Pretsy

More like NARASAKI though https://www.facebook.com/nocturnalbloodlusttranslations/posts/1590167331233534 Cazqui and NARASAKI have been in quite close (work) relations for awhile Also: http://visual.musicshelf.jp/interview/id562/ (that's how Leda from Deluhi managed to sneak into BABYMETAL's session lineup btw)

The land (and nation) of dank memes.

The whole SCANDAL lineup is just uunnffhsdhsudhisdiosdiosdioi *drowns in his own drool* Also: going FULL HOMO for 1994-1995 era HYDE (back when his long-ass mane made him look like some mediterranean girl) http://www.jpopsuki.tv/video/L%2526%2523039%253BArc%7Een%7ECiel---Vivid-Colors-%2528PV-Version%2529/e0f8a5ac770020133314eabb0c86fe2f (my fav look of theirs btw)

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/frank-ocean-announces-new-album-boys-dont-cry.html Will be a low-key release (i.e. prolly "unintentional" leak in July or so)

tfw deep thinking (also: ebin memes)

I didn't exclude K-indie either but the thing is that most K-indie acts adhere to the standard practices in current western indie - so we are not necessarily expecting much of what Marty was addressing here in terms of contemporary J-pop music (not fully western-inspired approaches in the vein of Hikaru Utada or those R'n'B acts) and most of the non-indie Japanese rock, including VK (I could already name a few (poppy) Vk acts that share the same gusto in conveying "extravagant" interpretations of Western influences - "Japanesque" doesn't always lie in being "traditionally Japanesque", i.e. koto music and all that shizznit, no). I am still unable to point out what exactly separates J-indie from standard indie but I will get back to this soon as I can. Furthermore, the overall music industry in Japan is taking huge turns to the left and right so it's given that we would see this polarization of genre and song structure approaches. As much as there is some similarity between current K-pop and J-pop (and rock) household names, J-music still bears remnants of "mix of interpretation and roots music" in the presence of current generations. K-music on the other hand obviously enough pushed the whole collective of musical artistry to adopt at least a half of "what's trendy or trend-worthy"-kind of philosophy in their songwriting - including K-indie acts with soundscapes akin to what would be hot for needledrop's fanbase and whatnot. For further inspection, I would advise you guys to give a deeper look into what exactly is "Kayoukyoku" (a.k.a "Showa era pop") and how much of it is really reflected in contemporary Japanese music anyway. This is pretty tricky topic anyway but the more one knows about history of popular music in Japan...and Korea respectively, the better.

Forgot that I had to post this too, lol.

The thing is that J-music in overall still takes many hints and notions from older mainstream music (i.e. kind of stuff you'd normally hear in Beatles-inspired acts and the Beatles themselves - e.g. ",if I fell in love with you"), while K-pop tries to adapt to newer trends and blow them out of proportions in order to look "intriguingly Asian" (quite racist when you think of it but we as weeaboos should know better). As a case in point where you could find Marty's idea of "typical approach in J-music":

After an astronomical gamut of rumors, speculations and reports, Utada finally stepped in to announce that her hiatus will end on April 4th - and to quote Ronald@Arama briefly: In addition: She will also reveal the current situation of her album songwriting process on the same day. This is not news really but at least she herself confirmed it this time.

Why is no one asking Eve about this? I mean, he has twitter and everything but no one cares about his take? Damn, folks. edit: https://twitter.com/Eve_ning_Infio Seems like he is quite subtle about the whole case?

Giving a shot ~ Cool METAFIVE - META SHISHAMO - SHISHAMO 3 Silent Siren - S Tempalay - from JAPAN Ehh idk SCANDAL - Yellow チャラン・ポ・ランタン [Charan-Po-Rantan] - 女の46分 No / absolutely meh TK From 凛として時雨 [TK From Ling Tosite Sigure] - Secret Sensation ゆず [Yuzu] - TOWA Galileo Galilei - Sea and The Darkness 非常階段×戸川純 [Hijokaidan x Jun Togawa] - 戸川階段 ヒトリエ (Hitorie) - DEEPER 大橋トリオ [Ohashi Trio] - 10 上原ひろみ [Hiromi Uehara] - Spark note: I included albums only I am truly choosy lol.

Not only the nose though ("sharper" jawline, something was done with eyes too I guess, lips/mouth)

MiA did something to his chin/jawline (???) too I guess (since his earlier photos had that bloated outlook or idk). He is basically VK Human Barbie (or Ken?) to me anyway.

