for /jp/ anona

pastebin repost for anons who want to see
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GUYS, GUYS, I GOT IT! IT’S ABOUT PETTY INTERNET ARGUMENTS! Strap in, because I did like, a proper analysis of this.

Okay, since this is a bit different from my original idea that each song is like a specific worldview, I'm going to explain more in-depth and probably change some stuff about my original ideas of the songs. I think each song is meant to be about attitudes of people that regularily use the internet. Benzene and its remixes, aswell as Nitrobenzene, are about the average people on the internet: just going about their day, doing the same thing they always do, enjoying themselves. The other three - Paradichlorobenzene, Antichlorobenzene, and Toluene, however, are about the different sides in the average petty argument you see on the internet.

1. Benzene, the remixes, and Nitrobenzene.
Like I said, these songs are meant to represent the average people. Benzene is just going about your average internet day, whatever you normally do online, over and over, like how the same line in the song is repeated over and over. Just like any person going through their daily routine. Nitrobenzene is the same as Benzene.

However, it gets more interesting when the remixes, RX and EX Benzene, come into play. The remixes are just that, remixes. One one hand, it's stating the same things that have already been said, and bringing nothing new to the table. But it could also represent people stealing other's work, whether it be art, music, ideas, etc. You see it all over the internet. Mr. Beast clones, clones of any popular youtuber actually, hell the entirety of meme 'culture' is based around taking someone else's joke and spreading it around.

I still 100% believe that since these are carefree people/people just doing what they normally do, that they don't touch on the topics that the other songs do. The series as a whole is like Owata-P's commentary about people on the internet, but the main part is about internet arguments. Which leads us into:

2. The rest of the fucking series
The next song is Paradichlorobenzene. I believe that one part of the song is the mentality of instantly believing something and spreading the word without fact-checking it, "I sing without meaning or understanding / Paradichlorobenzene" and "Don't know what it means, but still I scream / Paradichlorobenzene." A little bit more deeper into the song we get the lines: "I just need an outlet, don't care who / Paradichlorobenzene / Punish the wicked in the name of justice / Paradichlorobenzene / Let off steam behind a shield of justice / Paradichlorobenzene." This has now gone to putting other people down to promote/boost something. Continuing on with lines like  "Then I knock you down / Paradichlorobenzene / I'm right, you're wrong / Paradichlorobenzene", still going on with the putting-others-down thing, and now bringing the self-rightiousness. Paradichlorobenzene mindset believes they're right, and nothing's gonna change that.

Okay, cool, but why does Len need an outlet? Well, he's bored. He doesn't know what to do with himself. Being bored isn't really that significant, but when you feel like you don't know what to do with your life, or you start to feel useless or that you’re wasting the little time you have on Earth, it can really start to hurt. This is shown mainly in the verse with Len's interaction with the cat: "What do I live for? I asked a stray / But the cat's only answer was a glare / I gulped down coffee I couldn't stomach, looked up at the cloudy sky / What can I do in the state I'm in? Even that, I just don't know." That last line really hammers in that Len feels hopeless. The reason that this is important is related to my big idea about the series is the first chorus. After the line "I sing without meaning or understanding / Paradichlorobenzene" comes "I ran off seeking answers / Paradichlorobenzene.” Now, this COMPLETELY contradicts the point I made at the start that Len isn't searching for anything else or fact-checking the information that he's mindlessly spreading.

But that's where the lines with the cat become more important. Len isn't searching for information for the things he's spreading around, because if he was, he would eventually find answers. He's searching for an answer to his question: "What do I live for?", but there aren't any answers, The cat only glares at him, because it's not something someone else can answer for you. You have to find that out yourself. Later in the song comes the line "What's the point of living? The stray cat drowned.” The cat in the songs are meant to represent average people, the people in Benzene/Nitrobenzene/the remixes. Now Len isn't searching for answers. He's given up, he isn't asking why he lives, but the point of it all. The stray cat drowned, because even if they try to give an answer to Len, he won't listen to it. The way it’s worded, "What's the point of living?", comes off as being asked rhetorically to me, too. Of course, that's not the reason/motive of every single person out there on the internet with a "I'm right, you're wrong" attitude. But I can't just ignore a giant part of the song, especially when it seems to contradict my point.

