"Teokure Caution" Lyrics and MV Breakdown (=LOVE)
Teokure Caution
The 3rd single of =LOVE, Teokure Caution (手遅れcaution), marked a complete 180 in the group's image, with the dramatic musical style and dark visual concept. Iconic to this single is the entirely black sailor school uniform, which is used in the album art above. This inversion of =LOVE's concept is represented not only in their style but also in the lyrics and MV as we'll see. In fact, Sashihara had likely been planning this transformation since the very beginning. She had stated that the initial concept for this single was born during the production of the first single.
Although centered by Hitomin (Takamatsu Hitomi), the member who left the biggest impact in this song was definitely Noguchi Iori. Starting from this single, she established herself as a master of dark concepts with her extraordinarily expressive performances. She would return as center for dark concepts in later songs like "Shirankedo" and "Norotte Norotte".
The title uses the word "Teokure" which means something like "too little too late" or "missed opportunity". Combined with the word "caution", it seems like it's a warning to the listener to act sooner rather than later. The lyrics and MV will explore the idea here in incredible depth.
The Lyrics: World of Two
The lyrics use the first-person pronoun "私", which tends to indicate a female protagonist, so I'll use she/her pronouns. Based on the MV, I'll use she/her pronouns for the love interest as well.
Ah この時代
Um 恋愛に
形なんかないと
誰か呟いた
Ah, in this era
Um, love
Has no shape
Someone whispered that
Ah なのになぜ
Um 冷たい目
暗いこの檻は
狭すぎる
Ah, but why
Um, the cold eyes
This dark cage
Is so cramped
The Ahs and Ums set up a sensual suggestive mood for this song. Immediately, it sets up the idea of a type of love that may be disapproved of by some. It can only be communicated by whispers, which, while discrete, makes it even more sensual. Especially, with "in this era", there is a suggestion of non-traditional relationships. Sounds like someone is whispering these words to seduce the protagonist.
The second part establishes some key concepts. First is the concept of eyes that will be recurring as a symbol of intense passion. Second is the feeling of being trapped and captured by those eyes. They are not necessarily loving eyes as they will not let her free.
美しい花になり
ショーウィンドウ
飾られるなら咲かないで
Becoming a beautiful flower
The shop window
If you're on display, don't bloom
This verse may be a bit cryptic but it's the most interesting. There's this contradictory image of being put on display in a shop window, yet the protagonist demands her love interest not to display herself in bloom. The protagonist is the possessive one, not wanting her loved one to be displayed to others. There's actually an inversion of roles where now, the protagonist is in the position of power making demands. It's not always obvious who has the power in a relationship.
There's a second layer to it. It reminds us of the job of an idol. The girls are put on display to sell themselves as talents. The fans however demand that they are not allowed to "bloom" in terms of expressing sexual and romantic feelings. The fans are possessive of their idols. The shop window here is not just a channel of expression, but a cage.
慟哭 警報 聞こえないふりして
汚れて行くのを見てるだけ
パズルのピースは
はまることもなく
手探りするけど
きっと 手遅れ caution
The wailing, the alarms, pretending not to hear
Just watching it get dirty
The puzzle pieces
Don't fit together
Although I grasp at them
Surely, a too-late caution
The chorus now starts. What are these alarms that she is pretending not to hear? Is it wailing from society? Is it the alarming feelings of love itself? I think it could be all of that. It's this situation where she has feelings that are disapproved of, and feelings that turn things dirty.
Describing it as dirty indicates that she judges herself for it. She's confused by the feelings and can't find a solution to the puzzle despite desperately grasping at the pieces. Once you're in love it's already too late to go back though, although she might not yet know she's in love.
Ah 抱きしめて
Um キスしても
確かな答えは
出ないまま
Ah, hold me
Um, kiss me even
But solid answers
Remain unfound
濃藍の君の目が
突き刺さる
怖くなるほど愛おしい
Dark indigo eyes of yours
Are piercing
Scarily endearing
She's searching for answers, and part of her searching is this physical sexual exploration. I think this is something many can relate to in their adolescence. Ultimately, she's unable to find answers to the puzzle.
There's also the return of the concept of eyes. Last time, it was the cold eyes of a captor. This time, it's the scary eyes of an assailant. The eyes represent a threat, but also an attraction. This contrast of love and threat is the core theme of this song.
