qotka

I was in the first row for MUCC's culture center live in Mito last week, and when they switched parts for their first encore Tatsuro played the bass and I could see there was a guy holding a big cardboard sign in the gap between the seats and the stage, running after him as he moved on stage. Then I saw the sign had bass tabs written on it. He was still messing it up and it was very cute. It got even funnier when they used the smoke machine during Ranchuu and he was squinting to look at the tabs through the smoke. I'm a sucker for silly gags like this so it made me really happy.

Yoshiki's water bottle hit me in the head.

I actually did a list before leaving Japan. It's not as long as I wish it had been because I ended up partying more than going to gigs.... 
 

personally I wouldn't say them not looking at you is snubbing you
 
Also I was always fond of sitting on the floor and headbanging. I think that's one thing I will miss from VK haha
 
I think my fav non-VK experience was Bara from HONE YOUR SENSE handing me a beer from the stage😂
 
As for VK....
 
I can't count catching picks/drum sticks/etc as special, like them looking at me,  talking directly to me or being given the mic to say something/scream at a live because that's honestly not that unusual.
 
I've gone to like 200 VK lives so under a spoiler because there's a lot of little things (and this is the condensed version)

Great thread, I like hearing the little things that are memorable at shows!
 
- During Morrigan's set at Ikebukuro Cyber. During RIP (which is two minutes on CD but about 15 during their shows) they do the whatever it's called when the front row of girls lay over the bar/stage and the rest of the crowd takes turns slamming into them on the fourth beats. Anyway, during that the vocalist went out into the crowd to start dragging people forward who weren't participating (even going into the venue's stairwell, haha). When he sauntered over near where I was standing I could see the surprise in his face to run into a giant white dude amidst the crowd of tiny girls and instead of attempting to drag me into the melee he gave me a high-five.
 
- I wrote about this one during a 君は鋭く。set here. A middle-aged woman in the crowd approached me between bands and asked what band I was at the show to see. When I told her 君は鋭く she got really excited and grabbed a wrist band off their merch table and gave it to me. I will continue to believe she was someone in the band's mother until proven otherwise.
 

kazuki from screw spat in my eye
 
it got really red and irritated for a couple of days

i saw that one 7+hr live Royz did where they played every one of their songs, so i've basically accepted my life peaked at that point
only other thing i can kinda brag about; my first live i ever saw was Naitomea when they left Japan for the second time in their career to play a con that was 4hrs from my house - i'll never in my life be that lucky again .-.

SaTaN:
I didn't pay attention for a short time because I was talking to the girl next to me when she suddenly started laughing. I didn't know why but then I realized that Mr.SaTaN wasn't on stage anymore. He sneaked  up behind me and it scared the shit out of me when I turned around because he was so fucking close. There were only about 40 people around so it wasn't that difficult to see that I wasn't looking at the stage ... After their show we talked for a short while and he was so excited that they had fans outside of Japan and he kind of ignored the japanese fans just to talk to me (I guess he was like... really excited haha)
 
DOAK:
I don't know if this is something special or interesting, but a nice japanese girl switched place with me so I could be closer to the stage during DOAKs show when she heard that I just came to Japan to see their last live. So this was my first time in the second row for seeing one of my favorite bands. Everyone around me was so nice and they integrated me in everything. I was used to be ignored for being a foreigner so this was really exciting for me. Never felt this happy before. Meeting Yuuki after the show made it the most perfect day of my life.
 
K:
Cazqui where his support guitarist during this live and when he threw his pick I was about to catch it but instead of closing my hand I hit it and it fell behind the barrier. I politely asked a staff if he could give it to me but he said no and gave it to another girl that was screaming on him to give it to her instead ... I'm still pretty mad about this

DEZERT:
saz took off stage and joined the crowd from the back, pushing everybody to the front during the dive. while doing so, he grabbed me by the shoulders and we were back diving together on the front crowd. it happened so fast i couldn't believe what was going on, but it was the best moment of my life. at the same live, because it was so crowded someone got a nosebleed from smacking into someone else's head while headbanging. (this was in 2015 when they hadn't quite reached their popularity yet so they booked the smallest live venue in town) kira noticed it and pointed it out during the MC. it took a while for the girl to come forth, but she said that she was okay and that the bleeding had stopped.
 
LM.C:
there was an older lady, like around her 60s or so and i stood next to her. i think we might've looked like mother and daughter, or grandma and granddaughter, because we were the least active in the crowd and kinda stood out. at one point aiji threw his guitar pick to the crowd and i think he was clearly aiming it at us. i didn't pick it up though...
 
