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i have some super ultra rarez but I'm not going to share them because I'm an asshole

Wanted to write this up sooner, but better late than never! Spent the end of April/beginning of May in Japan - during this time I got to attend two live events, this was the first of those. I've been a die-hard Aie fan since deadman so I absolutely couldn't pass up an opportunity to see him (and Kazu, too!!) play live. I quite enjoy most of the god and death stars output and had heard many good things about eStrial so I ventured out to Ikebukuro on a rainy evening to see them do their thing. It was one of my first nights in Tokyo and I am a bit, uh, directionally challenged without the aid of a map in larger city settings, so despite leaving quite early I missed my first train changeover and ended up turning a 15 minute trek into a 45 minute anxious train ride, landing me at the show 15 minutes late and a few songs into eStrial's set. I descended the staircase into RUIDO K3 and emerged into the long, narrow live hall, quickly moving to the back of the rather full crowd. eStrial played a set of jazzy, upbeat tunes that had half the crowd participating in some light furi. Vocalist/guitarist Yumeji slid effortlessly through every manner of funky lick, matched in skill and precision by bassist Mina Takahara and drummer Atsuto (who was looking a fair bit more casual here than his time in Sugar - ten years ago at this point???). I wish I knew more of their songs as I found them to be a ton of fun, bassist Mina being a particular standout as she really knew how to keep energy levels high. She was sporting a huge grin almost the entire set and kept the entire crowd engaged. Much of the band banter made me wish I had a far better grasp of Japanese than I do (read: somewhere between almost none and not being a total know-nothing ass 😶) as Atsuto had the crowd chuckling quite a bit between songs. Being that this was one of a few two-man dates these bands had booked, it seemed clear that there was a really strong camaraderie between everyone in both bands! There was a lot of commentary that I picked up regarding Aie himself and the crowd no doubt seemed excited by his presence and the god and death stars' forthcoming set. eStrial played for maybe a total of 45 minutes before the curtains closed, sending the crowd back to the bar in the corner to turn in their drink tickets. After a few moments passed, dedicated fans lined up right against the stage and I took this opportunity to grab a more ideal spot closer to the middle of the crowd. We could see band members shuffling past the entryway and behind the stage curtain and surely enough it wasn't long until a dramatic, orchestral track started playing over the PA. The crowd directed their full attention to the stage and as soon as the curtains were drawn, we were greeted by the god and death stars + Yumeji of eStrial! I found myself wondering if we were going to see Yumeji providing some secondary guitar for their set, but the ensemble jumped into a track that I didn't recognize at all, a poppy number that had Aie and Yumeji vocalizing in a goofy sort of way. The song lasted only a few minutes before the curtains closed once again, the audience left chuckling and eager. Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long, as the god and death stars proper were revealed as the curtains drew back again. Aie looked just as "cool casual" as I could have anticipated, wearing a thin t-shirt and fedora (perhaps the only person this hat looks properly good on in this day and age?) Kazu was dressed in black from head to toe, sporting a blazer that gave him a sort of "funereal" look alongside his long, slick hair. I must say, Kazu is a rather...imposing looking fellow on stage. Maybe it's because he is next to Aie, who is quite small in stature, but I found him to be quite striking in person in an almost intimidating way. Guest drummer Seiji Matsumoto (of the telephones and a number of bands that I need to take the time to check out) rounded out the trio, taking place of Otaka Jun who is away for health-related reasons (get well soon!!) I will interject here and state that I can't recall their exact set due to time passing and just being...way too enamored with everything to take the time to write the songs down, so I apologize in advance for not being able to post that! The band wasted no time getting into their set. Aie's signature guitar tone pulled me in immediately - that special twang reminded me of where I was and who I was watching. They played a selection of tracks from their newest album, funky ghost hollywood (most of the set was pulled from this album, understandably), to start things off. Watching them was a treat not only from the standpoint of someone who has loved their respective individual discographies (from one iconic band to the next), but simply as very clearly experienced musicians. That should go without saying, but these guys really, really know their stuff. They played each song effortlessly (my god, they really are a wonder at their instruments - I mean seriously, they're so stylistically committed and developed that it's a spectacle seeing them play the way they do). Their set was fun and entirely un-theatric, perhaps the antithesis of the visual kei bands they came up in. Being that they were playing with a guest drummer, it was quite endearing to see them give him visual cues as the songs progressed (he was knocking it out of the park, no doubt, but it was nice seeing them interact in that "power trio" sort of way) The crowd was clearly having fun as they blasted through song after song and, more importantly, the guys in the band looked like they were having a ton of fun themselves. The air over the entire night felt casual and friendly, as if they were "just some guys getting together to play songs." There was some fun banter with the crowd near the middle of the set which really maintained that same "casual air" and in the end, they were done before I knew it. They got quite a few songs in (I wasn't kidding when I said they were just "blasting through them") for only playing maybe an hour-long set. I can't comment on the exact order, but the songs below are the ones I remember them playing off the top of my head. Nothing older than after the addle apple as far as I can recall. I was really pleased to hear "elephant in the room," "Good Night My Love," and "ママイズジャム" as those are some of my recent favorites. 薄荷 サニーゴーサニー Good Night My Love ママイズジャム Life Is Beautiful cannabis damned 夜を歩く葡萄 濾過 elephant in the room I hung around the venue for a little while since it was still very early (and there was a little part of me hoping I could shake Aie's hand, but that was wishful thinking, haha). As I watched the crowd wander back out into the rain little by little, it was obvious how varied their fanbase is, from age to personal style. Just a testament to these guys and their time/experience in the scene. Thanks for reading! Don't miss an opportunity to catch either of these bands if you can - it was a really special evening that I won't soon forget. I'll have one more live report up soon for the event I attended at 高田馬場AREA on 5/6! (DIMLIM, gulu gulu, more)

