I thought for a minute if the local equivalent of staging a Warsaw/Ghetto Uprising themed concert for a nu metal band would go over well here and I realised the answer would be that it wouldn’t.
Vk bands broach subjects like this, but I don’t think like the gallo for example sang about a specific place and event and the next thing went to perform there dressed as the people involved. this one seems a bit extra
I like their music so I hope they’ll be back…
They posted this on twitter . Dunno what the image says but man, people are destroying them. 
just my complete guess but i think there’s a difference in reception to dressing up as the victims for shock value vs dressing as the oppressors for shock value, given the second is still a pretty clear “we’re dressing as the bad guys, which looks upsetting” rather than (explicit) endorsement
I’m not defending this really at all, i don’t think it’s a fine/bad line but like a bad/worse situation
I also think there’s a less moralistic, more positional argument of - these were Japanese victims, right? So Japanese sympathy more readily lies with them. Whereas Germany ofc was Japan’s ally, and Japanese aren’t the main recipients of Nazi atorocities; it’s a bit othered and disconnected
Not that there’s not a history of bands referencing those committed by Americans against Japan, eg Dir en Grey’s Vinushka, but all the art they flash and the footage shown, it’s not theirs, it’s from the time and people involved, so (to me at least?) it doesn’t come across as Diru using their imagery and suffering to advance their status, but putting what others said as they said it through their video in endorsement of them.
Finally, The Gallo, who i always defend (hey, i’ll stop if there’s a reason not to and with edgy bands i always assume one might surface) - they had significant WWII / imperial aesthetic maybe just around as overt as R-Shitei. But in detailing crimes, abuse, and depravity in their lyrics, while using that imagery on themselves, (again imho) it suggests critique as well as ownership and responsibility, an understanding “we come from this” that seems kinda like the exact opposite of casting oneselves as the victims of a thing that didn’t happen to you while it most definitely happened to people you aren’t
Just guessing tho i’m no anthropologist or ethics person i just like music and read too much on twitter
I just linked this in my post
It escalated to major news outlets, V系バンド・グランギニョル、活動休止発表 沖縄ライブ告知で「ひめゆり学徒隊」写真を加工使用で物議 - ライブドアニュース
let’s hope it doesn’t appear on TV.
Is crazy that they barely lasted for 2 months.
At this point it’s a witch hunt. Medias and journalists just want to write on things to get their little moment of fame.
I think the bad buzz and correction they got on Twitter is enough.
Mainly defending them because the whole subculture and fans are getting dragged into it and I don’t like that :l
This is something I agree with. There’s hasn’t been any real edge in VK since R-shitei paused activities
I had to educate myself on the Himeyuri student tragedy so I could respond to this topic properly. What a tasteless, thoughtless, and ultimately empty idea behind the beginning of GRAND GUIGNOL’s activities. Mocking victims (that’s what this is) of a war tragedy that affected your own country in the place where it occurred is a bad idea in every conceivable universe. I’m damn sure that it’s covered in Japanese history. They have a memorial for it!
I don’t buy their apology. To then go on and say that they “meant no harm” and that they needed to educate themselves more on this topic is an empty statement. What the fuck did you mean then??? They knew what they were doing when they announced their activities! You don’t simply pick controversial historical moments to make light of without educating yourself enough about what they are to make the decisions that were made.
They are not cowards for apologizing. Idiots, yes, but not cowards. They should not continue with this concept until the end. We should not tolerate mocking war atrocities. This would torpedo what little remains of their careers. No one would ever want to work with them again. Is this what you want? I don’t think so. They were stupid for not apologizing as soon as possible because it just fanned the flames of dissent. I’d be surprised if they ever begin activities again under this name, as this controversy is what they will be associated with. This band is poisoned.
They deserve all of this.
Yes, I’m struggling to understand what they mean by both using this as a concept for a show in Okinawa, and saying things like “Long live the Japanese Empire”.
Unless they were being sarcastic, and just had no care at all of how this would come across towards the memory of the victims.
The Himeyuri women/girls were essentially hung out to dry by the empire, put directly in harms way of a losing cause, and were told in the end “either find your own way home, or just kill yourself if you don’t want to be raped by Americans”.
Critique of history is important, yes. But this just came across like they were mocking the innocents here.
this！
I love how bandmen are just casually shitting on this band too lmao
curious, which bandmen ? 
from my hours of scoping out twitter and reviving up google translate, people are talking about:
~ a band/movie/play from the 90s
~ selling tickets to the next show
~ “do yall know Okinawan history?”
~ calling them a “far right” band
~ TRUMP gets mentioned a lot…..
~ Damned (band) changing their 2man performance into a 1man performance sans ThatShittyBandWhoShallRemainNameless
~ and nothing from the 0.1nogosan band….. which would be entertaining for You to throw a hissyfit about.
Im gonna listen to Namu by Sable hills to cleanse my soul.
