saiko
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Posts posted by saiko
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Any thoughts on why Diru never plays their pre-Withering repertory? Unlike almost all the bands in the scene, they could have not played them never ever again if it weren't for the MODE OF... tours. (Still waiting for the MACABRE one, also! Why did they ignored it?) Dude, I'm glad they decided to put out a DVD of these lives! The VK-eras are still my favorites, despite I generally praise every album from them... I wish someday we'll have decent quality videos from their performances MISSA, Gauze and Macabre eras (2 Budokan gigs, and almost no records of them! Only seconds-length clisp... That's a fucking shame!).
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2 hours ago, inertia said:I lived in Tokyo and went to all their local shows and many of the away ones too during their second period in the 2000s. Something that I think isn’t fully appreciated among international fans is just how unpopular and broke Lareine was during that time, and how desperately and passionately they worked despite the obstacles. But every concert was magical. It had to be. There was no reason to do it otherwise, and a million reasons to quit. It felt like borrowed time, and I was always so happy and grateful to be able to see them despite the bittersweet feeling they would have been better off doing something else.
They always looked exhausted at events, rarely had new costumes, rarely even had new goods because I think they had trouble coming up with deposits. Cheki didn’t start to become a thing until late in their history (2005-ish?) when they’d already spent years grinding away with little return. I suspect the reason why they were able to put out as many releases as they did is because back during Lareine’s Sony days Kamijo invested in buying a bunch of his own production equipment. I think normally an indie band at that level wouldn’t have had those resources.
But time to write and rehearse seemed like a scarce commodity too back then. There were times when Kamijo looked half dead. And every time Lareine did a little tour we could watch Kamijo perk up day by day, at the same time as us fans with normal lives were getting more and more tired as the tour went on. It always made me wonder what on earth kind of awful schedule he normally had in Tokyo, juggling the band and probably a part-time job, that going on tour would feel like a vacation to him. (Later on when I read Versailles interviews, they mentioned that Kamijo and Hizaki first met while working at Third Stage.)
Unfortunately by 2003 Lareine was already perceived as old, out of date, and uncool. A ‘90s band. If they hadn’t paused in 2000 maybe things would have been different, maybe they could have built a solid base like Dir or Pierrot. But coming back in 2003 it was too late, the trends had already changed. Lareine had few fans back then, and it seemed like all of us were fans from before. I never met any Japanese fans who said they were new. (only international fans) Young VK fans didn’t care. Lareine wrote some of the currently trendy themes into their music in ways that were interesting instead of pure copy/paste, and us old fans had fun, but nobody else cared. They did some amazing experimental stuff on stage, and nobody saw it except us few old fans. To give you an idea of how young fans perceived them, there was a big outcry when Versailles was announced because people didn’t think a pansy weak vocalist with a thin high voice like Kamijo should be playing with awesome (but unknown) guitarists like Hizaki and Teru. They really got outraged when we heard Versailles was going to have a heavy sound. I got in a lot of arguments online at that time with people who clearly thought I was a delusional fangirl for saying that Kamijo’s voice is powerful enough to sing heavier music.
In February 2006 Kazumi announced that he was leaving Lareine and retiring from music. I never blamed him, I was thankful that he had done his best to help bring us great music for so long despite the hardships. But this was really the beginning of the end. Lareine put out big ads in the major VK magazines looking for a new drummer, and they even went out of their way to explicitly write that they would take applications from anybody regardless of age or sex or nationality, as long as they could play and would love the band. I think that would be shocking to see in a band’s want ad even today, and this was in 2006 before the explosion of international tours had happened. But they weren’t able to find a drummer, and then during the summer Mayu vanished again. Honestly I can’t even blame Mayu either for wanting to quit under the circumstances, but it was terrible that he vanished without communication or warning. The Club Citta live they did in October was originally supposed to be a Halloween Party event live with multiple bands, not their last live.
I went to as many of Kamijo’s anniversary tour dates as I could, since it was so special. The Tokyo final with everyone was amazing. So glad I went.
p.s. “Drama” was so great live that to this day I can still half-hear the performance in my memory, even though they only played it twice in Sapporo in February 2006 before Kazumi left. It was so powerful. Kazumi and Emiru were much louder than on the studio version; this song actually has a really sexy rhythm when you can hear them. Mayu took the electric part instead of the acoustic one. They came together solid and strong booming on the beat in that last chorus on the song, Kamijo singing powerfully instead of gently, and hard on the beat like the others. I regret not bringing my MD recorder to Sapporo, but I never imagined that those 2 nights would be the last times we could enjoy Lareine normally.
