jaymee

Well, honestly with all the doujin out there for MERRY, I think that void is filled regardless of fanfics.
 
I used to read a lot of Malice Mizer and Dir fics back in high school. PIERROT fics were always pretty ick because both the overseas and Japanese (doujin) fandom were super into writing incest porn between Kirito and Kohta.
 
I imagine it would be hilarious re-reading some of that stuff with a few drinks in me first, tho.

I think my general approach to music listening has enabled my interest in VK to never wane completely. Whatever I do, I am unable to stop scouring the Internet for new artists to listen to, even as my downloads folder is bursting at the seams. I suppose I am trying to make sure I'm not missing out on good music, which obviously will always be a work in progress.
 
That's not to say I never experience fatigue with VK. But when that happens, I simply listen to whatever other styles of music I'm into, or go give a listen to something from the myriad of old school VK acts I haven't heard yet.  The spectrum of VK is pretty wide and it helps that I enjoy a great deal of it. This forum makes it rather easy for me to select the newer bands that are worth a shot. I don't feel like I have a duty to listen to VK all the time and it's perfectly fine, like in every other music scene, if sometimes there's nothing much to catch my attention or I happen to not be in the mood for it. All the years in the scene have desensitized me to the whirlwind of disbandments, so I can no longer despair over a band calling it quits. Something else will come along eventually.
 
Welp this has turned into a "why I haven't gotten over VK" argument, sorry for digressing. I concur with others that there's value in discussing this topic , more so since I've always wanted to know where the fuck my fellow Romanian VK fans have all disappeared to and a more introspective and elaborate reason why.

As much as I love PLC, I've never been able to get into MSI. Sad for seek and Aya though, since it really seemed like they were doing their best to keep it going.

Well, keiji alluded to there being other reasons, but the biggest one in his eyes was the rift occurring because AYA and seek wanted to do both bands and other members didn't see eye to eye on this. I imagine that this was just the icing on some kind of shit cake already going down in MSI lol.
 
Of course, you can imagine that Tanuki and Twitter is a shit storm of blaming AYA and seek, blaming the other members of MSI, blaming PLC... Hell I even saw a post blaming Daishi for all of this lol.

Some real gems that made me laugh tho:
 
- "Why the f would NIKA choose to make a comical band like MSI his last?"
- "It's totally because AYA is gong bald." "Dude just how bald is he now? lol"
- "Wtf is up with PLC anyways? What exactly are they trying to achieve just randomly doing stuff here and there?"
- "Sorry MSI fans, there's just more coin to be had in PLC."
- "They're practically the same band, tho. I guess there can only be one elaborate costume band."
- "Damn, AYA and seek's messages come off looking really mature compared to the rest of MSI's members."
- "GD couldn't MSI have just disbanded without the other members starting all this drama?"
- "It can't be helped. AYA and seek really carried the band." "But like wtf is in it for AYA? He's like the least popular member tho?" "Oops, my bad, second to least popular."
 
Anyways, I'll try to find out if there's any other gossip about other reasons this weekend at PLC's live. I was hoping that there'd be at least a few MSI fans that would decide not to go and I could maybe get a better ticket number, but alas that doesn't seem to be the case so far. It would be hilarious if PLC's live sold out just to spite the MSI member backlash and their fans, tho.
 
I'm personally with the girl who said this on Twitter:
 
"I'm a PLC fan to the marrow of my bones. I'll keep supporting both members with everything I have."

Dir en grey has a strict "no fun allowed" policy. Please enjoy your stay.

Well, keiji alluded to there being other reasons, but the biggest one in his eyes was the rift occurring because AYA and seek wanted to do both bands and other members didn't see eye to eye on this. I imagine that this was just the icing on some kind of shit cake already going down in MSI lol.
 
Of course, you can imagine that Tanuki and Twitter is a shit storm of blaming AYA and seek, blaming the other members of MSI, blaming PLC... Hell I even saw a post blaming Daishi for all of this lol.

