BangyaWanabii

I totally agree on the Tanuki thing. It's so so so hard to navigate and the slang is so crazy. Even people who's Japanese is near fluent have a difficult time reading it. I also try to stay away from it, it's terrible to read and there's no proof of anything. Anonymity brings out the worse in people. That being said almost every vkei band in the history of ever has had a nazi concept or has worn the Japanese imperial flag on their bodies. Vkei, like kpop, is very un-PC. I want to take a special opportunity to give a shout-out to Lira from Elysion. I love Elysion and I don't know if he's just awkward or what but calling out the fact that they're foreigners in the instore event who understand Japanese (as though it was a huge surprise) was not cute. It was really embarrassing and I'm glad the rest of the bandmen changed the topic lightening fast.

Thank you, I try so hard honestly. It's not a natural thing LOL.

BPN is so cute! A bit frilly for my tastes though. I do like to be girly but not so so girly. Maybe one day I will dip my toes in but until then... And when I have decent pictures of me in my new GLAD NEWS black angel wing dress I'll post them. Probably my favorite thing I've bought from them so far! @everyone mentioning chrome hearts I love chrome hearts but I can't afford that at all. i can barely afford to get things here and there from glad news as it is. u.u

Smileberry instore tomorrow! I'm going to all three of them because I have no concept of self control. I will take 5 pictures, maybe 6 or 7 if these girls sell me their Motoki tickets. I need at least one pic with Motoki plz....

On top of everything else, I can't even properly communicate with other foreign bangya. It's hard enough sometimes being one of the only foreigners at an instore or live event, can we not just be nice to each other? Especially when said people seem to have their nose up Japanese bangya's asses. So when i try to make friends its just muri? (This of course isn't direced to anyone on this site. )

Or even worse.... Cheki orz

Thanks for telling me your experience! I looked online and there are a lot of people who healed it flipped up so I might be going to get my septum done this weekend. I'm gonna make a call to the piercer first and see what they say though.

Is it uncomfortable? When you first got it pierced did you flip it up or keep it as is? I'm concerned it would prevent it from healing properly or be uncomfortable if I flipped it up as soon as I got it.

I have both my nipples pierced. I used to have one on my upper ear (forget what thats called) but it got annoying so I took it out. I'm currently entertaining the thought of getting a septum. I'm worried that it won't suit me and that it will be too uncomfortable to keep flipped up all the time due to the fact that I teach. Anybody with septums have any experience with keeping it flipped up most of the time?

GDI I hate going to Tokyo for lives but... ;_; I might have to.

Two of my favoeite girl groups lost members. :/ I'm kind of fading out of KPOP tbh. I love it but at the same time, an era is coming to an end. My era it seems. Time to bury my head in vkei again.

Those two sites were very stylish. If I was a guy, I'd definitely be sporting some of that stuff. And yeah, lots of times H&M is what I can afford but once in a blue moon... one or two purchases at a store I like doesn't hurt~ I wouldn't say I dress vkei-ish so much as I'm just cutesy-dark for lives. I kind of am everywhere with my style tbh. One day I have insta-gram hoe looks and the next I am pastel colors head to toe. On weekdays I have to be work appropriate so I can't always buy the clothes I want to war :/ I think it's hard making a wardrobe coordinate if you're buying random stuff all over the place, but I'm able still make cohesive outfits out of the stuff I buy.

I was looking through the show yourself thread and everyone seems to have a really unique style. So I'm wondering, are their brands or shops that you like to frequent? For me, I love Glad News (it's so expensive). I recently bought a few things from there and it really adds up fast but if you're in Japan (or even outside of Japan) and looking for something unique, I recommend them. And of course Spinns and WEGO are always cool. Osu in Nagoya used to have a shop called SKUNK that I really liked but now BASE is upping it's game so I go there often as well. I'm sorry if this is a repeat thread, I tried to search for it before posting but I couldn't find anything like it.

I'll be going to the Nagoya date at 3 Star Imaike!

I am bangya trash.

stop doing shows in nagoya on weekdays!! why are ya'll making my life miserable?!

Oh my god one of my most favorite bands. Riku's vocals are really good. His voice is high but it's not too high and his screaming is pretty well done. They're a good mix of heavy and light if you don't like too much screaming in your music. I think they're a good band to start with tbh. Their melodies are catchy and the shamisen in the background always makes everything sound pretty.

I'm late to the party but here's my two cents. I am a YG stan, one because I only have time to keep up with one company and two, I like the way the company markets it's musicians. I am also into vkei and Japanese music. For me, I enjoy music for what it is. BIGBANG isn't very deep a lot of the time but it's catchy to listen to. And the same thing that happens with vkei bands happens with kpop groups, once you get to learn about all the members, you find yourself emotionally invested and start to follow a certain person *coughTOPcough*. I think a lot of East Asian musical groups market themselves in this way so it's easy to make the move from vkei to kpop. Not only is it a visual genre of music but they are selling the members, not just the group. It has a lot to do with fanservice and a lot to do with connecting with fans. I feel like Western music does have it's few bands and musicians who do this but for the most part, it's something heavily marketed in the East Asian world (specifically Japan and Korea). I also feel like people who don't mind listening to niche Japanese bands can get into kpop groups because their mind is already open to following a band or group that might not speak their language. I think kpop is probably easier to get into these days because their looks more closely mirror their Western counterparts, so it's not such a stretch. Whereas a lot of vkei looks crazy out there for someone who has never heard of it. I feel like a lot of people don't think you can appreciate music if you like pop but I mean, it is what it is. I like a deep emotional ballad as much as the next person but sometimes I wanna twerk to pop-trap wannabe Korean trash.