It always seemed to me that their last DVD releases did not have the same quality of performance, audience quantity and response, glamour, that did have their performance at Shibuya Kokkaidou, recorded for their Chantons L'amour DVD... Even when, as you mention, you can actually see the band putting the best out of them... it really seemed kind of "sad" at some point. Now I can understand why...
It's been a while since I figured out that us, non-Japanese-residents vk fans, have sealed quite all the ways for getting more in touch with the bands we follow. Mostly if it is about this kind of information, that gives us points of view about the personal and emotional dynamics between the band and the scene, their mangement, their fans, and even between themselves as mates. Unofficial information that doesn't (and shouldn't) come out in the available platforms designed for their promotion, because, for good or bad, it definitely will take off all the "glorification" put on their image, leaving naked the simple, but at the same time complex, "humanity" that is behind every part of every project, and makes it possible, ultimately.
In this way, your testimony has become very precious to me. I'm not gonna hide that it actually did bring up a feel of sadness... Maybe because the empathy that spots in myself after reading on somebody's angst and pain related to the struggling on trying to convey your feelings direct to the hearts of the cold public...While reading, sometimes I could feel intensely some things you wrote...
Now, I find myself revaluing much more Kamijo, Mayu, Machi, Emiru, Kazami, Lareine... I can't doubt they did not a good, but and AWESOME work.Thank you, very, very much. It would be very interesting if someday you decide to write with more detail your memories about the band, that I notice have a lot of love put into them.
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Hola!!!
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14 hours ago, utaulatias said:So I'm coming home from Kiryu's show in Osaka and I'm really worried about Mahiro right now...
I'll do a proper live report tomorrow when I have more time but here's the "short" version of what happened.
From the very first song, Mahiro didn't have a lot of energy which was already making me worries but after a few songs, he got back to his normal levels of energy and so those worries went away.
But at the end the set before the encore, one of the staff members had to help him walk off of the stage.
For the MCs during the encore everything also seemed fine. Mahiro was even smiling a lot but for the very last song Mahiro looked really really tired and then when the song ended he was stumbling a little. And then started talking in this really delirious tone and I couldn't even really catch what he said. Then he was stumbling a lot more and bumped into the mic stand a few times and a staff member caught him before he fell down coming off of the stage. I don't think he fully fainted but he couldn't stand up straight. A good hand full of girls were crying after that (I teared up a little too).
At the very end of the live Mitsuki was trying to calm everyone down and even made a joke about the 6-man tour they're doing next.
But after this, I really want them to take a long break...seeing Mahiro almost faint was so scary... And I really think he's pushing himself too hard.
Wow... such a tragic situation for a great band like them... I wish I could travel to Japan and got to see them live before the worst happens...
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Any thoughts on their disbandment?
I've always felt that 95% of the stuff after Fierte was pretty generic, thus boring. I deeply believe it reflects an atmosphere of low creative energy, clearly derivated of the loose bonds between the members, with their easy comes and goes. This is something I've never came to understand fully, since there is much evidence that, although they never reached the mainstream attention bands like Shazna had, neither the levels of popularity bands like Dir en grey or Pierrot enjoyed in those years, Lareine was indeed a solid band with a strong concept, decent musicians and organic compositions, that had marked with fire the scene for ever. In fact, it is obvious to me that they started the prince and princesses trope back in the day.
I will always praise their contribution of a very genuine and refreshing approach to the visual kei clichés that will never be forgotten.
A tragic-concept band project met an actual tragic end...😢
P.D.: the tears I shed while watching Kamijo sing Fiançailles during his anniversary tour date in my country were the worthiest ever. 💗🌹
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On 4/8/2018 at 12:51 PM, Mamo said:+1
Yeah every release since inhale has been a disappointment for me and inhale itself is a constant reminder of wasted potential because it's their only truly special song. Both Leda and Keita are capable of far more but instead keep doing all of this playing it safe generic bull shit. Yeah they're okay but everyone seems to be coming to the same conclusion which is that they can do way better.
+11111111
FUCKING SAME.