Some real gems that made me laugh tho:
 
- "Why the f would NIKA choose to make a comical band like MSI his last?"
- "It's totally because AYA is gong bald." "Dude just how bald is he now? lol"
- "Wtf is up with PLC anyways? What exactly are they trying to achieve just randomly doing stuff here and there?"
- "Sorry MSI fans, there's just more coin to be had in PLC."
- "They're practically the same band, tho. I guess there can only be one elaborate costume band."
- "Damn, AYA and seek's messages come off looking really mature compared to the rest of MSI's members."
- "GD couldn't MSI have just disbanded without the other members starting all this drama?"
- "It can't be helped. AYA and seek really carried the band." "But like wtf is in it for AYA? He's like the least popular member tho?" "Oops, my bad, second to least popular."
 
Anyways, I'll try to find out if there's any other gossip about other reasons this weekend at PLC's live. I was hoping that there'd be at least a few MSI fans that would decide not to go and I could maybe get a better ticket number, but alas that doesn't seem to be the case so far. It would be hilarious if PLC's live sold out just to spite the MSI member backlash and their fans, tho.
 
I'm personally with the girl who said this on Twitter:
 
"I'm a PLC fan to the marrow of my bones. I'll keep supporting both members with everything I have."

Klubb Lunacy is one of Europe's oldest Visual Kei nightclubs, which originally ran between 2004 and 2010. After a 7 years long hiatus, I'm happy to announce that I'm the one who is carrying on the torch and together with the old owner I'm reforming it and intend to make it stronger than ever. The first date is set for 1 of September in Stockholm, Sweden. Six hours of old and new Visual Kei music, a Visual Kei outfit competition with an amazing prize sponsored by RarezHut, and the chance to hang out with over one hundred other fans of this increasingly rare style of music.
 
And while we hope that some of you might be able to attend this grand revival, we don't intend to limit our activities to Sweden, and would be glad to bring it wherever enough people who are interested might be located, mainly in Europe. So if you have any connections or ideas please feel free to message me and we'll see what can be done!
 
The clubs Facebook is located here:
https://www.facebook.com/KlubbLunacy/
 
And the event itself is located here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1435508826514161/
 
Most posts have an English version after the Swedish text, so please scroll down if you want more info!
 
We're glad for any and all support we can get from you guys as we try to bring back some community and party to the fandom! 
 
Also a special thanks to @orange~ who designed our logo!

Perhaps. It seems like Miki (and possibly the other members) were upset that AYA and seek decided to do PLC again without giving much regard to the other MSI members' feelings. Perhaps AYA and seek thought this would be OK because they intended to, and were, seriously working hard in both bands. But it seems at least two of the members felt at least a little "betrayed" they were not loyal to just one band.

I feel like if AYA and seek were not slacking in MSI, it's a little selfish of the other members to confine them to one band. Often PLC just got the leftover dates of whatever dates MSI and the other PLC members' other bands weren't playing. Though I imagine there had to be schedule compromises between all the members, it's not like MSI got put on the back burner for PLC.
 
AYA and seek's dreams have always been to play Budokan, like the rest of PLC. But this will never happen with MSI, even if they both preferred MSI. MSI is just not popular enough. You could say it's selfish for them to want so many things.
 
Even for PLC, I can't say they'll ever make it there. Maybe it will be harder now since at this point, it's causing huge rifts between fans of one band or the other, or both, on Twitter. Maybe things will get better after the initial shock wears off, though.

So reading though all of it, it seems that although AYA and seek had no intentions of leaving MSI to continue with PLC, some or all of the other members had their reservations about them continuing with two bands at the same time, and finally in light of this, NIKA and Miki felt they could no longer continue to be a part of MSI. It doesn't seem like AYA and seek were slacking off any in MSI, just that some or all of the members felt everyone's hearts should be in the same place with just their one band.
 
If re-posting this/these translation(s) elsewhere, please link back here/credit me, yeah?

 
[2017/08/23]
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
We’d like to express our sincerest gratitude for your continued support of Mix Speakers,Inc.
Following the EX THEATER ROPPONGI performance on February 25, 2018, Mix Speakers,Inc. will disband.
We deeply apologize from the bottom of our hearts for this sudden announcement.
We are sincerely grateful to all of our fans, staff, and everyone who has supported us during these many, 11 years.
 
Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
[NIKA]
 
 [MIKI]
 
[AYA]
 
[keiji]
 
[seek]
 
[ S. ]
 
AYA posted some follow-up tweets in light of the disbandment announcement, and I felt like this one was particularly relevant:
 
 
"What’s next
After MSI’s disbandment was decided, I did a lot of thinking. I thought about retiring, and I also thought about devoting myself entirely to Psycho le Cemu, but I can’t help but still want to keep making my own music.
Nothing has changed about wanting to express myself and I still have much to give.
I’m not sure what form of activity this will take, but I want to create a new place to express myself."
 
So it seems like regardless of PLC getting back together, AYA didn't want to contain himself to just one outlet of expression. Perhaps seek feels the same way, although he hasn't posted or expressed any thoughts since tweeting about MSI's disbandment announcement.
 
 

So reading though all of it, it seems that although AYA and seek had no intentions of leaving MSI to continue with PLC, some or all of the other members had their reservations about them continuing with two bands at the same time, and finally in light of this, NIKA and Miki felt they could no longer continue to be a part of MSI. It doesn't seem like AYA and seek were slacking off any in MSI, just that some or all of the members felt everyone's hearts should be in the same place with just their one band.
 
If re-posting this/these translation(s) elsewhere, please link back here/credit me, yeah?

 
[2017/08/23]
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
We’d like to express our sincerest gratitude for your continued support of Mix Speakers,Inc.
Following the EX THEATER ROPPONGI performance on February 25, 2018, Mix Speakers,Inc. will disband.
We deeply apologize from the bottom of our hearts for this sudden announcement.
We are sincerely grateful to all of our fans, staff, and everyone who has supported us during these many, 11 years.
 
Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
[NIKA]
 
 [MIKI]
 
[AYA]
 
[keiji]
 
[seek]
 
[ S. ]
 
AYA posted some follow-up tweets in light of the disbandment announcement, and I felt like this one was particularly relevant:
 
 
"What’s next
After MSI’s disbandment was decided, I did a lot of thinking. I thought about retiring, and I also thought about devoting myself entirely to Psycho le Cemu, but I can’t help but still want to keep making my own music.
Nothing has changed about wanting to express myself and I still have much to give.
I’m not sure what form of activity this will take, but I want to create a new place to express myself."
 
So it seems like regardless of PLC getting back together, AYA didn't want to contain himself to just one outlet of expression. Perhaps seek feels the same way, although he hasn't posted or expressed any thoughts since tweeting about MSI's disbandment announcement.
 
 

Actually I'll just go ahead and post a translation of the general announcement and NIKA's message first, because I think it offers the most insight into what is going on. I'll update with the others later.
 
[2017/08/23]
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
We’d like to express our sincerest gratitude for your continued support of Mix Speakers,Inc.
Following the EX THEATER ROPPONGI performance on February 25, 2018, Mix Speakers,Inc. will disband.
We deeply apologize from the bottom of our hearts for this sudden announcement.
We are sincerely grateful to all of our fans, staff, and everyone who has supported us during these many, 11 years.
 
Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
 
[NIKA]
Just as it says, we’ve decided to disband.
I’m sorry to surprise you all with such sudden news.
 
I know this must come as a betrayal to those of you who have supported us up until now, and were hopeful about or were anticipating more to come in the future, but as painful and regretful as it is, it can’t be helped.
 
We’ve been together for a long time.
We were able to forge many strong bonds during our activities, but we’ve also had a growing number of disagreements between us.
Although I’ve tried to bridge these disagreements once becoming aware of them, and it was my intention to put forth my best effort so we could continue together in the future, it was just too much for me.
For this I am truly sorry.
 
When we were together, stupid things would get blown up, but we’d stay positive through it all, and united on making our live shows and music the best we could.
 
It isn’t that there’s bad blood or anything like that between us.
This is the honest truth.
 
Even bearing the heaviness of these arguments on our shoulders, we pressed on with our band activities, because we love all of you bangya princesses and princes so much.
 
And because of that, I’d like to keep a bright, Mix Speakers,Inc.-like smile on my face until the very, very end.
 
