raphael

Sure, but it's not like seeing Mejibray live is just a matter of buying tickets and driving to a local venue for anyone outside Japan. 

Under spoilers for NSFW renaissance paintings. Pretty satisfied with this pairing, I don't think I've changed it in about a year.
 
 

Dyed my hair a few weeks back
 

I dyed my hair again ** I feel so comfortable with dark brown

I got a haircut and feel pretty, so here you go ^^
 

Where did all these cute girls come from all of a sudden? lol

I agree with everything you said, but I think this here is a little bit different, though. 4chan has the whole anonymity thing going for it, so of course it's going to be a volatile cesspool. People can say whatever they want, no matter how outlandish and crass, and have no repercussions. Obviously you don't need to have any sort of personal identity tied to you on MH, but everyone can comb through your post archive. You accumulate a history. Everyone has their own little persona. 
 
 
Ultimately, this is my philosophy. I know what I like, I know what I dislike, and I know what sounds good to me. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, and really, people are stubborn with their opinions, especially when it comes to music. And unfortunately, I'm one of those people that has a hard time talking about music. It's difficult for me to describe what I like or dislike in a song, so sometimes I feel left out on the discussions anyway, but occasionally I can chime in on things I feel like I can concisely and confidently talk about. It's a happy medium. Less drama, fewer toes stepped on. I like it.
 
A lot of what I wanted to say in response OP has already been said, but I will throw out that I love this website, I really do. I think it's great that we can have this town-hall-esque get together where we can talk about this dumb genre of music that seemingly only a handful of people like. But admittedly, yes, sometimes it can get a little frustrating when people are being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian or are only contributing to a discussion to bait and provoke people. But I think it's important to note that internet culture has changed exponentially within the past half-decade as well. It's become a normality to express things in a satirical, flat, curt-and-to-the-point manner, almost to the point of being insulting. Lest we forget that it's hard to convey emotion through text. I could be wrong, but with short-form media (twitter, microblogging [i.e., tumblr]) becoming more popular, well-thought-out and long-form discussion is phasing out, and you're going to see more troll, "just disband lol" comments more frequently.
 
However, this whole conversation, in the context of any form of media, is murky and wading in incredibly grey waters. As people have mentioned above, music is an extremely subjective thing. At the end of the day, this is what it boils down to, I think.
 
Also:
 
 
 

You've got amazing music tastes ! Welcome here, enjoy your stay  

Heey welcome. 
I'm sure you'll have lots of fun here and will find more interesting stuff to listen to  I hope to see you around!

Welcome to the forum! I notice you and I have quite similar Vkei tastes xD. 
Anyway, I hope you have fun here!

I agree with everything you said, but I think this here is a little bit different, though. 4chan has the whole anonymity thing going for it, so of course it's going to be a volatile cesspool. People can say whatever they want, no matter how outlandish and crass, and have no repercussions. Obviously you don't need to have any sort of personal identity tied to you on MH, but everyone can comb through your post archive. You accumulate a history. Everyone has their own little persona. 
 
 
Ultimately, this is my philosophy. I know what I like, I know what I dislike, and I know what sounds good to me. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, and really, people are stubborn with their opinions, especially when it comes to music. And unfortunately, I'm one of those people that has a hard time talking about music. It's difficult for me to describe what I like or dislike in a song, so sometimes I feel left out on the discussions anyway, but occasionally I can chime in on things I feel like I can concisely and confidently talk about. It's a happy medium. Less drama, fewer toes stepped on. I like it.
 
A lot of what I wanted to say in response OP has already been said, but I will throw out that I love this website, I really do. I think it's great that we can have this town-hall-esque get together where we can talk about this dumb genre of music that seemingly only a handful of people like. But admittedly, yes, sometimes it can get a little frustrating when people are being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian or are only contributing to a discussion to bait and provoke people. But I think it's important to note that internet culture has changed exponentially within the past half-decade as well. It's become a normality to express things in a satirical, flat, curt-and-to-the-point manner, almost to the point of being insulting. Lest we forget that it's hard to convey emotion through text. I could be wrong, but with short-form media (twitter, microblogging [i.e., tumblr]) becoming more popular, well-thought-out and long-form discussion is phasing out, and you're going to see more troll, "just disband lol" comments more frequently.
 
However, this whole conversation, in the context of any form of media, is murky and wading in incredibly grey waters. As people have mentioned above, music is an extremely subjective thing. At the end of the day, this is what it boils down to, I think.
 
