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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"

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.

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*

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'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"

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..... 😏

It's your boy emmny…I’m not dead yet. It’s been almost two years since I dropped my last reflection (Kagerou 2002-2003), and I’m back for moar. It’s not that I’ve run out of ideas (real life is really busy btw, sorry!), but rather I’ve been thinking about particularly notable eras for bands I followed. Some bands are consistently good, and some bands have peaks and valleys which are kind of obvious. Choosing a band and time period to profile is challenging—I don’t want to give you anything obvious, but I want to bring light to eras which are underrated outside of a bands immediate fandom. Kagerou’s 2002-2003 phase was legendary—but the majority of their fame (esp in foreign fandom) came after. It was an era ripe with pickings—an avant-garde sound, striking visuals and some of their best songs—but I’d argue Kagerou are more closely associated with their 2004-2006 eras. The argument of placing their earlier days in the spotlight made the article interesting, and I’m not sure how much other eras are interesting in band histories. Selection is tough too—especially with bands that release intermittently and not giving enough musical ‘meat’ over the course of 2/3 years—which happen to be the most interesting (albeit financially strapped bands---*cough* yazzmad *cough*). Good music alone doesn’t cut it either—a reflection piece (in my own asshole opinion) is warranted by impact—Kagerou’s early years had influence literally a decade after they had moved on from that sound. Whether the following will have the same impact is TBD, but I will make the case that late-era Moran defined the zenith of art-kei, managing to sell out massive venues for a subgenre which was otherwise relegated to the underground and situated in a genre largely declining in popularity. In their dazzling sound, visuals, and approach, Moran kept their contemporaries on their feet and inspired subsequent kohai bands which continue to carry their flag, almost half a decade after they called it quits. Moran have a storied history, but getting into it would take 1) skills I lack as a visual historian and 2) too damn long. 2013-2015 covers most of Moran’s second lineup output, and I’ll briefly get into the timeline. This is where I’ve drawn the rough boundary of time, so to coincide with Moran’s third-era all the way up to their disbandment. I’ll delineate three main eras: 1) 2007-2009, 2) 2010-2012, and lastly, 2013-2015. Era 1 is Moran’s original lineup (and probably their most beloved), which formed ~2 years after Fatima’s disbandment. Era 1 came to an end with the original guitarist Velo departing the band in 2009, and bassist Zill’s tragic death in 2010, following a short-term leave from the band in 2009. The only permanent members of the band’s history (and the OGs from Fatima), vocalist Hitomi (FKA Sanaka/Kanoma) and drummer Soan (FKA Towa) were left to carry the band. Moran took a huge beating, but as one of SPEED-DISK (Free Will subsidiary)’s flagship bands, they pushed on into their second era with support bassists and Sizna (ex-Sugar) taking over as kamite guitarist in summer of 2010 and a full-reboot at the end of the year. There was a substantial lull in activities, with almost two years passing between the two eras without music. They proceeded as a three-piece until the summer of 2012, with Ivy (ex. Dio) joining as a full-time bassist and vivi (ex-DragonWAPPPPPPER) as shimote guitarist. The band formally rebooted in December of 2012, and they released their first piece of music as a five-member group in early 2013 with Jen:ga, and that’s where this story will start. Moran (2007.12.05 - 2015.09.21) Vocal: Hitomi Guitar: Sizna Guitar: vivi Bass: Ivy Drums: Soan Jen:ga (2013.02.20) 01 Barairo no jigoku / 薔薇色の地獄 02 benisashi / 紅差し 03 L'oiseau bleu / ロワゾ・ブルー 04 Bulbs 05 Melancholia / メランコリア 06 yakouchuu / 夜光虫 07 Wing or Tail 08 ReCover 09 Maybe Lucy in the Sky 10 Eclipse 11 Aru sakushi to no yuugiroku / ある策士との遊戯録 12 Fuyuubyou / 浮遊病 13 The last piece of the jen:ga Hollow Man (2013.07.10) 01 Hollow Man / ホロウマン 02 Fukamidori / フカミドリ 03 Esther / エスター Mousou Nikki (2013.12.11) 01 Mousou nikki / 妄想日記 02 Lyric of the DEAD dark (2014.03.19) 01 Nozomenai to shiru ketsumatsu ni, riyuu ga boku o nagusameru / 望めないと知る結末に、理由が僕を慰める 02 The Hermit 03 Negai to uta / ネガイトウタ 04 Fairy Tale 05 Ikou, hakushi no chronicle / 以降、白紙のクロニクル 06 Haru no yoru no, hitoshizuku / 春の夜の、ひと雫 but Beautiful (2014.07.16) 01 but Beautiful 02 Byouma / 秒魔 03 Break the silence Daraku e to Tsuzuku Hen’ai no Kanshoku (堕落 へと続く偏愛の感触) (2014.10.08) 01 Daraku e to tsudzuku hen'ai no kanshoku /堕落 へと続く偏愛の感触 02 