As a recap I'll be looking at the "Does this song mean anything?" lines. These lines, in all three of the songs, seem to restate the whole idea of the song in one neat little bridge. "Ah, does this song mean anything? / These lyrics mean nothing" shows a big theme that carries throughout the whole series, that these meaningless arguments we have serve no purpose. The argument that Paradichlorobenzene and Antichlorobenzene are in will not get them anywhere, as both sides believe they are right, no conclusion will be reached, making it meaningless. The second line, "Is this song guilty? / These lyrics are innocent", reaffirms Len's mindset that he is in the right. The last half: "Does Benzene mean anything? Benzene means nothing / Is Benzene guilty? This song means... / Benzene". Obviously since Benzene means nothing, that means the song means nothing. The song Benzene, of course, has no meaning in relation to the main three songs, they don't touch on the topics that the main three do. But the ellipsis gives the line so much more meaning. It shows that Len has to pause and think about the question. Yeah, sure, the people that Benzene represent are kinda doing meaningless things, but is what they're doing wrong? Are they guilty? Len doesn't want to admit that he's in the wrong in this situation, because he's always right, so he just pushes it aside, and calls it meaningless. The line that immediately follows being "Then I realize it's all hypocrisy in the end" is brilliant.

Hokay, one binge watch of Neon Genesis Evangelion later and I think I'm ready to rant about Antichlorobenzene. I watched over Para and Antich again, and I realized I didn't look at Paradichlorobenzene's PV text at all. All of it seems to be coming from Len's point of view, there's only two points of interest: The text at the start. Specifically "I just want other people to accept my existence, to realize my existence. I envy those who have the means to do that. I don't hate them. I just want them to understand me." I think this is pretty self-explanatory, poor Len just wants to be understood. This'll be more important a small bit later. The other point of interest is the text at the end, rude comments on a video. "The sound's off/You suck/I could do it better/Bad=bad/The pro's are better". I think this further reinforces that this is about an internet argument. Alright, cool, but I said this was about Antichlorobenzene now. I think that the PV text in Antichlorobenzene holds a lot more meaning (or maybe I'm just lazy), so I'll be looking at that more closely.

Antichlorobenzene is the other side of the argument to Paradichlorobenzene, which is clear in its name. Antichlorobenzene Rin stands directly against Paradichlorobenzene Len. The PV text at the start, in my opinion, is Rin's commentary on Len. "I just couldn't forgive them... / I hated them so much for going around and disrupting things as they saw fit... / Yes, they were only filled with hate" Right after that last line, a picture of Len shows up, so that line is definitely directed at him. The line at the start of Paradichlorobenzene makes more sense now, right off the bat and Rin's already misunterstanding Len, because Len states at the start of Paradichlorobenzene that he doesn't hate them. The "them" in both songs are talking about the other side to the argument. It could be using "them" as just a gender neutral term, or maybe talking about everyone on that side, it's not clear. After that the text "You don't need to show any respect towards those things filled with grudges and inferiority complexes" shows up, implied that Rin's saying that. I still think that this is directed at Len. Right before the actual singing starts, the text "Hate eachother, and break away." shows up for a small bit. Again, I think I'll talk about that line a bit later.

The chorus and first verse of the song seem to just be Rin venting and talking about Len. It starts to come together at the prechorus, where Rin talks about the cat. "I say that I'm going to make everything in this world right, I deceived a stray cat by saying I can make everything right". Like I said, the cat represents other people. Something I didn't look at in Paradichlorobenzene is that Len says he hates the rules and wants to break them. Rin seems to be taking the moral high ground in this argument, and getting people on her side (the cat) because of it. The PV text while these lines are being sung are especially interesting: "Even though it's an underhanded act, I will do anything to crush them... / Until they could never stand up again. The truth doesn't matter, their misfortune is my nourishment / The malice hidden in justice. Truths can be made up. Using justice as an excuse to say what you want. Everything in this world is a copy". Rin hates Len, and the people on his side, and wants to crush them regardless of the truth. The last bit seems to be more about Rin than Rin actually talking. 'Using justice as an excuse to say what you want' is especially interesting, it shows how Rin is only taking the moral high ground in this situation because she wants to, as stated before, crush them.

