[Review] GACKT - Last Visualive Concert DVD Premium Pack (3 Discs)
Hello everyone ! :)
After gathering some courage, I am finally taking the time to write a review of the GACKT Last Visualive that got released on DVD and Bluray in March 2017. If you look for the tag "review" on the left side of my blog (CTRL + F on keyboard), you will notice that I've already reviewed some other GACKT releases in the past. I felt like I should review this item too, as it is a very impressive tour, his last visualive, who is visually stunning. :)
Ended in 2016, quite some time has passed between the end of his tour, and the release of his concert. But a lot of questions came to my mind while watching it, I must admit. First, why didn't I went to Japan to see it in person ? (xD) Secondly, why this release lack contains from the actual show ?
I will try to be as neutral as possible while writting that review, so keep in mind that there will be negative points to be detailed, but also positive ones. I hope reading that will help you deciding to buy it or not if you still didn't got it ! ^_^
---------------------
The packaging :
Let's first talk about the packaging. I won't talk for the regular releases since I don't own them, but as for this release, it comes in a sort of "scabbard" (not sure about the word for that) that hold both a big booklet and the case itself that contains the 3 discs (2 in the regular release). I've scanned this booklet in my previous entry, so I didn't took any pictures of it, but it also contains the lyrics of all the songs performed on the DVDs of the concert. It is perfect if you wanna sing along GACKT in case you don't know the lyrics already. Let's talk about the discs themselves, on each one of them is printed a pretty picture from the live itself. Please also note that the regular releases don't have such pictures printed on the disks, and that the bluray disks from the same limited premium pack have different pictures printed on them.
The premium Bluray box have however 2 discs instead of 3 for the DVDs. :)
A nice postcard from HMV were included with every orders ! ^_^
The concert :
Now let's talk about what we all wanna know. Is this concert worth it or not ?
Fuck yeah, of course it does worth it. This concert does feature a lot of great visual effects on the LED screen behind the stage, and the story itself is based on Moon Saga's plot. In fact, it is the continuation and the ending of his stage play. And because we are talking about GACKT here, we both know he's not only singing. In each of his songs, he is attempting to convey emotions to the audiance and the viewers, so we can understand how deep the meaning of his work is. Even if I didn't went there in person, I can feel some of these emotions he tried to convey to us.
As always, if we exclude the 3rd disc that contains bonuses in this premium box, we can see that the concert is splitted as always in two parts, and so, is on two discs. The first disc contains the entire first part of his concert. This part is the one focused on the story related to his tour. The death of Yoshitsune (the character from Moon Saga), played by GACKT. That story can even be seen outside the opening movie while he sing the song "Day Breakers". It is showing the sad fate of his dear friends on the battlefield. On the first disc, you will also see the begining of the 2nd part of the concert, with the Camui Gakuen movie. As we all know, the Camui Gakuen footages are always meant to be fun, and it is definetly the case here. I don't understand japanese fluently, but I do understand enough stuff to have enjoyed it and laughed at their stupid activities ! ^^
The 2nd disc holds the rest of the concert until the end, with Setsugekka. This part of the concert is less intimate, and is more about having fun with the audiance, making them dance and sing. A roughly 20 minutes MC from GACKT is included at the begining of this disc too.
