Private Mystery Circle is one of the more confusing songs in SeraMyu. If you’ve ever wondered “Wait. What. What was that?” hopefully this will explain it!
This song MUST be seen in context of ufology and the events of the Black Lady musicals. Throughout the song, it seems more and more people are being replaced with droids. Thinking back to some scenes in the Black Moon arc of the manga, and it makes more sense. Basically this is a song that seems cute and sounds innocent, but the lyrics have increasingly creepier hidden meanings.
Now let’s break this down verse by verse.
When I peeked into your eyes
I found stars, something I’d never seen
I met your gaze and knew with full knowledge…
Those eyes should be… What’s going on?
Pretty much everything in this song is to do with paranormal phenomena, especially ufology. This song is mainly about droids replacing humans… just without saying droids or humans. Think of it like the body snatchers. In this first verse, it is about noticing someone you love is not as they should be, in this case something wrong with their eyes.
Maybe, by some chance…
(Maybe, by some chance…)
You have multiple personalities
(No way! UFO? Are you serious?)
That’s just not, not, not how you should be…
My beloved one… Woo!
Private Mystery Circle!
Now, they try to find a “reasonable” explanation for what’s going on by suggesting that the person may have a multiple personality disorder. Then they state that they love them and that can’t be right. A pun appears here too, with one saying “uso” (“no way” in English) and another confusing it for “ufo”. It should be pointed out here that Private Mystery Circle is not a case of “engrish”. Mystery Circle is a “wasei” term. Wasei are Japanese terms made from English. In this case it refers to what we usually call “crop circles”.
UFO, UMA, From the beginning!
Love and Peace, they’re under review
UFO, UMA, Once again…
Dry & Moist, check and make sure!
Return it to zero!
Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
Starting over!
In this first chorus, the song takes a creepier turn. UFO stands for “Unidentifed Flying Object”, UMA for “Unidentified Mysterious Animal”. We do not really use the latter term in English, but the Japanese do use it. “Love and Peace”, what humans usually believe in, are told to be looked at again and revise these principles. People’s values of love and peace are being reconsidered as people are being replaced with droids.
“Dry and Moist” however is less clear. It may refer to the soil of crop circles, but personally I think this might be a reference to the 1978 movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which this song seems to be telling a cuter version of. In the movie, the alien body snatchers are birthed from plant pods, shown in slimy grotesque detail. Perhaps dry and moist refers to conditions for plants or the birthing of the human replacements.
Return it to zero! refers to the human population. The Black Moon Clan literally intends to replace human beings with droids. That is Starting over!
Listen carefully at the album version and you can hear two kinds of singing. When they sing “Love and Peace”, it is in a cheerful happy tone, but when they sing “take another look” (minaoshite), the tone changes into a sort of mocking tone.
Until yesterday, I had thought…
Love was best, for better or for worse…
But some time ago… within my heart…
Stars were bursting open, making a soundThe Moonlight’s… (The Moonlight’s…)
…deed, could it be?
Contactee! What are you talking about?
Myself and my spirit… (Heart!)
I want to peek into them! Woo!
Private Mystery Circle!
Now the singers take a turn for the worst. They know they feel different. Yesterday, they had believed in love and now they are being replaced themselves. They are wondering if this is the work of space, “The Moonlight’s…deed”.
Mamoru’s line “Contacty” is spelled that way in the official lyrics, but this is probably a misspelling of “contactee”. A contactee is someone who aliens have made contact with.
Additionally, the word spirit (kokoro) and heart, which is also kokoro in Japanese (spoken in English in this song), are usually equivalent. However, the word for spirit (kokoro) has unusually been written in the katakana writing system as ココロ instead of the usual kanji, 心. Katakana is the writing system often used for loanwords, however in other cases, such as this, it can give a touch of artificial-ness to the line. Writing “kokoro” in katakana gives the idea of the person saying it is not truly alive.
UFO, UMA, From the beginning!
Love and Peace, they’re under review
UFO, UMA, Once again…
Dry & Moist, check and make sure!
Return it to zero!
Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
Starting over!
And back to the chorus, where that ends this song. I hope I’ve helped explain Private Mystery Circle for anyone who has had trouble understanding!