Arlequin:
a guy from the crowd in the back kept yelling "DAISUKI DA!!!!" to shohei during the MC when aki left the stage for a bit, and he seemed flattered by it, but was also kinda troubled about what to say back to him. in the end he said "daisuki" too. the rest of the crowd were all just kinda laughing.

Band: Gargoyle
 
Yeaaaars ago I went to this live they did where it was basically them on stage getting crunk and passing the audience beers while they played whatever they felt like between random/hilarious MCs.
 
Band: Kuroyume
 
My friend and I paid 30,000 yen+ a piece to get scalper tickets to their sold out "last" live, because we didn't want to regret not ever seeing them.  Then Kiyoharu got desperate for some coin and got the band back together like one-two years later. Our seat numbers were horrible, and behind the stage, so the only view we got was of Kiyoharu's ass. 
 
Band: Psycho le Cemu
 
One of their Nagoya shows was particularly memorable for me because I got saizen, the set list was on fire, and I befriended a bunch of gya that still keep in touch outside of lives. Also the Osaka show of their last lives, where the gya invited many of us non-Japanese fans in attendance to write a message on a gift they had prepared for the band.
 
Their "last" live and mid-hiatus anniversary/Epilogue final. So much ugly crying and wailing. The image of all the gya leaning on each other for support as they processed their sadness over an era in their lives coming to an end has been hard to shake. Strangely, having already gone through this stage with Malice Mizer, I didn't cry. Emotions were running high, especially as there had been a few gya who had taken their own lives after speculation that the band would go on an indefinite (read: permanent) hiatus.
 
 
Also... every live I have ever worn uncomfortable shoes to just to "complete an outfit" or "stand taller". Don't do it guys, you will always regret it, lol.

in this topic i wanna discuss the most special/interesting/memorable incidents experienced during Vk lives attended in japan.
if there are also some special situations you've experienced feel free to tell us as well! ;D
 
BAND: DEZERT
 
i saw them live when they were still a pretty underground band (even before they had their very first instore event which took place only one day after i saw 'em live)
during the live there were 3 girls standing pretty close to the stage but they were the only one who didn't participated with other fans... so after chiaki screamed a few times "SHINE" while pointing at them and they still didn't move to the back he took a water bottle and spit a few times directly to the girls so they finally moved to the back...
 
BAND: B.C
 
i visited one of their sponsered lives and during one of their songs the vocalist told everyone to build a circle and to hold each others hands which each other. then while everyone was standing in circle ALL headbanged which i've never seen before in my life. during this section of the live the singer jumped down from the stage and also headbanged along standing back to back to a girl which he accidently colide with the back of their heads - kinda funny situation...
 
BAND: MeteoroiD
 
i saw them live in 2015 and during their last song everyone was kneeing down on the floor and all headbanged... you might think like: yeah but whats so special about this!?
but because of the very thick atmosphere during that part it really felt like: what fucked up cult thing is goind on right now... XD
 
so that were my most memorable experiences i had during my few lives i attended in japan so far.

imagine some shady-ass weirdo trying to look for a hitman online and accidentally stumbling upon a bunch of of MY DRAGON pvs

I've thought about this a lot and I think I've come up with a solution
 
 
We need to ban americans, scandinavians and anyone who's been into vk for less than a decade from the scene.

this hashtag is floating around again cuz of fucking mejibray, what a surprise
 
shows how much these fucking whiteys and Brazilians really care about jrock; if one band suddenly decides to take a break, then god forbid IT'S THE END OF VK AS WE KNOW IT!!11

Probably already an overstated point for some of us, but just in case we get the inevitable "BUT... did the writer/lyricist mean/intend this??" objection (thankfully we haven't) - there's a landmark essay called "The Intentional Fallacy" by Wimsatt and Beardsley that has argued quite persuasively that it's immaterial what the author had meant to say. All we have at our disposal is the text, and what matters are the various readings the text opens itself to and makes possible as it circulates across different times, spaces, languages. We're not interested in (and can never be) plumbing the depths of the author's consciousness, so that's not the point of exercises like this  But if we really want to, we can satisfy ourselves with knowing that the band had knowingly alluded to Jean-Jacques Rousseau  
 
As for the song itself: while I generally don’t have much of an intuition for this kind of lyrics (I’m sure most MH people have more meaningful things to say on the lyrics directly), I found a ton of interesting ideas in the previous posts that I feel I can say something about so allow me to briefly chip in with some of my thoughts. More than a detailed reading of the lyrics per se it's kind of a running “commentary” with some indications along the way (hopefully) on why/how these ideas might hook on to the lyrics.
 