Inhale is in fact one the tunes with the highest replay number in my list. Superb composition and execution. Great blending of contemporary metal with the classic visual kei harmonies. Nothing more to say; 11/10. On the other hand, the genericness of their other releases keep me getting more and more decepted. Still can't believe they are the same band... I just don't get it.
Thanks God we have Jiluka to satisfy our starving for prog-tech-metal kei.
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12 minutes ago, Masato said:If only 10% is true, that's bad enough.
I just don't get how you can have so little self respect as to go to this kind of event....
I guess this is very coherent with the whole ijime stuff we got to know trough a lot of anime and Manga scripts...
Geez, Japanese do have a lot of issues with superiority, submission, idolatry, etc...
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15 minutes ago, cvltic said:If I have permission from an admin, then I'll drop the highlights.
Mostly I just don't want anyone to think I'm doing it to smear the bandmen in question or attempting to pass anything off as an absolute truth. The stories about Harcon in particular are generally considered to be a mix of truths, half-truths, exaggerations and total fabrications.
The following is a selection of posts just from this archived Harcon thread:
http://old.bbs.2ch2.net/admin/readkako.cgi?bbs=visualtanuki&key=1223287368Byou is called by his real last name throughout the thread, I've replaced it in the translation. Also, some of the content below is disturbing.
25 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 19:29
My friend had her hair pulled by Daisuke
39 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 19:33
I had my hair pulled and I got hit hard
Kyo is trash for raising his hand to women
48 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 19:35
When I was going the girls [Kyo] hates would have their heads held and be forced to drink, he'd watch them crying and cackle
That really creeped me out
61 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 19:39
Before at Harcon I fucked Daisuke and Kyo pointed and laughed, Kyo hated me lmao. Fine by me because Daisuke is my fav lol
81 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 19:45
I had a drinking contest with Kyo and I won, but when he sobered up he kicked my ass ＼(^o^)／
113 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 19:57
He'd make girls strip and compare their pussies, tell them they smelled and put bottles of booze in them
I want to forget ＼(^O^)／
123 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 20:01
Kyo laughed at Daisuke's cutting scars and I was stunned, as you might expect
126 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 20:01
My friend had her hair pulled by Daisuke
129 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 20:02
>126
He plucked my pubes
172 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 20:16
Kyo ripped my high school uniform and I had to go to school in a jersey
255 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 20:42
If you fucked around with your phone you'd get drinks poured on you
Some bandman who was messing around taking pictures got choked
271 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 20:59
I got passed around between Daisuke and Tatsurou lmao
73 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/06 21:03
Daisuke dragged me to the bathroom and fucked me lmao
I was surprised because I thought he was the submissive type
340 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 02:06
Ah, the past, when I got raped by creepy Kisui and [Dir staff] Yubisui...
344 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 02:26
Daisuke and Satsuki and Gara and Tatsurou were doing rape-y things. Too late now, though.349 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 02:47
We played 3 character shiritori (a drinking game) and I was forced to drink so much brandy on the rocks
I blacked out for the first time in my life lol
And there was a day where the money disappeared from my wallet without me noticing
Now I can laugh about it354 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 02:58
>349
Hold up lmao, same here lololol355 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 02:58
>349
Same happened to me and my friend and she got taken home by one of them orz
356 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:00
>355
I got raped in public right then and there lol367 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:05
Takes me back... Those were pretty fun times. Everyone would get smashed and when I sobered up we'd all be laid out in the room in the evening.
379 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:10>367
I woke up naked and covered in puke in the bathroom lol
When I quietly looked around outside the bathroom there were a ton of totally naked gya laid out lol387 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:12
Kyo would make shit up and fight randos at the bar
That was 6 years ago though
392 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:14
Daisuke laughed when my friend got taken away by the ambulance for acute alcohol poisoning396 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:15
>392
I too am familiar with the Daisuke that laughs at girls while disparaging them lol
399 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:17
>396
Daisuke would immediately start pulling girls' hair and screaming, right?
He was so problematic when he was with Kyo
405 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:18
A long time ago I got drunk and put my head in Daisuke's lap and he got hard instantly and it made my heart race lol
410 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:19
>399
Yep. I got laughed at while he called me ugly lol
He acts good in front of [Kyo] but then talks about him rudely when they're separated lol414 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:21
>410
Daisuke's personality is shit
He's definitely hard on ugly women417 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:23
They'd be murderously pissed at girls who brought girls who weren't cute lmao
I got told to go home, as expected...
