sakuran

Oh no, he fell prey to that dull today's look.
The preview... not long enough to have a better idea what's going on.
Can't summon KISAKI anymore...
 

Isn't that capitalization just to show that those parts are in katakana instead of hiragana? It's a bit weird-looking in this case since it's only small parts of the title, but a lot of people romanize things like that.

To be fair, I don't think FORUM has an official website or Twitter. They do have an official Youtube channel tho (and weirdly enough a Google Plus profile with two updates, btw the profile points to the official MEJIBRAY website as the label's "official site" lol).

Something about it does seem strange and unexpected (maybe "expected" if you consider the fact that they didn't make any big release announcements at their tour final, but that's not what I mean). Granted the last time I saw them live was over a year ago, but at the time they seemed to have a solid following and it didn't seem like they were hurting for fans at their lives. If anything, the big tour should have drawn in even more people, so unless there was some conflict among band members (which also seems strange, given that 4/5 of them have been together without problem since JyuLie), I'm not sure what else to blame except for a sudden and unexpected drop in popularity, or maybe some sort of issues with Yukika's management. Or maybe the tour wasn't as big of a success as he envisioned and he's decided to ditch them.

We are proud to announce the beginning of our Live Ticket Service!‬
 
‪-How it will work-‬
‪* Contact us at [email protected] no later than a month prior to your departure to Japan.‬
‪* We will then discuss the booking and calculate the costs for your ticket. This includes the ticket itself along with postage and any transfer or 3rd party service fees.
‪* We request that payment is made via PayPal. Once the payment is received we will purchase and mail the tickets to your provided address.
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‪This is a non-profit service from V Star Promotion as a way to give back to and further build the international community of Visual Kei fans!‬
Please note that for now, this service is currently in an early testing phase.‬
 
‪-Disclaimers-‬
‪* The ticket booking service is subject to ticket availability.
‪* We highly recommend you contact us for the booking as early as possible, as we will not take orders with less than a month remaining to your departure date.
‪* Reservations are 100% non-refundable after the payment has been transferred‬.
‪* V Star Promotion takes no responsibility in the unfortunate event that your ticket cannot be used due to circumstances beyond our control, such as a live cancellation or the ticket being held up or lost in postage systems.
‪* Ticket entry numbers are random and beyond our control.

#tbt to when people hated this band cuz of the vocalist 

I saw the flurry of ameblo e-mails in my Inbox and thought it would be something exciting... this isn't the kind of news I wanted with new releases.
 
It had to happen someday, but I didn't think it would happen so soon.

Something about it does seem strange and unexpected (maybe "expected" if you consider the fact that they didn't make any big release announcements at their tour final, but that's not what I mean). Granted the last time I saw them live was over a year ago, but at the time they seemed to have a solid following and it didn't seem like they were hurting for fans at their lives. If anything, the big tour should have drawn in even more people, so unless there was some conflict among band members (which also seems strange, given that 4/5 of them have been together without problem since JyuLie), I'm not sure what else to blame except for a sudden and unexpected drop in popularity, or maybe some sort of issues with Yukika's management. Or maybe the tour wasn't as big of a success as he envisioned and he's decided to ditch them.

actually the new tracks are 1,2,5,10,11,12
so sad i really enjoyed them
why, damn and so many boring bands that are becoming the new stars meh

You can only see tzk's back because they can't show that he's crying

kisaki stans stand up...this is YOUR fav

When I opened this post about an hour ago, I expected a kettle of piping hot tea on Kisaki's recurring financial tomfoolery and musical misadventures. I was proven otherwise.
 
If the allegations are proven to be true (with this much evidence and photographs, how could it not), there is no chance of redemption for this absolute scumbag of a person.

P.S.
 
I wonder if the recent cancellation of the upcoming Phantasmagoria compilation album was Kisaki's way of funding himself to hire a reputable defense attorney in case any information surfaces on the internet.

Kisaki's drama was all fun when it was only some tax fraud and stolen pictures, now it's just too serious.
If these allegations are true I will never support him again, ever

(Thank you to @ricchubunny for posting about this in a status, which led to @Chi linking it to me!)
 
An account on Twitter, @KISAKI54175241, has begun to make some fairly serious claims against Kisaki, so here we are in the rumors section yet again. At the time of this posting the account has 66 tweets and multiple images. I saved an archive of the page at it is at this moment in case anything happens to it, so please let me know and I will post that somewhere.