I adore ジン. They are the first band I went and saw and will always have a special place in my heart! Yeah, I was kind of surprised. There is little to no mention of them on these boards. They need lots of love! Thanks for the welcome. I love Elysion. They played at Kansai Rock Summit at a shit small venue and were still really good. Bidoh's voice is just... ugh. Thanks for the welcome Yeah AlantiQs! Sorry, I got them mixed up. I just remember the names of some of the live houses. I ran from there to JANUS to go see Smileberry. I was soaked in sweat by the end of it, it was not cute :/ You worked on a Sunday? God that sounds terrible. I'm lucky I got out in time on Saturday to head over to Osaka. Actually, I might have saw him because I was here two years ago studying abroad which was when I started going to lives. A friend of mine is more of a fan of Shounenki than I am so she's seen them more. I don't think I really ever went out of my way to see them but if they were there we definitely were excited. All in all I've been at this for about two years now, just with a break in between to go back to graduate LOL. You and all the bands I like avoid Nagoya like the plague LOL. Honestly, I think Tokyo is worse for lives (and travel in general) than Nagoya by far but that's a personal opinion. The Kansai Rock Summit was the first time I went to Osaka specifically for a live and the fans seemed okay. Not as bad as Tokyo but I think the Nagoya scene is smaller and girls can get a little crazy online if you show up often. I will probably be moving to Osaka later this year to live with a friend so you might see me around more!

It does look like my perspective is a little different, but it seems like everyone knows a lot more than I do! Maybe some distance gives ya'll a better overall picture of a band/scene. I really really want to see FED (their oneman in Nagoya was the same day as another live and I had to choose). Every since Ryu posted a picture with Zin's Luy (who I love) I've been researching and listening and they sound good! Right up my alley so to speak. Charlie is my ultimate. I never can take a proper picture where I put my arm around him because I get so damn nervous being that close to him. ;_; I love him so much. I really want to write up my experience at the live! It was so different. If you like wagakki then you'll probably like Zigzag Me and my friends went to the live house thirty minutes before and we barely got into the back, there were people lined up and people already inside for them. I wish we could have gotten there sooner but we did the out of store event and had 2 shots with MeteoroiD and Elysion (which is a story in itself, omg) Haha we couldn't see the support drummer at all! Thats how shitty the venue was. It was the tiniest place I've ever been in (JANUS, I think it was called). Which is funny because I've seen Shounenki a few times so it would have been interesting to see if I recognized him. And if you're suspicious if I'm your friend I'm not LOL. Not to say we couldn't be friends but I don't think we've met.

I feel the exact same way to be honest. Even during their shows they just seemed to do more variety and not really so much about the smile-smile stuff. I miss hearing him scream tbh. He does still do it on ocassion but for like .05 seconds. And no worries, Motoki will always be Tohma in my heart. LOL Honestly, I saw them for the first time Sunday and I'm obsessed. I can't stop listening to their mini-album. But I think that's because I'm not into oshare kei as much so I don't mourn Ray℃. Their whole concept is so awesome and they were really tongue-in-cheek about everything. I love them playing on the whole Tanuki/Bangya thing, it's so meta. And their Buddhist theme makes it cooler. The only frustrating part is that you can't get cheki of Mikoto! But I also understand why. I met Aoshi before the live when he was handing out flyers and he was so humble and nice. And yes, they're already really popular. They played a shitty basement venue that was tiny but they packed it out. I bought their tsunagaritai sweater after seeing them once and I can't even wear it, it's too hot already!

Nice to meet you too! Actually to tell the truth, I was more of a fan of Smileberry's previous band Luche's music than I am of their current stuff. I'm not that big of a fan of oshare kei (I say this but I've been to more ALIVE and Smileberry and Luche instore/live events than I can count) but Motoki is an amazing frontman and they're really sweet. Motoki in particular has always been super loving towards me whenever we interact and my ultimate bandman is Charlie so... I'm really hooked on them even though it's not what I prefer. BFN was amazing and their music was exactly what I like. It's unfortunate that they really were awkward with me and my friends when we met them. Maybe because we started to go see them when they were about to disband. MeteoroiD are really good live and they're sweet as well. Honestly a lot of foreign Vkei fans probably know more about the bands themselves than I do, I judge by how good they are live at the end of the day. Their CD may not be very good but some of these bands are killer live. I didn't know ZigZag was Ray℃ until yesterday. I was so shocked. If you didn't know their past you'd be so surprised because they are light years away from their oshare kei past.

Hey! Obviously I'm new here haha. I'm Sara, you can call me by name or by my username or whatever (my username is a joke btw... though I don't know if I'm considered bangya anyways just by default). I'm mostly here to talk about Vkei, though I do like other Jrock. I just happen to live in Japan and going to lives is my hobby (it takes up so much money it's pretty much my only hobby). I don't really go see any bigger bands, except Nocturnal Bloodlust but even they're still small compared to some. I usually go to Nagoya lives (I will go to Osaka or Tokyo for special occasions, I recently went to Kansai Rock Summit in Osaka since so many bands were playing!). I like ジン, Smileberry, Sick2, BFN (before they disbanded obv), Elysion, MeteoroiD, FED, 真天地開闢集団ジグザグ (saw them for the first time in Osaka this past Sunday, they were incredibly live!), and a lot more I can't think of. Anyways, I know all the bands I go to are smaller but if you guys want live reports I'd be happy to do it. I'm excited to listen to more Jrock outside of Vkei but also of course welcome vkei recs if you have any!