Excuses excuses

~Life

The irony of the last post is astounding :’D
But finally going to force myself to get back up to date!!For those who don’t know how I’ve been filling my time, I started a new job at Sega at the end of November last year, where I’ve been slaving away ever since XD
It’s been a bit hectic, but it’s been a really good time, and I think I’ve finally manage to balance all my interests with work and studies.

Already started planning for this years cons – London Expo May, Japan Expo, Amecon and London Expo October.
So my no more cosplay resolve has broken and I’ve got a few things in the works xD

Anyway, on with ~cross culture obsession!!

No excuse to be lazy

I moved back to London a couple of weeks ago, and since then have spent pretty much every moment caught inbetween a huge variety of things, without much pause for sleep or laziness; although thats no excuse to neglect my blog, so… Here I am!

If you don’t already know from me personally, I work at a major Uk video-games store, Game. It’s just part-time between uni and my various escapes to fun, but I work with friends and it’s always great to be on the front line of an industry I want to pursue a career in (plus the discount makes one of my vices much more reasonable!)
The first day I got back, one of my friends bought me back an Xbox360 Elite from work, as it’s pretty much been the only console I hadn’t currently fallen to, but the one he plays the most; so he tempted me into finally giving in to it… Which conviently was just in time for the release of Halo3, which we managed to get a copy of a week early; and both consequently blitzed on all difficulties and played multiplayer to death. Did it live up to the hype? I’m not sure, but it was fun nonetheless. Xboxlive is very smooth though, and beats the PlaystationNetwork hands down.
Also bought shedloads more manga *somebody freeze my bank account please*; saw a lot of missed friends, visited some of our favourite oriental restaurants, and settled into my new place. Oh, and university of course…
One day I’ll prioritise more responsibly!

Back to obsessions anyway. New anime seasons start shortly, so even though my download is limited *sighs heavily* I’ll still be perusing the new listings for anything that stands out.
I’m pretty jaded after years of being an anime fanboy now, so anything that’s been done before really has to stand out to catch my attention, but that’s not to say there isn’t always something. Both Code Geass and Mushishi have been two of my favourites this year and both have been awesome. The manga for Mushishi is currently being printed in the west, so if you haven’t seen it, go grab it, as it’s really beautiful.
Another series that is currently still airing is Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (goodbye despair sensei) which is both bizarre and very amusing, revolving around a teacher who can find nothing positive remaining in the world, and his class of stalking, multiple personality, abusive students…?!

Jrock storms the UK

Over the past few years, the UK has gradually started to try and display itself as a worthwhile destination for all genre of Japanese bands.
Although a somewhat niche audience, the Japanese-centric culture has grown exponentially in a pretty short space of time worldwide, and there’s been a clamour for international gigs and concerts, of which the US has seen several. Most notably the official debut of the Japanese super band SKIN, who played at Anime Expo ’07, a massive anime/manga convention running in early summer, to a crowd of over 15,000. Not the size of Tokyo Dome, but definitely not bad for a foreign language band in a different continent. This kind of push only highlights the drive on establishing an international market; to not only see such a major band, but to have their debut outside of Japan, is obviously saying something about the economic value of being popular on a worldwide scale.
Even Eastern Europe has, for some years, seen several mainstream heavy-rock orientated j-music bands, and I’ve known friends trawl across Europe from venue to venue to catch the band they adore, still closer to home than Japan.

However, the Uk has been left trailing behind. The few less mainstream, personally promoted bands such as Polysics who have ventured over of their own accord, have fought hard and fairly for a steady following that perhaps wasn’t as financially profitable as the larger bands would have wished for to make the visit worthwhile.
Often suffering for it’s lack of formal, stable fan base, and therefore no proper listing of upcoming events, it tends to be only fans who follow the websites of the bands they like religiously, and then sometimes the online j-music communities that this information filters through, that provide a turn out for even the larger j-music bands. This poor show then discourages larger record labels from risking their bands in a UK tour, and therefore, in full circle, no push in the UK for a serious and formal media on behalf of fans. Distrustful of the media front here, it is often that fans find out directly from ticket sellers about gigs, before they are even posted on the band’s websites, so it was the experienced who grabbed all the Polysics tickets before the dates had even been officially listed.
Unfortunately, at times it is the fact that Japanese music is still quite so niche that has discouraged a greater general following.
Yet there has been a swift uptake in all things Japanese by a wider viewing audience, and in a few years the UK has become a great fan of everything from anime to sushi, and while no formal support has been rallied for jrock, an undercurrent of strong supporters do exist; and most recently labels are taking small risks in hope of j-music taking proper root on our shores.

To see Dir en Grey play was perhaps the biggest indication of a strong push in the UK, as a major band such as them was unlikely not to have notice; and I think that their label were rewarded well financially for this, racking up two sell-out tour dates rather than just the one they had intended; and even ending in a note in the western rock magazine Kerrang (if a little negative on the review front).
This high profile start has been followed very swiftly with a line up running into the winter of other notable, if a little less worldly popular than Diru.
First Gazette announced to play in October as part of the European tour, selling out their single date (if slower by far than the French and Finnish gigs). Since then, Plastic Tree announced a November gig, and Kana similarly in December. Whilst Plastic Tree and Kana are less likely to have the same sell-out as Gazette and most especially Diru, it’s a very promising start of what could be a regular occurrence on our shores.
Diru promised to come back next year, and with them we might see some more strong acts; and hopefully with them the cold media front against japanese music will be shattered and they’ll have a great reception waiting when they venture to this island again.

