Analysis/Reaction to [ORIGINAL] REFLECT - Gawr Gura

[@crazizzle85]

"Past lives" are a thing in the vtuber world, because people often change names and forms when they join companies. So I think this is the battle between her and her past self. She's moved on, found new success, but there's still lingering issues.

[@effortlessfury]

Hittin' the nail on he head with this one, well said! She's talked about it since and you're on-point. Also the "Egyptian" sound is actually moreso Mediterranean. Gura is from Atlantis and the opening and closing lines were in Byzantine Greek, which is the language thought to have been spoken in Atlantis.

[@matteodelenda8481]

*Attic greek, and even that wouldn't have been the language spoken in Atlantis, given the timeline given by Plato and the event it's based on, the volcano thing, you'd actually expect mycenaean greek, or even minoan. Byzantine Greek is a whole millenium and a half (almost 2 even) further down the road

[@demonic_myst4503]

Plus atlantis is a metaphor for greed not a actual place

[@kilato9649]

@@matteodelenda8481 Can we just talk about how it was only 522 years ago when that language actually died

[@darkmaste155]

I'd say you hit the nail on the head for this song. There is a bit more to it but you wouldn't know it without doing more research. If I remember correctly Gura was very anxious about getting this song out to the point of waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and calling her manager to put it up immediately rather than wait for it's scheduled release. I wonder what you would think of Takanashi Kiara's (also Hololive) song SPARKS. Kiara tries her best to stay positive / never give up despite issues she has dealt with and her music sounds very different from Calli's and Gura's.

[@ProjectEchoshadow]

I want him to react to Violet

[@Dragon-Believer]

I was surprised to learn that Gawr Gura wasn't Japanese. Her accent is so perfect. Or at least so cute. I don't speak Japanese so I can't say that.

[@ShadeSlayer1911]

@@Dragon-Believer First I was surprised to learn that she wasn't Japanese. Then I was surprised to learn that she was Japanese because she could speak it. And then I'm surprised again that she isn't Japanese, but she also can't really speak it, only sing it.

[@KishyTheFishy52]

Yeah Gura is the biggest VTuber on the internet not just Hololive. Gura has huge history and her past persona there is so much meaning to this song which matches Gura’s life

[@Gameorama91]

I haven't checked numbers for everyone, and I know she was the biggest a while ago, but is this still true now though?

[@neksuscat]

@@Gameorama91 Gura's reaching 4mil now, being at 3,75 mil currently. No other Vtuber has reached 3mil plank so far.

[@camerons.8322]

@@neksuscat Kizuna Ai just reached 3 mil.

[@neksuscat]

@@camerons.8322 ah, right, Gura jumped to the 3mil bar right before her, I forgot about that.

[@kilato9649]

@P_mster No, she isnt gone.

[@TheAgentGray]

Gawr Gura showed up after finding pretty decent success in a previous life -- only to suddenly have the eyes of literally the entire otaku world, expecially western fans, on her. Her mix of troll, cute art, and self awareness coupled with hololive always meant she was going to go somewhere, but we know (from everyone involved in hololive-en who's talked about it) no one had any idea how big it was going to be... a lot of her more hardcore fans kept trying to bring her old personality out and bring some of the "old" character to the surface... and for the most part, I think this song kind of acknowledges the point that she was more free before becoming Gura, just a shark girl who lives a insular life being professional and cute gamer... but also tells the audience that she didn't really like the old her in it's entirety either, so while there was no lies or pretend in the past self, there was also no truth either... that as no more the 'real' her then any other face she puts on to the world so she gets to control who she is

[@thetalantonx]

Very well said.

[@yeshevishman]

The duality of change and self-improvement. It's why this song hits so hard for me.