The line after that, 'Everything in this world is a copy', shows that Rin really isn't all that different from Len in this situation. What side they are taking in this argument doesn't matter. The words that show up in the PV at the end of the first verse start to make more sense, "Hypocrisy. Jealousy. Justice / Hypocrisy. Hate. Grudge". It's hypocrisy, both Rin and Len are just putting others down as some sort of outlet. It's worded very differently in both songs, but they're really just doing the same thing. They both need an outlet of some sort, Len says it directly, but it's shown that Rin needs one during the entire chorus, "I'm exposed, I'm broken, I'm rusted, I'm crumbled". They both believe they're in the right, shown in the other half of the chorus, "Even if it's a lie, I don't care. We are always right / I will take your sinful corruption and crush it!" They both just want to put others down, (pv text) "Their misfortune is my nourishment". The way it's worded in Antichlorobenzene is another thing that made me think that Rin's taking the moral high ground in this argument. Even though they're really doing the same thing in the end, in Antichlorobenzene it's worded... Fancier, for lack of a better term. Len is pretty straightforward, but Rin uses Big Words™.
Skipping a bit forward in the song until right before the Paradichlorobenzene bit, the PV text really makes it clear. "Without realizing they're being laughed at, they go around in circles." This isn't from anyone's point of view, it's commentary directly about the two in the argument. The people laughing at them are the onlooker. Like the conclusion I reached while looking at Paradichlorobenzene, they both believe they're in the right, and they're going nowhere because of it. They're just going in circles. The last line in the Paradichlorobenzene bit shows this perfectly: "Everything around us stops, but we don't notice our stupid act".

The last chorus seems to just be Rin and Len's argument escalating. "But even that wasn't allowed. Only giving up will save me" is Rin realizing that they're going nowhere, that she can't win in this argument, and she can only get out of it by giving up. The very last line in the song, "No more, I'm tired. Will we be saved?" is Rin wishing to just stop arguing, to be saved. Or maybe not, the lines before that are "But it's okay, I don't care, I will forgive it, I will approve of it / Even the smiles, even the jealousy, I could almost insanely fall in love with it". Maybe Rin wants to continue arguing because she's enjoying it, and the 'Will we be saved?' isn't really from her perspective at all. I guess it's whatever you think.

The following PV text is pretty interesting, too. "Everything I hate is evil. I could make something better. This is a copy of XX. Why is no one caring about my work. Who cares about the source, I beat on it because I hate it. Everyone who protects him is an enemy. / Reincarnation. They could only establish themselves by putting down others / Then you try making something. Stop acting all important when you can't even do anything. Your attitude pisses me off. Then you make what you call 'original' and show it to me. Stop telling us about your delusions." I think that the first and third bit are snippets from their argument, from Rin's side. The second line flashes in for a short bit inbetween the first and third, so I don't think that it's actually a part of this little snippet from their argument. I think that it's more of that commentary on their behavior, not really from anyone's point of view. "They" as in both Rin and Len, they're only going anywhere because they're putting eachother down. The whole thing with "The people who stay as a beast, and the people who try to be 'humans' / Which will you choose?", I think is about the argument as a whole. The beasts represent those taking part in the argument, the people trying to be human are the people in Benzene/Nitrobenzene/remixes who aren't involved in it. The last line, ‘which will you choose?’ Will you give your two cents in this situation, or will you save yourself the time and effort, and continue on with what you were doing?

Funny little recap time! Okay, "Is there any meaning to this song? There's no meaning to this song / Is there any sin to this song? There's no sin to this song", the first part again going with the whole 'they're not getting anywhere in this argument idea, the second part continuing with the 'I'm right you're wrong' thing. Another repeat of the there's no meaning to this song line, and then we get "Is there any sin to this song? The sin to this song is... / (PV text) Eventually, this leads to the destruction of all species". This part is saying that Rin and Len need to stop arguing already, because they're going nowhere. Okay, maybe this wasn't 'a little bit' later, but now I'm finally addressing the line "Hate eachother, and break away." These two lines go hand-in-hand. These pointless arguments we have only serve to break us apart and destroy us. That text that I thought was a snippet from their argument didn't really seem all like a discussion, they are just hurting each other. Maybe Rin and Len were friends, and the 'break away' part is meant to represent these pointless arguments ruining their friendship. Whatever it is, the most important part of this is that Antichlorobenzene and Paradichlorobenzene, while not on the same side, are really doing the exact same thing in the end.

