotica]
Translation by Verthandi

Erotica
Aelia Laelia Crispis
Orgia alchemy
Moon, sun; light, shadow; a dualistic existance
Libido; plasma

Aelia Laelia Crispis
Orgia alchemy
Geometry; reproduction; alpedo; Mystery
Libido; enigma

Genesis; the union of all Creation
All is one absolute desire, soltio
Erotica
Aelia Laelia Crispis
Orgia alchemy

Eros; Thanatotic principle competes with flattery
Libido; natura
Aelia Laelia Crispis
Orgia alchemy
The Holy instinct; before the Creation of Heaven and Earth
Libido; Atman

Burnt by flattery; Aprodite
Fusing into a single absolute delusion [das Erotica]
Aelia Laelia Crispis orgia alchemy
Aeria Laelia Crispis orgia alchemy
Aelia Laelia Crispis orgia alchemy
Aelia Laelia Crispis orgia alchemy
Aelia Laelia Crispis orgia alchemy
Aelia Laelia Crispis orgia alchemy

[Ayu Ohseki]
Absolute Seduction "The Erotica"
Translation by Ayu Ohseki

Erotica
Aelia laelia crispis
Orgia alchemy
Moon, sun, light, shadow, dualism existence
Libido plasma

Aelia laelia crispis
Orgia alchemy
Geometry, reproduction, albedo, mystique
Libido enigma

World-creating adultery, sexual congress of all things
Everything is one absolute desire: solutio
Erotica
Aelia laelia crispis
Orgia alchemy

Eros, the Thanatos principle competes with flirtation
Libido natura
Aelia laelia crispis
Orgia alchemy
Holy instinct, before the creation of heaven and earth
Libido atman

She flirts, and so I yearn for Aphrodite
Absolute seduction melting together into one: "The Erotica"
Aelia laelia crispis orgia alchemy
Aelia laelia crispis orgia alchemy
Aelia laelia crispis orgia alchemy
Aelia laelia crispis orgia alchemy
Aelia laelia crispis orgia alchemy
Aelia laelia crispis orgia alchemy


09. Deformed Déjà Vu [4:16]
[Ayu Ohseki]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
Deformed Déjà Vu
Translation by Ayu Ohseki

Chaos, twins, a symbolic species
Source, headwaters, a light particle species
Empty substance

Splendor, illusion, a transparent species
A cellular species without rules
Coincidence, fusion, an expanding species
Deformation, a free-willed life

"No matter where, I exist
Even there, I am
Into anything shall I become"
"In the beginning, I exist
Even now, I am
Into you too shall I become"

Deposition, flight, an imaginary species
Impulse, the broken virtue, a propagating species
An incompetent hypothesis

Cleavage, hermaphrodism, a mixed species
Microscopic, bacterium, a phenomenal species
Separation, conjugation, an independent species
Unknown memory, history

"Mell mell mell, I exist
Canna canna canna, I am
Juno juno juno shall I become
Tuyo tuyo tuyo, I exist
Yoya yoya yoya, I am
Myena myena myena shall I become"

Ah, without taboo
Absurdity, drivel, in other words without an
Unfounded body that only breathes!
Without! Without! Without! Without!
Without! Without! Without! Without!

Amrakan yunotos yoyame nemayoy sotonuyna karma, karma
Amrakan yunotos yoyame nemayoy sotonuyna karma, karma
Amrakan yunotos yoyame nemayoy sotonuyna karma, karma
Amrakan yunotos yoyame nemayoy sotonuyna karma, karma
Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma

Déformer déjà vu, Deformed déjà vu
Déformer déjà vu, Deformed déjà vu
Déformer déjà vu, Deformed déjà vu


10. Reminiscence Metamorphosis «Out from the Wilderness» [5:47]
[Ayu Ohseki]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
Reminiscence Metamorphosis
«Out from the Wilderness»
Translation by Ayu Ohseki

Is it the vigor of blood that is trembling?
Or else is it because I was a soldier long ago?
Is it the repose of the heart that is sinking?
Or else is it because I had lost it long ago?

The wind calls out, "Know thy name
"Know the true name that exists
"In the shadow of mine own"

Is it an oath towards tomorrow that I gaze upon?
Or else is it because I served a master long ago?
Is it for my weakness that I am suffering?
Or else is it because I was locked away long ago?

