MH FEATURED POLL #40: What are the things you HATE about Visual Kei?

[mad_hatter 6]

My main issue with the visual kei scene isn't really represented in the options here, and it's something you generally get more in touch with once you get to Japan and get to experience the scene.

Firstly, the fact that a large majority of visual kei musicians more or less openly admits they don't have any artistic or personal integrity, they don't care what they produce and they don't care that their sound is exactly like every other band out there, because they know that as long as the members are pretty enough there WILL be fans, and they WILL pay you money for "company" and "favors" so that you can survive comfortably and keep rehashing the same song for a couple of years until you feel like calling it quits and do something more worthwhile with your life, or more likely, go into full time hosting business now that you have a decent circle of clients already.

 

This sort of leads me into my second issue and it's the bangya culture. It's generally really vile, and the way the girls not only talk about the musicians but also each other is quite disgusting. If the bangyas decide that a member has done something they do not approve of, that doesn't live up to their perfect ideals that they hold them all to (because god knows the fangirls don't live up to any of them) they can easily start enough shit to cause a band to break up or force a member out of the band. The issues doesn't end there though, because the few foreign bangya that exists generally adapt to this mentality and lifestyle too. They openly shun other foreigners who dare attend the lives of "their" band and ruin their "specialness", they participate in this completely daft saizen system where a designated person basically decides who gets what spot at a concert so everyone can enjoy playing ten year olds doing the "you're not allowed to play with us"-games... And the obviousness of what really drives people to be fans of these bands become so apparent when they get to this level, and it's certainly not the music.

 

To be honest, in a lot of ways I never realized how bad this was until I got there and could see it all for myself, and that's despite a 13 year stint in the scene by now.

 

 

It's like we share the same brain...!   It's hard to find other people who really get this.  I loved going to lives - I was in live houses more than most band men: 8 to 10 times a month.  But I hated the atmosphere.  I was lucky enough to get in with some decent bands/fan groups, but some others caused me alot of stress and pain.

[Lestat 2167]

The fans, most definitely. Generally I could not even call most of these people fans, as their sole objective seems to be to destroy musicians' their reputation. You saw bandman X from band Y walking across the street with a girl by his side? Repent! It doesn't matter if it is his sister, cousin, or childhood friend! Gather all forces and make certain that this girl is being stalked and made miserable for the rest of her early adulthood! 

[pawzord 388]

Probably was mentioned already but bands that disband after a month, and then same people create another band which disbands after 2 months smh. 

 

+ live limited releases. 

[PsychoΔelica 648]

Vk memes, gifs, and other stupidity. And maybe particularly obnoxious behavior of bandmen and fans alike. I mostly don't care about the rest.

[Euthanasia 333]

That some fans seems to expect that a band should sound 100% perfection on their first release. It's ok to have high standards, but sometimes it is just as needed to wait a little and see how the band evolves, and see if the music is getting better. Same goes with some singers, there's a lot of singers who've sounded bad in the beginning but have turned around and sounds much better now. James Hetfield in Metallica (not VK but still), for an example. 

 

And I've also some issues with older VK fans (like myself lol) who treat new VK fans as crap for no reason at all. I mean, we've all been there in the beginning. And the VK genre itself is quite small and it need to grow and in order to do that new fans is needed.

[herpes 1597]

I hate that anti-fans are only really a thing in japanese vk fan culture. more people should be actively rooting for the destruction of bands they don't like. like mejibray.

[pinkmakona 1810]

Live limited releases are a pain.

 

CRAZY fangirls and those who like to "roleplay" as them on tumblr. It's so embarrassing to me. "I'm Minpha-sama, 18 forever, single, here is my fake e-mail address" and they reblog the most random, unrelated shit ever. 

 

Discography limits (i like it when bands just well... forever make shit). It's pretty depressing when a mini and a single make up their discography lol. ESPECIALLY if they are GOOD. All these "privileges" and endless photosets that i miss out on too. ;( It's just more and more money though. 

[YuyoDrift 1540]

That some fans seems to expect that a band should sound 100% perfection on their first release. It's ok to have high standards, but sometimes it is just as needed to wait a little and see how the band evolves, and see if the music is getting better. Same goes with some singers, there's a lot of singers who've sounded bad in the beginning but have turned around and sounds much better now. James Hetfield in Metallica (not VK but still), for an example. 

 

And I've also some issues with older VK fans (like myself lol) who treat new VK fans as crap for no reason at all. I mean, we've all been there in the beginning. And the VK genre itself is quite small and it need to grow and in order to do that new fans is needed.

 

Some bands do suck doe. The band is only as strong as their vocalist IMO.