"You only listen to post 2010 VK? I, an intellectual individual, avid connoisseur of the Visual Kei scene with peak music taste know that only obscure 90s bands with unpronounceable names count as true VK"

not gonna listen to henna merry go round until my copy arrives cuz theres no fun in buying cds and not listening to them even once lol. but cdjp hasnt even shipped it yet i hate that

Bruh, Imma keep it real with you. Cuz most ppl simply ain't gonna tell you this shit. You feel guilty for a reason. That girl developed feelings for a reason. You're not oversensitive. And there's nothing wrong with you. If anything, you're just sensible. Fuck what this world tries to tell you about having "friends with benefits" and "casual" sex. You know why that girl developed feelings? Cuz ain't shit casual about having a WHOLE 'nother human being inside of you! Fuckin' a chick and expecting her not to catch feelings is like putting your hand in a fire and expecting not to get burnt. It's that inane. Bruh, i mean...sex is a POWERFUL force - it's literally the reason why we're all even here in the first place. It's THAT central to our very existence...and depending on how you approach it, it can either be destructive or regenerative....functional or dysfunctional...good or bad. And from what I can tell, when you take something as foundational and deeply ingrained in our existence as sex and try to detach it from emotion, from love, from responsibility, from respect, from family, from children....and you basically turn it into a cheap drug, well then...you're practically inviting dysfunction at that point. Now obviously, I would not presume to give you advice on this issue, and you have the free will to do whatever you want, but do keep in mind that freedom of choice does not equal freedom from consequences, and your own experience testifies to that. But anyways, bruh...don't get down about that shit. If you can, just learn from it and keep it movin'. I hope all goes well for you from here on out!

"[insert band here] is totally copying [insert other band here] and you should be mad about it!"