The wind calls out, "Know thy name
"Know the true name that exists
"In the midst of mine own"

There is a path
Both endless and brief
However, nowhere is there a guidepost
Just, only progress is there for knowing
So that I can know my true name
In order to know your true name
Go forth!

Is it the breath of history that is calling?
Or else is it proof that I lived long ago?
I hear the voice of that which calls me
I hear the voice calling from long, long ago

The wind calls out, "Know thy name
"Know the true name that exists
"At the ends of mine own"

There is a path
Both endless and brief
However, nowhere is there a guidepost
Just, only progress is there for knowing
So that I can know my true name
In order to know your true name
Go forth!



11. Shura -Flesh Constellation in the αψζ Nebula- [6:10]
[Information]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
Shura -Flesh Constellation in the αψζ Nebula-
original version

As performed by:
Theater laboratory - Universal Gravitation
Engeki jikken-shitsu - ban'yū inryoku
演劇実験室◎万有引力

OST 7: Revival Record of the Rose Egg SOFIA, track 11


Rose Naked Body ~Shura -Flesh Constellation
in the αψζ Nebula-
movie version

Adolescence Apocalypse: The Revolutionary Girl Utena Movie
Duel name: ???
Utena's second battle is again Juri, with
this song accompanying.

OST 8: Adolescence Rush, track 9
OST 11: I, Revolution Pharsalia <transformation>, track 21  

[Geneon (Official)]
SHURA Flesh Constellations αψζ Galaxy -
Translation from the Pioneer/Geneon Album Release

SHURA, Now Burning
The driving force behind the hand,
SHURA, Now Feverish
None can know the final demise

A dark “Farewell”,
Throwing off its present self, Blown to the wild darkness,
To the limits of the empty sky

SHURA, Now Silent
The gaze fixed on Earth's movement, Heaven, Humanity
SHURA, Now Ancient
If there is an End to the Universe

A musical “Farewell”
The blood melting, Like wisps of steam,
So freezing to the touch

SHURA becomes the empty solitude,
In isolation to the depths of nothingness.
SHURA Like a firefly fading pale,
Standing on the edge of the hour of death

SHURA, Now Live
While a storm and a blat of hot air flow in whirls
SHURA, Now Glitter
On a constellation, a galaxy and a mane  

A Fearful “Farewell”
In far and near, Mask of the nature’s soul
I form a body of the departed soul

SHURA, Now Silent
Every star rising to glory and power,
SHURA, Now Transforming
Thunder, Lightning, The Great Darkness

A tragic “Farewell”
Even to Eternity,
Finding a mate,
In the Heart of the Earth

SHURA becomes the livings stars,
The stars become their source.
SHURA Cradling countless eras to that mystic star,
The Core of Power · Corona

SHURA Milky Way, SHURA Andromeda
SHURA Orion, SHURA Cassiopeia
SHURA Kruger, SHURA Cepheus
SHURA Sirius, SHURA Sombrero, SHURA Magellan
SHURA, Now the limits of Chandrasekhar!
SHURA, Now the limits of Chandrasekhar!
SHURA, Now the limits of Chandrasekhar!

[Ayu Ohseki]
Shura --Flesh Constellation in the Alpha Psi Zeta Nebula--
Translation by Ayu Ohseki

Shura: now, burn bright
In the throb of the fingertips
Shura: now, burn hot
Ignorant of your demise

A dark "farewell"
Casting off the transient body, Blowing in the violent darkness
At the limits of empty space

Shura: now, silence
It fixes a stare at heliocentric heaven and humanity
Shura: now, before death
If at the ends of space it is before death

An obscure "farewell"
Melts into the blood, And just like vapor
Again it cools

Shura is in solitude
And solitude is just then nothingness
Shura: like a firefly, pale and transparent
It stands at the verge of its dying hour

Shura: now, without life
Storms, siroccos, coiling within
Shura: now, glitter bright
In the mane of the constellation nebula

A fearful "farewell"
Near and far
A mask of natural spirits
Will shape my ghost into flesh

Shura: now, stillness
Glory, authority, everyone is a star
Shura: now, it metamorphoses
Thunder, flashes of lightning, the vast darkness

A tragic "farewell"
Will make eternity
Into its significant other
And Terra, into its heart

