Someone please explain Mejibray

Japanese Music
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Ok so first off, I’m not entirely sure how this whole website works so idk if I put this in the right category :raised_hand::smiling_face_with_tear: pls forgive me and move it if so

Anyway, so Mejibray is one of my favorite vkei bands rn, I also haven’t been “online” much cause of whatever so I don’t really get a chance to follow vkei news especially when it’s such a small sub genre (so seriously if I use wrong terminology please forgive me) anyway I recently found this website and I’ve been noticing a pattern, people in general don’t get the warm fuzzys from Mejibray. So I would really appreciate it if someone gave me the run down, like as detailed as you are willing cause im really confused. I think the music is awesome but some people think it’s inconsistent? Yes people have personal opinions but it seems to be a widespread conclusion so im just wondering what the band did to hurt you guys :joy:

Also I do know some of the whole deal with Mia, like the Surgeries and the bone guitar thing and the whole chip implant? So :cat_with_wry_smile::+1:

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There’s no big secret.

They were hyped off the back of VanessA’s hard work and MiA’s guitar skills, but to be they were an above average band that put out too many releases in too short of a time span and lacked some real quality control. They had some real stinkers in their discography but they were so prolific that you only had to wait a few months for another release, so there was something for almost everyone to love all the time. But that doesn’t mean that songs like AKERCOCK don’t exist. The real blocker for me is Tsuzuku, which is surprising to say because I liked his work in VanessA even if he was objectively less skilled in that band. It just seemed like he knew what his voice was capable of at that time and didn’t try to push it then as much as he did in MEJIBRAY. Sometimes he did weird things with his voice and I did not like it at all (like Eiki - to this day I have no idea what he was going for in the verses).

The most surprising thing to me about MEJIBRAY is how quickly the hype faded. Looking back, part of it was that they were just everywhere all the time. Like I said, they never faded from view for too long because it was just a few months before they would release a new single, EP, or album. MEJIBRAY fans (and there were a lot, I know because I wasn’t one and there was a time people just. would. not. shut. up. about. this. band.) quickly disappeared after they announced their disbandment. I still see people around that enjoy their music, but no one that stans them like they used to.

And I never understood why, because if you like it, you like it!

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I was a big fan of Meji back in their day, first heard of them when Messiah was new!

#1 thing i remember is they were always being accused of ruining vkei, what’s wrong with vkei nowadays. Which i think was something they were aware of and purposefully cultivated.

I don’t think Tzk’s unaware of how his voice is and presents; opinion was he’s talentless and hard on the ears. Meto’s drums were mixed to be as boxy as possible, sounding faker and more unnatural than MIDI samples. This plus his nonspeaking doll persona led to constant opinion he’s not actually got any skill as a drummer. Koichi would do some of the same - look at Raven PV where he’s got those 6” nails acting like he’s playing a bass. MiA for all their PVs for at least half their career would forgo amps and instead bring an iMac with amp sims on the screen.

On the visuals, Meto would switch aggressively between onnagata, masculine, and nonhuman (eg plush bear costume?) presentation, not speaking all the while, making him hard to put in a box or role, which is what vkei usually does more than most music. Can’t remember which release this was but Koichi iirc did a whole artist shoot and PV with his head wrapped in gauze and markings on his face drawn as if he’d hopped off the operating table mid-facelift.

I don’t mean to give the impression i’m defending them from being cyber bullied hahah what i mean instead is they would consistently be choosing artistic directions most likely to get themselves criticized. They’d each provoke in their own category (eg back in the 2000s amp sims were for posers and if you used them instead of real amps you kept that a secret) leading to a notoriety not unlike Deviloof’s brief run of iconoclasms.

But compounding on this was their 12-mo consecutive release run, which (imho as amateur vkei historian) is The Thing that brought them from a strange band in their corner of vkei to maybe top 10 most representative of the scene.

Maybe this is a personal note but i recall Tsuzuku sharing on his Ameblo a diagnosis of BPD, which is referenced by name in one of his songs around that time. Afaik that’s pretty uncommon in vkei, transparency at that level! I think

If we’re being honest, i personally suspect every song credited to MiA is ghostwritten. They changed styles and ornamentations so quickly from one song to another, one single to another, and i don’t really feel like i hear much stylistic continuity or growth from one to another. But i’m not saying this as a criticism! They’re easily one of my favorite bands in vkei. I just see it as them (incl management) having a vision or idea of what they wanted the song to be and hiring someone who’d be the best to write that song. So the “420” theatrical roses (i swear that name + cover art are awful on purpose) ends up extremely tight and coherent as a result. I consider it their masterpiece, and there’s no way the last track wasn’t made in direct quotation of the last track of Lareine’s Fierte no Umi.

