Well now i need to know what outfit(s) motivated this
edit: wait nvm i thought it was gonna be fun controversial in a dadaist art sense but then i thought for ten seconds and nvm
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My newest take is:
Album titels are too random. Can’t bands have a reaccuring theme for their titels or just something all titels have in common. Like always choose the same first letter. Same word structure. Name all your albums after Birds or only three letter words. SOMETHING!
Also one word album titles are superior.
It would be so sick if Gaze only had albums with three letters like NIL and DIM. If DEG had only one word titles like Macabre and Vulgar, Uroboros, Arche, Phalaris… Withering to Death and The insulated World ruin it 
This is just my personal taste and you are entiteled to a diffrent opinion.
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Sigh does this! They aren’t visual but if you take a look at the first letter of each album they’ve released, it always goes in the order S, I, G, H. I think that’s pretty cool!
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Honestly, I think giving commentary on why they chose certain visual looks should be part of most interviews, press releases, etc.
But really, I know that we aren’t exactly going to get the answers we expected if they did that. Going to hear a lot of “we were going with a ‘United Front’ idea on this one” for military uniforms and political protest gear, and when questioned further, be like “uh, the stylist thought it looked cool”.
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Perhaps it’s just that we are both speaking from completely different places. The “few” and “little” way you’re putting it sounds almost condescending lol like “oh … that small silly casual” While my point was exactly that if they are the ones making an effort to inform and spread the word … like if you know a lot either 1) correct them and spread the word be helpful 2) don’t correct keep doing ur own thang Japan and don’t complain that Westernrs dont know enough (because again it just sounds … condescending like oh I know more because ave the opportunity to live there Thus I’m The Better Fan - which seems to only serve for clout and Will Honmei Notice Me was my point) 3) keep not spreading the word and then complain that vk is dyin like it’s somehow bandomens fault
Paragraph 2 ofc it is. This is where I started not getting your point lol it’s like you are addressing a specific vk tiktoker or smn. I am not aware
And in the last paragraph you say ahead and that’s my point. Ahead … in what? So you know more about how concerts work - great! And you can’t share the knowledge why exactly … ? You of course means hypothetical you etc
This stuff as I was saying TO ME is a bad fandom experience. I like to SHARE things. I don’t like to keep to myself in hopes bandomen will see how much more special than those casuals I am. It’s just different. In that sense.
They at least would admit that they didn’t put any thoughts into it
And especially for certain outfits it would show that they are not standing behind those ideologies or at least we’re clueless to it
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I’m very prepared to eat my words and be wrong here, but imho in my limited perspective, i’ve found The Gallo’s portrayal of post-WWII Japan to be responsible and worthwhile, tho certainly not uncontroversial.
By putting on the customes (literally in PVs and figuratively by who’s the protagonist in their lyrics) they make it clear that they’re not trying to distance themselves from the responsibility of what their lyrics cover. Like, i don’t get the impression they’re speaking as unaffected third parties discussing evil fantasy systems but looking at their own society 40ish years ago thru the current day
Looks like their lyrics from back then have been wiped from the Internet entirely or i’d have more to cite than just memory and vibes… but iirc 太陽(taiyou)'s chorus would repeat (in jp) something like “the sun is a lier / the sun lied” as the rest of the lyrics describe a run down drab declining civilization. Which is easy to see parallels in as i’m in the US, comparing the offered promises of the empire with the fallout we’re living in.
As a kid, i think most people, at least most in my socioeconomic bkg, believe in the American Dream bc it’s an unquestioned truth in society; The Gallo writes lyrics that feel like coming to question similar truths in a similar society. At least to me.
I had a whole thesis ready to put together but it depended on me being able to grab more lyrics than i can rn find… but loosely i remember being very interested in all they were saying in these first two albums as ways to satirize and critique a declining empire they’re a part of without punting their own place in society.
Not saying i imported my politic wholecloth from a band that’s ended up singing about Disney villains dressed as anime pirates. But for a while they seemed (at least to me) an explicitly political band like SoaD that dressed and presented themselves in a purposefully unsettling way to make a critique that didn’t bury the lede about where/who it’s coming from.
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I lose respect for artists that try to justify or apologize for anything they do, especially if it’s in response to people being mad.
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What I’m getting at here is that the kind of attitude of “oh, you’re just a tourist. Getting excited over seeing a band once and having him notice you is cringe” is like…a drop in the bucket? If someone can’t afford to upend their life to move to Japan permanently and can only afford a trip after x amount of years of saving up, does it really matter that they’re sharing their experiences?
