Transformers G1 Japanese Soundtrack - Liner Notes from Shiro Sagisu

 

Back with another translation post. This one will focus on the liner notes left behind by Shiro Sagisu from the album Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers Original Soundtrack (or, as some others might put it, the JP OST to Transformers G1)—the tracklist description is included in here as well. 

Thanks to Windii for helping translate this.

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When "they" are no longer dreams...

Indeed, it is almost there... in fact, the time has already come. The other day, a team of Japanese scientists, ahead of the rest of the world, finally completed a "robot with emotions." It seems that this was completed at an unscheduled speed for them, so the dream is no longer just a dream. As you may have already read in the newspapers, the robot is a woman (I think it even had a name. The only thing I remember well is that the name was a rather silly pun, as if it were something a scientist would come up with) and has the personality of a modern-day college student, which is very popular in our country. However, the research itself was only the completion of the first stage, and the character seems to have been very single-minded.

But this is a bit of a... no, not just a bit, it's a big deal, a huge feat. If you think about it, it's beyond "amazing" that a robot can work whether it likes it or not, and it has reached the point where it's "scary." For example, in a few years from now (maybe two or three at this point), a female college student personal computer robot will be made, and rich men will be able to program it, but shabby office workers will not accept it at all, and even though it's a computer, it will be sold in different departments, JJ-style with close-cropped hair... (hm, but the idea of turning a college girl's personality into a robot is also amazing, and not something I would expect a scientist to do, but it's very astute! It's really timely.)

Now that the story has developed to this point, this topic will surely come up... indeed, the question of whether HAL's antics in 2001: A Space Odyssey will ever become a reality... well, that's an exaggeration, but I'd like you to find the answer in Transformers.

This is not the robot story of a decade ago! In an age when robots with feelings have really come into being... with the super-life form robots Transformers really coming into being, this is the very story of the present day.

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A-1 "4TH DIMENSION" The fourth dimension... it is a universe where robots roam. Sometimes they are gentle and peaceful, sometimes angry and explosive. But no matter what happens, seconds later, it is a mysterious space where the silence returns again, where nothing ever happened. A-2 "GRUESOME WARS" It is a fierce and gruesome attack by the Destrons. But at all times, Cybertron, the warrior, stands up to such evil. The battle between these two sides is tremendous. In a crazy rhythm... A-3 "TRANSFORMER" After all, robots have feelings... indeed, they are super-life forms. And they, like human society, have rules, and they have to fight against those who come at them, whether they want to or not. This theme song is a triumph of this. A-4 "CAR WALKIN'" A car walks?! Don't be surprised. The first stage of the robots' transformation is a car. Not Kafka's cockroach, but the transformed form of the Transformers. A-5 "CYBETRON I" A symbol of justice, it is also kindness. Remembering to be kind to the weak is the Cybertronian way of life. A-6 "PEACE OF MIND" However robotic, peace of mind is necessary. Yes, especially after a long, long battle. It is also an important source of energy, a stock for tomorrow. This is what it means to be a super-life form! A-7 "SPINNIN'" The driving machine = the robot is ready to get in the groove of the rhythm of rock music! And then it bursts into action. A-8 "CYBERTRON II" The graceful figure of the fighting Cybertrons, a kind of march that resembles a fanfare. Their aim is peace, but to achieve this, they must first defeat the Destrons and win the war. The ballad in the second half of the song is the theme for that. B-1 "YOU CAN FIGHT" No matter what happens, the fight goes on. It will always go on. The struggle against evil is the sound of this heroic trumpet, and the free improvisation, the justice that must always be had. B-2 "MECHANICAL VOICE" Do the robots' dynamic movements come from the rapping of their mechanical voices, or do they prance like dancers in a swirl of rhythms that come in like a flood? High-voiced robots, low-voiced robots, each robot has its own personality and is alive. B-3 "BATTLE" The tremendous tension in the face of crisis... building it up and up for the battle to come... a kind of pressure, I suppose. It is truly an emergency alert song. B-4 "WHO'S GOD" What should we believe in to live? Who is God to a robot? The solemn harpsichord music is a melody offered to an as yet unseen God. B-5 "CHASE" The rhythm of the shuffle is also a theme of the chase. Cybertron and Destron chase and confuse each other. B-6 "DESTRON" This is the theme of the evil Destrons, who have tremendous ambitions. Their wiles boil up like a fountain and continue endlessly. And the grudge against Cybertron will never disappear. It is also a theme of civil war, slander and violence itself. B-7 "PEACE AGAIN" When will that peace we glimpsed as children return? For these robots, the déjà vu phenomenon is always the same. Is that peace for them? B-8 "FUTURIST'S DREAM" The Mobius strip, where the futurist's dreams are endless and lead to reality... indeed, we can control everything - from the future to the past, and from the past to the future. This is our future and the Mobius Transform.