Doki Doki ☆ Morning and Till We Meet Again

Like everyone else, I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorite BABYMETAL songs “Doki Doki ☆ Morning” appear in the new Taiwanese film “Till We Meet Again” (月老).

Though not nearly as well-known as Korean dramas or films, Taiwanese films have been steadily improving over the years, and as reviews of the film generally seemed quite positive, I decided to check it out last weekend, both to see whether “Doki Doki ☆ Morning” was actually featured within the film itself, and to evaluate the movie itself.

First of all, the film was great, and very “Taiwanese”. Directed and produced by author and screenwriter Giddens Ko and based on the book of the same name that he had originally published in 2002, it’s a labor of love, and it shows.

For example, how in the world did “Doki Doki ☆ Morning” find its way into the film? It’s not like BABYMETAL is particularly active about promoting its songs in films or anime. Well, Giddens Ko is in fact a BABYMETAL fan, and in an exchange on his Facebook fan page, he says:

Fan: “I want to know if the rights to “DokiDoki morning” were very expensive… I hope everyone goes to support the film in theaters!

Giddens: “I just kept begging! I’m very good at bowing down on my knees!” (likely a reference to headbanging)

If you go to the official music video of “Doki Doki ☆ Morning” and sort comments by new, you’ll find hundreds of new Chinese-language comments (from Taiwanese) saying that they’re here after watching “Till We Meet Again”.

Well, this is cool and all that, but you’re here to learn if “Doki Doki ☆ Morning” actually has anything to do with the film, or if it was just chosen because it sounded like a good fit?

Long story short: yes.

Today, I’m going to go through “Doki Doki ☆ Morning” section of the film and point of parts that I thought were fun, that are linked to the song itself, or may need a bit of context to understand to non-Taiwanese viewers!

Here's the full clip if you haven't watched it yet:

Context: everyone’s dead.

At the beginning of the film, our protagonist is struck by lightning and dies. Within Buddhism and Taoism which are both quite influential in Taiwan (Buddhism less so in practice), there is the concept of reincarnation and purgatory. After death, you are judged according to the good and evil you did in your life - a more virtuous person will get a better start for their next life, and an evil person will… well, end up as a cockroach or something. Before reincarnating into a shitty next life, this batch of dead people are given the chance to perform various jobs in the afterlife. If they do them well and help people, they can purify their souls, and earn themselves a better reincarnation in the next life.

One such job available to our protagonist is that of the “Yue Lao” (月老), which is short for 月下老人 (old man under the moon), the god of marriage and love in Chinese/Taoist mythology. As the legend goes, Yue Lao appears at night and uses a red thread to bind together predestined couples, after which nothing can prevent their union. If this sounds slightly familiar…

過ぎてゆく時の中

瞳を閉じたまま

この手に流れる赤い糸　切れても

感じている　絆を

In the passage of time,

I keep my eyes shut.

Even if the red thread flowing in my hand breaks,

I still feel we are tied.

• “Akatsuki”, BABYMETAL (2012)

Yeah, “Akatsuki” is referencing the same red thread.

You can apply for the job of Yue Lao, but there’s a catch: while you gain brownie points for uniting couples (being a matchmaker is a big responsibility!), you will lose points if they end up bad for one another, possibly putting you in an even worse life after reincarnation. In addition, if you wash out of the selection process, you go straight to reincarnation with your current score. Two people must work together as a pair, each tying the red thread on a different person (or motorcycle exhaust pipe… don’t ask)

As can be seen by the number of black beads on the bracelet of our protagonist’s left arm, he’s going to end up as a slug in his next life if he washes out and reincarnates immediately. Actually, his female partner “Pinky” isn’t much better off - those white beads are all she has; the rest are black.

So after miraculously making it through selection and being given a chance to redeem themselves by acting as matchmaker Yue Laos, they take the elevator from hell back to the real world to begin work.

 (NOTE: the Japanese version of “Elevator Girl” likely references a similar elevator)

Considering they’ve basically been given a second chance in life (as much as it’s possible for people that are already dead), they’re obviously thrilled, hence the happiness and anticipation.

Since they’re dead, our otaku friend with the waifu body pillow just sees an empty elevator. But ghosts certainly breeze past him as they tackle their jobs with muster!

知らないフリはキライ!キライ!

知らないセカイ見たい!見たい!

4次元5次元 期待!期待!

Pretending not to know, I dislike.

The world I don't know yet, I want to see.

Four-dimensional and five-dimensional worlds, I anticipate.

• “Doki Doki ☆ Morning” (2011)

In this context, the lyrics to “Doki Doki ☆ Morning” actually fit surprisingly well, as they literally move from one world to the next. The spirit of the song’s lyrics overall are that of anticipation, excitement of the unknown, and looking forward to new possibilities.

The rest of the musical sequence depicts our matchmakers doing their job, tying threads between people and linking them together romantically!

One of the more curious sequences may be the tattooed white guy beaning the cute Ubereats delivery girl in the head with a bag of trash. What’s up with that?

Well, if you don’t live in an apartment complex that has trash services, the normal way we take care of trash and recycling in Taiwan is by throwing it into moving garbage trucks that will visit your neighborhood at a fixed time each day! Now, chasing after garbage trucks might seem kind of weird (though they actually stop for about a minute before moving to the next collection point; our white guy friend is late) , and it wasn’t always like this. Back in the day, Taiwan used to have huge dumpsters New York style, with loose trash lining the streets, attracting huge numbers of rats and mosquitos. But after switching to our current garbage truck system where you have to throw things out yourself rather than have it mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night courtesy of underpaid and overworked garbage crews like in rich countries, recycling has gone from 5% to about 55%. (whether or not recycling is actually effective is a different question, of course)

Curiously enough, garbage trucks play Beethoven’s Fur Elise as they roam the streets, so throwing away your trash is oftentimes the first thing that comes to mind when we hear this ironic song… 

There are very few public trash cans in Taiwan; similar to Japan, we’re encouraged to be responsible for our personal consumption. In some cities, garbage can only be thrown away using special bags (available at most convenience stores, ranging from 3-120 liter size), but recycling is free, encouraging people to recycle more when possible.

What elicited such a hilarious response from Ubereats girl after seeing white guy’s tattoo? Yes, the tattoo technically does say “Hello?!?!”, but it’s meant the way Americans may sarcastically say “Hello?!?!” or “Excuuuuse me?!?!” when they see someone do something weird. Apparently, he thinks it really just means “Hello” as a greeting. Ah, what a great start to a cute relationship!

And that’s it for this clip, I hope you learned a bit about Taiwan and how “Doki Doki ☆ Morning” was a great choice not just for the music but for the meaning as well!

And - I'm not kidding - as seen in the news report in the clip above, in theaters and other places across the country, people are dancing to "Doki Doki ☆ Morning". Not bad for a 9-year-old song!

The rest of the film is great and very touching (I cried several times), and with global distribution being picked up by the Singapore-based Clover Films, I hope more people around the world will get a chance to enjoy it soon!