Rare update here - Miyavi's new DVD
So I figured that maybe people who know me more for my Miyavi connections will read this entry if I wrote it here.
This is gonna be short and sweet because I'm really tired.
A very brief review on the new DVD that's out - the Neo Samurai Black Tour etc etc
First of all, it's very obviously marketed specifically for Japanese audiences. All of the commentaries, from Miyavi and the band, are in Japanese, and the subtitles are all in Japanese of course. That's no big deal or anything I just wanted to point that out, because it'll be important for the rest of this review.
The whole thing sounded like a 60 Minutes episode of someone's tragic death or something. The background music in the beginning is very suggestive of depressing tragedy or mystery or something like that. It comes on and off but for the entire beginning part, it's playing the whole time.
I really liked watching what all of the fans had to say about Miyavi and not seeing any really BAD audiences. I know that the non-Japanese crowds can be very violent and ugly but this was not in the video at all. So I felt proud of everyone!
However, there was WAY too much of Miyavi fainting and falling and dying and crying. I'm glad that we could see what he really went through, and I think that perhaps foreign fans SEEING this is important....
But I refer back to my very first statement. This is very obviously marketed for Japanese people. So Japanese fans are gonna watch this and what kind of message are they going to get? Whether it's a direct message or something more subliminal (because of the background music) , there is clearly something negatively being conveyed about foreign fans, doing world tours as a Japanese person, etc.
What sucks is that it's SO BIASED in that way. Most people who do world tours plan their tour schedules A LOT SMARTER. People don't do 6 days in a row and then fly off to do a concert in another country in just a day or so later. That's inhumane. Not even businessmen work that much. Also, a lot of artists use tour buses less and less for long distances. They use airplanes, and use buses for ground transportation from hotel to venue. More poor planning.
And then to keep moving on after breaking your ribs, when you were already kinda sick and tired.... that's asking for some serious trouble.
I feel like this video is completely ignoring Miyavi's entourage's lack of tour planning skills, and no sense of stopping for the sake of the artist's health, and completely portraying that blame on the non-Japanese fanbase - making us look bad and take that blame in the eyes of the ALREADY mildly racist Japanese fans. (I say this because in Japan, EVERYTHING is foreign except full-blooded Japanese, even if they're in another country, even if you're born in Japan, even if you fully speak Japanese, even if you've been naturalized. You're treated differently socially and only a few very lucky individuals are able to socially assimilate - namely, Korean and Chinese people.)
Anyway, thanks a lot Miyavi :P This really is gonna SUCK for those of us fans who actually DID know about what was going on, and DID care, and DID want you to go home - regardless of what country we resided in at the time. It especially sucks for those of us who already live in Japan (Yes, foreigners living in Japan, who've never gone to your concerts outside of Japan because they reside in Japan :o!) even though we're no different than the Japanese fans, now JUST BECAUSE WE'RE NOT ASIAN, we're gonna get judged!
Also I would like to make a very small side note
The President of PSC was on the tour bus with Miyavi IN the video, which makes me question J-glam's management. Unless PSC did their tour or something... This'll help explain why this is even relevant.
SO
All-in-all, this was an interesting video. Would I watch it again? Maybe, depends. It wasn't BAD, but it definitely made me frustrated because of the message it's portraying to Japanese fans. Not sure whether or not that was even intentional, but they might have just written it right there on the cover! It would've saved our gaijin asses 8800yen! There was a lot of fainting and crying and stuff too... so even while people had a great time, it's like it was a horrible failure just because Miyavi failed to heed warning signs that he needed to rest. I didn't like that either. While there ARE some crazy careless fans out there, I DO feel bad for the sympathetic fans out there who totally are getting slapped in the face with this video. Yeah.. Do Not Support :P
HOWEVER
It did come with a REALLY COOL USB BRACELET THING! It just has the same video and the new song on it pretty much, but like if it's possible to reuse that USB? Like, shit dudes, that's really awesome! You'll never have to worry about forgetting stuff, you can just WEAR your technology XD haha
hmm... yeah that's about all I have to say about it.