2人が望んだ 2人の世界は
誰かが泣いてる蝉時雨
真っ白シーツに
ゆらり溶け込んで
世界を閉ざせば
見つめ合う度 caution
In the world of two that they both desire
Someone is crying, the cicada rain
The pure white bed sheets
Swaying and dissolving into them
When the world closes in
Every time our eyes meet, caution
Love and threat is expanded upon in the second chorus. We have the recurrence of the loving and secret world of two people (from "Bokura no Seifuku Christmas"), but behind this world there is someone crying. There must be people disapproving of this world of two, probably the same people as the ones wailing in the first chorus.
The crying is described alongside the phrase "cicada rain". In Japanese, "cicada rain" refers to the ever-present buzzing of cicadas in the summer making a sound almost like heavy rainfall. Its constant presence means that it often fades into the periphery, but if you pay attention, it's always there. This beautifully captures this feeling of societal disapproval. The tears mentioned become the raindrops of cicadas. The cicada buzz becomes the constant whispers and judgment from people around us that we learn to ignore.
In this world of two people, there's a description of sexual interaction as the couple sway and dissolve into the pure white bed sheets. "Dissolve" here is a word that refers to a blending of color. Here, the couple are staining the pure white with their colors. Pure white is of course a symbol of innocence, while color in Japanese (色) also means sensuality or lust.
朝が来てしまう前に
囚われた私たちは
裸足のままで逃げる (2人)
血が出てる事にさえ気付かない
光なんていらない
だから暗闇の中
Before the morning comes
We are trapped
We flee barefoot (together)
We don't even know we're bleeding
No such need for light
That's why we're in darkness
The chorus before was of course over night, as now the morning arrives. Again, there is this idea of being trapped, but the story has developed a bit. In the first verse, it was just the protagonist feeling trapped, but after the overnight events, they are both in the same boat.
The couple are injured and bleeding from their escape. It represents the sacrifices they made for love and the pain they have to go through. Even after trying to escape, they cannot fully expose themselves in the light. The world of two was a fantasy before, but now it's revealed to be more like a nightmare.
慟哭 警報 聞こえないふりして
汚れて行くのを見てるだけ
このまま2人で堕ちるところまで
「Depend on you」
「You complete me」
きっと 手遅れ caution
愛は 手遅れ caution
The wailing, the alarms, pretending not to hear
Just watching it get dirty
Just letting both of us fall all the way
"I depend on you"
"You complete me"
Surely, a too-late caution
Love is a too-late caution
The chorus returns with familiar initial lines. We learn more about what makes things dirty. It's these quoted expressions, which are not simply expressions of love. They are expressions that the other person is a crucial existence, who the protagonist depends on and needs in order to be whole. It places a burden onto the love interest which is another sense in which love can feel like a cage.
At last, it ends clearly stating what "too-late caution" means. Love is a "too-late caution", because once you're in love, it's likely too late to escape the cage. These cages are those built by your partner, by society, and in the case of idols, by the fans.
The MV: Love Turned Dirty
This analysis will not go through the events in the order it was shown in the MV, so if you haven't watched it yet do so now to get the original experience.
Love
I want to gaze at your eyes forever.
To think I could have them all to myself.
Perhaps I'm the worst.
The MV takes place at an all-girls high school. It opens with Hitomin and Sasaki Maika. Hitomin is narrating. Her statements echo some key motifs in the lyrics. The word "hitomi" is used, which is an intimate way to refer to eyes, alluding to lines in the lyrics about eyes.
"Hitomi" is also written the same way Hitomin's name is written. She is the center of this song. It describes her key role as a main character of a love story. On a meta level, it could even describe the way fans watch idols and fixate on the center girl.
She says she's perhaps the worst, because she selfishly wants Maika all to herself, just like the lines in the lyrics about the flower on display not blooming.
The color grading is idyllic and warm. The background noise is quite prominent but it's the peaceful ruffling of leaves in the wind. It seems like they're setting the scene for an innocent forbidden love. Something is a bit off though as the perspective is kind of voyeuristic. Is someone watching? The couple turn their heads to face directly at the viewer.
As they return to the classroom, Hitomin makes a shushing gesture. As told in the lyrics, this is a secret relationship. There's no sense of threat though. It's simply cute and wholesome.
It's the end of a school year and the students are giving farewell gifts to their teachers, Mirinya (Otani Emiri) and Sanatsun (Morohashi Sana). They all appear to get along well, particularly the three in front: Maika, Hitomin and Iori.
Mirinya hands her phone to the male teacher for the group photo with a suggestive look. It's another secret relationship that appears to be cute and innocent.
The Puzzle
The mood takes a u-turn just as the song starts, reflecting =LOVE's concept as a group inverting with this single. There are two story lines. The first one I'll describe is about the male teacher. Events are shown piece by piece so it's like a puzzle for us to put together.
