AwesomeNyappy

Ancafe are going to release a 2 dvds (miku’s birthday and their last live) with a personalised card with your name on it and an autograph by your favourite member. Ancafe web Germany is also taking order until the 14th of March (I think). 
I think I’m going to take teruki’s autograph because I like him a lot. Boy used to be my favourite, but since he was gone, I never really thought about who is my favourite. But teruki is awesome, so why not

Also in regards to AN CAFE, I don't say this too often, but their first full-lenght (色彩モーメント) was GREAT. I'm not sure how it holds up these days (haven't listened to it in forever), but I freaking loved it back then. マグニャカルタ also had some pretty cool tunes (mostly the singles, but still - スマイル一番 イイ♀ is a gem).
 
ETA: @r...you know you want to contribute to this thread.

Remember when back in the proverbial day oshare kei was considered by some circles as the uttermost depths of shit this scene ever delved into. If you were a frustrated male between the ages of 12 to 18 in 2005 to 2010 and enjoyed Dir en grey on more than a few occasions, such as myself, then you surely took part in this folly. 
 
Well now in retrospect I think anyone with a lick of sense has realised that we've rarely had it better. The best bands of the oshare bunch carried the torch of florid guitar noodling, big colorful outfits and nasally eccentric vocalists into their new ventures, all the while the rest of the scene was playing catch-up in black 50 dollar suit jackets with Dir en grey's angryman vocalist and nu metal stylings. Oshare's debt to older visual kei I think is often unjustly disregarded and the style largely considered as the scene jumping the shark, when I think this couldn't be further from the truth. That moment when all the Unsraw's in the world were stinking up the place, there existed a scene where one could Image an alternative reality where Japan had shut its borders in 1999 and the bandmen had to make due with their old Luna Sea and Kuroyume records. 
 
A good cutoff point for this fad I'd say could be Royz' debut ( prophetically named as "the new age". ) That kind of bijuaru did definitely exist prior to that, but I still consider it an important turning point from whence we've really hit the shits in way I'm not entirely sure we'll ever recover from.
 
I confess immediately that I'm definitely not an expert, but I know for a fact there are people on this forum who are. Some bands that were formed prior to this date, but continued after 2011, will surely apply in this topic such as Cindykate. I'd say the range is broad enough to include bands like early Dolly as well, though suppose someone could dispute that.
 
Please post and link away ( and save this thread from bombing ) because even at its very worst, this shit was at least infinitely more entertaining than all that new royzcore shite. Going to kick things off by posting some entry-level stuff 
 
 
 
Irokui never got shit in my opinion, which is quite a marvel. Stayed very consistent and their musical trajectory I thought was very logical for them, and it brought us classic tracks like Sakura Seven
 
 
Their early output was so sexy. Essential of the rainbow vomit bands that got progressively more domesticated as they went along.
 
 
Incredible from the first release until the que:sera single. They musically progressed and amassed fortunes for fancier recording equipment at a blazing speed that made me very optimistic about their future. Then the very moment they had chiseled their musicianship to almost Kiryu levels controlled chaos, they dun fuck it up with some menbas leaving and Emoro blowing his indie rock wad all over the final couple releases. Still I suppose not even at their last breaths, they never sucked.
 
 
Early Paradeis needs to be linked, not only because of what a shellacking it got on this board, but because they were unironically pretty good. If you don't like the vocalist, then you have no business listening to vk in the first place.
 
This is merely a scratch on the surface. There are tons and tons more to choose from like the earliest attempts at the style like Vinett, the more "acquired taste" like Dragonwappppper, left field like doginthepwo and the entire baroque influenced strand. 

Yeah you have pretty much summed up that news article. Can't believe he went to Sanrio though! lol The article quotes Kyo: "They (Sanrio) may want to avoid a slightly scary character. I don't like normal happy endings. I will publish this for people who resonate with the realism it depicts." And it also says he may do a sequel or create a mascot character ("yuru kyara") I would love to see his yuru-kyara XD
 
And the article opens with an introduction of Kyo as "vocalist of visual-kei rock band, DIR EN GREY". So yeah, DEG is still only recognised as a vk band.

I understand your problem! Even though I used to live in a good area for concerts (a huge city one hour away), it was rarely possible to go there because there were no trains running late. Also, Japanese bands mostly tend to tour in the same cities (Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne) that are not that close. So as a teenager with little money and no car, I rarely got to see any concerts. I could only attend my ancafe concert in 2009 because it was on a Saturday, and my family had relatives close on Cologne that my parents wanted to visit. So they took me (plus a friend of mine) by car.
 