Shura is a star
And a star is a source of life
Shura: it exposes illusory stars, it conceals multiple eras
The terrifying energy core: corona

Shura: Milky Way, Shura: Andromeda
Shura: Orion, Shura: Cassiopeia
Shura: Kruger, Shura: Cepheus
Shura: Sirius, Shura: Sombrero, Shura: Magellan
Shura: now, the Chandrasekhar limit
Shura: now, the Chandrasekhar limit
Shura: now, the Chandrasekhar limit


12. We Who Have Cast Ourselves Aside Become Fallen Angels [8:29]
[Verthandi]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
We Who Have Cast Ourselves Aside Become
Fallen Angels
Translation by Verthandi

"With the traces of wings on our backs,
We become capricious angels."

The children of Man
For the reason of feeling,
Named with the names of the children of Man.
The children of Man
For the reason of feeling,
Remained in the world of the children of Man.
With such riddle-sowing wisdom, we forgot ourselves on the way.

By the host of Heaven, our
Holy wings: severed, delivered;
Fallen from Providence, we Children of Dawn,
We are ones who live capriciously.

"We who do not take example have all
Cast ourselves aside to become fallen angels."
Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones. Sovereignity, Power, Faculty.
"We who do not take example have all
Cast ourselves aside to become fallen angels."

An echo crossed over,
Into the darkness of the age of schola.
Angelic Doctorate: Doctor Angelics
(Thomas Aquinas' book), now absent,
Gave forth a great roar.
Seraphic Doctorate: Doctor Seraphics
(Bonaventura's discourse on angels) also growled mightily.

"We who do not take example have all
Cast ourselves aside to become fallen angels."
Holy Scripture, Isaiah, Ezekiel,
Moses, Solomon, the age of Old Testament.

I am myself, Assyria.
The palaces of Sargon and Sennacherib's statues;
The particular mark on the totem pole.
Mystery, wonderous Eucharist;
However, I am myself a fallen angel.

Four wings and four wings,
Mandorla; thou guardian.
Our four heads are
Matthias at the center (the man)
Iohannes on the right (the eagle)
Marco on the left (the lion)
And Luca beneath (the bull).
Furthermore, we carry four wheels.

Ah, for the sky-birth, I am not homesick.
Ah, therefore, That form has become
From antiquity, End;
Reverse of angelic thought; Quiet mediation.
[Ayu Ohseki]
We are Fallen Angels who Discarded the Self
Translation by Ayu Ohseki

"We are whimsical angels
With traces of wings on our backs"

I considered myself
A child of man, therefore
I called myself a child of man
I considered myself
A child of man, therefore
I remained in the world of children of men
And forgot myself in mystery-strewing wisdom

Tearing off the sacred wings
Bestowed upon the clan of Heaven
The child of dawn, fallen from Heaven
I am a being who lives whimsically

"Not only I, but all people are
Fallen angels who discarded the self"
Seraphim, cherubim, thrones, Dominions, powers, virtues
"Not only I, but all people are
Fallen angels who discarded the self"

In the darkness of the Scholastic Period
It resounded
The angelic doctor, Doctor Angelicus
《The Book of Thomas Aquinas》 too now is absent
It roared
The seraphic doctor, Doctor Seraphicus
《Bonaventure's Angelic Treatise》 too implies, implies, implies...

"Not only I, but all people are
Fallen angels who discarded the self"
The Holy Book, Isaiah, Ezekiel
Moses, Solomon, the Old Testament era

"I am myself, Assyria
The graven images of the Palaces of Sargon and Sennacherib
However, a beacon totem pole
Mystical, mysterious, the oathbound body of Christ
However, I am myself, a fallen angel"

Four wings, four flights
Mandorla, you who protects
The four heads are
Matthew in the center (human)
John to the right (eagle)
Mark to the left (lion)
Lucas below (bull)
And what's more, we possess four wheels

Ah, we were born empty and thus long not for home
Ah, and then, That form is one of
Quiet contemplation existing
On the reverse of angelic consideration
Since finite antiquity


13. Revive! Infinite History of the [Middle Ages] [6:28]
[Information]  [Lyric Comparisons/Raws]
Revive! Infinite History of the [Middle Ages]
original version

As performed by:
Theater laboratory - Universal Gravitation
Engeki jikken-shitsu - ban'yū inryoku
演劇実験室◎万有引力

OST 7: Revival Record of the Rose Egg SOFIA, track 13


Duelist ~ Revive! Infinite History of the [Middle Ages]
movie version

Adolescence Apocalypse: The Revolutionary Girl Utena Movie
Duel name: ???
The opening battle, Utena versus Saionji,
wherein she learns about the dueling game.