 

more people should be actively rooting for the destruction of bands they don't like. like mejibray.

Soon my son we will strike them, with full force!

[Ito 2438]

Inability to adapt to the 21st century

 

There are way too many bands that have yet to conform to the digital age. While things certainly have improved, there is still a shocking amount of music that isn't available for purchase digitally. Why? I have no idea. It's fucking stupid if you ask me.

[seikun 317]

Two of the options give me a bit of that homophobic vibe or in some way they stigmatise non-heterosexuality. I think I hate those two.

[The Bread Wolf 231]

They openly shun other foreigners who dare attend the lives of "their" band and ruin their "specialness", they participate in this completely daft saizen system where a designated person basically decides who gets what spot at a concert so everyone can enjoy playing ten year olds doing the "you're not allowed to play with us"-games... 

I must say that the shikiri system (saizen refers to the regular front row fans, shikiri to their "conductor" aka the one who makes the decision where everyone is allowed to go) is considered bad behaviour in many of the concerts, as it does create inequality between the fans. Usually, if one noticed this kind of behaviour, as in possibly trying to go stand somewhere in the gig hall and a japanese girl coming over to say "hey you can't stand there, it's reserved", one should always go tell a person in the staff what's happening. There has been cases where a lot of the bandomen have openly shunned upon these activities, in which case the saizen people will be removed from the concert and banned from entering any rest of the gigs. Basically, anywhere that doesn't have seat numbers (no, not even entrance numbers count, because that's just the order you get in the concert hall) can no one tell you where to stand. You stand where the fuck you want.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

I hate that versailles blocked me from their facebook page

 

 

rude af

[Alkaloid 3143]

Two words: CONDITIONAL. DISBANDMENTS.

[Deathtopi4 428]

High prices and shipping costs.

Music being on the japanese Itunes but not US (bc even itunes jp is quite a bit more expensive)

Music not being on Itunes/bandcamp/whatever at all (or it's there but doesn't have all the songs from the release...why bother put up an album or single if it's missing songs?)

Music that is on the US or various European Itunes or on Amazon mp3 but has all the titles horribly mucked up.

Bands disbanding and not reaching their full potential.

Elitist older fans that think that listening to VK for longer somehow makes their tastes superior to everyone else's. Come on, 70% of visual kei is lovable garbage anyway...

Fans that think their favorite bandomen must be perfect little virgin angels or whatever.

Commentary like: "It's just not right for a man to be wearing that...." "There's no way that this could possibly be a man"

The fact that my mum's first reaction when I showed her this video was to ask "is that dog in one of your jrock bands??" xD

Maria Cross...

[blackdoll 907]

also the fans

[JRD 5156]

How can anyone hate any BAND Ten Ten has been in? He gots that Midas touch all over my body.

 

I loved every band he has every been in! Hell I even own material from everything he's been in! My forever top VK boos will forever be Meguru, Shyena, Hisato, and Ten Ten 5ever!

 

Okay back on topic: I hate live distributions with a passion and I hate Yoyaku privileges + live limited, more than anything in the world. It was much more easier obtaining these releases 10 years back, but now since VK isn't as popular with western fans as then, it's hella fucking harder to get them(as well as the same Japanese gyas and gyao, who were going to these lives collectively trying to make profits, growing out of the scene)

 

Also the fandom isn't as bad as it use to be with westerners imo. The elitism isn't as strong as it use to be.

 

Also hate creepy bandomen. Had one from a Chiba band on my hotmail years back and he was trying to get me to come to his shows and asking personal questions and it was like STAHP.

 

I also love buying multiple copies too D:

[PsychoΔelica 648]

Nevertheless it annoys me when musicians break down a relatively good band that had growing potential, in favor of worthless solo projects; much like Deluhi and some others did.

[TheStoic 176]

I'm not a fan of sub-par production values on studio recordings from artists or labels - despite the band being talented (I'm looking at you Sel'm...).

 

I also hate fangirl/fanboy immaturity in general - which is rampant in the community.  Typing Random onomatopoeia in all caps and constant doting on certain members (detailing your every sexual fantasy that is never happening) for the sake of the attention is annoying spam, and it bothers me.

