First post of the year. What.

How is it that I managed to not post anything until 31 days into the new year? Clearly, I should have made blogging more regularly my new year's resolution.

As it turns out, my brief obsession with the GazettE was, well... brief. I don't follow any news about them at all, aside from major things like the Tokyo Dome concert (and by that I mean that I know that it even happened, not actual details) and the Heresy fan club closing its doors to international (i.e. non-Japanese) members/applicants. I still like their music, I just don't fangirl over them anymore until I see Reita being all sexy as always.

I suppose the same could be said for SS501; I don't really follow them anymore, though I would say I'm a little more interested in their current endeavors than I am in the GazettE's. Speaking of which, the SS501 members are finally becoming more active, albeit individually. E.g., Park Jung Min recently released his first solo single album (he is looking FINE these days, btw) and Kim Hyung Jun is going to have a second season of that progamer show. I'll probably watch it, as long as it's as lulzy as the first season.

I also started listening to Park Hyo Shin recently; omg, that man's voice is just... I don't even have words for it. Unfortunately, he got drafted for the military last year December so we won't be seeing anything from him for a couple of years. To be honest, I'm not much of ballad lover but the few songs that I do love from him are awesome.

Man, I gotta started doing my obligatory monthly updates earlier so I don't have to rush. Or maybe just post more often than once a month.

Listening to right now: Edwin McCain - I'll Be

The sole October post... huh?

I can't believe an entire month (and more) has passed since I last posted anything here. For some reason I kept thinking that I had posted at least once in October but I guess my sense of time is worse than I thought.

Life's been so busy that I really haven't had much time (or spare energy) to follow up on... anything, really. I have some idea of what's been going on with different bands and such but no time to really fangirl over any of the news.

Oh, but there's roughly a month and a half left before the GazettE releases their new single, "PLEDGE". I wasn't too much impressed by their last two singles, "SHIVER" and "Red"; they weren't bad (in fact, they're quite catchy and I've looped them quite a bit) but they also weren't amazing. The B-sides were a bit more interesting but even those didn't hold my attention quite as much as some of their previous singles have.
I am also really, really, really hoping that Reita gets rid of that extra piece of cloth that he has wrapped around his forehead. Something about it just doesn't suit him, aside from it just looking plain silly.

Speaking of visuals though, I also hope that the "PLEDGE" PV is more interesting than the last two. Both "SHIVER" and "Red" must have had the same director or something because there was the same annoying jerky-I-don't-want-to-focus-on-any-one-thing-in-particular thing going on. "Red" was definitely not as boring a PV as "SHIVER", although the cameraman needs to learn that there are more members in the GazettE than Ruki, Aoi, and Uruha. Like seriously, Reita and Kai got practically no face time. Although, Reita looked so damn tired in the few shots he did have that maybe it's actually a good thing.

Guess I'm just gonna have to cross my fingers for an awesome single/PV this time around.

Listening to right now: ONE OK ROCK - Liar

Get well soon, Ruki!

It seems that Ruki, the vocalist of the GazettE, has a viral throat infection of some sort and so he was unable to finish the encore at their live on Saturday. They've also cancelled the next 5 concerts in their tour in order for Ruki to recover, etc.

I love the way that Kai (the drummer) put it in his blog entry about this; that the others' instruments can be replaced indefinitely but Ruki's instrument, his voice, is irreplaceable.

It's unfortunate that they had to cancel so many concerts (being in the midst of planning my own trip for a concert I can understand the frustration of fans) but I hope that Ruki gets better soon and shows an even cooler and stronger image than before! ^^
ルキさん、がんばってください！

This is the love of a fan

I'm really amazed at the love and dedication of fans. And no, this isn't sarcasm.

Recently, the GazettE announced that they would be having their tour final at Tokyo Dome. For those of you who don't know, to perform at Tokyo Dome is pretty big. Tokyo Dome is Japan's largest concert hall; if you play there, you know you've made it. And to play there when you're a VK band? Even better.

What truly blows me away is that I've read about so many overseas (I'm referring to mostly American) fans who have never been to Japan or even traveled, some who have never even left their side of the USA, who are sucking up their anxiety and saving up their moolah just to share in the Tokyo Dome experience.

I'm sure this sounds ridiculously trite because it's a concert, how hard could it be, right? Think about it. Japan is on the side of world, so first off it's expensive. It's also the day after Christmas but it takes about 14 hours to fly to Japan, not to mention that 26th in Japan can still be 25th in the US (this is really only applicable to those who celebrate Christmas, of course. Though it being the Christmas season also means that plane tickets are ridiculously pricey). Most of these fans don't speak a word of Japanese. Okay, maybe a few words. Like "konnichiwa", "sayonara", "kawaii", and "yaoi". The hotel pages might be in English (maybe), but the avenues through which you obtain the concert tickets are most definitely not.

It's hard being a non-Japanese-speaking fan of a band whose biggest (and most catered for) fanbase is Japanese-speaking. And as much as I make fun of fangirls even though I am quite obviously a huge fangirl myself, I have to admire their devotion to the bands they love. I can still call them crazy, but I can admire them too.