Memorable 03 Grotesque Ride / グロテスク ライド Yoake Wo Mae Ni (夜明けを前に) (2015.07.01) 01 Koufuku ni tsuite no shakudo / 幸福についての尺度 02 Reverse 03 Yoake o mae ni / 夜明けを前に 04 The scent of dreams Moran have the distinction of being a pretty damn consistent band throughout their 8 years of activity. Their art-kei trademark of jazz/oshare/indie-rock/dream-pop/shoegaze/swing sound was a constant in their discography, with the specific flavour depending on the release. Moran largely presented a polished version of the ideas originally leveraged through Fatima’s output, which was largely experimental and toyed with combinations of genres and sounds. In my opinion, this polishing process continued into Moran’s first eras, with highs (most of Heroine and Replay) and lows (“Sea of Fingers”, “Stage Gazer”, “Party Monster”), but nowhere near as bipolar as some of Fatima’s highly questionable tracks. Early compositions were mostly Zill and Velo pieces with some Soan contributions, which diverged from their later eras which saw Sizna and Soan as key composers, with some vivi tracks here and there. Zill and Velo made some magic, but Sizna and Soan really made the band shine and polished all residual traces of odd melody and some awkward compositions. If you’re unfamiliar with art-kei, Moran laid the template for the sound in their early eras—give “Onaji yami no naka de”, “Element”, “Kimi no ita gosenfu”, “Helpless” and “Arikata” a listen for exemplars. Hitomi’s voice is a gorgeously husky and also quite nasal, a total acquired taste. If you liked Moran, you probably loved what Hitomi did on their tracks. If you disliked Moran…you were probably deaf or just didn’t like Hitomi’s voice. Hitomi’s contributions toward 3rd era Moran were notable, as he actually composed a track on dark (“Fairy Tale”), and veered into some more experimental, spoken word type tracks like “Vega no Hana #2”. True Hitomi fans know he had a poetry column throughout Fatima and was an incredible lyricist, so it was amazing to get more longer-form musings. I will say that Ivy as a bassist was a downgrade from Zill, who basically set Heroine on fire with the most fascinating basslines, counter melodies, and solos to come out of a visual bassist in a while. He played with electrifying gusto and a sharp ear toward rhythm; I can only think of a few bassists in his era who had comparable basslines. His departure and subsequent death was truly a waste of talent, but Ivy did a job well done given the high standards Zill set. That said, I think Ivy definitely had his moments (holy shit “Eclipse”), and will be glad to point them out. Soan has a nicely jazzy twang to his drumming with some great fills and cymbal work. He’s far from a perfect drummer—don’t ask him to do anything technical, but his flavour suited Moran perfectly and Ivy danced around him with ease. Also notable among his repertoire is his piano skills for which he’s credited in Moran’s releases—I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the string/piano/other instrumentation arrangements were through Soan’s background as a classically trained musician. Moran’s more baroque leanings came in around the time Soan took the wheel, so I see it as no coincidence and attribute it to his taste. In case you live under a rock, Sizna is a guitar god, and he basically carried Moran through pretty miserable circumstances and may or may not have been the glue that kept Moran together toward their end, with dueling egos from Hitomi and Soan leading the band to implode. Sizna’s instrumental and compositional prowess led Moran through what would have basically made any other band disband, and he had the tracks to back it up. I think vivi basically followed his guitarlines, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Sizna wrote all the guitar parts himself, but vivi was an excellent rhythm guitarist. While the newer members were arguably weaker musicians, they breathed life into Moran and revitalized their sound—magic happens somehow somewhere—right? I want to talk about individual songs, but Moran released almost 30 tracks between 2013-2015, so that’s kinda impossible too. I will speak more about major themes across the releases, with particular attention to stand-out tracks and larger releases. Moran, while playing with a unique, multicoloured palate, did release music that could be understood as variations of a broader theme. The 2013-2015 era saw Moran release their best party songs (because IMO, the prior ones sucked). These tracks are characterized by upbeat tempos, cheeky and catchy, jangling, dueling guitar lines, heavy yet tasteful synthwork, and soaring vocal melodies. These songs are Moran’s most accessible, but far from tepid, generic pop songs—take the funky bass/drum solo break and ascending vocals in the bridge of “but Beautiful”; the wailing synths, bridge breakdown and verbose sing-along chorus of “Eclipse”; the start-stop-instrumentation and killer guitar solo of “L’oiseau bleu”. The 1 minute 