suji

https://mobile.twitter.com/HanielMaia

Plastic Tree - Mirai Iro (Yugioh 5Ds)
MERRY - Saihate no Parade (Over Drive)

thanks to everyone who submitted a vote for this year. This is the biggest turn out that we've had in YEARS and we couldn't have done it without you.

can't believe she got famous for hitting her mom

maybe…she…snappedT

soan project alone >>>>>>>>>>>> the entire indie vk scene ca. '17 - 18 no matter how much you loathe idol-kei™ tbh.
 
ninth is a much better album than 3* full releases before dogma (*four if you count traces)
 
anyway the thing I liked most about 2018 VK is that guy's family sounds fresh again if you take a 7 year break from listening to it, same with withering to death by deg.
 
dexcore were cute.
 
once 2019 releases start rolling in with old artists forming new bands it will get better.
 
tbh nothing ever compares to the 2006-2008 VK drought when a lot of promising indie acts were picked up by universal which averaged them to death and failed to find new audience for the mess that came out of it.

I agree with all the reasons mentioned above. The state of MH is affected by a multitude of factors. The state of filesharing, the state of the VK scene, the season, aging fanbase, and so on.
 
However, one thing I've noticed that has had a serious effect on our community over the years - and something that rarely gets mentioned - are the individual attitudes of our members. Now no community is perfect, but I've noticed that there's a subset of users here who seem to pride themselves on being "bitchy" and "petty", and seem to have set their hearts on being divisive - the kind of users that would rather talk shit about other users than discuss music with them.
 
Most probably don't think of themselves as part of a community here, but the fact is - we're a community because we all have a common unity - J-rock and Visual Kei. So when you have users injecting divisive elements like the ones I just mentioned, it becomes cancerous to the community as a whole. I've seen users here continually hold other users in contempt for shit they did YEARS ago. I've seen users start shit with other users for no reason. I've seen users intentionally set out to "burn" other users just to seem "cool". I've seen users intentionally stalk and harass other members. I've seen A LOT being staff here for over a decade.
 
Hell, even I've been thrown under the bus by certain members here - and if anyone knows me, I've always strived to be as understanding, agreeable, and diplomatic as possible - as a staff member, fellow fan, and friend. But regardless, there are people who are purely intent on being divisive - even when you approach them with good intents. But for what? Who does that help? Who does that serve? It definitely doesn't help the community at all. 
 
I can't tell you the amount of times people have come to me personally and explained how they want to participate here, but they're afraid of getting bitched at for having a different opinion, or attacked for any odd reason. Many people have left the community for these very reasons as well. I'm pretty sure some people get off on being an asshole or a "sassy bitch", but that shit ain't cool to people who just wanna come here to fellowship with other J-rock fans in peace. We all got lives outside of here (which are difficult enough as is), so the last thing any of us want to do is log on to see some GROWN-ASS ADULT with the maturity of an emotionally neglected 13 year old project their own misery on to others. That shit ain't it.
 
And yeah, lest anyone want to call me out as a hypocrite -  I READILY admit that I've played my part in the divisiveness and the nonsense in times past as well, and I take 110% responsibility for it. I'm not innocent either and I'll be THE FIRST to tell you that I ain't perfect. Far from it. But the point of this post is not to place blame on anyone or to call anyone out. It's simply to call awareness to the fact that we all contribute to the state of this community on an individual level as well. Our individual contributions have a resounding effect on the whole, like a ripple effect. As staff, we can enforce certain rules here. But we cannot dictate the attitudes of the members here. We can't dictate how you choose to interface with the community here. We cannot dictate the state of your heart. Nor would we want to do any of that.
 
I simply want to point out that the actions we take here, no matter how meaningless or miniscule they seem, DO have an effect. And based on those actions, the state of our community will either be tilted in a better direction or a worse direction. It's up to yall to decide.

Regarding MH, which is the only place I actually care and visit on a daily basis, I don't think that's true. I've seen the same 30~50 faces for the last I don't know, ten years, with newbies joining now and then. Sometimes oldies take a break, just to come back a few months later.
 
Also, most of us are kinda getting old, needing to spend more time with work/family/study and etc
 
Now if you meant the western vk culture in general yeah, I kinda agree. Rap is the new rock, and the most interesting musical innovations are happening there, besides all those problems @colorfuljinsei mentioned above.
 
But don't worry, as long as zeus wants, we'll have MH to bitch and complain about the shitty vk trend of the year

Well, lets look at it this way:
 
From a gaijin standpoint, Visual Kei is much harder to stumble upon now v. maybe a couple years ago. Most download aggregate sites are defunct or host dead links (unless you're on that aptly named slav social network "VK"). I only found this forum via UKJrockUpdater which is now just the news aggregator "J-rock News", and it took me two years of vk to actually realize that this forum existed. 
 
Combine that with how a majority of the current scene SPECIFICALLY caters to live attendees/night-life/host-culture. Most people aren't going to get host, bangya, or menhera culture, it's just going to look and seem really weird. VK has always been pretty exclusive, it just seems worse because there's now less of an incentive to cater to international fans. 
 
In the larger scope of things, rock, in general, is at a decline (albeit momentary.) Emo and scene culture is largely gone, which acted as a gateway to vk. Being xXedgyXx isn't cool anymore. (This could be expanded)
 
----
 
Yes, there is a post-new year slump, but I reckon active users have been on a slow decline for several years. Is it really that much of a surprise though? The same thing happens to most internet communities.
 
TL;DR: stating the obvious
 
*Forgot to include that this hobby is expensive b/c of nip cost-of-living and shipping. Also the multi-type CDs, live-limited CDs, etc. I've gotten burnt out before because vk is fucking expensive.

ayyyyye
 

 
 

Bigtwin Diner SHOVEL (or it's sister livehouse Bigtwin Diner Panhead Groove)

Thank you so much ^-^ And Merry Christmas to you, too!

merry gara

merry gara

thank you very much ! =D you're welome  

@suji its an ABSOLUTE masterpiece. And frieza catches some toppo ptsd lmao

my cheap ass will wait for a dvd release, thx
 
i can't wait to see this, i already think it's a masterpiece ;w;

It's a bad franchise hope it kills it x

Pretty much my reaction to all this. Since SEGA THEMSELVES brought up concerns about the face, I'm terrified about what Sonic (+ the rest of the gang) in the actual trailer is going to look like. 

I love how threatening "demon android is still here" sounds out of context omg

That's it. thick and agressive music
Their albums are slaying me hard

Swedish metal made me have faith in rock music again. 🤘🤘🤘

Or maybe go back to getting dirty magazines!! #MakePlayboyGreatAgain

i love you