Brothers: The English Bratja

((For my fiftieth Deviation, I decided to finally post something very dear to my heart. Yes, I am the one who wrote these. Warning: My rambling explanation follows.))

Three years ago, in the autumn of 2004, I got into a show called Fullmetal Alchemist. In Japanese, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi. I was fascinated by the world it presented, and particularly touched--as many fans were--by the beautiful choral theme in Russian that pervaded the show.

One day, not long after I'd finished watching the series, I was making chocolate chip cookies in my college dormitory kitchen and thinking about that lovely tune. Earlier that day, I had looked up some literal Russian-to-English translations of it, but they weren't really singable. Word-for-word translations usually lose a little of their flow in the process. Language is just like that.

While I was stirring my cookie batter and humming, I started to think up slight alterations to those lyrics I'd read, singable words that might hopefully still preserve the heart of the song. The first line that burst into my mind was, "Beautiful mother, soft and sweet...once you were gone, we were not complete..."

And the rest, I guess, is sort of Fandom History.

Except, of course, that these lyrics would never have become so popular without the help of Vic Mignogna, Edward Elric's English voice actor, and my friend Marianne, a budding voice actress in her own right. She liked the lyrics and showed them to Vic, and he liked them so much that he asked my permission and added them to his performance repertoire. It was such a kind-hearted thing for them both to do, and I'm flattered to this day.

Unfortunately, there's one double-edged sword in having a famous voice actor sing your song. Over time, the lyrics have become more associated with Vic than with me. This isn't his fault. He always credits where credit is due. The main problem, I think, is that I don't have my own website to post my lyrics for reference. But I can at least try to get them out there in their full form. Better late than never, right?

So here are the lyrics. The full version. (Vic's version accidentally left out the second half of Alphonse's verse.)

(And just to make sure that I, like Vic, give credit where it is due, here are the original translations I used to write my own version. I could never have done it without them. (I don't, for the record, speak Russian--only English and Japanese.) Full Literal Translations. For that matter, the original Russian version was composed by Michiru Oshima, and was sung by the childrens' chamber choir of the Moscow Music School.)

I have been amazed and touched to see the response to these lyrics, over the last few years. And I have been amazed at the way my simple words and Vic's wonderful voice have apparently touched so many FMA fans.

Thank you, everybody. God bless.