AwesomeNyappy

I agree. I've wondered why so many people who used to be into J-Rock are now into K-Pop and after some thinking, this was my answer. Ultimately, the marketing and demographic are similar. VK fangirls having a favourite member or buying checkies, supporting new bands by buying their records and a lot of merch...it's the same as K-pop. Liking a band, for most people in both scenes, is not only about the music, but also about the visuals and the personality of the band members, which is a great marketing stragedy. Like, if I only like the music, I might buy their album (or maybe not, I might download it illegally), but if I feel close to the band members I might just buy all of their stuff to support them, might try and advertise them to others by streaming their videos or posting on social media. While visual kei is more underground and secluded, it still works in similar ways. I'm also thinking about all the special editions you can buy (although this could be a thing of the Asian market in general.)
 
I know a lot of people who used to like visual kei and are now into K-pop. I see a young generation in the manga and anime scene who is predominantely into kpop and not into Japanese Rock and Metal (how it used to be around 10 years back.) This honestly makes me wonder how many people are actually in it for the music, tbh. I also have the feeling that a lot of people in the manga and anime scene are listening to kpop because it's "special" and "different" although the music is just, well, pop. You could as well listen to a western band. So that leads me to the conclusion that they listen to kpop because of the visuals and bandmembers. Which is absolutely okay. I just cannot stand people who'll tell you that BTS's lyrics are super profound (some lyricss are great, others are cringe) or that they are musical geniuses. I have nothing against their music, I like many of their songs. It's just that some kpop fans put them on a pedastal, saying that the music is soooo much different from western pop and that everything is sooo deep. When in reality kpop companies also hire western song writers...
 
Now for me personally I enjoy some kpop bands and songs. At first, I hated them when my friends first started listening to them back in 2008. They also used to listen to Japanese rock and then were sucked into kpop. However a few years later I started listening to some kpop occasionally (mostly big bang), but I still didn't much care for it. I had a few songs on my ipod and that's it. Nowadays, I like 2NE1's concept, and I enjoy listening to BTS and Big bang (and that one mamamoo song haha.). It takes some getting used to for me since I'm more into rock and metal, but since I also like rap music, so bts fits the bill. Mostly, I get easily sucked into kpop because I LOVE variety shows. In my teenage years I started listening to the J-pop band kat-tun simply because I liked their show. I also enjoy watching bts videos or run bts. I enjoy their on screen personalities and I have fun being in a fandom that has the best inside jokes known to man. Do I listen to all of their songs or swoon over their music video? Not at all. I don't even like most of their videos because I'm not a fan of the visuals. But I love their dancing and I enjoy their entertainment formats. 

I agree. I've wondered why so many people who used to be into J-Rock are now into K-Pop and after some thinking, this was my answer. Ultimately, the marketing and demographic are similar. VK fangirls having a favourite member or buying checkies, supporting new bands by buying their records and a lot of merch...it's the same as K-pop. Liking a band, for most people in both scenes, is not only about the music, but also about the visuals and the personality of the band members, which is a great marketing stragedy. Like, if I only like the music, I might buy their album (or maybe not, I might download it illegally), but if I feel close to the band members I might just buy all of their stuff to support them, might try and advertise them to others by streaming their videos or posting on social media. While visual kei is more underground and secluded, it still works in similar ways. I'm also thinking about all the special editions you can buy (although this could be a thing of the Asian market in general.)
 
I know a lot of people who used to like visual kei and are now into K-pop. I see a young generation in the manga and anime scene who is predominantely into kpop and not into Japanese Rock and Metal (how it used to be around 10 years back.) This honestly makes me wonder how many people are actually in it for the music, tbh. I also have the feeling that a lot of people in the manga and anime scene are listening to kpop because it's "special" and "different" although the music is just, well, pop. You could as well listen to a western band. So that leads me to the conclusion that they listen to kpop because of the visuals and bandmembers. Which is absolutely okay. I just cannot stand people who'll tell you that BTS's lyrics are super profound (some lyricss are great, others are cringe) or that they are musical geniuses. I have nothing against their music, I like many of their songs. It's just that some kpop fans put them on a pedastal, saying that the music is soooo much different from western pop and that everything is sooo deep. When in reality kpop companies also hire western song writers...
 
Now for me personally I enjoy some kpop bands and songs. At first, I hated them when my friends first started listening to them back in 2008. They also used to listen to Japanese rock and then were sucked into kpop. However a few years later I started listening to some kpop occasionally (mostly big bang), but I still didn't much care for it. I had a few songs on my ipod and that's it. Nowadays, I like 2NE1's concept, and I enjoy listening to BTS and Big bang (and that one mamamoo song haha.). It takes some getting used to for me since I'm more into rock and metal, but since I also like rap music, so bts fits the bill. Mostly, I get easily sucked into kpop because I LOVE variety shows. In my teenage years I started listening to the J-pop band kat-tun simply because I liked their show. I also enjoy watching bts videos or run bts. I enjoy their on screen personalities and I have fun being in a fandom that has the best inside jokes known to man. Do I listen to all of their songs or swoon over their music video? Not at all. I don't even like most of their videos because I'm not a fan of the visuals. But I love their dancing and I enjoy their entertainment formats. 

