I promise I’m not just trying to space-out my LL! posts …
(remember when this blog just posted about anime?)

*TL Note – メンヘラ (menhera), is Japanese slang arbitrarily used to refer to either people “suffering from mental illness”, or to people who seek methods of improving their mental health and well-being. More about this past the lyrics.

– –

私メンヘラなんかじゃないもん
(watashi menhera nanka ja nai mon)
[ I’m not a MenHealth-er or anything, not at all ]

1人になるとね　気づけば勝手に　自問自答を始めます
(hitori ni naru to ne kizukeba katte ni jimonjitou o hajimemasu)
[ Whenever I’m alone, you see — I notice, out of nowhere — that I start talking to myself ]

無意味な言葉も
(muimina kotoba mo)
[ It’s all just meaningless words ]

気になってしまって　
(kininatteshimatte)
[ but it’s been on my mind ]

自意識過剰です
(jiishiki kajoudesu)
[ and I’m overly self-conscious about it. ]

Say Yes！ Say Yes！

悩み悔やみや　恨みつらみで　いつも心を汚します
(nayami kuyami ya uramitsurami de itsumo kokoro o yogoshimasu)
[ My mind is always defiled by troubles, condolences, and resentment ]

汚い私に　触っちゃ駄目です　君のことも汚してしまいます
(kitanai watashi ni sawatcha damedesu kimi no koto mo yogoshite shimaimasu)
[ You must not touch the filth that is me. I’ll end up defiling you too ]

ずっと満たされなくて　我慢が出来なくて
(zutto mitasa renakute gaman ga dekinakute)
[ Always unsatisfied — I can’t take it anymore ]

夢見がち一気に証明
(yumemi-gachi ikkini shoumei)
[ A dreamer proving it and once for all ]

まずい　やばい　サブい　眠い　怠い
(mazui yabai sabui nemui darui)
[ This is bad. Oh no. It’s cold. I’m sleepy. Feeling heavy ]

うるさい　聞きたくないです
(urusai kikitakunaidesu)
[ Shut up, I can’t hear it anymore. ]

私メンヘラなんかじゃないもん
(watashi menhera nanka ja nai mon)
[ I’m not a MenHealth-er or anything, not at all ]

この世界で生きていきたいもん
(kono sekai de ikite ikitai mon)
[ I want to continue living in this world after all ]

ただ世知辛いとは思ってんもん
(tada sechigarai to wa omottenmon)
[ but, I think living is hard, that’s all ]

だってだってだって神様が
(dattedattedatte kamisama ga)
[ Because, I mean, ’cause it was God Himself — ]

与えた性格が難題で
(ataeta seikaku ga nandai de)
[ that gave me this difficult character, ]

足りない頭をフル回転して苦労してんだもん
(tarinai atama o furu kaiten shite kuroushitenda mon)
[ and this lacking brain that’s been troubled and spun a full 360, after all. ]

メンヘラなんかじゃないもん
(menhera nanka ja nai mon)
[ I’m not a MenHealth-er or anything, not at all ]

non stopで　サティスファクション　go my way　全てフィクション
(non stop de satisuifakushon go my way subete fikushon)
[ Non-stop satisfaction. Go my way, everything’s fiction ]

イメージだけで　(Hey！ Hey！)　ダメージになる　(Hey！ Hey！)
(imeeji dakede Hey！ Hey！ dameeji ni naru Hey！ Hey！)
[ It’s just an image (Hey！ Hey！) It’s become damaged (Hey！ Hey！) ]

どんな感情にもちゃんと理由があるよ
(donna kanjou ni mo chanto riyuu ga aru yo)
[ No matter the feeling — there’s a reason, for sure. ]

見ないフリして逃げてばっかり
(minai furi shite nigete bakkari)
[ Pretending not to see, all I do is run away ]

こんな自分のまま　こんな人生のまま
(konna jibun no mama konna jinsei no mama)
[ Such is myself. Such is my life ]

終わっちゃっても　いいんですか？
(owachattemo iindesuka)
[ Would it be okay to just end it? ]