First, we understand that Naatan (Saito Nagisa) has feelings for the teacher. This is a forbidden relationship, something we'll see a lot of in this MV. She appears to confess to the teacher as other students disapprovingly and judgmentally watch from the hallway.
The inserted lip sync scenes throughout the MV are posed like suggestive whispers, reminding us of the lyrics. Are they the whispers of the first verse seducing the protagonist, or are they the whispers of disapproval surrounding the couple? Perhaps it doesn't matter as they both serve to trap and confine our protagonist.
Among the students in the hallway are Saito Kiara and Oba Hana. Kiara looks hurt. Is it a worry for Naatan because Naatan is putting herself in a questionable relationship? Perhaps it's even that she has feelings for Naatan and is jealous. That's not out of the question in this story.
Hana has had a scheming look on her face the whole time. She seems to have captured something salacious on camera and smirks as she sends it out on social media.
This is an interesting way to bring in a tech component that is all too familiar in modern society, and in the idol business particularly. It ties into the meta interpretations of the lyrics from the idol perspective.
Naatan is devastated by whatever was sent out by Hana. Is it a photo of Naatan and the teacher? Perhaps something else? We'll soon find out. Fans have speculated on the relationship between Hana and Kiara given their brief interaction in the hallway. Some fans think Hana told Kiara about hurting Naatan, which is what made her upset earlier. A sinister theory is that Kiara is actually in on it, and it was her who told Hana to ruin Naatan's hopes so that she could keep Naatan to herself.
Next, we learn that the same teacher is actually dating Mirinya as they meet up in the evening. Sanatsun joyfully texts someone on her phone. I wonder who that could be!
Hana is here as well, snapping a photo of Mirinya and the teacher. We're starting to piece together what might have been sent out on social media.
Suddenly it's revealed that Sanatsun was the one who tipped off Hana. What a betrayal!! It wasn't depicted but Sanatsun has explained in a livestream that her character was in love with Mirinya and she didn't want to give Mirinya up to the teacher. That's why she wanted to destroy Mirinya's relationship.
To add insult to injury, it's later revealed that this man is married. It's another forbidden relationship. There was actually a half-second peek of his ring at the very beginning, but did you catch that?
In the epilogue, the puzzle pieces come together. Naatan throws this phone into the school's staff room, breaking a window. The phone has an image of Mirinya and the married teacher. This explains why Naatan broke down.
This imagery of objects being thrown throw windows in a heat of passion under the rain would appear again in a future MV (Anoko Complex). It may be symbolic of broken norms or boundaries. The rain here is reminiscent of the phrase "cicada rain" of the lyrics.
The MV ends with a cut to a dark closeup of Naatan's eyes, a recurring motif in this song. It's an embodiment of how love can be threatening.
Cicada Rain
For the second story line, let's rewind back to the beginning. In one scene, Iori runs out to the hallway to meet Maika and gives a disapproving look to Hitomin. It's clear there's a love triangle. It also seems their relationship is not as secret as we might have thought.
Iori drags Maika onto the roof seemingly to force her to choose. Who is the one she loves: Hitomin or Iori?
Iori forces a kiss, which reminds me of what the protagonist in the 2nd single "Bokura no Seifuku Christmas" dreamed of doing. Hitomin witnesses it crying. As described in the lyrics, behind the world of two people there is someone crying. The world here is represented physically by the chain link fence.
It starts raining as Hitomin runs away in tears. It's the "cicada rain". Maika finally makes a decision to leave Iori and chase after Hitomin. Hitomi and Maika end up kissing multiple times with Iori watching helplessly from the rooftop, a complete reversal of before. She screams, embodying the wailing and the alarms of the lyrics. They are the wailings and alarms that the protagonist pretends not to see. It's too late to turn back. With Iori's tears, it cuts to black with the sound of heavy rain. There's this continual audio and visual reference to crying in the "cicada rain".
As a bonus Easter egg, under the sound of this rain, all member names are then displayed. Each name mysteriously has one character that uses a serif font. Fans have tried to decipher meaning from it. One possible set of pronunciations of the serif characters are: anzu, sa, ori, shou, hitomi, no, mai, na, ai, oto, hana, tani. Fans have taken the pronunciations and rearranged the syllables like an anagram, coming up with: "Iori to Hitomi aisazu ni mashou no onna ha anata". This means "You are the devilish woman without love for Iori and Hitomi", which would refer to Maika. This is controversial though as it's unclear if it relates to the video. Is this really the correct interpretation? Is there really any meaning in the text at all? This remains an unsolved puzzle.
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