Number Girl

I'm supposed to be a Taurus, but I haven't really read in depth into how that equates with my personality or character - never been all that interested. I know I've always hated the sign itself just because it sounds/looks lame compared with some of the others. xD My Chinese zodiac sign is no better. It's a cock, lol.

Wow, my opinions appear to be slightly different than most of the other Versailles fans here . . . reading these reviews. I may listen to it a few more times before giving a more detailed smack down in my blog, but here is my initial impressions. Just giving a quick breakdown: MASQUERADE - 9/10 Philia - 6/10 Thanatos - 9/10 (Masashi should write more songs) Flowery - 8/10 (Not my favorite Teru song ever tbh, but it's pretty cool) Remember Forever - 5/10 (Can't listen to it all the way, not even a good ballad by Versailles standards) DESTINY - 7/10 (Sounds good remixed and the song grew on me quite a bit) DRY ICE CREAM!! - 8/10 (I actually loved it, it wasn't omgawd good but it certainly stood out on the album) Threshold - 6/10 Judicial Noir - 9/10 Love will be born again - 6/10 (Engrish ruins most of it; had potential to be of X-Japan level of ballad epicness) Vampire - 8/10 (I also really liked this song, strangely enough and don't see reasoning behind extreme h8) Faith & Decision - ?/10 (TL;DR - some parts I skipped through sounded decent though) Theme of Holy Grail - 6/10 (It's okay, despite being sappy instrumental) Okay, so while I enjoy individual songs, I think this album all together was resoundingly weaker than anything they've ever done, probably excluding Noble. I'm left a bit underwhelmed, but I don't think this album deserves to be labeled the disappointment of the year. It has good aspects, it's just that it feels . . . rushed, if you ask me. (Yes, ironic considering the actual length). Overall Rating: 6-7/10

Face-palming so hard right now.

I thought this was going to be a session band. Cool they are actually releasing stuff. Unlike another certain band Gackt was in with members of certain artists associated with these guys . . .

lol Mike and aside from Gackt's band, this current line-up is pretty sad compared with last year.

oh my god.

This should be cool.

Yeah, I was about to say - foreigners don't have to pay any Japanese taxes. Where we suffer is typically in shipping and exchange rate.

By Japanese income standards, 3000 yen is nothing - or so I've been told. Lots of things in Japan are expensive; video games, movie tickets, everything. It's not a matter of greed on the part of the record companies or bands, that's just how their economy works. Supposedly they just have a large money supply and the average person is just able to spend that much. And remember, as CAT5 said, 99% of these bands are trying to market to Japanese people, so foreigners and their financial differences are not considered. On the other hand, music is technically a luxury for those who can afford it, not an entitlement or necessity, so maybe that could also be a factor into the pricing. It could probably be a Japanese cultural thing, in that case.

1. Anthem (heavy metal) 2. Grand Slam (hard rock/glam) 3. Blindman (power metal/hard rock) 4. Cowpers (emo/hardcore) 5. Number Girl (alternative/noise rock)

I really don't know what to think right now.

Random thought, I was listening to Feminism in the car today and fell in love with the song "眠れない日に見る時計" again. I forgot how good it was. ^^

(l8 n an old thread) I like them. . . I want their stuff. . . They are like a band Mukai would be in with better-looking people in it.

I have never listened to "Jade" up until now, believe it or not. I liked the beginning a lot and I had the impression this was going to be a cool metal song, but once Toshi tried to belt out that ballady chorus it kinda plunged down hill from there. Pretty underwhelming for something anticipated for so long.

Well I'll give her some credit, I don't even listen to 375 bands. Herpes, if he wasn't pretty then that would ruin the mood of their angst-ridden fanfics and flowery lolita get-togethers once annually.

Me and my dad love it. We always try to catch it when it comes on TV.

If visual kei gets its own special board, then there better be a special board for labels like indie, jazz, HR/HM, punk, etc. too. Sorry, I hate how in this fandom, visual kei (a scene that encompasses very little of the actual Japanese rock music) is always considered sooooo different and unique it warrants its own domain . . . but everything else - all those "unimportant bands" are just "lowl Jay-wawk" (as if its all the freaking same, unlike a majority of visual kei these days). Visual kei is Japanese and it is rock. The artists just happen to sit in dresses nine times out of ten, which like others have said is hardly a good reason to "separate" them into their own holy, untainted section. The "non-VK fandom" isn't quite as cut and dry as many people make it out to be either; it is a diverse place in itself just because the only qualification is to lack the "visual" title. Many people aren't broad enough in their tastes (or shallow enough) to listen to something just because it ISN'T VK. There are people who only prefer heavy metal bands/classic rock and there are people who only like indie rock/post-rock bands and there are people who only like punk or hardcore or black metal. Would we split for those people too? I agree with Zess about the "non-VK" stuff potentially being eclipsed - not that it isn't enough already. If that wasn't so, there would be no need for those recommendation boards. I don't see how one would have a problem finding anything related to visual kei at all here, even without a search engine. I also concur that the whole issues of genre can cause problems. Some bands push the boundary between visual and non-visual and it can go without saying that section has enough drama as it is.

