PONPONPON (hidden message)

[RayJason]

Originally Posted by isthisLOL?

I watched the video with subtitles and this is the conclusion I got to personally:

PONPONPON has surprising depth to it, but I think it's wrong to try to look too deep either.

The lyrical idea expressed is the desperate attempt to hold up an ideal you are not sure you can hold up anymore. That ideal is living in the world of children. Free of dangers and hatred, full of fun and love. That's seen at several points in the lyrics. Right at the beginning there is a contrast established between symbols of adult civilization(the streets and the city) and the sky(a symbol of hope and something neverchanging), note that this contrast happens in an upwards move. First the streets(ground level), then the city(what is above the ground) and then the sky, the highest you can go, an upward movement usually expresses hope. At another point Kayry wishes to be on a merry-go-round, that is the point in the lyrics that convinced me the ideal is childhood, not peace or individualism(which would be another possibility, as there are elements of the New Subjectivity movement in the lyrics). The lyrics express the wish for people to stick together, to just be happy and all like each other, but the lyrics also question that. There are "what if...?"s, doubt is expressed directly through that.
So the protagonist of the lyrics wishes for childhood, to live in such a state, but realizes it is not possible anymore.
Yet she is desperate to keep it up, she makes up reasons to stay in that state as long as possible. (Which is an interesting link to many of Ayumi's lyrics, as the fear of growing up is often addressed in similar ways) She thinks that moving forward, forcing yourself to remain moving, will stop you from maturing.

The chorus contrasts the illusion of individualism children have with the integration into society adults are forced to accept. It's a form of escapism for the singer. She realizes she can't stay a child forever, so she pretends to be a child, the repetitiveness of the lyrics emphasizes that, as does the reliance on music as symbol of freedom - but only in form of headphones, meaning only in your own make-believe world as you push away reality. That's where the music and the video come in, but I'll get to that a bit later. First, the title of the song: The subtitled version I got from jpopsuki explained that "ponpon" is a typical japanese term meaning "wearing nothing at all, showing everything" - in the sense of showing your true self, your individuality. One of the main ideals she wishes for throughout the song and repeats throughout the song. She wants to be herself without having to play a role in any way - in other words, she wants to be a child.

The pure happiness the music suggests is both a contrast to the lyrics AND escapism in itself, it creates a carefree enviroment upon superficial listening.

The video is what I think shouldn't be analyzed too deeply. I think as a whole it is a direct visual representation of the lyrical concepts, but I think most of the details are purely design choices, not artistic choices. The Kyary in the room full of child toys is the Kyary that has build a fantasy world around her as to stay a child forever(hello, Peter Pan!), but through the open window - open windows are symbols of both longing and barriers that have to be crossed - reality and the adult world slowly invade. The window being open symbolizes that this change HAS to occur, that you HAVE to enter reality sooner or later. So throughout the video we see more and more symbols of adult society and even death entering, but Kyary closes her eyes to it. The big number of eyes may symbolize judgement. The adult world does not approve of her wanting to stay a child, so they watch her. The TV set we see her in towards the end is striking, as TVs are a symbol of death. Not literal death, but symbolic death. The death of the mind, of the creativity, of your self. The head of the real Kyary has disappeared at that point, it is being morphed into something new - she is forced into the adult world and what she wanted to preserve is being destroyed in the process. There are a couple more less significant symbols, but I don't think they are all worth explaining to grasp the overall themes.

In the end PONPONPON, the lyrics, music and video, is escapism in it's most pure form: An anthem for something you know exactly you can't have. The desperate longing for the carefree life of a child in a world that forcefully integrates you into a whole.

Like I already said a dozens of times in our PM’s (isthisLOL?), thank you very much for your time and willingness to cover this (same goes for AdreneKoi as well) !!!
I had to read your analysis thoroughly because sometimes it went a bit too difficult for me haha. AdreneKoi’s analysis resembles yours a lot which does mean that the perspective point from you two must be correct. I kind of fused the two analyses together and now everything falls on its place!

Now I watch the PV without my forced interpretation and it makes total sense now, from beginning to end. Like you two said, not every single object have meaning in the PV (in which I though almost all of the stuff were relevant LOL, like the orange whale and duck with an ammo crown (ammo for pistols). (I'm still not sure about the hidden meaning when played reversed though)

I still get the same feeling when I listen to the song, when I first heard it I thought of it too be too girlish but I still got addicted XD. Now I cannot help but to notice the 'sad' undertones in it. Kinda sucks, because this song usually helped making me totally cheery and happy lol. But the meaning of the song is actually really relevant to how I feel about aging though. (Thanks for confirming it guys) I feel like I can relate to her now .

I should be embarrassed for my own analysis, it’s way too far off the ‘real’ concept LOL! Mine didn't made too much sense XD.

I cannot thank you 2 enough, you've cleared the whole mystery up for me!

[Andrenekoi]

^Haha^^ You are welcome...

but don't forget those are just interpretations based on our own repertoire... We don't know the people who produced the material to know what they had in mind when producing it, so, it's not like how we see it is true, but just our vision of it. Any creative work can be interpretated on a number of ways, and none of them are actually totally wrong or right... You see it on your own way, discuss it with friends and see what works for you.