30 exuberance of “Melancholia”, sugary sweetness of “Bulbs”, “Reverse”, “Break the silence” are also exemplars of their charismatic charm. Across these songs, traditional structures are subverted, pacing is played with, and the listener is taken on fuckin’ journeys through textured verses, dazzling choruses, and layered instrumentation. No one is close to touching Moran on these tracks, and they stand out as highlights in their discography. While these songs are Moran at their most polished, rough-and-tumble Moran is fun too. “Maybe Lucy in the Sky” is a rioting, gang-vocal mosh track meant to get the crowd jumping around, and “Esther” is a hella odd take on something between metalcore-kei and deadman, all ran through a lo-fi cassette playback---I’m not kidding. “Byouma” is also one of their darker tracks (not saying much, Moran are softies), marked by ominous synths, moody riffs, and a rap-sung chorus. It almost sounds like Moran doing Mejibray…in their own twisted way of course. I think what contributed to Moran’s longevity was their ability to stay true to themselves while still playing amongst basically everyone—oshare, abare, and art kei alike. They were chameleons within the visual circuit, and probably had a setlist for every occasion, reeling in curious fans of other bands with a range of styles and sounds. They weren’t outsiders playing to the same crowd at Ikeburkuro Chop every week, and they were able to spread their sound accordingly…the residual fame/notoriety from Fatima (and ikemen good looks/fanservice) likely helped as well. Next is the jazzy/bluesy/swing/calypso (yes) bangers, being fellow A-side singles “Benisashi” and “Daraku…” and “Hollowman”, which to me, always had a more jazzy flavour than the other upbeat bangers, but was too rock-ish to fit in among the jazzy tracks. Another nice crossover honorable mention is the band’s cover of SiD’s “Mousou Nikki”, which they infuse with extra urgency through tremolo picked riffs, complex lead fills and extra dramatic vocals from Hitomi. SiD’s early years were notable for jazzy leanings, and Moran’s cover picks up with even more jazzy touches with an extra quirky rock flavour—which fits the stalker fan concept of the lyrics. Of special note is the calypso flavoured interlude of “Hollowman”, which they took all the way in the romantic mid-tempo “Daraku”. Hitomi’s vocal line is delicate as the acoustic guitars and tempered percussion, with an energy that hearkens back to the more rock-but-pretty-acoustic “Ningen no ningen no ni yoru ningen no tame no koiji”. Moran, throughout their lineup changes and style fluctuations, were always conscious of their roots, and for them to revive that sound is a treat. “Benisashi” opens up with tight bluesy, melodic-yet-dissonant lead guitar work from no one but Sizna, leading into Hitomi’s crooning over the jazzy verse and bombastic chorus. I wish I had more words in my vocabulary to describe the nuances of their sound, but I’m not well versed enough in jazz/blues lingo. What I can say is that its fucking awesome, give it a listen. The jazz tracks on Jen:ga are by far the most balls-to-the-walls, with the elegantly restrained smoky cabaret opener of “Barairo no jigoku”, to the maddening swing-your-partner-by-the-arm jig of “Aru sakushi to no yuugiroku”. This is easily some of the jazziest/bluesiest music I’ve heard from a visual band—far from the shitty metalcore-swing transmutations of recent years. Moran also had a good repertoire of slower, dreamier tracks. Jen:ga outtake “Yakuchuu”, “Wing or Tail”, “Fuyuubyou” and Hollowman b-side “Fukamidori” compliment each other well in their delicate, romantic style and . Speaking of midtempo (and slowwww), Moran pulled out all their stops for the ‘ballade’ concept mini-album dark. They literally made my art kei dreams come true and dropped A WHOLE FUCKING MINI ALBUM’s worth of ballads. I will preface this by saying that I’m a ballad person—If you’re not *cough* like @saishuu *cough* then you better sit tight because I’ll try to fuckin convert you. There is nothing better than some sad fucking guitar chords layered over some slow, moving rhythms and subtly ornamental basslines and a beautiful comforting vocal line. Moran give me all that and more with dark. “Haru no yoru...” is the spiritual successor to my all-time fav Moran ballad “Snowing”; “Negai to uta” is a quasi post-rock, spoken word-y duet with female vocals complement Hitomi’s crooning; “Nozomenai to…” is driven by charging drums over weeping strings, bringing to life a heartwrenching narrative of lovers split by the sea shore. The whole album stands out for being a dazzling display of Moran's compositional prowess, with each song having its own taste despite the otherwise monotonous theme of balladry. "Fairy Tale" is a barebones acoustic track, "Ikou, Shirakami..." plays with dynamic shifts and swelling delayed guitars like Mono, while "The Hermit" is a shoegazy piece with a hard-ass breakdown toward the