"You're not a real fan unless you've listened to VK for x amount of years", or "unless you've listened to x amount of bands". I fucking hate that. How are they gonna listen to VK for x amount of years or listen to x amount of bands if you try to kick 'em out of the fandom? For the first example, by the time they come back after the specified number of years, they're not gonna know anything new because they left due to peer pressure, so they may as well have just stayed.

how dare you compare mejibray to d'espairsray, the level of disrespect

I'm addicted to PuriKura, sue me. It's been non stop raining and it's been cold. Gear: Shoes by Dsquared2, everything else is Diesel.

Love and lust are two different things that often go hand in hand. Lust can still be followed by respect and responsibility. There can be love without lust and lust without love. But at least some level of care for the other party/ies will always be present. Well, in most cases. Edit: there are many levels of romantic love. It isn't just do or die, black or white. After recognising that, maybe the separation of love and lust might make more sense. It is unrealistic to think sex will have no consequences (emotional, physical, spiritual, moral etc.). Some people can manage that, but for the majority? It just ain't like that and you're not faulty if you can't handle casual encounters, you're just human. We're messy like that.

But how hilarious would that be XD. I would laugh and be surprised that someone asked me about v-kei irl XDD. I tried Tinder in Japan and my favorite conversation was with a man who was trying to plan a whole date for us, but then he ended with "going to a love hotel". I refused to meet up and his reply was "Oh are you a lesbian?". Other than that, I haven't gotten the hang out of online dating. I might try getting back because, even if I don't get me a man out of this, at least I can meet some people. We'll see how that goes. The only thing I hate about being single is nosy people. Like, my parents are ok and just let me live, but my aunts and co-workers are so interested in my non-existent love life XD. But I'm happy being single so far :D.

I remember someone asking for links to files back on inertia’s board, what must have been 14-15 years ago. Someone honestly responded; ”Why don’t you just buy the CDs, instead of being a leech?” Yes, because someone back in 2004 can just walk to the store and buy whatever VK CD they want, or just go on to Western iTunes, and have the whole world at their fingertips. Or, they could blindly buy a $40 CD. Amazin’!

your fave band sucks xoxoxo Or let me follow this band I dont like to make it worse for the people who do like this band.

Holy fuck the main track on the gulu gulu single where hes laughing and then it jumps into a scream, god yes I live for this

Yeah, I remember seeing it around on places like LiveJournal and Tumblr (especially on member-centered communities/pages - i.e. "[insert bandomen's name]_a_day_community) I don't think anything is wrong with the communities itself, but that kind of behavior doesn't make sense because each fan in said communities like the same bands/people, right...? Some things I will never understand ^^;

What the fuck?! Lol. I’d laugh if it was Toshiya. Like, he’s awesome and all, but saving your v card for him?! Buy a dildo god damn it XD

Most toxic thing I've ever seen in the VK fandom... go on Tanuki (or any Tumblr translation blog if you can't read Japanese). Wait, don't. I don't want to see you get sucked into that vortex. *shudder*

Me: I really need to work on saving my money for adult things. Also me: *buys GOTCHAROCKA's newer album* Me: Dammit.

This reminds me of a bangya who I met a long time ago. She wanted to attend the lives that Daizystripper played at but at the same time she didn't want to go because she wanted to avoid a certain friend whom she got into a fight with. Not exactly sure what it was about since she was a little vague on the exact details, but when we attended a taiban live where Daizystripper was playing, she saw her friend there. And her friend, including the girls her friend was hanging out with, completely ignored her even though they knew she was there. Basically, the whole group ostracized her like she was unwelcomed/unwanted there. I'm not sure what her exact feelings were, but I could see it made her feel awkward, unsettled, and depressed. (Not sure if she totally quit going to Daizystripper lives or not.) Being raised from a more Western perspective, I wouldn't quit so easily, but as @Komorebi perfectly stated, the social situation in Japan is different, and when you start to attend more VK lives/events/etc., the same people tend to show up, so it'd be hard to avoid these bullies sadly 😕

This has definitely become less common in the past few years. I think it's both that the lines between the "styles" as the gaijins perceived it having become even blurrier than they were before, and people just getting older and more phlegmatic about everything. I'll never forget how much people really shat on oshare kei bac in the day, often without really knowing what it is or what it really entailed other than just colorful clothing. It was like the "i like everything/visual kei except rap/oshare" of visual kei in the west at one point. Still, I think pretty much everyone was listening to An Cafe in secret and people are much more open minded nowadays... but again it might just be because there's far less of us and the ones that stuck had a wider and more refined palate to begin with.