I’ve decided that Mix Speakers will be my last band, so after our disbandment I have no plans to form another band or take the stage again.
So I sincerely ask that somehow, you come to say goodbye.
In order to make Mix Speakers, Inc. stand out, even if it's just a little bit more, all of us will be putting everything we have into our final tour.
 
Finally, to all of you who have supported us up until this point, you have my sincerest gratitude.
I hope you’ll continue to support us for just a little longer.

So reading though all of it, it seems that although AYA and seek had no intentions of leaving MSI to continue with PLC, some or all of the other members had their reservations about them continuing with two bands at the same time, and finally in light of this, NIKA and Miki felt they could no longer continue to be a part of MSI. It doesn't seem like AYA and seek were slacking off any in MSI, just that some or all of the members felt everyone's hearts should be in the same place with just their one band.
 
If re-posting this/these translation(s) elsewhere, please link back here/credit me, yeah?

 
[2017/08/23]
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
We’d like to express our sincerest gratitude for your continued support of Mix Speakers,Inc.
Following the EX THEATER ROPPONGI performance on February 25, 2018, Mix Speakers,Inc. will disband.
We deeply apologize from the bottom of our hearts for this sudden announcement.
We are sincerely grateful to all of our fans, staff, and everyone who has supported us during these many, 11 years.
 
Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
[NIKA]
 
 [MIKI]
 
[AYA]
 
[keiji]
 
[seek]
 
[ S. ]
 
AYA posted some follow-up tweets in light of the disbandment announcement, and I felt like this one was particularly relevant:
 
 
"What’s next
After MSI’s disbandment was decided, I did a lot of thinking. I thought about retiring, and I also thought about devoting myself entirely to Psycho le Cemu, but I can’t help but still want to keep making my own music.
Nothing has changed about wanting to express myself and I still have much to give.
I’m not sure what form of activity this will take, but I want to create a new place to express myself."
 
So it seems like regardless of PLC getting back together, AYA didn't want to contain himself to just one outlet of expression. Perhaps seek feels the same way, although he hasn't posted or expressed any thoughts since tweeting about MSI's disbandment announcement.
 
 

They posted the news today on their official site:
 
http://www.mixspeakersnet.com/sp/news/report.html?id=767
 
I'll translate the member messages later tonight if anyone is interested. (Since every member wrote something it's kind of long and I don't have enough time before my lunch break ends...)

Actually I'll just go ahead and post a translation of the general announcement and NIKA's message first, because I think it offers the most insight into what is going on. I'll update with the others later.
 
[2017/08/23]
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
We’d like to express our sincerest gratitude for your continued support of Mix Speakers,Inc.
Following the EX THEATER ROPPONGI performance on February 25, 2018, Mix Speakers,Inc. will disband.
We deeply apologize from the bottom of our hearts for this sudden announcement.
We are sincerely grateful to all of our fans, staff, and everyone who has supported us during these many, 11 years.
 
Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
 
[NIKA]
Just as it says, we’ve decided to disband.
I’m sorry to surprise you all with such sudden news.
 
I know this must come as a betrayal to those of you who have supported us up until now, and were hopeful about or were anticipating more to come in the future, but as painful and regretful as it is, it can’t be helped.
 
We’ve been together for a long time.
We were able to forge many strong bonds during our activities, but we’ve also had a growing number of disagreements between us.
Although I’ve tried to bridge these disagreements once becoming aware of them, and it was my intention to put forth my best effort so we could continue together in the future, it was just too much for me.
For this I am truly sorry.
 
When we were together, stupid things would get blown up, but we’d stay positive through it all, and united on making our live shows and music the best we could.
 
It isn’t that there’s bad blood or anything like that between us.
This is the honest truth.
 
Even bearing the heaviness of these arguments on our shoulders, we pressed on with our band activities, because we love all of you bangya princesses and princes so much.
 
And because of that, I’d like to keep a bright, Mix Speakers,Inc.-like smile on my face until the very, very end.
 
I’ve decided that Mix Speakers will be my last band, so after our disbandment I have no plans to form another band or take the stage again.
So I sincerely ask that somehow, you come to say goodbye.
In order to make Mix Speakers, Inc. stand out, even if it's just a little bit more, all of us will be putting everything we have into our final tour.
 
