platy

@Zeus
In the PV there's also a scene when the main guy stares at his phone screen before meeting his partner, to which what looks like a chat board of some sort (since there are more than two names on display).

 
There's mention from one person (who goes by Mr. Nameless) about wanting to die and wanting someone to kill him; the biggest text here, pictured below, saying 'please kill me'. This person is offering himself for slaughter and someone else on the board (most likely the main character) must've read this and decided to grant his wish. It's still a little ambiguous who is who in the chat board, but this is another alignment with the article and seems almost like more than a coincidence to me. You could very well be right!

I moved this topic into the Lyrics section to give this part of the board some more love. With more high quality discussion topics like these, this subforum will sprout to life in no time!
 
I'm going to go in a slightly different direction with this conversation to give those who haven't taken Humanities classes something to chew on. Reading these lyrics reminded me of this news story from a few years ago. I will provide the text in case the article disappears in the future, as news articles are wont to do.
 
 
The parts in bold line up with segments of the lyrics too well - mixed with a bit of Chiaki's imagination and artistic freedom of course. I don't believe the main character has hang ups or regrets as much as he gets off on killing and eating men, and now he's found someone that he wants to eat him. I point to the lyric I'll have dinner with "me" and you and I am interpreting "me" as if he is offering himself for dinner.

The second thing I thought of was that this main character must have killed and eaten before and that his constant cannibalism led to development of gastric ulcers. The inclusion of "Gastric Ulcer" in the title was a way of hinting at cannibalism without directly stating it, and possibly was a way to get around Japanese censors. I agree on the interpretation of "Rousseau's Illusion" everyone has given so far. I also think the "you" in the lyrics are ambiguous. When I read the first passage, what comes to mind is a deranged man talking to his carved up lover in a freezer. When it switches into the next paragraph, the "you" is now us. Chiaki is Brandes, we are Meiwes.
 

I think the main “guy” in the song has two versions of himself. One is the cannibal/killer/homosexual, and the other is his “normal” side, Boy A.
 
I think he is in conflict with himself, where he does not want to be the cannibal/killer/homosexual, but can’t help himself. This side of him/conflict with himself is always there, “in the room”, even when he wants to be “normal” with another man/love interest. He wants to tell the man/love interest about this side of him and the impending danger it will put them in. However, eventually his secret will come out (“the best before” date), as he cannot fight off his dark side.
 
I also believe he somehow wants his love interest or their relationship to help fight off/kill this side of him (inside the mirror), and accept his homosexuality so that he will be saved and may live normally without this other self. But it seems like at the end, although he has hope that he can somehow overcome this side of himself, they are both sucked into the mirror (the dark side of him). 
 
In that case, "sin will wash sin away" could be the hope that love could lead to self-acceptance, like the "sin" of homosexuality will wash away his other cannibal/killer sins.
But then eventually "sin will wash sin away" changes to mean that he has washed away his "sin" of homosexuality by killing another homosexual person (a metaphor for killing his dark, homosexual side).
 
I have a feeling that Rousseau’s illusion may refer to Rousseau’s philosophy that everything in love is an illusion.
But I find it interesting that although there isn't set term like "Rousseau's illusion" in Japanese, there is a term called "sojii illusion", which means capgras delusion. In capgras delusion, a person believes someone has been replaced by an identical-looking imposter. Combining both could have been a deliberate play on words.
 
I think Rousseau's illusion fits with the first part of the song, where he believes love will fix everything, but in the end he falls prey to a form of capgras delusion, where he sees the dark side of himself replaced with an imposter/his love interest.
 
(Also just incase it comes across as unclear, I don't personally believe homosexuality is a sin, but it seems like the main guy in the video has been conditioned to believe it is.)
 
 

Oh boy, we are in for a ride!
 
To start, the title immediately got my attention. I think you are right on point when talking about Rousseau, and this brings me years back to my classes on the history of philosophy.
 
There's a philosophycal concept called 'State of Nature', coined by Thomas Hobbes, which in simplifying terms describes that humans living in a natural state, without being under a common acknowledged leader (governments or a king for example) will be in a state of constant every man for himself, and everyone against everyone. You can conclude that the raw state of a human being is someone egoistical, unpredictable, maybe violent and by all means, alone, distrustful.
 
Rousseau disputes that conclusion, and affirms that a Natural Human is neither a good or bad in modern society terms, he is simply a man of sensations, feelings and needs. In other words, that human is not intentional evil, he is simply unaware of such concepts. He will fill his basic desires (food, taking care of himself, reproducing). He is not hostile towards other human beings, he simply lacks the reason for society or rules.
 
