shiroihana

Fine, I'll bite. Trans people are people, and as such, they have varied opinions on every subject.  I have two friends who have like... totally opposite opinion on the subject. And oh neither uses "zir" or "it" pronoun, just "he" .
 
One is indifferent to the music, but loves the clothing and variety it gives. He's a fashion maniac hah, and an ancient goth so guys in make-up and corsets isn't anything new to him... The visual kei amps up the production quality a lot. The other hates visual kei with passion, along with Japanese games and pop-culture in general, that is full of androgynous men. It makes him uncomfortable.
 

I understand that the situation might look a bit deformed from overseas and by looking at the internet medias, but visual kei has been dead for years in Japan already.
Now that many fans from overseas could visit Japan I thought it is common knowledge, but it is a fact that filling livehouses is becoming more and more painful especially for indie bands. Of course there are established bands with some following and  some exceptions, but most indie events have like what? 40 or 50 people in the crowd when they are lucky (and we are talking about events with like 6 to 10 bands performing). It's ridiculous that now bands who have a regular attendance of 15/20 people on events are considered fairly popular. Still it is cool how most bands can hide that by paying from their pockets and tave expensive photoshoots/music videos and release tons of material, but the truth is a bit different. 
 
People who have been in bigger bands before now do small live houses, and bands who are spending a lot of money on advertisement and media promotion are probably not even getting their money back. I was disappointed when Kamijo held his birthday live last summer, as he rented two venues, had a jazz orchestra and a choir play, invited a bunch of fairly popular musicians and band (including TV comedians), and even revived both Lareine and Versailles for one night, but the tickets were really far from selling out. An event of this scale would probably be full house 10 years ago. The Black Swan got featured on major TV shows because their drummer is raising a stray cat, and they are still getting little following.
 
Of course there will always be some sort of fanbase, but we are really far from that time when WHATEVER band, regardless of how bad or cheap looking they were they, could get a decent following with 0 promotion. Common sense norma (number of tickets a band has to sell at a multi-band event) in 2017 is 10 tickets or less, while it used to be 20-30 few years ago, and most gigs I have been seeing recently hardly had 5 people in the front row for each band. 
 
It feels like probably the visual kei core fanbase pretty much got a family/grew up/moved to something else and consequently the independent scene is slowly dying every year. Of course bands with bigger promotion and a decent management desk will still manage to keep going somehow.
And there is like huge following of male fans who buy the CDs but do not go the gigs. But their contribution to the scene is probably too small as most money comes from concerts and merchandise.
Japanese people already know visual kei, it has 0 shock value and conceptually connected to stuff that is like 30 years old like X Japan and so on. That makes it hard to get a younger generation of fans (and let's not forget about the negative exposure the scene got with people getting caught for sleeping with underage girls and so on). 

How did the vk boom of '09 affect you in your country?
 
A lot of people don't know about this but in 2009, Kagrra came to my country [Brazil] and did a complete gig in the city of São Paulo, this was my first time watching a Vrock band playing live, it was a cold night and the concert was outdoors. There are some unofficial footage if you search for "kagrra anime friends" on youtube.
Here is the setlist: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/kagrra/2009/mart-center-sao-paulo-brazil-13d745c1.html
 
I have no words to explain how good it was; What an amazing atmosphere, I don't know If I'll ever experience this again in my life because I still really care about this band even though they're gone forever.
 
About the scene:
 
It looks like the Neo Visual-Kei scene is still going strong in Japan but many bands sounds just like each other, not all of them, but most.
I'm sure everyone knows these websites, but I'm putting them here because I think that they are examples of how Vrock isn't dead in Japan.
http://www.club-zy.com/
http://www.visunavi.com/ 
 
Anyway, here in Brazil we have a band once in a while; Jupiter is coming to play here this year.

I definitely agree. It was just a thought that somehow it would generate interest.  vk's roots could even be traced back to kabuki performance (read that somewhere). 
At the end of the day it isn't a matter of looks or merch, the genre just needs a musical and creative revival if we have any chance of bringing new people to the darker side. Although I don't think it's a necessarily a bad thing if it stays small, some genres are just meant to stay that way.

As far as my knowledge on the topic goes, gender non-conformism in the aesthetics of Visual Kei is not necessarily from a social cause perspective though... I mean, they are not dressing like that for awareness and empathy with gender non-conforming people; the looks of Visual Kei started as disruptive and  provoking elements to shock a very conformist and rigid society and, as time went by it became just a form of artistic expression which can be exerted from many angles.
 
