So the unpopular opinion is: From Miyavi’s perspective Hyde, Ruki, Kyo, Yomi and Lime are equally short? 
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I’m sure the 7 dwarves all had slight variations as well 
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That is good to know actually. Thank you. I don’t even remember my blood type
I read about all that blood type stuff! Apparently A is the best to have and B is the worst. A is doing their job, not causing any troubles and basically staying in line. B is the rebel, always against the tide, AB is a weirdo and 0 is messy and hot-headed. Correct me if I’m wrong, tho. It was a while ago when I saw that stuff. 
Time to reign it in and stick to unpopular opinions please! You may continue your blood type/height conversations in random thoughts, discord, or DMs if you would like.
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Naw this whole queer discussion just made me scratch my head a bit and wonder lol man should I even BOTHER but like I am depressed as f because I can’t figure out how to go back home after seeing Miku on Sunday which means I don’t know if I am seeing Miku on Sunday so this made me write a lot because yawn I am tired of this shit world and everything fuck whoevers controlling the narrative.
It is not explicitly a LGBTQ+ space (despite what the fanservice might make you think) but I would argue that it is to an extent a queer space. A space where you can experiment and express yourself more freely than elsewhere with no questions asked.
Agreed with this. But the point to be made here is that just because it’s a queer space in the ‘Western’ (that means Eurocentric!) sense doesn’t mean it’s the same as a queer space in the Japanese sense really.
Vk people KNOW they’re weird to a lesser or bigger degree. But what that weird means and how much of it encompasses being LGBT+ not varies by era, band and bandomen readings honestly. Which is why a lot of bandomen are actually pretty queerphobic in the ‘Western’ sense ie LGBTphobic but still queer or alien to Japanese society.
The reading of LGBT+ people is very different in Japanese culture compared to Western culture (and where I live is a secret third thing so even if I really wanted to go analytical scholar on this I wouldn’t be able to) originally, but let’s say Japan was amiably umm convinced to conform (hahah) (sighs) . When a pretty man dresses up androgynously on TV in a society that’s been forced to reshape their ideas of gender and sexuality due to neocolonialism that goes a little deeper society and culture-wise than u know Harry Styles wearing a skirt in the 2010s or whatever is those vktwt tweens’ ideas of crossdressing in their heads when they see vk dudes. To speculate on what’s the meaning exactly is NOT for any of us btw, lol. It’s not give it up let the Japanese people define it. As much as ‘Westerners’ can see it and think it looks familiar it’s not the same by a mile… Except for when it is. The ‘when it is’ may have a lot to do with the era in which vk made it overseas IMO.
Of course this is me thinking of the bands and acts that hit my buttons but like Japan has long embraced punk culture and new wave and those days in that culture there was heavy criticism of these very Eurocentric views. Of what is queer and whatever else. Everything that’s well the exact opposite nowadays - putting people into silly boxes … see I’m not at all a connoisseur of punk culture (bit ironic when u look at my playlists it is what it is) so not gonna go deep on this but like. On one hand there were acts like Buck-Tick doing the new wave thing in Japan so with a Japanese twist that was natural coming from a bunch of Gunma-born teens, but just their weirdness or queerness if you will of ‘not feeling Japanese enough’ took this formula to a whole new audience and gave it new meaning, perhaps involuntarily. And you have the likes of Izam and later maybe Kaya who were almost political and deliberate in gapping this bridge (the fact that Shazna made Daisuke Asakura and Boy George collab indirectly never not makes me laugh) On the opposite side of the spectrum there are acts like Malice Mizer who will do a theatrical thing that translates VERY clearly to a Japanese audience as onnagata but they’ll be wearing European Victorian costumes and that’s the twist that feels like a creative spark. Less commonly or openly there might be bands for whom the ‘queerness’ or the aspect of feeling alien that justifies the art IS being gay in the context of contemporary Japanese society period which is maybe where cali=gari might fit and some others.
As much as one may want to translate what they’re seeing to the Eurocentric ‘Western’ frame in their minds (and as much as teens’ young brains are being drilled with a lot of shit so they can’t see outside this dumb frame from a very young age) that’s going to be a lie (ie untrue to the artists or speakers) regardless of what the narrative twists it to be. Can’t expect 15yo socially-adjusted ‘Western’ teens to get this that’s why I would not bother bringing this up in vktwt. But if you’ve been in the game long enough you need be able to step back and be a little less ethnocentric sometimes. To sum things up yes, vk is queer. But like what is queer in Japanese society? Hint: it’s absolutely not what is queer in the West lol.