苦しくて淋しくて眠れなくて
(kurushikute samishikute nemurenakute)
[ It’s painful. It’s cold. Can’t sleep ]

アレを飲んで眠った夢の中で
(are o nonde nemutta yumenonakade)
[ I drink “that”, fall asleep, and in my dreams — ]

私はいつも誰かに追われていて
(watashi wa itsumo dareka ni owa rete ite)
[ I’m always being chased by someone, ]

逃げきれなくて殺された私は
(nige kirenakute korosa reta watashi wa)
[ and because I couldn’t get away, I was killed. ]

朝にも夜にも表にも裏にも
(asa ni mo yoru ni mo hyō ni mo ura ni mo)
[ In the morning, In the night, In the charts, In the back ]

ねぇ、何処にも居場所がないの
(ne~e, doko ni mo ibasho ga nai no)
[ He~y, there’s nowhere left to be ]

私メンヘラなんかじゃないもん
(watashi menhera nanka ja nai mon)
[ I’m not a MenHealth-er or anything, not at all ]

この世界で生きていきたいもん
(kono sekai de ikite ikitai mon)
[ I want to continue living in this world after all ]

ただ生きるだけで精一杯で
(tada ikiru dakede seiippaide)
[ Just that, living to the fullest — ]

ずっとずっとこんな有様だ
(zutto zutto konna arisamada)
[ always, always, in such a state ]

私にも触れない感情で
(watashi ni mo furenai kanjou de)
[ where even I can’t feel emotion — ]

そんなに簡単な言葉で片付けないでよ
(sonnani kantanna kotoba de katadzukenaide yo)
[ please don’t use such simple words to clear this up. ]

メンヘラなんかじゃないもん
(menhera nanka ja nai mon)
[ I’m not a MenHealth-er or anything, not at all ]

– –

私メンヘラなんかじゃないもん (watashi menhera nanka janai mon lit. I’m not a MenHealth-er or anything, not at all) is song by pop-rock ensemble, vivid undress.

I put up my TL note in advance of the lyrics because I do feel that “menhera” is a rather sensitive word to be throwing around without proper context, considering it’s contemporary usage. I mentioned that “menhera” actually has two meanings that, at first glance look fairly similar, but are in fact starkly different from one another (an insightful read on the matter can be found here and here).

Now, the use of “menhera” initially has its roots in 2ch message boards, particularly the mental health (menheru) board, where users were called mental health-ers (menheraa, shortened to menhera). They weren’t people clinically diagnosed with mental illness, but rather just people looking to improve their lives by looking for ways to cope with their self-assessed mental (mostly emotional) issues.

The negative connotation, I should say, of “menhera” being used to refer to people who appear to be unstable, comes from the proliferation of the word outside of the message board. It became it’s own subculture (akin to kawaii subculture and gothic lolita, to name a few). As such it became subject to public criticism towards people who took pride in being “mentally troubled”, and were using menhera motifs and imagery (stitches, patches, etc.) to accentuate it amongst their peers (similar say, to “emo culture”).

That being said, as with anything and everything dealing with mental health, there really shouldn’t be such negative stereotypes to come off from it (at least in my opinion). vivid undress‘ take on it appears to be imploring menhera subculture imagery to an extent, and even the lyrics here seem to be referring to someone diagnosed with mental illness. I do wonder what this speaks about the state of mental health care in Japan? On the one-hand, it’s just a light-hearted song; but on the other hand, it’s a light-hearted song adressing mental instability (but then again, it’s not like Japan is privy to media that depict these sort of things anyway — freedom of expression and all).

I only found out about this particular subculture myself when I started translating this song. I was honestly quite surprised that such a thing existed, and if anything, was a very interesting topic to learn about. A neat little bonus to doing these, I suppose.

As always, I do these translations on my own, so they may very well have some errors here and there (a teeny bit more confident with this one). But yes, for people who are more learned and experience in Japanese, do point out any mistakes and feel free to use the comments section below for your criticism/corrections/clarifications.

And hey, if you don’t know Japanese, still feel free to drop a line below 😀