If Chiaki is indeed talking about Jean Jacques Rousseau, we could assume that he does think Hobbes is correct, and Rousseau would be naive to think a human is not crude as described by Hobbes. I wanna hear more thoughts on this.
 
As such, I would interpret the PV as a person in its natural state described by Hobbes bounded by the rules of society, rebelling and discovering his raw state as a human:
 
- Using lipstick, which can be seen as an act of transgression/experimentation/reaching his true self and being chastised by his mother, the ruling figure;
- Killing butterflies, which may indicates his further urge as an evil, emotionless being, being again hold back by the figure of authority;
- Killing his partner, the ultimate transgression, and maybe eating his corpse, satisfying his most basic, raw needs as a human;
 
The scene of him puking after killing his partner and reminiscing his mother could indicate confusion between following his urges and the guilt of his despicable acts. And yet, he couln't help but trying to do it again. This sentiment is widely seen in movies or profiles of serial killers and psychopaths, which we could say are indeed "savage" human being, as their disdain for society rules.
 
Regarding the butterfly, I think @plastic_rainboware mostly right!
 
Some thoughts Genius-style:
 
"I want to destroy the murky future / I rub my hand over my aching stomach": I think there's a guilt theme to be explored here. the boy do what he does, he cannot help it, but he is filled with guilty. He wants it to stop, but he can't/won't do it alone. To end his life and erase his existence, commiting the same hideous acts as he did.
 
"I made a wish when I first met you / If possible, I want you to kill me gently / And save me from this world, without leaving any of my bones": The boy wants someone to kill him. He wants to find someone who is able to do it. If not, he will kill that someone and look for another person who is able to do it.
 
"Surely, you'll be boy A a few days later / Our "secret" with a best-before date": I believe this would mean that if the person does no kill him, the "deadline expires", the boy will kill person B and eat him, like he did with boy A.
 
"To destroy the murky future/ Sin will melt sin away": To avoid him keeping doing what he does, someone will kill him. His sins will be stopped by other people's sins;
 
"We, who loved solitude, are already inside a dream / "Into the mirror" / "Inside the mirror."": they, the psychopaths, do not see the world the same way as we do, they are already living in a different world, yet the same. like a mirror.
 
I think there's more to be said, but that gives a general idea. Or we could all be tripping balls, and Chiaki was just being gross for the shock value or something else. who knows...

Hello all MH users! With the suggestion of @chemicalpictures, I bring you an analytical discussion of a song lyric I've chosen, along with its PV. Seems like this is the first time anyone has done this here so to get things pumping, and hopefully make this a success, I chose to pick a song from the increasingly popular band DEZERT. Being quite well-known for their food-related themes, as you can tell from their song titles and album titles, DEZERT do not only bring a dark and grimy atmosphere, but also present an unpleasant and repulsive feeling to your gut and mouth. If you ever took the time to read their lyrics you may never look at food the same way again. But hey, I love them for this.
 
@Zeus Let me know if there's a better section for this. Since I'm discussing about both lyric and PV I thought I'd put it in the general section instead.
 
Let's get right down to it and take a look at the original Japanese lyrics for the song, 胃潰瘍とルソーの錯覚  from their album タイトルなし(Title Nashi),  which was written by Chiaki, and then the translation, which was done by me.
 
Kanji: 胃潰瘍とルソーの錯覚  -taken from rocklyric
 
English: Gastric Ulcer and Rousseau's Illusion
 
胃潰瘍とルソーの錯覚 is a song about love and the fear of the truth and the future, written in a grotesque manner. Looking at the song title, 'gastric ulcer' ties into the food and cannibalistic theme, and after reviewing the lyrics and PV several times I've concluded that the gastric ulcer represents a kind of punishment for one's sins. A punishment for killing the ones you love and eating them to the bone, obviously. It is there as a reminder of your sins.
 
Another piece of information we get from the title is the name 'Rousseau'. Who could this Rousseau refer to and why did Chiaki choose to use this reference? (Unless the word ルソー means something else?) The first name that comes up on google is a philosopher named Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Apparently, he advocated freedom politically and made an influence during the French Revolution. I can see how 'freedom' may play a role in this, but am still puzzled as to why Chiaki would reference him specifically. If anyone is willing to dig further into this, please do.
 