[@LongandWeirdName]

Her pre-Holo persona was a drunken troll memer with no breaks. Rude and crude as they come. But man, was she talented and entertaining. In HoloLiveEN, though, as with all HoloLive, she had to be far more controlled. She is an Idol, after all(That was Yagoo's dream anyway, to create a virtual Idol team). Someone pure and SFW. Of course, signing with Cover Corp and becoming Gura made the talented lady behind the VTuber reach a far wider audience and cooperate with talented people in other areas (musicians, her character designer, etc... Not to mention other HoloLive talents like Deadbeat Dad Calli). It catapulted her to the height of being the most subscribed VTuber. Ever. Not just in her agency. She has a lot to be thankful for. Still, without her old persona, she would not have been discovered by Cover. She has a lot to thank her for as well. And with this song, she marked a moment where her character within HoloLive changed a bit. She stopped being shy and got a lot more open, as with this song she made up her mind to honor "her old self" and incorporate her free spirit into Gura, while still keeping within the Holo rules of conduct. Thats my analysis of the whole thing, anyway. And it's all just a theory. A Gura theory. It was never officially confirmed, nor would it be as Cover don't like their talents mentioning their other work that wasn't controlled by their management team, that she was once that other, independent VTuber. Oh. One more thing. It's not Ying. It's Yin. You uncultured person. Edit: As I kept watching, I noticed that when her face passes behind you in the background, her dark side almost looks like... Her. As a fan of the old one, that hits a bit different.

[@esteban4814]

Great job analyzing the lyrics, you pretty much understood everything she wanted to say with the song without even knowing about her. Here's a fun fact, there's some instrumental parts of the song that were inspired by the Jaws movie theme.

[@ElfInflicted]

For me, this song is about who you are versus who you were. The past you with dreams and ambitions, but also the fears and flaws that held you back, maybe parts of yourself you didn't like and felt you had to leave behind in order to reach those dreams. But then who would you be now without having had those fears and flaws to overcome? What I get from this is that you never really leave yourself behind, you're still you no matter where you go and you carry those fears with you, or at least the memory of them. I think the idea for her is that she grew strong because of who she was, and she realizes she needs to recognize and appreciate that part of herself in order to keep going. I dunno if any of that makes sense, but this song holds a lot of meaning for me and I think it's fantastic on so many levels. Also, a friend of mine is from Athens and I asked him about the Greek phrases at the beginning and end of the song. He said that they're old proverbs that are still used today, which I thought was fascinating.

[@StevenShadowEdition]

It is a internal battle and I believe also a mixed of persona per se because of who she was before becoming "gawr gura" but at the end its her inner battle like you said

[@StevenShadowEdition]

Love your analysis by the way

[@burns0100]

The thing I love about this song from Gura is that she made it fairly straight forward to understand, basically colour coded it for us but the words still hold so much more meaning to Gawr Gura as a person and even more to anyone living a similar life to a Vtuber. I also just really like this style of music, it's again like Cali, very unique and has its own thing going on. Glad you reacted to this finally.

[@remforrest]

I believe Gura said she was releasing the music video for this next month during HoloFes. It has been done for awhile but she wanted to wait for a good time to release it.

[@Trickingenure]

yo, would you by chance remember where about she said this? Rough Stream is fine, I got time to watch some grungus

[@passintogracegoldenyearnin6310]

@@Trickingenure Two more days, tops. She was pretty clear in a member stream.

[@PrinceDuskfall]

Yup she has the most subs between all vtubers everyone loves the shark. This song is sort of a reflection of her past and moving forward.

[@YourKurohime]

Finally some people get to reacting to this song. I love this song for the back and forth between the two personalities. Such an underrated song

[@lareolanKFP]

I'm really impressed Dave, you pretty much hit the nail on the head in your analysis without knowing anything about Gura! This song meant a lot to her because it was basically a pivot point in her life/career as she was ready to let go of who she was before Hololive and be more herself (which she is now). This song meant a LOT to her and I'm glad to see it got almost 13.5M views on YT and continues to be enjoyed by many people on a regular basis (myself included). Keep up the great work, Dave!

[@xsithspawnx]

Dude, you were super on point with a ton of what you were pulling from this. It's really cool hearing your take on it with just a little context, but a lot of attention to detail and some interesting perspective to draw from. Your breakdowns/lyric analysis is always really entertaining and great to watch. There's a bit of both sides on whether this is about her personally or just her personas, but that's because she's drawing from her actual past with the personas in question. Keep up the awesome work!

[@dcresistance]

For another Hololive song that's... much darker, you can react to Everblue by Omaru Polka. Also has English subtitles!

[@peterdrew4098]

Everblue is a great song even with the subject matter. I would throw My Song from Watame and Infinity from Haachama as other songs that touch on the emotional states of the talents. My Song has subtitles, while Infinity is in English.

