A lot can be said, positive and negative about the legacy of MALICE MIZER, whether it's the abrupt departure of Tetsu after just one year, the GACKT years, the untimely death of Kami or the rise and fall in the Klaha years. There's no better way to understand how MALICE MIZER went from unknown to legends of Visual Kei than to start in the beginning.
In the Beginning: The Era of Tetsu
MALICE MIZER was formed in August of 1992 when former guitarist of Matenrou, Közi joined forces with the support bassist Mana and the two recruited the former Ner-vous vocalist Tetsu, former ZE:RO bassist Yu~ki and former DATURA (not to be confused with DatuRΛ) drummer Gaz to form MALICE MIZER (a postmanteau of Malice and Misery) with a concept based on the darker side of human nature. MALICE MIZER immediately began activities and released their first demo tape SANS LOGIQUE which had foregone vocals and released Speed of Desperate on the compilation album Brain Trash which featured acts such as ALUCARD, DIE=KÜSSE, THE PIASS and Gazelle. Shortly after Brain TRASH, Gaz departed and Kami joined; Kami being the only other drummer for the band until his untimely death. MALICE MIZER released a few more demos before releasing their debut album memoire on Mana's newly founded label Midi:Nette. Tetsu then left the band at the end of 1994 with a live performance titled Cher de memoire II on December 27th.
Taking a Different Route: It's Gackt Time
MALICE MIZER went into 1995 without a vocalist, but they didn't let it stop their surge as they performed without a vocalist for a sponsored event titled Dai Goya Higeki no Bansan Vol.5 (第五夜 悲劇の晩餐 Vol.5) before Gackt officially joined the band as the new vocalist with his first performance on October 10th Karei naru Fukkatsugeki. The music of MALICE MIZER took a drastic turn and was the catalyst for the rise of Gackt as a performer and set the stage for his continued success after leaving the band as the band went from a Gothic sound to a more upbeat sound; something that became a signature of Gackt's solo career. In 1996 MALICE MIZER released their second album Voyage sans retour and underwent a nationwide one-man tour culminating in a show titled Sans retour Voyage deux 1996. MALICE MIZER continued their stride in 1997 when they signed a contract with major label Nippon Columbia, a subsidiary of Columbia Music Company as well as undergoing a sold-out nationwide tour with STANDING TOUR '97 Pays de merveilles ~空白の瞬間の中で~ and a regularly broadcast radio show MALICE MIZER no Mayonaka no s'il vous plaît on CBC Radio. Merveilles, MALICE MIZER's third album and second featuring Gackt as vocalist is released in March of 1998, the band announced merveilles ~Shuuen to kisuu~ in which the tickets sold out in just two minutes as well as undergoing a new radio show MALICE MIZER no shisetsu hisho no chojutsu on Chiba's renowned bay-fm radio station. However, things would take a turn when in January Gackt decided to leave the band at the peak of their popularity to form own solo project that he continues to this day, simply called GACKT featuring a backing band appropriately titled GACKTJOB.
As if losing their vocalist wasn't bad enough tragedy struck when in June beloved drummer Kami passed away suddenly from a subarachnoid hemorrhage, more commonly referred to as a brain hemorrhage. With the world crashing down around his shoulders, Mana underwent damage control and returned MALICE MIZER to his own label. Malice Mizer went on to release one song after Gackt left, a piano song called Saikai no Chi to Bara. Little did they know that their fortunes were about to change as their savior was right around the corner.
From Rebirth to Climax: The Year of Klaha
PRIDE OF MIND former vocalist Klaha joined MALICE MIZER on vocals on August 31st and would be the third and final vocalist for the group. MALICE MIZER proceeded to get back to making music right away with the release of their fourth and final album Bara no Seidou and Klaha had his first live performance one week later with Bara ni irodorareta akui to higeki no makuake - Dai icihiya saikai no bara. Sadly, nothing lasts forever and after several singles, a feature length, albeit silent film Bara no Konrei ~Mayonaka ni Kawashita Yakusoku~ and even a concert DVD in 2001, MALICE MIZER went on an indefinite hiatus at the end of the year. Each member releasing their own respective personal messages regarding the hiatus on the bands official website.
