platy

but a possible return.
 
 
I've not been around for a looooooooooooooong time and this site has changed a damn lot. I kinda stopped listening to visual Kei and Jrock and went back to listening to my usual non Japanese stuff - I say 'stopped' but i mean is I still listen but not a lot - Ive been out of the fold for a bit so I havent been following if my favorite bands have new releases or disbanded.
 
I learned a few weeks ago that ARTEMA are no more and that made me pretty sad as they were my go to band when Crossfaith went in a different direction. Now i need another band to fill that void
 
Anthem & Saber Tiger are still some of my top favorite Jrock bands of all time. I got stuck in an 80s rock/metal phase for a loooong time as well. Listened to a lot of Journey, Boston. Dio, Queensryche and Judas Priest etc etc and they delayed my return here for many months.
 
I hope to be a little more active again. As I want to start picking up Visual Kei again.

Despite reminiscing's EXCELLENT point, I do believe Ruki's vocal quality has improved since 2005. 
Not that he had a shittyvoice in his early days, but more like he didn't know how to use it correctly and probably didn't know many usage and caring techniques. His voice felt raw and unpolished back then, inexperienced.

Interesting discussion. First off, I think you might be exaggerating the change of his vocals, as you see it. Even looking it at the live clips you cited, let alone all of the other recordings from 2002 to this point, I don't think there was ever some drastic 'switch' where he got better. (I don't think he was ever 'bad' as many people believe.) You could maybe argue that about his screams, but I'm mainly addressing the clean singing voice.
 
Also, something really key to consider (especially with live performances) is the circumstances of the sound setup at the venue. As a vocalist, you are desperately depending on monitors, either on the floor in front of you on via in-ear headphones, to allow you to hear yourself. Standing on stage with the band, you often can't hear the sound of your own voice. This makes your performances at shows vary a lot based on how the venue can accommodate this. Most small venues will have sparse to nil monitoring options. Even in higher budget tours where you have monitoring equipment, you are presented with a new problem: bigger venues have even louder sound systems. Even among same size venues, the acoustics differs wildly, so the live sound team is facing a new set of challenges every show. And on top of that, the house guy doing the mix might put you too low on X night at X venue, and do the opposite at Y venue on Y night. My whole point is that for Ruki, or any vocalist in a loud band, each show will not be a level playing ground for their performance. It's very plausible that at one concert he could hear himself fantastic, while at the other he had insufficient monitoring or was in a crazy reflective room that drowned everything out.
 
Additionally, the idea that someone can improve very suddenly at a discipline is generally a fantasy, imo. Even if you are practicing something for 6 hours a day, progress is usually steady, but diminishes over time. For instance, imagine there are two people who practice singing for 6 hours a day. One of them only started singing yesterday and the other one has been professionally singing for 3 years. The newbie will make a considerable amount more overall improvement than the veteran in a month's time. This is what makes it so difficult to be in the highest echelon of skill in a certain field. If it takes 100 hours to become 'okay' at something, it might take 1000 to become good, and 10,000 to become very good.

I fucking did it people. 115 hours, 75 levels , 3 months and 12 days later and I've finally beaten Persona 5!  Jesus fuck. I have never been so glad to haven beaten a game before... It was marvelous and such a engaging story, but my god did it drag on. I say all of this now, but in reality sometime ion the next year I will probably start new game+ and work on the platinum and max social link run, but still for the time being I am so happy to be able to play something else
 
and that something else is a little game called NieR Automata <3

He's absolutely fugly. Whoever is editing their pictures and doing his make on every PV is a GOD.  
If you get the chance you should go see them live, you might come back with an interesting  gosan experience to tell us 

Sometimes I feel like minorities are causing their own racism/exclusion.
 
Remind me to not bingewatch RuPaul's Drag Race anymore. Feelin' mah face muscles pulled into a painful cringe every time one of the minorities WITHIN a minority excludes themselves on purpose.

Thank you for the translation. Really enjoyed reading everything in this thread! 
 
The idol industry (I'm including vk in this) makes me extremely uncomfortable. The idea that these idols work to create a pool of completely obsessed fans who live in a fantasy world, which in turn can create an issue of the idol's personal safety... It just seems so overwhelming. I've always wondered what the idols themselves truly thought of their work and their fans, but alas I think that's a rarity. I would love to see more lyric analysis/translations of songs that include this subject, I don't doubt there's at least some truth in what they're singing about. 

Thank you for the translation. Really enjoyed reading everything in this thread! 
 