[@karactr8361]

Thank you for the non-fanboy breakdown. We see so many reactions that are just that with no real analysis. Another thing to consider here -- most people were not expecting such a serious piece as the first original release from Gura. They thought maybe it would be cute or gremlin just "something pop". The fact that it was a treatis on not only her avatar's lore, but on her present and the past life before that led to Gura. Didn't hurt in the least that the mix was banger.

[@LethalShadow]

Greatly appreciate your reactions my good sir. You come at these songs with an open mind and go in depth on your interpretations and I think you have great takes. Keep it up !

[@gamertd4093]

Haven’t seen any of your stuff before, but you’ve earned a new sub out of me purely out of how good this lyric breakdown was. Obviously here because I’m a vtuber fan and a HUGE fan of this song, but I’ll have to go through your other stuff for sure. Love your way of breaking down the meanings. Keep up the great work

[@DraggorLecanth]

I find it distinctly amazing that you weren't reaching and you were exactly on point with your interpretation. All commendations and props to you sir!

[@chumlord61]

You nailed this on the head hard. Good stuff.

[@celestialdivineinstinct59]

You should react to the clip where Gura sings Fly me to the moon by Frank Sinatra during one of her first karaoke streams just after debuting because of the beautiful, spectacular, phenomenal, incredible, and angelic vocals that are bestowed upon you will astound and blow you away.

[@cartmantke]

Her covers of Country Roads are pretty phenomenal too. They have brought a tear or three to my eyes on more than one occasion.

[@crazizzle85]

I enjoy your breakdowns btw. I'd love to recommend someone from their jp unit like Suisei and Towa but they rarely have subtitles included. Except for Towa's Palette. You can usually find lyrics online but ..

[@carlako3238]

Nice thoughts! I liked hearing your interpretation because it helped me get some more meaning than on my own listen. Btw they all stream on KZbin and you can probably find some clips of them if you ever feel like it

[@FLHilde]

She is the biggest of them all, not just Hololive. and she is form usa.

[@whatitdodave]

Queen status.

[@ProjectEchoshadow]

See the song title is also a clever pun. She’s a shark so she’s looking at her past. Reflecting while seeing her reflection in the waters. Also she speaks Ancient Greek at the start.

[@PC_797]

Actually her "2nd persona" mainly came because of this song (There where jokes before but it blew up after this song). people started joking about there being two side of her "Gawr" (The evil one) and "Gura" (The good one) and she even started using a red filter on her avatar when she plays games like GTA V, Bully or DBD cause she it's her "Evil" side on those streams.

[@Hyjy0]

Love your down-to-earth take on stuff. Keep being cool, dude!

[@thetalantonx]

3:08 - Everything in balance, all things in moderation. Seeming duality provides the energy for change and movement.

[@matthewvest5191]

Yeah, if I am not mistaken she was doing against her past more vicious self. I have heard that before she joined she may have been a bit of a troll? I don't know myself but it would follow the persona for the alt/red gura which was introduced a bit after the song

[@drakke125Channel]

That ending of the song is interesting cuz Blue Gura is saying The deep sea is boring for me, so it could be about her being a violent shark from the sea, who sees the opportunity of being an idol outside the world of the Deep Sea that is far more cruel and violent, so she'll stay true to herself while the Red Gura will watch over her. There seems to be this common theme of the darker version of yourself as being more of the 'mature' or tougher version of yourself while the 'true' self is more gentler, but this is actually more of an idealistic perspective in rejecting the old and being progressive through fulfilling one's dreams that cannot be tied down by one's past, especially if that past may seem dark.

[@ollie8314]

Nah you're not reaching. Apparently the song comes from a pretty personal place and big feelings from her. I definitely read it as sort of a conversation and reckoning with a past self - who will always be a part of you but who you are stepping away from.

[@streamers8791]

Here's a hint her past life was the one who made the viral "oki doki boomer" song ( note: made it / NOT danced it on tiktok) and was the singer for Belle Delphine's I'm back song.

