perfect slumbers is the opening theme song of the Nekomonogatari Black anime. Performed by Yui Horie, who voices Tsubasa Hanekawa, it is featured from Episode 01 to Episode 04.
It is also featured as the first opening theme of Koyomimonogatari in Episode 01.
Background
"perfect slumbers" is a J-pop song with instrumentation from acoustic guitars, bass guitars, strings, drums and piano. It is set in common time, and is currently the slowest song used for the Bakemonogatari series at a tempo of only 80 BPM. The song is mostly accompanied by acoustic guitar and bass guitar, and begins with soft strings, joined by maracas softly added into the song up to the rest of the song. The drums, on the other hand, are added from the first verse, with rhythm changes during the bridge sections. Throughout the song, the vocalist sings alone, accompanied by backup vocals at key portions of the song. The major 7th chord is used frequently. The song ends with a short instrument coda by piano.
The song carries a slow and somber pace compared to the dramatic rhythm of Horie's other song for the Bakemonogatari series, "sugar sweet nightmare", and that of other songs in the series. It tells about a girl's feelings blooming from the darkness, away from her lover's sight, and how she sees the lover's hand as a beam of light, which despite her lover's best efforts, is unable to reach her heart.
Opening Credits
The opening credits animation used to accompany the song depicts Tsubasa Hanekawa riding a train and traveling through different places alongside a guitar. Throughout the credits, she is seen with a guitar or a portable CD player with her, and bookmarks are commonly seen. By the last verse of the song, Tsubasa is depicted standing in front of Koyomi Araragi, who is performing a dogeza. At the end, Tsubasa's hair is untied as the background and foreground colors invert, turning black to white and vice versa, and Tsubasa's cat hair ribbon is shown.
The animation is heavily stylized, and is mostly made of silhouettes and shapes that smoothly transition through each other. In the credits, only Tsubasa is rendered in 2D animation.
Lyrics
Original Japanese | Japanese RÅmaji | English Translation |
é»ćéć®äø ćć£ćØå²ćć¦ć |
Kuroi yami no naka Sotto saiteta |
Inside the black darkness It was gently blooming |
å·®ćä¼øć¹ć¦ćććęć åŖććć«ććē§ćÆ |
Sashinobete kureta te wo Tsukamezuni iru watashi wa |
The hand you held out to me Without even trying hard |
åæć®č”ę¹ć ä»ćÆē§ć«ćććŖć |
Kokoro no yukue wo Ima wa watashi ni takunai |
And right now It doesn't shine where your heart lies |
é»ćéć®äø ćć£ćØå²ćć¦ć |
Kuroi yami no naka Sotto saiteta |
Inside the black darkness It was gently blooming |
ććććććµćććć¦ ęå¾
ćć¦ćć¾ć£ć¦ćć |
Akirameta furi wo shite Kitai shite shimatteiru |
Pretending to have given up Iām counting on you instead |
ćććÆććććććŖå
|
Sore wa atataka na hikari |
Thatās my warm light |
å¤åä»ćÆć¾ć ćć£ćØå¤ęćå åć®ćØćŖćå¾®ē”ćæćŖććęę„ćå¾
ć£ć¦ć |
Tabun ima wa mada kitto yoake mae Kimi no tonari madoromi nagara asu wo matteru |
I think Iām sure that dawn still hasnāt come yet Iām waiting for tomorrow while napping by your side |
å·®ćä¼øć¹ć¦ćććęć ć¤ćććć«ććē§ćÆ |
Sashinobete kureta te wo Tsukamezu ni iru watashi wa |
Iām unable to take your outstretched hand |
ćććÆć²ćØććć®å
|
Sore wa hitosuji no hikari |
Thatās my one ray of light |
ćÆććć¦ć®åæ åć«ćę°ä»ćć¦ć»ććć¦ |
Hajimete no kokoro Kimi ni kizuite hoshikute |
I want you to notice this emotion that Iām having for the first time |
Trivia
- The theme of the opening credits appears to tie up with Tsubasa's dream of traveling in the Bakemonogatari series.
- A verse shown, albeit shortly, in the opening credits reads: "Books with your life. And bookmark toļ»æ your heart's."
- Tsubasa is seen using a DMP, a conceptual music player that is supposed to play mp3 files and CDs as well.