Being gender non-conforming isn't a ticket to liking Visual Kei. The interest in it is a matter of personal taste regardless of gender expression.

@Zeus Didn't D'espa come to NYC? I remember at the time you couldn't get into the venue unless you were 21+ and I turned 21 about 6 days after the show so I complained on their promoter's Facebook group lolol
 
 
Kind of just thinking aloud, but does it seem plausible that the decline in interest in vkei and Japanese things in general have to do with the general populace's expectation of someone who likes these things is?
 
I've noticed something similar in other communities, such as Tumblr as an example. There were rabid superwholock protohumans running amuck from 2012~2014 or so, then almost immediately stopped mid-2014. Like, cold turkey. People who liked that were associated with being annoying, overzealous, and probably change their pronouns as the seasons come and go, etc, which really deterred casuals from even trying any of that collective's interests for fear of being "like them."
 
When I saw Kamijo in 2015, most of the audience was what I would generally surmise an anime fan to be like--kinda greasy, lacks social grace, probably collects dragon statues, and will end up working at Gamestop till they're 40.
 
The way people are now more connected with each other means that more people have at least heard of anime or maybe doesn't quite know what that is, but knows of people who like "weird Japanese things" (quote from my sister). Social media today is absolutely nothing like it was in 2006 and it exposes people to a number of things they would not otherwise know about, but only enough to get a general idea of who might be interested in a subject and subsequently form an image of the kind of people who would enjoy it.
 
tl;dr people probably don't care as much in the west because they think it's for gross weebs
 
 
#IStuckWithIt
#MyExpensivePieceOfPaperSaysSo
#HontoniNihonJin
#waaKireinaUmi

As someone who has been here since the early days of Tainted World, I can only say that I agree that a lot of the decline seems to be due to a lack of exchange online. When my interest in VK sparked again a few months ago, MH was pretty much the only place I could go to, since the rest of the international community is way too spread. It's virtually impossible to have a proper discussion about recent stuff going on in the scene outside of MH, and as @Disposable said, message boards are more or less a thing of the past (although I feel like the atmosphere here is way less hostile by now, or maybe it's just me growing a thicker skin with age). There are some large facebook pages like the Visual Loner blog which are up to date and would theoretically allow people to exchange, but somehow most facebook users can't be bothered beyond "reacting" to a post or linking some names under it. I still feel that YT plays quite a large role in the decline of interest too, mainly because it was an easy way to discover new bands through the recommended or related videos. But since YT got crippled by all the copyright nonsense, it's hard use it the way people used it a few years ago.
 
As for bands who could fill the void girugamesh, D'espairsRay etc left, there really seems to be no band which I feel has what it takes (except for maybe Dadaroma, they have quite a big presence on YT compared to your average VK band and recently got a big boost through the Fine Bros video). It also seems like it's never new musicians who form the more appreciated bands, but always people that have been or used to be popular before, so there is rarely this feeling of novelty that bands like girugamesh had when they started out. Plus many bands feel very inconsistent or have too much output to really leave an expression.
 
Here in Germany, we still have a few concerts every year though and some of them seem to sell quite well - from what I've heard, Nocturnal Bloodlust's show was very crowded.

Having been around and about in the scene back in the day, having talking to people left, right and center: I have this feeling that most of those people didn't download a thing from blogspots and messageboards. In fact the people I introduced to visual kei blogspots were absolutely mind blown that such a places existed, because it wasn't common knowledge. The average people, ie. the paying public who actually did the needle moving in 2006-2009 made due with services ingrained in the culture at large at the time: winmx, limewire and the others, most importantly of all Youtube. It is staggering that there still exists a considerable segment of people who consume visual kei by Youtube or EU-editions only. This is anecdotal on my part obviously, but I'm confident that anyone who actively took part in the fad in Europe wouldn't outright disagree with the observation. One should never forget that most of the people are pretty dumb, and back in 2006-2009 not everyone was as internet savvy as today either. I legitimately think that those who actually were the monetarily contributing members of the swell in popularity hardly made themselves a presence on the messageboards, livejournals and etc. They just went to shows, bought EU-presses and lived out their bum lives in peace until kpop or adulthood came knocking. 
 