For more examples think of how gyaru wre def marginalized in Japan vs just being a y2k girl in the US - it’s not one and the same. The exist=trace thing is another debate - never saw the actual interview but being pretty much the only female band in a scene traditionally made of boys and drooling fangirls their sexual orientation (if they even feel such a thing) would be of least interest in determining whether they’re queer or not because they undeniably are in the sense of defying sexist norms in place. And if you’re older and lived in a ‘more homophobic’ (violently, outwardly, blatantly at least) ‘Western’ world you know (regardless of being an outsider or not) these understandings aren’t set in stone and in fact changes purposely too fast for comfort (because if we don’t have time to discuss everything becomes a don’t-ask-don’t-tell-no-time-for-explanations dogma and that’s easier for whoever just wants to be queerphobic to fight with fire lol) but like the ‘oh they’re crossdressing because they’re trans’ understanding is A VERY RECENT understanding. Not long ago it was gender dysphoria is an illness. Then it became gender dysphoria means being trans and now it’s okay to be trans with no gender dysphoria, what determines a trans person? oh, IDK … clothes? and just a lot of (grrhrhghrghfhffff fjhghjjrjr grrrrrrrrrrrrr I wanna kill people) dumb shit anyways all I’m trying to say here is these understandings are culturally determined - essentially a trend. Whether you’re a xe or a catperson because you don’t wanna get cancelled by your 15yo discord friends is not too different from wearing large pants because they’re in. What’s inside isn’t as volatile, people will feel differently about their gender (if that’s even a thing in a given period) or sexuality (same) etc regardless of labels attributed to it or arbitrarily defined thresholds. Most people are blinded by the dominant lens of the society they happen to live in to see things like this but my point is that it’s pointless to try to guess or try to put labels or names on How Someone Who Lives In Another Country And You Never Met And May As Well Never Meet Really Feels On The Inside about their gender or sexuality or whatever. Any attempt is just an attempt at seeing their being through the cultural lens you’re immersed in, which is not the same as theirs – man aren’t my thoughts really circular now? Perhaps because all this is extremely obvious in my heart but I have trouble conveying my thoughts 
Time dilutes things and languages make things get further lost in translation so people will end up reducing everything to their lowest denominator ie ‘do they look gay xD’ and that’s the end of it and that’s valid if we’re just being luls dumb and making it through the day but if we’re attempting to get any serious or making any assumptions about others on a deeper level we NEED to at least get humble enough to attempt to see the world through their lens not ours. And through their lens every vk artist is aware they’re queer like duh it’s their job. Which says nothing about how they feel about LGBT+/sex/gender stuff because you need to add another layer of how they feel about Japanese culture and society to it to even begin trying to guess. See my examples above lol.
tl;dr stop people projecting their values onto others 2k24 (SPOILER wont stop!)
There is yet ANOTHER discussion to be had regarding fanservice and MLM fetishism – and again it’s not my society not my nationality not my (etc) on many levels and even then I can add a few cents to the discussion So I Will and this is really the tip of the iceberg so you see how much of a lost cause it is to try and conflate these different cultural perspectives (so please stop trying sankyuu)
No idea about how the gay fanservice came to be in showbiz (though there are a few things I can think of – kabuki theatre feeding into it with wakashu for instance. is it okay if its fanservice for men lol answer this one sjw teens) but in manga despite whatever popular belief wants to claim, the first romance manga authors that came up with homoromantic stories weren’t all that concerned with the genders involved - there is an interview with Nio Nakatani and Keiko Takemiya I think talking about it was more about defying a norm ie queerness - like yeah it was romance fanservice in the same way straight shoujo romances were only with an added queer element to it which is why it was greenlit. Interestingly these days I read a comment in an entirely random local community from a gay man about how people don’t have a problem with men kissing or whatever as much as they have a problem with men being genuinely in love with other or having children or whatever and this is certainly how it is in Japan where gay marriage is still not a thing lol so in that sense maybe making romance stories is as queer ( ‘Western’ sense here) as it gets rather than queerbaiting 
Anyways back to gay shoujo then people loved it for different reasons and ran wild with it lol not sure if geicomi existed before, probably yes, but the sequels I am aware of ranged from yuri manga (another beast way wilder than often assumed) to yaoi doujinshi (of course) to June magazine and ‘june works’ which were, by the way, inclusive of gay artists and authors and not made for the ‘fujoshi gaze’ - tl;dr: what’s the threshold? what’s fetishization as opposed to queer people doing whatever and having an audience bigger than their niche ??? (would not having an audience of horny fujos have made DA happier so many questions . . . . . . . . ) but things will touch people in different ways and we can’t avoid that, can’t police sensibilities for better or for worse. For all I love Kazeki everything about Loveless or omegaverse shit makes me wanna gouge my eyes out, but it’s not up to me to decide how people will read and interpret that stuff. Same goes for vk - it’s going to change with each band and bandomen and generation or whatever, some will be very LGBTfriendly and some will be the exact opposite. Still queer though, as in society-defying. Anything beyond this is just wanting to see a Japanese phenomenon through your own cultural lens thus basically ethnocentrism
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Woah buddy
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If it’s not for u that’s cool but personally, i’m on this site - and not vktwt/tok - specifically for the long-ass personal-experience “actually gives a shit and tries to look at concepts beyond the surface” look at vkei that as far as i’ve seen, doesn’t exist anywhere but here.