“But I don’t get to go to lives every day because I work”. Yes, people generally have to work where they live. The majority of people who come to Japan on VK holidays had to work hard too. They enjoy, they leave. If you live there, there’s literally always next month. So who really cares if they get to have something for once?
Honestly, what I find more irritating personally is people misrepresenting what overseas concerts are like to newer fans who come in with all of these expectations and then getting confused because either it’s absolutely nothing like the Japanese rules, or because they’re talking about headliner protocol when the band is just opening for non-Japanese bands.
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Because there’s no good way to sum up how a concert works! Different artists and different venues will handle things differently. I’ve been to over a dozen concerts in the last few years and no two concerts have been the same. Throw in the language barrier and I could see the appeal in asking such a question, but I can’t think of a real answer!
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Yes, really, there is no easy answer for how overseas shows are supposed to go. The only thing you can really count on is that the staff will likely not be expecting Japanese concert norms.
Which is why when tours happen, you inevitably get people complaining that “oh, they didn’t lay out gift boxes”, or “they looked at me funny when I started yelling ‘encore’ in a fake Japanese accent and told me to be quiet”. Or you have fans trying to appoint themselves as honourary staff members.
When was the last time they had so many gifts for a band that they had to lay out a box? That’s just not really a thing over here. The “gift” is our merch dollars.
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You mean “to ruin their life”?
I know a lot of girls who dreamed to live in japan because of vkei , and ended just as depressed office worker without work they really want to do, bullied at workplaces, without relationships because many of us were traumatised by uwu honmei…
I’m also in this cursed train, and some of us have no other choice. I wish I could “afford” something better that this, huh…
Sad off topic, I’m sorry!
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Btw musicians LOVE to see overseas in the audience! They don’t even care is you respect their “rules”, just be yourself and have fun. That’s the best😺 rules are mostly for japanese gya, just respect their “see but not touch mai boi” rule.
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Speaking as someone who can’t afford even that one trip: yes … ? Because obviously the stuff they’re sharing is still novelty to me lol
Like the experience of having them notice you isn’t cringe to (hypothetical tourist) you if that’s what you spent probably a generous sum of money for - it’s the entertainment you wanted it’s not cringe. This “holier than thou” attitude that only people who live in Japan and go to concerts every week can talk online about their experiences is what tires me - that was my point … all of it.
Again not getting at all what you’re talking about everything else you’re definitely talking oranges while it’s apples for me lol don’t get it at all we are definitely watching different vk influencers, granted I watch maybe 2 or 3 of my faves so maybe there’s why we aren’t talking the same stuff. Your 2nd and 3rd paragraph legit make no sense to me sorry orz if u mean like overseas fans thinking there’s gonna be furi and all that I see no issue in doing that if they somehow managed to learn the furi despite being an overseas fan but lol literally not getting the issue at hand.
My experiences with overseas concerts is most definitely not yours either unless u went to concerts in Brazil so there’s all of that
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It’s so funny how diffrent oversea concerts are because when I read this I was like:
Nobody ever took offence to “ankoreee” at all rhe overseas I went to. And it’s not that uncommon to bring gifts as well.
Exactly. Because “how do overseas work?” is the wrong question. “What can I exspect from Venue X and Band Y?” is a far better question, that people can provide helpful answers to. And why would someone need the general question being answered anyway. If you go to an oversea you will know what band at which venue.
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This was actually their point??? See I missed that entirely. Same, never saw anyone get offended at アンコール … and while gifts are not all that common they do happen and I remember a few very sweet instances of gifting
What makes this perspective of How Overseas Concerts Work even more wild to me is probably that things are often very messy here lol and that’s just How Things Are - imagine that some vk fans are former or present weebs with varying degrees of proximity to Japanese culture or ancestry / some are kpoppies who fell into this rabbit hole / some are metalheads who fell into this rabbit hole … like how do u unify that? U don’t.
It’s been the Wild West every jrock (not just vk) concert I have ever been to … it’s funny thinking about it now but it’s not the same for kpop concerts where there is a bit more of an homogenous concert culture (probably because of Hallyu and fanbases efforts) and recently I saw wasuta and was surprised at how orderly the crowd was (they followed Japanese concert standards way more and I assume that has to do with more younger fans who are into it and there’s less of a language barrier now thanks to automatic translators, more hardcore weebs etc but for vk in particular it’s the Wild West lol I can’t possibly imagine a venue where everybody present would obey Japanese concert rules
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Yes, the fanbases have increasingly adopted Japanese concert norms over time, but I was mainly referring to venue staff and how they won’t necessarily be expecting completely different customs.