OST 8: Adolescence Rush, track 4
OST 11: I, Revolution Pharsalia <transformation>, track 20  

[Geneon (Official)
Resurrection! Never-ending history of the
"Middle Ages"
Translation from the Pioneer/Geneon Album Release

Existence, Creation,
Such mysterious of pleasures, The Machine of Gears wheel
Sanctification, Decadence
The incomplete history, The Gunpowder-flask Machine
The eternal miracle I believe in, The eternal god I test,
Ah, never-ending history of the Middle Ages, Be reborn in me

Life, Production
Alchemy pries, The Machine of Gaseous body
A possessed personal, Electrical magician
The Machine of Lightning
Passing a time in the heart beat of the hidden devil
Koto of 100 strings, Why does it play the devil’s tune
Ah, never-ending history of the Middle Ages, Be reborn in me

Turn my whole self to the Middle Ages
Schola Abstract
Turn my whole self to the Middle Ages
Paralyzing Thoughts
Turn my whole self to the Middle Ages
The Ominous Prophet
Turn my whole self to the Middle Ages
The Soul’s Sorceress Army

Metal fetus. Experiment of sainted nature
Ever of future, Mind evaporator
Decomposed organism, Embryo storing jug

Turn my whole self to the Middle Ages
Madness and Stupidity
Turn my whole self to the Middle Ages
Astrological medicine
Turn my whole self to the Middle Ages
Delirious death artifice
Turn my whole self to the Middle Ages
An optical antidote

Fright experiment, Pain experiment
Cruelty experiment, Fainting experiment
Explosive smoke experiment, Eyeball experiment
Engrave squeeze experiment, Horrible experiment

Nervous spasms history, Prejudice history
Epileptic history, Convulsion history
Insanity history, Congestion history
Vicious history, Eating visceral history

Ah, Be reborn, Never-ending history of the Middle Ages
“In my soul, In my spirit, In my body. ”
Ah, Be reborn, Never-ending history of the Middle Ages
“In my eyes, In my two hands, In my blood and breath.”
Be reborn! Never-ending, Be reborn! History Be reborn! Be reborn!
“Of all the Middle Ages, that time!
That room! Those clothes!”

[EJ Translation]
Be Reborn! Neverending History of the
“Middle Ages”
Translation by EJ

The creation of life
A mysterious pleasure, A gear device
Sacred decadence, Unfinished history
A bottled nitrate device
Believing in the eternal miracle, The immortal god is tested
Ah, infinite history of the “Middle Ages”, Be reborn in me

The structure of existence
An alchemist with high morals, A vapor device
Possessed characters, An electric conjurer, A lightning device
Time is pounded to the beat of hidden devils
Why is the hundred-stringed koto’s Demonic musical passage played?
Ah, infinite history of the “Middle Ages”, Be reborn in me

Turn my whole self into the “Middle Ages”
A scholar of the abstract
Turn my whole self into the “Middle Ages”
A paralyzed ideology
Turn my whole self into the “Middle Ages”
An inauspicious prediction
Turn my whole self into the “Middle Ages”
A sorcerous encampment of the heart

A metal embryo, A sacred experiment
Eve of the future, Distillation of the spirit
Vitality of a tainted body, Embryo storage jar

Turn my whole self into the “Middle Ages”
Madness and stupidity
Turn my whole self into the “Middle Ages”
Astrological medicine
Turn my whole self into the “Middle Ages”
Euthanasia by rumor
Turn my whole self into the “Middle Ages”
Optical antidote

An experiment in surprise, An experiment in pain
An experiment in cruelty, An experiment in agony
An experiment in gunsmoke, An experiment in eyeballs
An experiment in carving and squeezing, An experiment in gloom

The history of temper, The history of the whites of the eyes
The history of epilepsy, The history of convulsions
The history of insanity, The history of blood congestion
The history of distorted flesh, The history of digestive organs

Ah, be reborn, Infinite history of the “Middle Ages”
“In my soul, In my heart, In my flesh”
Ah, be reborn, Infinite history of the “Middle Ages”
“In my eyeballs, In both my hands, In my blood and breath”
Be reborn! Infinite, Be reborn! History Be reborn! Be reborn!
The “Middle Ages,” that time of everything
The rooms! The clothing!