The idol industry (I'm including vk in this) makes me extremely uncomfortable. The idea that these idols work to create a pool of completely obsessed fans who live in a fantasy world, which in turn can create an issue of the idol's personal safety... It just seems so overwhelming. I've always wondered what the idols themselves truly thought of their work and their fans, but alas I think that's a rarity. I would love to see more lyric analysis/translations of songs that include this subject, I don't doubt there's at least some truth in what they're singing about. 

I think it was on the PV for 「羽花」and someone asked who was the female vocals during the chorus 
> Getting butthurt whenever the word 'girl' is anywhere near your fav bandomen and acting like they're not testosterone filled men with plenty of girls at their disposition.

Thank you for the translation. Really enjoyed reading everything in this thread! 
 
The idol industry (I'm including vk in this) makes me extremely uncomfortable. The idea that these idols work to create a pool of completely obsessed fans who live in a fantasy world, which in turn can create an issue of the idol's personal safety... It just seems so overwhelming. I've always wondered what the idols themselves truly thought of their work and their fans, but alas I think that's a rarity. I would love to see more lyric analysis/translations of songs that include this subject, I don't doubt there's at least some truth in what they're singing about. 

I'm here to revive this thread since this is one of my favorite songs.
 
This song was featured in a live limited release called "kagerou no jiten ＜otona no shoten＞".
and if you own a copy of it you can see what all the "kore", "sore", "are" were about.
 

 
So he's like "Oh, I know you are actually ashamed of this, you are not pure because of this, and you are filthy because of this".
 
Basically the song is about how people fantasize about famous idols to the point that it becomes an obsession to them, sexually, not very romantically and delusionally speaking.
(「いつも以上に興奮覚えました」 → It means he got more aroused than usual after he watched a drama scene played by the idol on tv)
So since the idols get a lot of attention, people get jealous of it as they can't get noticed by the famous person in question.
(他のブタ野郎よりもずっと「キミのことは理解するハズだから」→ "I'm suppossed to understand you more than those jerks" refering to other fans)
Also this obsession leads to becoming an stalker, and in Japan idols get harassed by stalkers pretty often.
(1. 全部知ってます。→ "I know everything about you".
2. 頭の中はキミで溢れている。→ "I think about you all the time" *sexual connotation.
3. 触りたい。→ "I wanna touch you" *sexual connotation.
4. キミも結局汚いメスなの？→ "Are you a dirty whore too after all?" refers to jealousy, since she gets a lot of attention, she knows a lot of men, who she may have messed around with, idols don't make their way just for their talent, you know.
5. 気持ちのイイのはいつもいつも僕だけだし　少しサミシイ今日この頃です。→ "I can only get pleasure by myself, so it feels a little lonely to be like this right now" pretty much what happens to people when they masturbate thinking about someone who they want to be with but can't be be with, in other words, he can't sleep with her so he can only masturbate to feel good but it doesn't feel that good because he wants her really bad.
6. 僕は根暗な狂いセオリスト → "I'm an introverted crazy theorist" means actually "I'm an introverted harcore fan who day-dreams a lot", a theorist is someone who constructs theories, in this case it's used as someone who contructs a fake reality based on their twisted thoughts/obsession).
 
Daisuke it's representing it as fan x idol thing, but it's pretty much headed to the fact some bangyas get delusional af, just like what happens in "mousou nikki" for example.
But obviously, it's not only a vk thing, it happens in all types of industry, from j-rock, j-pop, to even av idols.
It exposes how some people act due to a delusional obssesion towards a person *regardless of which industry they're in* who is/may be "out of their league" but still hold into a little hope.
(キミはとっても人気者だから　ボクのコトなんて知らない知らない。→ "You are so famous you don't even know about my existence").
(キミとボクは理想の二人だから → "We're perfect for each other" as in hoping they will get together someday).
 
That's pretty much how I see it.

@AimiGen7I definitely agree that idols are marketed for their purity, and in visual kei that's not usually the case. And yes, I feel like these lyrics very much embody the idea that idols (or if we're honest, women in the traditional sense, not just in Japan) should be "pure" enough to refuse the advances of other men/fans, yet not pure enough to refuse the (potential) advances of the man (or men) that want to have her. It's a big Catch-22.
 
As a vague background, I am somewhat connected to the idol scene through work, but my personal preference is the VK scene... And at times it definitely seems like the two are mirror opposites of the same marketing scheme. (Gonna cut this for length.)
 
 
I personally find the similarities really interesting.
I'm sure Kagerou's song was aimed specifically at the idol industry, but you could replace a few words here and there and suddenly it would't be so clear any more.
 
