#hello friends it is november 2021 and i have feelings about a shitty unmemorable op from 2013

[em-exceeds-change-zearu]

hi! different anon here, if I may ask, at the risk of finding out I never understood Kattobing, Yuma and Zexal, I have to ask.... what is worng with Wonder Wing???

i mean, in the end it probably all just boils down to personal preferences, but i just genuinely hate the fuck out of wonder wings. it can be boiled down to two parts though - the music itself, and then the lyrics/execution of it?

Regarding the music itself: it's just. hm. It's not very memorable to be honest. It's very slow and mellow, and it doesn't really fit in with the rest of Zexal's openings? I'm not saying there's a problem with slow and mellow songs, but it just doesn't fit the energy the rest of the OST has - even slower EDs like Setsubou no Freesia or Artist still have the same energy to match the rest of the OST. And that's probably the main problem with Wonder Wings - the singer just doesn't have that energy at all. It honestly sounds like someone reading out the lyrics with the barest inflection of singing. Like. Did this dude just phone it in? Or is he just that bad of a singer? I could not tell you but what I can say is wow, this was. not fun to listen to. again this could just be my personal preferene speaking but man I was not feeling this dude today or any other day.

The lyrics on the other hand, they're just. Kind of really literal. Like if you told someone "okay this is yugioh zexal it's about card games and kattobing and very very shounen here write something about it" and you went to SparkNotes and got the Important Key Terms and slapped something down. Like.

This Duel will decide our destiny Come, show off your heart (cards)

and

Let's create a new future with our Shining Draw Taken by these Wonder Wings Don't let go of your hands Kattobing, further than the sun

like. i can't tel you how jarring it was to hear these terms just slowly spelled out like. Ok. Yes we're aware that duels are a thing that determine a destiny and also kattobanging our way through this current crisis but also what does this mean. what does kattobing mean. 

well, let’s see what Yuma has to say about that in the final episode!

Kattobingu! That's holding onto courage and taking a step forward! Never giving up in the face of crisis! And challenging all difficulties that come your way!

ah. okay! 

remember, kattobing on its own is just, a string of nonsense syllables. a bunch of onomotopea slapped together. the nonsense word equivalent to a bowl of Rice Krispies cereal: snap, crackle, pop. it’s flat out a made up word, and early on we were all struggling on how to summarize it: remember our earlier translations? i’m pop flying? yeah. 

kattobing is a concept that’s very hard to translate literally - it’s an idea that’s built on throughout the whole entire show. even yuma himself has a pretty shallow understanding of it despite it being a crutch word for him - without a physical representation of what it means to him to focus on, like the key, or astral, etc, he falls apart very quickly. the will and drive to push on and keep trying no matter what in the face of failure is honestly something very very hard to keep up even for the most determined of people. it’s something so ingrained into yuma as a character and the show in general that you really want a theme song - especially one that’s meant to introduce the finale and the crux of this entire journey we’ve taken together with yuma and his friends - to really embody that. so just listing out these terms in a very flatly delivered song is just not going to cut it.

for contrast, let’s look at some lyrics of Challenge the Game, the ED that shares Wonder Wings’ final song slot.

When there's a problem that can't be beaten. We'll just try again. You keep holding your heart inside your chest. Continuing to believe, trying to help. Even while you're discouraged and crying. Let's try to secure tomorrow with our bonds!

aha. there we go. not only is this song sung with a lot of energy, the lyrics themselves embody what kattobing is without having to spell out the concept for you. not only that, it’s basically describing what yuma has consistently been doing this entire show - continuing to tackle problems with sheer belief and determination. it’s a song that not only contains the energy of the show, but succtinctly summarizes what we’ve just been watching for the past five seasons, what we hope to see in the final arc. 

basically what i’m saying is that the difference between Wonder Wings and other OPs and EDs in Zexal is the difference between 4Kids’ translation of kattobing versus that one clip of Funimation’s shitty attempts at dubbing it. Funimation went for a very literal translation - just saying kattobing and dropping it like an awkward loanword in the middle of these middle schoolers yelling at each other in english. it. doesn’t roll off the tongue and it doesn’t have any forceful impact or meaning to it in english. what the hell are little kids watching the show with no context going to get from just hearing that? they don’t know what it means. it doesn’t mean anything to them. 4Kids’ instead goes for “I’m going to high-five the sky!” which, yes, it doesn’t literally translate from the snap-crackle-pot nonsense you try and parse from it. but it doesn’t need to. the intent is there. “high-fiving the sky” is complete nonsense. it’s something impossible to do. but declaring it just shows how much yuma’s willing to push himself, to move forward, it’s a phrase with force and drive that yuma himself puts meaning into every time he says it. 

tl’dr: wonder wings is shitty funimation garbage, every other single zexal op/ed is the 4kids superior dub. i’m not saying having wonder wings as a favourite is a bad thing or anything if that’s what you like, but also, why would you when literally every other song in zexal’s ost is, like, right there.