monkeybanana4

That's true, isn't it? In the VK scene, men are being put on display as products unlike most of the entertainment industry where females are front and center. (Although, there are a few female VK bands, but I don't see many of them gain as much attention as their male counterparts aside from exist trace.) I think that's an interesting view. Ironically, I believe the sexual attention/sex appeal of the VK scene (and entertainment industry in general) is what makes the whole business function. Look at some of the outfits VK musicians wear. Some of it maybe due to musical/artistic choice, but a lot of times there is heavy fanservice tied into the images. It's why some fans are fanatic over collecting pictures from their favorite members in a band. (Not all fans, just some.) It is depressing to see that the quality of music gets washed over in some discussions and the whole conversation becomes more about who looks the hottest or whatever. Kind of sad since you buy the CDs/songs to listen to the music, not simply stare at them. I guess it's the nature of being a musicians, perhaps. You have to be conscious of your appearance to attract more fans and sales regardless of music quality. (Oh, the irony!) Also, the whole rabid fan appearance is just as bad when it comes to female stars. Some male fans (not pointing anyone out in particular) go nuts for their favorite girl member just like the girls who are crazy about their sexy VK musician. But I do agree that it is quite bizarre and uncalled for when some female fans get a little too zealous. I think people need to chill. Gozen is a golden treasure in their discography. It is quite sad to not be able to see those songs (and that whole album) played live. I always enjoy watching Kagrra play their music live since their music is unique with a nice finesse. In general, I have a hard time tracking down Kagrra live DVDs, which is a shame since they're one of the my favorite visual kei bands. Speaking of appearance, I like Kagrra's costumes because it somehow managed to tie into the music they created.

Yeah, 2010 to 2013 were the golden years for the online VK community. I still remember checking so many websites for information or whatever on VK, and it was so fun to interact with people who shared the same interests. Oh, I had no idea about the issues with the communities. I unfortunately wasn't so active in the VK community after those golden years, but I still listened to the music. That's how most people view VK when they first see it. They either think it's gay guys or whatever, which is a shame since it's more than that. When you listen to the music, it's the lyrics and the musicality, which accompany the flamboyant costumes/fashion. There's no mistake to associate visual kei with clothes/fashion (since appearance is very closely tied to the genre - hence the "visual" in its name), but I think it's a mistake to solely judge the genre based on looks alone. I remembered when Yahoo News wrote a story about YOHIO, and I found it fascinating how they considered him to be considered "news" even though it's not really news, per say. If that were the case, the whole genre would be news, lol. Same here. Playing music is like having no future. It's so sad since there is lots of value in music. Wow! That's a lot of instruments! I wish I knew how to play so many especially the guitar. I was tempted to learn guitar but never had the time or money unfortunately ;w; I mainly play the piano, but like you, I haven't touched/practiced it in so many years, so I'm pretty bad sounding, haha. Haha, cool! *goes to check on DW*