This album is gonna be fire. Seiko's outfit is rather interesting though o_O

Since I am speaking of the band, it's pretty obvious that I am not focusing on Avu (since she is a trans and it has been clear ever since their major debut) but nonetheless, they still had/still have crossdressing guitarists (current one is not exactly "genderbending" to that extent but he could be considered as a vk-tier "crossdresser" by MH standards). I might have pointed it out first (my fault, sry) but careful observers notice exactly why I posted one of their older PVs (I could always post jpopsuki.tv links but it won't make sense that way, will it?)

Whereas the first thing that really matters to me in the end would be the attitude/personality/mentality, I have a very intriguing preference in terms of races anyway: I have taught myself to loathe my own kind to the very extent. Yup - as much as I am "nordic white" (I am not an expert in race divisions but you get my point, rite?), I just cannot get behind being in more-than-just-friends-kind of relationship with my nordic chaps, since I am expecting them to bear apathetic, repressed approaches without any signs of empathy in the end (that's just my bias but I am unable to get over it). Am I racist towards my own "kin"? Idk really, is it due to those "we need to fix these genetic iniquities"- sermons that were shoehorned inside my head by my fam and frequenting geneticists (I covered exact details related to this statement in another thread)? Am I merely focusing on cons of people that surround me? You might be wondering about the actual amount of my rhetoric questions, but the lifelong bias and amassed skepticism/elitism has derailed me completely from being an ordinary, sane chap like you guys above. As much as I managed to channel my self-loathing "away" from my thoughts, this has evolved into external loathing instead. Tl;dr - I admit myself in being biasedly leaning towards peeps of the "opposite races" when it comes to potential dating purposes (not in my mind for now but it will be sooner...). One might go around and make fun of me as another "oooh you just want to have a Japanese waifu ooh you neckbeard fagit"-kind of geek but believe me honestly - my preferences are mostly warped by my own personal experiences, not by my own "entertaining" interests. I might as well count particular disasters when it comes to dating those of my own race ("nordic white" too) - and guess what: those were fucked up on behalf of my own VISIBLE discomfort towards minuses of partners I am noticing first before eventually trying to assess what's "good" about them. PSA: for now, just consider me as a friend and you will be fine. I just need to get my shit together - maybe that would help me to accept anything without "scorn-red tinted glasses", lol. My apologies in case I offended anyone with this statement. (Even now my fam has resorted to pleas in the vein of "we are fine with anything as long as she won't have any kind of trampy attitude!")

Regarding Leo Imai So it's certainly given that he knows/speaks English much better than most of us would think (AFAIK Japanese is just "second language" to him, note his interviews). In addition, he knows more than just a bit of Swedish now (considering that he felt regret about not knowing it in his teens, haha). Why do you guys limit yourselves to English? Let's see: Anna Murashige (HKT48, ex-NMB48) (Half-Russian, fluent speaker) Kaori Kawamura (Half-Russian, lived about 1/3 of her life in Soviet Union-era Moscow, native speaker (RIP)) Marius Yo (Sexy Zone) (half-German, fluent speaker (meddles between his home city Heidelberg and Tokyo -thx Johnny's shrines!)) Ray Fujita (Dustz) (Half-French, fluent speaker) ILMARI (Rip Slyme) (that's his second legit name, Half-Finnish - average skills afaik (Rip Slyme being one of the very first J-music (note: mainstream J-music) acts to visit Helsinki (his former home city) in 2002 was due to his own passion/desires) Kahimi Karie (fluent in French, semi-fluent in Italian, Spanish) BoA (Korean but she counts - fluent in Japanese, semi-fluent in Mandarin) Wew!

Ziyoou-vachi?

Not that I would have something witty to contribute but I am all about #Utada2016 atm. Seems like album rumors are 2/3 true (the perfect amount of singles for a full-length + her dad finally decided to shut up with his debunking). Updating:

Now that I checked them out (OHP etc.): I suppose that "Gasmasks" case gives a very suspicious tone when it comes to songwriting creditation (never heard nor found idol songwriters with such name either). The collective seems to lack direct contacts too (no particular references to officials in charge of their management and merely some electronic form stapled in instead) Go for it~

L'Arc~en~Ciel's "Kasou" still gets me out of other Laruku tunes (incl. angstful "Floods of Tears") with its lyrical message and partial wordplay (whereas the said word would usually mean "Cremation", Hyde changed the "fire" kanji to "flower", thus translating the whole meaning literally to "Buried by flowers" or "Consumed by flowers" - romantic, huh?). The chorus is just pure poetry, damn (bolded).

[2] Perhaps it's just a coincidence? Dates and timing really don't match so I fail to get behind this :/

To think that old visual chaps would be igniting this new visualcore fad. Long live djentbrotherhood of edgy host-kei!