For the record i ALSO suspect all the tracks credited to Tsuzuku were actually written by him, bc they’re very similar in style, following similar sounds across years even when the rest of the single’s tracks don’t. And ngl i think every single track people complain about is a Tzk composition lmao

So add that all together and you get four guys who know vkei well, have a lot to say, cover a lot of ground quickly and consistently, while being just about maximally annoying and bothersome for twitter and tumblr to discuss endlessly, with music that’s absolutely good enough to back all the promo they’re doing. If you’re into that sorta sound, at least

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they were cyber bullied to the max while also being super popular at the same time, I always considered them like GazettE’s little brothers on this point ( and other points ) ( but not talent wise haha even tho I like a lot of their songs ) .
This band was also a shooting star on the visual kei decor, they gained popularity very quickly, made people talk about them a lot, got management issues and internal/members issues then exploded and disappeared. I could think of few bands who experienced almost the same thing, but yeah, i feel like they were kinda perfect with each others and that wat only ! that’s why when they disbanded they didn’t do/became anything as interesting as mejibray.

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I don’t like their music and I am under the perception they had substantial influence in the scene, spawning bands that sounded similiar or were going in the same direction. That’s the reason I don’t have a positive opinion.

I don’t have the music knowledge to offer a deeper explanation. Sorry.

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Using this topic as an excuse to dust off my collection, haha. I was a ”Mejigya”, from the very beginning to the end (followed Tzk/Genki from VanessA). Saw them in Japan, too. The reason I fell out of them was probably a mix of different things, when they announced their hiatus I was a bit tired of VK in general. And I never got back to them once I started to come back to the scene. After so many years I understand why people were a bit tired of them, but at the same time, I also understand why they were so popular. And I am pretty sure that if the members ever were to announce a comeback with Mejibray (unlikely, since they seem to hate each other), they would gain fans again.

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I’d say they were the most hyped band at one point back then. Probably even more popular overseas than Kizu or JILUKA now.

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They were one of those bands a lot of people were more into for the visuals than the music.
Most of their fanbase was teenagers, and they weren’t really big in Japan, they tried to draw 3000 people once and couldn’t.
I never really saw them as a serious band that could measure up to those who had already established themselves in the scene.

Visual kei itself was more popular back then, but I think Jiluka is more popular now thanks to reactions on YouTube.

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I’d say this popularity is mostly from outside of the vk fandom, I was talking about popularity among vk fans specifically. Otherwise you are right.

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I’m surprised by JILUKA’s popularity. They’re not bad, but I just can’t help seeing them as a C-Tier band in the VK arena and even lower in the general, more competitive international metal context. If somehow they became viral that would explain things.

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I’ll say it. Most vkei bands that go viral like Jiluka, are viral and popular because of their looks and not the music.

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That’s the v in VK working as intended, but just having the visual shock usually isn’t enough. I remember when Deviloof also went viral in western social media for a while it was related to performance, for example.

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This is gonna sound weird coming from someone with a Boogie pfp, but I agree :neutral_face: I really don’t like Jilukas music at all except maybe one song. I just like Jiluka from the visual aspect, I don’t know if I would say their music is bad, but it’s definitely not for me lol.

But anyway, reading yalls comments abt Mejibray is super interesting, especially about them releasing “too much music.” Cause it seems like depending on the genre of music you listen to, the different things you value. I know in the kpop world releasing 15 minute albums every two months is necessarily to keep the group relevant and afloat, cause some kpop fans don’t necessarily value higher quality in their song production.

Yalls thoughts have been so fun to read though, ty for the explanations!!!

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Visually they had quite an impact on the scene at the time. The band was made up of mismatched characters forced together into an incoherent ensemble, much like their music, and that in itself caught people’s attention.