end. Moran's ballads are removed of visual cheese, with attention paid to maintaining a bitter sweet sound, in which they remain melancholic but not absorbed by melodramatic displays of emotion. If you've been shy to approach ballads because of the affective excess ever so present in visual kei, I'd urge you to give Moran a shot. You can’t talk about ballads without their goodbye single, “Yoake wo mae ni”, which places Hitomi as the proverbial prince in the fairy tale that was Moran. While he was going to close the chapter of Moran, he wanted to leave their fans with something to remember and his hand to hold on to. The PV reaches Malice Mizer drama heights, with the band members disappearing one-by-one as the song comes to an end, a-la "Au revoir" or "Le ciel" (an ironic touch, given Hitomi's entry into VK as a MM roadie). My favourite part is the end interlude where most of the instrumentation cuts out and Hitomi delivers an uncharacteristically dynamic vocal solo, which is even more goosebump-inducing in the footage for their last live (linked below!). As Hitomi delivers the vocal line, the audience belts it out with him, and you can clearly hear them holding back tears as they sing “I silently listened to your heartbeat; its very steady; in this way, I can share the loveliness of the night with you”. English translations (thank you translation blogger) don’t do it justice in the least; the verbs used in the Japanese version like “resonance” and the use of “beloved” with “night” sounds like Hitomi kissing his fans goodbye in his ever-romantic, poetic style. With that, Moran bid us farewell. Basically, the tensions between Hitomi and Soan probably drove the band crazy and they peaced out. I’m no expert on Moran’s member drama, but a glance at the band news threads on here should offer a healthy dose of visual tea. Hitomi and Soan are apparently good now, with Hitomi’s solo projects Ameyasame and Umiyuri having played with Soan’s solo project (Soan Project with Akuta; Temari) on occasion. Should Moran come back? Vivi’s hands are tied with DEZERT’s current fast-track to visual major fame, Ivy is juggling side projects with Yoru (Temari, ex-amber gris’s solo project) and Tenten’s Lack-Co. Sizna has mostly left visual outside of a Sugar one-night revival, and is now teaching guitar in his own business. The funniest part of it all is that Velo had a guest appearance on Umiyuri's debut EP and is currently playing with Ivy in Yoru. I’d like to think of this as no bad blood between the art-kei dudes. The talent that graced visual kei from 2013-2015 is still present in some form in the indies circuit, although no solo project has reached the heights of Moran’s fame; routinely selling out AREA, playing onemans at O-East and ending their career at a packed Zepp Tokyo. Oldheads on here will remember that amber gris died shortly after, and with the deaths of cocklobin and 9GOATS BLACK OUT in the near past, no major art kei band was left to carry the scene, the splintered solo projects and off-shoot bands haven’t been able to drive up interest like before. This may just be that the bands aged out of the super-touring style of SPEED-DISK bands—Hitomi and Soan were around 40 when Moran called it quits, and by then, most of their fans that followed them since Fatima were probably retiring as bangya. Luckily, the youngins behind Develop One’s Faculties have been able to carry the torch of Moran, reaching similar peak venues without members deeply rooted in art-kei like Moran. Yuya’s charismatic vocals, perplexing lyrics and intricate guitarlines certainly give him the starpower to take over Moran’s legacy while being different enough. I’d argue there are lots of parallels between current DoF and later day Moran, especially with DoF’s ability to be visual chameleons while staying true to their sound. The same can be said for Chanty, who have a distinctly indie-rock crossover flair and straddle the boundaries between j-indie and visual kei. Hell, Akuta, the vocalist of Chanty is also the star of the more rock-flavoured part of Soan Project. Belle has a slightly jazzy twang to them too, but they remind me more of classic Oshare than the former three bands. I can’t think of any other notable bands that followed in Moran’s wake, but I think as visual’s popularity continues declining—there will never be another Moran. I’m not entirely okay with that, but DoF and Chanty are doing god’s work. In the meanwhile, we can look back fondly at Moran’s later years, smiling, dancing, bopping and shedding tears with some of the best visual kei of the 2010s. I want to hear your opinions? Are you a holic? What are your fav Moran songs? Are you with me and think their best era was 2013-2015 or are you a diehard first lineup fan? Will art-kei live forever? Do you happen to hate Moran (YOU MONSTER!!) for some odd reason? Let me know! Ps thanks to @peffy for the lyrics and @The Moon for literally being a whole Moran street team in one person. xx emmny