The same will probably be true of the bands that Jiluka will be opening for this time around and their fans.
People were complaining during Jiluka’s first European tour about venue staff and claiming that they didn’t know what they were doing because they were accustomed to European norms. Going to well over 100 shows in Canada and the US, I’ve literally never seen a gift box laid out for any non-Japanese band. Gifts are typically only the most die-hard fans, and they contact management ahead of time to ask how to get it to them.
Japanese bands have actually had to tell overseas fans “Look, we appreciate the thought. But please, lay off the gifts. We have to pay to ship this stuff home”.
I guess my overarching point is really “Overseas shows are a lot less stable than domestic ones, and success in conducting them often depends on creating good impressions among the industry, whether it’s venue staff or other bands, or fans. The VK fanbase becoming too insular runs the risk of alienating those people and stopping any kind of overseas revival dead in its tracks”
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Oh no of course they won’t. It comes down to organizers and fanbases efforts to inform them of whatever is needed because most venues sure won’t have any idea of how a vk concert should go lol even I don’t and I listen to it!!!
This was my point actually - vk has ALWAYS been pretty insular, for obvious reasons, so when a fan who went to 01 concert in Japan shares their experience online to inform others I think that is super cool, but obvwon’t treat their experience as a gospel or even as anything but just their experience. And my point was just that fans who “gatekeep” that by saying >:( don’t share u don’t know shit only I do bc I have been in Japan for x years >:( often are the same that complain when overseas fans don’t know enough etc or when vk gets even more insular … and in my opinion that’s just their way of making themselves seen for knowing more selfishly and at the expense of the fandom - ie another form of Honmei Notice Me complex tbh lol but if someone wants to be noticed for influencing / enforcing that others follow Japanese concert rules overseas that’s just another side of the same complex if that’s what you implied - I really haven’t seen any influencers like that, the only vk fans I watch are the “ 
I went to a vk festival for the first time “ or the “ I went on a pilgrimage “ kinds haha
Exactly - the companies might not want to ship it back home everyone is more or less aware that can happen but some people go ahead and do it anyways for the sake of gifting … because bottom line maybe the difference is just whether they will throw it in a local or in a Japanese trash can lol that’s just being realistic right? The non idol side of local vk fans comes from very anti idol cult places lmao so maybe that’s why the middle ground is still pretty anti idol lol but not like I see much of a difference here or anywhere else that has vk fans …
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I think a lot of it comes from the only advice out there existing from people speaking about their experiences in Japan (both tourists and locals), so newbs generalize that to all situations, in all places, for all artists.
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This is probably the part of your point that I was missing for a few posts lol I … guess, if someone shares their experience online because they want to be seen as the bigger fan or enforce some rule - sometimes mistakenly based on the 2 concerts which they have been to as a tourist in Japan and then generalize it - and it’s not for “social media influencer career clout” it’s probably for the Honmei Notice Me complex … but there are absolutely people who share because they are excited and want to grow the fandom and just share and talk about it you know? Share the fun
Anyways, my phone ran out of battery so here is my point (now on keyboard, yay) - the only impression I personally get is that, sometimes, fans who go to Japan to live their bangya dreams fall into the same weird illusion mindset that makes Japanese girls write on their profiles "don’t follow me if you like my oshi >:( " . Like damn gurl if you don’t wanna talk about his latest endeavor and with ppl who get the joy then why tf am I following u anyways 
it’s very distant from the Western mindset of people who are aware they’re NEVER getting acquainted to oshi-kun and it’s also very different from the mindset of say kpop fans who know they are way out of their league (because that’s the image they sell - not that they actually are as I have heard enough scandals to know)
Because of that we have very few English speaking people who actually know a lot and care to share what they know in English speaking sns so vk fandom keeps getting more and more insular and distant etc.
tl;dr people who share online are valid even if they have been to 1 or to 1000 concerts! Keep the info coming we all love it the more the merrier it’s the only way some of us have of knowing anyways and most of us like the info. People who share OR keep their thoughts in hopes Honmei Will Notice Them - eh. live ur best delusion or something
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