I actually always loved Division myself as well.
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My unpopular options:
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The western community on Twitter is toxic AF it’s the same constant fights and problems repeated over and over
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Recent bands/band members who have braided hair is fine I don’t see the problem with how they are styling their hair
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Visual kei Tiktok is a baby form of the toxic side of western Twitter
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The western side of vkei twitter give me vibes of keeping up with the kardashians…
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I actually really like 2000s oshare kei even though most people disliked it lol
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My hot take is that the western side of vkei twitter is basically 
but with a non-japanese speaking community ahaha (okay not exactly the same, but a similar spawn of the devil).
Also, I don’t think this is unpopular (maybe rather uncommon?), but I don’t think vk is “dying” at least in japan specifically. In Japan, the industry is heavily connected and supported by shady industries (ahem sex work) and/or host clubs. A big demographic of the fans in japan are hostesses / sex workers so unless that industry dies down (which I doubt would any time soon), I don’t think vk would either (especially the whole deal with noodles and their funding being supported by mitsu).
But I do think that a lot of the bands that were popular during the early-mid 2010s have fallen off (i.e. Royz, Kiryu, vistlip etc. etc.) in terms of popularity and that no newer bands have been able to replace that. And that I have seen a lot of asian fans lose interest over the past few years or so (myself included), but I can’t say for sure for other countries.
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I don’t like the Gackt era of Malice Mizer .
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Forgot to reply here. Com(?) is a great track! I much prefer this sound over their signature orchestra sound. I feel like they had to be more creative musically because they weren’t relying on a gimmick. I don’t even mind that this is 15min. because the song goes somewhere within those minutes.
By comparison, a track like “Requiem for Hell” has no right being +15min. Repetitive, disjointed, and uninspired. I don’t know if the band had any changes in personnel throughout the years, but they sound like a different band if you compare the two eras.
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Gazette’s records sound like garbage(mixing-wise). They’re amazing live though.
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Non-metal vk is almost all garbage in it’s entirety, with only some minor exceptions. And vk bands going from heavy to melo makes no goddamn sense. Just do whatever music you want but don’t start off doing one thing and then switch so drastically.
Just imagine if tomorrow Canibal Corpse started doing bubble gum pop, I’m pretty sure it would raise a few eyebrows to say the least.
ALL OF YOU SHITTY POP ROCK VK BANDS ARE NEVER GOING TO BE UVERWORLD…PER-I-OD
3 Likes
It’s 2022 and people still shit on pop or non-metal? Well, here is my unpopular opinion: pop isn’t that bad and people who keep complaining about it are annoying.
I agree to a point that it sucks when bands “sell out”, but the problem isn’t so much that they switch styles or genre, it’s that they go from interesting song writing and having a unique style to generic garbage. There have been groups that pulled off going from metal to a different and often “softer” genre (Anathema comes to mind, lots of early VK bands too such as D’erlanger, Vasalla, Kuroageha or X Japan), but there are plenty of bands for whom that didn’t work out (see DEZERT). So I wouldn’t generalize and claim that it’s always bad.
Also there’s plenty of great non-metal VK. The 80s and 90s were filled to the brim with great melodic and poppy VK.
Personally I find the community completely overrates the importance of loud and brutal kei, that shit was never big in the scene except for the thrashy era in the 80s or the Nu Metal era of the 2000s. I guess everyone values it so high because of how obscure and niche it is and because it’s the kind of VK they discovered first during the western boom. But still, heavy doesn’t always equal good. Which in the end doesn’t matter either, just listen to whatever you want. If you fave band starts to make garbage music, well, that sucks, but their old stuff isn’t going away and in VK especially you will have 2-10 copycat bands to listen to instead.
28 Likes
Agreed, but I’m pretty sure the starting out heavy bit is a strategy to garner fans/attention fast.
I never said I disliked pop infact I love it but vk bands switching from metal to pop rock is idiotic. Either do the sound you want or don’t but why build a following in metal and then flip flop as soon as you get popular within that respective genre? Like I said before imagine Canibal Corpse doing that. And also like I said before these shitty bands aren’t UVERWORLD and 90’s vk is almost exclusively The Cure clones. If I want to listen to The Cure then I’ll listen to The Cure.
3 Likes
The twitter fanbase is basically fine.
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I’ve never had any major issues with Twitter nowadays. But I tend to keep to myself so I never see any of the annoying fans anymore.
Keeping my tl just full of my trusted friends was the best choice.
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I fully agree with this. personally I think the 80s and 90s VK is far better than the br00tal kei of the 2010s to now but I’m sure this is my unpopular opinion to lol.
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Just do whatever music you want but don’t start off doing one thing and then switch so drastically
You contradicted yourself in the same sentence, interesting. Should they do music they want to do? Or should they only stict to one strict sound as per your opinion? I know it’s a hot take, but at least make up your mind.
Part of the charm of Visual Kei for a long time now has been that they aren’t stuck to just one genre of music. If you’re that disappointed in it, maybe it’s just not a band for you.
Something that I think should be a popular opinion regarding VKtwt: If you block every single toxic asshat instead of engaging, you suddenly have a much saner and more enjoyable vktwt community. It doesn’t have to be a toxic shithole.
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I mean initially like from the beginning. Do the music you want. Don’t bullshit people doing metal when you really wanna be UVERWORLD. And yeah you’re right it’s not for me that’s exactly what I’m saying lmao.
Metal to hard rock or something more progressive would make sense, but metal to pop rock is dumb imo. I like some melo vk bands but few and far between I find more interesting bands/music elsewhere Hikaru Utada or Koda Kumi or ACIDMAN etc. This is my unpopular opinion I didn’t expect everyone or anyone to agree lol which was why I posted it here. Royz, vislip, Vidoll, etc. etc. and derivative bands I hate but that’s just me. Listen to whatever you like Idc.
1 Like
I read this while listening to ACME’s latest release and I beg to differ because it has UVERWORLD vibes haha
Joking aside, I only like non-metal vk personally but I like UVER and kpop too so I guess I have no say
Personally I find the focus and fans’ bias towards heavy music in current vk tiring imo, even though I don’t listen to the poppy side of vk myself lol.
Anyway my kind of hot take is that codomo dragon’s 想葬 sounds way better in the single compared to the album ver.
The album ver. is messy and could do without the violins imo.
2 Likes
I think this has more to do with label involvement rather than a band’s decision. Obviously I can’t say for sure, but I notice when a band gets popular and gets picked up by a major label, that’s when their sound starts to change (most times for the poppier).
I think a lot of bands fail or don’t satisfy their fan base because they’re inexperienced with writing in the new style and end up executing it poorly. I agree with @Arcana 's point about song writing being a major factor because, as he/she mentioned, there are plenty of heavy bands that did pop/vkei well, so it’s not directly a cause of the genre itself. But it’s clearly a challenge as many bands straight up change their sound to fit the bill and end up pissing off their old fans.
3 Likes