Tzk always had the swamp witch stripper thing, and don’t forget his forked tongue working overtime during lives. Mia with his knight prince shtick. Meto did the onnagata thing for a while, and he was pretty damn good at it, but his streak of creepy cute looks were memorable enough to even break into the normie sphere as inspiration. Koichi with his iconic pink hair, elegant or sometimes street fashion looks. Soon there were pink and lime green haired copycats all over the scene. If I remember correctly, meto had a baby-like visual for a release that another band copied down to the detail later on. (can’t recall the band atm)

Tumblr lost their minds over the aesthetics, and also the drawma these guys generated, like Mia and Tzk fighting and supposedly throwing each other out of a window. Tzk’s black face photoshoot. Rumours of Meto dating the drummer from Kizu (with pictures “to back up” the claims). The infamous Mejibray last live, which posed Koichi and Tzk as the inseparable pair who broke away from the evil label and went on to make wacky pop music.

The band wasn’t only mismatched in looks, but also personality. No one knows what actually put them together, but it wasn’t sustainable.

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Any chance you’re confusing this w/ Meto and Naitomea Hitsugi falling out a window or does these guys just have really shit luck with those

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i was today years old when i discovered that that lousy rumor of Kyonosuke being Meto’s brother is bullshit
( was gonna call out the comment but wanted to be sure first, long story short )

:smiling_face_with_tear: the way i was heartbroken and pissed when i listened for the first time to that Koichi/Tzk duo

isn’t that part of their persona tho ? Pretty comon in K-pop as much as in VK,

but they’re humans, strangers and from different gatherings too so it’d make sense too that they’d have issues like that

that’s the anecdote i know about too and it makes me ccrrrriiinnngeee everytime i remember it :skull:

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You’re right, I got my stories mixed :laughing: It made sense in my head since Mia/Tzk hate each other.

I’m a massive fan of 8P-SB’s first album, sorry about it. Anything else koichi touched after that was pure garbage. I mean, even Tzk’s streak as tsukuyomi or whatever was garbagio. I think these dudes only make good music when in a band.

K-pop concepts are all pretty cohesive, as in each member will look like part of a whole. What I’m referring to the fact that Mejidudes dressed like each one was going to a different function in a different storybook, without any cohesion whatsoever, AND their personalities did not gel. It’s not exclusive to meji, I just recall this standing out to me at the time.

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i love this description so much

At the start I wasn’t too big of a fan but it primarily had to do with their fanbase being crazed at the time. I had followed Tzk since VanessA and was stoked to see them with Koichi and Mia (especially since i liked him in Toon Factory). Admittedly i fucking love Akercock and always have it playing. When their music started to feel more sporadic in theme/style is when i fell off the hype. The consistency wasnt there (at least for me) to and maybe it is in part to me preferring Tzk’s works over Mia. After they disbanded I really hoped he and Koichi would have restarted VanessA or form a band close to it (i havent listened to their poppy stuff much). Sometimes i do wonder if they would ever come back (controversial but I’d like them back without Mia or Koichi)

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Mejibray fans were almost worse than BTS fans :l

oopsie

mhmm often comon in Vk in general as well, you’d always find the " pretty womanish " dude, the " bad boy who never wear shorts or skirts ", " shy one " " mysterious one ", " overyly bubbly and loud one ". I can think of at least 10 bands like that. Now i’m wondering, is it indeed a persona thing, the nature of things because evry human got their own personality or if it’s a mix of both :eyes: prefer to believe the 3rd option, a way to enhance their basis and makes it easy ( and more marketable ) for fans to chose who their favorite member is. Now that i’d think about it, teenager me always went toward the bad boys " i don’t wanna wear a pom pom short or a skirt " kinda members, ( or sometimes the total contrary, but that’s another story ) and i’d have found it pretty boring for all the members to all have the same vibes.

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Actually i wanna back up the guy who said they look nothing alike bc i think there’s more to it than “they looked different”! Cuz yeah i’m aware lol some play onnagata some play cool some play strong silent, whatever. I think all vkei bands with any success have differentiation and typecasting like that.

Some do the idol color coding eg Kiryuu Mahiro is purple, Takemasa is green, etc. And some bands like metal era Diru say fuck all that and just dress normal, if stylized and with well-selected pieces.

But to the credit of who identified it, i think that’s another piece of the Meji Mystery, is they chose none of the above options, and instead every member ever release was high concept, theatrically stylized - but in complete different directions.