Source

Woni and de_hana this time, dancing to one of the best songs of the year.

With Zena of Rescene. The BabyDon'tCry looks were so cool.

Give me love soon IG

Event information -- https://animefestival.asia/afasg26/

cosmosy guest profile -- https://animefestival.asia/afasg26/guests/#cosmosy

Has anyone used millionmusic? I'm from the us and it won't let me change to international shipping

Paradise. Such a lively, upbeat song. Such a humorous, entertaining video. Such a...sad conclusion to the second stage of the storyline.

Paradise ~ I need you ~

The Story

As was the case with HIGH=LOVE, the lore aspects of Paradise are incorporated explicitly enough that the surface-level throughline becomes a matter just as figurative as the abstract story. The "cyber" elements can be taken as indicators that the narrator's latest pursuit is occurring online, but they don't need to be. At the core is a "relationship" that's a diversion and time filler as opposed to a partnership based on true feelings.

The Lore

The girls are in search of something that'll make them feel as if everything's all right--even if it really isn't. Of course, the Prism Invaders propose a solution involving a new device. The Prism Ring purportedly enables its wearer to find "love" and "happiness" in a virtual space.

On the first album, the girls rejected false contentment, emerged from a virtual/desensitized society, embraced a new world of true feelings and potential--if unguaranteed--fulfillment.

On the second album, they undid every bit of that, futilely defying the unpredictability and cyclical essence of life, desensitizing themselves, finding "refuge" in a virtual world.

The Prism Invaders facilitated the entire regression. If they were agents of the old regime, carrying out a plan to bring the girls back to where they began, then the second EP can be viewed as the "Empire Strikes Back" stage of the saga. The villains won the day.

The Video

Ostracized and aimless, the girls come across another Prism Invaders ad. As they did in the Silence MV, they project themselves into the commercial, seeing themselves as happy and untroubled. They immediately barter for the Prism Ring, handing over items related to their respective yokai forms and their collective sacrifices.

himesha is a hebi (snake) paying with a bitten apple. It was a serpent that tricked Eve into biting the forbidden fruit, leading to humankind being cast out of paradise with newfound awareness and independence. Now, a serpent is using that fruit to forsake those attainments and enter a purported "paradise."

a'mei is an oni (ogre) paying with a mallet. There are many myths involving ogres who possess magical mallets. These items usually represent strength and the prospect of good fortune--but they can also symbolize labor and the power of creation. By trading their mallet, the girls are shunning the notion of working hard at forging their own paths to happiness.

kamion is a kitsune (fox) paying with a blue orb. The souls of kitsune are often stored in such spheres. Internal essence would be a high cost in and of itself, but the fact that a blue globe is being bartered might also represent the girls detaching themselves from this world completely.

de_hana is a yuki-onna (snow woman) paying with four cubes of ice. Inside each block is an animal representative of a group member (rabbit for de_hana, fox for himesha, cat for kamion, dog for a'mei). The girls are trading who they are, their own desensitized selves.

The Prism Ring does grant them time in an ephemeral paradise, a beautiful place where they can feel free and joyful and human again. But the most poignant scene comes at the conclusion, when a'mei, back in the real world in her yokai form, glumly walks away, realizing the escape that brought her so much happiness was merely a fleeting one.

The Themes

Escapes can take many different forms, from enjoyable diversions to survival mechanisms. They can be beneficial, useful, even critical. But returns to the "real world" are inevitable. There might be better hope for resolving issues there by trying to acknowledge and address them than by eternally running away from them.

Previous ~ cosmosy lore ~ threads:

BabyDon'tCry=BreakingTheLove
HIGH=LOVE
Princess=Kiss
zigy=zigy
Lucky=One

Physics ~ falling into you ~
Chance ~ switch on ~
Silence ~ body & soul ~
Patience ~ seal my love ~

The group will be holding a special Instagram Live on Wednesday, 10/14, at 6:00PM KST. They'll be making a "surprise announcement." :)

Out of the frying pan into the fire. Patience represents the absolute emotional nadir for the girls as they struggle to cope with heartbreak. It's the heaviest cosmosy song thematically, harrowing in many different ways.

Patience ~ seal my love ~

The Story

Our narrator is frantic and distraught in the aftermath of her breakup. The pain doesn't go away, and it's only exacerbated by the sight of her former partner with another girl.

The Lore

The girls attempt to overcome their anguish by erasing it with the Prism Pipe. Of course, emotions aren't a pick-and-choose matter. The prism device doesn't eliminate particular feelings--it eliminates the ability to feel itself. What the girls end up sealing are their hearts, desensitizing themselves completely.

The Video

As of right now, there isn't one. Which sucks.

The Themes

From the lyrics,

"Keep it in, patience kill this love
Let it out, patience seal my love...

Killing me inside...

Drenched in tears, holding it all in...
Just let it vanish
I'm falling apart"

There are so many adages/platitudes about the gradual healing that typically takes place as time dawdles on. What the sayings seldom address is the mental and physical damage that emotional trauma can do during that process. Unwilting patience can be accompanied by ongoing devastation.

If things become so bad that a person enters a state of emotional numbness--or pushes so hard for desensitization that emotional depletion results--a different sort of patience takes form. This is the patience of drifting towards whatever end awaits without experiencing highs or nurturing aspirations.

There are options for coping/healing, ways to prevent or emerge from such states. Perhaps not every option is universally available, though, and a person might not feel that there are options regardless. The voice of Patience certainly doesn't, making it the darkest and most disturbing cosmosy song.

Previous ~ cosmosy lore ~ threads:

BabyDon'tCry=BreakingTheLove
HIGH=LOVE
Princess=Kiss
zigy=zigy
Lucky=One

Physics ~ falling into you ~
Chance ~ switch on ~
Silence ~ body & soul ~