You can see by all my posts, this is a topic and concept i’m super interested in, have for years been interested in, and here i’m getting to read!
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Band disagrees with my worldview < band agrees with my worldview < band keeps their worldview open to speculation < band’s worldview is from an insane doomsday cult
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Now I need an example for the last one 
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< Band makes their own cult to achieve world domination
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So from a stream a couple years ago, Hitsugi jokingly said Yomi was 132cm, so Yomi got up and argued that he was 158cm based on the auto-translate. Though, most places I’ve seen it says he’s 155-156cm based on Japanese Yahoo answers. Could literally just be the difference of standing up straight or not, but if he says he’s 158, he can be 158. I’m 158, so if I meet him we’ll be about eye-level
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idk how to call it but vocaloid? type music is so grating to me. i can’t stand the voices or the frantic sounding singing. i know i sound like an old lady, but it seems so popular nowadays and it is nauseating for me to listen to 
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I’m with you. Frantic sounding singing is accurate. They always sing like they have 30 seconds to cram in the entire theme of the song and make an impression. (the fast songs, anyway.)
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I like vocaloids’ designs and things people do with them on fanart, but I could never really get into music.
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A post was merged into an existing topic: Random thoughts thread
I sometimes agree
For example the latest hit song “Mesmerizer” by Satsuki is a “eh” to me. Teto sounds fine, but Miku should have totally been put an octave lower… If I get back into UTAU later and do a cover, I’d put that character down an octave for sure
But tbf not sure which is worse: people who went to exactly 1 live and Will Teach Others About The Gya Life (silly kids but hey they tried and gave at least Some useful info) or people who went to a lot but instead of sharing what they know choose to gatekeep it like having the opportunity makes em better (edit - disclaimer - no shade btw I love @rukarukaruka 's stories) .
And this is one of many reasons why I never got into vk fandom - too many ego fights and I Wonder if these rly go beyond Pls Notice Me Honmei complex or is just another side of it (and from what I know of vk locals I bet on 2)
The expectation of having the imaginary fling go beyond parasocial/platonic is 
to me maybe thats why kpop fandom feels moreme - its just so huge that u can comfortably sit back on the knowledge that ure deluded and no ur fav doesnt give a fuck to ur looks or art or thoughts or fic and if they do b pissed off bc u could have won the lottery w that luck
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Honestly, if someone wants to feel their little moments of getting to go to Japan and attend a few lives, let them. Sure, some misinfo does get spread like treating a custom that one or two bands have as absolutes for the whole scene.
However, it is still useful for people to know about some things like protocol for free lives, how to get tickets, how to wait for number calls, general decorum like not taking pictures/videos unless told otherwise, claiming a spot with your stuff, drink tickets, etc. Stuff that concerts in other countries have totally different customs for.
Do tourists have to work in Japan? No. But to be perfectly honest, I really overdid it with shows, and there are still many, many bangya who will have many more opportunities than even me to see a wide range of artists, events, Instores, experiences in an 18 month span than I did in 70 days of no work obligations. Chances are, I’m never going to be able to do this again.
So yeah, living in Japan is definitely a perk if you’re a VK fan. Some like to pretend that tourists have it made, but only in very short bursts. If you can see your favourite band five times a month, you’re waaaay ahead of virtually any other music fan in any other country.
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Coming in with the latest hot take, fresh from a discord discussion.
Bands, especially Visual ones, should be able to defend and argue as to why they choose the outfits they choose.
If for a visual kei the visuals are as ,or nearly as, important as the music, then that means you should put the same amount of effort into it.
That goes especially for bands that choose outfits that are easily accounted as controversial in a big majority of the world. Google is a thing.
Also maybe and hopefully if bands are able to pull out a reasonable argument for their outfits, fans will understand why they wear what they wear.
But what about the shock value of the outfits?
Shock value is cool and fun, but I promise you it is more fun if you can pull out a reason for it and you can explain your decision.
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