Wow, you are presenting me with questions that I feel rather ill-equipped to answer! But I shall try to outline my views on the matter anyway. I'm afraid this turned out a bit long, and I'm not sure I really answered your questions, I'm sorry ^^; Feel free to ask me to elaborate on anything.
Alright, so I'm going to sound like a heretic and a horrible visual kei fan, but I don't really care about the visual side of the GazettE all that much. When I first got into them, I in fact thought they and their music videos looked exactly the same as all visual kei bands'. And I don't think much has changed in that area.... In fact, the only music video I really like from them is that for Remember the Urge, and that's mostly because I like the camera movements. So, as far as your critique on their PVs go, I quite agree. They (i.e. Ruki) use a lot of imagery that has been used by many other bands, many times. (The same is in fact true also of their album art. Except for DIVISION, perhaps; the Lmtd Edition actually has some high quality art on it.)
To compare the GazettE to idol groups, however, is unfair. After all, rather than their record company making them act or dress in a certain way, the GazettE's visual image is entirely thought out by the band themselves (well, Ruki mostly). I suppose in your books that makes the banal imagery & gaudy clothes/make-up/whathaveyou even worse, but I find it important to point out that the purpose of all that is not to glorify themselves but to advocate a point of view. To create a visual world of heightened sensations and images to accompany their music. To give the soundtrack a movie, to paraphrase Kamijo.
Yes, that world is in general rather pretty (if only on the surface), and yes, the members of the band are often very dolled up, so to speak, and there is a portion of fans who are mainly attracted to that and overlook the rest. But those people are a minority among the fans, and while the prettiness is something that draws many people in, it's not what makes them stay.
Ruki's lyrics are at their best fantastically deep and touching, but even more than that, there is something in GazettE that goes beyond words, the things that you too seem to have caught on to. It's a feeling of togetherness, of rebellion, of a generation, of unity amidst our individual and shared struggles, of... I really can't put it in words. The point is that it's not manufactured. And once you fall in love with the music and the message, the visuals become a kind of eye candy, I guess. A bonus.
Ruki is at heart an old-school visual kei artist, one of the few still working, and certainly one of the few who are actually successful. Now, I admit that there are aspects in Ruki's personality and tastes that are indeed ridiculous, and I personally have more than once (affectionately) rolled my eyes at his designs & general antics. But he is nevertheless an artist to the bone and very sincere & genuine in everything he does.
(He may be rather vain and insecure when it comes to things like his own personal appearance, but oh well. I don't personally mind. After all, in the early times of the GazettE he was rather ruthlessly attacked about his weight by some fans, and I feel that may have left some scars behind. I sympathize. He works ridiculously hard and hardly ever takes a vacation, and I feel he deserves to be a bit vain.)
As a whole, the members of the GazettE are not very outgoing and do not make themselves readily available for fans (apart from Aoi in more recent times), which possibly makes them seem standoffish and pretentious? But really, they are just not people that wish to put themselves out there when they are not actually performing. In other words, they're shy! It's why Reita wears that ridiculous cloth on his face, and it's why the members are often caked in make-up or hiding behind sunglasses in interviews. They want to keep a distance to their fans as private people. You may have noticed, but they don't really do variety shows or internet podcasts or even fan signing events. This is a pretty stark difference compared to what idol groups, or indeed other visual kei bands, do. Or made to do.
Alright, so I'm going to sound like a heretic and a horrible visual kei fan, but I don't really care about the visual side of the GazettE all that much. When I first got into them, I in fact thought they and their music videos looked exactly the same as all visual kei bands'. And I don't think much has changed in that area.... In fact, the only music video I really like from them is that for Remember the Urge, and that's mostly because I like the camera movements. So, as far as your critique on their PVs go, I quite agree. They (i.e. Ruki) use a lot of imagery that has been used by many other bands, many times. (The same is in fact true also of their album art. Except for DIVISION, perhaps; the Lmtd Edition actually has some high quality art on it.)
To compare the GazettE to idol groups, however, is unfair. After all, rather than their record company making them act or dress in a certain way, the GazettE's visual image is entirely thought out by the band themselves (well, Ruki mostly). I suppose in your books that makes the banal imagery & gaudy clothes/make-up/whathaveyou even worse, but I find it important to point out that the purpose of all that is not to glorify themselves but to advocate a point of view. To create a visual world of heightened sensations and images to accompany their music. To give the soundtrack a movie, to paraphrase Kamijo.
Yes, that world is in general rather pretty (if only on the surface), and yes, the members of the band are often very dolled up, so to speak, and there is a portion of fans who are mainly attracted to that and overlook the rest. But those people are a minority among the fans, and while the prettiness is something that draws many people in, it's not what makes them stay.
Ruki's lyrics are at their best fantastically deep and touching, but even more than that, there is something in GazettE that goes beyond words, the things that you too seem to have caught on to. It's a feeling of togetherness, of rebellion, of a generation, of unity amidst our individual and shared struggles, of... I really can't put it in words. The point is that it's not manufactured. And once you fall in love with the music and the message, the visuals become a kind of eye candy, I guess. A bonus.
Ruki is at heart an old-school visual kei artist, one of the few still working, and certainly one of the few who are actually successful. Now, I admit that there are aspects in Ruki's personality and tastes that are indeed ridiculous, and I personally have more than once (affectionately) rolled my eyes at his designs & general antics. But he is nevertheless an artist to the bone and very sincere & genuine in everything he does.
(He may be rather vain and insecure when it comes to things like his own personal appearance, but oh well. I don't personally mind. After all, in the early times of the GazettE he was rather ruthlessly attacked about his weight by some fans, and I feel that may have left some scars behind. I sympathize. He works ridiculously hard and hardly ever takes a vacation, and I feel he deserves to be a bit vain.)
As a whole, the members of the GazettE are not very outgoing and do not make themselves readily available for fans (apart from Aoi in more recent times), which possibly makes them seem standoffish and pretentious? But really, they are just not people that wish to put themselves out there when they are not actually performing. In other words, they're shy! It's why Reita wears that ridiculous cloth on his face, and it's why the members are often caked in make-up or hiding behind sunglasses in interviews. They want to keep a distance to their fans as private people. You may have noticed, but they don't really do variety shows or internet podcasts or even fan signing events. This is a pretty stark difference compared to what idol groups, or indeed other visual kei bands, do. Or made to do.
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