This is gonna be short and sweet because I'm really tired.
A very brief review on the new DVD that's out - the Neo Samurai Black Tour etc etc
First of all, it's very obviously marketed specifically for Japanese audiences. All of the commentaries, from Miyavi and the band, are in Japanese, and the subtitles are all in Japanese of course. That's no big deal or anything I just wanted to point that out, because it'll be important for the rest of this review.
The whole thing sounded like a 60 Minutes episode of someone's tragic death or something. The background music in the beginning is very suggestive of depressing tragedy or mystery or something like that. It comes on and off but for the entire beginning part, it's playing the whole time.
I really liked watching what all of the fans had to say about Miyavi and not seeing any really BAD audiences. I know that the non-Japanese crowds can be very violent and ugly but this was not in the video at all. So I felt proud of everyone!
However, there was WAY too much of Miyavi fainting and falling and dying and crying. I'm glad that we could see what he really went through, and I think that perhaps foreign fans SEEING this is important....
But I refer back to my very first statement. This is very obviously marketed for Japanese people. So Japanese fans are gonna watch this and what kind of message are they going to get? Whether it's a direct message or something more subliminal (because of the background music) , there is clearly something negatively being conveyed about foreign fans, doing world tours as a Japanese person, etc.
What sucks is that it's SO BIASED in that way. Most people who do world tours plan their tour schedules A LOT SMARTER. People don't do 6 days in a row and then fly off to do a concert in another country in just a day or so later. That's inhumane. Not even businessmen work that much. Also, a lot of artists use tour buses less and less for long distances. They use airplanes, and use buses for ground transportation from hotel to venue. More poor planning.
And then to keep moving on after breaking your ribs, when you were already kinda sick and tired.... that's asking for some serious trouble.
I feel like this video is completely ignoring Miyavi's entourage's lack of tour planning skills, and no sense of stopping for the sake of the artist's health, and completely portraying that blame on the non-Japanese fanbase - making us look bad and take that blame in the eyes of the ALREADY mildly racist Japanese fans. (I say this because in Japan, EVERYTHING is foreign except full-blooded Japanese, even if they're in another country, even if you're born in Japan, even if you fully speak Japanese, even if you've been naturalized. You're treated differently socially and only a few very lucky individuals are able to socially assimilate - namely, Korean and Chinese people.)
Anyway, thanks a lot Miyavi :P This really is gonna SUCK for those of us fans who actually DID know about what was going on, and DID care, and DID want you to go home - regardless of what country we resided in at the time. It especially sucks for those of us who already live in Japan (Yes, foreigners living in Japan, who've never gone to your concerts outside of Japan because they reside in Japan :o!) even though we're no different than the Japanese fans, now JUST BECAUSE WE'RE NOT ASIAN, we're gonna get judged!
Also I would like to make a very small side note
The President of PSC was on the tour bus with Miyavi IN the video, which makes me question J-glam's management. Unless PSC did their tour or something... This'll help explain why this is even relevant.
SO
All-in-all, this was an interesting video. Would I watch it again? Maybe, depends. It wasn't BAD, but it definitely made me frustrated because of the message it's portraying to Japanese fans. Not sure whether or not that was even intentional, but they might have just written it right there on the cover! It would've saved our gaijin asses 8800yen! There was a lot of fainting and crying and stuff too... so even while people had a great time, it's like it was a horrible failure just because Miyavi failed to heed warning signs that he needed to rest. I didn't like that either. While there ARE some crazy careless fans out there, I DO feel bad for the sympathetic fans out there who totally are getting slapped in the face with this video. Yeah.. Do Not Support :P
HOWEVER
It did come with a REALLY COOL USB BRACELET THING! It just has the same video and the new song on it pretty much, but like if it's possible to reuse that USB? Like, shit dudes, that's really awesome! You'll never have to worry about forgetting stuff, you can just WEAR your technology XD haha
hmm... yeah that's about all I have to say about it.