 
I think this is the biggest contributing factor to the divisions within the existing hardcore community. Message board culture isn't what it used to be in general ( In vk I think that lj -> tumblr migration is one cause of this. ain't no1 got time 2 write ), and a majority people prefer to spam pictures and communicate with a character limit.
A lot of folk aren't cut for that message board life either, and this place especially I can imagine freaks out A LOT of people. As far as message boards go MH has been the premier destination for a long time, but there are people even in my circle who don't like to read or post here due to the perceived "hostile" atmosphere ( well... they're not exactly wrong on that count). So those at least in the anglosphere prefer Twitter and Tumblr, which is where you definitely have to go these days if you want to make friends. 
 
What this sort of reminds me of is a group of activists spreading leaflets and their bi-monthly journals on the street and wondering why no one cares. They're not losing heart though, because back in the 60's their predecessors were a force, so naturally history should just be cyclical and one day we'll be back in the mix doing what we've always done! Organise those fucking SANA and Satsuki concerts until not even the bouncers show up: then blame the fans and the bands for being lazy and greedy. A good allegory is that there's no party without a base and there's no base without a party. It's a puzzle that we most likely will never be able to solve and in a good 30-50 years when rock music is completely irrelevant and faded under the wave of flying cars and synthesiser music, we'll be right there with 'm. Like @TheStoicsaid the winds of popular culture are so against us that it's an uphill struggle to gain any notice in the wider world, and in addition we as the underground fucked up on the organisational front to even grant ourselves the whatever few shows we did used to get annually. 

To me, the popularity of post-hardcore and screamo music with younger audiences also peaked in that same '09 time, which, stylistically, V-Kei shared sonic similarities with.  Not to mention American festival runs were featuring Japanese bands (like family values with Dir en grey, a Taste of Chaos with Mucc/D'espairsRay, etc.) to build the Japanese music exposure with artists that shared their sound with.
 
... but then came the EDM and Dance-pop wave that took the wind right out of the sails of rock popularity.  Now you have metal artists pushing more electronics into their sound to try to bridge that gap, and it is just not keeping people interested in the genre.
 
I think the decline of V-Kei has more to do with the decline of Rock in the face of dance-pop and EDM than it specifically does with just the niche of V-Kei.  I mean, you have people also jumping on the K-Pop bandwagon now more than ever, showcasing the popularity of embracing Dance-pop/EDM sonic sound that is "so hot right now" with the kidz of today.  Rock and metal festivals are also struggling in the U.S. to stay afloat, so it shows that right now, there is no money in promoting the genre.  As a result, less people are exposed to rock-oriented groups that typically would not seek them out, and you have decline.
 
Luckily the internet is alive and well and people have many resources to search for music; The responsibility is now on people like us to bring V-Kei, J-Rock, and guitar centered music to the younger group of impressionable listeners that are more interested in mumble-rap and EDM divas today.
 
Those are just my thoughts.  This is an interesting topic!

Even D'espairsRay took a huge financial loss on their MONSTERS tour in the USA. Like I said in my last post there were plenty of online fans begging D'espairsRay to come but not everyone could make it. I remember by the end they were begging people to buy a ticket. I would have...if they didn't play shows exclusively on the West Coast
 

So then what really matters is the red line and the blue line is extra? That falls in line with what everyone is saying; visual kei was a fad that died out overseas but more or less remained a constant force in Japan (however weak that may be). What's very interesting is how the interests seem to be converging between Japanese fans and overseas.
 
 
 
 
I also forgot to mention one pivotal event around the start of 2010 2012 that was a real kick in the ass for visual kei. The death of MegaUpload took out so many archived files it wasn't funny. There's still some stuff you can't find today! Byouto went offline. The lossless website Gakuon had to move to P2P exclusively. Private servers got even more private. The files being seized were one thing; the paranoia that came after hasn't really gone away. @CAT5 has plenty of stories from the indie side.

I've been listening for 10 years I'm still not convinced I ever saw it alive..

Pretty much this, and even earlier than that. This goes for any media type.
Back in the early 00's, P2P file sharing/online pirating sites were free from the laws that had yet to destroy, or corrupt it.
I remember finding music at the drop of a hat, and although they were low quality, they were at least there.
There was minimal fear of viruses, but they were still there. They just weren't as potent as today.
I feel most of us from those times learned how the internet worked, and discovered the scene at some point from our exposure to Anime or Video Games.
 