[@thetalantonx]

14:22 - You seriously nailed this one. Her "past life" (VTuber persona before signing on with Cover) is almost her Shadow in the Jungian sense. So she was doing her shadow work and integrating the parts of herself she thought were either unacceptable to society or to herself. This song marked the integration of Gura and the other side, into a much healthier, calmer, and more popular Self.

[@LuckySevenSamson]

This particular Hololive Talent has reached four million subscribers. And her birthday is coming up. Hit her up when it happens. Also, yeah you got it... "Never ignore your monster. It is a useful creature. That said, remember that it is a monster and return it to its place once the task is finished."

[@gyose2675]

Yeah she's the biggest vtuber in the internet. And actually all of the hololive members streams on KZbin, not on Twitch. I really enjoyed your analysis, keep it up! 👍

[@bstout2224]

I love the video and you thought a lot like I did but I got a bit of a different thought process for a few things. How I thought of the video its like Gura vs Senzawa. Senzawa is Gura's old vtuber life. I think its that battle because of how different they are. Senzawa was a drunk shit posting meme lord and Gura is a kid friendly wholesome shark. Like in the beginning to me it felt kind of strange that she did a 180 like that. So it could very well be possible both of her sides are fighting and she got lost who she is and who to be. Stay as Gura or bring out Senzawa and see if people will like her. She seems to be overthinking a lot and maybe part of her regrets going cute and not staying who she was. But also from watching Senzawa I know she was kind of getting tired of it and wanting a change and Gura was her chance. So she jumped and maybe went a bit to far in her change for her own liking. Also not like she regrets being Gura but maybe the approach. Like the line "why do u cry I got u everything you craved" Like Gura could be telling Senzawa because of me your hella popular, u got this job, everyone loves u, and your set. So why r u not happy/why are there tears when you should be excited for this. I made who who you are; you should be thanking me not thinking negatively. Senzawa is struggling to completely adapt to this change and she's a little scared. Scared that she wont live up to Gura, scared that she will let people down, scared of how fast she grew so now there's no going back and scared that people wont accept Senzawa. Another line which could be more to that is "no lies, but also no truths" Like she is saying she is telling the truth to everyone this is who she is but she's also saying hiding a part of her cause she's hiding apart of herself. So she is trapped in this loop. Also cause of this battle of personalities she has going on she has another better going on negative thoughts. Like the line "If you dont conform, then why were you born" Could be like saying if u dont conform to this wholesome shark and be what everyone wants you to be then why are you Gura. Why did you reborn yourself as her. If you wanted to be yourself then should of stayed Senzawa. Another like that is similar to that is "Do you know who you are. Give it up and ride the way." To me that is saying Senzawa STFU Gura created this massive wave so all you need to do is continue to ride this. But she isn't happy with doing that she knows in the back of her head that she can be herself and she can let out Senzawa if people dont accept her then who cares. Being true to yourself is way more important than anything else. About half way through the song she finally realizes that just because she closed the book on Senzawa doesn't mean she needs to lock her away. She can be proud of that part of her life and show that to people. Because Senzawa walked is the reason why Gura can run. So she will no longer be anyone but herself. She realizes that there doesn't need to be a Senzawa part and a Gura part. Its just Gawr Gura. So this song could be putting her remembering her past and molding it into Gura. She is finally accepting that Senzawa is the past and is saying thank you but now I must truly become the best Gawr Gura I can. She will always be thankful of her past and Senzawa will always be a part of her but now its time to look towards the future. Time to stop with the what ifs. Senzawa is no more and all she can do is watch where Gura goes from here.

[@whatitdodave]

I’ve read it all. Good thoughts! Thanks for taking the time to type all this!

[@vegetarex155]

Oh i have been waiting for something like this lets gooo Dave if you eventually react to the King cover for exemple as u mentioned with Gura and Calli, theres ALOT of hololive covers for the song, i do recommend Tokoyami Towa’s cover one of my favs, and her voice is…unique and it makes her voice/songs really great(her cover of Error/Original Palette or one of her just recent EP “Scream”

[@drakke125Channel]

There's a fanmade eurobeat mix of Reflect, just a sped up version but the thumbnail/animation in the video is kinda funny.