Kunihiko Ikuhara
director
Am I really an adult....?

Though I asked myself that a lot as a teenager, I never came to an answer. I couldn't come up with a definition for the word 'adult'. For myself, I tried to define it through age, sense of responsibility, the issues of marriage and sex — all the obvious criteria came up, but it was still as murky as the bottom of a lake. Regardless, everyone else just went and drew the line one way or another. Parents, teachers, they're clearly just people pretending they're adults....

Actually, am I really an 'adult' now....?

Maybe an 'adult' is someone who tries to be mature....

[Thank you so much to Gallia Valentine for this translation!]

Takeo Udagawa
J.A. Seazer biographer/fringe culture analyst

I've been a J.A. Seazer freak for more than 20 years.

In my opinion, J.A. Seazer has been the most important artist of the Japanese underground music scene since the 70s.

However, his real merit has (conversely) been continuously ignored by mass media. Since the 80s, the music business has been focused on growing sales, and on the musical production of an imagined reality to gratify the desires of listeners. J.A. Seazer's music is on an opposing vector to that kind of quantitative information-capitalist expansion.

Seazer's music feels like a multi-genre synthesis, a rich remixture of enka, Japanese and world ethnic music, art rock from the 60s on, and modern music. However, he has his own unique style. Sometimes it invokes nostalgia; sometimes it pushes the listener to anxiety. In other words, Seazer's music always poses a riddle to its listener by building a kind of tension between the artist and the audience.

Since the 80s, he has — rather naturally — maintained a certain distance from commercialism, so encountering his music placed me among a very select number of people who had experienced that pleasure. Thanks to Director Ikuhara's keen eye 'discovering' Seazer's music, and his use of theater music for the soundtrack of Revolutionary Girl Utena, many more people are now aware of Seazer's work. It's wonderful. (Though I do feel a little sad that it's no longer my own personal secret.)

Now I will turn to the riddle J.A. Seazer has posed me with this album.

The music of Revival Record of the Rose Egg Sofia seems to be composed on the concept of 'resurrection of the Middle Ages'. Though it goes against the usual practice of music commentary, I want to imagine a new aspect to Utena's musical world, from just the image those words conjure.

To answer to the riddle that the magician Seazer, in the guise of the sphinx, has posed, I will here point to the title Revival Record of the Rose Egg Sofia as the basis for this new musical sphere.

First, "rose" as the rose bride, Anthy. In the medieval French work The Tale of the Rose1, roses represent chastity and pure love while also standing for carnal lust. Initially, Utena was created as a character holding two opposing aspects — Anthy acts as Utena's externalized dark side, so to speak.

Surrounded by brutally obscene phantasms, unfettered by existing morals or Reason, while unmoved by immoral actions — the gradually-constructed figure of Anthy as the witch resembles the heroine of Marquis de Sade's novel Juliette. In her numbness, her whole self has been disappeared, and she is made into the repulsive and completely Othered witch, who is responsible for all immoral actions. However, this is simply the bared underside of Utena's personality as 'the girl'. Utena tries to become a prince, she tries to be noble, while suppressing her own dark side. She keeps fighting to bury it. (To me, that's what makes Utena so fantastic.)

Now, the "egg". "If the egg's shell is not broken, the chick will die … for the revolution of the world" is repeated many times, symbolizing the continuing transformation of the 'world'. We see the duels recurring again and again, moving endlessly towards 'eternity'. However, the duels are staged by a malicious god, Ohtori Akio, so they can never break the eggshell of Ohtori Academy. The 'egg' is controlled by the whims of that malicious god, who seems to concentrate all his considerable power on that place. There, light and darkness can exist at once, both holding the same energy.

Finally, "revival". The rose, filled with contradicting, ambiguous doubled meanings, represents the self — that is, the entire human body, which is born from the egg. When the egg is restored, a new age — far different from the 'modern' age ruled by Reason — will begin. This may be what J.A. Seazer means by the revival of the "middle ages".