Still on the 2nd disc, I would like to add that unlike the first disc of this box, it doesn't contain an audio track that features commentaries of GACKT & his staff. Also, I don't know if this bonus from the 1st disc is only for this release of the concert or is also included in the regular version. Feel free to tell me in the comments if it's the case ^^
I really like the 2nd part of this concert as well, for many reasons. To talk about only a few of them, it features live the songs P.S. I LOVE U and Setsugekka. Those two songs have never been released live before, and it makes them even more enjoyable that way. The lyrics of P.S. I LOVE U are displayed on the screen behind GACKT, that makes the whole thing even more emotional. Setsugekka is performed on his hella expensive chair (lol) he used previously in the PV of the same song, while he wears Yoshitsune's clothes. In fact, it shows us the death of that character, with the actual arrows that stabbed his chest. And yes, because it is GACKT, he can still sing while dying. One hell of an impressive guy, isn't it ? ;)
The making-of :
The making-of of the Last Visualive concert is included only with the premium limited release of the concert, sold exclusively on HMV Japan. It is approximatly 20 minutes long, and shows lots of behind the scene footages or how some of the things of the concert were made and brought to life. It is a pretty straightforward making-of as it can show some specific things, like the Kugutsu no Gotoku rehearsals, but it will show with a background music lots of moments from various days of the tour. It is overal a good making-of, but I wish we could have had more ... but that's only my opinion ! ^_^
My overal opinion of this release :
Now that I've reviewed the actual contains, I wanna state my own personal opinion about this release. Be aware that no matter how much I love the contains put on these discs, I also have to point out any negative or positive points I've found, regardless if it is GACKT or not. Keep that in mind while reading the following lines please.
First, I would like to talk about the concert itself. I didn't went there, but watching this made me wish I was there. I absolutely loved it, and as I write this review, the concert is running on my PC in a corner of my screen. This is totally a masterpiece. However, I would not put it above R&R II. Why so ? Well, it is not even because of the concert itself here, but because of the contains put on DVDs themselves. Don't get me wrong, it is excellent, but it lacks of stuff. Lemme list what caught my attention if you don't mind.
1) The concert does have severe cuts of contains that cannot be explained.
For some reasons that cannot be explained, some parts of the show were just cut from the concert that people have seen with their own eyes. No, I'm not talking stuff from the MCs or the waiting times, but more like, to me, important things from the concert itself. First of all, if you check the tracklisting above, you won't see the song listed at all. The song was supposed to be performed right before RIDE OR DIE in the concert. It would have been awesome to hear him performing this awesome song after so long.
The other cut contain is an actual movie that was shown to the audiance after "Akatsuki Zukiyo -DAY BREAKERS-", wich shows Yoshitsune visiting the person that will kill him in the begining of the concert. This movie explains the transition between Day Breakers and Utakata no Yume, but is totally missing from the DVD/Blu-Ray release. But however, in the trailer released on GACKTofficial Youtube channel (G's official Youtube) to promote the Last Visualive, it is featured, making us believe it would not be cut. Despite not understanding their choices, for those who didn't went there like me to see the concert through their own eyes, it won't be bothering, and won't impact your experience of the show though. But look by yourself :
2) The displayed footages of the movies shown during the concert, not in HQ like any other GACKT concerts before.
Another point that I totally don't understand. As far as I can remember, the wonderful movies to illustrate the story of his concerts are always shown in high quality for the sake of the release. It is either shown through a bonus section of the DVD or during the concert itself, allowing the fans behind their screens to fully enjoy it. However, for unknown reasons (again), they made the choice to not do so. Lemme explain myself.
The camera angles for the movies displayed on the gigantic "curtain" is here filmed through the cameras of the venue.So while it sometimes gives decent results, it is sometimes not as enjoyable. Random zoom-in and out, and even the audiance shown in the middle of it, forcing us to stop looking at the movie itself. I honestly would not write those lines if it wasn't because of the trailer above.In fact, the trailer above shows the HQ actual footages of some scenes. Even the 3rd making-of disc do show those actual footages instead of them being filmed through an external camera. Here's side by side of what I am explaining you. The first picture is from the trailer shown above, and the 2nd is from the release itself.
Don't get me wrong, it is still enjoyable, but it would have been even MORE enjoyable if they kept the actual footages shown in the trailer and replaced them with what we got in the DVD.
3) The camera angles on DVD are, in my opinion, far too similar than the TV release aired last year.
This one is not really a downside on its own, because it doesn't impact the experience you have while watching it. It will still be a blast, you will have fun, and you will sing along. On that, there's no problems, it is more my own self who is a bit bothered by that. While I've already made comparison side by side of other concert footages, like from the TV/streamed version right next to the DVD release.