You don’t have to speak Japanese to go to a Japanese concert though! They try to communicate with the audience in English  If you ever get the chance to see a visual kei band live, you should go for it!
 
what is your favourite song?

Whenever I see pictures of Kaoru these days I cannot help but think that he has some type of midlife crisis 😂
I much prefer him with brown hair. His blue hair is okay, his blonde hair was....let’s not talk about his blonde hair 😂

Whenever I see pictures of Kaoru these days I cannot help but think that he has some type of midlife crisis 😂
I much prefer him with brown hair. His blue hair is okay, his blonde hair was....let’s not talk about his blonde hair 😂

I agree with the yoshiki thing. Just talked to a friend about that. Let's just hope he won't film some documentary called I am Dir en Grey which is actually not about his band but just about him, and has no value whatsoever.

Is he TRYING to be Yoshiki?

Speaking of acting too cool, this fucker needs shades to eat breakfast. 
 
 

I think Shinya would rather die.

I understand your problem! Even though I used to live in a good area for concerts (a huge city one hour away), it was rarely possible to go there because there were no trains running late. Also, Japanese bands mostly tend to tour in the same cities (Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne) that are not that close. So as a teenager with little money and no car, I rarely got to see any concerts. I could only attend my ancafe concert in 2009 because it was on a Saturday, and my family had relatives close on Cologne that my parents wanted to visit. So they took me (plus a friend of mine) by car.
 
You don’t have to speak Japanese to go to a Japanese concert though! They try to communicate with the audience in English  If you ever get the chance to see a visual kei band live, you should go for it!
 
what is your favourite song?

Oh no, i was talking about the queue outside (which did not exist at half past 7 anymore). I was there at around six. I also queued for the toilet, the wardrobe and the merch booth, so there were already lots of people standing there. So we also made our way through some people to find a good spot, but it was so crowded already that we did not want to move in further to annoy people (I'm also used to concerts where things are different, but I wasn't sure about the way diru fans would take that.)
 
But I was actually quite satisfied with where I was because I had sooo much space. I could jump around and headbang, it was super fun!
 
About Die: I also find it crinchy af, but for me, that's the fun of it (or maybe I'm just too magnetised by his wavy hair, who knows lol).

Die's act is borderline cringe tbh. It's just too much.
 
We got in really late too tbh. We knew they were starting at 8 and I think we got there little after half past 7. I don't even know what queue you're talking about! I'm used to going to metalcore gigs and such so we just made our way through the crowd/pit as usual heheh

Me too! Was never a big Toshiya fan, but he left an impression on me. 
I find Die's "poser" act pretty hilarious tbh (probably not what he was going for), and I never want it to stop
 
It's super funny that you two were standing so close to each other!
I was standing way more in the back for once, but that was okay. I arrived quite late (because deutsche bahn), and the queue was already waaaaay too long. But I met some super nice people that I ended up spending the concert with, so I'm actually glad I was so late haha.

I agree with you! The set list was okay, beelzebub was a highlight though.
I did not expect “wake”, which was a pleasant surprise!
 
They did have some problems with shinya’s drums, but in general everything went quite smooth. The show was quite powerful, Kyos growls A+, and the visuals were great.
 
My personal highlight: Die’s long, waving hair. (why is it that there only seems to be some air wending on his side of the stage? 😂)
 

Your stories are very interressing 😊.
 
I discover An Cafe with French Magazine Rock  and it's a magazine who  belonged at my little sister .  In this magazine, they had a interview and a presentation of the band with Bou. And I read this during the time turned up the familial computer. Then I listen their music on Youtube. In this time I am very very shy , so I ask to my parents buy a CD of the band 2 or 3 years laters and it was with Yuuki and Takuya. And later by their olds CDs ( excepts two album and any singles). I never the band in  lives  because their lives are in Paris ou in the South France and a day , who it's impossible to come.  I have no money and I don't  understand japenese very much 😔, so iI never seen them in Japan.I have two DVDs lives of the bands ( those 2010 and those 2014).
 
And I love Lc5, but Miku did not hold his promise.
 
My first of them is Escapism or Tekesuta Kousen , I don't remember exactly 😁 . I discover Snow Scene more later and it's a very sad song.

