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Love is War (song by Hatsune Miku)

"Love is War" (恋は戦争), known by its official English title "EAGER LOVE REVENGE", was composed by Ryō . It details the story of how Miku will fight for her crush. Due to the song's popularity, it has been translated into several languages, with some of the translations being made official and included in various rhythm games that feature the song. It was the eighth song to be entered into the Hall of Legend, in November 2008.

Summary

Love is War was written by Ryo with musical arrangement by Yasuo Matsumoto.
On February 22, 2008, Ryo uploaded the video Hatsune Miku sings the original song "Love is War" to Nico Nico Douga. This is the first Supercell song to be released on the video platform since the group's formation. "When you can't give up, don't break down! It's not the right thing to do!" and "It may seem like an unbearable love, but you have no choice but to love it!" were the original ideas for the song. It was the first song on Supercell's debut album.

Although the video was released in late February, the lyrics began on New Year's Day, and the song was already finished by early January. Shirou Miwa was in charge of the album cover and video illustrations. Miwa, who knew little about Hatsune Miku at the time of the video's production, remarked, "Even though I'm an outsider to this fandom, I'll try to draw the idea." and that he would illustrate it differently than the typical cute Hatsune Miku everyone was used to. The resulting illustration would lead fellow illustrator Redjuice to call it "cool and dark." Miwa had his comic DOGS/BULLETS AND CARNAGE serialized in the Ultra Jump magazine.

This song created a popular aesthetic of Miku holding a megaphone while singing, which can be seen in many pieces of artwork. She is generally only associated with this song when wearing the black and green outfit developed for her, but other versions and designs of her are often depicted with a megaphone instead of a microphone. Good Smile Company also released a deluxe figurine based on the image from this song, with Miku (using her normal outfit, rather than the black version) standing atop a megaphone tower and shouting into a handheld megaphone.
The song reached over 1 million views by the end of 2008 and currently has over 4 million views on Nico Nico Douga.

Song Information

ryo (music, lyrics)
Hatsune Miku (vocals)
Yasuo Matsumoto (arrangements)
Shirō Miwa (illustration)

Words

Published by イクシーミュージック第一事業部 under JASRAC
JASRAC works code: 156-1818-8

Kanji	Romaji	Translation
There is a problem, but you can solve it	setsunaru koi sore wa tsumi	Burning passion is a sin
見せてあげる私の想いを	misete ageru watashi no omoi o	I will show you my feelings

Interpretation

The song is about unrequited love and the lengths the protagonist is willing to go to change that, starting with getting noticed by her loved one. At first, the protagonist finds herself at a loss, because even though the world around her has gone dark, she's still in love and doesn't know what to do. She can scream into a megaphone until it breaks, but no matter how far she goes, she's still not in the line of sight of the person she desires. Love is a war, she declares, preparing to do whatever it takes to win this battle; she even declares she's willing to lift up her skirt just to be looked at.
There are many elements in the song that suggest that what made the world a darker place for her was seeing her crush get into a relationship. For example, although it is not clearly stated, she sees her crush happy and cannot bear it. She declares it to be a war, and this leads her to declare that she is still at a disadvantage even after lifting her skirt. In this interpretation, the only thing that can make the world a brighter place for her is being with her crush in the first place. The tone of the song itself is quite dark, and therefore the conclusion of the situation seems bittersweet.