Okay, we gotta talk about how these images were set to these lyrics.
When SKETCH first came out, lots of fan translations were floating around and getting analyzed. I have my own translation and interpretations of the song that I wanna share, at least of these five lines.
The lyrics of the chorus, which are sung as we pan over these two images, are as follows:
"Don't you disappear on me, okay?"
Promises made in a carefree way with a pat on the shoulder.
Which of them will break, like they always do?
This time, too, it wasn't just me.
The first two lines are in quotations, and in my mind, they are both spoken by the subject of the song (Izuku), not the singer (Katsuki). There is some ambiguity with the use of koso (こそ), which emphasizes the word before it, often in the sense of "definitely," "for sure," or "specifically because it's [blank]." Koso is used in a lot of ways, though, sometimes as a rebuttal of sorts--
Person A: どう？ 考えは？ (Well? What do you think?)
Person B: 君こそ教えるよ (You tell me first!)
So, there is a possibility that these two lines are actually an exchange:
A: "Don't disappear on me, okay?"
B: "Hey, speak for yourself." (You're the one who might disappear.)
This would be a promise made between the two of them. You won't disappear, and neither will I.
Both lines have ne (ね) at the end, which to me suggests the speaker of the first line is continuing their train of thought, in the sense of saying "you know? ...because like, ... right?"
Inakunara (居なくなら) means to disappear, to go away, to leave, to stop existing. This line is saying, don't leave me, don't go away, don't disappear from my life. I see these lines as Izuku, the sweet little nerd, casually, lightheartedly saying, "Kacchan, don't go off and leave me, okay? Because it's you, you know? Never you." And whether Katsuki verbally reciprocates the promise or not, the feeling behind it is mutual.
The verb used for break in the fourth line is yaburu (破る). (Fun fact: The kanji used to write yaburu is the same kanji used for Katsuki's Quirk name, Bakuha: 爆破.) This is not the word you would usually use for things like "that broke his heart" or "they broke the table," which is kowasu (壊す); the meanings overlap, but yaburu is also used for broken promises.
This makes the fifth line sound like, "This time it wasn't just me who broke this promise and disappeared--you did, too."
Which... sounds a lot like Katsuki saying, "I ran away, I tried to keep you at a distance. But you are putting yourself in danger again and again--now it's you who's leaving me."
Those carefree, loving lyrics of the first three lines pan over the image of little Katsuki smiling at little Izuku. The last two lines pan over Katsuki now, reaching for little Izuku's hand as he wishes he did all those years ago. Katsuki is desperate for Izuku to not disappear, to not break that promise--but one way or another, the promise will be broken, because without a thought he chooses to give his life to save Izuku's.
tangentwithtanner
blakekathryn
andulkaphoto
turnnoffyourmind
areudirty