Grand Guignol was scheduled with other bands for twoman events, which they had to cancel anyway lol
Excuse me, from 80s…
東京グランギニョル（とうきょうグランギニョル）は、かつて存在した日本の劇団である。 1983年、元状況劇場の鏨汽鏡（たがね・ききょう）と飴屋法水（あめや・のりみず）が結成した。劇団名の由来はフランスのグラン・ギニョール劇場に由来する。鏨汽鏡が作、飴屋法水が演出・音響・美術を担当した。 舞台は廃墟風の舞台装置や反復する暴力的な音響の中で上演され、学生服姿の少年達が登場する、耽美的で退廃的、どことなく屈折した珍妙な雰囲気で、マニアックな評判を得る。大量の血飛沫が飛ぶシーンが頻繁に登場したが、冷たく硬質に、時に乾いてシュールなギャグ然とした、あるいは甘く少女趣味風な設定で、グロテスクさを回避する演出は特異であった。 主に舞台未経験者を俳優として起用した。嶋田久作はこの劇団から俳優業をスタートし、ポスター画を手がけた漫画家の丸尾末広（まるお・すえひろ）、ミュージシャンの越美晴なども客演した。当時は常識だった劇団員によるチケットノルマや客席の招待席を廃止し、ぴあ誌上の紹介欄に舞台写真の掲載を拒否するなど、さまざまな点で他の集団と一線を画していた。
Tokyo Grand Guignol was a Japanese avant-garde theatre troupe active in the 1980s.
It was founded in 1983 by Tagane Kikyō and Norimizu Ameya, former members of the Situation Theatre.
The name was inspired by the French Grand Guignol, known for extreme horror theatre.
Their performances were characterized by grotesque, decadent, and surreal aesthetics, often featuring blood, violence, and disturbing imagery mixed with dark humor.
The troupe frequently cast inexperienced or non-professional actors.
Participants included manga artist Suehiro Maruo, and musician Miharu Koshi.
They rejected conventional theatre practices such as ticket quotas and promotional photos.
Between 1984 and 1986, they staged four major works, including Galacia, Lychee★Hikari Club, and Walpurgis.
The theatre was active until 1986.
Their influence continued, most notably through the later manga adaptation of Lychee★Hikari Club.
I will be sad if one of the thing that influenced my worldview will be touched by this accident.
I feel terrible because I saw Ameya few months ago and he is still very proud of his theatre.
I’m sorry this it not connected to the main topic.
The core of Ero Guro. I am very familiar with Suehiro Mauro and the Litchi Hikari club, both the manga and the play and nothing presented by those artists and their vision of horror and war crimes have any relationship with this incident’s coarse representation. VKei bands regularly do representations of Mauro’s aesthetics and homages to Litchi Hikari club.
The most recent one was this special 2-man event by Ryutaro and tatsuro last February:
The original story is grotesque, full of references 2 WWII, dictatorships, death, blood, philosophy, the absurd etc… a master piece of ero guro. so then, the representation never mocks any victim and put very clear the decadence of supremacist ideals. If they wanted to take this thather as a reference… well.. they didn’t come even close.
Did the band watched the Plays? visited the teather o are familiar with the content in their band name is based of? or just took it because it’s dark and “controversial”?
Visual kei has turned into material that has been recycled ten times over… today’s bands really do pursue a concept of “coolness through violence,” whereas many people were shaped by the manga of Maruo and could very well have seen avant-garde theater productions in their childhood (or at least read about them in magazines of that era; quite a lot of bands in the 1990s even called themselves eroguro violence—everyone was a fan of Maruo. Usamaru Furuya, the author of the ライチ光クラブ, actually saw the stage adaptation of ライチ and was a fan of Ameya. My husband also attended those performances, even though he is slightly older than the average musician who was active in the 1990s—his band was active from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. And all these people are really kind and caring, despite their world view may be a slightly darker).
I may sound over reacting , but I am so tired of the cult of overt violence in visual kei (for example, mocking fans, a purely consumerist attitude, insulting fans—one’s own or others’. Some musicians even put their feet on fans in the front rows or deliberately hit them “as a joke”; to me, this feels deeply humiliating) that I want everyone to finally understand that this simply cannot continue.
Now we even have an example of a band that literally uses the victims of a tragedy for entertainment purposes, directly at the site of that tragedy. And instead of showing remorse, they make everyone who is confused or disturbed by such actions feel guilty and question where the line of what is acceptable actually lies.
Some people confuse “expressing one’s viewpoint through art” with “using controversial topics as a way to attract attention.” I apologize in advance, but for me, in recent years, visual kei has lost any real connection to art altogether (I stopped actively following it about ten years ago, although I still love the older bands from the 1990s). I’m tired of being disturbed. Destroying the other people mentally and physically is not a form of art… Cynicism and a dismissive attitude have replaced humanity and the sincere impulse to process one’s experiences through art for some people.
https://xcancel.com/g_guignol_tokyo/status/2001125219893956852?s=46&t=bwMTTy4AXCs8UAKMQynxgA
Notice from Grand Guignol:
We sincerely apologize for the immense distress and deep suffering caused to many people regarding our performance at the Okinawa live event and the photos posted on social media.
We have directly apologized to the Himeyuri Peace Memorial Museum regarding our recent performance based on the concept of the Himeyuri Student Corps and our unauthorized use of photographs.
Furthermore, we deeply recognize that using the Himeyuri Student Corps—an extremely weighty and enduringly important memory for Okinawa—as our performance concept has hurt the feelings of many, including the bereaved families and the people of Okinawa.
Our judgment, consideration, and awareness as artists were all immature and utterly unforgivable.
We deeply apologize for the immense trouble this incident caused to our fellow performers, all related staff, and the live house personnel who provided the venue.
We solemnly accept the consequences of this situation and have decided to end our activities effective today.
We will continue to confront our responsibility as creators to ensure such an incident never occurs again.
We sincerely apologize for this incident.
Grand Guignol
karasu / hakumu / kakeru / ioTranslated with DeepL
Well, time to update that title.
thought kebyo faceplanting out the gate was wild, but this is wilder
