I just finished watching the first disc of the new-ish Blu-ray ~mode of Withering to death. & UROBOROS~, received as a Christmas gift from my sister.
I was especially looking forward to owning these shows physically, as I attended the tour (almost two years ago!) and had a blast hearing a ton of older songs, many for the first time.
Short review: The band’s still got it. They sound great. Kyo’s glue-on hair is a disaster. The features of the discs are woefully minimal, with a PLAY ALL button being the only option. No subtitles for the interview sections of an EU tour is a bit frustrating, but whatever.
However, while watching, I felt disconnected from what was happening, and rather melancholy, too.
In a previous post, I said that the video for Otogi was AI. On seeing the background visuals again, I’m convinced that aside from some PV footage, it is **100%** AI. In fact, *all* of the bridging effects on the Blu-ray itself appear to be AI. I wouldn’t be surprised if the incidental music during the documentary sections is also generated by an algorithm.
At the point I realised this (early on; Jesus Christ RnR’s running obese man morphing into a woman with ludicrously gigantic breasts), I also realised that I don’t trust them anymore. Now that they’ve gone all-in on this technology, I cannot believe anything they do at all; not what they’re saying, not what they’re showing, and not what they sound like.
For all I know, the things we take for granted on a release like this - colour correction, mastering, mixing, overdubs, even the shots chosen for each moment could be AI. And this level of distrust now applies to everything they do in the future.
I think… I’m done with this band. They’re fucking over. Finished. And that makes me very sad.
I’m still in love the old songs and will treasure what we had in the past. They’ve made so many beautiful songs. JEALOUS -reverse-, アクロの丘, 蛍火, ain’t afraid to die, undecided, AMBER, 愛しさは腐敗につき, 艶かしき安息、躊躇いに微笑み, 蜷局, VANITAS, 濤声, just to name a few. While I’m not sure if this list is a perfect epitaph for the band, it certainly feels close to me.
My disdain for AI isn’t a problem limited to my own neurotic brain but with this new data-scraped medium on the whole. Despite that, I just can’t look the other way anymore. I can never buy another piece of media they release without that horrible feeling that all of this is fake, that they’re supporting a terrible anti-environmental machine that doesn’t care about anything aside from generating ‘content’ for the cattle to consume.
Likewise, I can never go to another of their live shows. Not when they’re playing AI videos in the background. Not when even their merch is AI-generated.
Even if this new collaboration does end up being a remix contest or something similar, they’ve clearly already begun to ingrain it into almost everything they do. There’s no escape.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the way forward for the VK scene in general. How ironic that a medium that purports itself to be ‘visual’ has so quickly adopted a technology that doesn’t care for art. Even Mana’s been accused of using AI.
This is all too much for me. We’re faced with a future devoid of meaning, devoid of intent, devoid of choice. A throwaway future of zero artistic integrity where everything is a lie.
With that said, it doesn’t feel like there’s any reason to continue here. I might just call it a day.
It’s been fun.