Something else worth speculating is the way Chiaki divides the lyric into (A), (B), and (A.B), like a story with chapters. But then why (A.B) at the end? Maybe it's a middle section between A and B? It's possible, but I think A and B might refer to Boy A and Boy B (since he mentions 少年A under the (B) section), where as A.B refers to them both of them together at the end. If you have thoughts otherwise, please comment below~
 
I know there's still a lot to speculate about the lyrics, but let's get to the fun part and explore the peculiar PV. As if the lyrics were crazy enough, here we have additional themes like gender, homosexuality, and the butterfly motif. A young boy puts on lipstick, kills butterflies, and gets together with other males as he grows older......to kill them for their flesh and bones.
 
 
The PV follows well with the lyrics, but what intrigued me the most was the butterfly motif. We see the butterfly appear when the young boy plucks its wings and smiles, and in a few flickering screens of an injured butterfly throughout the PV. Then, at the very end we see it once more in the form of a tattoo on the left arm of the man who kills the boy (see pic below). What an ironic turn of events, seeing a butterfly, which you have mistreated in the past, the moment you die. However, since the butterfly has been depicted as being weak, being robbed of its ability to fly, I think it also serves as a representation of his weakness for not being able to face the truth and the future. In Japan, people also believe that butterflies carry souls to the dead, or represent souls of the dead, therefore adding to the irony of his fateful death.
 

 
I don't want to write too much so I'll leave the rest open for discussion! I'm sure there are deep-thinkers here who have something more interesting to share. Or if not, point out something you find interesting and analyze it, even if it's something little. It could mean something more than you think. For example, you think those wire mannequins in the PV might represent anything? Or maybe it's just a piece of decoration. For those who have knowledge in Japanese, please share thoughts about the original Japanese lyrics and other possible translations too. Have fun! ^^
 
Feel free to leave any critiques as well~

Hello people!
 
I've always thought japanese lyrics are under explored by us western fans. So I thought of a  little fun way of incentivizing the community on giving their 2 cents and analysis on a weekly chosen song, like:
 
The week song + lyric is posted;
people give their analysis/thoughts on its meanings and intricacies;
other people like the comments they think are more accurate, or what they think is the best interpretation;
the person with the most well received analysis gets to choose the song for the next week;
 
Of course what is described above can be changed to better fit the board or the mods, which I believe would be ideal to handle the thread creation and such (maybe the ORZ could take turns on, or smh like that)
 
one barrier I can see is that, if the song does not have a translation available, could be hard for non speakers to be part of it... what do you guys think? any thoughts?

Here comes Russian food. *stabs you with a fork*


 
I made these yesterday.

probably the worst thing about living with other people is when the food you buy magically disappears....

What me and my pal Platy just here demonstrated might be considered as petty hatred towards a band/singer by someone. While, to the fans of Mashiro and Paradeis, our opinion might seem just extraordinarily unnecessary, to me it's a great deal of fun. 
 
And that's where this whole "petty" hatred stems from! Essentially, it's just one person or a group of people entertaining themselves or others. Comedy is not kind, comedy is not polite. It's laughing at sarcastic remarks, irony of situations or someone else's deliberate or accidental injury.
 
I personally don't spend a huge deal of my life thinking about how much I hate Mashiro's drunken bovine voice and his face that looks like he was dropped on his head in the labour room one too many times. But if I get a chance to make a funny remark about it that amuses myself or potentially even another person, there's no end to it. I count that a victory in my books.
 
I lost my point. Carry on.

I like your taste 

A little old now, but just now getting back into playing songs off of this album. Working through 流転の塔 now. If anyone else is trying to find tabs for Dum Spiro Spero, it ain't easy. Ended up buying the band score from amazon.jp around $30: https://www.amazon.com/x300C-SPIRO-SPERO-x300D-score/dp/4401356705
 
 

are you grieva's ghost lyricist?

I think 13 Reasons Why is a good show, I didn't find it slow or anything like that. My only real problem is Hanna, at the end the reasons why she killed herself seemed very shallow (and it seemed like she did it to get back at people), typical stuff teenagers go through, the only thing you could argue is Bryce's tape but then again, the way it happened just kills it for me. Besides, half of the people in the tape didn't even do anything to her.

It's me, Hohchicano96; I may be familiar to a number of users because of my presence on the RarezHut auctions. Finally, after lurking for a few months, I pushed myself to create an account to interact with visual kei fans. I hope to have some connections in the near future.
 