Post Mortem: An Uncertain Future
After MALICE MIZER went on an indefinite hiatus the respective members were quick to move on to other projects, except for Yu~ki who's only activity since the hiatus was contributing to a song on Közi's solo project. The aforementioned Közi went on to be in a managare of bands, first with HARUHIKO ASH in Eve of Destiny, then started a solo project as well as XA-VAT, ZIZ, VAMQUET and joined Ryo from 9Goats Black Out to form a nu-goth band called DĂLLE. Mana quickly formed his own solo project that is still running strong today called Moi dix Mois and launched his own fashion label Moi-même-Moitie as well as becoming a producer for the band Schwarz Stein and cellist Kanon Wakeshima. Tetsu formed several bands of varying styles of music after leaving MALICE MIZER with the most notable being ZIGZO and Nil. Gackt has been active as a solo artist since leaving MALICE MIZER and subsequently ventured into film and television while Klaha released a solo mini-album and full length album before disappearing from the scene in 2004, not to be heard from again.
MALICE MIZER may be no more, but the pieces have come together several times since the hiatus, Közi joining Mana's Moi dix Mois in 2008 at Dis Inferno Vol.VI ~Last Year Party~ and again in 2009 for a two stop tour Deep Sanctuary; Deep Sanctuary becoming a staple event for Moi dix Mois from then on. Moi dix Mois and Közi went on another, longer tour in 2010, six shows aptly named Deep Sanctuary II which featured the return of Yu~ki on bass; the three reuniting on stage for the first time in nine years. The show featured MALICE MIZER classics such as Saikai no Chi to Bara and Beast of Blood as well as a cover of shock rocker Rob Zombie's What Lurks on Channel X. Moi dix Mois then held a tenth anniversary concert Le dixieme anniversaire Live 2011~2012 ~Tetsugaku no Hahen Dainana Shou Shinen naru Seiiki Deep Sanctuary III~ which saw Közi performing with his new band ZIZ with Yu~ki returning on bass. Sadly the original drummer Gaz passed away on December 22nd 2017, one year before the bands 25th anniversary and the subsequent reunion show last year Deep Sanctuary Ⅵ MALICE MIZER 25th Anniversary Special which featured the return of the trio as well as former roadies for the band performing their own renditions of classic songs, such as former LAREINE vocalist KAMIJO joining for his own take on the Gackt era songs APRES MIDI and Bel Air ~Kuuhaku no Shunkan no Naka De~, cali≠gari's Shuuji with a riff on the Tetsu era's Kioku to Sora and ILLUMINATI as well as Moran former vocalist Hitomi with Gackt's Madrigal and N.p.s.N.g.s. The show featured ZIZ and Moi dix Mois performing their own songs and MALICE MIZER covers with the show ended with a tribute to the departed Kami and all of the guest vocalists singing together for Ma chérie ~Itoshii Kimi E~.
There have been teases for years and the band have come back in several shapes, but whether they will return with the likes of any of their three former vocalists is unlikely or at best up in the air with all of them seemingly content with their careers and lives and consider MALICE MIZER a part of their past. The future of MALICE MIZER is uncertain, but it's safe to say that the Visual Kei scene would be shaken to the core if the stars aligned and the malice and misery rose like a phoenix for a second time.
