Ito

Really hyped on this. To be honest, I'm  trying to keep my expectations low since I know this has a decent chance of being a disappointment...but hell, I'm just excited to see that Hizumi is back in the scene. Also, ABS is a guilty pleasure of mine, so that makes this pretty interesting to me.

I also don't think we will ever see anything like early D'espairsRay again. The band moved past that period, and while I love it (and I'm not even saying they dislike it), it doesn't seem to be the kind of music any of the members of the band still want to make. That and I doubt we will be getting any screaming from Hizumi.

hide - Dice

This was my first hide song ever and this solo has always stuck with me.

Versailles - Love from a Dead Orchestra

This has always been my favorite Versailles song, and the solo has a lot to do with that. Perhaps a touch "noodley," but not enough to make it feel like just pure fast guitar wankery, and there is enough substance here that I find it incredibly memorable.

Dir en grey - Cage

I'll be the first one to admit that this one is over rated as heck...though perhaps not any more (do people even talk about early era diru anymore? lol). That said, it's still quite catchy and a bass solo still is something you hardly hear. When I thought of guitar solos in Jrock, this is one of the first ones that jumped in to my mind.

NoGod - Guren

Perhaps this would be in the "runner up" category for me in terms of solos, but I still enjoy this one a fair bit. It also reminds me of how much I miss early NoGod.

I know I am missing one major one for myself here. When I first saw this thread, I knew exactly what song I needed to include. But for the love of god I can't remember what that song is anymore.

On 1/11/2019 at 2:11 PM, TheZigzagoon said:

For those playing Smash Bros., who we all maining?

 

For me, it’s Wii Fit Trainer and Mii Brawler atm 

I'm not sure I have a main, as I am pretty casual still. But if I was forced to pick, I would say it's between Lucina, Zero Suit Samus, and King K. Rool.

In break at the moment so taking advantage of that free time.

Donut County

Oh boy this game was a disappointment. Gave me hardcore Katamari vibes going in, but instead of a wacky action game I got a boring puzzle game. Every puzzle was easy, and not like a "I'm smart" easy... I'm just ok at puzzles and only one time did I have to stop and think at all. The game took me 2 hours to beat. Oh, did I mention that half of the game is cut scenes? This game kind of sucked.

Owlboy

4.5 hours in and loving it. Been playing this game entirely on steam and it works super well that way. The pixel are is gorgeous and the game is full of charm. The controls can feel a bit wonky, but hardly a deal breaker. The pacing is also great so far, which is amazing since a lot of games like this tend to feel like the are padded a lot.

Spiderman

Only a handful of hours in. The controls and still a little clunky feeling for combat but I'm sure I will get used to them. The web swinging is just wonderful. Verdict is still out but I feel like I will really enjoy this one going forward 

Super Smash Bros Ultimate

The game I have put the most time in to on this list. I've always loved Smash Bros and this one does nothing to change that opinion. This game reminds me of how much fun it is to have friends over to play video games.

On 1/2/2019 at 11:58 AM, CAT5 said:

@Zeus

@Ito - 2008 was a major year of exploration for me too! That's the year I truly started to learn about J-indie. and LOLZ, iirc, Spike actually bought that UNLIMITS album because he liked them so much.

Lol maybe I was a bit too hard on that album. I actually still enjoy it, but it more or less at time time felt like we were calling it amazing when really we didn't have a great perspective at the time. It's a good album, but man, it ain't -that- good.

On 1/5/2019 at 10:37 AM, Zeus said:

If I were pressed to give a reason for this, I would point to K-Pop. I know many a fan who jumped ship to K-Pop once the craze died down, and to be honest it feels more socially acceptable to like K-Pop than visual kei these days because one is more commercialized than the other. To J- and K-music outsiders, I can see how the distinction between "J-Rock" and "K-Pop" is irrelevant when they don't understand the words anyway, so I'd say that for many people K-Pop fills that musical niche for their interest in ~exotic Asian musics~ where J-Music should be.

Oh boy do I ever have opinions on this. I think this is just starting the surface of this topic, there's a lot of meat in these bones. Not to say Kpop is the soul reason for the VK but crash abroad, but it certainly was ready to fill it's spot. Perhaps this deserves it's own topic.

14 hours ago, Zeus said:

While writing up  blurbs for this list, we came to the conclusion that 2008 was a golden year for visual kei. So many good things were released or happening during that time. This took so long to come out because every time one of us was done, another person snuck in a blurb or two. If we didn't cut ourselves off, I'm sure we would have wrote a bit about everything released that year. I'm not expecting 2009's retrospective to have this many blurbs.

Man, I feel like I was so ignorant to how good 2008 was musically at the time. So much of my previous years in VK/Jrock was spent finding and listening to albums older than the year that I was listening to them in. 2008 was probably one of the first few years when I was listening and discovering mostly new music Jrock, so I just felt like this was how things are. Boy how I was mistaken.

I feel like I am a year behind on things. I just finished Assassin's Creed Origins- it was very OK, I really wouldn't recommend it, but for whatever reason I was compelled to finish it. I still don't have a Switch (something I hope to fix by early next year). Not quite sure what game is up next for me.

On 11/25/2018 at 1:58 PM, colorfuljinsei said:

Black Friday deal Tin T2 Pros came in the mail. I've gone through two pairs of Klipsch S4s, budget Sennheiser IEMs, Bluetooth Sets (Jaybird x2s, x3s, and LG Tone Platinums), and other "Chi-Fi" offerings... This is my favorite pair to date.