Also, thanks! You should go for it! I think this lyric/PV analysis thing would definitely benefit from more contributors who listen to bands that are currently popular. I can translate, but I'm more familiar/more inclined to analyze older VK work, which doesn't seem to attract as many people to participate/comment. D:
 
 

Nobody's posted another analysis yet, so I decided to put another one up. Hope that's okay!
 

 
Japanese (Credit to 匂宮’s diary)
 
English
 
It doesn’t seem to me that the PV has a whole lot to do with the song itself, besides some idol pictures on the wall and Daisuke acting out writing letters to the idol, but Daisuke’s expressions and gestures are poignant and I feel like you can get the general image of some guy(s) being mentally disturbed. However, maybe I've missed something!
 
 
Although the song is rather straightforward, I guess the part that really intrigues me is that how much overlap there seems to be between the idol and visual kei industry, especially in the way dating and information about bands are handled, promotion, etc.  So I’ve often wondered if this song was also a tongue-in-cheek way of also talking about the way some gya think and behave.
 
Besides the different slang both fan bases use, the main difference seems to be that idols generally like to promote the “girl next door” image, while visual kei usually goes for the “handsome prince” or “bad boy” image. In either case, however, they’re selling their fans a certain kind of fantasy.
 
How would you analyze your interest in visual kei? What are your thoughts on the whole idol and/or visual kei concept? Do you think a certain kind person is more attracted to either or both scenes?

where is baboo?

You're 16 years old and bragging about chugging vodka... lol wow so mature! 

Gosan got my attention last year because they seem to be the only band trying to add something refreshing to oshare. ( Also, I lol'd at "all the members are handsome")
 
Their sound is fun enough to keep me interested, but after seeing them live I want nothing to do with them apart from downloading their music. Weird af bangya and the vocalist is a huge douchebag (and ugly af). My veredict: follow from a distance
 
I'll be checking out the other bands recommended! 
(a cult concept band? count me in!)

Might as well add to those talking points I noticed here that politicking has pretty much twisted our humane empathy and ability to socialize with pretty much everyone - the prime fuel for bigotry tbe.
 
Politicking has been always dirty and corrupted everywhere, which merely questions whether it is sensible to bring up extremely partisan views anymore (horseshoe theory is no BS), and is the dialogue even likely at this point - if we seek to preserve the meaning of "dialogue".
 
The war of slurs and provocations is getting a lot worse, standards are forgotten, common concerns are smokescreened (e.g. healthcare in my country) and everyone will hate each other...

Laughing forever at the people out there consistently making bad relationship decisions and then going all ''wtf i hate [whichever gender(s) they're into] now!"  when shit inevitably blows up in their face, ignoring the possibility that they themselves may be the problem

I met a colleague at my volunteering work for the first time and he was such a fucking creep, asking me to go to the storage room with him, whispering to me the question 'was my relationship with my partner serious' and saying he could give me a ride all the way back to my mom's home if I needed a car. He kept starring at me while he thought I wasnt noticing. 
The dude is sixty years old and married. Ugh. I just hope I don't have to see this cunt again. Why do old people think they can get away with being slimy as fuck. 

i cant BELIEVE theres still ppl out there gettin hard bc of game of thrones and/or dr. who in 2017

Jesus fucking Christ. 
-Implying that Kyo and GaCKT look remotely similar. 
-Implying that a guy who shrieks like a hydra from the seventh hell would call some dude '' big buddy! ^_^"
 
These are the people who only go to bed after daydreaming about kyo being a bottom who when he gets home hugs his vanilla scented teddy bears and puts on diapers for fun and gets spanked by gackt
 

I met a colleague at my volunteering work for the first time and he was such a fucking creep, asking me to go to the storage room with him, whispering to me the question 'was my relationship with my partner serious' and saying he could give me a ride all the way back to my mom's home if I needed a car. He kept starring at me while he thought I wasnt noticing. 
The dude is sixty years old and married. Ugh. I just hope I don't have to see this cunt again. Why do old people think they can get away with being slimy as fuck. 

Jesus fucking Christ. 
-Implying that Kyo and GaCKT look remotely similar. 
-Implying that a guy who shrieks like a hydra from the seventh hell would call some dude '' big buddy! ^_^"
 
These are the people who only go to bed after daydreaming about kyo being a bottom who when he gets home hugs his vanilla scented teddy bears and puts on diapers for fun and gets spanked by gackt
 

I think it was on the PV for 「羽花」and someone asked who was the female vocals during the chorus 
> Getting butthurt whenever the word 'girl' is anywhere near your fav bandomen and acting like they're not testosterone filled men with plenty of girls at their disposition.