83ch people are great
As foreign fans of j-rock, I thought you guys might find this as interesting as I did.
I hang around a lot on this Japanese visual forum on 83ch.net, and recently a thread came up called "Foreign Visual Kei Fans" So I got to talking to them, and here's kind of what happened. I did cut out some of the parts, let me know if you want a full translation.
1. Talk, talk. What do you think?
3. How did foreigners come to know about visual kei?
4. If they've gone major, they'll probably be in large CD shops. Like Kagrra, for example.
10. (responding to 3 [this is me~]) Well, I live in America. At first I liked anime, things like Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z. I came to like anime and j-pop music. "Ah, Gackt? He has a nice voice~" Then my friend said to me "This is visual kei. This is Dir en grey, this is Malice Mizer. Interesting, huh?" "What? What is this? That's a guy? But, that's makeup and a dres...Mana? He looks like a pretty doll! He's not a person." However, I saw Dir en grey's [KR] Cube video and came to like it. Pierrot's Kowareteiku Kono Sekai de was the same. Since I wanted to understand all these lyrics, I started studying Japanese.
Last summer, I went to Japan for nine days with my Japanese class. I bought a lot of CDs at places like Like an Edison and Closet Child and Book-off and listened to them. At the beginning I liked major bands more than indies bands, but when I came back to America, I listened to Gazette. Immediately I fell in love, and even today they're my favorite band. In order to practice Japanese I read visual magazines a lot.
Now since a lot of visual bands have come to America, I'm really happy. I have seen Duel Jewel, Phantasmagoria, and D'espairsRay (twice) live. Next year, my friend and I are planning to go to Japan to study and hope to see a lot of lives. Please look for two foreigners (XD)
11. I feel very uneasy that Dir en grey's playing overseas...
12. I'm a Korean fan...alice nine is awesome~ I really love them! Especially Saga, he's wonderful~
13. 10 - Thank you for answering my question~ In either Japan or overseas, you have the same chance of learning about it through a friend. I knew anime was popular overseas, but I never thought visual kei would be tied to it...
15. [me~] 13 - You're welcome~ There are a lot of fans in both Europe and America. We often talk through the internet. Many don't really know too much Japanese so a few translate things for all. Often we'll draw fanart, write stories, or talk about new bands. It's really interesting and fun. Livejournal is a pretty popular place. It's kind of a cross between a blog and a forum. There, we talk a lot about various things. For example, after going to a live, we'll post a message about it for everyone to read. Ah, yes. Many like anime first, then move into visual kei.
In Japan, is America still...mm...popular? Someone said Japanese visual kei fans don't really like foreigners, especially Americans. I had dinner with D'espairsRay in Florida in February, and ZERO seemed a bit scared. It probably was nothing more than him being a shy person, but I was curious...
16. I don't hate America at all. I do hate nuclear bombs and war, though (XD) I like Americans~
18. (the korean from 12) 15 - I thought about the second track on Gazette's NIL ^^; "na mo naki jiyuu e [to a nameless liberty]" something like that...
19. [moi] 16 - yeah, I hate that too (n_n)v Someday, there will be peace everywere...kono sekai ga egao de afureru hi made~ [until this world is overflowing with smiles {from Gazette's Saraba, which talks about the war and people who don't remember the sacrifices soldiers made for their countries and how war sucks and things...soo good.}] (...I like Ruki's lyrics ^^;) Thank you~
17 - thanks~
18 - Ah, yes. Thank you (^-^)ｂ
20. I don't want to be able to realize that people other than Japanese like visual kei. Especially white people.
21. So people who aren't Japanese are not allowed to like visual kei?
22. Die.
23. (korean fan from 18) I like Ruki's lyrics too~ I have the feeling they are a substitute for my heart. Especially "Kore de yokatta n desu [It'll be alright now (saaad song about a girl who loves this guy, and he doesn't love her back, so she has to force herself to move on)]" I'm a Korean, but as for unrequited love, it's the same. Gazette is really awesome~ {she writes about mistyping the lyrics in 18} I think the feelings from us about Japanese aren't bad, but what do you Japanese think? "In music, there are no borders between countries," or something? More than anything I like things such as visual kei and punk styles, and lolita~
Then the Korean girl and I have been talking, and finally they yelled at us to either email or get to a new forum cause we're spamming up theirs XD Hope that was interesting to some~
I hang around a lot on this Japanese visual forum on 83ch.net, and recently a thread came up called "Foreign Visual Kei Fans" So I got to talking to them, and here's kind of what happened. I did cut out some of the parts, let me know if you want a full translation.