Perhaps our shining grace at the moment, is with such amazing bands playing such small venues, each gig is personal in a way that a concert to 15,000 could never be. Seeing the distant crowd photos of Diru in their other gigs, compared to the tightly packed but relatively small (if no less emotive) experience I had, I can’t see that it doesn’t have its good points…

P.S. The really cute girl at the top is Kana, who’s playing in London on the 12th December ; )

Dir en grey

Dir en grey played the Uk for the first time last month, opening their European tour with two gigs at the Carling Academy Islington in London. Although only originally sketched in for the 2nd of August, swift ticket sell-outs and a new wave of interest in the renowned band added the 1st to their listing, leaving enough time for news of their visit to spread through the English j-rock subculture to attract more than just the usual die-hard fans.Left with a little trepidation about a gig of larger size than anything previously seen in the Uk j-rock scene, from a notable band whose concerts have been of mixed repute before; I arrived late to a surprisingly long line meandering back around the block.
Making it in it in a little after 8 to the tail end of the second support act, and an already packed room (having skipped the mediocre merchandise tables) I grabbed a drink while listening to their interesting rock style, which was good, if very detached from their rough edged image. ‘Fair to Midland’ apparently hail from Texas, USA, and their soaring vocals mixed with a steady guitar line and a melodious but subtle keyboard backing warmed the crowd well and they left with well deserved applause. Unfortunately this warmth faded to a cool suspense as the gap before Diru dragged on due to technical problems.
Though this definitely didn’t remove from the tingling atmosphere, nor the roar and symphonic screaming ringing in Diru’s delayed entrance; the first strums of a guitar being their only greeting to the crowd before the room was plunged headily into the spiralling currents of their hypnotic performance. These were rock stars, they knew it, and lived it. Captivating, vivid, and crazed.
Kyo’s natural voice felt rich with emotion and energy; and his pornographic presence emphasised this to a level that flooded the senses…
They did a mixed gig with an large amount of their older releases; and also quite a few of their newer songs, which sounded much better live than recorded; and everyone left with good buzz.
Diru reportedly were very pleased with the response of the London crowd, and are planning a return as part of a 2008 London tour; to which I, with many others I’m sure, eagerly look forward to ^~

Hiro the Hero

On Wednesday, the cult series Heroes began to air on Uk terrestrial TV, and although I’m not usually one for British tv, and managed to greatly avoid the new wave of cult shows from the US such as Lost and Prison Break, I found myself sat on the edge of my chair avidly captured in the double episode special of this newest show.
Besides it’s obvious sci-fi, and comic-esque style appealing to the boy in me, it was one particular character which makes the series what it is for me; a particular businessman named Hiro Nakamura. None other than a naive otaku with dreams of grandeur, he can suddenly control the time-space continuum, in the loosest possible sense of the word control, and sets off to save the world, if in a very innocent way…
While a little steriotypical, it’s definately amusing to see the generalised modern otaku with super powers XD

Polysics London

12th of June saw a return to London for Polysics, the Japanese new wave rock/electronic band, who pulled together a short tour after becoming a headliner for the O2 festival.
I caught them at the Spitz, a very small venue above a casual bar in East London near Liverpool Street, with a little apprehension after only hearing a few mp3s of their pretty unique sound. Although tickets were cheap (£10), especially compared to the Dir en Grey (£28+) later this year.

<When they opened the doors, after the mandatory hour’s delay, we ushered each other into a pretty cosy room with a small stage crammed at the front.
The Ghost Frequency, a London based boys band with a pretty normal rock sound, and a bit of an electronic flair, opened to a lukewarm crowd. They weren’t as bad as it first seemed, although besides bouncing around the stage they didn’t quite have the presence to break the ice, and left with an unfortunately small round of applause.
Then a surprising addition with another support by Fight Like Ape, a band hailing from Dublin, who looked like theyd just pulled themselves from the back of their van straight onto the stage, still drinking their beer between songs, and with a bizarre mix of scream, electronic and rock. I think I just blinked in shock at the start, but it didn’t take long for the slightly twisted, infectious lyrics to catch themselves on the tip of my tongue, and the rest of the crowd really started to buzz a lot more, just to time to see the main band swing onto stage.

A few 80′s songs had both the crowd and Polyics, in their trademark orange boiler suits, singing don’t you want me baby, and smiles all around. Hiroyuki Hayashi, the Polysics vocalist, shouted a welcome in broken english across the floor, and the crowd cheered back as he leapt into the kind of music that would never be as electrifying recorded as it was live.
Besides a few rowdy moments where the occasional girl fell onto the stage at Hayashi’s feet, they played a brilliant set; Hayashi dripping in sweat by the third song, that whipped a wave of water across anyone nearby, while Kayo, on synthesizer, voiced a soft electronic backing, mixed with the occasional recorder or pom-pom waving.
A great atmosphere, and I’m much looking forward to Polysics return, with more from their newer albums.

I’ve put some of their more popular songs up here:~

Polysics music