I like the original more, but they remake was cool as well! And yes to having aurora on repeat 😂
I did, yes. Their sound was definitely darker, and I think it was Miku’s way to move away from ancafe’s image to pursue something completely different. I liked their music, but for me, there was no spark there. What do you think?
Yes, I saw them live twice! Once in 2009, and the last time in 2014. In 2012 I decided against going to their concert because I would have had to skip at least one day at uni. A friend of mine, who lives in Berlin, went to the show, and said it was amazing. In hindsight, I think I should’ve taken the chance.
I once even accidentally caught takuya’s guitar plectrum! I just saw something flying my way and caught it out of instinct. 
I never got to see a lot of Japanese bands live, but I’m glad I had the chance to see ancafe. 

The other two songs were smile ichinan II onna and escapism  another mixtape followed soon, introducing me to all of these amazing b-sides (ese uranai, super rabbit, Aurora, hisokyo, ame no hankagai, etc). I think that most of the songs that had not been released on one of their studio albums were among their best.
Their music definitely changed, but I had the feeling it had more to do with them trying to appease a wider audience? I think that their songs were less heavy (which is probably why they hired a keyboard player in the first place.) I’mnot saying that their old songs were less sparkly, but their third album (and first without Bou) felt more...glittery? 😂 
Me too...but I don’t have the money nor the time to travel to Japan atm. I’v been waiting for another Europe tour since 2014, and I still have got to come to terms with the fact that this is seriously it, and they will not continue to bring this joy into my life. This may sound dramatic, but their music was always with me in my teenage and young adult years, and they will be missed!

Yes, it was my first ancafe song, too! Got a mixtape from a friend of mine, and three an cafe songs were on there. I instantly Fell in love with Snow scene.
As far as I know, You wrote the song, yes. 
And I feel you. My teenage self was so sad because he used to be my favourite. I had just discovered them a year before that, and suddenly he left. It's not like I'm that interested in his private life, but sometimes I wonder what he's up to or if he's alright. I wonder if he maybe got an education after leaving the VK scene? Anyways, I Wish him all the best.

I like the original more, but they remake was cool as well! And yes to having aurora on repeat 😂
I did, yes. Their sound was definitely darker, and I think it was Miku’s way to move away from ancafe’s image to pursue something completely different. I liked their music, but for me, there was no spark there. What do you think?
Yes, I saw them live twice! Once in 2009, and the last time in 2014. In 2012 I decided against going to their concert because I would have had to skip at least one day at uni. A friend of mine, who lives in Berlin, went to the show, and said it was amazing. In hindsight, I think I should’ve taken the chance.
I once even accidentally caught takuya’s guitar plectrum! I just saw something flying my way and caught it out of instinct. 
I never got to see a lot of Japanese bands live, but I’m glad I had the chance to see ancafe. 

The release date appears to have been pushed back to the 26th. But the album will be available at the German shows for around 15€.

London show had three different breaks because of technical issues. It was over half an hour of fans just standing around after the gig started. When the band started playing Phenomenon, it got cut shortly after because of an issue leaving me with a serious case of blue balls :') Kyo threw the mic and walked off stage and a few people were staring at each other with their mouths open.
 
While they were off stage, the set list got changed and when they finally came back the rest of the set was just their heavier songs since I think they were trying to make up for all the fuck ups by bringing everyone's spirits up. Sustain the Untruth is pretty great live, Uroko not so much.
 
The band stayed extra on stage throwing water bottles  and doing some fanservice at the end, like Toshiya laying on a box at the front. Shinya looked like he'd rather be anywhere else lol Die and Kaoru stayed the longest, you could tell they felt really bad. Die actually spoke to us in English (I was shook as I had no idea he could) he said something like this "Are we forgiven? We had some problems tonight. I'm sorry. We feel like shit. We hope you enjoyed the show. We love you. We love you very much and we will see you next.... Soon lol"  You could tell how frustrated the band was and how hard they were trying to make up for it, even Kyo in his own way.
 
At the end though, all was forgiven and the response from the crowd was very positive. 

Oh, nice! Smile Ichiban Ii Onna and Escapism were the other songs I discovered on YT. Aurora is another personal favorite of mine~ I had that song play on repeat in my younger years, lol. Did you like the original Smile Ii Ichiban Onna or the remake they released in 2015?
Haha, that's a pretty apt description of their music after Bou left 😂 I always described their works as becoming "lighter", but I think glittery sounds better XD Did you ever get a chance to listen to Miku's other band, Lc5? I felt the look of that band was far from the happier/lighter sounds of AnCafe.
You were able to go to the tour they had in Europe? That's so cool! I've never had the chance to see them live. It must have been amazing! I feel the same way. They were one of my first visual kei bands, so I will definitely miss the band!