Member History
Current Lineup
Mana - Guitar (ex-Matenrou, Moi dix Mois)
Közi - Guitar (ex-GIRL, ex-Matenrou, ZIZ, XA-VAT, DĂLLE, Solo, VAMQUET)
Yu~ki - Bass (ex-ZE:RO)
Former Members
Gaz - Drums (ex-DATURA, deceased 2017)
Tetsu - Vocals (ex-Ner-vous, ZIGZO, Nil, THE JUNEJULYAUGUST)
Kami - Drums (deceased 1999)
Klaha - Vocals (ex-PRIDE OF MIND, Solo, retired)
Gackt - Vocals (ex-Cains:Feel, Solo, YELLOW FRIED CHICKENz)
Support Members
Shue Sakai - Drums (ex-JACK BLUE, N.S.D.P., Everlasting-K)
Kazune - Keyboard (Brain Hacker, Art Cube)
Staff Members
Hitomi - Roadie (ex-Moran, UMIYURI)
MAYU - Roadie (ex-LAREINE, ex-NEW SODMY)
MACHI - Roadie (ex-LAREINE, Chanton L'amour)
Masanori Yabuki - Roadie (Datenshi Tokyo, Ant1nett)
KAMIJO - Roadie (ex-LAREINE, ex-NEW SODMY, Versailles, Solo)
Shuuji Ishii - Roadie (cali≠gari, goatbed, EX-ANS)
Discography
Albums
(1994.07.24) memoire
(1996.06.09)Voyage ~Sans Retour~
(1998.03.18) Merveilles
(2000.08.23) Bara no Seidou (薔薇の聖堂)
Mini-albums
(2000.02.01) Shinwa (神話)
Demos
(1992.10.31) Sans Logique
(1993.04.05) Sadness
(1993.10.12) The 1th Anniversary
(1996.00.00) Après Midi
(1999.11.03) Saikai no Chi to Bara" (再会の血と薔薇)
Singles
(1995.12.10) Uruwashiki Kamen no Shoutaijou
(1996.10.10) Ma Chérie ~Itoshii Kimi E~
(1997.08.06) Bel Air ~Kuuhaku no Shunkan no Naka De~
(1997.12.03) Au Revoir
(1998.02.11) Gekka no Yasoukyoku
(1998.05.20) Illuminati
(1998.09.09) Le Ciel ~Kuuhaku no Kanata E~
(1999.11.03)Saikai no Chi to Bara
(2000.05.31) Kyomu no Naka de no Yuugi
(2000.07.26) Shiroi Hada ni Kuruu Ai to Kanashimi no Rondo
(2001.05.30) Gardenia
(2001.06.21) Beast of Blood
(2001.10.30) Mayonaka ni Kawashita Yakusoku
(2001.11.30) Garnet ~Kindan no Sono E~
OHP
Moi dix Mois
Közi
Moi-même-Moitie
-A huge thanks to @inartisticand the great team over at vk.gy for a wealth of information that without, this would not have been possible.
Ok.... so Maria has not taken any dates at cyber down, which must mean he is free to keep doing whatever he pleases there....
Japan is so terrible in some regards....
On the other hand, Kaitou keeps releasing taiban dates, meaning they did not get a live house ban from exposing Maria. I am happy for that. You should not have to end your career for doing the right thing.
Onegai Kanaete Versailles. Although I don't know how it is, never found the courage to watch it. It screams to my face how it would NOT be my jam and how will it kill me of too much cringe.
Can you still be connected to this? *removes makeup*
😂 I think a lot of them are so ugly without makeup anyway! Lol, so be realistic! Wahahahaha
My friend has started to raise a concern regarding the Maria thing. As they involved Cyber, this COULD result in some live house bans for Kaitou, as the live house owners don't like this...
We will see what happens.... i hope they can still perform.
Hi,
So the people have asked me to make a own thread and since these are hard, official allegations on public, retweeted twitter, I decided to make this in the general section and not rumors.
It all began when Kaitou was invited to play as a guest at Ikebukuro Cyber. They don't usually play that venue, but they decided to do so this time.
It then happend that Maria Cross was staffing the drinkbar that night. As we all know Maria Cross is a highly suspicious individual, with former arrest for pedo antics etc. And according to his twitter, he is a regualr at Cyber, being there ~4 days a month and apparently acting as staff.