[emmny 4139]

oh i also came to talk shit about the eliticism thats still there, especially from older fans. they look down on me because im younger or whatever; like i get what u have against the weirdo cosplay and roleplay hot topic kids BUT in the end they're a fucking fan just like you. you have no fucking right to put them down if they like mejibray or something. im not one of these people, but i like to have my fun and not be a serious old man. heres a mild anecdote from the dir en grey show in toronto which was frankly all the reasons why i hate these so called elitists

i wanted to cat call diru members at their recent live (for FUCKING SHITS AND GIGGLES CUZ IM A MOTHERFUCKING TROLL DUH) and this merked ginger bitch and her 5'2 fucking boyfriend almost fought me acting like i was a less of a fan than them because dir en grey are a serious band and u shouldnt make jokes llalalalala jesus i wanna see her at the coming gazette show so i deck her in the motherfucking face.

im a serious bitch but the second i pick up on overly serious vibes i LIVE to fuck it up.

and this girl in line who basically tried to make people basically do furi and tell me how to headbang properly keep in mind these were 20 something women and they still had the attitude as if they were schooling new fans in 2007. not to consider the overall negativity of the crowd. zzzz.

BUT then again its been established how retarded dir en grey fans are, this is nothing new

[beni 2149]

I'm not too sure what I'd vote for in the poll even now. If I had to complain about one thing when it comes to VK, it definitely would be able the lack of woman within the genre. I love everything from the music to the style, but the majority of the bands consisting of only males can get disappointing.

[vanivani 558]

I'm not too sure what I'd vote for in the poll even now. If I had to complain about one thing when it comes to VK, it definitely would be able the lack of woman within the genre. I love everything from the music to the style, but the majority of the bands consisting of only males can get disappointing.

 

 

Ya, it'd be nice to see more female visual kei bands out there... bring in some much needed diversity lol.

[peffy 3568]

It would be AWESOME to see more bands in the vein of early exist†trace. I don't even care if the full band is female, having mixed-gender bands would be a cool thing to see. And you could have weird things like a female member dressing as a male, and a male member dressing as a female, just to fuck with people. Alas, I feel like that "bangyaru" thing mentioned earlier probably prevents this from happening.  (actually, I think DISACODE was exactly what I'm talking about? but that's just one band.)

 

 

I'm not entirely down on the frequent disbandings & member departures. It can be a positive thing. I think, if a band has reached their limit creatively, it's better for them to disband than just stubbornly stick together and rehash the same old ideas over and over. As long as the members go on to join/create new bands, I'm OK with it. For instance, I was sad when AND disbanded, but now that I think about it, their last album wasn't all that great. And now we have REIGN and Liraizo to enjoy.

[lichtlune 915]

That some fans seems to expect that a band should sound 100% perfection on their first release. It's ok to have high standards, but sometimes it is just as needed to wait a little and see how the band evolves, and see if the music is getting better. Same goes with some singers, there's a lot of singers who've sounded bad in the beginning but have turned around and sounds much better now. James Hetfield in Metallica (not VK but still), for an example. 

 

And I've also some issues with older VK fans (like myself lol) who treat new VK fans as crap for no reason at all. I mean, we've all been there in the beginning. And the VK genre itself is quite small and it need to grow and in order to do that new fans is needed.

But the band never has a chance to evolve because they disband too soon. ^^

[YuyoDrift 1540]

oh i also came to talk shit about the eliticism thats still there, especially from older fans. they look down on me because im younger or whatever; like i get what u have against the weirdo cosplay and roleplay hot topic kids BUT in the end they're a fucking fan just like you. you have no fucking right to put them down if they like mejibray or something. im not one of these people, but i like to have my fun and not be a serious old man. heres a mild anecdote from the dir en grey show in toronto which was frankly all the reasons why i hate these so called elitists

God I've been looking at this for 30min and decided not to reply a short novel of shit.

 

Emmny, you do you.

 

Just...... if we ever attend the same concert, I'll just move away if I see you getting "fun". I won't think any less of you, and I don't want you thinking less of me. I just don't get down like that.

 

I'm the weirdo that just stands there in the crowd, drinking my beer, smiling at the fact that these fuckers are actually playing right in front of me.

[emmny 4139]

God I've been looking at this for 30min and decided not to reply a short novel of shit.

 

Emmny, you do you.

 

Just...... if we ever attend the same concert, I'll just move away if I see you getting "fun". I won't think any less of you, and I don't want you thinking less of me. I just don't get down like that.

 

I'm the weirdo that just stands there in the crowd, drinking my beer, smiling at the fact that these fuckers are actually playing right in front of me.

nah boo boo reply i wanna hear ur logic on why its completely fine and dandy to be an ass for no reason go ahead im curious. maybe there's some hidden message that's been lost on me thus far so try.

 

smile, go ahead, enjoy the band. i have no issue with it, but if your sole purpose is to demean people for enjoying a concert differently than you then thats not too nice of you.

 

ur watching ex-crossdressers rehash korn riffs while a 5'2 elf yells at you for an hour...am i the only one who sees the irony in all this...????