Holy crap. Japanese fans do that? That is quite expensive! Some CDs become so rare and are worth so much. I sometimes look up used CDs, and you can see how much the prices go up. It's crazy, lol. Whoa, if you ever get a chance, that would be super cool! I've never seen it before so I was quite curious as to what it looked like. That change to lighter music is a sad fate which seems to fall upon lots of bands that eventually disband, too. It's quite a shame since their heavier music sounded awesome. In the end, it's all subjective as to what you like, though. Yeah, I really enjoyed the experimentality of the single. The jazzy song sort of reminded me of that perverted, semi-jazzy song, Gather the Rose (which I love to listen to, haha). I wished they also experimented more with that jazzy theme, though. It was really cool sounding. I still remember listening to that line and thinking how butchered Byou's pronunciation was. There are also some songs in English that Byou sings, but I had no idea he was singing in English until I looked up the lyrics XD Aw, that's a cute pairing~ I used to really like Jin because he's so funny and dedicated to his awesome drum playing. But then I came to like Kazuki since I liked his guitar playing (and how much of a little pervert he can be, haha). In a nutshell, my favorite member is Kazuki, but Jin is just too adorable and hilarious to not like. As a whole, though, I loved all the members because they could be quite the comedians. That's crazy! I also really like the song, Wailing Wall. It's one of their songs that I listen to more often. The lyrics are good, too, but I suppose that's expected out of Byou's talented writing skills, lol. I really like their Fusion of the Core album as well as their Virus and Venom mini-albums. As for particular songs, I think that's super hard! There's too many songs of theirs that I like to listen to! I think that would be in a post of itself o_o Oooh, nice. Their songs sound promising, but I'd like to listen more than the samples listed to get a better idea. Right now, though, I like the one song and its title is all in katakana (so I can't remember the title right now xD). Ah, thank you! I'm sure you'll be able to meet them now that they've created a new band ^^ Yup, I went to SCREW's 7th anniversary live and a random concert SCREW was doing with some other bands when I went to Japan. I also met the band at one of the random in-store events. It was a long time ago, and I'm sad I never got to see them again before they broke up T^T They are a lot of fun live and the Japanese fans were pretty wild, too, lol. They're so cool when they play the songs live since they improvise and tweak the songs for the fans. Not to mention the band was good at making a show. Jin also played his own drum solo, which was one of the coolest parts of the concert. I agree with the commenting. It made the community much livelier and you can make some great friends out of it. It's such a shame that it's mostly died down, now, though. I wasn't quite that active on LJ or writing in general starting from 2014/2015, so I may have missed your writings (or I'm a super unobservant and horrible reader/commenter!) There were so many the Gazette writers/stories that I had a hard time keeping up with the amount of stories that were coming out during the 2010-2013 time period, lol. Yeah, I saw so many users deactivated their accounts, which is sad since some of them wrote some good stories. Oh, that's okay. Ah! I hope I'm not stealing time away from eating your lunch! Haha, yes! Let's do that ❤️ [When you have time x)]

Thank you! I think that's one of the unique aspects about the fandom - the smallness of the community. I haven't been on tumblr for sometime, so I had no idea that they've gone quiet. I still remember when the VK tumblr community was super active and exploding with activity. That too! Most VK artists really put the "art" into everything they create whether that be the music, costumes/fashion, music videos, cover album/art, or the themes/thoughts behind the works they create. Visual kei is not just another music genre, but an artistic one. I'm not an expert musician, but as an amateur one, I deeply appreciate the artistry and thought that goes into visual kei. Wow, you're a musician? That's cool! What instrument do you play? Haha, yeah, it makes me feel old when I think about how long ago I've been in the fandom XD Cool~ Let's explore new bands together!

I totally know how you feel about not wanting to take it out. I always get so hesitant taking out my CDs because I don't want to ruin them, haha XD Whaaat? Their music box had Dearest Wish on it? That's so poignant and somewhat sad to have that song on the music box! T_T It makes me tear up a little~ But I do love that about SCREW. They always did create stuff with their fans in mind even if it make fans like us emotional. Ooh, yeah, I also vaguely remember reading that, too. I have to agree. His openness to music is what makes him a great composer ^^v I like all of SCREW's music, but I'm always fond of their heavier/darker songs. Haha, it's always so funny to hear Byou sing in broken English. Especially the songs where the lyrics are only in English, lol. The perverted shit the two of them pull off together is just so adorable and funny! I also love the crazy, stupid stuff Jin does on his own sometimes. He can look so silly, but I love that about him. He doesn't seem to be afraid to do whatever he feels like it. Do you have any particular songs/works created by the band? Yeah, I know! It's so uncool ;_; I read it somewhere on this forum, and I was so bummed when I found out about the live-limited work they were releasing. Haha, I completely understand! I only got to meet Byou and Jin once in person, and I would love to meet them again. They're just too loveable~ Yep, that's me, lol ^///^; I was inactive for some time, but I just recently came back. Ahhh, wow? Really? Wah, thank you so much for your kind comment! I know~ There weren't too many SCREW stories back then, and I remember thinking that I wanted to spread the SCREW love, so I had to write something with them in it, haha. Yup, misfitmisfit came up with that crazy story because of her knack for comedy XD Jin is such a cool character to write in a story! I'm sad I never really got to write him too much before, but I hope to change that in my future stories. Oh gosh! I understand that so well. So much school responsibilities pile up and it gets so hard to think about any good stuff to write. But I'm glad to hear that story helped you write again! Awesome~ I'll add you back on DW and bother you on there so we can fangirl about them together XD

"RUN" by ACME Where do you like to go to unwind after a long day?