But I never noticed before such similar footages with the TV version when watching the DVD release of a GACKT show. It is a bit disturbing at first, but I quickly got used to it. Deep inside, I just wished to have more exclusive new footages, but the current edit is already good anyway. However, this point is directly linked to the issue of displayed footages I mentionned above. It seems those movie footages were taken straight from the WoWoW version of the concert, without any changes. Lemme illustrate my point :
TV version VS DVD/Blu-Ray version
Once again, don't get me wrong. It is not because a lot of footages are the same for both versions that it makes it shitty. The original edit from WoWoW was already really good. I just wished there would be more edits, to make it even more "unique" in some ways.
Also, in case you didn't noticed it already in the video I've made above, there's quite some camera angles that are different as well, and sometimes, they are even better. In fact, in the review of the contains for the concert, I tried to use as many exclusive footages from the DVD as I could.
Positive points :
- The packaging, simple, but classy.
- The making-of is very good, despite not being as good as the R&R II one. (lol)
- Utakata no Yume, the shamisen part.
- The instrumentless part before Day Breakers song, stunning.
- The tracklist, with for example, the beautiful LULLING.
- The awesome Setsugekka, wich wasn't that enjoyable to me on TV, is magnificent here.
Negative points :
- Not enough new footages in comparison of the TV version.
- Concert movies not being shown in HQ.
- No Returner song performed.
So should you buy it ?
In my opinion, you definetly should, this is a really beautiful concert, and despite those downsides, they are details. In comparison of the TV version, they still added awesome stuff like Utakata no Yume. To make it short, the concert is a blast, however, if it got a better edit, it would have been perfect. Seems like there is weird decisions in terms of edits that have been made.
There is quite some downsides, but we can't always have everything after all ^^
I'm very happy to own this release anyway, and if you want yours, you can get the DVD release or the Blu-Ray release on HMV. This is a very reliable store, you should not worry about that ! :)
DVD purchase link
Blu-Ray purchase link
I hope you have enjoyed reading this review. Sorry for making it long, but I do believe making it detailed is always something better. Despite the lenght, if you reached the end of this review, congrats, and thanks for reading me, I really appreciate it ! ^_^
After gathering some courage, I am finally taking the time to write a review of the GACKT Last Visualive that got released on DVD and Bluray in March 2017. If you look for the tag "review" on the left side of my blog (CTRL + F on keyboard), you will notice that I've already reviewed some other GACKT releases in the past. I felt like I should review this item too, as it is a very impressive tour, his last visualive, who is visually stunning. :)
Ended in 2016, quite some time has passed between the end of his tour, and the release of his concert. But a lot of questions came to my mind while watching it, I must admit. First, why didn't I went to Japan to see it in person ? (xD) Secondly, why this release lack contains from the actual show ?
I will try to be as neutral as possible while writting that review, so keep in mind that there will be negative points to be detailed, but also positive ones. I hope reading that will help you deciding to buy it or not if you still didn't got it ! ^_^
---------------------
The packaging :
Let's first talk about the packaging. I won't talk for the regular releases since I don't own them, but as for this release, it comes in a sort of "scabbard" (not sure about the word for that) that hold both a big booklet and the case itself that contains the 3 discs (2 in the regular release). I've scanned this booklet in my previous entry, so I didn't took any pictures of it, but it also contains the lyrics of all the songs performed on the DVDs of the concert. It is perfect if you wanna sing along GACKT in case you don't know the lyrics already. Let's talk about the discs themselves, on each one of them is printed a pretty picture from the live itself. Please also note that the regular releases don't have such pictures printed on the disks, and that the bluray disks from the same limited premium pack have different pictures printed on them.
The premium Bluray box have however 2 discs instead of 3 for the DVDs. :)
A nice postcard from HMV were included with every orders ! ^_^
The concert :
Now let's talk about what we all wanna know. Is this concert worth it or not ?
Fuck yeah, of course it does worth it. This concert does feature a lot of great visual effects on the LED screen behind the stage, and the story itself is based on Moon Saga's plot. In fact, it is the continuation and the ending of his stage play. And because we are talking about GACKT here, we both know he's not only singing. In each of his songs, he is attempting to convey emotions to the audiance and the viewers, so we can understand how deep the meaning of his work is. Even if I didn't went there in person, I can feel some of these emotions he tried to convey to us.
As always, if we exclude the 3rd disc that contains bonuses in this premium box, we can see that the concert is splitted as always in two parts, and so, is on two discs. The first disc contains the entire first part of his concert. This part is the one focused on the story related to his tour. The death of Yoshitsune (the character from Moon Saga), played by GACKT. That story can even be seen outside the opening movie while he sing the song "Day Breakers". It is showing the sad fate of his dear friends on the battlefield. On the first disc, you will also see the begining of the 2nd part of the concert, with the Camui Gakuen movie. As we all know, the Camui Gakuen footages are always meant to be fun, and it is definetly the case here. I don't understand japanese fluently, but I do understand enough stuff to have enjoyed it and laughed at their stupid activities ! ^^
The 2nd disc holds the rest of the concert until the end, with Setsugekka. This part of the concert is less intimate, and is more about having fun with the audiance, making them dance and sing. A roughly 20 minutes MC from GACKT is included at the begining of this disc too.
Still on the 2nd disc, I would like to add that unlike the first disc of this box, it doesn't contain an audio track that features commentaries of GACKT & his staff. Also, I don't know if this bonus from the 1st disc is only for this release of the concert or is also included in the regular version. Feel free to tell me in the comments if it's the case ^^
I really like the 2nd part of this concert as well, for many reasons. To talk about only a few of them, it features live the songs P.S. I LOVE U and Setsugekka. Those two songs have never been released live before, and it makes them even more enjoyable that way. The lyrics of P.S. I LOVE U are displayed on the screen behind GACKT, that makes the whole thing even more emotional. Setsugekka is performed on his hella expensive chair (lol) he used previously in the PV of the same song, while he wears Yoshitsune's clothes. In fact, it shows us the death of that character, with the actual arrows that stabbed his chest. And yes, because it is GACKT, he can still sing while dying. One hell of an impressive guy, isn't it ? ;)
The making-of :
The making-of of the Last Visualive concert is included only with the premium limited release of the concert, sold exclusively on HMV Japan. It is approximatly 20 minutes long, and shows lots of behind the scene footages or how some of the things of the concert were made and brought to life. It is a pretty straightforward making-of as it can show some specific things, like the Kugutsu no Gotoku rehearsals, but it will show with a background music lots of moments from various days of the tour. It is overal a good making-of, but I wish we could have had more ... but that's only my opinion ! ^_^
You can watch this video on www.livejournal.com
My overal opinion of this release :
Now that I've reviewed the actual contains, I wanna state my own personal opinion about this release. Be aware that no matter how much I love the contains put on these discs, I also have to point out any negative or positive points I've found, regardless if it is GACKT or not. Keep that in mind while reading the following lines please.
First, I would like to talk about the concert itself. I didn't went there, but watching this made me wish I was there. I absolutely loved it, and as I write this review, the concert is running on my PC in a corner of my screen. This is totally a masterpiece. However, I would not put it above R&R II. Why so ? Well, it is not even because of the concert itself here, but because of the contains put on DVDs themselves. Don't get me wrong, it is excellent, but it lacks of stuff. Lemme list what caught my attention if you don't mind.
1) The concert does have severe cuts of contains that cannot be explained.
For some reasons that cannot be explained, some parts of the show were just cut from the concert that people have seen with their own eyes. No, I'm not talking stuff from the MCs or the waiting times, but more like, to me, important things from the concert itself. First of all, if you check the tracklisting above, you won't see the song listed at all. The song was supposed to be performed right before RIDE OR DIE in the concert. It would have been awesome to hear him performing this awesome song after so long.
The other cut contain is an actual movie that was shown to the audiance after "Akatsuki Zukiyo -DAY BREAKERS-", wich shows Yoshitsune visiting the person that will kill him in the begining of the concert. This movie explains the transition between Day Breakers and Utakata no Yume, but is totally missing from the DVD/Blu-Ray release. But however, in the trailer released on GACKTofficial Youtube channel (G's official Youtube) to promote the Last Visualive, it is featured, making us believe it would not be cut. Despite not understanding their choices, for those who didn't went there like me to see the concert through their own eyes, it won't be bothering, and won't impact your experience of the show though. But look by yourself :
Click to view2) The displayed footages of the movies shown during the concert, not in HQ like any other GACKT concerts before.
Another point that I totally don't understand. As far as I can remember, the wonderful movies to illustrate the story of his concerts are always shown in high quality for the sake of the release. It is either shown through a bonus section of the DVD or during the concert itself, allowing the fans behind their screens to fully enjoy it. However, for unknown reasons (again), they made the choice to not do so. Lemme explain myself.
The camera angles for the movies displayed on the gigantic "curtain" is here filmed through the cameras of the venue.So while it sometimes gives decent results, it is sometimes not as enjoyable. Random zoom-in and out, and even the audiance shown in the middle of it, forcing us to stop looking at the movie itself. I honestly would not write those lines if it wasn't because of the trailer above.In fact, the trailer above shows the HQ actual footages of some scenes. Even the 3rd making-of disc do show those actual footages instead of them being filmed through an external camera. Here's side by side of what I am explaining you. The first picture is from the trailer shown above, and the 2nd is from the release itself.
Don't get me wrong, it is still enjoyable, but it would have been even MORE enjoyable if they kept the actual footages shown in the trailer and replaced them with what we got in the DVD.
3) The camera angles on DVD are, in my opinion, far too similar than the TV release aired last year.
This one is not really a downside on its own, because it doesn't impact the experience you have while watching it. It will still be a blast, you will have fun, and you will sing along. On that, there's no problems, it is more my own self who is a bit bothered by that. While I've already made comparison side by side of other concert footages, like from the TV/streamed version right next to the DVD release.
But I never noticed before such similar footages with the TV version when watching the DVD release of a GACKT show. It is a bit disturbing at first, but I quickly got used to it. Deep inside, I just wished to have more exclusive new footages, but the current edit is already good anyway. However, this point is directly linked to the issue of displayed footages I mentionned above. It seems those movie footages were taken straight from the WoWoW version of the concert, without any changes. Lemme illustrate my point :
TV version VS DVD/Blu-Ray version
You can watch this video on www.livejournal.com
Once again, don't get me wrong. It is not because a lot of footages are the same for both versions that it makes it shitty. The original edit from WoWoW was already really good. I just wished there would be more edits, to make it even more "unique" in some ways.
Also, in case you didn't noticed it already in the video I've made above, there's quite some camera angles that are different as well, and sometimes, they are even better. In fact, in the review of the contains for the concert, I tried to use as many exclusive footages from the DVD as I could.
Positive points :
- The packaging, simple, but classy.
- The making-of is very good, despite not being as good as the R&R II one. (lol)
- Utakata no Yume, the shamisen part.
- The instrumentless part before Day Breakers song, stunning.
- The tracklist, with for example, the beautiful LULLING.
- The awesome Setsugekka, wich wasn't that enjoyable to me on TV, is magnificent here.
Negative points :
- Not enough new footages in comparison of the TV version.
- Concert movies not being shown in HQ.
- No Returner song performed.
So should you buy it ?
In my opinion, you definetly should, this is a really beautiful concert, and despite those downsides, they are details. In comparison of the TV version, they still added awesome stuff like Utakata no Yume. To make it short, the concert is a blast, however, if it got a better edit, it would have been perfect. Seems like there is weird decisions in terms of edits that have been made.
There is quite some downsides, but we can't always have everything after all ^^
I'm very happy to own this release anyway, and if you want yours, you can get the DVD release or the Blu-Ray release on HMV. This is a very reliable store, you should not worry about that ! :)
DVD purchase link
Blu-Ray purchase link
I hope you have enjoyed reading this review. Sorry for making it long, but I do believe making it detailed is always something better. Despite the lenght, if you reached the end of this review, congrats, and thanks for reading me, I really appreciate it ! ^_^