mikazukichan

My first introduction to visual kei was in early 2004 by some friends in university. The first thing they showed me was Dir en Grey (Yokan, then Raison D'etre in quick succession XD), however my first favourite that I had to have EVERYTHING of was Miyavi. I'm pretty sure I have a complete physical discography of his up until 2009 sometime, actually XD Favourite song is probably the one that got me obsessed with him in the first place: Ashita, Genki ni Naare. First *band* that I loved that much was Kagrra,, and they remain my number one band to this day, with Urei being my favourite song of theirs.

So... this list is based on me not listening to anything new in the VK world for the last.... at least 5 years, up until about a month ago XD While there are some other bands that are inching into the top 10, I haven't heard enough by any of them yet to secure their spots. So, here is my very old top 10 XD 1. Kagrra, - by far and away. There will likely never be another band that takes this spot (I include Shiki Project here because it was so sadly short-lived v.v) 2. D 3. Girugamesh 4. D'espairs Ray 5. Tsukasa Mogamigawa 6. Miyavi (2006 and before, specifically. Can't speak to anything post 2010 as I haven't listened to him much since then) 7. Dir en Grey (up til about 2010? Again, haven't listened to much that's come out after then, so couldn't really say lol) 8. Phantasmagoria 9. Due'le Quartz 10. Sugar Bonus: The very brief VK phase of the Korean band The Trax (still sad that half the band left and the other half went full-on kpop)

Going to message you the images, Seelentau, just so I don't blow up this thread with a bunch more large images. If anyone else wants the scans, feel free to drop me a message ^.^

I went for a look through my older magazines and found that I did have two Fool's Mate from the time period you're looking for with Dir en Grey in them. I have #205 from 1998 and #216 from 1999 #205 #216 If you're in need of any of those, feel free to shoot me a message so I can scan them properly for you!

Thank you for the welcome! I'll be sure to ask if I have any questions ^.^

Thanks for the welcome ^.^

Thanks! I've heard good things from others ^.^

Well, it's been a while since I was active in the jrock and VK community (has it really been over 5 years?), so I'm not sure if anyone remembers me from previous communities like this, but I've been feeling the need to reconnect with the music I love and the other people who love it just as much. Let's start with what brought me to Monochrome Heaven: youtube auto play introduced me to a bunch of new bands I hadn't heard of! Of course, I was basically living in the VK world of 5-8 years ago, so rather easy not to hear of new bands that would be of interest. Particular bands that stood out were Aiolin (violin melded beautifully with guitar? Yes please), Yusai, and Wagakki Band (not exactly VK, but somewhat in the vein of Enka-rock that Tsukasa has been playing with the last few years). There are a few others that were of interest, but I only heard one song, so not sure if I'm actually interested in them yet or not. As for my favourite artists over the years, my introduction to VK was Dir en Grey back in 2004. I think my first song by them was Yokan (which continues to be a favourite to this day), then Raison D'etre, followed by Garden. Around the same time I was also introduced to Gackt and Malice Mizer. Yes, my experience is probably very similar to many that found VK in the late 90's to early 2000's. I moved quickly into other artists as well, including Due'le Quartz, Miyavi, Kagrra,, D, D'espairs Ray, Phantasmagoria, and Rentrer en Soi. I also listened to many other bands with varying degrees of love (sometimes a single song, sometimes whole discographies). For my previous involvement in the VK community, I used to be very active when there was a large community on LiveJournal, which is where most people will know me from, if they know me at all. I was always happy to share music, pictures, and a good discussion on a great band. I'm hoping that in joining Monochrome Heaven, I can recapture some of the feeling from back then and contribute anew to the community as a whole. Douzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu~ どうぞよろしくお願いします～