If you find a interpretation that actually moves you, that affect your feelings and that make you relate to it, don't let other people change that^^

[RayJason]

Well my 'friends' all go like, "omfg she's hot I would bang her" and such.... Instead of focusing on the PV and the story it's telling me. And nobody around me supports my music choice . I used YouTube as reference, every few hours a new top comment pops up and sometime they contain their own analysis.

But most of their analysis come very close to the one you and isthisLOL? posted (the ones you two posted were very detailed though).

(I honestly thought that the song was about dieing and that the red head Kyary (thoughts) died in the PV LOL OMG. There was even a time when I completely flipped about the reversed "satan thing" and then I thought the song was about supporting everyone to die, and appreciating death............O.o But I'm glad this has been cleared up!

[happiholic★]

Originally Posted by JackieRos

so the hidden message is that the world will end?


What I always thought is that her songs sound like she's sad and
not happy cheery like everybody thinks.
The most sad song I think of her is the one with the false lashes.

When I read this, I thought "Sad Party Queen", lol.

Its funny, today I listened to PONPONPON for the first time in forever, and now I'm seeing her all over the internet, when normally I don't see anything at all about her.

[sxesven]

Something I noticed...

When you consider the conjoing lines in the following screen:


figure 1. The original image showing the conjoining black lines, coming from the left.

It seems evident that it's not just some graphic ornament, but rather that the lines point to something - but what? So I set to work on this and polished up the image a bit using my CSI-style computer and zoomed in...


figure 2. Zoomed in to the point where the lines conjoin.

It is evident that there is something here (circled in red).


figure 3. The item in question to which the lines point, circled in red.

Image enhancement through D-ROD analysis makes the case clearer:


figure 4. The enhanced image.

Enhancing the image more using bypass color extension...


figure 5. The further enhanced image.

And more, through stereo-Cuperian anti-deflection....


figure 6. The even further enhanced image.

When we now zoom in and use a graphic ultraspectral enhancement analysis followed by incumbent perennial ASHOD processing we reveal...


figure 7. The item revealed.

Mr. Krabs?! What the hell is he doing here, and what's he so afraid of? To be continued...

[CatGirl]

Oh my God. lmao. I love this thread even more now

[Kazeyomi]

Originally Posted by sxesven

To be continued...

I'm looking forward it.

For more mysterious hidden messages :O

[Andrenekoi]

@sxesven
I think I love you...

[MeltingCORE]

OMG WAT. This thread has me cracking up. XD

[susiowong]

This thread has now reached new heights of awesomeness.

[sxesven]

Alright, here we are again. Sorry for the delay. These last few days black SUVs and men in black suits and sunglasses have been following me around. I haven't felt safe. Yet I must bring the truth to light...

So in studying this picture of Mr. Krabs, who I think we can all agree looks absolutely terrified, I noticed there is a hint of reflection in his eyes. I circled it in red below.


figure 8. The reflection in Mr. Krabs' eyes circled in red.

I won't bore you all with the technical details, but using some advanced image processing I cranked up the resolution and zoomed in, revealing that indeed that there is something going on. In the following close-up, I have circled the individual reflections of each eye. It seems evident that there is something here. Now, I don't think it's entirely odd to theorize here that whatever frightened Mr. Krabs so much was reflected in his eyes. He must have seen someone or something right there and then. Further advanced processing of the left eye's reflection shows us the following picture:


figure 9. Further processing of the left eye's reflection.

Bringing the image closer and adjusting color levels and sharpness shows us that a person seems to have been reflected in Mr. Krabs' eyes. However, it is unclear on this picture who, and why Mr. Krabs is so terrified.


figure 10. An unknown person's reflection is revealed in the left eye.

Rendering... rendering...


figure 11. The unknown person's identity is slowly revealed.

Holy friggin' crap...!


figure 12. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii........!

This was pretty terrifying in itself already, but then I noticed this speck:


figure 13. A suspicious speck.

I enhanced the speck and enlarged it, and rendered it to reveal this shocking message...








figures 14-17. The shocking truth revealed.

I'll leave the conclusions to you...

[sxesven]

[sxesven]

what the....................!!!!!!!!!

i was just checking my original post agasin to see if ui had made no speling mistakes and so on and suddenly there is this creppy picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I DID NOT POST THIS WHAT IS GOING ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sxesven]

theyr comin g for me

run

[Andrenekoi]

RUN! TELL THE TRUTH TO THE WORLD!!!
;----;

[CatGirl]

omg im rly frightened I dont think I can sleep tonight )': )': )';

[isthisLOL?]

Best...thread...ever...

[Delicious n Bold]

LOL
I love this thread. So much. Like. You. Have. No. Idea.
Shatner. Has. Nothing. Against. Me.

[bondingo]

HAHAHAHA

Oh my God, this has gotten ridiculous

Originally Posted by SheFliesHigher

Has anyone seen the Japanese movie "Suicide Club"? There's a pop group that embeds scary messages into their work, and they turn out to be behind this greater scheme to manipulate Japanese people. This discussion reminds me of that.

Late response, but yes. I've owned it for years. Amazing movie. It's weird though, because Dessert (the group)'s messages were EXTREMELY well hidden, yet everyone still recieved them subconsciously and killed themselves.

[RayJason]

LOL what the hell