Now enter, the discord moderator: Toluene is here to end this pointless argument. Okay, maybe Luka isn't actually doing anything to end Rin and Len's fighting, but it sure seems that way. Toluene is the riddle-solving song. It solves the main riddle of the whole series, what the meaning of it all is. It does not side with either Antichlorobenzene or Paradichlorobenzene. Toluene is on its own side.

The first chunk of PV text is "It's a tale of inhuman things driven mad by jealousy-- / Welcome to the beginning of that. / That which is born out of feigned sympathy--self-righteousness. / That which arises out of envy--the feeling of jealousy." I think that the first riddle this song solves is, what are Rin and Len arguing about anyway? Well, given the rude comments shown at the end of Paradichlorobenzene, the snippet of the argument from Antichlorobenzene, and now this chunk of text, I think Rin and Len are jealous of eachother. They've both made something, and Rin says stuff like "It's just a copy of something else", and "Why is no one caring about my work". Whatever they're making, they're jealous of the attention that the other is getting. Maybe since they're Vocaloids then they're making a cover of a song? I dunno, not really important anyways.

Now onto the next chunk of text. "Since it is a type of poison (talking about Toluene, the actual chemical instead of the song), it's something that's originally not needed at all. / That is, they will only keep losing everything they have-- / their 'self', others, and even their most precious self-respect-- / They're nothing more than objects of people's ridicules. / Recognizes by no one, they make themselves slowly disintegrate--." The first part, talking about how Toluene isn't really needed, is interesting. We don't really need the riddle to be solved. We already knew the main part of it: Rin and Len are in an argument, and the argument will not go anywhere. We didn't need Toluene to figure it out, we didn't need Toluene to figure out the message is that we should save ourselves the time and effort by not getting into pointless arguments, that this jealousy we have for eachother will only hurt us. Actually, no matter what you think the song is about, you don't need Toluene to figure out the message or theme or whatever. All the content you need is already in Paradichlorobenzene and Antichlorobenzene. It's seemingly only here to pull the whole series together, to tie up any loose ends.

I'd like to talk about the other part of the above text along with the next chunk, "Their 'self', saturated with feigned sympathy / and pretentious logics and ethics, / only through condemning others..." All of this is talking about how Rin and Len don't actually care about the topic of the argument (the 'feigned sympathy' bit), that they're just using eachother as outlets ('only through condemning others' / nothing more than the objects of people's ridicules'), that the argument isn't going anywhere and that they're breaking away from eachother and wasting their time ('they will only keep losing everything they have' / they make themselves slowly disintegrate').

The next chunk of text, while Luka's singing Toluene over and over: "A spontaneous destruction / of their originally non-existent identity. / They have never had a true 'self'. / They were not humans, but merely creatures called 'Homo sapiens'." This is more of that beast/human stuff from Antichlorobenzene. Luka is saying that neither of them are humans, they are only homo sapiens - they are only animals, only beasts. What I think this means is that, since they only tear eachother down, they aren't really 'human'. They don't care about eachother. I believe it's trying to say something like, if you guys only care about hurting eachother, you aren't really human at all. The next line is "They're neither recognized nor able to become aware of themselves. / In the end, there's nothing left for them--." This is saying that, since they're both stuck in that loop of 'I'm right you're wrong' and never going anywhere with the argument, they won't ever be aware of what's going on. There's nothing left for them, the argument won't go anywhere. The argument they're in will only serve to continue hurting them. "Everything is just bluff. / Life is filled with nothing but utter defeats." OK Luka maybe that's a bit too pessimistic. For real now, this is talking about how the argument will only end in defeats for all sides. The bluff is that both sides think they are in the right. Rin taking the moral high ground, Len wanting to break the rules, whatever, they're both, in actuality, in the wrong, and them thinking they're right is only a bluff. Neither side will ever reach an understanding, it will only end in complete defeat for both sides.

