

I'm kinda wondering what the opening theme song of Arakawa Under the Bridge,
**_Venus and Jesus_** lyrics mean.

On the third stanza,

> _A neighbor of Venus  
>  Why? During that interval that we don't know  
>  Jesus lives across the hall  
>  I'm hearing something bad _

It mentions the name, _Jesus_. What does that stanza imply? Does it have
something to do with the Christian religion?

> _A neighbor of Venus_

Maybe, Earth?

> _Why? During that interval that we don't know_

Interval we don't know? Maybe, before the concept of time existed?

There are also other lines that I don't quite understand.

Lyrics taken from [**Lyrics Translate**](http://lyricstranslate.com/en/venus-
jesus-venus-and-jesus.html).


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music arakawa-under-the-bridge
What is the meaning of Arakawa Under the Bridge's opening theme song?


In an English fan dub of the OP
[here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDy0pvuxTKo), they use "Jesus" as a
curse word, but I haven't found anything on Japanese people doing that, so I
would assume they could not decipher the meaning and just went with what
sounded good. Jesus is also mentioned in the title so it seems to refer to a
person.

Another thing to think about is the "I'm in hell again" line. Is that meant to
tie in? Well, the Japanese word used "地獄" can refer to either the Buddhist
hell or the Christian one. (Used in Mark 9:43-44.) It doesn't seem to refer
specifically to the Christian hell. As the full word was "生き地獄", I think a
more accurate translation may be "hell on earth".

It may just be another instance of "use Christian themes to sound cool" thing.
Random Christian stuff like crosses and such are added in to Japanese media a
lot because it is exotic and strange to them. Using "Jesus" in a song is an
example of that I have seen before.

As _Arakawa Under the Bridge_ is very random, it's hard to tell. The
perspective of the song appears to change between the stanza and the person
who translated it is actually French, and from what I can gather, some bits
may not be entirely accurate. However, the French version seems to take some
liberties that are not in the Japanese for some reason. I also looked at [this
translation](http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/arakawa/venusandjesus.htm) which
varies slightly.

Basically: The song is random like the series, and the use of "Jesus" is just
to make it sound cool.

Coincidentally, Hikaru Nakamura, the mangaka of _Arakawa Under the Bridge_
also writes another great series called _Saint☆Oniisan_ , which is a slice-of-
life about Jesus and the Buddha on holiday living in an apartment in Tokyo.
Probably nothing to do with it, but it's pretty interesting.


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A neighbor of Venus

Why? During that interval that we don't know

Jesus lives across the hall

I'm hearing something bad

So this stanza is not translated very accurately, especially the last bit with
"I'm hearing something bad". The official Japanese lyric is "kiite, yaba-i no"
The use of the word "Yabai" connotes a young teen gossiping about something,
or asking for advice (yabai is like "OMG that is SO bad. In the context, it
does not mean actually bad). With that being said, it almost sounds like the
singer is knocking on the doors of different gods, such as Venus and Jesus,
asking them for advice on something a teen (and Nino) would have trouble with,
such as love.

Venus, (he) is living next to me

Why is (he), while I didn't even notice

Jesus (he) is living across me

OMG this is SO bad.

That's the way I heard it as a Japanese native speaker, but I may have
interpreted wrong. I may be a little biased because this song to me is tied to
the anime/the manga (which are really awesome, especially the manga) so it
leans to make sense along with the show, although this was originally a normal
song, not made as an OP. I hope that helped!

LazyKaiju


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