Also:
 
 
 

I agree with everything you said, but I think this here is a little bit different, though. 4chan has the whole anonymity thing going for it, so of course it's going to be a volatile cesspool. People can say whatever they want, no matter how outlandish and crass, and have no repercussions. Obviously you don't need to have any sort of personal identity tied to you on MH, but everyone can comb through your post archive. You accumulate a history. Everyone has their own little persona. 
 
 
Ultimately, this is my philosophy. I know what I like, I know what I dislike, and I know what sounds good to me. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, and really, people are stubborn with their opinions, especially when it comes to music. And unfortunately, I'm one of those people that has a hard time talking about music. It's difficult for me to describe what I like or dislike in a song, so sometimes I feel left out on the discussions anyway, but occasionally I can chime in on things I feel like I can concisely and confidently talk about. It's a happy medium. Less drama, fewer toes stepped on. I like it.
 
A lot of what I wanted to say in response OP has already been said, but I will throw out that I love this website, I really do. I think it's great that we can have this town-hall-esque get together where we can talk about this dumb genre of music that seemingly only a handful of people like. But admittedly, yes, sometimes it can get a little frustrating when people are being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian or are only contributing to a discussion to bait and provoke people. But I think it's important to note that internet culture has changed exponentially within the past half-decade as well. It's become a normality to express things in a satirical, flat, curt-and-to-the-point manner, almost to the point of being insulting. Lest we forget that it's hard to convey emotion through text. I could be wrong, but with short-form media (twitter, microblogging [i.e., tumblr]) becoming more popular, well-thought-out and long-form discussion is phasing out, and you're going to see more troll, "just disband lol" comments more frequently.
 
However, this whole conversation, in the context of any form of media, is murky and wading in incredibly grey waters. As people have mentioned above, music is an extremely subjective thing. At the end of the day, this is what it boils down to, I think.
 
Also:
 
 
 

I agree with everything you said, but I think this here is a little bit different, though. 4chan has the whole anonymity thing going for it, so of course it's going to be a volatile cesspool. People can say whatever they want, no matter how outlandish and crass, and have no repercussions. Obviously you don't need to have any sort of personal identity tied to you on MH, but everyone can comb through your post archive. You accumulate a history. Everyone has their own little persona. 
 
 
Ultimately, this is my philosophy. I know what I like, I know what I dislike, and I know what sounds good to me. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, and really, people are stubborn with their opinions, especially when it comes to music. And unfortunately, I'm one of those people that has a hard time talking about music. It's difficult for me to describe what I like or dislike in a song, so sometimes I feel left out on the discussions anyway, but occasionally I can chime in on things I feel like I can concisely and confidently talk about. It's a happy medium. Less drama, fewer toes stepped on. I like it.
 
A lot of what I wanted to say in response OP has already been said, but I will throw out that I love this website, I really do. I think it's great that we can have this town-hall-esque get together where we can talk about this dumb genre of music that seemingly only a handful of people like. But admittedly, yes, sometimes it can get a little frustrating when people are being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian or are only contributing to a discussion to bait and provoke people. But I think it's important to note that internet culture has changed exponentially within the past half-decade as well. It's become a normality to express things in a satirical, flat, curt-and-to-the-point manner, almost to the point of being insulting. Lest we forget that it's hard to convey emotion through text. I could be wrong, but with short-form media (twitter, microblogging [i.e., tumblr]) becoming more popular, well-thought-out and long-form discussion is phasing out, and you're going to see more troll, "just disband lol" comments more frequently.
 
However, this whole conversation, in the context of any form of media, is murky and wading in incredibly grey waters. As people have mentioned above, music is an extremely subjective thing. At the end of the day, this is what it boils down to, I think.
 
Also:
 
 
 

I agree with everything you said, but I think this here is a little bit different, though. 4chan has the whole anonymity thing going for it, so of course it's going to be a volatile cesspool. People can say whatever they want, no matter how outlandish and crass, and have no repercussions. Obviously you don't need to have any sort of personal identity tied to you on MH, but everyone can comb through your post archive. You accumulate a history. Everyone has their own little persona. 
 
 
Ultimately, this is my philosophy. I know what I like, I know what I dislike, and I know what sounds good to me. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, and really, people are stubborn with their opinions, especially when it comes to music. And unfortunately, I'm one of those people that has a hard time talking about music. It's difficult for me to describe what I like or dislike in a song, so sometimes I feel left out on the discussions anyway, but occasionally I can chime in on things I feel like I can concisely and confidently talk about. It's a happy medium. Less drama, fewer toes stepped on. I like it.
 