Allegedly Maria at the drinkbar then mixed alkohol also into drinks where people requested non-alcoholic beverages (some of my twitter mutal were there, sensed the strange taste and threw it away...), when alcoholic stuff was ordered, he filled half the glasses with alcohol and also gave alcohol to (un-)willing minors, who identified themselves as such.
Well, girls were rather offended. Maria then proceeded to hit on the girls and try to exchange line and other contact information. This made a lot of them very uncomfortable.
The fans proceeded to report this to the band and the band was very upset at these illegal, shady antics that ruined the fun for their fans. Masato did not know a lot about Maria at that point and sent out his first tweet warning people of Maria's behaviour.
People then gave him Maria's twitter and he repeated his warnings and exposure if Maria's account, explicitly doubting how such a pervert could be employed as staff at cyber:
He was also playing a session band soon after and the band had practiced the song "M" by Ayumi Hamasaki. He was very upset, so he exchange the lyrics at somepoint from "Maria" to "Masato" in protest.
I don't find his tweet about not wanting to sing the name Maria anymore, he seems to have deleted it from his official "shitpost twitter" lol.
The whole thing cumulated in Kaitou writing an official complaint E-mail to Ikebukuro Cyber, notifying them of Maria's illegal and suspicious behaviour and requesting a response.
Cyber just gave a random reply along the lines of "We are sorry this happend, we will look into it. Thank you for your patronage."
Which was not satisfying at all so basically Masato ended his tweet with telling his fans to take extra care and caution when going to Cyber (as they apparently accept shitty behaviour of their staff.)
Well, this and the cyber issue was mentioned in their potcasts a lot where they repeated that such things are inacceptable, fans pay money to have a good time and should not have to be subjected to such shitty treatment....
They got really upset about it.
Oh I totally missed that twitcast😔 but totally yes, my thumbs up and respect to masato for exposed this situation and asked explanations to the live house 👏👏
Google translate detect all the text. yey! I couldn't read anything on my phone. On the Kaito sentai email are many details of what happened that day and hoooolyyyy
Oh I totally missed that twitcast😔 but totally yes, my thumbs up and respect to masato for exposed this situation and asked explanations to the live house 👏👏
Masato is my hero for protecting his fans!
I am happy they are upset about this and care enough to call people out. In the twitcast just now they talked about it again how upset they were that this happend. And fans actaully pay to have a good time and should enjoy it and this is so damn respectless against fans and just aggravating.
My heros!
Google translate detect all the text. yey! I couldn't read anything on my phone. On the Kaito sentai email are many details of what happened that day and hoooolyyyy
They were from latino fandom (and maybe from USA too) I thought I paid my debt of dealing with toxic fans when I was on kpop fandom in my highschool days😂
Your icon is everything!
Lol, just ignore it. If there are beauties on the racoon, then post it.
I think jap. gya are sometimes hillarious! I got my kisa...nta icon from there, too. 🎅 Best idea ever! Seasonal greetings in the form of bad bandoman pictures ♡
Oh why I didn't saw this thread before?
months ago, a friend and I got some hate for tanuki pics I uploaded on ig who knows when 😂 This people were on fb spreading "we don't need people like this on this fandom", etc. Even one of them were on a fanpage with me and my friend for a long time until all that happened (I hope they weren't watching us😂😂)
It was funny until one of them started to talk shit about a friend (I guess bc she was on our side)
I didn't get why they get so mad. They have more followers and fanpages than my friend and I 🤔😂 and few people watched those pics bc I didn't have a bunch of followers (and I still don't have that much)
meikyoushisui reacted to secret_no_03 in MALICE MIZER
meikyoushisui got a reaction from ChimeraKei in Visual Kei in film and television
meikyoushisui got a reaction from Miku70 in Visual Kei in film and television
meikyoushisui got a reaction from Masato in 怪盗戦隊ヌスムンジャー (Kaitou SentaiNusumunja) (the band with the most cease and desist orders..) 
meikyoushisui got a reaction from redaudrey in 怪盗戦隊ヌスムンジャー (Kaitou SentaiNusumunja) (the band with the most cease and desist orders..) 