420 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:25
>417
Yes!!!
So they'd emphasize that you HAD to bring a cute girl lol
430 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:28
425
That's why Kyo would invite you to drink after checking your looks lol
A little audition lmao440 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:30
Gara was really demanding that I let him feel my tits once lmao
453 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:33
I saw [Byou] forced to get naked a lot lol
463 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:35
Kyo beating up passerby with Daisuke was basically routine.472 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:37
[Byou] was miserable, he'd cry a lot
473 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:37
Ugly girls would get cucumber sticks put in them and forced spread eagle
476 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:37
Kyo told me I was dumber than a pigeon
483 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:39
[Byou] is Daisuke's slave
487 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:40
>483
For sure lolol
He was always getting hit, I felt bad486 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:40
When I told Daisuke to give me his number he snapped my phone in half lmfao490 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:41
>477
I wonder how [Byou] is doing. I felt so bad I tried to look after him but Shizumi forced me to go back to Kyo.
495 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:43
>490
Same LMAO
I also tried to look after [Byou] but he told me to go talk to Daisuke looool
Shizumi, lolol505 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 03:45
Daisuke called me stupid and hit me ＼(^o^)／
588 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 04:03
Daisuke made [Byou] jack off
After that he made him sing Idol-gurui [by Kagerou]
594 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 04:05
>588
Did he cum?
597 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 04:05
>594
He'd get his ass beat if he didn't ejaculate, sooo
He did
613 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 04:09
Bansaku knocked someone up at Harcon, kicked her stomach and made her miscarry
618 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 04:11
>613
Trash, as always
Pregnant girls were a nuisance to him so he'd push them on Takumi from Gimmick
That's why Takumi's drowning in debt
620 名前：名無し 投稿日：08/10/08 04:11
I don't want Screw fans telling me they feel bad for [Byou]
This is the vertical society of bands
Now we don't have a vertical society so there's been more dumbass bands
[thread derails into old band culture talk and talk of non-harcon related bandmen]
I also found some thread about bandmen and fighting but it's mostly about extremely early vk bandmen (RAPES, Charisma, Dynamite Tommy, X, LUNA SEA). I'll come back with those highlights when I have some time!Thank you so much for this! So, so interesting and important for us to know!
I'm still a huge Diru fan, and obviously I don't consider the possibility of automatically start to dislike them because of acknowledging this... But I can't help feeling a little weird about this stuff, of course.
Btw, what's "harcon"? "Harassment complex" maybe?
And what are your thoughts on the roadie system, and its disappearance into the current idolification process?
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2 hours ago, Jigsaw9 said:While we're on the subject of David Bowie, it's also worth mentioning his live antics with guitarist Mick Ronson back around 1973...
(dunno if this is the earliest example that could count as 'fanservice' tho XD)
Thank you so much for this!
Epic shoot! 😍😍😍
Did the fact that these antics happened got spread into the Japanese fans? How could it be received by them? Perhaps, we have to consider that the mere concept of "fan-service" (which is a wasei-eigo term, ファンサービス, a Japanese-language expressions based on English words or parts of word combinations, that do not exist in standard English or whose meanings differ from the words from which they were derived ) makes the homoerotic antics and aesthetic get a different statute in the concept that a scene has over the music and performance. For instance, this stuff is well-known in the Japanese culture in general. But in the case of Bowie, or the one of the scene in which he took part, I've never found this fact being highlighted by anyone in the stories I've read from him and his career. It makes me think about the intersections between the official story of Bowie's carreer and the unofficial one, I mean, how our (homophobic) culture treats some facts signifcantly different than it does with others...
Btw, I figured out it would be cool to have at least a little stock of West "fan-service" culture in music artists, independently of whether visual-kei gay antics were directly influenced by West totally, parcially or whatever...
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Just now, Zeus said:
You definitely should because I guarantee 80% of the forum has never heard of this, and posts on the internet have a habit of disappearing. Of course, we will all keep in mind that these are rumors and should be treated as such until we get official proof (IF we ever get official proof).Right!
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12 hours ago, cvltic said:big ol reminder that i'm not writing this as an insider or anything but as a nerd who reads a lot of tanuki rumors
Kyo's drinking party was ハーコン/Harcon and the members are sometimes called ハーディー/Hardy, for anyone who wants to look it up themselves.