A lot of what I wanted to say in response OP has already been said, but I will throw out that I love this website, I really do. I think it's great that we can have this town-hall-esque get together where we can talk about this dumb genre of music that seemingly only a handful of people like. But admittedly, yes, sometimes it can get a little frustrating when people are being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian or are only contributing to a discussion to bait and provoke people. But I think it's important to note that internet culture has changed exponentially within the past half-decade as well. It's become a normality to express things in a satirical, flat, curt-and-to-the-point manner, almost to the point of being insulting. Lest we forget that it's hard to convey emotion through text. I could be wrong, but with short-form media (twitter, microblogging [i.e., tumblr]) becoming more popular, well-thought-out and long-form discussion is phasing out, and you're going to see more troll, "just disband lol" comments more frequently.
 
However, this whole conversation, in the context of any form of media, is murky and wading in incredibly grey waters. As people have mentioned above, music is an extremely subjective thing. At the end of the day, this is what it boils down to, I think.
 
Also:
 
 
 

Giving thought to why you like or don't like certain bands or music and then putting that opinion on the table--that's all well and good, and an essential part of any healthy music community. Most of the time though, I feel it's not so much the fact that there is someone out there who dislikes music that you love (these people exist no matter how popular/well-regarded a band is - and I think that's something everyone will have to accept); but rather, it's the way in which their opinions are expressed.
 
Anyone who has been on MH longer than 3 days would have realized that '"criticizing" a band here (for some people at least) means articulating your opinion in a way that's as offensive/tactless as the rules possibly allow for, even if the same point can be made as effectively without insulting anyone. And that's not counting posts that aren't even proper opinions (e.g. going into a thread of a band you simply don't care for and saying 'just disband now', or going into a disbandment thread and gloating over it). 
 
So I kinda understand where OP is coming from. For the most part MH has been a valuable resource and a great community, although at times I wish people would actually spend more time on the bands they enjoy and leave the others alone if they have nothing valuable to say rather than  just looking to provoke.
 
There's always the "let's just turn the other cheek" attitude, but while that's always appreciated (and necessary for staying sane on the internet), surely the responsibility for a mature/critical community doesn't lie squarely with these people if there are others bent on being intentionally inflammatory all the time.

Some of us just have an extremely dark sense of humour that comes out best when expressing opinions in an edgy manner.
 
All you with your popcorns out, you are also part of these people. You like the drama edginess creates.
 
Not that I count myself amongst either of those people. I mean, I don't even express my opinions on this forum. I have effectively learned to live inside my own little headbubble with all the bands that I love inside and all the bands that I dislike as well as every other opinion in the world outside. Trust me, it's the happiest place in the world.

yeah people who think MH ppl are bitchy really haven't gone far into the /mu/ related circlejerkes of the net, trve black metal online communities (literal nazis sweetie...not unite haters or whatever) or pop stan twitter...THAT shit is insanity and compared to any of the three MH is an absolute fucking joke. Its tougher on jrawk fans or whatever because they get attached to their crossdressing lil babus (who are in real life hosts) bc they might be one of the few western fans on the net for x band and so they want to protect them from trolling or w/e.  I get it too....except i dont because i don't stan trash...BUT when i do i got a sense of humour about it (don't come for aiolin please im sensitive)
lets put it this way, the only way you can in any capacity get upset is because you think someone else's opinion matters...and its the net...so don't do that. you could come here and shit talk dir en grey all you'd want and i'd laugh in your face because you need your ears checked...and you can do the same for when i think ABC sound like genital warts because my opinion is stupid and its literally just that. not that talking deliberate smack is such a light thing...but...the world is ending and i get my kicks off calling MiA voldemort's whore cousin because it gets a giggle out of somebody (usually just me). also, tanuki is literally full of this stuff...just not remotely as funny *cackle*. respects to u for voicing ur opinion though!
 
I think the days of hating x band because of y are over, everyone's too depressed about jrawk to be an annoying fan. I will say that the bands that got a following on tumblr, especially mejibray, have been a target for a while simply because of the annoying fan reception. as of bands that have come later than that...i could foresee pentacum turning into a roast magnet but visual kei is dead haha!