Good luck finding anything without some sort of malware, viruses, or even a root kit on the web. People just wont take the risk like before, on top of when the laws here in the USA in particular find ways to make sure you get fined.
 
If you run a Google trends for Anime, you may see a similar decline.
It all boils down to lack of resources and marketing/exposure. In fact, Japan's influence in general is slowly declining here in the USA, but I wont go into details there.
 
Truly, the enthusiasts are the ones keeping the scene alive. How long? Idk.
 
Also, as @Zeus had mentioned, people who really weren't interested in the scene, will just give up entirely if the source is cut off.
(Which is funny because I didn't hear about TW, Batsu, or MH back then)
 

There's a few things I want to point out while the topic is still young.
 
This is only reliable to gauge foreigner interest in visual kei. I do not know if Japanese fans of visual kei use Google, a different type of search engine, or if they avoid the process altogether and share privately. We have to combine this data with some other sources of data for more info. But this is a great start. The focus is on March 2009 but the rate of decrease is at its highest in 2010 roughly a year later. Then it peters out. What gives? Well, that's when Tainted World died off and we had to navigate to our ZetaBoards replacement. We used it until the end of 2010-2011 when we are able to get some real hardware and hosting providers (before we were running on total crap and the forum could barely stay up...oldies remember that). In that time I imagine a lot of people's interest died off since they couldn't get free music anymore. Tour managers shitting the bed bringing visual kei to the masses; fans shitting the bed asking for bands to come and then not going to the concerts. The sound changing. 2009 is where I'd peg the overall direction of visual kei to change to what it is today. I can't describe it aurally but we all know VK in 2016 isn't the same as VK in 2006. I think this lost a lot of people too when their favorite bands disbanded and there was no one to fill the void.

I'm surprised that 2009 was the peak. It was already around that time I was complainin' how there's no good shows to attend lol. With that said, those shows that we did have sold very well and a few bands could even venture to have gigs in the second largest city of the country as well. 
I reckon the pop culture peak of visual kei in Finland was in 2007-2008 when the odd few bands made the telly and got gifted some magazine space. Shows were packed, the fashion was wild, no koreans gnawing in on the real estate, events that were associated with visual kei could actually be held at relatively low risk.
 
 
What's up for debate though, is how the new fanbase of the peak years wasn't able to recover from the crucial wave of hiatus', disbandments and stylistic changes that the most popular bands went through around the turn of the 2010's. Everyone should recall how often one heard people lamenting on the state of the scene with ambiguous claims of a lack of X, Y and Z, setting the scene for the gradual petering out either to the clutches of the koreans or just general normalcy. This is the way of the flesh for a fad certainly, and nobody is able to sustain creative output nor popularity for an extended period of time, but that's not all that there is to it. I suppose among great many other things, it's not unjust to consider public merely as fickle if their visual kei habit was dependent on the existence of Dio and Unsraw. Visual kei on the internet had good enough infrastructure to allow these people to discover new and old bands with relative ease, but one should still never underestimate the stupidity and the incapability of the rank and file to utilize such tools perfectly well in their disposal. There are still people who'll waltz into a conversation, feigning willful ignorance, saying "OH THESE BANDS OF TODAY AREN'T LIKE THE GIRUGAMESH OF YORE. SO WHAT HAPPENED WITH THAT VISUAL KEI?". This means that relative interest is there; they haven't forgotten about it, so what gives? 
 
A certain contributing factor that I don't think gets brought up enough is the bush league organising and the sheer ineptitude of the promoters. The fad really blew its wad during the two years it was at its peak, and it wasn't sustainable. Absurdly dumb, dead certainly set for failure, shows got booked even as late as 2015: and anyone with a lick of sense ought to know that in the long term a no-show is always better than a small-shit show. When you're flopping the proper course of action is never to keep on flopping until you can flop no more, but to change the approach. Rest assured a lot of money and contacts have been squandered by idiots already one foot out the door. Unsraw's European tour is a classic example, and Merry's a more recent one. If you're not able to project that there's no demand, and that by booking this there'll be no demand in the future, then you're simply not helping.  
 
The networking on the local level wasn't great and at its worst there were even open divisions between the fanbase of privileged rich blogger cunts and those who took the train to shows from their shit provincial towns who could barely afford the mcdonald's and second hand converse ( I confess my dislike of the former, but I'm not merely projecting it. I heard many other people voice it also, completely unprovoked by yours truly. ) When enough shows and events are abjectly booked to fail with a lack of camaraderie to match, the rot is aggravated to spread into the brain, and eventually even the life support in form of a Gazette european tour won't do you no good. Their 2016 show in Helsinki did not sell out. That's equal to the sky falling out in visual kei terms.
 
A curious example of grassroots level organising seemingly done correct: take a look at the pictures of SANA's recent solo tour from from the backarse of eastern europe. Going through all those pictures you'll notice that while the central and western European crowds are only a handful at best, the Russian and Ukrainian shows pull a kind of a crowd that man of SANA's stature has no right of pulling. I'm terribly interested to find out how they've managed to do this. The only reason I can manage to come up with by speculation alone is that the fans of "Japanese stuff" are so organised, if not rabid, that when something is organised, enough effort is done that it'll pull enough solidarity to maintain the scene's health. I swear to God one of those Sana crowds has equal heads to what EAT YOU ALIVE or heidi had here in the past three years. It can't be that there's more fans of this shit there than in here just by sheer chance, luck and coincidence. 

How did the vk boom of '09 affect you in your country?
 
A lot of the emo/scene-kids in Sweden started liking vk. Mainly Dir en grey, Girugamesh and Mucc. They moved on to the next "cool thing" when the fad was over (new metal/death-core bands or kpop). Some people are still interested in the scene, but it's mainly fans who's into the scene for a long time. One would think YOHIO and his gang would spark up the interest but he fails to promote any Japanese bands whatsoever and instead completely focuses on the swed-kei scene. 
 
What could've been done differently?
 
We had a company called Newnippon. They brought most of the bands over here. They could've been more professional and maybe some bands would still like to work with them. Since the interest is little to none nowadays I think it's basically over though. In general I think the VK-bands could've promoted themselves better as well (like K-pop bands) but I guess in the end VK is an underground-scene and therefore won't attract as much fans as the K-pop scene eitherway. A lot of the "vk fans" were also just in it for "cute japanese boyz" and I guess they figured cute korean boys works just as well.

Well, I got into VK in like 99. I'd say the 09 boom was definitely a high point because you could find almost anything on a multitude of sites though granted the quality wasn't as good as it is today. (128bitrate all over). It was a fun ride, and the ride keeps going. WE are here and we like visual kei. As long as the core group remains it shall never die in America.  It's our job to bring it to those who are interested, and that doesn't just go for visual kei but Japanese music in general. Even otonomai/yorukaze/younmai is gone now, besides shitty blogs holding the last remnants of years gone by, this is the core site.
 
#RideOrDieTogether

Noticed something interesting when I was exploring worldwide trends for the search term "visual kei" on google - that tiny spike earlier this year just happened to be when youtubers react to visual kei came out:

 
So visual kei is dead. And at the rate it is going now, will be even dead-er; A scene stagnating on the same looks and sounds, rarely venturing out musically if at all. But it wasn't always that way. Although it would be  appropriate to refer to the 90s golden era of vk to remind us of how opulent the scene once was, I want to bring back memories of 2009.
 
In October 2008, Kerrang ran a feature on jrock, publishing an article predicting jrock to go big in Europe in 2009.
And sure enough, google trends highlighted the correlation clearly, confirming that the search terms "j-rock" and "visual kei" did indeed peak between January and March 2009.
 
However, following vk's brief global success was a period of near-exponential decline - to what we see now as the lowest point of popularity vk has ever experienced in a 12 year time-span. Even that spike in August wasn't enough to break above 2004's lowest point.
 
Personally, I'd been a passive fan of visual kei for many years prior to 2009, but it wasn't until 2009 that I became fully engaged. One prominent catalyst was Japanese blogging platform Ameba launching its virtual community ‘Pigg’ that year, becoming a game changer in the way fans and bands could interact. Popular musicians were also given accounts powered by ameba, a la twitter's verified personalities.
 
I remember 2009 as a year that several vk bands were going major and gaining international recognition. It was no surprise that vk reached its global height by being much more accessible through social media and other digital channels. This momentum seemed to be gaining quickly until 2010 brought a sharp turn of unfortunate events within the scene and the emergence of kpop poached a large part of the international vk audience.
 
However, the situation in Japan is a bit different, as vk has been pretty steady since it had already declined by the turn of the century. The search term "ヴィジュアル系" on google trends says as much.
 
