Uni Music Student Reacts to Nanashi Mumei - mumei 

"Nanashi" and "Mumei" both mean "nameless", which ties into Mumei's lore that as guardian or civilization, she has forgotten her original name. "mumei" can also be used to mean "anonymous". So there are elements of both being nameless, having no name, and being named "Mumei" in the verses. As for the Moom/"we're mooming now", that was a play on the Jared Leto/Morbius meme, where people joked that their favourite part of the movie was when Morbius said "It's morbin' time" and morbed all over the bad guys. Despite being overused, it stuck to Mumei, so when she gets angry or toxic ('towl') or excited, or just performs well, fans say "she's beginning to moom" or "it's moomin' time" (and you can see how that also jumped to the Moomin characters).

Those bunny ears are her feathers.

9:03 As befitting the Guardian of Civilization the lantern represents the harnessing fire as a tool, which could been see as the spark of civilization, rather than hope (that's IRyS territory). It also suggests the light of knowledge, which complements the wisdom symbolism of the owl. 14:38 Mumei talked about the song in "【SONG RELEASE AFTER PARTY】speakin of mumei" (11-Oct-2023) on her channel.

The translation of her name would be "nameless nameless" or anonymous... lore wise as guardian of civilization she has seen many civilizations rise and fall and as time pass and she has forgoten many things, including her name, thats why the lirycs said "we'll keep going without a name" and at the end she adopted that "nameless" as her own name. She also has friend that she calls "friend" (a paper bag with a face) because she knows that she would eventually forget his name otherwise.

I love the fact that you let the music speak, you listen to the whole song once through and hear it as its meant to be heard.

There are many theories about this song, my favorite one is this. But first some context, Mumei is not the personification civilization ,she is the guardian of civilization, according to her characters loreshe has lived for a very long time and each civilization she met gave her a different name each time, she has accumulated the knowledge that stems from all civilizations so far and that along with the passage of time makes her slowly forget things including the names she was given. Now onto the theory ,The song starts with "all I remember is that I forgot"(paraphrasing a bit on the Greek Philosopher Socrates quote “All I Know Is That I Know Nothing”) we can see Mumei standing at the ruins of a great city, most likely after he fall of of the current civilization , she has forgotten who they were or what they called her, all she knows is that she must find something or someone, and all we can see of that is a black silhouette of what she remembers , then we can see her looking with a lantern and if we continue the parallels with Greek philosophers much like Diogenes did with his Lantern, Mumei is looking for humans the source of any civilization (on earth at least), then as she reaches closer to find what she is looking for you can see humans slowly re-appearing among the ruins of the old civilization and begin anew and that's when Mumei finds what she was looking for (presumable civilization) but this time it is the real deal and not just a silhouette . Again that's just one of the theories.

For those who didn't watch her post- release and explanation stream, I'll drop what she said and what else I've gathered here~~ It appears she's singing to you/us as the viewer/listener/fan. In her stream she talks about how she's struggled A LOT with loneliness in her past. In the song she's walking around in a world that's depicted as empty, but perhaps just feels that way; as someone who feels no real connection with the people around her and so feels alone as if they aren't really there. She's also got a sense that there's someone, or even "people" out there that she feels a kinship with and/or feel familiar to her. Other "nameless" people. To make up for what we're missing, we laugh and we smile as though there's nothing wrong. She doesn't know or names or what we look like, but we feel familiar to her, as though she can sense that lonely part of herself in a lot of us. I can't remember if she confirmed this but to me it felt like it's the other lonely people out there. This and the sense that she's singing to the viewer/fan is reinforced by the scene where she's swimming through the crowd of "fish" and instead of looking where she's going or at those around her, she's pointedly looking directly into the camera for quite a while. The only meaning or name she felt/feels she had/has as someone alone is what she gets from us. If we say goodbye, it's all over. She goes back to being alone and nobody or nameless in the big world. Along with this next part... towards the end is a sequence where her hood comes back and she makes a proposal to us. She lays out that she's not even close to perfect; some of her own internal lack of confidence and feelings of uncertainty and insecurity, of falling headlong through darkness, etc., and says that if she still sounds like someone we're looking for, perhaps as someone else who feels a kinship to her as she presumably feels to us, then through the void of her heart a wind will blow from her to us and a bird(she) will fly to meet us. She sings this while using her lantern as a beacon for us to gather together, to lead us to a place of welcome and comfort; for a lot of her fans, a 2nd or even first "home" as a place of belonging or at least as less alone. Finally, after already assuming her role as "Mumei" and reaching out with the proposal to everyone, she accepts the name herself and that she is actually SOMEONE to people now; Mumei. She realizes and/or accepts that she's no longer really nameless, and (hopefully) also that she's no longer, or at least less, alone. I hope that wasn't too long to get through, but the song resonated with me and I always want people to be able to enjoy or at least understand the things I love as much as I can make possible, so I hope this explanation helps to that end. I still tear up when listening to it, and hope it resonates with a lot of you too! P.S. Everyone speculates on the meaning of the whale, but in the post release and explanation stream she said that it actually has none. She said she just asked him (the illustrator/animator) to add something in there because it felt too plain, or too much of the same for too long, or too empty, etc. Something along those lines. So, sorry!

This song is amazing, always makes me tear up a little, and reminds me very heavily of Porter Robinson's Shelter in both musical style and motifs of the MV.

Does the tempo subtly drop at the part in the video that the people appear or is that some trick of the light happening in my ears? To me it sounds like the song ends with that last chorus just slightly slower. (And maybe because of that feels more restful and intentional?) To me the lyrics are about loneliness and loss, and finding self-acceptance through all of it.

Mumei did an after talk party where she talks about the music video here is the link of the whole stream: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0pkv5gh5Dhg.html This is kinda like a snippet of it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7eSY41RHmgU.html

Mumei is forgetful, civilizations rise and fall, but each new civilization seems to repeat the same decisions and mistakes of previous civilizations. The guardian of civilization can't remember, but it all seems familiar.

A bit of a harsh comment on "mumei"(the song) but, the translation of the lyrics are off at some part. Since I'm not sure which version(english or japanese) comes first, I will just write down the whole english translation of jp lyrics. I have forgotten, is what I remembers At the end of the gaping hole, is where I met you I don't even know you name and your face Somehow it felt nostalgic to me Feels like just for the sake of filling each other's gaps We joke at each other, we laugh at each other For you who are somewhere in this world For now we are still living, while we have no name Even if all of this is just an illusion I can be sure I felt your presence I don't even know you name and your face If you said goodbye then its all over If you are not here, the gaping hole will grow It doesn't matter, you'll find it soon (this part is weird since you can read it as mumei being told "it doesn't matter, you will find it soon", but the eng lyrics is off by a lot) Where are you in this world Right now, I'm here, I, "mumei" (here is a little bit grammar problem but basically its what mumei says to the other person) In this completely dark world, I fall headlong (this is just what happen to mumei, in the dark world, she tripped and fall) Because I am nameless, this world will forget me, and I'll disappear If even so I still wish for you, by following the wind that blows from you to me through this gaping hole in me, a bird will fly to you (this part is hard to translate, but basically mumei can find the other person using their "empty" bond) For you who are somewhere in this world I am still living, as "mumei" So yeah, there are quite a bit of difference. It gives a sadder version of song, and it fits mumei's explanation better in my opinion.