Oh my gosh! I feel the exact same way. They were one of the bands I loved so much, so I always made sure to always pre-order their albums/singles. I also bought their random concert/live goods if I could lol. Unfortunately, I missed out on the timing of getting their last best of album, which made me super bummed =[ I made sure to buy it later, though, since I couldn't bear to have it missing from my SCREW collection xD I've only recently started to listen to them again since I also felt sad when I listened to their stuff. Wow, I had no idea Jin created a lot of the songs for SCREW if that's true. On the Brainstorm single, I like the heavy "Fester" song, which was composed by Jin. And I love the lyrics that Byou creates. He could write some seriously good lyrics! Jin is one of my favorite band members, too. He was so funny and nice! The dynamic between Byou and Jin is such a hilarious/cute one. (I laugh every time I watch the comment video in which Byou and Jin pretended to act out the MV with Jin pretending to be the singer while Byou faked playing on the guitar. I think it was the Abyss PV for the Biran album. They really seem to be comfortable doing stupid/silly stuff together.) Ahh, I know! I wish I had the money to travel to Japan to see them live and support their new band ;_; They're also releasing that live-limited album(?), which is another reason why I really want to go. I want to hear the new songs that are created~ If you do manage to find a way to go, you'll have to let me know how they sound! Yeah, I did see LJ slowly dying as far as fanfics go. I hardly see anyone post their stuff on their anymore. I had no idea about the AO3 website, but I did see activity on DW, so I joined that community on there. I saw that you posted a short story there, and I really liked it! You should write more if you have the chance ^-^ My name on DW is atmosphere_zero. I don't have an AO3 account, but I'm working on writing more stuff on DW~

Hi~ I've mainly been lurking around here for a while since I'm kind of a shy person. But it's really nice to come back to a wonderful community. (I made an account a long time ago, but I've forgotten all the information. So I had to make a new one, lol.) I like visual kei because, in my opinion, despite the social stigma, the musicians come out to express themselves through music and fashion in ways not considered to be the "status quo". As an introvert, that quality of courage appealed to me. Also, the community and the people in it are wonderful! It's nice to know there are other people who like this genre. (There aren't too many people who like this stuff in the place where I live.) I first got into visual kei around 2006, and the first bands I discovered were Kagerou and Nightmare. I was fascinated by the music, so I researched further about visual kei, and I found out about AnCafe and Alice Nine. Afterward, my love for the music genre snowballed. Bands I like are (not a comprehensive list): Kagrra, SCREW, Vidoll, D'espairsRay, Kiryu, vistlip, Shoujo Lolita23Q, Versailles, and many more. I did drop off from the genre for a while, but now I'm back into it. There are so many new bands I don't recognize, but I'm hoping to find some cool new VK bands to like I think that's all for now (unless I can think of something else xD)

SCREW was also a favorite band of mine, and one of the first bands I ever bought stuff from, so they hold a special place in my heart. I was so sad when they disbanded because they were such a hilarious band who created cool music. (Even now I love watching their behind the scenes/comment videos. The comedic antics are pristine.) But I'm glad to hear that Byou and Jin came back together to create a new band. I can't wait to hear more of the band's music. It sounds promising! I wish I could go to that cool live they'll have in November. I feel the same way about fanfics. I loved reading and writing them. Such a shame they aren't around as much anymore.

It's really interesting to hear about yours views on VK. I find it fascinating that VK is closely tied to topics concerning sexuality and how the music genre pushes the meaning/definition of gender. Btw, awesome to meet another Kagrra, fan! Still love listening to their music even though they're no longer together.

Hi! I sent a PM with some questions.