Finally, to all of you who have supported us up until this point, you have my sincerest gratitude.
I hope you’ll continue to support us for just a little longer.

Actually I'll just go ahead and post a translation of the general announcement and NIKA's message first, because I think it offers the most insight into what is going on. I'll update with the others later.
 
[2017/08/23]
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
Imporant Announcement from Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
We’d like to express our sincerest gratitude for your continued support of Mix Speakers,Inc.
Following the EX THEATER ROPPONGI performance on February 25, 2018, Mix Speakers,Inc. will disband.
We deeply apologize from the bottom of our hearts for this sudden announcement.
We are sincerely grateful to all of our fans, staff, and everyone who has supported us during these many, 11 years.
 
Mix Speakers,Inc.
 
 
[NIKA]
Just as it says, we’ve decided to disband.
I’m sorry to surprise you all with such sudden news.
 
I know this must come as a betrayal to those of you who have supported us up until now, and were hopeful about or were anticipating more to come in the future, but as painful and regretful as it is, it can’t be helped.
 
We’ve been together for a long time.
We were able to forge many strong bonds during our activities, but we’ve also had a growing number of disagreements between us.
Although I’ve tried to bridge these disagreements once becoming aware of them, and it was my intention to put forth my best effort so we could continue together in the future, it was just too much for me.
For this I am truly sorry.
 
When we were together, stupid things would get blown up, but we’d stay positive through it all, and united on making our live shows and music the best we could.
 
It isn’t that there’s bad blood or anything like that between us.
This is the honest truth.
 
Even bearing the heaviness of these arguments on our shoulders, we pressed on with our band activities, because we love all of you bangya princesses and princes so much.
 
And because of that, I’d like to keep a bright, Mix Speakers,Inc.-like smile on my face until the very, very end.
 
I’ve decided that Mix Speakers will be my last band, so after our disbandment I have no plans to form another band or take the stage again.
So I sincerely ask that somehow, you come to say goodbye.
In order to make Mix Speakers, Inc. stand out, even if it's just a little bit more, all of us will be putting everything we have into our final tour.
 
Finally, to all of you who have supported us up until this point, you have my sincerest gratitude.
I hope you’ll continue to support us for just a little longer.

It could be a mix of those reasons. Perhaps just hunting down another vocalist was already trouble enough before. They're really a niche band and finding another singer could be more trouble than it's worth when PLC could possibly just have more activity to make for it.

They posted the news today on their official site:
 
http://www.mixspeakersnet.com/sp/news/report.html?id=767
 
I'll translate the member messages later tonight if anyone is interested. (Since every member wrote something it's kind of long and I don't have enough time before my lunch break ends...)

They will disband after their live "～Good-bye JUNK STORY～" at EX THEATER ROPPONGI at 2018/2/25, after which Vo.NIKA will retire.

They posted the news today on their official site:
 
http://www.mixspeakersnet.com/sp/news/report.html?id=767
 
I'll translate the member messages later tonight if anyone is interested. (Since every member wrote something it's kind of long and I don't have enough time before my lunch break ends...)

Eh, I don't know. It's not that I don't like any VK bands anymore and I still listen to much of what I was into 5-10 years ago (the "classics"), but with the huge flow of band's and releases it just gets harder and harder to find new bands I enjoy. Back in the day when I first got into VK I started with all the classic bands and big bands, making it easy to find quality bands. Nowadays it feels like everyone is releasing something and I have to go through 50 bands to find one I like. Not worth the time IMO. And the "recent" metalcore-esque tend really didn't do me any favors as I despise the sound of modern, 2000's metalcore.
 
But this goes for every genre and scene. Like the depressive black metal boom, thrash metal boom, othrodox black metal boom and so on. I like all these subgenres a lot, but suddenly you had to listen to 50+ albums to find one decent within these styles because "everyone" did them. It was just too much shit getting released which made it hard to find something good, which again made me look for something else. Basically same with VK for me.