A number of VK artists I listen to:
 
Aliene Ma'riage (or Maφriage) BAISER (Both eras) deadman (Wha' ha' happened to the photobook?) Dir en grey (One of the first visual kei groups I learned of) hide (Forever beloved) Himitsu Kessha Codomo A (Does Eiji still have Peter Pan Syndrome?) La'Mule (Nao's dyed hair I'd picture myself having for so long) Laputa (Inappropriate name for hispanohablantes to say) Malice Mizer (Same situation as DEG) Nightmare (The reason why I'm typing this sentence)  
A number of non-VK artists I listen to:
 
AFI (Can't wait for the Detroit concert!) Against Me! (Laura is love, Laura is life) Brand New ("The Devil and God..." album I fully process when lying) David Bowie (The museum exhibit, in Chicago, was an eyeopener) The Fever Haze (Support your local music scene, bitches)  La Dispute (I hope to see them at Bled Fest this year)  Marilyn Manson (The first western artist that led me to not listen to visual kei bands exclusively) Panic! at the Disco (Not just the Fever and Pretty. Odd. eras) Placebo (When will they return to America, making it great again?) Prince (He makes me just wanna dance, you sexy MFs)  
Still reading? Yes? Well, do feel free to ask questions, leave recommendations, read and throw shade, hennies!

Making my first post on the site, I came here after seeing Ito's Jrock Heaven panel at ACEN this past weekend. I first started listening to Jrock and Japanese music in general after getting into it from L'Arc-en-Ciel's Ready Steady Go from the first FMA anime. Some of my favorite Jrock bands include L'Arc-en-Ciel, SID, FLOW, BRADIO, and Ling Tosite Sigure. I'm hoping to learn more about Jrock and get into some cool bands, thank you for having me!

Long time lurker, finally decided to make an account and will try to do more than lurking
I think I stumbled upon the forum when searching for some info.
I started listening to Japanese music back in junior high, which was some time ago... I'm into dir, sukekiyo, 9GOATS, BUCK-TICK, lynch., MERRY, deadman and some others. 
Hi! *awkward hand waving*

Hello everyone! I'm Nanashigurl01! I have been listening to J-rock all my life thanks to a cousin who came back from Japan with a demo cassette of X Japan when I was a year old. It apparently was the only way I would stop crying as my parents like to tell me. I love Japanese music as well as Korean. Not just rock but pop as well. Feel free to talk with me!

Decided it was finally time to come hang out here. Went to that one dude's panel at ACEN two years in a row, so I figured I should finally check the place out. Glad to be here

I'm amazed that the term "cash grab" is being used here for a band in an industry whose singular focus is to write, promote, and sell music.
 
 

Honestly I just love baby pictures and thought maybe we could share the ones of our favs
So yeah, here's yoshiatsu with his sister i have more i'm just too lazy to look for them rn
 

(Sorry idk how to change the size of the picture)

PURPLE STONE NEW LOOK!!
 

I just came here to write about how boring I found this, but now playing it the second time it has started to grow on me a little. Bog-standard Pentagon material from the weaker end of things. I don't think it's much of an indication about how the album will be, aside from that at least it won't all sound like CRAZY TRIBE.

It was fine until the obligatory key change, then I was like "ugh byeee"
 
Atsuki looks fucking hot without makeup tho. Chizuru looks great both with and without makeup.

アルルカン (Arlequin) new maxi-single "価値観の違いは唯一の救いだった" (Kachikan no Chigai wa Yuiitsu no Sukuidatta) + Sound Collection will be released at 2017/06/07 (1980Y)
 
[tracklist]
01. 価値観の違いは唯一の救いだった (Kachikan no Chigai wa Yuiitsu no Sukuidatta)
02. 白死蝶 (Byakushichou)
03. SynonyM
04. blind bud
05. fiction
06. Eclipse
07. 像 (Zou)
08. ナミダノアト (Namida no Ato)
09. ステラ (Stella)
10. ダメ人間 (Dame Ningen)
11. 胸の内側に宿る息 (Mune no Uchigawa ni Yadoru Iki)
12. DROPLET
13. 墓穴 (Hakaana)
14. Apotosis
15. リビドー (Libido)
 
they will hold their premium oneman tour "価値観の違いは唯一の救いだった" at 2017/06/14 at HOLIDAY NEX NAGOYA, 2017/06/16 at HOLIDAY OSAKA and 2017/07/09 at HOLIDAY SHINJUKU
 
they will hold their 4th anniversary oneman tour "凸凹" since 2017/09/02 at Shinjuku BLAZE to 2018/01/13 at OSAKA BIG CAT