This ties in nicely with a Facebook message I received yesterday. The lurker reading this can consider this my unofficial response, but I will get back to her shortly. Her question revolved around how to get started in the community, because from the outside looking in we can be a little off putting. But our attitudes towards music, especially Japanese music, is unique within the scene and to the Internet. We cater to an older, more seasoned demographic who know what they like and what they don't, and who really appreciate it when people take the time to explain their opinions. Other places centering around J-Rock are content with agreeing to disagree on a much more superficial level, eschewing any type of confrontation because of how easily it can slip into drama. I have a different philosophy regarding standing one's ground in a conversation, and I moderate with that philosophy in mind. I step in when things get too spicy, but overall I'm content to let two or more members plumb the depths of their differences in opinion because that's where the most interesting discussion lies. Conversation dries up quickly at the oasis of agreement, but I've had members sign up here solely to write reviews to disagree with mine. That's something that even five years ago, I would not have seen.
 
There are two extremes of fans, but as was said earlier these extremes are in every scene. We are a much smaller community, so those extremes appear exaggerated. I've witnessed fans who hate everything just to be contrarian, and I've witnessed fans with no concept of music they don't or cannot enjoy. Most members here fall into neither one of those extremes, remaining somewhere in the middle, even if we all gravitate to one extreme. The negative opinions prevail because of three main factors:
 
it's easier to be negative and engaging than positive and engaging (without seeming like a shill)  contrarian reviews are more likely to bring people to the table to argue back those with positive opinions about music just don't share them as often Like what you like, and if someone here writes a review that you disagree with, write a positive one back! It's the best way to keep a good atompshere where everyone feels like they belong, start deep discussion, and promote JRock at the same time.
 

I’ve been lurking for quite a while but finally decided to make an account. I just hope that I’ll actually get around to posting, I’m pretty shy.
 
I’ve been listening to VKei for over a decade (eleven years, to be technical), but my tastes as of late seemed to have jumped into a time machine; I used to be very diligent about keeping up with new or modern bands, but over the last couple years or so, I’ve been backtracking into more ~*old school*~ artists and I have a hard time keeping up with everything going on now. Which isn’t necessarily bad, I love what I listen to, but I’m hoping to find new stuff and expand my horizons yay etc. I found out about DADAROMA and MORRIGAN, bands I'm loving, from lurking around here, so I'm hopeful. 
 
Off the top of my head, some stuff I dig: Malice Mizer (because of course), AMADEUS, CANARY, Eliphas Levi, RENTRER EN SOI, NOi’X, Sleep My Dear, L’eprica, sibilebashir, Grieva, Madeth Gray'll, MIRAGE, UnsraW (RIP my sons), Gallo, MORE, sukekiyo, etc.
 
Outside of that, I like a lot of Japanese indie (new and old), v a p o r w a v e, metalcore and djent, hip-hop, jrock in general… it’s a mixed bag. 
 
But yeah! I look forward to seeing you guys around and actually interacting. 

How dare you guys bump this thread and bring all these hot takes to my attention.
 
Really though, I know it's been mentioned, but KAMIJO.  I'm not especially picky, I can tolerate and tend to like most vocalists and much of the weird shit they tend to do, but KAMIJO has become so insufferable to me. I used to like Versailles a lot--I'd say they were my favourite band at one point--but once I really started listening to their music objectively instead of ogling the band for their aesthetic, I couldn't suffer through it anymore. Jubilee still has some bangers though.   
 
There are some small, unimportant opinions that I have, but KAMIJO is, in my opinion, overrated and the only one that I could confidently say is a bad vocalist.
 

I’ve been lurking for quite a while but finally decided to make an account. I just hope that I’ll actually get around to posting, I’m pretty shy.
 
I’ve been listening to VKei for over a decade (eleven years, to be technical), but my tastes as of late seemed to have jumped into a time machine; I used to be very diligent about keeping up with new or modern bands, but over the last couple years or so, I’ve been backtracking into more ~*old school*~ artists and I have a hard time keeping up with everything going on now. Which isn’t necessarily bad, I love what I listen to, but I’m hoping to find new stuff and expand my horizons yay etc. I found out about DADAROMA and MORRIGAN, bands I'm loving, from lurking around here, so I'm hopeful. 
 
Off the top of my head, some stuff I dig: Malice Mizer (because of course), AMADEUS, CANARY, Eliphas Levi, RENTRER EN SOI, NOi’X, Sleep My Dear, L’eprica, sibilebashir, Grieva, Madeth Gray'll, MIRAGE, UnsraW (RIP my sons), Gallo, MORE, sukekiyo, etc.
 
Outside of that, I like a lot of Japanese indie (new and old), v a p o r w a v e, metalcore and djent, hip-hop, jrock in general… it’s a mixed bag. 
 
But yeah! I look forward to seeing you guys around and actually interacting. 

He was singing in his natural voice. What he does in Versailles is forced as fuck imo.