1. Talk, talk. What do you think?
3. How did foreigners come to know about visual kei?
4. If they've gone major, they'll probably be in large CD shops. Like Kagrra, for example.
10. (responding to 3 [this is me~]) Well, I live in America. At first I liked anime, things like Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z. I came to like anime and j-pop music. "Ah, Gackt? He has a nice voice~" Then my friend said to me "This is visual kei. This is Dir en grey, this is Malice Mizer. Interesting, huh?" "What? What is this? That's a guy? But, that's makeup and a dres...Mana? He looks like a pretty doll! He's not a person." However, I saw Dir en grey's [KR] Cube video and came to like it. Pierrot's Kowareteiku Kono Sekai de was the same. Since I wanted to understand all these lyrics, I started studying Japanese.
Last summer, I went to Japan for nine days with my Japanese class. I bought a lot of CDs at places like Like an Edison and Closet Child and Book-off and listened to them. At the beginning I liked major bands more than indies bands, but when I came back to America, I listened to Gazette. Immediately I fell in love, and even today they're my favorite band. In order to practice Japanese I read visual magazines a lot.
Now since a lot of visual bands have come to America, I'm really happy. I have seen Duel Jewel, Phantasmagoria, and D'espairsRay (twice) live. Next year, my friend and I are planning to go to Japan to study and hope to see a lot of lives. Please look for two foreigners (XD)
11. I feel very uneasy that Dir en grey's playing overseas...
12. I'm a Korean fan...alice nine is awesome~ I really love them! Especially Saga, he's wonderful~
13. 10 - Thank you for answering my question~ In either Japan or overseas, you have the same chance of learning about it through a friend. I knew anime was popular overseas, but I never thought visual kei would be tied to it...
15. [me~] 13 - You're welcome~ There are a lot of fans in both Europe and America. We often talk through the internet. Many don't really know too much Japanese so a few translate things for all. Often we'll draw fanart, write stories, or talk about new bands. It's really interesting and fun. Livejournal is a pretty popular place. It's kind of a cross between a blog and a forum. There, we talk a lot about various things. For example, after going to a live, we'll post a message about it for everyone to read. Ah, yes. Many like anime first, then move into visual kei.
In Japan, is America still...mm...popular? Someone said Japanese visual kei fans don't really like foreigners, especially Americans. I had dinner with D'espairsRay in Florida in February, and ZERO seemed a bit scared. It probably was nothing more than him being a shy person, but I was curious...
16. I don't hate America at all. I do hate nuclear bombs and war, though (XD) I like Americans~
18. (the korean from 12) 15 - I thought about the second track on Gazette's NIL ^^; "na mo naki jiyuu e [to a nameless liberty]" something like that...
19. [moi] 16 - yeah, I hate that too (n_n)v Someday, there will be peace everywere...kono sekai ga egao de afureru hi made~ [until this world is overflowing with smiles {from Gazette's Saraba, which talks about the war and people who don't remember the sacrifices soldiers made for their countries and how war sucks and things...soo good.}] (...I like Ruki's lyrics ^^;) Thank you~
17 - thanks~
18 - Ah, yes. Thank you (^-^)ｂ
20. I don't want to be able to realize that people other than Japanese like visual kei. Especially white people.
21. So people who aren't Japanese are not allowed to like visual kei?
22. Die.
23. (korean fan from 18) I like Ruki's lyrics too~ I have the feeling they are a substitute for my heart. Especially "Kore de yokatta n desu [It'll be alright now (saaad song about a girl who loves this guy, and he doesn't love her back, so she has to force herself to move on)]" I'm a Korean, but as for unrequited love, it's the same. Gazette is really awesome~ {she writes about mistyping the lyrics in 18} I think the feelings from us about Japanese aren't bad, but what do you Japanese think? "In music, there are no borders between countries," or something? More than anything I like things such as visual kei and punk styles, and lolita~
Then the Korean girl and I have been talking, and finally they yelled at us to either email or get to a new forum cause we're spamming up theirs XD Hope that was interesting to some~