I guess not really, but I don't think just attending many lives regularly makes a fan a stalker

I can't but think of the people here going through an album's production with a fucking tape measure and a try square looking for some hot takes as utterly ridiculous dilettantes who are on a quest to rate and evaluate everything they come across from dogs to cats to hotdogs and shoehorning them into some system of cosmically applying universal worth, like a senile bookie trying to get one over the plebs of the board that has rigged the game so many times to his own favor that he has come to believe that's how it's supposed to be played. Unsurprisingly this takes place mostly on the threads related to Dir en grey in one way or another, and I hope that one day whoever supplies the audio equipment to these people decides to send them boxes of tapes containing different bass frequencies and one note sounds recorded with different studio presets, so that they can spend the rest of their lives busy with their ear pressed against the speaker being fully content about that crystal clear HQ sound, because god forbid we'd have to see these people writing about music again when they could be spending their parents money on audio jacks and Pepsi instead. Some of the best releases in rock music history sound like they were recorded with an Xbox 360 headset so fuck off already with this shit and go watch the past seasons of american idol on VCR and pretend to be Simon like you really want to. Considering what vk has been doing from X's look to Kiyoharu's simulated hanging on stage to today, I don't think the word edgy has a place in the conversation with any other role than as a praise full of positive connotations only. While some people sure are eager to please and orientate themselves towards the lamestream taste with their hands and knees begging for their family to listen to their shitty japanese music at family gatherings and hand out positive affirmations, the rest ought to know that the only thing that really matters to any autonomous subject is the sincerity of their self-expression and the intellectual integrity that's solely their own. The general impulse of the public is to take the edges out of everything and grind them down into submission and guilt over being "lame" and "embarrassing," so hopefully instead of edgy music the people here can find things with the coarse edges done polished down so smooth that they'll trip and fall on their heads, becoming completely paralysed and unable to use their hands to write anything as stupid as they are in the future.

Well, when there is picture or other proof like arrests, it seems more than just a rumor, and there is enough of this out there. I even saw a bandomen i liked, but heard he slept around, trade something with a fan and then quickly hurry away before a live. But I am old enough not to take these things seriously. There are so many more important things in life. And if the artists are bad people, who cares? They are not your roommates....

i actually find pretty toxic the same never ending discussions here of how shitty certain bandmen/fandoms/fans are like its not even a year since ive been an active member lol

Thank you! It was my first proper live in Japan and it was great. The intimacy of the atmosphere really made the experience what it was. And I absolutely get that! I feel like I usually leave early for everywhere I'm trying to go, especially leading up to an event and I somehow usually end up late. Oh well, it's all...experience or something? Haha. WOW I am so jealous!! That sounds absolutely surreal, couldn't imagine being in that setting overall and then finishing it off with the autograph, that's too much. Thanks for reading, all - will hope to have the other report posted this week. 🤗

All the sick self harm and anorexia pictures/tweets floating around on jap. Bangya twitter are toxic and not nice. Mamo posting these fanletter notebooks written with blood..... Stop it guys, respect yourselves!

I finally quit my job and now during my last few days left working here, I requested to work a half day shift, which basically means that if I'm working in the morning I finish at 1 PM. I did that today and it literally felt like I skipped school , I feel like a rebel XD.

so what's everyones opinion on the gulu gulu single?

I'd love to know this too. I honestly don't get it. This is why I think FWB just doesn't work if you're the kind of person who cares about someone's feelings.