As Revival Record of the Rose Egg Sofia adds to the musical world of Revolutionary Girl Utena, and to the world of the movie Revolutionary Girl Utena, we — you and I — are added to by the unfulfilled unification of our minds and bodies. Just as those works do not end before they are complete, I hope the limitless, endless unknowns and differences between us call us to continue connecting.

1. Translator note: Le Roman de la Rose; usually titled in English The Romance of the Rose. The Japanese title gives a slightly different impression, so I retain it here. Incidentally, the Dream of Scipio — another book about a dream-vision, and named in Seazer's song "Spira Mirabilis Theatre" — is mentioned in the book's opening lines.

[Thank you so much to Gallia Valentine for this translation!]

J.A. Seazer
music

     The Medieval Tale of the Rose and Musical Alchemistic Thought

By now, at the composition of Revolutionary Girl Utena / Revival Record of the Rose Egg Sofia, some of the empty spaces in the soul of Revolutionary Girl Utena have filled in. That shape quietly showed itself in early 1990, in Umberto Eco's mystery novel The Name of the Rose. As it happens, Director Ikuhara decided to use "Absolute Destiny Apocalypse" in Revolutionary Girl Utena from the first episode on, for the scene of ascending to the duelling arena; he might have taken hints from the movie of The Name of the Rose starring Sean Connery and the chorus in the opening scene of Banyuu Inryoku's production of Kaspar Hauser.

I again mirrored The Name of the Rose — for example, just as in the scene in [Jean] Cocteau's movie Orphée where the eponymous Orpheus visits his dead wife Eurydice, and she is taken into the mirror, I decided to take myself to that age — yes, the medieval period. Then I wandered, and am still wandering, through "the ape mimicking God," "the intricate device tempting with its mysterious and deceptive pleasures," "the infinitely repeating cycle of the principle of decadence," "the loneliness of the medieval alchemist peering into the bottom of the retort," "the discovery of the principle behind the steam engine, compression pump, and siphon, and that principle's application by Ctesibius' disciple to the design of game machines," "organ, abacus, and globe," "sundial, human form, and water organ," " 'What use is it?' 'In discovering the hidden secret,' " "mysteries of Bishop Magdeburg's hall," "natural magic and the androgynous," "cave, labyrinth, and statue," "Mannerist artists love a capricious angel: wisdom from the Grand Encyclopedia," "hermaphroditic thought," and others.1

Not living
But moving in the image of life;
They circle about your heads.
Once briefly alive and bright,
These things bring themselves to move
Still, for they await Eternity.
    —Faust2


Eating bread and drinking wine, I started to sketch out some words on manuscript paper (a composition Zeichnung3) in silence. A wave rose in the sea of words, and crashed forward.

     1. The Rose, The Name of the Rose, And the Medieval Tale of the Rose

"The rose is the martyr, or the virgin." (Petrus of Mora, Bishop of Capua.)4 The June miracle of the roses.5 The first part of the medieval Tale of the Rose, which is titled A Tale of Chivalric Love, is based on the literary traditions of: "battling for love in sleep," "using a story to teach the secrets of love," "the lovers' erotic trial" — " 'The Name of the Rose' is used again and again in the medieval period to signify the infinite power of words. For example, there is the quotation from [Peter] Abelard, "the power of language is such that it is as if the rose lives on in the word";6 there is Dante's mystic rose; and there is also Yeats' evocation of the rose.7 In other words, the name of the rose is a "term with the power to evoke existence; namely, language." ([Umberto] Eco.)" In addition, the 'egg', in alchemical theory, represents the crucible in which experiments are performed to transform base metal into noble metal, and signifies the miracle of boundless creative chaos contained within a single ordered form.8 The philosophical egg. The Cosmic Egg. [Michael] Maier's Atalanta Fugiens9 reveals how a mystical force draws the Occult, music, and illustration together into one whole.

It was here that the term 'rose egg' was born.