 

Soundstage is great, every sound is separable and textured, and the bass is where I like it. Also, with all the wired headsets I've broken, I refuse to get headphones without detachable cables. Since I'm not someone who buys high-end IEMs (more so over-ear pairs), I'll probably be sticking to Laosoft's products for a while. 

 

I recently got the same IEMs (via massdrop). They were cheap enough that I was willing to give them a try. I continue to find IEMs uncomfortable, but I have super tiny ear holes, so even with the smallest tips that they come with, they still are a bit bigger than I would like. I think I need to try some 3rd party foam tips. The sound is good, not great - about what I expected for the money. The bass feels a bit muddy - it feels pretty decent for electronic music and has a decent punch, but for rock it is a bit muddled and quieter than I would like. Overall really not bad for the price I paid ($40 shipped).  My least favorite thing is the cable - I kind of hate it. I may look for a replacement, but I am not sure I use these enough to justify buying a new cable.

Honestly, I think cons aren't particularly interested in bringing over VK bands. A big part of that is because I just don't think that there is an overwhelming interesting in VK in the con scene...not to say that the interest was every huge, but is absolutely has died off. I used to see more people doing VK cosplay, VK stuff being sold and booths at the dealers hall, and more people used to come to my Jrock panel at Acen. In terms of the con scene, I think Kpop has taken up the mindshare space that VK/Jrock used to have. Because of that, VK bands being booked for cons are fairly few and far between these days. The best thing you can do is reach out to the cons you are either planning or are interested in going to and let them know you are interested in seeing VK at their con. It mostly likely won't do much (I can speak from experience here), but the fact is that very few people actually reach out to cons and let them know what they would like to see, which in turn might make the con think the interest is there. 

I got so fucking trolled when I thought we were finally going to get Skate 4 and it turned out to be a totally different game called Sessions. For the love of god I just want Skate 4 so badly lol.

Highlight of the show for me though was Ghost of Tsushima, the art direction is really wonderful and I can't wait to see where they take this game.

On 5/24/2018 at 4:54 PM, WhirlingBlack said:

 

Very cool! Did any MH members show up? 
I also like how symptomatic it is of this fandom that despite the hall being filled less than halfway, everyone is still spread out as much as they possibly could!

I spy a wild @YuyoDrift in this picture. I think there were a couple more MH members, but I forgot to ask that (I was really thrown off by technical difficulties killing my first half hour).

And yeah, people were pretty spread out lol. That said, there were a lot more people early on. I'm going to blame the loss of people on the panel running right over most people's dinner times though.

https://www.instagram.com/vontog/

I hope you like cosplay or action sports.

Here's a selfie with everyone that was still around for the very end of my Jrock panel at Acen this year.

I found that Electric Cucumber cover hilarious.

I'm not a fan of the vocals either, but I enjoy the mood, so I'm a bit conflicted.

Sounds like a killer show - having seen Envy live before, I can't imagine them without Tetsuya and I'm so glad to hear that he's back.

Just seeing this now...fuck.

Can't remember is someone has brought up this gem from RES yet.

On 2/11/2018 at 7:25 PM, IGM_Oficial said:

It seems that hide is professional not only on music, but also on ugly cover art.

This one is as horrid as classic. Even looks like that there aren't good quality versions of it on the internet just because of this retardedness.

 

One can only hope that cover was approved after his death, because lord it's awful.

Looks legit to me.

Tribute impulse? More like they need impulse control.

Still, this looks far more interesting than the last handful of hide tribute albums.

I generally don't give a shit about music videos, and this one is no exception, but I am happy to hear them putting out new music. I agree that the song is pretty average for 8-eit, but I still enjoyed it and it has me hopeful.

Well, that certainly is a thing...

If there was a single year I am most nostaligic for in Jrock, I think it would have to be 2007. D'espairsRay, Girugamesh, and Rentrer en Soi sit at the top of this list for me. That said, I think there are a few albums that I still look back at fondly that didn't make it on to the list:

Abingdon Boys School - Self Titled

I played the shit out of this release. I was always a fan of Takanori Nishikawa, but never really got in to TM's style. But in catchy alt rock with lots of electronics...oh man.

Lynch. - The Avoided Sun

I'm not sure this will ever go down as the best lynch album, but in 2007 their formula wasn't even close to feeling stale yet. I still really enjoy this album, even if it does have some stinker tracks on it (I'm looking at you, "the Universe.")

D - Neo Culture: Beyond the World

This would mark the last D album that I really enjoyed.

Blood Stain Child - Mozaiq

Man, I don't feel like this album holds up to time at all, but that euro-trance metal was something that was really enjoyable at the time.

Dir en Grey - The Marrow of a Bone

This album felt like a dud to me at the time, and marked the full on shift in Diru's style. That said, I still found myself still really getting pumped up by some of the tracks (Grief being the main one here)

The Marrow of a Bone - Bu-ikikaesu

When I think of MtH, this is the album I think of. I'll admit though, I don't think I listened to this on in 2007 though.

Kagrra, - shizuku

Far from Kagrra,'s strongest work, but there formula was so lovely and I couldn't help but enjoy their more laid back approach they were taking. That and I think what Kagrra, was doing has never really been replicated.

My wife and I started watching The Ancient Magus Bride and My Hero Academia. We're only 4 episodes in to Magus, and while I love the atmosphere, it might be a bit too slow, and I haven't been able to suspend my disbelief on the main characters comfort with the situation and how uncomfortable her and bone dude's relationship is. Hero on the other had is managing to take a stale formula and making it fresh, though I worry how long it can hold up. The biggest problem I have with shounens is that often get stretch out too long and outstay their charm.