A few years ago, major labels published all those visual kei cover albums probably in an attempt to raise the relevance of visual kei, but the hype had pretty much died by then. The drought of talent and variety meant that each band was no better than the other, and was enough for many people to lose interest. Stricter piracy laws also meant that music had become less accessible, with people being reluctant to pay the exorbitant prices of some CDs. Not to mention the discontinuation of many vk magazines as an indication of the scene's current degradation. Marketing and business models that worked in the 90s and early 00s struggle to find significance in the present day, yet management has not evolved to adapt to current trends (or have done so poorly).
 
Now that the last of the influential underground vk labels is defunct, vk doesn't have the backing and budget as it once did. X Japan and Luna Sea are like the only lifeline left for vk - there can't even be a vk festival without either X Japan or Luna Sea in the lineup.
 
I remember reading an interview where Yohio mentioned that he kinda killed western interest in vk, but I don't particularly attribute that to those western vk acts damaging the reputation of this uniquely japanese scene. Bands such as D'espairsRay, girugamesh, the Underneath, Rentrer en Soi, Dio, UnsraW and Black:List etc who laid the groundwork for vk to make its mark in the west are no longer around. I'm surprised lynch. didn't carry the torch.
 
I don't want this thread to sound too much like #resurrectvk, but instead I want ignite a discussion (and maybe create a dialog) - how did the vk boom of '09 affect you in your country, what could've been done differently, or the best things to come out of  that little modern renaissance of vk history.
 
 

Yeah I'm a man. Many people here know who I am but have never seen a full face photo of me so yeah.
 
 

Yeah I'm a man. Many people here know who I am but have never seen a full face photo of me so yeah.
 
 

This incident was just absolutely revolting.  I've been seeing/hearing the whole "black ppl can't be racist" rhetoric around for years now (both on and offline) and as much as I understand and empathize with the pain and strife of living as a black person, I think this is an INCREDIBLY heinous notion that would be better off eradicated from the collective conscious. It's an idea that's yet to do any good for black people, or society as a whole - just like our vehement grip on "the N word" - where we've employed equally ridiculous double standards (but I guess that's another can of worms). I think this event serves as very unfortunate evidence that blacks can, indeed, be racist and hateful. 
 
I have no idea where this country is headed, but I can only hope that people wake up, start thinking for themselves, and stop subscribing to all of these extraordinarily divisive ideologies. I understand perfectly well how easy it is to get sucked up into the emotional aspects of everything, but I think it's important that we all try to remain grounded and suitably objective in these cases. I think we also have to stop allowing the media to rouse us into these states of utter chaos and letting them control the narrative - especially when the common good and the well-being of the people are not on their agenda. Seriously, I mean...the amount of hate that erupted when Trump won the presidency was staggering. Most of my friends on the left became as hateful and intolerant as the same people on the right that they were opposed to.  But I digress.
 
When it comes to race relations, we REALLY need to have some open and honest talks about it as a collective - free from political correctness, and free from everyone jumping at "racist" shadows. I do think there are racial differences, but it's become racist in and of itself to even mention or acknowledge these differences. It reminds me of when I posted a profile pic with my afro out on FB - a white woman commented saying that she'd like to touch my hair, and a black woman quickly chimed in with, "that's racist".  See...this type of shit can't happen. I'm a black male - my hair is super thick, and extremely curly - it's a completely different grade and texture than that of your average white woman's hair. How could I fault her for being curious about how it feels? That doesn't make her racist at all. Hell,  even if we were in person and she touched my hair without permission, that wouldn't be racist either - it would just be incredibly rude lol.
 
We can't keep shutting down the conversation before there's even any dialogue. And this doesn't just go for black people, or white people, or leftists,  or conservatives - this goes for everyone. There has to be some REAL effort in this country made for people to open up and truly try to understand each other, but as of now, I know a push like this will neither come from the government nor the media - there are too many people profiting off of the chaos, and too many people have careers depending on these divisive narratives.
 

bought myself some good shit and it ain't even my birthday yet lmao :333333

Another day, another round of goodies for my li'l babbies. We have added a bunch of cool stuff which can be checked out below or at the Newly Added Items page. We'll also be finalizing the schedule for the February livestream soon, so keep an eye out for that!
 