I can't say I remember everyone who's been mentioned as a member but:
Kyo
Daisuke & other Kagerou members
Gara & other Merry members
Tatsurou & other MUCC members
Satsuki
Kisui
Wataru (ex. 12012)
Some combination of baroque/kannivalism members
Byou (as Kagerou's roadie)
Daisuke and Kyo are probably the ones you'll read the most about. A lot of the stories seem to indicate the old vertical hierarchy/roadie culture (e.g. Kyo bosses around Daisuke, who bosses around Byou) which seems to have died somewhat with the idolification of visual kei in the last 10 or so years. There are threads specifically about Harcon but I don't really know how I feel about translating them because they have some fairly serious allegations...
The story about Ruka getting his ass beat by Yayoi/Yuuga is pretty famous too, but the details aren't really clear. Just everyone seems to know Yayoi and Yuuga wanted Ruka's ass beat and then it happened. One version I read is that Kazane from the Anarchist Records band Misery took the blame for it for a while, but that was because Yuuga pinned it on him after Yayoi ordered Yuuga to beat him up. Folding chairs were allegedly involved in the beating in the most often retold version of the story. Kisaki may or may not have intervened. The only reason I ever heard for this was that Yuuga and Yayoi got tired of him having a stank attitude and not greeting them properly.Please!
Could you do that favor to us, non-Japanese speakers?🙇♂️ -
Hi!
I've always wondered about how did the homoeroticism imaginary got into the scene. At least for me, the whole "fan-service" thing went straight to the point of being one of the most distinctive tropes of the scene today, being solidary to the whole gender-bending atmosphere.
I suppose many of you guys here acknowledge the fact that bands like Buck-tick, D'ERLANGER, Kuroyume and Penicillin have been bringing this kind of aesthetic during the early days.
What do you think it was the meaning or the intention behind it? Was it pure fujoshi-gya-aimed stuff since the beggining? Was it instead part of their concept? Can we consider this a little more than just another showman skill? Was it inspired by yaoi anime/manga and the whole bishounen trope? Or was it somehow connected with the british post-punk scene? (perhaps, they actually could have acknowledged Bowie's or Morrisey's statements on their gender/sexuality on their lyrics? But explicit erotic antics between bandmates is something that only the japanese do, as far as I'm concerned).
Let's talk!💜
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Hi!
I've came across this information on the Satsuki drama thread:
QuoteSatsuki is a Kyo hanger-on and frequently brought up in conjunction with Kyo’s drinking party where there is rumored to be sexual/physical abuse of girls and one particular roadie (later known as Byou) by the attendees (Kyo, Tatsurou, Daisuke, Wataru, Satsuki, others). The legendary status of this party makes its veracity suspect, but this particular group of bandmen has a negative reputation overall and he is associated with them. Later Airi divulges that he now despises Dir en grey and openly talked shit about them at Daisuke’s memorial.
While reading this passage, I instantly remembered a Tanuki post that got translated by FuckYeahTanuki! for her blog. There was in it such information about senpai bands bullying their fellows, as well as the wildness of these parties Kyo allegedly hosted in the past (or still does?). 🙄
I'm leaving here the links of FuckYeahTanuki's posts in case you never heard about this facts (?) and got interested in further reading: http://fuckyeahtanuki.tumblr.com/post/107060991606/tanuki-thread-about-the-era-in-which-visual-kei and http://fuckyeahtanuki.tumblr.com/post/167884561901/about-the-era-in-which-visual-kei-was-like-a-gang
Does anyone know something more related to it?
Dude, this is perhaps the creepiest bandoman stuff I've ever read on the net. 😰
IGM_Oficial reacted to this -
OZ was one of the most original bands in the scene nowadays. Was the lack of popularity that made them end ?
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Hi. I'm interested in any old Dir en grey video/record you have.What does the VHS "Tour 1998 Mechanism For Leave - the scene of the tragedy" contains?Is it a whole live performance?Thank you!
Dir en grey
in Artists
Posted
That's news for me. Tell me mooooooooooooooooore!
Did he said that explicitly? I've readen that they stopped wearing make up because they hated the visual-kei term and the scene and blablabla (the same answer they gave to West people that interviewed them when they started touring became noticed). But come on! Can you really hate the songs that made you popular, and still surivive in the ears of everyone as anthems?