About 4½ but yes, your point still stands, I actually didn't think they gained much overseas exposure until they started putting out their mini albums. I can only speak about the fandom from 2003 (when Batsu started out) and forward but since then at least D'espairsRay have been in fairly good standing. And it's true that the early fandom focused on different bands, but it wasn't until the VK boom that VK fans became a force to be reckoned with in terms of playing concerts and stuff, so I think the point about GLAY, Shazna etc. being of relatively tiny importance to the overseas fandom compared to how it was in Japan still stands. And probably the reverse for a lot of the no name bands that were riding on the VK popularity boom and saw their chance to come overseas and play to audiences of a size they had no business playing to.
 
To be fair though, I think the American and the European perspective is a bit different and I don't have a lot of knowledge on the early days of the fandom over there, so it could also be that I have a different perspective based on that.

But like... at 2004 they had already been around for like 5 years, yeah? I remember when they first started out, there was a joke going around that nobody in the band could even play their instruments live. I'm not sure if this was started by Japanese gya and then this gossip got translated over, or it was just a bunch of foreign VK fans being petty.

From the early 2000s I feel like a good part of the overseas VK fanbase was on Livejournal or Batsu and there were a lot of active VK communities, so it wasn't hard to figure out what was popular with overseas fans at the time, and Despairsray didn't start out with a favorable reputation on either. No doubt that over time that completely changed. Also, during this time, GLAY was still really popular with overseas fans. Same with La'cryma Christi, Shazna, Rouage, etc. It really just feels like it's people who got into the scene from the mid-2000s on that don't know or listen to these bands. Because there was less general access to VK music back then compared to now, what was popular was whatever was being shared the most, and that tended to be whatever stuff overseas j-pop fans and gya in Japan were posting.
 
Of course, like you said, that means what was popular overseas was often completely different than what was actually popular in Japan. This still happens now to some extent, too. Japan-wise, by the mid-2000s Despairsray was steadily growing in popularity but they weren't huge in comparison to many other VK bands at that time.

In the past, overseas conventions would get at lot of nobody acts ( Duel Jewel especially comes to mind), and they would sell much better than they normally would in Japan just because people didn't care as long as they were Japanese. Ironically Duel Jewel eventually went on to become more popular in Japan (and less so overseas), and it seems like Despairsray also became much more popular (as in playing one mans at bigger live houses) in Japan.
 

Ah, sorry, I meant D'espairsray got a lot of hate from overseas fans early in their career. It seems like over time that changed.

If they were headlining taibans, I guess it's safe to say they were well received by Japanese gya for the most part. It didn't seem like a lot of people left before/during their sets the few times I saw them. Even when people leave, you never know if that's because of last train times, they feel sick, have another conflicting event nearby, etc. Although I've yet to meet a gya whose honmei is/was D'espairsray I'm sure they exist lol I mean some gya out there had to like them that much for them to do that reunion event with Angelo, yeah?

I feel like a lot of Japanese fans won't openly display their dislike of a band, or if they do dislike the band or don't really know them, might just hang back or go out for a smoke or something. I wasn't hot on any Despairsray gossip either, tbh. None of the girls I went to lives with were really into them enough for the subject to come up.

Ah, sorry, I meant D'espairsray got a lot of hate from overseas fans early in their career. It seems like over time that changed.

If they were headlining taibans, I guess it's safe to say they were well received by Japanese gya for the most part. It didn't seem like a lot of people left before/during their sets the few times I saw them. Even when people leave, you never know if that's because of last train times, they feel sick, have another conflicting event nearby, etc. Although I've yet to meet a gya whose honmei is/was D'espairsray I'm sure they exist lol I mean some gya out there had to like them that much for them to do that reunion event with Angelo, yeah?

I feel like a lot of Japanese fans won't openly display their dislike of a band, or if they do dislike the band or don't really know them, might just hang back or go out for a smoke or something. I wasn't hot on any Despairsray gossip either, tbh. None of the girls I went to lives with were really into them enough for the subject to come up.

A lot of people disliked D'espairsray when they first came out. It always amazes me how bands that were once considered shitty have become revered over time lol.

I remember going to my first or second live being like... jfc whose idea was it to invite them to this taiban? I walked out halfway through their set, as they were the last act (so obviously they were the main act but gd...) and I was like uhhh nope not feeling it. "Dope" isn't their worst song by far, though.