Disclaimer: What follows is a translation of allegations made by twitter user KISAKI54175241. I neither endorse nor deny any of the claims made below, and I made a conscious effort to avoid sensationalizing anything in my translations... If you have any questions or feedback in that regard please let me know.

More importantly some of the content below is disturbing. There are mentions of domestic violence and child sexual abuse. Please read at your own discretion or skip to the summary below if you would like to know what happened without getting into explicit detail.

KISAKI54175241's posts (oldest to newest, although sometimes self-retweets that reordered her twitter timeline will cause discrepancies)
 
The translation as the account stands at 2:28 PM -6:00 GMT is complete.

This picture provided by @colorfuljinsei (originally from Kisaki's official twitter?) can serve as a tattoo placement/design reference if you would like to do any comparisons.


In summary, Kisaki has been accused of:
-Inappropriate sexual contact with a young child
-Domestic violence
-Being a habitual benzo seeker/user
-Being suicidal and using this as a manipulation tactic
-Astroturfing tanuki, working to have critical articles and twitters suspended
Allegedly, these matters have been brought to police.

Don't forget there's a dir en grey artist thread for all your song discussion needs. 

I moved back to Tokyo on December 31, 2018 and started offering shopping service for everyone, rather than just my friends, for small fees.
I've been to 37 lives in Tokyo in 2019, so I know how things work.
 
‼️I'm focused on getting merch from lives, cd/dvd releases (from stores) and tickets.
I won't accept small orders from online stores anymore. I've done it a few times and the tiny service fee I'd have to ask for it wouldn't cover the time/materials I'd have to put into it‼️
 
General service fee is 20% of the item.
+ shipping fee and packaging (if a box is needed).
 
⚠️I'm not active enough to reply fast here, so PM's on Facebook preferred⚠️
Follow my Facebook group for updates: Paradox VK Shopping Service✨
I'm the only person posting in this group, so it's easy to find me ⬆️
 
Upcoming lives:
 
✅= confirmed ❓= not sure yet
 
2/21 → SARIGIA: Asuka birthday oneman🎉✅✅✅
 
3/7 → SARIGIA／MAMIRETA／Hueye／RAKUGAKI／自我-ジガ-(Jiga)／エンヴィル(ENVYL)／CRISIS✅✅✅
 
3/7 → DEZERT／アルルカン(arlequin)／キズ(kizu)✅✅✅

3/12 → MUCC／Nothing's Carved In Stone✅✅✅
 
3/15 → gulu gulu／ザアザア(xaa xaa)／極東ロマンス(kyokutou romance)／Chanty／-真天地開闢集団-ジグザグ(zigzag)／マザー(mother)／O.Aモンストロ(monstllow)✅✅✅
 
3/19 → 仮病(kebyo)／蟻(ari)／アンドゥー(undeux)／マチルダ(mathilda)❓❓❓
 
3/20 → SARIGIA／鴉-カラス-(karasu) ex.DAMY's vocalist's solo project／ヴィルシーナ(verxina)／XANVALA／ヴァージュ(virge)／Scarlet Valse／nurié✅✅✅
 
3/28 → DEVILOOF: women only oneman✅✅✅
 
4/2 → SARIGIA／仮病(kebyo)／XANVALA／モンストロ(monstllow)／Awake／CHIC BOY／DAMILA／AMONOVA／MOB／CRISIS／GoodbyeMyFriends／Chain×maiL／Avilis／アクメ(acme /guest)／(O.A)VOLPE❓❓❓
 
4/26 → SARIGIA／鴉-カラス-(karasu)／CHOKE／ヒッチコック(hitchcock)／UNDER FALL JUSTICE／DAMILA／BRAY KiD BRAKE iT❓❓❓
 
5/9 → DIMLIM: oneman❓❓❓
 
5/10 → マザー(MOTHER): first oneman❓❓❓
 
5/18 → SARIGIA／鴉-カラス-(karasu)／XANVALA／UNDER FALL JUSTICE／BRAY KiD BRAKE iT／DAMILA❓❓❓
 
5/25 → SARIGIA／仮病(kebyo)❓❓❓
 
6/5 → SARIGIA／ジグソウ(jigsaw)❓❓❓
 
6/20 → DEVILOOF／JILUKA／NAZARE／DEXCORE／Cazqui’s Brutal Orchestra／Victim of Deception❓❓❓
 
7/7 → SARIGIA／マチルダ(mathilda)❓❓❓
 
7/12 → DEVILOOF／JILUKA／NAZARE／DEXCORE／Cazqui’s Brutal Orchestra／Victim of Deception❓❓❓
 
7/26 → SARIGIA: oneman❓❓❓
 
 

He looks great. Why does he need to chang his fashion style?
If anything today's VK is the least interesting when it comes to aesthetics.

