I've never really thought of it before but what she says is actually kind of interesting:

if it cannot break it's egg's shell a chick will die without being born
the chamber of freedom and the cage of freedom
without revealing the vastness of the sky
both care for the chick
Smash the world's cage

The shell is necessary for the chick's existence. It needs the shell to grow and form before it can be born.
Touga's speech looks only towards the smashing of the shell whereas Nanami looks back to where the chick came from. Without the egg, the cage of freedom, there is no chick to break free.

Last edited by YamPuff (10-21-2015 02:19:21 PM)

It's actually kind of ironic, since later on Touga begins imitating Akio. And here, Nanami imitates Touga. I think she's a lot more personal/independent about it, though. If I remember correctly, the Student Council just doofs around not really doing anything until near the end of that arc. I guess she was just having fun.

Can someone more familiar with Japanese clarify if Nanami employs clever wordplay, rhyme or such in her changing of Touga's speech? or is her attempt as clumsy as it seems in English?

(( Hey Rikoshi,

It looks like you're right.  Nanami only goes through the mantra once during the arc.  I could have sworn she did it more often.

Hey YamPuff,

My Japanese is rusty, at best; yet, as far as I can tell, Nanami isn't trying any real wordplay, rhyme or meter, or trying to sound more intellectual via using mala-proper-isms.  To me, it sounds like what she's saying is how she remembers the mantra. ))