Total Saikou

They always ask me if I like Hatsune Miku 💀💀💀 EVERY DAMN TIME

Whenever I show VK to someone they either ask if it's Kpop (😭) or if they are anime show promoters (😕), that's where VK is at right now where I'm living.

Solidarity in liking Asian music can only go so far, especially considering that we're in different genre camps at all times. And yeah, Kpop stans are... something else. Never had any other fandom accuse me of being racist against my own place of origin, they are true trailblazers

I've completely given up on hoping that anyone in a 200KM radius of me even knows wtf VK is.

16 Personalities: When I first took the test like 4-5 years ago I got ENTP, which really fit my personality so I've been sticking with that. I took it like 2-3 years ago and then I got ENTJ, which I never really agreed with because I'm not a leader type at all (like, I can lead if the situation calls for it but it's far from an instinctual call for me. Plus I kinda suck at leadership in all honesty). Just took it now since then and got INTJ-A. I took it again, just to be sure, and I got the same result. I mean, it fits pretty well for me, especially these days when I don't really argue as much as I used to. All though it may appear like I've done complete 180s as the years go by, I've noticed that these three (I've never got any more than these three btw) all fit into the "analyst" personality category, which means that my overall traits have basically been immutable, which is kinda cool to know. John's Personality Test: 61%ISTJ, 9%ESTP, 7%INTJ, 7%ISTP, 4%INTP Keys 2 Cognition: By focusing on the strongest configuration of cognitive processes, your pattern of responses most closely matches individuals of this type: INFP Lead (Dominant) Process: Introverted Feeling (Fi): Support (Auxilliary) Process: Extraverted Intuiting (Ne). If these cognitive processes don't fit well then consider these types: ENFP, or ISFP Three different results, okay, cool. ISTJ could be true, but INFP sounds fake only because I've never tested for "feeling" before.

Personally, I love OBIs. I love smelling the ~Japanese~ off of them and reading the special band messages on some of them (usually says shit like "Love, madness, and hatred... The sounds of life, captured within our journey. Join us, traveller-san~). Yup, I keep the little sticker on shrink wrapped releases too! Ad flyers, lyric pull-outs, posters, card print-outs, I collect and keep everything inside the case in only the most pristine condition! It's all part of the collection experience. I keep the OBIs on my books too. I can trace back my need to keep things pristine all the way to my childhood, where I was so anal with keeping books in perfect condition that I yelled at kids who dropped them on the floor, or got pissy with people who open books so far that it strains their spines. I've cooled down from acting like that, but I still watch for stuff like spine straining and page warping on books and smudging and scratching on CDs that I own. Western CDs aside, my VK CD collection is a mix of new and second hand so some have OBI strips and others don't, and the ones that do have two groups: pre-bent OBIs on the spine and unbent ones still in the case. I usually don't really think twice if a used CD comes without one at all, it's definitely no deal breaker for me. I can't bring myself to bend any of the untouched ones because I don't want to ruin its integrity, so to speak... I know that the OBI's one purpose is to be bent onto the spine of the CD, but I just can't do it for some reason... It's kind of like how some people who collect new CDs refuse to take it out of the packaging and actually play the damn thing, which is the CD's one true purpose. You just don't want to mess it up intentionally, y'know? That's also why I would never throw out an OBI under any circumstance.

Here's my top 5: Sink by Plastic Tree Melty Love by SHAZNA Louis 〜艶血のラヴィアンローズ〜 by Kamijo Fleur by LAREINE Two way tie between 麗しき仮面の招待状 and ma chérie ～愛しい君へ～ (Malice Mizer) Also shout out to プリズム (BAISER) and Mizerable (Gackt)

Because of course they are (can't believe there's kids out there who don't know of Filthy Frank's legacy... Man, I feel old)

Lmaooo I done fucked up on that one. Damn my memory's getting rusty... Tbh I could imagine Yoshiki doing tennis, it's less crazy than anything else he's done. Yeah, he actually messed up the logo because I remember for sure that he didn't include the "files" part of the logo, hence my question and I think he connected the bottom lines like the X Japan logo

Just discovered 白黒キネマ yesterday and I can't believe it took me this long to get into them

Randomly saw a Tweet and I thought this was a fan account for The [real] VAMPS but oof it's that English band with the same name [for real tho you might hate THE VAMPS but the English one is literally low budget Imagine Dragons] . Gave me a flashback to years ago when I heard someone talking about X in real life and I immediately went up to her and said, "Wow, another X fan! What do you think about the new 'We Are X' movie and Wimbledon live?" "The WHAT?" "Oh, haha, wrong band I guess... There's another X out there, haha, lol, [END ME]" Oh... That reminds me of the last time I ever went trick or treating and thought the X this guy carved onto a pumpkin was the X logo, but when I asked him if he was an X Japan fan he said it was X for 'X files' and he looked at me like he thought I was retarded. In my defense, it looked more like the X Japan logo than it did the X Files logo but still, big oof...