• I met DIAURA during the REBORN tour, and I just fell in love. (5 long years since then. oh God! )
The first song I listened to was Lost November (Like most people) and I did not like much at first.
But I liked the voice of yo-ka so much that I looked for other songs.
 
• The second song was Beautiful Creature and it was the BOOM that I needed to fall in love. .
Tatsuya was still support of the band and I followed his definitive entrance in the band, like SIRIUS / Lily single.
Lily by the way, it immediately became my favorite song of them. There's no way I do not like it. Unfortunately he stayed out of FOCUS.

 
• Speaking of FOCUS, it's my favorite album of theirs. It just seems like they shaped that album and threw in our face.
 
• Diaura eventually became one of my favorite bands. They have a very different sound from other recent bands.
Reminds me of good Old VK bands. (Like Laputa, whom I came to know because of them.)

• With that I do not have much to complain about.
I have some original items from them, I was starting the collection but I stopped for an indefinite time.
The big problem with DIAURA is that as a relatively large band, they release many songs in limited editions or exclusively for fan club.
I get pissed off with this.

 
•  I know the focus is the Japanese fans, but that ends with me. If only they would release those songs in compilations after a while, but ...
 
•  And well, I do not see a problem on the covers of VERSUS. They are not the best, but also not bad.
Even more if compare with releases from other bands around ...

Summing up: Diaura is a great band with incredible songs and musicians.
May they always continue to do this beautiful work and that "hide san" protects them from the disband. amen.

By the way if anyone's interested in their lyrics, I've been transcribing and romanizing them and adding them to my blog.
https://medienavirge-archives.blogspot.com/
Just thought I could probably share this here ^^''
((there's also all mediena lyrics there in case anyone's interested in those))

11th if you consider the originals recorded by Laputa

This is literally what I thought, lol.

In my opinion, there even being a divide between "international" and "local" fans is the root of an entirely different problem. Fans are fans, no matter where they may live, and we live in a time where the world is becoming increasingly interconnected. There's a distinction in my mind between a local artist who has their music internationally available (example: a rapper promoting his first mix tape on sound cloud) and an international artist only promoting their music locally (example: fan-club limited CD's a la cali≠gari). Even if a local artist has to rely on word of mouth to have their music spread to new ears, having it available on a venue such as Bandcamp or Spotify doesn't actually cost them anything to attract new listeners. They upload it once, the big man upstairs takes his cut, and whatever funds come your way through those sources are yours. And think about how many of these artists go viral and actually become mildly or wildly successful because their music was easy to access. This is in contrast to only promoting music locally, which doesn't necessarily take less money to produce, and is purposefully reaching a smaller audience. Sometimes, bands even go out of their way to make it difficult for non-Japanese people to engage with them, like when record labels purposefully prohibit selling releases overseas through second hand shops even though they aren't footing the shipping bill, or when the label uploads a PV to their official channel and then region-locks it to Japan so that we have to use VPNs to watch a music video on an international platform. Stick some fucking ads before the video and make some free money god damn it.

Here's an excerpt from Bandcamp's pricing page where the explain how they run their business.
Now I don't suggest this in lieu of signing a record deal, because a deal also comes with other benefits such as free promotion, practice space, and studio time. But for a lot of starting, independent visual kei bands that don't have a lot of funds, this is the more ideal way to go. We don't even know how well this approach would work because no band has ever tried it. I listen to both the underground metal scene as well as the doujin scene from Japan, and both scenes run their affairs completely differently, and both manage to promote their music and ship internationally way more efficiently than visual kei bands. The way the visual kei scene runs its affairs in 2018 is almost identical to the way they did it in 2008. It's been ten years and not much has changed, and the underlying attitudes pervading the scene are even earlier than that. The world is changing, and bands must prepare and adapt.

You are entirely correct in that most of us would never buy a release. I am guilty of this too, no doubt. Many record companies realize this, and that's why they are transitioning to streaming services. Japan needs to catch up. I don't even like streaming services, and I still prefer to download and hoard all my music, but I recognize the appeal and utility in what they offer. Complaining about being on the brink of disbandment while spending large amounts of money on make-up, outfits, and photo shoots means concessions have to be made somewhere, and if the way that music is distributed has to change then so be it. Visual kei needs to become more consumer friendly, no matter where that consumer may live.
 
I should make an addendum to my earlier post and clarify that live-distributed releases don't bother me if they function as a preview. If whatever music or DVD or merch sold at a live is eventually included in a store-purchasable fashion, then I'm fine with waiting. I'd have to wait anyway, and at least the luck portion is removed from the equation. Extract your profits up front, and then sell it to the masses later. If pumping out CDs stresses the budget that much, take orders and only sell as many CDs as was ordered so no band ends up with hundreds of unsold releases. Hell, do what Kisaki did and distribute any remaining CDs through auctions online under anonymous accounts at a later date so all the money goes back to the band anyway. But only selling things at lives sucks for everyone who couldn't go, international fan or not, and you don't make as much money as you could have if you just sold it both ways.
 
This is a ... weird approach to take, but I actually like that masaya cared enough about the international fans to make it available to us in some fashion. BLESSCODE tried something different, and it wasn't at the expense of the consumer's time, money, and effort. Maybe they didn't make that much money off of it, but the alternative was to have a bunch of pressed yet unsold CDs sitting around, which would just mean that's wasted money anyway. Sometimes the sentiment behind actions are priceless, and I know many fans of BLESSCODE appreciated this gesture. I sure do, and I'm not even a fan of them!

I would really like to understand the logistics behind how this whole scene works from top to bottom, because the more I sit and think about it the more I feel like there's a few people at the top holding back progress for everyone else. A lot of counter arguments I can make to my own points is that some big wig sitting in a cushy office set up a contract expressly forbidding bands from implementing half the ideas I proposed, which makes most of my arguments moot anyway. Record companies may be making record profits these days, but on that same token artists and musicians have more tools and promotion than at any time in history before. The fact that we know about every single upstart indies band in Japan just weeks or even days after they formed is a far cry from how the scene was back in 1999, when only the biggest names in the scene were whispered in noisy American cafeterias with 128kbps sound samples and low res PV snippets available online in two to three places, with a random selection of full tracks available for the pirating on Napster.
 
tl;dr - a band is both a business and an investment. It may sound harsh, but just because a bunch of pretty boys slap on make up doesn't mean that they can get away with running their business inefficiently. Diversify and adapt, or face disbandment.

But...the internet. You don't have to sell CDs to sell music anymore. It's a false equivalence in the age of gigabit internet.
 
In my opinion, blaming overseas fans for poor sales is a straw man argument. Plenty of non-visual indie acts from all over the world produce music on a dime and manage to sell it to anyone interested. In fact, most of these bands do the legwork with constant online promotion in order to get the word out, and promotion via word of mouth is free. We do it all the time on their behalf. We have YouTube, we have iTunes, we have SoundCloud, we have OTOTOY, we have Bandcamp, we have official home pages, and we have countless other services which provide instant international exposure for a minimal price. At what point does it transition from "music is expensive to make" to "fuck you foreigners, you don't get to hear these particular songs"? Because honestly, that's what this whole live-distributed music has transformed into from the perspective of someone who is never going to take a trip to Japan.
 
Also, there's a big, BIG difference between a live distributed release that functions as a preview and a live distributed release that functions as a present. One of them might end up on a future release available for international purchase. The other disappears into the sands of time. Limited live-distributed releases in particular are a form of ass cancer that needs to go terminal and die. That's intentionally spending money and limiting your exposure for no appreciable gain.
 
If you have money for wigs and photo shoots but not enough money to record music, you're doing the whole visual kei band thing wrong.

my condolences to the 1 phantasmagoria stan who will still buy this

Gossip released a new limited single 「デモ」 starting on their 7/27/2018 live and via mail order from 7/28/2018. Limited to 500 copies, 4 tracks, 1500 yen.
 
Tracklist:
1.ハナマチバーレスク
2.キッチンキラー
3.真夏ノ夜ノ夢
4.ロザリー