Dude, I've only interacted with you a few times but i've always seen you as a sage, both musically and culturally. Thank you so much for your insight, it makes so much sense to me. I've quoted the part that resonated with me the most as I feel it probably best explains my issues with guilt. In all honesty, things never got as far as sex but it was certainly on the table. However every so often I could see that she looked sad and put two and two together. I never wanted to mislead this woman and made her very aware of where I was at early on. I guess my mistake was being unable to do anything but the 'boyfriend experience'. Fuck being an insensitive douchebag though. I'm not going to care any less for someone just because it's recommended in the alpha male bible. To be honest, I have feelings for her too but our life goals are different. This is all very confusing. I just don't want to date her and waste her time in the long run, regardless of how compatible we are in pretty much every other area.

god thisthisTHISTHIS the culture of "give me an EQUALLY RARE mp3/PV/etc. if you want this intangible file" has always been so bizarre to me. Also, so many people in the scene give off this vibe of band/artist fandom ownership, like they're more entitled to be a fan than someone else. Seems kind of esoteric, but I can't be the only one who notices this?

That reminds me. About two years ago, I was talking to a fellow VK fan and she told me she knew someone who was obsessed with this one guy (I don't remember who, but I want to say Toshiya from Diru fsr, could be someone completely different tho) to the point where she was saving her virginity for him even if the opportunity to lose it to someone else she was sufficiently interested in came along. Bear in mind, this girl was most likely never going to meet him and even if she did, she'd probably just turn him off.

"My absurdly high IQ, essentially, prevents me from enjoying music as the commonfolk do, so I choose rather to pontificate on the inadequacies of the prevailing tastes in the community and rationalize my own empirically superior preferences (by which I was informed were empirically superior by other empirically superior individuals via the most prestigious of subreddits), thereby falsely elevating my own sense of self-worth and triumphantly masking my insecurities in my own music taste." also "Chorus deficits"

i see kpop fans decrying toxicity in their fandom and im like. psshh if only u knew

the only other genre i know of that has an abundance of ambiguous nazism is black metal, and it's funny to think that it shares that in common with squeaky-clean azn femboy pop-rock

True. I entered this arrangement because I was sick of hurting people/being hurt in relationships. Everything was going well; we were both attracted to each other, got on really well, and communicated our different life goals from the get go. However she now has the feels. She has admitted fault and has understood my reasons for drawing a line in the sand. However I just can't help feeling guilty. I really don't think I'm cut out for anything until I sort my head out, not even NSA relationships. So yeah, I should clarify that FWB probably does work. Just not for oversensitive people like me.

It's basically just a load of hostile weirdos talking shit about people they claim to care about, soooo... yes.

It's a forum dedicated to Visual Kei rumors. Some are true, some are false, some are complete invasions of privacy

mejibray & mamo stans. (speaking from what I've seen, not necessarily experience) I'm offended

"Hi"

I’m still on cloud nine over the news of Hizumi coming back.

They say everything in sarcasm or irony.

You should have been here when (insert band) got started, those shows were the real shows, that was the best time to be a fan. I mean, I will admit the joys of loving a smaller band means more intimate venues rather than giant stadiums and them looking like ants.

This is what the Meji stans said when SPB8 was announced..... 😏

gesu being always so kind and lovely is my reason to believe in humanity

i really like tsuzuku's clean singing but not like his banshee squealing when he does harsh vocals. its rough and he oversells it but that works for me. compositionally i think they were fantastic. definitely pretty unique & probably one of my favs just for that i simply cannot will myself to care about 8p-sb though

i thought this was gonna be a shitpost/meme thread when i first read the title lol

La;veil pizzeria

I'm fine. Broke some hearts along the way, but I keep going. I am not searching everywhere for someone like I used to do, lol Also Tinder sucks so much around here, I wonder how it's going to be in Vancouver