On no, I wasn’t saying that Ryo is trying to cover it up. It’s just the way that Japanese people address things. When it comes to something personal or sensitive, they tend to talk about it in an indirect way, or simply choose not to talk about it. Therefore, we shouldn’t understand the whole situation simply based on the literal meaning of his words. Besides, if Sizuki doesn’t have mental illness, who’d endure him for such a long time? Normally bandmen would just fire a member as soon as they find out that he did something that he shouldn’t have done. Two things at most. I know that Ryo said that they’re friends, but I think their friendship is merely one of the reasons, at least based on what I learned from the fans.
And I didn’t write that my fellow fan and Sizuki’s Japanese fans learned the info from Tanuki. Actually, my fellow fan learned the info from a Japanese fan she trusts. As to Sizuki’s Japanese fans, they didn’t tell me where they learned about Sizuki’s statement (made during his old band era), but rest assured, they’re the type of people that hate and distrust what’s being posted on Tanuki, so I don’t think they get the info there. They had been constantly going to the lives held by Sizuki’s old band. They had also been reading Sizuki’s posts and watching his livestreams. I guess they may have heard it or overheard it at the live venue, or during a livestream. Or they may have learned it from something Sizuki posted a long time ago, but I think this possibility is pretty low, for bandmen normally wouldn’t make a public post about such a thing. I don’t know if Sizuki’s mental illness is also mentioned on Tanuki though. Indeed, Tanuki is filled with rumors. Still, correct information can be found there; only a little though. So if Sizuki’s mental illness is also mentioned on Tanuki, I totally understand your point.
Yeah, it’s true that there are some horrible bandmen who do that kind of things. But it’s also undeniable that there are bandmen who were deeply hurt by rude, strange, crazy fans. Like I mentioned above, normally bandmen wouldn’t make a public post to talk about how they were mentally abused by that kind of fans. They’d at most talk about it somewhere more private, so normally only their huge fans know it well. However, there are exceptions. One of the exceptions I’ve seen so far, despite how I hate to bring it up again, is You, the former guitarist from AIOLIN. Before he made the post, the whole incident had already been addressed during a streaming live, that a strange fan (not You’s fan) had been harassing both You and a fan of You on Twitter (now X). You later specifically stated in the post that the strange fan had been faking that fan of his, making nasty comments under his posts and sending him horrible DMs. Even though the strange fan stopped cyberbullying, at least that’s what it seemed like, You already got hurt inside, lost confidence, and wanted to take some time to consider if he should change his career. This was mentioned during another streaming live and in his comment about AIOLIN’s disbandment, separately. Even though You eventually chose to continue being a bandman and returned as Leon from Qjackthe, I figured not every bandman could just return like he did after being seriously mentally abused.
The other exception is the post by Kuro from Rides In ReVellion. Thank god this post hasn’t been deleted.
https://twitter.com/KuRo_RIR/status/1283596561033953280
(This is only a tip of the iceberg though. As to the rest, I can only tell you that not only the band but some of the members have been individually abused by rude, strange, crazy fans. The info comes from a private source, so I can’t make any further statements.)
Although the DM, as mentioned in the post, was sent to the band, not to the member himself, to whom the DM was sent isn’t my point. My point is to show that rude, strange, crazy fans don’t just write nasty things on Tanuki, and that they tend to tell people to die whenever they feel a bit unpleasant. In case anyone doesn’t know, “死ね” is the dirtiest and the worst word in Japanese. I know some non-Japanese speakers think that “死ね” doesn’t sound that awful when they read its translation, but the truth is: it IS considered to be that awful in Japanese culture. And IT’S THE WORD THAT HAS CAUSED MANY JAPANESE PEOPLE’S SUICIDE. Feel free to google what happened to Miura Haruma and Hana Kimura, or how verbal violence/cyberbullying leads to Japanese people’s suicide.
So I’d say that Sizuki may have received similar or worse DMs/fanmails. (I wasn’t saying that Sizuki was bullied by fans for being unpopular. There are comments on Tanuki telling him to die, which is exactly the word “死ね.” Can’t say that no crazy fan has ever directly send the message to him.)
And hey, since you know that Tanuki is rife with misinformation, you must also know that many visual kei artist have LOTS OF rude, strange, crazy fans (and often there are also radical haters, unfortunately). And I have to point out that the mitsu or baby mama thing is mainly from Tanuki and thus can sometimes be misinformation.
Anyway, I’m just trying to make some clarifications. I think two examples are enough to show that rude, strange, crazy fans don’t just, as is often stated in public announcements, hurt other fans. Bandmen can also be their targets. Even though You and members of Rides In ReVellion don’t end up being diagnosed with mental illness, that doesn’t mean other bandmen wouldn’t, either. It really depends on how crazy the fans are, and if a bandman is mentally strong enough.
Not every Japanese fan get their info from Tanuki alright? A “I have a hard time believing in what you’re sharing” is enough. No need to type something like “baseless rumors.” That’s a bit offensive, you know, not to me but to the fans.
These are info that one can only learn from “non-official sources” though. One can only see and experience by themselves.