I see no much difference in the Kpop and VK scenes besides the musical genre.
They both have a similar marketing, cater to a similar demographic, both scenes have some sort of sexual exploitation behind a pretty facade, similar arguably repetitive sounds (even choreo) and both have performers posing as musicians playing/singing and dancing to songs they didn't write, although VK does have a lot more performers actually writing their music.

wow
when i saw the thread title i thought the thing would look more...normal? like, he was in a big band, i expected to see a settled down, mature musician. but this looks like some amateur vk enthusiast project, which is not bad actually

Hey y'all! Visual Kei Oyaji here as well!

I'll be 30 next year, and i'll be damned if i stop listening to the bands that I stan (Plastic Tree, Dir en grey, sukekiyo, THE NOVEMBERS).

Hahaha, this thread has become a support group for the vk elders XD Welcome welcome, have a cookie!
 

Welcome my dear children! How's vk doing these days? 😎
 
I see you can even listen to your weird japanese metal on Spotify, kids have it way too easy nowadays... 
BACK IN MY DAY I had to hunt single songs in 92kbps on dial-up Limewire and half the time ended up with "I did not have sexual relations with that woman.mp3".
 
Funny story, that's how I got into vk! 13-year-old me was browsing the wide web, probably for some quality Britney Spears, and found a grainy Miyavi's Jibun Kakumei PV instead. With a 20MB download limit per day, I thought CLOSE ENOUGH and the rest is history. 
 
Now I'm back after over 10 years of impersonating a Serious Adult™ and I have Opinions™ to share. 
 
Some bands that I used to listen to (some of which are surprisingly still around!): Miyavi (duh), MUCC, Merry, girugamesh, 9GOATS BLACK OUT, Hora, Kaya, Schwarz Stein (can't believe they got back together, it's like I never left!) and the whole shebang, Aural Vampire, Kagrra,, Yoshiki's classical stuff~
 
And some bands that I've discovered in the past few weeks and absolutely love: Initial'L and consequently Lycaon, DIMLIM, Xaa-Xaa~
 
Also, I'm Anna 💩
 
P.S. I also listen to a lot of kpop, all kinds of electronic and celtic music; don't expect there to be much overlap but you never know! if your music taste is as all over the place as mine, hit me up, we can share obscure recommendations!

Welcome!
Living in rural areas in Germany is hell for VK fans, I know that from experience ;D 
I hope you will get the chance to see gazette live this weekend. I'll be at the show in Cologne. If you want to meet there, just PM me!

I discover An Cafe by  my sister's rock magazine, because the old family is really slow to start. Maybe it's 2006 or 2007, and Bou was in the band.  I was 12 or 13 years old don't know visual kei and I convinced Bou was a women 😥. My little sister explained me  Bou was a guy.   And more later , I watch their MV on Youtube.
 
My third pseudonym is Miku70, because I am great fan of Miku of An Cafe  and 70, because it's the number of my  French department .
 
An Cafe is my first band of visual kei and  I love them rapidily. I am a very shy, I bougth their album in 2008 and their old more laters. I have not best of or singles releases. ( and one cd made by my little sister and this not legal, but were very young and this his a birthday present). I have some lives DVD.
 
This band bring me so much during my teenage years and after for my difficult times. I have not them in live because , I am not live at the capital and others difficulty.
 
Their disband is a shook for me, but now I feel beter because their music live with me and nobody is dead.
 
I have not command their last DVD because it's sold-out and I am not sure in the same time. Goodbye are very sad.
 
2019 is for me the year of disbandments 😔.
 
For me, the death is more sad than a disbandement.
 
I hope the ex members of An Cafe their are happy for their new projects ☺️.
 

I mean even if sales are falling, in a country where schools still utilize fax machines I have a hard time imagining the death of CDs any time soon.

Me.

To all of you lovely people here,
 
this is the chance to introduce yourself! You don't need to get personal, you can just post who you are, maybe your hobbies, and what you like about AnCafe/when you started listening to them and why?
 
My name is AwesomeNyappy. I started listening to Ancafe when I was 13. Bou was still in the band (haha, I'm old), and he used to be my favourite member. I absolutely adored his style and used to print out pictures of the band that I would keep in a folder or pin to my wall. A friend of mine once have me a mix CD with Japanese music that an older friend of hers compiled (she was big into visual kei and cosplay.) I'd already been a fan of manga and anime for many years, so this wasn't quite of stretch. At first I thought the music sounded a bi weird, but then I got really into it. AnCafe was my first and will probably be my favourite visual kei band forever. Their sound used to be light, full of hope and yet there was a hint of melancholy and sadness about it too. I have fond memories of listening to the band when I was on holiday as a young teenager.
They were also my first concert. I had just turned 16, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Managed to again see them in 2014 in Berlin, and am very thankful for that.
When they disbanded, it felt as if an era in my life had come to an end/as if I had lost a part of myself, as cheesy as that sounds.
 
