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little by little · Naruto Shippuden · Naruto Shippuden ED 3
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todoke tooku e
Reach — far away!
Reach (imperative), far-away toward
namida azukete kono tobira no mukou ni
I leave my tears here, beyond this door
Tears entrust, this door's other-side at
預ける ('to entrust / leave with someone for safekeeping') is what you do at a coat check or with a piggy-bank. Used metaphorically for leaving emotions in a particular place — checking your tears at the door.
mada minu ashita ga otozureru
An unseen tomorrow will arrive
Still haven't-seen tomorrow (subject) visits
訪れる ('to visit / call upon') is poetic when applied to abstract things — 春が訪れる ('spring arrives'), 朝が訪れる ('morning arrives'). Heavier register than 来る.
nakushite kizuite sakende mogaite
Losing — noticing — screaming — struggling
Lose-and, notice-and, scream-and, struggle
Stacking te-forms with no other connector creates a sequence that feels almost cinematic — one frame, then the next. もがく ('struggle, thrash about') is stronger than 苦しむ — physical writhing.
uta hibiku kono michi sukoshi saki o mata terashiteru
The song echoing on this road, lighting up just a bit further ahead
Song resound this road's a-little ahead (object) again is-illuminating
namida tte ureshii toki ni nagashitai
Tears — I'd rather shed them in happy moments
Tears (topic-って), happy time at, want-to-shed
Sentence-initial って (= というのは, 'as for X') is the casual way to topicalize a noun and immediately discuss it. 涙って ('as for tears...') is a soft conversational opening, like English 'tears, you know — I'd rather...'.
kirei na mizutamari ukabetai no wa nani
On this clear puddle — what is it I want to float?
Clean puddle, want-to-float (nominalized) (topic) what
水たまり ('puddle' literally 'water-pool') is what's left after rain — small, mirror-like. The image: pretty puddle as the surface to float something on, like a paper boat. 浮かべる ('to float (something)') is transitive.
futta ano ko wa ichido mo ushiro o furikaerazu ni
The girl I'd rejected — without once looking back
Rejected that-girl (topic), once even, behind (object) without-looking-back
振る ('to wave / shake') has a slang meaning: 'to reject (a romantic confession)' — from the image of waving someone away. 振った ('I rejected') is the perpetrator's perspective; 振られた ('I got rejected') is the receiver's.
hitonami ni nomarete kieta
...vanished, swallowed by the crowd
Crowd by, be-swallowed-and, vanished
Passive 飲まれる ('be drunk / be swallowed') is the standard way to describe being overwhelmed by something larger — 人波に飲まれる ('swallowed by the crowd'), 雰囲気に飲まれる ('overcome by the atmosphere').
kokoro no renzu o kumoraseru no wa jibun ga tsuiteta tameiki sa
What clouds the lens of my heart — is the sigh I let out myself
Heart's lens (object) make-cloudy (nominalized) (topic), self (subject) was-telling sigh (assertion)
ため息をつく ('to let out a sigh') uses the verb つく — same fixed pairing as 嘘をつく ('tell a lie'). The metaphor of a heart with a lens that fogs from your own breath is signature little by little tenderness.
mabataki sae mo oshii bamen mo aru sa
There are scenes too precious to waste even on a blink
Blink even (intensifier) regrettable scene also exists (assertion)
惜しい ('regrettable / a waste') has the nuance of 'so good you don't want to give it up'. まばたきも惜しい ('I don't even want to blink') is a stock idiom for 'unable to look away'.
sou hitori ja nani mo dekinai yo
Yeah — alone you can't do anything
Yeah, alone if, anything (intensifier) can't-do (emphatic)
demo jibun ni kattari shinaide
But don't go beating yourself up either
But, self to win-such-as don't-do
自分に勝つ ('beat oneself') is the idiom for 'overcoming oneself / forcing through one's weakness'. 自分に勝ったりしないで = 'don't go forcing victory over yourself' — the song's gentle pushback against self-flagellation.
sonna kimi wa machigai ja nai sa
That kind of you — isn't a mistake, you know
That-kind-of you (topic) mistake isn't (assertion)