[@Aryan_homophobe]

It is kinda open secret, but Gura had internet persona before hololive, a shit poster meme lord with a million subs who was partly popular because of contrast of her cute anime voice and fucked up shit she was doing. And she was becoming progressively worse streaming drunk doing more and more risque staff etc. Even her fanbase was becoming worrying about her until one day she disappeared for several month only to emerge as cute cheeky brat of a shark. And she was mentioning few times that before the hololive she was not in a good spot mentally and that joining was a huge help for her. And this song is probably about her past and current life.

[@FabricioKarim]

I recomend take a look in "High Tide" by Moona Hoshinova or "Stellar Stellar" by Hoshimachi Suisei (any song of Suisei is pimpressive).

[@midnight_madness...]

The breakdown was spot on

[@someguy6152]

A lot of what you said was pretty true, but I think it's more like you said in 8:30 Like you said, you are your own worst enemy/critics It tells a story of self-doubt, self-criticism, about putting yourself down, telling yourself to just give up because it's easier, like in the song "be yourself? do you know who you are, give up and ride the wave" But in the end, it talks about how that criticism is what brought you where you are, but now it is no longer necessary, so sit back and watch how I grow.

[@Troglodytarum]

This song was a love letter to her original fans. (Of which I am one) We got her to were she is but we must adapt because she is a different person now. She grew, and we must also grow. For context, her original KZbin channel was a biker bar with raunchy topics, dirty memes, and swearing. Now she is an adorkable sea gremlin that can do a valley girl accent.

[@passintogracegoldenyearnin6310]

Try reading the Red, dark Gawr as the blue subtitles. And read the outwardly placid Gura as red subtitles. The duality of 'shork' goes both ways and her personality is now fluid. She can be the most wholesome or the most cursed, and Gawr has successfully replaced her original life history with a digestible allegory.

[@apex_blue]

I mean she does have two persona’s, but ‘red gura’ only appeared after this song and is mostly for niche situations like when she wants to be edgy, or that time she did a stream where she sang hard rock.

[@userdata9511]

Intro: Greek Midsts of the song: Mainly Japanese with some English Outro: Greek

[@Okayu_daisuki_0401]

nice voice nice reaction nice explanation

[@IEagleoneI]

you needed know about Gawr Gura and Senzawa (her previous character)

[@xclrtr5747]

You should check out Moona's new song High Tide that song is a banger

[@sheamus4300]

I Think Little Girls Would Love To See This Anime Song Right? Think About It

[@brandoncrowe6135]

If you are looking at vtuber singers might I recommend some of the stuff from Vshojo I know you are aware of ironmouse, the channel magic circuit just released a song called virtual realities featuring ironmouse and Nyanners, and mousey's also done a song with Caleb hyles

[@Deilwynna]

all hololive vtubers streams on youtube, not twitch, only hololive vtuber i know of that occasionally streams on twitch is sakura miko

[@saynay302]

Nene also streams watchparties on Twitch, and La+ has been doing valorant on it.

[@liath2433]

Please give a listen to Demondice's new EP The songs are fire

[@whatitdodave]

It’s already done a couple of days ago. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIWxYoeqp5eVrac

[@KizaruBorsalino]

Nah you completely bulls eyed this one, this is pretty much how she explained the song in the stream that came after the release. She didn't go as much in details about it as you did but this is definitely what the song was about. However it is funny that you thought about that roleplaying element because after that song she has actually started something like this by creating a new persona that people call "red Gura" or "Gawr" (It's literally just her with red replacing the blue) that appears from time to time during stream or even sometimes do entire streams. And this is basically supposed to be the embodiment of her predator instincts (Gura being a shark lorewise) unleashed which makes her aggresive, more serious and insensitive in contrast to the usual dumb, funny and easy going goofball that she is on the regular.

[@stiimuli]

yin, not ying

[@matthewwilliams3579]

Unlike Calliope Mori, Gwar Gura doesn't seem to put much of her real life self in her song. She has a blue motif going for herself and her fans started calling her red Gura while she was playing GTA5 running over and just beating up random NPCs. So she decided to embrace it and change her Avatars blue motif with a red one while she played GTA5 and Bully started acting a bit sadistic to fit the character. So this song is just playing on her blue Gura versus her red Gura.

[@JainZar1]

The opening is ancient greek I think. Guras background lore is that she is from Atlantis. The rest is Japanese.

[@angelicwarrior118]

With some English sprinkled in.