I really wanted to get their last live DVD as well, but i missed the deadline to order it by a day (I know...but I was very stressed at that time, and I wasn't even sure if I should get it for 120 euros are a lot of money.) I still try not to regret not taking the last chance to get their autographs because of how much they meant to me. I wanted this last DVD to say goodbye to them, but I guess there is nothing I can do about it now. At the same time, imagine it would've gotten lost in the mail....I would've been even sadder. Still, I now feel weird listening to them because that missed chance is on my mind (as weird as that sounds.) I don't want this regret to overshadow my love for their music.
 
However, they meant a lot to me growing up, and while I'm not the type of person to be too bumbed my disbandments (because honestly, there are worse things in life), I'm still a bit sad that I won't see them live again.
 
What about you?  

Anyone here attending the show in Cologne?

I mean, it might change the scene a bit. I quite enjoyed going to vk stores in shinjuku, it's always nice to look at a physical collection of CDs, but that is just the 90s kid in me. However, the rest is basically going to stay the same, I guess. People are just going to download the music.
However, I think this'll take some time. You talked about the west, saying that record stores are a rarity there. I can honestly not say the same about Europe. While sales of physical CDs have been declining, there are still huge record stores here. And since Japan loves places such as book of or twoer records, they will continue buying it + I think companies in Japan have their ways of attracting people to buy physical albums.
 
Take k-pop for instance: in Europe, people often download the songs illegally, and then buy the physical CD. Simply because they like the design/want to support the band/want the special features. VK is the same in that respect.

I mean, it might change the scene a bit. I quite enjoyed going to vk stores in shinjuku, it's always nice to look at a physical collection of CDs, but that is just the 90s kid in me. However, the rest is basically going to stay the same, I guess. People are just going to download the music.
However, I think this'll take some time. You talked about the west, saying that record stores are a rarity there. I can honestly not say the same about Europe. While sales of physical CDs have been declining, there are still huge record stores here. And since Japan loves places such as book of or twoer records, they will continue buying it + I think companies in Japan have their ways of attracting people to buy physical albums.
 
Take k-pop for instance: in Europe, people often download the songs illegally, and then buy the physical CD. Simply because they like the design/want to support the band/want the special features. VK is the same in that respect.

1. Red (em)
2. Toguro
3. Kodou
4. Namamekashiki....(unplugged)
5. Myaku
6. Yokan
7. Merciless cult
8. Umbrella
9. Marmalade chainsaw
10. R to the core
11. Bugaboo
12. Tousei
13. Sajo no uta
14. Unconceived sorrow
15. Tsumi no batsu
16. C
17. Zomboid
18. Embryo
19. Mr Newsman
20. The fatal believer

Ah yes. Germany is usually very expensive, but I guess there is not much difference to France, so thanks for your insight

Hello in France  at  the moment normal tickets are  45 euros and VIP tickets are 170 euros, but Germany is not the same organism so I don't know 😔.

Mhhh...I paid 40 euros for dir e grey, so I was suprised the gazette would charge such a price. I also didn't go see versailles because their tickets were 50 euros, and I thought that was a bit too expensive.
So I'm not sure if I'm going to see the gazette for 60 euros, but I guess they'll be sold out anyways.

I mean yeah in finland and germany it was between 50 and 60. Even no name vk bands charge 25 or 30 so it’s not surprising gazette would charge Japan prices in here

HELLO. I'm Rae. I've actually been a member of the forum for a very long time, I've just  never posted. 
 
My favorite bands are D, Dir en grey, D'espairsRay, MUCC, One Ok Rock!, Versailles, and many others. I'm also an avid cosplayer and nerd. Nice to meet everyone here!

I have not the best album, I don't like their english versions of their song, it's really weird 🤣.

I figured sth out!
I hope more people get involved though. I appreciate Bonds France for putting all of those tweets together
Just listening to AnCafes Best album...I can't get over the English version of smile ichiban ii onna...wtf, I can barely make out the words 😂

I only got the information from AnCafe web Germany  
I already heard about the project for I follow Bonds France o facebook, but since I don't have twitter, I think it's not possible to send a post?

If you interested The last project of BondS France is to thanks you of the band or your pics with CDs, DVDs or lives
 
This Tweets put togother here :Caffeko Memorial
 
 
And I  don't know for their last DVD, and  it's only their last live and not Miku Birthday .  Source :An Cafe Staff.