And man, I would TOTALLY be there at Tokyo Dome with them if I didn't have a good reason not to be.

Listening to right now: the GazettE - 奈落

Aoi, why do you tempt me so?

I've been occasionally checking Aoi's twitter (and the translated tweets on someone else's account) and it seems that he's been experimenting with replying to (or RT-ing... I don't really know) random people's tweets.

OMG. Total fangirling moment right there.

Perhaps this is a just another prod in the back from the powers that be to get a Twitter account. I mean, just think, what if by not joining Twitter I'm missing out on the chance to potentially befriend and subsequently marry Aoi or maybe even Reita if by chance Aoi then introduces me to him omgomgomg get a personal reply from Aoi?

Of course, the fatal flaw in my grand scheme is the fact that my Japanese skills are practically non-existent. And Aoi's English skills probably even more so. Although, a few of his latest replies were in English.

I wonder how massively fangirlish I would look if I joined Twitter and every single one of my tweets were to Aoi?

Listening to right now: the GazettE - THE INVISIBLE WALL (btw, this is quite possibly one of my favourite PVs from the GazettE. I am ridiculously fascinated by Ruki.)

Thank heavens for black and white

I've been looping the GazettE's new single "SHIVER" all day and... it still hasn't really grown on me yet. Both the PV and the song itself are not that impressive. The PV is not that interesting, and not as good visually, compared to some of their other PVs. Thankfully, it's in black and white though, so my eyes are spared from their cringe-worthy dye jobs.
There have been other songs by the GazettE that I didn't like at first but looped simply because the PV was visually appealing. Case in point: "REGRET". Unfortunately, that's not the case with "SHIVER".

The song itself isn't anything spectacular but it isn't all bad either. It's just... plain. On a related side note though, it also happens to be the opening song for the second season of the anime Kuroshitsuji. Ruki would like to remind everyone that "SHIVER" was NOT written specifically for the anime, it just happened to be chosen as the opening (apparently diehard Gazefans find the anime tie-up to be a justifiable reason for sending hate mail to the GazettE).

Just watched the Kuroshitsuji II opening and it looks kind of interesting... the animation looks pretty good too. I've never read the manga past maybe the first couple of volumes, and from what I've read those characters aren't even in the second season, so it's highly unlikely that I'll bother watching the anime (either season 1 or 2).

I've also seen some pictures of the GazettE's new look from other magazines and I'm happy to say that they do look better than the pictures from that first magazine I saw. But overall, I still don't really like the new look. Perhaps it'll grow on me the more I ogle them, hohohoho.

Listening to right now: the GazettE - SHIVER

It is cheesed with power~

A while back when I first started really getting into the GazettE, I said that Ruki's voice was so annoying that I almost didn't bother listening to any more. I'd just like to retract that statement and redeem Ruki.

Admittedly, his voice can be annoying, e.g. in the song "Cassis", but overall he's actually a really good vocalist. His voice really grew on me after a while, and even though I don't necessarily consider him to be one of my favourite vocalists, I can definitely appreciate his talent. One of his strong points is the intense emotion that he infuses into his singing. I've watched videos of their performances and Ruki just fascinates me. It's as though he's acting out every song, feeling every emotion in every word. Not to mention the charisma and energy that he exudes on stage.

I've also listened to almost all of their releases, from 2002 to 2010, and he has definitely improved as a vocalist, in my opinion. I don't too much care for his style of singing in their earlier stuff though so perhaps I'm just biased in that sense.

Ruki also pens the lyrics for all of the GazettE's songs and although I have not looked up the majority of their lyrics, the few that I have looked up have impressed me. Granted, a part of it probably has to do with how they're translated but even so, I'm still impressed by the subject matter as well as the imagery/metaphors that he uses in his lyrics.
(I'm aware that there are many lyricists who use similar subject matter and have great lyrics... but this post isn't about them, and neither am I trying to compare anyone.)

"Taion" is written about a Japanese girl, Furuta Junko, who was tortured and murdered in the late 1980's. "Without a Trace" is about one of their fans who committed suicide (if I'm not mistaken), and the song as a whole is so touching; it's probably one of my favourite ballads by them. "Guren" is full of imagery which some people speculate represents a miscarriage (or so I've read). And "Filth in the beauty" is about a father sexually abusing his daughter.
Of course, this doesn't mean that all of Ruki's lyrics make sense. See that title? "It is cheesed with power"? Those are the very first words in their song "SILLY GOD DISCO". Yeah. I like that Ruki tries with his English, and oftentimes (though not in this particular case, lol) he does manage to get the gist across but like with all good Engrish it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Not to mention that half the time you can't even tell when he's singing in Engrish, haha.

I believe that Ruki is also responsible for a lot of the band's visual stuff, like album designs, stage sets, PVs, etc etc (don't quote me on this). Regardless, the GazettE is always visually incredible to watch. Though a lot of it probably also has to do with the camera work and directing skills when it comes to PVs and live DVDs.

Also, the man owns a ridiculously cute chihuahua. And gold pants. I think this is reason enough for Ruki love.