Especially considering the foundations for most of these discussions/opinions. I mentioned in another thread that a lot of people's definitions of "shitty person" seem to be "bcuz rumourz".

OMG, ahaha!!! I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm far from a sage. I'm actually realizing how much of a bumbling fuckin' idiot I am (and have been) , and I'm just trying to figure shit out just like you. Any wisdom I may be able to share certainly does not come from me, but i'm grateful that I could at least serve as a vessel for it, so to speak. ohhhh. I see. Yeah, I definitely feel you on this. It seems to me like your heart/intentions are in one place, but your actions are conveying something else. Like, you're acting like you're in a relationship, yet a relationship with her isn't what you truly want...so yeah, that's bound to cause some confusion. Cuz you're sending two opposing signals at once. Honestly, and I might be seen as ultra-conservative, intense, or even crazy for thinking this way, but who cares..this is why I don't really see the function of arrangements that don't lead to anything permanent...like, otherwise it's just gonna be a waste of time and one or both parties are bound to get hurt in some way. But I also know that shit happens and we often find ourselves in unfavorable situations. I mean, it's not like we're all taught how to properly approach relationships growing up (hell, most of just do what we've seen from other ppl). If that were the case, professions like "relationship experts/coaches wouldn't exist So anyways, you've found yourself in a situation, and I think the best thing to do is to just be truthful and honest - but of course you want to do it in a tactful and considerate manner. This also just shows you that you have a heart, man. In a world where it's easy to be cold, callous, and inconsiderate - actually having a heart is a brave thing. It takes real strength. And ain't nothing beta about that! nah, you're good. You're on topic and this is what this thread is for! Random, but It's funny because you actually remind me of myself a bit. As bold as I may come off sometimes, I'm actually super agreeable too. I mean, I've learned to be more assertive over the years, but my default nature is definitely more on the passive side.

Outside of Tanuki, I'm pretty sure "LiveJournal" is a pretty solid blanket answer to the initial question 👀

Haha yeah! I've got a ton of weird and vivid dreams I keep in a dream journal. Been trying to lucid dream for years now to no avail.

1.) Do you feel that the Japanese culture views this imagery differently from how Occidental cultures do? The Japanese tend to look at stuff like this as cool, almost no one around these days in Japan knows much about the WWII Era, even to the point they're teaching children stories to pass down. 2.) Are you personally offended by it? When you're around long enough, experience enough and open your mind, nothing will offend you. I guess a short answer is no, I find it cool and amusing since I loved the original Mobile Suit Gundam growing up, Zeon and grew up watching a lot of the History channel pre-ancient aliens. 3.) Do you feel it is done to convey the same messages as 1930's and 40's political propaganda? Or is it more of an edgy thing that is much less frowned upon in that culture than it is for Western fans? Like I said, it's just something that they find cool. 4.) What's your opinions on using other WWII imagery, be it based on the Nazi party or not? Not much WWII imagery is as cool or as impactful as Nazi is, the Japanese and Russian outfits and such aren't that intriguing. I highly doubt that the Japanese care about Italy and Mussolini. Overall I find the Japanese love affair with European military culture amusing and fascinating just as I do when they dabble with European occultism and religiosity.

Black Rose - mid 2000s emo band ~*CuTie☆PaTooTie*~ - osare-kei Rotting Fetus Anal Prolapse Faggotron/Dykeatron And last but not least... ヴァジャイナ

Eh, I think a lot of people's definition of "shitty person" seems to be "well, I read something nasty about them someone else said so it's definitely true". Personally, I very rarely believe anything I don't see with my own eyes. Anyways, more on-topic, I second this: He was great in Malice Mizer, but he's since just gone really cringy. I mean... the guy admitted that he bought a frickin' mountain just so he could snowboard on it. Yeah, that's not shitty, but it's damn frivolous and just begs the question of why. That said, I think he does that in general.

Perform Empowering Nihilism In Suicide

@psychonnect_rozen no need to be soooo serious bro, especially in a such thread. Peace.

My ex and I spent some time on Tinder...together. Just shows how well we get on even after the relationship! XD I have 0 matches since yesterday. She got 4 in around 30 minutes tonight. I feel like a troll.