The next part. "They're imposters after all.  / They are creatures who know nothing of true wrath or hatred. / The source of their identiy is jealousy-- / They feel self-satisfied looking at those below, and feel revolted looking at those above." The first part, talking about how they, Rin and Len, don't know of true hatred. I think this is meant to speak for how petty Rin and Len are being. They just put eachother down to make themselves feel better. The second part confirms this. Those that are below them, are the people they've insulted in their 'arguments', so Rin and Len feel better, they feel satisfied, looking at them. Those that are above them are people who have insulted them, and won in arguments against them, or maybe, are currently in an argument with them. Just look at how Rin talks about Len - she hates him, she says everything she hates is evil, everyone on his side is an enemy. She's revolted by him, she's disgusted by him.

The next line is what further reinforces the idea I have that this is about an argument taking place over the internet. "Within the society of anonymity, they are beat up in stark nakedness." The ridiculing and insults and everything wouldn't even be being said if Rin and Len didn't have the anonymity of the internet. But that anonymity also gives them that 'stark nakedness', that is, they're willing to say things on the internet that they aren't willing to say in real life. That makes them 'naked', in a sense, I guess sort of how they're putting their true feelings on display? The next part in this chunk of text is "The first cue that will cause a mass society to degenerate is jealousy. / Those who are involved are unaware of their involvement. / They are creatures who will destroy not only themselves, but also everything else." This part continues on with how the jealousy and arguments will just continue to tear everything apart. The 'society' could be any group online, whether it be a fandom, discord server, some kind of forum, etc. That 'first cue' is talking about how the argument Rin and Len are in started because of their jealousy. The next line is talking again how they aren't aware of their hypocrisy. The last is how their arguments aren't only hurting eachother, but eventually it will escalate to involving others, and it will end in tearing a whole group of people apart

The four following lines, "Eventually, they lose the essence and reality-- / they can do nothing more than looking despising others... / They can merely keep despising others... / They can merely keep nitpicking others...", talk about how all they can do is hate eachother, and that's what they'll continue to do, since they're going in circles. The line that follows is "Their selves and the world are painted over and consolidated with lies." is more of that bluff stuff from earlier, how they're saying that they're in the right, lying to themselves.

The following line, "The truth... just where might it be...? / Perhaps even the truth itself has become nothing more than poison." It's a bit confusing at first, isn't this song the truth, isn't this song the riddle-solving song? At the start it did say Toluene was a poison, but I don't think that this is all there is to this line. This song, too, talks down about Rin and Len. Toluene is its own side in the argument, but it is still a part of the argument.

The rest of the PV text is as follows: "They conduct themselves based on their vanity and selfishness. / On the inside, do they already know it's evil to do so? / It's a way for them merely to hide their own weakness-- / They are creatures filled with jealousy instead of earnest anger. / Do they intend to remain trapped in the cycle of hypocrisy and jealousy? / What must they do to break out of it? / What is right? / In a world filled with vanity, jealousy, grudge, and self-interest... / Are they going to break down without ever understanding anything?". It seems pretty self-explanatory to me. It's stating again that Rin and Len are going in a circle, that they won't go anywhere in their argument.

The 'does this song have a meaning?' part seems pretty obvious to me. The song's got a meaning! Wowie, revolutionary stuff. This part also doesn’t have any of the ‘Is there any sin to this song’ stuff, and it shows again that it isn’t involved in the conflict that the other two are in. So instead, I'll look at the last part of the song as the recap. "Toluene is a riddle solving song / A word game to pass time" states again how Toluene is here to solve the riddle of the whole series. The 'word game' is looking into the deeper meaning to all the words that make it up. The 'to pass the time' part is pretty obvious, it's more of the stuff in the beginning about how we didn't really need Toluene to figure out the series, it's not that important - it's only there to pass the time. "When the meaning of it becomes clear / What kind of face will you wear?" A nice funny little question to end it on, like the 'what will you choose?' from Antichlorobenzene. Well, what face ARE you wearing?

I kind of glossed over it quickly while explaining the meaning of the song back up when I first mentioned the 'we don't need Toluene' thing, so I'll say it again as a nice ending. The whole message of this series is that these pointless arguments will get us nowhere, and that jealousy will end up tearing us apart.

Anyways, *passes out*