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Kagerou Daze (song by Hatsune Miku)

"Kagerou Daze" (カゲロウデイズ), also known by its English title translated as "Heat-Haze Daze", was released on September 30, 2011. It was composed by Jin. It was his third song and one of the tracks in his Kagerou project. The story revolves around a boy who sees a girl running down the street to bring a cat to safety, but is hit by a truck. Waking up to find it was the day before the incident, he sets out to save her from impending doom.

The song currently has 7 million views on Nico Nico Douga None

Producer's Comments

An old story about summer.
“It’s because I hate summer.”

Song Information

Jin (music, lyrics, composition)
Sidu (illustration, video)
Gacchan (mixing, mastering)
Shut up (encode)
Hatsune Miku (vocals)
Lyrics: Jin
Composition: Jin
Published by Dwango Fifth Division under JASRAC
JASRAC works code: 703-7151-2

Words

Kanji	Romaji	Translation
こんなよくある話なら結末はきっと1つだけ	konna yoku aru hanashi nara ketsumatsu wa kitto hitotsu dake	There's really only one way this kind of story ends.
繰り返した夏の日の向こう	Kurikaeshita Natsu no hi no mukou	at the end of these endless summer days

Interpretation

Kagerou Daze, as part of the Kagerou Project, is only part of a fictional story and therefore likely has no real theme. In the song, the main character, Hibiya, repeatedly witnesses the day of August 15th when his friend Hiyori dies, regardless of the actions he takes to try to prevent her death. This time loop repeats for decades, until he finally sacrifices his own life to save her, only for the song to switch to Hiyori's point of view—she had also been in a time loop where Hibiya dies repeatedly, only ending when she sacrifices her life to save him; an endless time loop where neither Hibiya nor Hiyori have any redemption or salvation. Time loops are a popular science fiction theme, and the song, released in 2011, may have been inspired by other similar works related to time loops, such as Steins;Gate, which was released only a few years earlier. The song uses this powerful and compelling theme, addressing the loneliness, despair, and hopelessness that someone stuck in a time loop might feel.

Kagerou Project

Kagerou Project is a multimedia project by musician, novelist, and screenwriter Jin, focusing on the concept of "eyes," where each individual character possesses a unique power related to the eyes. In addition to the songs Jin has released since 2011, he wrote novels based on the story in 2012, and a manga by Mahiro Sato was released based on Jin's original story. The animation "Mekaku City Actors" aired from April to June 2014 to great acclaim. For the vocals in his songs, Jin used Vocaloid text-to-speech technology, particularly with Hatsune Miku and IA. The artist's most notable songs include "Kagerou Daze" ( None) " Child Recording" (None) "Memory of Lost Time " (None) and "Yobanashi Tricks" (None). The Kagerou Project has sold over 700,000 CDs as of April 2016 and 14 million copies of published books, novels, and comics as of December 2017.
Kagerou Project was one of the most successful Vocaloid spin-offs, being so popular with younger fans that it helped introduce them to and popularize Hatsune Miku. During its rise to popularity from 2013 to 2014, many Kagerou Project songs were sung in karaoke, so much so that it was common to see more than four songs in the top 20 at any given time.
After the series ended, many songs disappeared from the charts, but they still remain popular.

The project was so successful that Jin's popularity skyrocketed, earning him a spot in the top spot and working with Vocaloid IA almost exclusively due to the contract. This series is one of the first examples of a Vocaloid producer working with a company directly affiliated with them.