     2. Revive! O Immortal History, the Middle Ages!

Bearded and long-haired, looking like primitive barbarians from a forgotten era, the alchemists thought "If the imagined spirit (archaeus) dwells within the womb, then with a made space like the womb, it is possible to sow semen therewithin by scientific method and create artificial life," and peered at the black figure within the retort. The cursed science. The dim laboratory. The small, solitary life. The theme of endless temptation — that splendor — and the medieval wizards dreaming their transparent fantasies. The Book of Nature, The Book of Monsters, The Book of All Creation, The Book of Discovery and Invention, The Book of Angels, The Book of Hermaphroditism, The Book of Magic, The Book of the End of the World, The Book of Eroticism, The Book of Paganism, and The Book of Secrets.10

I composed by the light of a burning candle for four days and three nights. When I threw open the window and looked towards the burning red of the evening sun, I saw a million medieval alchemists wearing armor, straddling white horses. I called out to them! "Utinam reviviscat Medium Aevum! Let the medieval age return to life! In our souls! Our spirits! Our flesh! Our eyes! Our hands! Our blood and breath! Come to life! Medieval age! The whole of that time! In our rooms! Our clothes!"


Translator notes:

1. These are references to ancient, medieval, and early modern Western alchemy and magic. The union of male and female in a single space or body, the human ape patterning itself after god, and of course some of the the various technological instruments are all general alchemical references. Ctesibius, or Ktesibios (285-222 BCE) was a Greek inventor, author of a treatise on pneumatics, and inventor of both the hydraulic clock and a kind of water organ, predecessor to the modern church organ — note Seazer's above references to clocks and organs.

2. My translation of Seazer's Japanese. Stuart Atkins' translation of the original German:
About your heads there hover,
moving but lifeless, images of living things.
Resplendent glories, now no more,
are stirring still, for they would be eternal.
Faust II, Act 1.
Some lines in the Seazer song "Angelic Creation, Namely Light" seem related to those from Faust given here.)

3. Zeichnung: a drawing (German).

4. Usually referred to as Peter of Capua (d. 1219). (Seazer's text actually has it as ペストル (Pesutoru), like "pestle.")

5. I believe the exact quote is "The rose is the choir of martyrs, or yet again the Virgin of virgins." Though the miracle of the roses is associated with several different saints and martyrs, the Virgin Mary and Jesus are particularly closely associated with the flower. Mary is sometimes called 'the rose without thorns', since she is free of original sin.

6. A paraphrase of Abelard's example on the phrase "nulla rosa est" — that is, the phrase is still meaningful even without any actual roses.

7. Yeats, while certainly not medieval, was himself an occultist interested in alchemy. Dante's mystic rose, like "nulla rosa est," is mentioned in Eco's postscript to The Name of the Rose.

8. I have here provided a distillation of Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's explanation of the phrase in question rather than a straight translation of the phrase itself; I suspect that is where Seazer came across it in the first place, anyway.

9. A 1617 book where each section is composed of verse, illustration, prose, and music, all put together. The subject is the myth of Atalanta, but it is an alchemical text.

10. The "book of nature" is the medieval idea that nature is an open book, written by God, to be read and understood. The other 'titles' are presumably an elaboration of this concept.

[Thank you so much to Gallia Valentine for this translation and the DELICIOUS notes!]


 

OST 1: The Eve of the Absolute Evolution Revolution
student council arc BGM and duels
OST 2: Virtual Star Embryology
black rose saga BGM and duels

OST 3: Internal Clock, Municipal Orrery
akio and apocalypse arc BGM and duels

OST 4: Angelic Creation, Namely, Light
seazer duel chorus image album

OST 5: Now, Engage Yourself to Me...
unreleased BGM, drama tracks, 1997 musical soundtrack

OST 6: Advent of Nirvanic Beauty ~Androgynous Me~
ikuhara selection best of

OST 7: Revival Record of the Rose Egg SOFIA
seazer being seazer album

OST 8: Adolescence Rush
adolescence apocalypse movie soundtrack

OST 9: COMPLETE CD-BOX
previous 8 albums, plus club remixes

OST 10: I, Revolution Pharsalia <origination>
seazer's universal gravitation recordings

OST 11: I, Revolution Pharsalia <transformation>
seazer's mitsumune rearranged songs
OST 12: Barbara Dwarf Star Child Apocalypse
an utena image album by seazer

OST 13: Alchemistic Girl ~ The Tale of the Rose & The Egg
more seazer gonna seazer

Singles, Miscellanous Audio/Drama Recordings, Compilations
So On and So Forth
Back to Empty Movement