Listening to right now: the GazettE - Before I Decay

P.S. And just for the record, I strongly dislike the GazettE's new look. I'm hoping it was just that particular magazine because they don't look too bad in black and white (as per the "Shiver" PV... more on their new single another time).

P.P.S. I take no credit for any of these images.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Ruki sounds pretty awesome live. :3

Twitter mania

I just found out that the guitarist Aoi from the GazettE is now on Twitter. *insert mild fangirling moment* The novelty must not have worn off yet because he tweets like every 3 hours, lol. Perhaps I should try harder to brush up on my Japanese because Babel Fish just ain't cutting it, yo.

I'm tempted (yet again) to sign up for Twitter just so I can follow him, though really I could just check every once in a while for his updates (tweets, whatever). But if Reita joins Twitter I am SO THERE.

The man without a nose

I present to you: Reita of the GazettE, also known as the man without a nose.



Just kidding, I'm sure he has a nose. Maybe.

Anyhoo, I was fangirling him a few weeks ago and was super excited about writing a blog entry about him. So excited in fact, that I wanted it to be perfect and awesome like the man himself and thus never got around to actually writing it.

Reita is the bassist of the GazettE, and his trademark is that band over his nose. Or a bandanna, but usually it's the nose band. Basically, the idea is to just never show his nose. There are, of course, pictures floating around of a nose band-less Reita from back in the day but let's face it, that nose band adds infinite sexiness and badass-ness to his look.

Ordinarily I'm vehemently against putting actual people as my computer wallpaper but I gave into the temptation and Reita is now proudly flaunting his hotness every time I boot up. Lately I also refrain from saving pictures of celebrities on my hard drive, mainly because I feel like an obsessed fangirl doing it, but again I gave into the temptation and now I have a folder full of Reita pictures.

Obsession is a dangerous, dangerous thing.

I also really like Reita's hair. It hasn't changed all that much over the years (from what I can tell) and overall his look is lot less feminine than a lot of other visual kei J-rockers, including his fellow band mates. Even his style hasn't changed much which, when you consider how often J-rockers take the wrong turn down the path of omg-who-the-hell-let-you-out-looking-like-that, is nice.

His headbanging in the Filth in the beauty PV is also really cute (since half the time he's really just kind of swinging his head from side to side) and his voice is just... omg. *melts*

I'm still in the process of really getting into the GazettE's music so I can't say much about his talent as a bassist... though I do like the bass line in Cassis a lot.
It's also somewhat amusing that he throws (or at least used to) his bass guitar up in the air during lives and then catches it. I guess impressive might be the better word to use, though he did drop it once. ><

I'm not really sure what's a good way to end the fangirling post, but a picture is worth a thousand words, right?


Mmmm, don't mind if I do.

Listening to right now: the GazettE - Filth in the beauty

Note: I take no credit for these pictures. I found them all using Google.

Edit: I feel compelled to add something actually music-related to justify labeling this post as "Music". I listened to the GazettE's 'STACKED RUBBISH' album after my bandwagon post and I was kind of disappointed; totally not what I was expecting. I almost wrote another post saying that I was no longer on that bandwagon but luckily I listened to 'NIL' (which came before) and 'DIM' (which came after) first and I liked both those albums much more. I looped 'DIM' quite a bit... I believe it's their most recent studio album, released in 2009. So umm... yay for not falling off the bandwagon? :)

Jumping on the bandwagon

So the GazettE seems to be ridiculously popular (am I just stating the obvious?) and since I've only heard a few songs from them (again, back in 2004/5) I decided to Youtube 'em and see why it is that I never jumped on the omg-the-GazettE-is-awesome bandwagon.

I still don't know the answer to that because I'm pretty sure the songs I've heard recently from them were post-2005 songs (Cassis is late 2005, so still after I stopped following J-rock) and thus were released when I stopped listening to J-rock on a whole anyway. I started off with Cassis, Filth in the beauty, and now DISTRESS AND COMA... and... I'm not gonna lie, I don't particularly like Ruki's voice. I know there are probably thousands, maybe even millions, of fangirls who will vehemently disagree with me but I'm sorry, his voice just doesn't float my boat. It's growing on me (i.e. I can tolerate it enough to actually listen past it to the music) but it almost turned me off the GazettE completely. Which would have been a shame because I do like their music. I haven't listened to many of their songs yet but they seem to be incredibly versatile in their styles of music. I've also liked their PVs so far; they're actually visually worth watching (and not just because of the members).

They've been around since 2002 and have always been visual kei as far as I know. I'm not ashamed to admit that a motivating factor for me to keep watching their PVs and staring at their pictures is that I really like their appearance. I find that a lot of the newer visual kei bands are just over the top or are much darker and scarier than I personally like. But the GazettE's style is much simpler comparatively, without the crazy outfits that look like they're hell to move in much less perform in.
Don't get me wrong though, there are some bands who wear crazy outfits that I also love watching, haha. Of course, I'd only watch them if their music was worth listening to.

Anyway, I can see why the GazettE is so ridiculously popular. Even though I didn't really like the vocalist's voice initially, I can still get past it and really listen to the music which as it turns out... is pretty awesome. So consider me as having jumped squarely on the GazettE bandwagon.

Listening to right now: the GazettE - Cassis