I'm sure he could continue singing, but he has said that he doesn't want to come back with a half-assed quality voice. That wouldn't be fair to the fans and I find that commendable. But it is not completely impossible for Hizumi to resume a musical career if he really wanted. Can't be play other instruments too?

I don't have a problem with them at all. I actually don't like paying for MP3's myself that much because I prefer having the physical copies. I only see a problem with the people who beg and beg for cheaper things (or else!), but won't even buy the stuff when it does become cheaper. I think it would be easier to pay a few cents to get, a digital single for instance, rather than wasting your time pestering people to share? I could understand if we were talking about $30 a pop, but $5? $.99? Eh, really? :/

Even more ironically, all of those are from Kiwamu sponsered bands (correct me if I'm wrong). I guess even big anti-piracy advocates can't even be arsed to please Kiwamu. No huge surprise there. :/ I'm interested to hear OP's exact explanation, but there is a possibility this was only done for shiz and gigglez too. @Arithmetica and Peace: It annoys me when people whine about wanting Japanese music to be cheaper, but refuse to take advantage of options like iTunes and such (when they are perfectly capable of doing it). I don't think that supports your case very well, at least in my opinion. And while I'm convinced Kiwamu is the biggest drama llama in J-Rock I have ever known, you can't really blame him for feeling backstabbed sometimes. Even people who claim to be fans and read his blog don't even want to support him. @Uglymouth: In case anyone wanted to know, CDJapan DOES accept payments in cash and international money order. Not the fastest options to use, but it beats not being able to buy something because you lack a credit card.

It may not even be appropriate for me to say this, but I just couldn't help but notice that the creator of this topic is listed as being active in the Downloads section of this forum. Maybe if you want to stop illegal music sharing, it might help to make sure you aren't part of the problem in the first place. :/

Got invited recently too! Taking forever to upload my stuff though. :/

First of all, I think you've come to the wrong place to try to question piracy. While nothing is wrong with your opinion, suggesting the board to stop illegal downloading is like going to a Christian board and trying to convince people to stop giving away free Bibles. Though I could personally care less if it all disappeared tommorow (and despite it is the source of tons of highly unecessary drama), the Download section is technically this board's foundation and is important to about 98% of its userbase for different reasons. Bottom line, it isn't going to stop any time soon. Anyway . . . I have never downloaded much from Monochrome Heaven and I see no need to. I have the ability to determine if something is worth buying or not from samples given out on legal websites, YouTube clips, MySpace, etc. With my dial-up internet connection, I actually would prefer a streamed 40 second clip to a whole album in 360k. I buy CD's mainly because, I love collecting. I like having my music in the highest possible quality it exists in. I love having the lyrics, the notes, and the pictures to look at. Downloading someone else's files gives none of that. Yes . . . CD's are expensive, and I can only buy what my budget allows at a given time like most people, but I no longer have the desire to have something immediately. But that is just my personality. Other people are different. But I am convinced most of the "J-Rock" fandom overseas can thank illegal file-sharing in some form. Even if you never got anything from Monochrome Heaven or some other site like it, most of us have probably been sent something from a friend, saw a video uploaded on YouTube or other streaming site, or heard streams on Pandora or Last.FM and that was how we found out about our favorite artists. I don't disapprove of illegal sharing in all circumstances (though I do not participate in it much anymore). I could care less about how rare releases and out-of-print stuff is shared (since no one benefits or loses either way) and I don't mind sharing that kind of stuff if I happen to have it. For stuff that is accessible, I still think that if you are a fan of an artist and you like something you heard, you should try to support the artist's careers by buying the music. So - I don't share new releases or in-print stuff at all. Illegal file-sharing is very limited in its benefits as a form of "promotion" - someone has to buy things eventually. (And I highly doubt most people here would fly out to Japan to see a show of a tiny indie band in a tiny venue in Tokyo or pay for an overpriced imported "snap bracelet", so don't even go there). To my knowledge, artists do get royalties from CD's and though they are small profits a profit is still a profit in the end. And artists do like it when you buy the CD (indie artists too) - they put a lot of hard work into it and in my opinion they deserve something out of it. Especially if they are very talented too.

I figured something was fishy about this the moment I heard it. But that would be something . . .

Without vision aid, I almost can't function. to be in school, read, drive, or anything. I've been badly near-sighted since I was seven-years-old. I couldn't see the board at school and my grades fell because of it. (I was too shy to say I couldn't see). I wore glasses with bifocal lenses up until I entered middle school. I was determined not get rid of them, even though I was old enough to "graduate" to contacts. I ended up losing them on a white water rafting trip and I finally gave in and tried contacts. I swear they are a gift from God. And I look a hundred times better without those things on my face all the time. Also I can do stuff without worrying about them falling off, bending, or screws coming loose. Only thing I dislike about contacts is the process of removing them/putting them in, which is painstaking since they are so delicate - one little roll up is all it takes. Ever since then, I've always only worn contact lenses. Whenever I wear glasses now, I get mild vertigo/nausea.