I'll limit myself to making one longer comment and a shorter one. My longer point reads more like an extended footnote to @chemicalpictures's post so I'll put it under spoiler tags:
 
 
And the shorter remark: I was going to comment on the ‘doppelganger’ effect in the lyrics (everyone who has said something so far has noticed a kind of echo, repetition, or doubling that takes place in the lyrics) but this post is long enough so I'll keep it to a few words:
 
In Rousseau’s philosophy, he makes a distinction between what he calls amour de soi (love of the self) and amour-propre (self-love). “Love of the self” is a regard for self-preservation independent of what other people might think or feel about me, while “self-love” is a ‘corrupted’ version which arose because we desire other people to see us in a particular way. This is related to the whole "passage from savagery to civilization" narrative that the Enlightenment was obsessed with (for Rousseau, “self-love” only emerged in a “civilized” society where we're compelled to enter into social/political relationships with other people) – but more important for our purposes is how this “self-love” operates on the basis of a kind of split subjectivity. What I mean is that Rousseau’s “self-love” assumes not one but two “I”, one that other people see and we want to make look good, and a more interior/primitive “I” behind the screen that’s making this judgment in advance and dressing up the first "I", as it were. In Chiaki’s lyrics we find a series of echoes: “デキタ。” (in Katakana) becoming “できた。” (Hiragana) – a repetition but in a different script – almost like a different (/same?) person repeating the same words. Also, the line “僕は「僕」と君とディナー” is precisely this doubling of the self that Rousseau’s “self-love” gestures towards: an (authentic) I, and a (spectral) “I” that exists as a second-order construction in language, set typographically here in quotation marks.
 

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~

I used to live in Tokyo and when I go back for visits I try to stay near Shinjuku station, in that area around Shin-Okubo, Okubo, Nishi-Shinjuku. I think there are a couple of business hotels near Like an Edison for around 7,000 yen per night. Since I like to go for 2 to 3 weeks and stay in Tokyo the whole time, I’ve been getting places on Airbnb so I can have a kitchen. For my next trip I got a studio apartment near Shin-Okubo for about $800 (USD) for 2 weeks. It’s a lot more than normal rent, but cheaper than a business hotel in the area. Airbnb also has some guesthouse-style places with private bedrooms and shared kitchens and bathrooms which are much cheaper.
 
As a resident of Japan I was usually stuck on Willer Bus when I traveled to other cities, but as a tourist I get the JR pass and travel in luxury on the Shinkansen. Worth it. If you’re getting on the Shinkansen in Tokyo and going west/south, try to use Shinagawa station instead of Tokyo station. Shinagawa has a nicer layout and is much easier for transfers, and it has better bentos for sale. Those of you coming to Tokyo from other cities might want to get off in Shinagawa instead of Tokyo too.
 
Outside Tokyo I normally get business hotels on Rakuten, but In Osaka I’ve usually stayed at Hotel Chuo in the Dobutsuen-mae area. That neighborhood is sketchy by Japanese standards, but it’s clean and safe compared to Western cities. This is one of the better hotels in that area. It has private guest rooms and shared bathrooms, and advance bookings are 2600 yen/night for a single. Every time I’ve been there the clientele seems to be a mix of bangya and foreign backpackers. 
http://www.chuogroup.jp/chuo/english/index.html

I always get shy around Japanese fans/bangya, to the ridiculous point that yesterday I was next to this girl and she was alone and looked very friendly but the only interaction we ended up having is after the live, when we spent like 5 minutes apologizing to each other about accidentally bumping our heads while moshing. D:
Maybe spending 6 hours on a bus with people could be more beneficial for that purpose. Or seizing the moment and actually TALKING to people. I think that would be my tip - don't be me, talk to people, they all seem so nice!
 
Anyway I'm spoiled so I always find a way to get home the same day - the furthest I've traveled so far for a live was from Tokyo to Ibaraki.

I'm back with the third installment of "Copy/Paste", where I roast visual kei songs under a microscope for taking an ounce or two more influence than they should from their favorite bands. This installment is focused on cases where it's incredibly obvious if you listen for more than a few seconds. Sometimes, I don't even think they tried to hide it.
 
Moran's "Lyrics of the DEAD"
stems from "Evolution" by Ayumi Hamasaki
Homage or Copy: Homage!
 
 
 
 
Viored's "君影草 (Kimikage Kusa)"
stems from "RED...[em]" by Dir en grey
"Kasumi" by Dir en grey
Homage or Copy: Copy!
 
 
 
 
 
√eight's "Illational of the people"
stems from "electric cucumber"by zilch
Homage or Copy: √eight's is a zilch cover band
 
 
 
 
Black Gene For The Next Scene's "DOOM"
stems from "INCREASE BLUE" by Dir en grey
Homage or Copy: Definitely a nod towards Dir en grey
 
 
 
 
 
Dir en grey's "Unknown...despair...a lost"
stems from "G" by Luna Sea
Homage or Copy: "Heavily" "inspired"
 
 
 
Xaa-Xaa's "ラストダンス (Last Dance)"
stems from "Dance Rock night" by girugamesh
Homage or Copy: You can play them one after the other and they line up damn near perfectly
 
 
 
 

I always get shy around Japanese fans/bangya, to the ridiculous point that yesterday I was next to this girl and she was alone and looked very friendly but the only interaction we ended up having is after the live, when we spent like 5 minutes apologizing to each other about accidentally bumping our heads while moshing. D:
Maybe spending 6 hours on a bus with people could be more beneficial for that purpose. Or seizing the moment and actually TALKING to people. I think that would be my tip - don't be me, talk to people, they all seem so nice!
 
Anyway I'm spoiled so I always find a way to get home the same day - the furthest I've traveled so far for a live was from Tokyo to Ibaraki.

approx 80% of lives i've been to were in osaka cos i lived in northern kyoto, and most bands (even established ones) tend to skip over kyoto on their tours orz. i wouldn't exactly consider kyoto-osaka ensei cos it's only a 30-40 min ride each way and i've always enjoyed inter-city train rides.
 
OP mentioned seishun18 ticket which is an excellent way of travelling between major cities if you're on a budget & have a lot of time to spare! my record was kyoto -> osaka -> himeji -> okayama -> hiroshima to see blesscode, which took 8 hours + 5-6 transfers iirc, but the savings were significant. otherwise whenever i go outside of kansai for lives, buses (either day buses or overnight) are almost always my preferred choice of transport. the only exception to this was flying to hokkaido to see some sapporo bands cos they don't ever play outside of hokkaido haha. i def recommend not ruling out this option because it's cheaper than before with even more budget domestic flights these days. also never forget to do some research in advance because usually there are tons of day passes for intra-city buses/train/etc, as well as other deals designed for tourists or people on short trips (the irony is that most of the time few are aware of this other than people living IN the city).
 
i can't remember when the last time was i've taken a shinkansen - it's just ridiculously expensive as far as i'm concerned. i'd rather have a slightly less comfortable ride and use the extra money to buy merch and cheki lolol - but that's just me.
 
on the topic of chekis... i think of it as just a way of giving money to the band short of getting their bank account number and transferring money over. most bangya probably buy these with full knowledge that they have absolutely zero use-value once you agaru.
 
 

What has always struck me when it comes to Merry Go Round is how disconnected they were from the "visual" scene of it's day. And I feel like it was almost a conscious choice to keep a distance stylistically to the other bands around at the time. I've met Kazuma briefly a few times and he's a seemingly very nice (and ancient-looking) guy, but his connections to the "visual kei" scene remains fringe at best, despite participating in some sessions and things with established people in the scene he's never been a part of it properly in my opinion and his influences and interests at large seems to lay elsewhere.
 
In terms of their influence on the next generation it's the most obvious in the other "fringe" acts, bands like deadman, mucc, emmuree, munimuni, etc. owes a lot to Merry Go Round and I don't think anyone disputes that, just look at how aie rushed at the chance of forming a band with Kazuma back with highfashionparalyze like a giddy fanboy (And  for anyone who has watched KEEL live can attest that he treats Tomoi the same way, haha). If you compare it to ROUAGE for example you'd find that they did their part influencing these acts somewhat as well but carried more influence into the more "typical" visual kei of the late 90s what with the chorus style and more "melodic" touches in the darkness.
 
Anyway, great that you're shedding some light on this band again because they're easy to forget about these days and certainly easy to overlook for anyone new to the genre.
 

best nagoya kei band ever.
 
 
 
me when I was able to purchase a majority of their discography