CDs
RONDE - Cinemascope  $4
ゲノ(Geno) - 零式～さくらさくら～  $8
LADY - 無我  $5  *Unopened*  Limited to 2000 copies
PIERROT - パンドラの匣  $8  Second full-album, first CD with KIRITO as vocalist
Syndrome - 兎と羊  $4  Live-distributed single limited to 5000 copies
pleur - La premiré porte (Single)  $5
コドモドラゴン(Codomo Dragon) - WARUAGAKI(Type B)  $5  Comes with multi-angle PV DVD
Romance For～ - Memories  $4
SEEK OF LIBERTY - Etoile  $8  Live-distributed single. *previous band of FoLLoW's vocalist and Smileberry's drummer*
ALSDEAD - Distrust  $13
 
On a closing note, if anyone happens to be in the New Mexico area(or wants to travel!) RarezHut will officially have its very first vendor booth at Sabaku Con 2017! So if you happen to be around, come check us out~

This does indeed tickle my fancy

***The RarezHut store is temporarily on hiatus until January. We are busy creating a snazzy new site with many new exciting features. Make sure to follow this thread, as well as our Facebook and twitter for updates and events!***
 
 
Monochrome Heaven discount: Enter MH05 at store checkout to receive 5% off your order!
 

 
I'd like to present to you all: RarezHut!
We are the largest internationally-based store for used Japanese Rock and visual kei music. We have been working hard to deliver a store to meet the needs of the international visual kei and Jrock community, offering a wide selection of products at a very low prices.  We've got a total inventory of well over 2000 items, each of which includes a listenable/watchable sample, and will be working hard over the coming months to deliver timely updates with as many items as we can stuff in there. Currently available are a multitude of CDs, DVDs, VHS, and cassette tapes spanning well over 200 bands.
 
http://www.rarezhut.net/
 

"Fuzzy search" system:
When you search for a band, it'll pull up any other items available by bands with members from the band you searched for in addition.
Listenable/watchable samples for every item to give you a little idea of what to look forward to.
 
Newsletter:
If you create an account, you can opt-in for our (mostly) bi-weekly newsletter which details all of the newest additions and will be sent out the moment they're added to the site, allowing you to get first dibs on any new goodies! Remember: once they're gone, they're gone for good~
 
Digital copies:
Along with any cassette/VHS purchases, we offer high-quality digital copies made with professional-grade equipment free-of-charge. We realize that not everyone has the means to play these aging formats, but we aim not to let that get in the way of you being able to enjoy them! In an effort to make sure that buying goes smoothly, all items added will have the digital copies ready before addition so that packages can be shipped out on the next business day.
 
 
 
We decided start a new program last year, namely livestreaming auctions.  We unbox giant orders we've had shipped in from Japan, and let people bid on the rarest of the rarez using our automated bidding system.
 
With few exceptions, our livestreams are Saturday and Sunday on the 2nd and 3rd weekends of every other month. (January, March, etc)  Concerned about shipping costs?  We’ll hold your items from the first weekend, combine them with those from the second weekend, and ship everything out together.  
 
Invoices will be sent out after each weekend, and payment via PayPal is due within 3 days of the invoice.  Pay for the item only after the 1st weekend, then the 2nd weekend’s invoice will contain a shipping quote as well.  Orders are shipped off within 3 days of the last day of streaming provided payment has been received.
 
 

We have the greatest customers in the world, and we want to continue to give back. For every $200 we sell during the livestreams, we will raffle off a free CD. Simply be in the chat when the milestone is reached, and you’ll automatically be entered. (There will be a meter visible that shows how close to the next giveaway we are.)
  
All streams are located at www.rarezhut.net/stream
 
 
    
If you've got any questions/comments/feedback, feel free to ask.  Click on the images to visit us on our social media and like/subscribe/follow us for the latest news, events, and exclusive giveaways!
 
 Our main hub for events 
 
 Including unboxings, band retrospectives, album reviews, and more.
 Gain a look into the day-to-day at RarezHut HQ
 Get an inside glimpse at the wonders that await
 And we're tumblin', tumblin', tumblin'
 
  Send us an email
 
 
***Interested in free VK, have decent video skills, and are creative?  We’re looking for contributors to make videos for our YouTube channel!  What kind of videos?  You can do anything you want as long as they are informative, reasonably entertaining, have decent production quality, and are at least tangentially-related to visual kei/jrock/Japan/etc.  Message Valicious for more details***

Yeah I'm a man. Many people here know who I am but have never seen a full face photo of me so yeah.