I'm far from an old hand in the fandom but I think I know what you're getting at. I’m actually gonna invert the question order because my thought process caused 2 to lead to 1: 2) From my perspective, Idol Kei is made up of Kawaii af Oshare Kei bands that don’t have a special sound to them and sound like they could’ve been mass-produced. They're really successful despite being run of the mill and may just be industry plants. I don’t want to name names because it's just conjecture and they could be innocent. One of the biggest indicators, to me, is a lack of previous band history, i.e this is either their first or second band they’ve been a part of. It’s usually never more. It’s especially telling if they never had some dumbass high school garage band that was… Well, doing something. Or in the rare exceptions like Lunacy, showing some real promise and raw talent that just needs to be polished up. Tangent note, I’ve noticed in the VK fandom that we’re anal af about listing out a member’s previous band history. I’ve seen people write out band histories that span like 10 different bands for each member in forums and comments sections. Could this be a by-product of wanting to see the artistic process and evolution, or to check for industry plants? Well, that’s just conjecture... 1) That leads me to here. Stuff that makes me think, “Huh, is a debut band like this really making stuff that sounds this polished already? And damn, they kinda sound just like [some other band that sounds generic]” makes me wonder if they really did write it. One big indicator that a band isn’t ghostwritten is when the band members have a history that I can follow around. When I follow that history, I can usually find patterns in songwriting that trace to one member. Such as a love for that new wave sound he grew up with as a teen or a jazz influence from his formal lessons. Also, artistic evolution is a big indicator of a band being 100% "real", if you will, such as incorporating different genre elements as time goes by or being able to hear their music evolve as the members gain more experience with writing and performing songs. 3) That’s… Tricky. I’d go back as far as the early 2000s when An cafe existed, but were they really that manufactured? Maybe later then, but then I wouldn’t really know what year exactly. The jury’s out on this one 4) As biased as I am to old school stuff and underground stuff that sounds like it was recorded on the vocalist’s bootleg Chinese Yak-Bak, I still listen to new school stuff, occasionally even bands that I think could be ghost written. It's cute and danceable, and it's usually written competently so it's not technically bad. Besides, sometimes I just need a break from the concept pieces and experimental songs from angura bands I love, ya know? Nothing wrong with that. 5) Every genre and scene deals with ghostwriting, even ones where literally all you write are the lyrics (big lol @ rap ghostwriting considering that in this day and age you can just read the writing on the wi-fi router and slap a trap beat over it to make a hit), I think VK won’t be negatively impacted by this by too much. Besides, it's not like these sickeningly saccharine sweet boy groups claim to be high art or some shit. There’s so much more that could seriously shoot VK in the foot, like continuing cute but ancient industry practices until the whole damn industry collapses. 6) I listen to lots more than just Visual Kei, but it’s still my #1 ever since I discovered it a few years ago. I wrote a long-ass paragraph on this in another thread but here’s a TL;DR: - Jrock chords, baby, I want that shit injected into my bloodstream. They are actually really different from the Western pop chords. I’m no music major so I’ll spare you the half-assed music theory lesson and simply compare them in layman’s terms. Jrock chords are like a “question and answer” type of progression that resolves itself in an intrinsically… pleasant manner? It provides the question to the answer, simply. Western pop is like a “whole statement” type of progression, it’s meant to add more statements on to it. - I love the looks a lot, they make the PVs so much more fun to watch! VK to me is more than looking pretty, it’s about expressing the meaning of the music through the use of visuals, using it as a compliment to the lyrics or even just with the actual song structure. - I like how the lyrics are so much more subtle than in English. I know that it's a by-product of how Japanese is as a language when compared to English, but even still, I'm gonna argue this one because I have translated songs (mostly in my head these days) before and their subtle meanings don't get completely lost in translation, the thought process still stays intact in English. It’s actually kind of ruined English songs for me in all honesty because now many sound like “Hurr-Durr, I have to actually tell you how to feel about what I just said instead of letting you interpret it or understand the implications”. I could go on a rant about this shit. But let’s just say an English artist would say “I killed myself then everyone was sad” and a Japanese artist would say “[I was] erased from this earth, a fact that your tears tried to blur out”. I understand that being vague is upsetting to some but I feel like spelling it out so bluntly like so many western artists do is insulting to the listener’s intelligence. Or at least my intelligence…

Maybe I'm just in the first stage of grief but I'm starting to think that this breakup is fake and just a parody of how lots of Visual Kei bands disband quickly or almost at random. I wonder if there will be a "brand new band" in the next few months with the exact same members and same musical direction as before

I guess they couldn't compete in a market where most bands are just a parody of themselves 😭

I mean, 320 is the goal but if all I can find is a 128 KBPS rip on someone's dusty af, oldest-post-is-older-than-Trump's-presidency VK Blogspot, then beggars can't be choosers. I've ripped some stuff out of my own collection in different bitrates and formats before and I could barely distinguish any difference in audio quality, so it's never a big deal for me. That being said, I try to keep it 320 in case someone else wants it, and for consistency (I'm not particularly worried about file size and storage use, considering that I use Spotify for new school stuff and my hard drive for Kote stuff).

Haha, that clip is priceless (well, the original Japanese one, this one's the Chinese vers.). I love the part when Shin-chan says "Do you have a dick?" and IZAM deadass responds with "I sure do~!" COMEDY GOLD.

I'm glad you're getting the word out there!

I'm not much of a pop music fan but even I was won over by her debut album. I totally agree with you on both counts. Recently decided to check out some name dropped VK band influences and SP is one of my new favourite western bands now

I know most celebrities have their heads up their ass but Grimes really gave her kid a name that sounds like a rejected UNDER CODE band

Like a normal mastercard, I'm assuming... Oh wow, I found out that there's more than one, actually. There's the Rakuten Mastercard that offers you lots of points and stuff There's the Underground Kingdom Visa card that gives you "member only items" (whatever that is... Free Yoshiki Bathwater, maybe?) There's also a Mastercard from Underground Kingdom but with Yoshikitty on it All 3 give you discounts for X Japan and Yoshiki related stuff (like merch) from what I can gather.

Me before watching: THERE'S A VIDEO?!?! Me after: The fact that this even exists makes me want to commit toaster bath. I regret watching that. I have never seen something so cursed, and I miss 1 minute ago when I didn't know this existed.

Me spending all my corona bucks on VK stuff like: