I don’t know if anyone has made a post about this (I’m relatively new) but i think itd be cool to see.
Ive met Mao and mizuki after a Thirteen concert and then met all of sadie at a yodaibashi pre namba show. Had a one on one with mizuki (thought he was trying to hug me and made it awkward). Aki speaks damn near perfect english too.
I met crossfaith and coldrain at different warped tour years too.
I swear when i saw crossfaith the night lynch opened for them in nagoya that ken remembered me because he pointed right at me and made eye contact. Soon after that i was temporarily blinded by them splashing jack daniels into the crowd lmao
I met the guitarist for damned at his bar in kabukicho and the ex singer of a band called blood at his in umeda.
I met a guy, who was a really cool ojisan at Kou’s bar who told me he was the bassist in a band that was the band before la:sadies. Spoke really good english too and was impressed with my ability to speak basic japanese. Everyone ive met has been super cool.
Yeah, I’ve met them for an in-store, such an interesting bunch! Seconded on Aki, Aki’s English is really good - I think he said he studied it in a Q&A on his blog once. He’s very particular/peculiar about how he presents himself, though, never speaking up louder than he really has to and always posing on his side for photos (though I suspect it’s to present himself in a way that is more comfortable for him). Part of his charm, I think, comes from his holding quite steadfastly to what he thinks works for himself.
Quite a few bangya during the in-store had to lean forward to hear Aki, too. Tsurugi on the other hand was explosssiveeee. Hope the awkwardness with Mizuki was resolved soon enough?
Mao has always been very polite and has pretty good conversational skills. He remembered my country from the first round of signing and said that he had eaten cuisine from my country in a restaurant nearby the in-store location.
Outside of shows, I’ve run into Kakeru from Zeke Deux/Scarlet Valse a lot, and I did happen to meet the members of 0.1g no gosan outside of the arena at Androgynos in 2024.
I also met Yuki (former Raphael/Rice) at his bar, Asterisk. I had a bar evening as well with the members of Fukuro, and a post-show bar night with all of Zeke Deux.
I used to live down the road from a venue while studying abroad, so I saw a decent amount of bandmen lmao
My rule was to just leave them alone, unless they came to me first
Sometimes I was just trying to do my groceries or laundry at the laundromat, and I would have to basically run past the street where they would be loading bandmen in and out during the day lol
So I have also seen a decent amount of bandmen without make up (incl Tenmei from Senketsu for example), or already in full make up coming out of the konbini at 11 AM with a strong zero xD (idk who that was though)
It has happened that they noticed me (and we knew each other), and I just got stared down with a big “???” face lol
One time I got approached at a taiban by one of the guys who said he saw me often around the area and asked if I happened to live there lmao
I got to see yoshiatsu and dadaroma leaving holiday next because i was just hanging around after the show and the girls i ended up meeting went and took them waters and stuff. Was pretty neat. Also was at a like an edison at big cat and dog in a pwo was holding an in store but i don’t listen to them so i was just awkwardly trying to search the shelves around all the in store set up things
Maybe no one will find this interesting, but I used to live near Genet from Auto-Mod, and we often ran into each other at the same supermarket. There was also a reverse situation once, when the vocalist of Ziggrat said, “I saw you at the station, but you didn’t notice me,” lol.
There was a lot of stuff like that, I can’t even remember it all anymore. It became too routine to be surprised by it… but once, I used to be thrilled.
I have had probably 5-6 encounters with heidi., all over 10 years ago. I remember fondly having a cigarette with them in both LA and Oklahoma back in 2015. The best encounter was a hotel-party that the tour manager put on where they made Takoyaki for the VIP ticket holders and played a 4-song acoustic set.
heidi.’s still to this day my favorite band, so I’ll remember those encounters forever.
Aside from that, my girlfriend (now wife) and I got a picture with Mao and Mizuki from Sadie in Disneyland on the 4th of July in 2011. Couldn’t have been more perfect.
And, due to more anime conventions, I was able to snag a picture with NOIZ and hang out with some of the NoGoD members.