How did your friends react when they found out that you listen to vk and Japanese music in general?

I can’t think of a more boring title-_-

I’m really curious about this because mine had a lot of fun reactions when they realized that I listen to different music than what is basically popular on social media and among the people in my country. Most listen to pop, k-pop and chalga (teenagers throw napkins and drinks a lot of alcohol at the bars of this music…)
One of my friends approached my headphones as I listened to Mejbray and said they sounded like a trampled cat :joy:. Other were amazed at the look of their makeup and their hair but he said something like "Why the Japanese like to be so extreme at almost everything???‘’.
I was surprised when my best friend started listening to them, but I realised that when someone from your circle likes the same music, It’s really cool.

I guess you have funny reactions from your friends too, so… LET’S LAUGH TOGETHER! :yum:

4 Likes

I talked about metal music with my colleagues at work and I mentioned that I listen to a lot of Japanese metal. Their reaction was like “Japanese metal, how must that sound like”. That’s it, never got any further than that

2 Likes

Funny story, the first thing I really bonded over with one of my high school classmates (who became one of my closest pals and eventually fellow musician/bandmate) was Japanese music. :smiley: I discovered visual kei in late summer that year and totally independently my classmate also got to have his first taste of Japanese music (more on the pop-rock and pop-punk side) while he was an exchange student in Austria where a Japanese kid showed him some music he was into. So when he came back to school the topic eventually came up and we shared/traded what bands we found… and thus a beautiful friendship was born that still lasts to this day. :slight_smile:

5 Likes

so on my first schoolday on the school I am in currently in, the first actual interaction with my classmates actually was showing them a VK PV.
So they all just stared at each other because no one had any idea how to actually start a conversation. I broke this akward silence with just asking them what music they listen to. After I got the answers from the other ones I just showed them from Dimlim the Vanitas PV. The reactions weren’t that good to the music. But I have heard other classmates talking with people from the underclasses about how I was the one who connected us to a community.

later in the year I also did presentations about Dimlim and Dir en Grey because, why not?

1 Like

also I had one classmate who desperately tried to get attention from other classmates.
And well he saw some of the pictures of my VK guys.
so he came immediately to me and said “that are beautiful girls”.
well and then I needed to explain him that it actually are guys.

3 Likes

There have been a couple topics like this on MH, so I’ll just give bullet points.

  • 2009~2014: Are you gay? / I like it b/c they did that one anime opening / They look like carnies.
  • 2014 onwards: Less gay questions b/c it’s more normalized / That’s weird / I listen to enough genres now that I don’t really mention it anymore.
1 Like

Since I’ve been into this sort of music and scene for 17 years it’s pretty old hat for my friends when we go on road trips and VK plays the whole way, but to new friends it’s a bit jarring. They’re supportive of course, but definitely like… no idea what it is and a huge barrier between them and appreciating it is the language.

I did attend a PowerPoint party where I presented on VK music tho and people were fascinated.

3 Likes

Decided to give it another try, their reaction was so much more welcoming that I expected! I showed them all my favorite PVs of this year and talked about the joys of following artists through a multitude of bands that last 18 months each. In the end I’ve been called the 2nd most cultured and interesting one out of our group, and they all seemed to have a good time! It was so much fun I almost forgot to water them before I went to work :slight_smile:

…oh wait it says “friends”. sorry

3 Likes

They didn’t.
because I have no friends.
BA DUM TIS. Or something funny idk.

4 Likes

It’s funny you mention that. Tangentially related, during my time in university there was Senior/ Level 4 Japanese student who did their entire speech on visual kei talking about An Cafe and a whole host of other oshare bands. This was like one day a year they’d get the entire department to have some speech contest. I would’ve said hello, but I was way too much of an introvert at the time.

We did get a preview for speech topics like a week before, and it put me off guard when I saw a full Powerpoint slide with FEST VAINQUEUR on it.

3 Likes

That’s pretty neat!

Actually now come to think of it I did do a presentation on Versailles in college for a music class that wanted you to present your favorite artist or band.

Let everyone talk about The Beatles and Taylor Swift and then slapped them with what Hizaki looks like. That was fun.

3 Likes

later in the year I also did presentations about Dimlim and Dir en Grey because, why not?

I did attend a PowerPoint party where I presented on VK music tho and people were fascinated.

in what universe does this occur holy shit

4 Likes

no one exactly responds negatively but i end up wondering what’s really meant when literally everyone’s response is “oh wow it sounds just like anime” - unless they’re Asian themselves

but i’ve since learned any time a cishet guy asks my favourite music, my answer’s become “oh Kanye, Joey Bada$$, some Crystal Castles…”

1 Like

Most of my friends are Asian so they didn’t react that strongly. I showed them the music video for D’s
鳥籠御殿 〜L’Oiseau bleu〜 and said I listened to it all the time and they asked how I could study while listening to that. I did know one girl who also listened to the GazettE and one of my close friends also listens to Japanese music (although not visual kei) so I guess it’s not that crazy to them.

I will say that visual kei doesn’t seem that popular even among Japanese people. When I tell Japanese people I listen to the GazettE most of them know who they are but don’t listen to them themselves.

they didn’t really react we all have diverse tastes in music/fashion etc and even some of them wanted to get into it so i helped them! me getting them all into jrock years before probably helped!(WANIMA COME TO AMERICA) …well actually one of my friends was like weirded out and was like “men crossdressing is gross” and thought everything was weird until i told them that’s not cool/had a talk and they completely have a changed view and they actually think visual kei is cool and loves when i talk about it and tell them stories!

2 Likes

Hmmm… most friends of me didn’t expect me to listen to VK or any J-Rock music at all, cause I looked too normal and innocent to listen to such music lol.

Always getting the same reaction like: ARE THEY ALL WOMEN? – eeh. no. They are GUYS.

Even now, I still shock people sometimes with my music taste lol
But I love to infect people with my music taste anyways, feel the good vibesssss.

4 Likes

When I was first a fan, and very young, I was pretty candid it about it and most of my friends just thought it was “scene girls” or “emo” or “goth” or something.

Nowadays, It’s like the skeleton in the closet for me. All of my friends know I’m obsessed with music, and I’ll talk about lots of genres openly. But I tend to avoid bringing up vk.

It’s difficult because most western music fans have 0 reference points for visual kei (“you mean, like, Babymetal?”), and even if they like metal, there’s a chance it’s so colorful and airbrushed it will scare them off.

On the other hand, You’d think if someone had an interest in anime or Japanese culture, it would help bridge the gap, but I have so many friends like that who just go in the direction of tricot, ichiko aoba, shiina ringo… which are artists I enjoy, but they scratch a very different itch from vk for me.

2 Likes

I revealed mine during a team lunch at work, nothing too big of a reaction as some were already into japanese subculture(anime, gaming etc) It was mostly confusion as to why I would buy and import music from Japan lol

Other close friends on VK, it was mostly shock that Hizaki is a girl otherwise it just sounds like regular japanese music to them.

1 Like

Not many of my friends new about it, but my family on the other hand, where a bit racist/xenophobic (I grew up in Conservatice Indiana in a strict religious household ) they would belittle me and make fun of most things I was intrested in Anime, Visual Kei, and Emo Music etc. I was asked by my Grandmother, Why do you like Japan, after they bombed us." like wtf. At least they didnt nuke us and kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people. She didnt take that well lol. Called me a communist ROFL.

2 Likes

Some of my friends thought that I was gay for listening to vkei so I had to proof to them it’s not gay then they were like we were joking :upside_down_face:

1 Like